Tuesday Tell All: Made by Hand

(Playing a bit of catch up here...) Topic: This week we are giving you the chance to document something(s) in your home that are special because they were hand made.One of the first thing that came to mind was this darling little necklace Matt made for me. It says, 'I love Mom Love Matt". It melted my heart when I first saw it, though I knew he was up to something with the beads in the laundry room since he kept asking about letters. It proudly hangs on my mirror in my room.

MADE BY ME

My Grandma Nance makes beautiful cross stitch projects. My mom also did cross stitch and needle point works that hung on our walls growing up. When I was very young (probably like 7) I started this stamped cross stitch. It taught me the basics. When I finished it, my mom made it into a pillow that matched my room and I put it on my bed when I was little.
When I got a bit older, I found this cute one in a catalog. It was supposed to be for a stocking, but my mom wasn't sure I should pull all this work and have a chance it would get dirty hanging up. I agreed. I had this thing for YEARS! I finally finished it as an adult and needed some Christmas decor in our home. My mom and dad framed it for me. It's fun to look back on since it was a work in progress for a long, long time.When Rich and I were engaged I made this for him for his birthday in October. That year I also did little Suzy Zoo pieces for my grandparents for Christmas and framed them.A few years ago I sewed lots of little purses for Christmas gifts. I just used place mats and ribbon. Super easy and cute. The next year I made these fun aprons for our moms and grandma's for Christmas. I made the first one at RS enrichment and then copied the pattern and made a few more at home. Easy and wearable. I love the jingle bells on the top of trees.

MADE BY MY MOM A few years ago when I was in Utah for a visit, my mom pulled out this old material from the storage room when she was cleaning it out. She asked if my boys could use some new PJ's. Loved that my boys wore pieces of my mom to bed for a few summers.Matt's beloved Star Wars blanket. His first love was a yellow tied quilt Rich's Aunt Nancy made. Then he took over Josh's similar yellow blanket and loved them until they fell apart. About 3 summers ago Matt and my mom and I were in Wal-mart when Matt's eagle eyes spied this cool bolt of fabric on the bottom shelf. Right then and there he said he'd give up his yellow blanket (which we had been working on for years!). But there was a catch- IF he could trade it for a new Star Wars one. We said he could if the blanket didn't leave the house. He said yes in less than one second. Bless my mom's heart, she whipped this blanket up in less than a day since we were headed back to Kentucky. Matt still sleeps with it every night.

MADE BY VARIOUS GRANDMOTHERS
Rich's mom's mother Grandma Hansen crocheted this gorgeous, soft white blanket for Trey when he was blessed. She brought it with her to the church. It was so wonderful to wrap him up it in and have Rich take it with him into the circle. It's lovely.My Great-grandma Beardall made various quilts for years. She never would buy new fabric, but use little bits of old dresses, shirts, sheets and whatever she could find. Since her posterity is SO large it was very rare to receive a quilt from her. Once when I went over to visit when Trey was a baby, she showed me this quilt she had just finished. Most of the time she would just make the quilt top and not put on a back or bind it. This one has was completely finished. I made a big fuss about how beautiful it was (which was true!) and took her picture with it so I could remember and found myself the proud owner of it. What a gift of love. I treasure it. When she passed away, I was given a second quilt top that is in my parents home now. I can't wait to see it in person this summer. How I love and miss my Grandma Beardall!
Grandma Larsen made these cute little pillows for the entire family one Christmas. This was a seriously HUGE project when you realize she has 13 children, 12 spouses, 56 grandchildren and something like 18 great grandchildren. Since they are round, she spent hours and hours pinning and then sewing them so they wouldn't pucker. I love these pillows. They are the perfect size to use in front of the TV and since I had told her how much my boys loved theirs, when my girls were born she whipped up two for them. They sleep with them every night. I later found out that all the sewing did in her already poor rotator cuff, which later required surgery. What gifts of love these were. She also has made countless pillowcases we use all the time.Grandma Nance has made quilts for years and years. I still have my pink and green baby quilt with a lace edge she made for me. She made my first bedspread as my wedding gift that we used for 10 years and is now on the guest bed in the basement. Here is the quilt she made for Trey. I adore it. It's a print, but then she added material to the sides, added appliqued animals on the sides, made a triangle type edge and hand quilted the entire thing. It's a work of art.We also have many cross stitch pieces she has made and give to me over the years. The latest was in 2007 for my and the girls' birthdays. She made it to match the girls room. It hangs next to the window. Hot pads crocheted by my Great-grandma Wanda Orlofski Goldthorpe (Grandma Nance's mother). I was blessed to have known her as a child. She lived in Salt Lake City in the Avenues and near the very end of her life, she moved in with her daughter and my grandmother in Springville. My Great-grandmother's family was originally from Poland and spoke German in the home and grew up in Chicago, IL.Lovely crochet edges and needle point on a pillowcase. The work was done by my Great-grandmother Goldthorpe's sister.
Beautiful and delicate lace doilies made by my Great-great grandma Warner. She was my Great-grandma Beardall's mother. My parents lived up in Salt Lake in the basement of her home. She passed away in 1975 and then my Grandma Beardall came up and lived in the upstairs of the home and helped take care of her father. I was born in 1977 and we lived in their basement until my grandfather passed away in 1979.

Written by Loved Ones

I have always been a firm believer of writing things down. I kept a journal growing up and when I got older I saved emails and letters I wrote to people for my own personal history. Now I have my blog. I know what a blessing these life stories can be to us and to our posterity. I treasure these written collections as much or many be even just a bit more than the hand crafted projects. There is power in the written word and I am excited to one day soon publish my blog, so I have a neatly bound record of our happenings and my thoughts during this stage of life. Rich's mom is a very talented poet. She often would make up rhymes for their families Christmas card. I am always amazed at her quick wit. Later Rich's sister Heather has written poems for her cards and his little brother Danny gave one to his parents this Christmas. It seems like mother like child. Too bad Rich didn't inherit this unique gift.What started out as my brother Jeff's 50 hour school project soon became my mom's big project for a few years. She collected histories from each of her siblings and parents, found photographs, LDS family group sheets, and went through old books that contained life histories from my grandparents from long ago. What a priceless book this is to me and all who know and love these people. Later she also complied the Nance history, but my Grandma Nance preferred her to put them in 3 ring binders so it could be added to instead of a hardcover, bound edition.This book is a compilation of letters from Rich's paternal grandparents. Both Grandpa and Grandma have bound copies of the their life histories.
My Great-great grandpa Warner, whom I had the privilege of living with when I was young, was a writer and printer. Long before Blurb and other printing venues, he printed his life history into a book. I was one of the few lucky ones that obtained my very own copy.