What would you say is the BEST gift you have ever made? For any reason? It doesn't have to be the one you worked the hardest on, but the one you felt best about.
For me, I made all of my nieces matching nightgowns out of pretty long underwear type fabric (the waffle looking knit) when they were young. To this day, they still ask me for yet another one. No other gift I've made seems to have made such an impact.
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My Dad treasured the bathrobe I made him in his favorite color, blue, for more than 36 years. But, I most remember the Christmas I couldn't afford to go home (1000 miles), I made a counted cross stitch sampler for Mother of her father's business card, in colors to match the wallpaper sample I STOLE from my old bedroom. He drove a milk wagon as a young father and this was the text of the card and sampler:
A young man is in love and that's his business.
A young lady is in love and that's her business.
Soon they will get married and be wanting milk
and that's MY business. Below that was his name, address and a very short telephone number! I also sent her a wrapped box of Kleenex, which she needed!
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669111 xmas i bought john denver and miss piggy sheet sets. i made my daughter and a cousin miss piggy robes and laundry bags(pillow cases).the john denver got the same treatment for my husbands sister. everyone loved them! lynne
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5165Looks like you have brought many sweet memories to many cuties minds. Tks for that!! After my mom died, I took her bright red, wool coat with a faux collar & made both sons a bear with that fur appliqued in a heart on the belly; my daughter got one made from Mom's favorite nightgown..one of those silky on the outside & soft flannel on the inside. Picked the lace from around the collar off & made a collar for the bear. There's a sweet poem that goes with it about how the one that wore that loved you. I think my grown kids appreciated that more than anything I've made. Yeah, we all cried when I gave it to them.
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by justonlyme
09 Oct 2013
I love your story. I truly enjoy "something old" becoming something new. Especially when the "old" was from a dear loved one! Thank you for the memory!!
35675I don't know whether to laugh with shared joy or cry with shared sadness at the memories these stories have evoked. Such wonderful gifts that brought such wonderful and deeply emotional pleasure at the time of the giving.
This is a grand theme you started, justonlyme.
You know? I can't think of one single gift I've ever given that has meant anything like so much as the gifts in these stories, although I've been 'giving' all my life. However, there is one gift which made me so happy when I saw a photo of it some years later.......
I made my second son, Dominic, a warm quilt from old pure woollen squares, from offcuts of old $1 skirts I used to buy to make him little pull-up trousers, Grandma's favourite skirt, my long choir skirt, very ancient blue corduroy .... - nothing grand or special, just all memories and all scraps. The quilt turned out to be quite handsome and very warm. I had to wash the top and hang it in the hot summer sun to rid it of a lifetime of 'old smells'. Last year Dominic and his partner, both workers with refugees from war-torn areas, hosted a Sudanese family, parents and three children, in their tiny one-bedroomed flat. The children slept on the sitting room floor, snuggled warmly together beneath Dominic's quilt. They looked so angelic, safe and asleep, little dark heads peeping out. I only saw the photo on Dominic's cell phone so I can't put it here but the joy I felt to see that old quilt, bringing warmth and comfort and being shared in such a way and doing exactly the job for which it was created was beyond wonderful.
AlmaG.
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17214The one I had the most fun with...it was for a wedding I bought a reproduction vintage pedestal cake plate. I wanted to do something else so I crocheted a life size frosted cake pillow to put on the plate for a joke. It came out so cute!!! When I received the thank you they told me the cake plate was lovely but the cake was a little "stringy"...LOL
Muffy :)
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5172wow some interesting story's *****
As some of you might have been like i was*** "Daddys Little Girl"
Way back in the day he wore cowboy shirts and blue jeans ,.I made him a black and white small checkered shirt, and i could only sew on it for awhile at a time cause it made me dizzy trying to sew those checks When i gave it to him for Christmas he was beyond thrilled and Mom used to wash it and then he'd put it back on. Finally one day she asked me Carolyn could u please make your Dad another shirt ???I am so sick of seeing it on him and hearing him tell about you making it .So i did i made a plain red one .
That was the best reward(LOVE) i ever got from sewing anything i sewed..Thanks for listening to an old lady remember and of course cry!!
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by justonlyme
05 Oct 2013
What a huge compliment from your father! Your mother too, but in her own way. :)
360646The gift I made that had the biggest impact was a quilt I'd made for my brother. He's a huge NASCAR fan and at the time his favorite was Dale Jarret, number 88. I finally found Dale Jarret fabric online and added to it but the look on my brothers face and the reverence he had just touching it. He keeps it in the back of the couch and it's one of his prized possessions. I never dreamed it would be so important to him. I'll look around and see if I can find a pic to put in projects.
Meri
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15572A young girl was having sever health problems and was in ICU for quite awhile. I embroidered a design on an embroiderable lamb and sent it to her. She is much better now, but I had so much fun giving her something to hold while she recovered.
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6196My youngest sister is principal at a school for 500 birth to kindergarten. Last year one of the pre-schoolers drowned in a swimming pool while vacationing with his parents, but he was revived. His body, however, lives on with severe brain damage and will need constant care the remainder of his life. Sis was visiting me and asked if I had any ideas as to what she could donate to a benefit being held for him on behalf of herself and the school. I offered her this quilt that I had designed and made for someone some day. It brought $1,000 at silent auction. I believe it will always be the best thing I have done.
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3562I used to commute an hour 1 way so did a lot of hand work. One time I knitted by father a tie and he always wanted to wear that whenever he had to dress up. that was the best gift I ever gave someone.
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16707Before I found machine embroidery I did a lot of x stitch. When my daughter had to have her beautiful ridgeback put down I decided to make her a picture. I have a program that converts pictures to x stitch patterns. This picture hangs in her bedroom. Unfortunately the light on the glass takes away from the detail. Great question with such interesting answers.
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255054Quilts seem to be the theme here. I made my children a quilt that had a similar house shape in each block but themed for each month of the year. I put pieces of clothing from their great-grandmother, (whom they were lucky enough to know), my mother, me, their dad and both them as young children. They still touch each piece and look at me as they reminisce about those who have passed. My darling daughter hung hers on her bedroom wall beside the bed where she sleeps every night.
I was working more than full time when I made it, so I worked on them all weekend every weekend for a year.
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158717I hand embroidered a lap quilt for a friend who suffers from severe depression. She loves birds so I knew it would bring her pleasure. I backed it with machine embroidered designs of birds and birdhouses so both sides could be the right side. She still talks about it 3 years later.
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by justonlyme
05 Oct 2013
Doesn't that feel good? Almost all of the quilts I have made have been tucked away "for safety" but not at all used.
169064Hi Deanna, (it's nice we have 2 Deanna's on this site)
I've made many quilts in my life, but the one gift that stands out in my mind as the best gift, would have to be the one I made for my Dad. I did it in a mixture of white, dark reds, maroons and greens, and I embroidered the words (by hand!!!!!!!) "Dad, did you ever know that you're my hero?" from the line in the song by Bette Midler. Mum said when it arrived in Adelaide all those years ago - he cried! For me, hearing that, was the best thing I could ever imagine. I only saw my Father cry twice, once at his Mother's funeral and once when we were visiting them after he had major Rotator Cuff surgery (up near the top of the shoulder) and we were all heading back home to Newcastle. In those days we used to drive for over 2 days to get to Adelaide from Newcastle. Memories linger for a long time. Love Chris
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by justonlyme
05 Oct 2013
I love that story! Events such as these are the things that stick with us, and create such warm or strong memories.
234500I made my Mother a Quilt with her parents names on top and all the sibilings surrounding it...she loves it..they lost 3 sisters and both parents, so its nice to have all the names together for rememberence
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