“Quiet at Last”

October 5, 2014March 14, 2016thegreensheep 4 Comments

Many times when I begin a blanket, I begin simply with a group of sweaters that look beautiful together. I know that in the process of combining them, they will inform me of what they’re all about. I love diving into a project, trusting the materials to lead me. At some point we become partners: if the end doesn’t immediately satisfy, I keep pressing until it does.

I recently had several blue and gray sweaters strewn about my work area from the little boy blankets I’d been sewing. I kept thinking how I’d love a big blanket in those colors. So I sliced them up and started putting them together. These colors felt extraordinarily calming from the start.

The blue and gray were nice on their own — but a little more drama was called for. I added the charcoal pieces and found a charcoal sweater in cashmere to make into the bias binding.

Then I enclosed the blues and light grays by darker gray all around the edges. That’s when I felt it: You know that calm that falls at the end of the day when the kids are in bed, the house is nearly quiet, and you can finally think again? When the day and its din are drawing to a close? When your bed beckons to your tired body, and the blessed hope of rest whispers “Let go”?

Of course, in a few more hours the next day will begin with its own needs — that is the rhythm of our lives. I suppose there’d be an element of boredom without that.

But I’m eminently grateful for the rest in between.

“Quiet at Last” (54″ x 72″)

This blanket already has a home.

Happy birthday, Februarians!

February 28, 2014November 17, 2015thegreensheep 7 Comments

Quick, before February is gone (although it is NOT going to be missed this time around!) I need to post one more thing. February is not a popular month to many, in spite of (and perhaps beCAUSE of) the presence of Valentine’s Day. But I happen to generally think very highly of it. February is my birthday month.

And this year I had in mind a gift I wanted to make for myself. This sweater coat had actually been forming itself in my mind for several weeks. After all that mental cooking, I put it together in a weekend. I drew the pattern off a store-bought jacket I have, then just went from there. It’s not perfect, but it was so much fun to do.

Happy birthday, fellow Februarians! We’ve got to hang together!

“G is for Griffin” — and gondola too

December 13, 2013July 12, 2014thegreensheep 7 Comments

In September, I received an email from Sandi out of the blue:

“I have had the luxury of napping with our grandson under one of your wonderful blankets.” I’d be fibbing if I said that didn’t make my day.

Sandi did some exploring about The Green Sheep and then she wrote me. She said she had a brand new grand nephew and was hoping for a similar blanket for him. And she surprised me by attaching a photo in that very first email of little Griffin’s bedroom.

Okay. Now this little guy’s bedroom has some wonderful creativity behind it. Rising on the wall by the crib is a hand-painted mural of stunning tall, gray, snow-capped mountains. Fluffy white clouds hover above them. And strung between two peaks is a red gondola, ferrying people through this majestic scene. That gondola is irresistible.

Then I heard the story of Griffin’s parents and how the great outdoors brought them together.

His father is from California and his mother is from Wisconsin, and she moved out west after college. But the event that caused their paths to cross was a little random. She was on a rafting trip at Lake Tahoe with girlfriends. The women got stuck — but were happened upon by some young men who helped free them. Among that group of guys was … well, the rest is history for this particular couple.

The gray and the blue in this little baby blanket were an easy match to Griffin’s bedroom. And as I pondered what style of monogram to add for his name, the red of that gondola stayed with me. The “g” of the typefont “Open-Dyslexic” by Abelardo Gonzalez adds a good-natured grin.

Welcome to this beautiful, amazing world, Griffin. Welcome to an incredible place to explore, with parents who will probably teach you how. I can imagine that tantalizing gondola on your wall carrying your imagination to far-away places.

“G is for Griffin” (38″ x 35″)

This is a custom-order blanket.

Tuesday Treat

December 3, 2013July 12, 2014thegreensheep 8 Comments

In January 2013, I accepted a challenge from a friend on Facebook. In the “Creative Pay-It-Forward Challenge,” the first 5 people to comment on my friend’s status would receive from her, sometime during the year, a GIFT! Those commenters agreed to re-post the status and thus pass a gift on to others. The idea tickled my fancy and I signed up.

I had a few people indicate interest, but only one who carried through: my high school girlfriend, Cindy. Here we are on our flag team in high school — the mid-1970s in Southern California. Put a flag in my hand today and I’m SURE I can still work it. (Cindy’s on the front right; I’m on the far left.)

Not only was Cindy a fellow flag twirler, she happened to have the distinction of being the first among my friends with a driver’s license. I was a frequent passenger in her sky-blue Pinto.

Since I haven’t seen Cindy in person for many years, I asked her what her interests are these days. What do you know: she likes to sew. I knew right then what I wanted to give her.

Whenever I do handwork with needle and thread, I grab my old sewing pouch to bring my supplies to the sofa, where I can sew under a good light and in front of TV. But I curse that little pouch — it’s black (it’s hard to see and I always prick my fingers on the needles) and it’s got a zipper (which is forever eating thread ends and getting stuck).

So for Cindy’s gift, I did some free-style sewing, piecing together the kind of little kit I’d love to have: places for a cutter, seam-ripper, ruler, thread, pins and needles, all out where I can find them easily.

Of course you figured it out: the sky blue in this sewing book harks back to Cindy’s much-revered Pinto. I bet I still owe her gas money. Cindy, for you: I had fun making something new while thinking back on some great, great times!

“Tiger Tracks”

September 12, 2013July 12, 2014thegreensheep 9 Comments

While the weather can’t make up its mind these days — a regular occurrence for northern Illinois — fall is definitely pressing in to push summer on.

When I retrieved the newspaper this morning, I noticed the trees across the street turning mottled yellow-orange. It surprised me with all the heat we just had.

On a recent evening walk, my husband and I saw geese overhead, soundless this time but for their wing strokes. And this weekend, we’re driving up to Wisconsin for a 30th anniversary gift to ourselves. I look forward to see the coming of autumn there too.

While mother nature’s delivery of fall can lag and tease, there are two other things that escort this season DIRECTLY to us without messing around:

SCHOOL

and

FOOTBALL.

Can I get an “Amen!”?

So I’ve got a combo pack for you in today’s blanket. It was custom-ordered by a mom who was thinking of those two things when she imagined this gift for her son.

Laura found The Green Sheep online. She asked me to design something for her son Bennett who was about to head off for his freshman year at University of Missouri. Her first child, going off to college! She wanted something special to send with him, something school-related, something sports-related.

Here’s the Mom low-down: Bennett loves sports. He finished high school on the varsity baseball team. He loves hanging out with friends. He likes the sciences and is considering how he might use that in his future.

Bennett also had his heart set on Mizzou and was eager to get there. So Mom Laura decided to go for the Mizzou theme and mascot: the Tigers. Then Laura decided to give me a jump-start on this blanket — she did the resale rummaging herself to find the right school colors: black and gold. She loved it!

“Tiger Tracks” is a BIG blanket, big enough to be a bedspread for a dorm bed or to be available as a throw for a college-sized guy.

For Bennett, I hope your freshman year is nothing less than GREAT! (For a perfect start, the Tigers football team is 2-0 so far!) For Laura, I saved a tiger paw to make you a potholder — a small tangible reminder of your son, who, though several hours away, is always in his mom’s heart :)

“Tiger Tracks” (70″ x 93″)

This is a custom-order blanket.

“Fullness of Peonies”

August 22, 2013July 18, 2014thegreensheep 9 Comments

It’s been my delight in recent weeks to create another “legacy blanket” from, as it happens, another beautiful Irish sweater.

The pieces with the diamonds (above) and the chevron (below) — that’s the Irish one.

Each time I work on one of these blankets (like here, here, here, and here) I am moved by the complexity, wonder, and organic force of legacy within a family. I hear about these things when an individual brings a sweater and says, “My dad passed away, but I’d love to have his wool sweater put into a blanket for my mom. Will you do that?”

Mary, one of six kids in her big, lively family, found my work online while exploring what to do with her late dad’s sweater. She emailed, asking if I could make a blanket for her mom, Barbara. I replied (“Of course!”) and asked, as I always do, if I could briefly interview her by phone about her parents.

This is one of my favorite parts of the process. It’s where ideas begin to germinate.

Mary not only talked with me, she sent a couple photos of her parents’ den, a long-time favorite hang-out of the entire family. WOW. A picture and its thousand words cannot be beat. I particularly fell in love with a sepia-toned vintage map of Europe above the red couch, hung next to a classic print of a horse and rider.

The blanket took its shape around what I learned of Mary’s family, her mom, her dad, and that welcoming den.

Mary’s dad, a college professor, became a US Congressman in the ’60s and moved his family near Washington D.C. He and his wife not only raised their family and served their state and country together, they co-authored books! There’s a lot to admire there.

Barbara is a capital-G Gardener, with related offshoot activities: she has led garden tours as a docent and helped launch (I believe — my notes grew sketchy here) a neighborhood garden club. I got the feeling she loves to be around both gardens and people.

Confirming my suspicions, her daughter reported that Barbara adores having a house full of people :)

And so it came together: the neutrals to match the masculine sensibilities in the den, the flowers to match the warm red furniture, the fullness of peonies to match this mom and her family full of generations, interests, activities, loves,…legacy. To Barbara, Mary, and the family: I hope this blanket represents your family well :)