Birthday Gifts!

For my Mammaw's birthday I made her a couple of things. I made the bowl this past summer at the camp where I teach. I had intended to give it to her for Christmas but ended up making her a few other things instead.

I was really pleased with how to glaze turned out. It barely ran at all during firing, which was awesome because our kilns were crazy.

The big part of her gift was this pillow. Years and years and years ago, Mammaw made a quilt. We had it when I was little, and I remember studying it because of all the stitching, the different fabric patterns, everything. You could tell it wasn't from the store, and that's why I liked it. I moved away to college and kept thinking about this quilt. I wanted to take it to the park when I would go on picnics. Eventually I ended up just taking it from my parents house because I knew it was just sitting in the closet. I love this quilt. Then a couple of summers ago, Mammaw gave me a foot stool that doubled as a sewing box. She had it in the garage for a while, and thought that maybe I'd like it. Of course I did. I opened it up, and low and behold, there were some unused pieces from the quilt! They were already pieced together, you could tell it was just a portion that had been trimmed during the final construction. There were two full squares, one that I'll use for myself, and this one which I used for hers.

I trimmed it as little as possible, and framed it out in some coordinating fabrics that I had on hand.

The fabric I used on the corners is so similar to the original print in the middle, but its not exact. I'm still amazed I had something that close on hand. For the back, I used some fabric from my Aunt Dolores that happened to be the same color scheme. Old fabric is seriously one of my favorite things.

Now I can't wait to make an almost matching one for myself!