Remember When Studio
  • Home
  • GALLERY
  • Our Story
  • your heirloom
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • questions & quotes

Memories to Heirlooms

The Art of Gardening!

9/23/2019

2 Comments

 
Anna was an avid gardener and owned my home before me. She was in her 90s and tended the garden until her dying day. I never got to see the garden under her supervision it but had some idea of it when I took it over; 125 rose bushes, lots of unusual plants and flowers thriving where they had no business even growing. After I moved in, someone commented that the "The garden is so much more . . . free-flowing since you took over." I always loved that and how it helped me know that I was no longer simply tending her garden. I wish I had seen Anna's garden, but I have to believe she would like what I have done with it. For me, the art of gardening is:
  • Using plants that work 
    • Hardy varieties
    • Draws butterflies and hummers
    •  Drought-tolerant 
  • Avoiding chemicals
  • Not stressing over weeds (it makes people happy that know you have them too)
  • Creating pretty spaces
  • Incorporating art and humor, so people feel invited to enjoy it with you

​I hope you enjoy the tour!

Welcome to my garden!

A 3-d sign that says Garden on a brick wall with two bird houses near it.  To the left is a climbing hydrangea vine
Just incase anyone is not sure what they are looking at. Hee hee.
A blue door which serves as an trellis for a vine on the white siding of the house.  Below are pots of begonias and below the light on the wall is a mosaic of sunflower.
Entrance for backdoor friends
A crock  full of water with a spigot.  A pottery sign in front says
Water station for furry friends
a ceramic wall hanging of three peas in pod with a tendril.  All peas are smiling.  One is bald, one has sun glasses and one has a skateboarder's cut.
Give Peas a Chance!
A ceramic plaque with a 3D red gerbra daisy that reads
Ceramic plaque of a favorite quote.
Plaque reads
A house blessing at front and back door
A Yellow sunflower
Volunteer sunflower
Steps railing inset with a piece of stained glass of a thistle flower.
Banister to the back door
white house with a white window box full of  green, white and red caladiums, red cascading begonias and airy grass intermixed
Friend or foe? I did not plant this grass but love the texture it provides.
Large deep pink zinnia hosting a swallow tail butterfly
Zinnia and Swallowtail butterfly
3 ceramic free standing  sunflowers that range from 4.5 feet to 7 feet tall with large green leaves.
Sunflowers that grow anywhere!
4 foot ceramic red gerbra daisy with 3 green leaves and a pot.
Drought tolerant Gerbra Daisy
4
Drought tolerant daisy
Stained glass window of a sunflower above a a large pot of red begonias
Stained glass window and angel wing begonias
Spiky blue flowers on a green plant
Victoria Blue Salvia
a tan and white garage with 5 stained glass windows of single flowers
Stained glass in the garage
a wooden bird house with a celestial theme.  The top is blue ceramic
Jenny Wren home made by Carolyn Ellsworth Durrant 20 years ago.
A ceramic box birdhouse with a green slanted lid and a 3D dogwood branch detain not he front.
Pretty birdhouse where house sparrows are not welcome.
A plaque with a combination of words and images.
Fairy garden sign. May you touch stars and dragonflies, dance with fairies and sing to the moon.
Fairy garden house with a fairy sitting on top.  3 toadstools are behind.
Fairy garden
4 colorful cement leaves topped with fairy houses.
Fairy garden
2 Ceramic 3D birdhouse of Jean's Cats.
Bird houses
A clump of miniature black-eyed susans
miniature black-eyed Susans
A stained glass window of a stripped cat, Murry, Licking the head of tuxedo cat, Lenny.
Potting shed stained glass windows of the boys
A green white and gold mosaic gazing ball atop a 2 foot green cylinder.  Aside of it sits a mossy green ceramic bunny
My first tall pot and a gazing ball made from Grandma's smashed pepper grinder
A yellow calla Lilli flower in a field of white speckled green leaves.
Yellow calla lily that returns every year. I think Anna helps with that.
a mosaic, cement table top of a an ocean scene with a sail boat
mosaic table top
a garden bell that is straw yellow with a texture of dragonflies with a green leaf ringer and topped with  a red bird.
ceramic bird bell
White Oak Pottery
a path of round mosaic stepping stones, each made from broken pottery or glass
Where broken pottery comes to live.
A mosaic, cement table top with a kaleidoscope design of red, blue, yellow and green
Mosaic table top
my adorable neighbor dog who looks like a miniature wolf hound.
My neighbor/buddy Jake
A 12 inch square mosaic of a an orange and yellow sunflower with brown center, kaki green stem and leaves on a field of blue
Mosaic sunflower
allium garden sculpture of 3 garden stakes with a periwinkle blue spikes on top and bright green stems.
Allium Stakes - Gardener's Supply Company.
Gardeners Supply Company
A bird house of Jake's head with a red collar.
A birdhouse of Jake!
A Ceramic head of a yellow lab white a sign that says Tylor crossing.  Tylor was my neighbor's dog before Jake.
Tylor's walkway sign
a grouping of black-eyed Susans
Black eyed susans
Giant thistle flower in bloom with 5 large buds.
My giant Thistle/Cardoon!

Thanks for stopping by!

2 Comments

Remember When. . . we saved an old friend?

9/17/2019

0 Comments

 
My brother, Mike, tells the story about visiting Great Grandma and Great Grandpa when my beloved stuffed animal, Sleepy Cat, had been left at home. At bedtime, I was inconsolable because I had never slept without my dear friend. Great Grandpa, in his kind and quiet way, walked out of the room, returned with a big fluffy slipper, and handed it to me. Problem solved. 

​Sleepy Cat was with me well into my adulthood when she was well past her prime. 
I share this with you so you might understand that when I first saw Celia's Slippy Blanket, all worn and torn, I understood this was a well-loved, dependable, dear old friend.
Image of a white blanket with sagging filler and rips and tears.
Slippy Blanket when I received her.
Celia thought Slippy was lost for good but recently found it at the bottom of her childhood closet while helping her mother move. Celia claimed Slippy Blanket as a child when her parents didn't like how it slipped off their bed. She just loved it's slipperiness and has fond memories of its original gold background and pink roses. Several weeks after I received Slippy, Celia contacted me to explain how important the curved quilting (bottom left-hand corner of the above picture) was to her. She told me that as a child, she would trace the stitches with her finger. I had to look very closely to see what she meant, which only deepened my understanding of their bond. 
a torn seam in the blanket with some apparent repair work
some of the damage
A zig zagged repair through all layers
one of the repairs
As I started to work, I counted 5 past surgeries; from zig-zag to fine hand stitches to darning. For years, life has been breathed into Slippy Blanket, and now it was my turn. ​
Celia's primary wish was to restore Slippy to it's silky, fluffiness in either pink, grey or a combination of the two.

Fiber Identification

A fabric scrap being held over a candle
fabric scrap being burned in a candle
fabric scrap melting
fabric scrap melting
I knew Slippy was made from a synthetic fiber by its feel and durability. To determine which fiber I conducted a burn test. Conclusion: polyester because it melted to hard ash. (Fabric Mart has great instructions for conducting and evaluating a burn test.)

Fabric Dying

original color of the seam binding and Slippy scrap
original seam binding and Slippy scrap
Fabrics samples enter the dye bath
fabrics enter the dye bath
samples of the dye results of the binding and blanket scraps.  One charcoal grey and one Raspberry pink
finished samples
Did you know polyester fabric could be dyed at home? I didn't until I talked to the wonderful people at Dharma Trading Company. They told me about iDye Poly, and the results were fantastic. I sent the samples off in the mail and Celia settled on the raspberry color.
Off white Slippy Blanket parts and two bobbins of thread with the iDye Poly dye packet
Slippy Blanket and thread with dye packet
pale pink fabric held above the dye bath
entering the dye bath
Bright raspberry fabric floating in a large pot.
finished fabric
Slippy was dyed outside using a turkey fryer. It was great not to have the fumes in the house. I also dyed some small spools of cotton quilting thread to see if the whole spool would take the dye. Answer: Cotton does not take iPoly dye as polyester does.

The Puzzle

Designing on graph paper by drawing larger pieces on the paper and making cut out of the smaller pieces so they could be moved around.
design templates for front and back of blanket
Slippy was studied to determine how much usable fabric was available. Then it was graphed with movable "puzzle pieces" to determine how to remake Slippy as large as possible. Only once this was decided was any fabric cut.
Pieces of Raspberry fabric sewn together using a French seam which was folded and stitched resulting in  two parallel stitch lines.
seams
The pieces were sewn using a French seam, which encases the edges. Then the seam was folded to one side and stitched again, resulting in a strong bond and design detail.

Patching

5 dots of Slippy Blanket scrap fused down to another scrap.  Dots are marked to indicate which product is being tested.
patch test
Some of the fabric pieces needed to be patched or reinforced. Rather than sew down the patches, which would affect the feel, patches were fused using iron-on webbing. I tested 4 webbings: Heat and Bond, Light Wonder Under, Heavy Wonder Under and Ultra Hold Heat and Bond. For the test, each was fused to a scrap of fabric and washed with 5 different loads of laundry. Ultra Hold Heat & Bond had the best hold but stiffened the fabric. The other three all held well without impacting the feel, so I went with Heat and Bond. I applied it on the wrong side of the fabric at every place Slippy could use some reinforcement.

Putting it together

1 roll each of backing, batting and top.  Each is rolled on a pool noodle and unrolled as needed to pin it together.
combining 3 layers
Slippy Blanket laying flat and being pinned together through all 3 layers using safety pins.
pinning the layers
Lenny, a tuxedo cat, looking over the progress as the blanket is being sewn.
quality control
  • Quilter's Dream Batting Company sent samples of all their batting options, and we choose Quilter's Dream Puff Batting to give the most loft possible.  
  • Each layer of the quilt was rolled onto its own Pool Noodle so that it could be unrolled as needed avoiding folds and puckers. It worked great! Next, the layers were pinned, and marks and reinforcements were placed where the quilt would be tied. 
  • Finally, the binding was added as Lenny supervised. I always check with clients to see there are any issues with the "staff" performing their duties or if they should be on vacation for a project.

Slippy Reborn

Finished Slippy Blanket, Raspberry fabric with a shinny raspberry binding, tied together every 10 inches.  A pocket is in the lower right corner.  The blanket is draped over a bench outdoors.
finished front
Raspberry blanket with shinny binding and white knot tails every 10 inches.
finished back
3 inch by 4
pocket with rose button
Two 3 inch blankets.  One with curved quilting and one with a rose button in the center.  Each has the fluffy batting inside.
finger blankets
Slippy ended up being a good-sized quilt  tied with white wool yarn. The pocket in the corner is large enough to hold Slippy's Story Starter as well as Celia's chapstick and worry stone. The button is a vintage yellow rose button reminiscent of Slippy's faded roses and the roses from Celia's childhood bedroom.   Two "finger" blankets were also made for Celia to keep in her pocket when life gets tough.

Best wishes to Celia and Slippy for a long and happy life together.

Have a beloved keepsake that is past its prime? Contact me so we can discuss the possibility of giving it new life!
0 Comments

    Author

    Jean is the owner and designer for Remember When Studio.  

    Archives

    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Home

Gallery

OUr Story

YOur Heirloom

Blog

TESTIMONIALS

QUESTIONS & QUOTES

Remember When Logo
Jean Gerdes
​(717) 492-6251
Copyright © 2018 all rights reserved
  • Home
  • GALLERY
  • Our Story
  • your heirloom
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • questions & quotes