MERRY CHRISTMAS MEGAN!
Megan, our older sister Amy and I exchange gifts each Christmas. A few years back, I think it was me that had the brilliant idea that we should make gifts for each other instead of buy. It has been fun, and I like it way better, but it does cause some stress and anxiety... This year for Megan I made these...
UNION JACK MINI QUILT AND PILLOW
I believe we have mentioned that we are half Brits? My Dad came over on a giant ship when he was 17 all by himself! Several years later he met and married my Mom and had 7 children. We get sad that we were not raised there, think of how darling our accents would be after all? Needless to say, we have a fondness for all things British!
The problem is, all of us kind of stress the whole year about it. With best intentions of having it done months early (that hasn't happened once by even one of us!), we normally are sewing up until the we hours of dawn of the last possible night. One year we even just all decided to call it off and did nothing for each other because we were all so behind and stressed, sad!
I got this super fun darling mini wonky union jack pattern from Jennifer from All Things Belle in her etsy shop. Paper piecing is fun and I am liking it more and more...thank you Jennifer!
If I am being perfectly honest, I hated giving the mini quilt away! I wondered if the pillow would be enough on its own. I love the mini! I got inspired from Erin of Why Not Sew and all her darling mini quilts, I pretty much stole her little birdy shape. When we discovered Erin's mini's last year, Megan said "I want you to make me one of those for Christmas!" (Commit to memory) I think she loved it at least...
And this fun pillow I made for my sisters and my Mom, now I just need to make one for me! I got this pattern here. Hope you all like these as much as I do!
And only if you are curious, check out this link to Megans family blog, scroll to the bottom of the post. She made this cute video to Beatles music of video of our young Daddy, around minute 4 you can see him on his ship. Makes me cry! Can you imagine sending your 17 year old off to live in another country, especially way back then, they didn't have money...they knew they would rarely see him...just sad and sweet, nothing crafty or quilty about it :)
WOW, that mini quilt is AWESOME! LOVE it...and the stories. How fun!
ReplyDeletei'm glad you weren't raised in england (how would i have met you guys?!) but it would be super cute if you had the accents. work on that ;)
ReplyDeletethe birdies are my favorite!! love how they are perfectly looking up at the flag! all of it turned out darling.
xo!
What an amazing story and home movie. Your mini wonky union jack is awesome! I hope your mom and sisters loved their gifts. :)
ReplyDeleteI love your mini quilt and the story about your dad. Now I feel REALLY old after reading that 1964 was "way back then." I was 15 in 1964:)
ReplyDeleteI love both of these and especially the mini quilt! I have English heritage as well, however, my ancestors came to America prior to the founding of the country. I also had neighbor growing up that came from Britain. His children both talked with an accent that blended his British and their mother's Midwestern. Pretty unique though they were teased endlessly for it.
ReplyDeleteSO cute! Fabulous idea to make gifts...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful work! I adore the birdies and how the union jack is designed! I good on ya for parting with everything :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE both of these. I am British - was born in England and moved to Canada when I was 7. Sadly, I lost my accent because I was teased so much by my peers :( I have a whole board on Pinterest devoted to Union Jacks and other things British.
ReplyDeleteI love your mini quilt and pillow. And your family story. Thanks for sharing both with us.
ReplyDelete