My mom has always been a very crafty person and we grew up on a ranch with only a few channels on TV and not much to do, so she kept us entertained by teaching us to crochet, embroider, quilt, sew, almost all the fiber arts.
When I was growing up in the 70’s,
the big thing was embroidery on our jeans and blouses. It was the era of the
love child and I can remember embroidering flowers and little birds all over my
jeans!
Embroidery on Jeans - Flower Power
I also remember taking Home Ec (Economics)
in high school and one year Mrs. Watte had us sew a dress from the very
beginning, choosing the pattern and fabric and pinning it down and cutting out
the pattern then sewing it. As a grand finale of the project, we had a fashion
show in the school cafeteria and our parents were invited. I had made the most
gorgeous dress. I called it my Gypsy dress and it fit me beautifully. I wish I
had a picture, but it looked like the white dress is this photo only it was not
white. I can’t even remember the color of the dress, but I remember how it fit
and how beautiful I felt wearing it!
My Gypsy Dress
When my daughter was born, I did
a lot of sewing and when she started Kindergarten, I made dozens of dresses. I
always made her Halloween Costumes and one year I went totally crazy and made
her the most beautiful Snow White costume. It took me weeks to get just the
sleeves right. It looked very much like this one only the skirt was a much
brighter yellow. But after a while, she didn’t want the clothes that I made and
wanted store bought so I quit sewing.
Those sleeves are hard to make!
Off and on I would start a
crocheting project, I even started a Blue and Gold blanket for my daughter when
she started high school as those were her school colors. She finished high
school, her younger brother finished high school, all her cousins finished high
school and that blanket never got finished. I finally donated it with all the
yarn to the Goodwill…hopefully someone really did finish it.
Recently I wanted something to do
at night while watching TV because I found that for sure “idle hands are the Devil’s
workshop.” Eating while watching TV became a problem for me because I was
becoming a snackaholic! I was putting on weight and I was not happy about it. I
decided I needed to do something to keep my hands busy while watching TV and
one day on YouTube, I found channel called Jayda In Stitches and she had done a
year long project of crocheting what’s called a Mighty Mile-A-Minute Calendar
Blanket. Here's her video if you want to check it out.
I had quite a bit of yarn I had bought at The Dollar Tree, didn't know why I was buying it, but just thought it would be a good idea to have it on hand. I didn't quite follow her directions and did each strip with the same crochet stitch and she showed a different one every month, but it still turned out beautifully!
Mile A Minute
That was so fun and I got so many compliments that I wanted to do another project. I remembered that I used to do a lot of crocheted doilies, so I thought of doing one but using yard instead of cotton thread, which made a bigger doily and then I turned it into a Wall Hanging and I love it!
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| First Mandala Wall Art, although mine is on a door. |
Mandala Close Up
I had a lot of fun making this and it looks beautiful on my door in my bedroom. I'm working on two other ones now, but you never forget your first!
What crafts do you do and who taught you?
