Some nostalgia

Putting away my Christmas decorations today produced some warm fuzzy feelings of nostalgia :-). I thought I'd post a few pictures of this special table cloth that my Mom made for me years ago; I think the first year I was married, which would be 1978. I remember it on the table in our first home, so it was definitely around that time. My Mom is an accomplished seamstress and learned some nice handwork at school in her native Holland. Her education was interrupted by World War II, but she did end up going to a special school where they taught homemaking. It was called "Huishoudschool" in Holland. She still has her notebook with paper tea towels, complete with coloured stripes on them, folded 'properly' and put into her notebook. Her mother also did a lot of needlework and I have several table cloths that she made as well. My Mom learned embroidery and sewing at a very early age from my Oma and my sister and I learned from my Mom when we were very young.

I really like this table cloth which my Mom made for our round pine coffee table. It comes out every year.


Here is a closeup of the embroidered poinsettias and the pretty edge at the hem. It's all done by hand and is as nice at the back as at the front!


This is a table topper that I made when I first began to quilt in 1989. This is probably made then or in 1990. Shame on me, I didn't put a label on the back!! I had taken a log cabin quilting class and did a lot of log cabin projects those first years. I still use this table topper every year and can really see my progress in my quilting :-). It is quilted by hand.


Here is a close up of the corner and binding. This was in the days when I did my binding by machine!! I always do it by hand now as I like the look a lot better even if it takes longer. My Mother's teaching is rubbing off on me :-).

Here is the old Christmas tree skirt that I made the same year. The table topper was made from leftover fabrics from the tree skirt. The reason I put the darker side of the diamonds in the center was because I had a rust coloured carpet so I wanted to keep the red away from it a bit :-). I handquilted this one in the ditch around each of the diamonds and did one row each year until they were all finished. I think I'll quilt a star in the center of the blocks one of these days yet.