WIP: Handcrafted Over the Generations

As for work in progress this Wednesday, I did a minuscule amount this week. I sewed on a button. Yep. That is all. I sewed one button on a football themed diaper cover, which I did not even crochet. But I have a very good reason for my low productivity. I was in southern California visiting my new granddaughter, Vivian, just born April 6th, 2014. Vivian was named after her mom's maternal grandmother. At the ripe old age of three weeks, Vivian is contemplating using this quilt I made for her (see also February 8, 2014 post) for her next tummy time .

This was a nostalgic time for me. On this visit I brought with me the christening gown my son wore when he was baptized. I'd hand washed it and the embroidered sheer fabric came out sparkling white after 31 years in the closet! All I'd needed to do was replace the elastic in the sleeves since it was brittle, cracked, and no longer stretchy. It is now as good as it was when my son's godmother sewed it over three decades ago.

I also brought Vivian two blankets, each hand knitted about 45 years ago by my mom, Vivian's great grandmother Martha. Although my mom passed away before any of my three children were born, her handiwork had been passed to my children after use by my older two siblings' children. These blankets have warmed each of my three nephews, my one niece, each of my two sons, and my one daughter. That generation then passed it on to my one grandnephew, each of my four grandnieces, my granddaughter via my daughter, and now to my granddaughter via my son. Fourteen babies!

This pink blanket is out of a worsted weight yarn. I believe the knitted border was my mom's own idea. The blanket measures 38 inches square. I have shown one fourth of it and a close-up.

This mint-colored blanket, also knit by my mom, is a much lighter weight. It measure 34 inches by 39 inches without the hand knotted fringe. My mom loved using fine gauge yarn and intricate stitches and was undaunted by the time involved to complete. 

Not only do I remember seeing my children with these blankets, but I remember watching my mom knit them for my nephew or niece to be. She was a night owl and I recall many an item being knitted or crocheted while the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was playing on the television in the wee hours of the night. These blankets are heart-warming as well as body-warming for me. Blogging obviously did not exist in my mom's era but I could fill many a post with the items of her handiwork. Here she is at my wedding with her mother of the bride gown that she had hand-beaded herself. She'd sewn my bridal gown also and had hand-beaded the bodice, the train, and the veil, too. 

So this week I was busy holding my new granddaughter and walking down memory lane. I started no new projects this week and completed none. Since I made no progress on my list of ongoing projects, I will not repeat it here. It is unchanged from my post for April 23, 2014. No apologies. To parody that poem that advises "quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep"...  I was "rocking my grandbaby and grandbabies don't keep".

Not only quilting but Life itself is a continuous Work In Progress. But that will not stop me from poking around this week and seeing what quilting others have been up to at Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday.