In 2010 American Patchwork and Quilting began the 1 million pillowcase challenge. Eventually I was quite enthused with the idea and took a break from quilt projects to make these 15 colorful quilts. Donations are made to local groups and I turned mine in to a quilt shop who distributed them to one of our Children's Hospitals. Don't you wonder how many quilts have been donated to this challenge? You can go to the APQ website http://www.allpeoplequilt.com and follow the updated count which as of today is...drum roll...628,874.
This weekend Sept 18-19 APQ is sponsoring a nationwide 24-hour sewathon to help meet their 1 million goal. Their website and Facebook page have details, patterns, and answers to questions on how you and your community can be involved.
After making the APQ cases I wanted to make more using the easy French seam method. For my granddaughter I made Hello Kitty, snowflakes, Care Bears, soccer, daisies, and constellations. At Christmas one year I made individualized cases for my seven nieces and nephews. A group requested darker colors for the military deployed to Afghanistan and I made several. The interest for personalized cases is still out there as evidenced by the kits I still see at shops and shows. Cute, but I'm not a kit person and prefer to make my own selections.
After making the APQ cases I wanted to make more using the easy French seam method. For my granddaughter I made Hello Kitty, snowflakes, Care Bears, soccer, daisies, and constellations. At Christmas one year I made individualized cases for my seven nieces and nephews. A group requested darker colors for the military deployed to Afghanistan and I made several. The interest for personalized cases is still out there as evidenced by the kits I still see at shops and shows. Cute, but I'm not a kit person and prefer to make my own selections.
Thinking about pillowcases brought to mind embroidery projects with my mother. We bought inexpensive white pillowcases when I was about 10 years old. You could choose the pre-printed design that interested you and then pick out as many embroidery floss colors as necessary. The color options were your own. I don't recall any specific directions. I picked simple butterflies and flowers, something like this one. We used a small hoop to hold the case as we sewed and Mother taught me many stitches: Lazy Daisy, backstitch, French Knot, satin stitch, etc. Hiding the beginning and ending threads without making big knots wasn't so easy. It took quite some time to finish one pillowcase and then I realized there was one more to complete the pair. Our finished projects looked so sweet on the bed. After many washings, the white cases thinned and became too threadbare to use. Not wanting to throw away all our hard work, we stored the cases in the closet in the event we could repurpose them.
Similar to this lace edge case, my grandmother crocheted or tatted beautiful edges on her pillowcases. When the cases were completely worn out she was able to remove the handmade lace from some for reuse. I inherited some of her strips along with several doilies.
Hand crafted pillowcases, vintage or new, are a treasure.
"In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone,
O LORD, make me to dwell in safety." Psalms 4:8
Hand crafted pillowcases, vintage or new, are a treasure.
"In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone,
O LORD, make me to dwell in safety." Psalms 4:8