The blanket of snow keeps getting deeper, and rather than taking the week to paint, it just felt right to sew. I am kind of going crazy, sewing any loose piece of fabric I can find into something. I'm threatening to make Christmas pageant outfits for all the animals, but Martyn has suggested I focus on one outfit which we will present to Guinness on his arrival.
I made this doll and pillow for my mother. When my father died in March, I took all his neckties and socks and hankies. He loved fine fabrics and always had beautiful ties from Italy. I saved the one he wore to my wedding, and one other that he bought while in my company which had a horse on it. This little pillow is made of the ties I took home with me after the funeral, and the little doll is made of his socks, and her dress is a beautiful silk tie.
I had a nice day making these, and felt him as I sewed. The solid color knit ties were his every ties he wore to work. As I sewed, the snow fell, just like it did in a memory of a Minnesota day...my father smoking his pipe in his big chair, my mother cooking with wonderful spices, a distant TV from my brother's room, and a little black dog long gone.
He loved wrapping Christmas gifts in artistic fashion, to the point that our wrapping each year became a tradition. As I sewed, I often took time to just hold those ties, as if he was right here with me, like the memory in my head and heart.
