Mom's Garden, A Tribute

I made this wall hanging, approximately 16L X 14W, using fabrics from my stash of nearly all thrifted, gifted, or old table cloths or clothing, which were also thrifted or gifted. In the case of this wall hanging, named to honor of my mother, I've also used some of her clothing. 

Mom died May 21 2024 but I made this a couple years earlier. She was in a care facility, withering like a flower as winter nears. Some of her clothing was sent home with me during one of my bi-monthly visits back to Iowa to see my mother. You see, I grew up and in Iowa with six siblings. My mother lived in the state all her life, growing up on the western side and marrying and living the rest of her life on the eastern side. Since I was so far away, physically, making this piece brought me close to her in spirit and helped me work through the grief using my head and my hands. 

I've titled this work, Mom's Garden, even though she didn't like gardening. She was married to a farmer and we had a huge vegetable garden for as long as I can remember growing up there. There were long, hot hours there pulling weeds, picking vegetables. We even had a couple long rows of zinnias. I've been contemplating planting some around my house in the city.  

My memories of the garden are mixed. I fondly remember picking and eating fresh strawberries. It was always a delight to see when they were ripening. That bright surprise of color, the smell when you get down and lean in. Anticipating that first taste of fresh sweetness. Who wouldn't like that? And when we did sample things standing in that garden, we just stood in the garden and brushed off the dirt. In those days we didn't use tons of chemicals. That and also we didn't know what we know now about the chemicals. Other wonders in our garden included biting into a fresh tomato picked right off the vine. And I actually loved the physicality of digging up a clump of potatoes and trying not to cut ruin any with the shovel edge. A challenge calling for experience, estimations. Those simple actions and rewards, the hidden treasure. 

I don't have any particular memories of lovely or weird things happening while attending the garden with alongside my mother. I do have a vague recollection of whining and pouting a lot and Mom's determination, maybe a grim determination at times, I don't know. But I do know she wasn't dancing through the rows singling praises to Mother Nature. 

Mom put up with more grief from us kids than Dad did. She had a politeness whereas Dad sometimes had a frightening anger. I have a particular memory of gardening with my dad. It was a hot, sunny day, and I was in my bikini and maybe was early to mid teens. We were working quietly in different rows with just a bit of breeze blowing across the fields and hogs snorting and rummaging in a nearby field. It was a beautiful clear day and not crazy hot and humid. On our farm there were no homes within sight, just our farm buildings and open fields, maybe a glimpse of a rooftop on the horizon. Or maybe the farm seemed bigger than it was. But this was a quiet day with no one around. I don't think anyone else was home. Breaking the peace, a car sped down the road churning up dirty white angry clouds that rolled in on themselves before slowly dispersing across the ditches left and right and disappearing into the fields. Rather that continuing on, it slowed and turned into the drive hear the house, facing us. A suit got out. I could see that out of the corner of my eye. I did't look directly. 

I waited to see what would happen but was a bit embarrassed because I was in a bikini. I just wanted a tan as long as I had to help in the garden. This was a day and age and a place where teenagers didn't strut their stuff, at least not us girls and certainly not in front of their dad's much less a stranger. The garden was on the far side of the house from the gravel road but the approach on the road would have briefly revealed our presence in the garden. Dad didn't stop his work to approach the car after a glance up. He didn't even acknowledge the presence of the stranger but I know that guy knew he was aware of his presence. My embarrassment was increasing the bit of rudeness but also I thought it was interesting and a bit funny. Wait for it...

That gentleman bypassed the entrance to the house and came walking across the side yard towards us. He called out. I don't recall for sure but I think he was selling something, products or religion maybe, I don't recall which. Without really even looking at him Dad told him to get the hell off our property and to not come back. I wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed or to laugh out loud. I was young enough and better behaved (occasionally) than to laugh out loud so I continued on with my weeding. But I think I smiled quietly to myself while also feeling a tad embarrassed. Dad and I continued on with our weeding as if nothing had happened. 

As I discreetly watched the quickly retreating gentleman, I was thinking about how Mom had told me once that my paternal grandmother had done that same thing to a salesman in Mom's presence during the Mom's early marital days on the farm. Mom had been surprised at the time. That grandmother, in fact, both of my grandmothers, had died before I was born so I never had the pleasure of their company. Life was hard for folks in those days, and women's work on a farm wasn't just childcare, cooking and cleaning. My mother lived to be 91 years old. 

So this piece, my improv expressionism of Mom's Garden, has beads strung on wire and woven in and out of the circular and twisted strips of Mom's polo shirts and knit blouses that represent the trapunto center disc florets or ovule. Other beads on the surrounding petals grace the tips and sides. Cutout butterflies and smaller intact flowers from varied fabrics are also included and some have beads added to them as well. Here and there are sections where I hand-stitched and added an outline of French knots. I've glued or zigzagged fabric. 

 

Rag Style Memorial Quilt for Baby

This quilt was made from some of my sister's clothes after she had died.  I still have some items and scraps after making five twin bed size quilts for each of her children and a few baby quilts for her grandchildren born in the ten years since her death.  I made this one maybe five years ago now. Just catching up on photographs of my creative and loving endeavors.

Funky "Going Haywire" Bolster Pillow

Well this was a fun project. I used stuffed animal batting I found at a thrift store or maybe someone gave it to me, who knows, I have so much stuff? For the outer cover I used parts of an old white sheet as the base and machine stitched various other fabrics strips to include burlap, ribbons, bric a brac trims. It's doofy but I like it. 

 

Combining Two Cultures

This quilt started for me when I found a topper at a thrift shop. It was handpicked with what most definitely had to be old clothes and other fabrics repurposed in the time tested tradition of making do with what you have, which is good for mother nature, good for our souls, good for our need to create, and good for passing the time although some would disagree in this day and age, preferring to stare at a screen. And yes, I realize that is exactly what I am doing while drafting this blog.

Above is the top which is the topper I found in a thrift store that is hand pieced. I added a border and a backing which are from white sheets in good condition that I found at thrift stores or that someone gave me or perhaps what I already had and no longer intended to use for the original purpose.  Below is the back of the quilt done with long, slow stitching in straight lines reminiscent of Kantha quilt, which I love.  I used embroidery floss for the stitching. I'd found it also at thrift stores over the years. I used varied shades of pink with this one, partly for fun and partly because I didn't have a lot of one single color. 

This is the quilt folded along the foot of the bed, accenting a bit of color to an unusually (for me) heavily white room. 

Close up, below, of my slow stitching on the hand pieced topper.

And below you can see the finish.  I did not put batting in this quilt, another similarity to the Kantha quilts.

And there you have it. I love that this quilt combines to cultures, western and eastern but women using their hands to make useful items and repurposing what they have due to need. I love that everything I used to make this quilt ended up this way and not in a landfill piecemeal, so to speak, over the years.  

I gave it to a friend. In fact, the friend I gave it to was my original instructor for how to hand quilt. She began teaching me quilting so I could make memorial quilts using my sister's clothing after she died.  I made a quilt for each of her five kids.  

T-Shirt quilt - University of Maryland Theme

 T-Shirt quilt I made for my daughter with her University of Maryland era T-shirts. I loved doing machine quilting on this and had fun going every which way with the rows of machine quilting.  Other than the t-shirts belonging to my daughter, and a large neck scarf she had with the Maryland flag design, the best state flag in the nation, I must say, rivaled only by Arizona's, in my opinion, I used fabrics and supplies that I already had.  The Maryland state flag scarf was used as a border all the way around the T-shirt squares, in the black. Many of our daughter's University of Maryland rowing t-shirts are evident.  She was on the women's rowing team which is really just a "club" at the University of Maryland, even though they compete. 

Sunbonnet Sue Quilts

These two baby quilts were made for the little girls born to our nephew and his wife in New Hampshire.

And here's the back, below.

And here is the other one, the front, below.

And the back.

Below are a couple pictures taken when I was still laying them out and piecing.

Pandemic Grandson's Quilt

I made this quilt for our grandson born in the middle of the pandemic, January 2021.  Our son and daughter-in-law have a greens, a trees and leave motif foe the the baby's room.