Saturday, June 20, 2009

Hanky Panky?

Got your attention didn't I.
Well it is not what you think, but don't stop reading.

Over many years I have come to be the proud owner of a very large number of handkerchiefs. I have many of my Grandmother's, my Aunt Ruth's and my Grandfather's handkerchiefs. My Grandparent's hankies have tucked away and out of site for many years. As I was cleaning at my Mom's, I bumped some more and I thought there should be something I could do with them...but what. Aunt Ruth's have come to me recently, so my hanky collection is growing. We all have mementos of those we love and the thought of hiding them away didn't seem right.

I have a good friend Kristy Medina who has a degree in Textiles and she has just started her own show on local cable call It's Easy Being Green, where she stresses the four R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Re-purpose. She asked me to be a guest and I knew right away that she could help me with my handkerchiefs. Check out her blog- textiles 4 you and a video clip of our show.

After a brief meeting with her to show her my hanky stash. I had some ideas... Valences, Tablecloths and Quilts... Oh My! Can I handle the pressure of getting some of these ideas in motion for the show. Well the first thing I did is to send all the hankies I might use through the wash, then I ironed them and pick out a few favorites.

My first idea was to choose 3 and turn them on point, I thought this would make a great valence.
I found one with a Red R on it and 2 that had lily of the valley on them and voila a few stitches and I have a new valence hanging in my kitchen window.




Now for Pappa's hankies what on earth can I do with these masculine plaid hankies. We'll Kristy suggested I lay them out on the floor in a pattern and take a photo of them and this is what I came up with after looking at many arrangements and an afternoon in front of my sewing machine TaDa a tablecloth! You have to be careful of how you sew the edges since the hankies edges are bound. I used and overlap method and a zigzag stitch. I am thinking of putting a border on it but haven't found the right fabric yet.



After looking at all the shapes the sizes, edges, and colors of the remaining hankies, I made a decision; I decided to find the biggest one and add 2" to each side (this came to a 20 1/2" square). While out shopping at a discount store I bought a queen size sheet for ~$6 this would be perfect for my project. I cut it into 20 1/2" squares and folded in in quarters to find the center. I chose a hanky and folded it in quarters as well. Then I pinned both centers together.

I will probably handstitch the hankies to the square.
I picked out a few of my favorites, but still have some decisions to make: how big is the quilt to be, what colors should I choose and should I add sashing?

On Friday I was a guest on Kristy's show, it went very well and it was a lot of fun.
What mementos do you have around the house you'd like to show off?




3 comments:

  1. I had so much fun taping the show with you. Thank you for coming on and just being awesome. Drew is going to post it on u tube at some point in time. When he does, I'll let you know. It should air on channel 8 some time in July. I love your projects. I think that they turned out beautiful.

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  2. http://textiles4you.blogspot.com/2009/06/its-easy-being-green-guest-bonnie.html

    Here are my show notes for this as well. Drew will post the video on you tube at some point in time. It should air in July.

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  3. Thanks Kristy, I had a great time doing it. I am already thinking of my next project ... Maybe using old wool sweaters for felting or something along that line.

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