Heirloom Hankie by Sue Pelland

When I saw the theme for the heirloom challenge I immediately thought, "heirloom tomatoes" just like Susan Freund did.  Then I went to search my fabric bins for tomato colors, rich reds, oranges, yellow and greens.

In one of the bins, not at all where it belongs, was this vintage hankie.  This is not a family heirloom, I have never been lucky enough to have any precious heirlooms handed down to me by my ancestors.  I bought it at the Sturbridge textile show when I went last year with Donna Hopkins.  But it did make me think that it was someone's family heirloom once.   Maybe the person who bought it didn't have a daughter or granddaughter that would appreciate such a lovely textile.  So am glad I rescued it, and gave it new life as a table topper.  I want to get a beautiful Tiffany lamp to put in the center of the topper, and place it on a square antique table.  This beautiful vignette that I am dreaming of reminds me of my grandmother's house.

If any of my ancestors had thought ahead, they would have left me these precious family heirlooms!  I guess I will have to  shop antique stores and create my own heirlooms and stories to go with them!  With my luck, my daughter won't appreciate the topper, the lamp or the table.  I hope they don't end up at an antique store when I am gone!

novelty heirloom

 This little project is a vintage linen napkin that was hand dyed.  I used wool scraps and purl cotton threads to create the freeform design.  The embroidery was done using threads Sharon had given me from a vintage sewing basket.

Below is another heirloom piece I had started for this challenge, but unfortunately I waited too long to quilt it after marking it with my air erase marker.  

You can find additional information on my blog here.

Heirloom

old quilts, thread, and fabric

sewing machines, needles and bobbins

lace, silk ribbons, and fancy gloves

Not everyone's idea of heirlooms but suits me just fine.

Remembering the remarkable women who have passed their treasures 

along to me.

Heirloom

This is what I think of when I hear Heirloom: Crazy Quilt, old laces, and Mother of Pearl buttons.  The Piece is 14" square. The fabrics are an assortment of fibers with the only qualification being that they were gray or black.

Heirloom Tomatoes

When I heard the challenge word, I immediately thought of heirloom tomatoes....maybe because I'm totally consumed with my garden right now? I threw this together last night, had problems with my sewing machine, and had problems loading it to the blog..........ugggggg........ but now I can hang it in my laundry room and enjoy the thoughts of juicy, flavorful, home grown tomatoes all year long. :)