For My Valentines: Fabric + Paper Love

I love sharing the Fabric + Paper Valentines that I have made for my friends and family! I have made them for Valentines, birthdays and other special occasions as well. 

I've mailed or given away all of my sweet little cards, except for these shown above. These are on display on my childhood treadle sewing machine. The same sewing machine that I learned to sew on as a young girl growing up in Alaska.

My beloved treadle belonged to my paternal grand-mother to Alaska when she and several female cousins  immigrated from Finland and traveling to New York and its immigration center on Ellis Island then by railroad that brought her across America on a steamship to Juneau, Alaska. 

Here, she found my grandfather, another Finnish immigrant who was from her own small town in Finland, who was living across from Juneau on Douglas Island. 

In the early 70's their house which we moved into in the 1950s our house was  destroyed by fire that took all but the foundations of our home and a few belongings. This treadle survived though singed and its beautiful old wood was smoke and fire damaged but it still survived amidst the burning, collapsing rubble that was once our home. 

Oh, how I loved that old treadle. I played with it when I was very young, and figured out how to use it at age 8 when I taught myself to sew simple pieces of clothing whether for me or my dolls.

I had it shipped to Oregon when we could and it is one of my most prized possessions. On it, I place some of my quilts or vintage doilies with seasonal displays. It's a fun seasonal display area and one my little grandchildren often stop half way up the stairs to check it out.

It represents my heritage, my ancestry, and the past events that have shaped who I am, what I love, and all that I do. I treasure old things as much as I welcome in the new.

Because it has been damaged i no longer use it for my everyday sewing. I use my 1964 pale green (reads as off white) Singer Featherweight for my special art projects and my Husqvarna Quilt + for clothing and quilting as well as home decor items like window coverings. table and counter cloths, hotpads etc.

But to be honest its my artsy projects 
that bring me a lovely break and make my heart sing and fingers dance.

I made the decorated heart items as well as these Valentines and each year I change up a bit what this vintage train case displays.

Here, the antique train case that I received as a gift from my youngest daughter is holding the remaining Valentines that I have kept for this purpose as well as other laces, hearts and sweet momentos.

And below, are some of the most recent ones that I have created from more of my bits and bobs of fabric, laces and trims. This one for my oldest daughter and her partner. Made with great love and wild abandon as I sat and sewed on a vintage sewing machine blending the old with the new.

I call what I do 'graffiti' quilting. I sew as quickly and as wildly as I can with utter free motion abandon and all ends left flying in the breeze.  The wind, if you remember, carries our loving wishes across the miles whether the messages are our thoughts or in my case, my artistic creations of prayer flags or Fabric + Paper Art Cards.

This one for my youngest and her partner. Again, adding whatever bits and pieces I love and ones that I hope they will, as well..front and back.

And repeated photos of ones made this past week. I use cardstock, a variety of fabrics, laces and trims as you can see. All of their sewing is done on my Singer Featherweight. 

 

If I do an extra fun job, when I look at the photos, I can't tell which is a front and which is a back as they are all decorative in different ways.

So, I look for my wild zig zag seam in the middle and if its on the left it's a front, and on the right, it's a back.  :-

  

 

   

And to you reading here, all of my very best wishes for a wonderful day and a lovely Valentines Day and month of February.