Home Alone

A rare moment for me ... home alone.  My husband and son have gone to a trailer show (camper trailers), and I told them I'd rather stay at home to sew.  I've been admiring a self-portrait quilt by Pretty By Hand and find the concept really inspiring.  What a great idea to incorporate the things that are "you" into a quilt!  This will stay only in my mind for a while yet, but right now I want to do some quick little projects that I can finish and admire (and post!) within a short time.  I've also admired the practice you see all over the blogs of framing bits of pretty fabric in an embroidery hoop.  So I decided to combine the two ideas, and made up a small embroidery hoop with little trinkets that belonged to my mother.

I started this little project with just the fabric, which is a sample piece my mom wove on her loom.  But then I thought it would look nice with the skeleton key on it, and, well, one thing led to another, and I added all this other stuff as well.  A small name bracelet from her girlfriends when she was young:

A pin from her younger days when she cycled with the Canadian Youth Hostel (she and my dad met through this cycling group):

A locket she gave to me when I was a child (which her mother gave her) and has tiny photos of her parents in it:

And a few buttons that were in her button jar, and which I specifically remember being in her button jar even when I was a child!  Favourite coat buttons, a suit button, and a button from a dress.  Buttons hold such strong sentiments for me.  Mom used to tip her buttons out onto a a tray for my sisters and I to look at and admire when we were young ... I loved sifting through those buttons as they were all such pretty little treasures ... they even had a distinctive smell!

So that's what I did this morning, and I think I'll hang it up in my sewing corner.  The little extra piece that I had to cut off the end of the sample fabric is the perfect size for a small coaster to set by my sewing machine for my cup of tea.  Cheers!

Wendy