Flutterby Patch

Patchwork of memories

Just look at this little cutie with enormous tears rolling down her cheeks. Doesn't she tug at the heartstrings? I came across her many years ago when reading stories in an old Mabel Lucie Attwell book.

The little poppet had gone to stay with her grandma but felt so lonely and homesick in grandma's big bed that she sat and wept.

But of course kindly grandma came to the rescue and sat on the bed to reassure her little granddaughter that she wasn't alone because she had the patchwork for company. Every single patch told a story. And with that grandma proceeded to identify the various fabrics and recall the memories attached to each. The little girl was soon so wrapped up in the colourful stories that her sadness quickly melted away.

This little tale inspired me to make my own patchwork of memories about 15 years ago. I remember sitting with my mum in wintertime sorting through loads of tiny fabric pieces that we had both squirreled away over the years. Every pattern had a tale to tell. I spend many hours hand stitching squares and hexagons into a cover for a single bed.

There are my mum's earliest dresses and those she made for my sisters and me; plus the dresses, blouses and shirts I made for my myself and my own children. There were so many colours and patterns to juggle with that in the end I simply set them out in squares of nine blending shades.

Although my mum is sadly no longer with us I know I will always feel close to her when I look at the patchwork we put together all those years ago. To everyone else it will never be more than a colourful bedspread but for me it will always remain a patchwork of happy lifetime memories.

Update - ABOUT MY DOLLY
As my blogging chums Debbie and Helen have commented on the sweet dolly I used for this post I decided to add a little something about her. I happened to spot her on Ebay about 8 years ago and it was love at first sight. She is a 1930s American doll from the Madame Alexander doll company and wears her original clothing (the name Madame Alexander can be found on the back of her head). She has composition head, arms and legs but a cloth body so is easy to pose and loves to be cuddled. My American friends will of course be familiar with Madame Alexander dolls, but for those who aren't, here is a link to a short history of the company.

Until next time,

Eli 

Sunny thoughts

Greetings friends. What joy!.....We've seen blue sky this week and a friendly yellow sun has popped out from behind the clouds to say "hello".

Birds started singing and suddenly I felt that winter might be giving way to an early spring.

So, I decided to do a bit of early 'spring cleaning'. You know the sort of thing...taking everything out of a cupboard in order to lovingly sort through the contents and then put it all back a little more neatly than before.

Needless to say there were a few 'treasures' in the cupboard, not least this little bag that I made for my daughter over 20 years ago.

 I didn't have to ponder long on the reason for making it as a quick look inside revealed all!

Daughter had taken it to a family wedding the highlight of which had been picking up handsful of confetti to fill her bag. Well, what else would a little girl use a wedding bag for?

This is the little matching dress I made for her all those years ago. Over the years I've given away quite a few of my children's clothes but I do have a habit of hanging onto the handmade ones.

Squirrelling away these things is a family failing that I inherited from my mum. 

Mum hated parting with the little dresses she'd lovingly made for us. Here is a cutie she made for my sister when she was two. Many years later my daughter delighted in wearing it. Needless to say it's been laundered many times but is still as pretty as ever.

How nice it was during a week of sunshine to receive a 'sunshine award' from my blogging chum Carol at Wee Cute Treasures. A very big thank-you to you Carol for considering my blog to be a worthy recipient.

I'm going to pass my sunshine award to some little girls and their mom. 

They live in the States and whenever I visit their blog I find them wearing the prettiest dresses. I really love the little poem I found on their blog this week and if you have a passion for wearing dresses I think you'll love it also so do take a look. You'll find it at Sweete Felicity.

I hope the sun is shining for you wherever you live.

Until next time,
Eli

My four nativities

As a child I was always fascinated by the variety of Christmas nativity scenes I saw at school, in shop windows and of course in churches.

I was about fourteen when I was inspired to make a tiny scene of my own from odd scraps of fabric and pipe cleaners. My first nativity can be seen above and has witnessed many Christmases. The figures are about 3 ins (cm) tall.

A few years later at college I created a second one (below).

I was a little more creative this time as I had more fabric at my disposal but again used simple cardboard tubes and cones for the bases which were easy to cover.

After I left college I lived at home with my parents for a couple of years and as they had a large niche in their library I was inspired to create a third nativity to fill it. This time my figures were about 9 in (22 cm) tall and they each had smiles and black bead eyes.

I notice I used vintage lace for the baby's gown!

I had great fun making all the figures for this scene and even found some woolly sheep which were just the right size for my shepherds.

Two of the kings were dressed in brocade and the third had a gown made from fabric that I tied and dyed and then embroidered.

The kings came bearing gifts that were made from match boxes and a scent bottle. They were all covered in shiny chocolate wrappers.

Soon after that I met and married my husband and we had a home of our own. I left my three nativities at my parents' house and set about making number four which you can see below.

Its amazing what you can do with a few tubes (made from thick paper) covered in stripy fabric.

Heads are made from circles of felt gathered and stuffed to form ball shapes. Hair and beards are wool.

The kings are made from cones covered in brocade and decorated with beads. Their gifts are fancy fastenings from vintage necklaces.

This was my fourth and final nativity and it puts in an appearance every year even though it is now looking somewhat tired. Since my parents passed away I have all four nativities in my possession once again. They don't all get displayed these days but finding them every year amongst the Christmas decorations brings back endless happy memories of Christmases past.

If you or your children feel inspired to make a nativity scene I can promise you the design is a simple one. Simply make cardboard tubes or cones to the size you require and then choose suitable fabrics to glue on. Then the fun bit comes in finding just the right trims that will make your figures look like lowly shepherds or wealthy kings.

I trust all your Christmas preparations are going well.

Until next time,

Eli