Sewing Projects in 2016
Circle of Roses Quilt
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Ben's mother-in-law, Barbara Newman, helps raise funds for the "Miles of Hope Breast Cancer Foundation" in Poughkeepsie, NY for the support of those effected by breast cancer in New York’s Hudson Valley. This year's could be a baby quilt or a wall hanging. I used pink fabrics left by my friend Carol Telsey. At the silent auction at their spring luncheon it raised $150. |
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A boy in Gabriel's preschool class was being treated for leukemia so Lori asked if the children and I could make a quilt for him. They traced their handprints and colored them in with markers. The teachers added their names. I assembled the quilt with a slogan found by Lori on the borders. |
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When my quilting friend Carol Telsey died, I told her family that I'd be happy to help finish a project that she left behind. A year later, her husband called to say that the woven hearts blocks and the related fabrics had been chosen for me to complete. A cotton crazy quilt she started also needed some quilting and the edges finished. In addition, I got fabric from her husband that resulted in 2 "comfort" quilts which I donated to my quilt guild's charity projects. The fabric was triangles of shirting stripes already pieced into yard goods. I just needed to find a back, quilt and bind the edges. |
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When an elderly friend from my quilt guild died at age 96, her daughter found several unfinished projects in the house. I took two small quilts home and finished them for the family. They needed hand quilting and the edges bound. I returned them to her daughter who planned to use them for a fund-raiser. |
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Lori's mother asked if she could commission a quilt for a cousin's wedding gift. I found their registry and chose the colors from their table napkins and used a pattern I had seen demonstrated at a quilt guild meeting. It's made by starting with an "hourglass" block, then cutting it into 9 squares and rearranging them. I embroidered their names and wedding date in the center. |
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I started planning Elijah's quilt as soon as I heard he was expected. The center square has a drawing of Carlisle Castle in England. The four corner blocks have medieval horses with mythical animals decorating their blankets. The other four blocks tell his name, birth date, birthplace and birth weight. It's entirely hand embroidered. The background fabric is printed with castle wall stonework and is embellished with a vine of silk ribbon and appliqued and embroidered ivy leaves. |
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My reform temple's bereavement committee asked a congregant to form a committee and make a quilt to cover plain pine coffins to encourage families not to spend money on fancy coffins. I joined the group and together we planned and made this quilt. It has a large 6-point star on top and a row of small stars all around the border. I was hand-stitching the binding on the edge as I visited my cousin Bess Whittaker (age 104) in Rochester in May. When she died peacefully in her sleep the next day, we used the quilt for the first time at her funeral. |
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Last year I hurriedly made a tallit for Bob to wear at Guido's Bar Mitzvah. There wasn't time to make a bag but this year I found an idea that relates to the fabric Lori's mother gave me when they downsized their house. I used blue satin ribbons, some from Jonathan and Larissa's wedding chuppah. I hand embroidered the edges of the ribbons onto the polyester silk background fabric I'd used for the tallit. The lining and back of the bag are the print fabric. When Guido's sister Jalina celebrates her Bat Mitzvah next fall, we'll be all ready. |
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While discussing the label for the coffin cover quilt, I remembered the torah mantle I made many years ago for our temple's small "chaplain's torah." Instead I found another small torah used in the elementary classrooms that had a poorly made mantle quite hard to put on and off by children. I replaced it with this version with large plastic curtain grommets for the openings on top and a hand-embroidered 10 commandments in Hebrew for the front. A matching torah binder with velcro closure was added. |
Updated December 2016
