Custom Books

I love lacy fall leaves. I collect them and use an old book press like this one to flatten them for later use.

I also hoard great paper, raffia and beautiful twigs. (Rocks too, but I haven't figured out how to use them yet---maybe a cut-out with a suspended rock.........)

The cover of this book is old photograph mounting albums. I ran across a bunch of these, dismantled them and cut them to fit the pages. The pages, which aren't shown, but are beige and have the same texture as the cover, are off-cuts from a publisher.

The second book is made the same way, but I had to figure out how to attach the bare twig to the back.

The Bisque Baby in a Basket

For as long as I can remember, I've had this tiny doll in a bassinet. She must be all of 1 3/4 inches long. She's made out of colored bisque and has separate arms and legs, wired together. She's packed away in tissue paper as she has always been until I can find a dome the right size to put her in.

When my mother gave her to me, her basket had no hood. I made the one shown using strips of cane bent over and attached to the basket. The bed is lined with cross-quilted satin lining, the bottom is a tiny pillow of cotton batiste. And she has an even smaller head pillow.

Mom made a set of clothes for her and I would carefully undress her, wash her bonnet, nightgown, booties, panties, and robe; all the bedding except the outside of the bassinet. Then, I would carefully re-dress her and put her away again.

Some years ago, I decided to make her a new set of clothes. The idea started when I ran across the beautifully embroidered handkerchief that now doubles as a coverlet. It was so wonderfully made, it spurred me to take a shot at making a new bonnet and nightdress. I had been hoarding a shoebox full of antique lace--some inherited, some bought at an estate sale in Portland OR. I had taken a course in French Hand Sewing and used what I had learned to construct the new outfit. It took a while to find a needle small enough to do this.

I had some very fine batiste that I had bought while taking the course, so I was set. I'm glad I bought a whole bolt. Really fine fabric seems to be getting scarce.

I would recommend sewing in the sunlight if you are doing French Hand Sewing--especially if the work is white on white.

Later I'll post some more examples of this kind of work.

Zachary's Quilt

When Zachary, my second grandson, was born, I made him a quilt. The poem I used was one I have had in my files since I was a teenager.

It's from an obscure book, "At the Back of the Moon, 1871" written by George MacDonald, a Scottish author.

I worked out twelve spaces for the lines, drew them out in lettering on typing paper and outlined them in black pen, then set up a lightbox to transfer the letters onto bleached muslin.

Sorry for the slight distortion in the photo, the picture I have is from a quilt show. It's the only photo I have of it. The photos don't do the colors justice--fluorescent lighting in the show--the quilt is white and navy blue.

The quilt won a prize ribbon in crib quilts. Can't remember whether it was a first place or second place??? Oh, well, not important. Who it went to is important.