Monday, January 21, 2013

Grandpa’s Pillows

A few months after my Grandpa passed away, while my cousin Valerie and I were helping my Grandma sort through some of his things, I was inspired. While we could have donated his clothes to Goodwill or let my boy-cousins sort through for things they would want, I had an idea of what could be done: pillows. Pillows made from some of my grandpa's old ties, shirts, and handkerchiefs.

Originally, I had the plans to make them in the style of a "crazy quilt" -- odd shapes and sizes. This proved to be 1) too time consuming and 2) not the right design for the materials. After hours of cutting, pinning, and sewing (and 3 football fields worth of thread), here are the fruits of my labor:

First row: the first 2 pillows I made. When sorting through Grandpa’s items, I came across several of the LIFE roses. Grandpa always had a rose secured to his suit coat. The rose represents the Knights of Columbus campaigns to defend the right to life. A fitting reminder of his Catholic faith and life of service. Additionally, I came across 13 of Grandpa’s campaign buttons when he ran for the Iowa House of Representatives.

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As you can see, the tie styles span the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

The backs of the pillows were made with “USA” material obtained from my Grandma’s fabric closet. It was a fitting choice; my grandpa loved America.

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On the left, is the pillow I felt was ‘most creative.’ I love the blend of the denim shirt and the ties. It’s a fitting representation of a farmer-turned-representative.

The pillows on the right have embroidered “K” handkerchiefs, in addition to the shirt/tie combo.

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Now, every Kremer cousin, aunt, uncle and Grandma Ellen have their very own “Grandpa Joe” pillow. It such a fun labor of love!

2 comments:

pjcolando.com said...

Terrific, fantastic, and lovingly creative! I love every one of them, just as you love everyone.

FYI, by coincidence I wore one of Larry's ties from his working days, loose around my neck like some kind of hard-working newspaperman. Perfect costuming for data collection for writing clinical reports for Bethesda Lutheran Homes clients, donchatink?

Write on, cutie

Farmgirl Chaos said...

Look at you, crafty lady! I love it! And these pillows are fantastic! What a treasure every Kremer cousin, aunt, uncle and Grandma Ellen will now have.
Keep on creating! :)