Look Ma, No Hands!

Things are already looking up for 2008! For those of you following my recovery, here's an exciting update. Two days ago, my sons helped me stand and support myself with the walker. I tried taking a few steps, albeit baby ones, and ended up taking ten! Yesterday, the home therapist came to evaluate me and I was able to take 16 steps. As an encore, I did a 360 degree pivot, all without anyone hanging on to me. It was a triumph that gives me great hope for recovery!


As everyone else puts their Christmas decorations away for another year, I’m just beginning to enjoy ours. Many of these holiday treasures evoke sweet memories of crafting with our young boys. These special handmade gifts were stitched for aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas, some of whom are no longer with us. They’ve become irreplaceable family heirlooms.


We made this Christmas wall hanging when the boys were 7 and 10 years old-- just old enough to use a needle and thread. I satin stitched a simple Christmas tree to a background and let them embellish it with buttons. Their handwritten quilt label is just as precious as the tree itself.

Gee, Thanks!

Thank you for the kind comments about my Folk Art Button Quilt. It has gotten a lot of interest over the years, and I'm always happy to share its story.

The quilt started as a block exchange between friends. We each chose a motif and then looked to antique quilts, hooked rugs, and folk art for inspiration and patterns. By stitching the same motif for each member of the group, we ended up with identical sets of blocks.

After the exchange, we were free to embellish the blocks and set them together any way we wanted. I added buttonhole stitching and old brown buttons to mine. The idea to offset the appliques with Nine Patches was inspired by this Calico Garden Quilt from the Shelberne Museum’s collection. (A pattern to reproduce that quilt is available from Hoopla Antique Quilt Patterns)



I pulled out all my autumn colored fabrics as well as woven plaids, cutting a 2” strip from each. Rather than sewing strips together as we tend to do in making Nine Patches, I cut the strips into 2” squares. This allowed me more flexibility with color placement. No two blocks are alike. I had enough brown buttons to add one to the center of each Nine Patch.

Excessive Heat Warning

There seems to be an excessive heat advisory all over the country this week. I hope you're all managing to keep cool somehow. Quilting is probably the last thing anyone wants to think about in 90 degree temperatures, but I thought I'd keep posting about doll quilts for the rest of the summer.

I’ve gotten some of my favorite doll quilts from friends. The fun of owning someone else’s work is that the quilt designs and fabrics used might be very different from my own style. There’s also the novelty of owning a finished piece--one which hasn’t languished on my sewing room floor for months or even years.


This little Tumbler was made by Judy Heath, a talented and prolific quilter with whom I worked at our local quilt shop. Many of the fabrics are from the Peppermint and Sassafras line designed by Judie Rothermel in the mid 1990s. It's a charming little piece, measuring only 11" x 12" and covered in buttons that Judy brought back from a trip to Australia.

Nature Versus Nurture

Each year when my nieces' birthdays roll around, I am amazed by the absolute pinkness of products for young girls. The birthday cards are always glittery variations on a princess theme, accompanied by a fuchsia, hot pink or purple envelope. The first time I sent the girls a birthday card, I wrote across the back of the magenta colored missive, “There is definitely nothing this color in my home!” Who knows if they were born with an affinity for pink, or if it was thrust upon them by the makers of Barbie, Polly Pocket or Hello Kitty. Whether the result of nature or nurture, my nieces will be quick to tell you their favorite colors are pink and purple.

Having grown up in a household with three brothers, and raising two sons of my own, I suppose my color sense has a more masculine bent. It’s not that I can’t appreciate a pretty pink room or a dress in robin’s egg blue. It’s just that I’ve grown accustomed to the drab, dirty socks color associated with boys. My fabric stash has always consisted of medium to dark browns, greens, and blacks, with a smattering of reds and golds for contrast. It’s heavy with woven plaids, homespuns, and reproduction fabrics. If asked to make something with pastels, “bubble gum pink” is probably as close as I could get.

"Suitable Scraps"
15” x 18”
© DJB, 1989

The same is true for my favorite quilt designs. I’ve always preferred traditional patterns like Nine Patch, Bow Tie, Log Cabin and Jacob’s Ladder. Even my collection of doll quilts reflects this. The little Bow Tie was made from suiting and shirting samples from a tailor shop. I used an old shirt for the backing and tied the quilt with embroidery floss and buttons from my grandmother’s button box.