heirloom pillows

My mom and I were cleaning out some old boxes in storage and found all these beautiful quilt squares that my great-grandmother had sewn.




Aren't these hand-stitches amazing? I can't imagine all the time it took to make these. They are just beautiful.



Apparently, they used to sew patchworks onto newspaper to keep them together. The old newspapers were so neat to read. They were sewn around Christmas in 1948.
Can't you just imagine her sitting in a rocking chair, sewing these by hand next to the stove, thinking of all the last minute Christmas gifts that needed to be finished - I'm totally imagining Little House on the Prairie :)





My sewing skills are not near ready for a quilt, so I decided to take a couple of them and make them into pillows. This was my first time using piping! I added some more of my $1 Dirt Cheap sheet for the back. Not perfect, but I think they're fun and I love the reminder of family.



And here's another project on to sewing to do list - a bigger-than-normal pillow for James to use on the couch. My 2nd time to use piping - you can totally see my white thread in places because I don't have a zipper foot, but James doesn't seem to mind.

One more thing off the list!