kate5kiwis: calico quilt

kate5kiwis

“If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth.” — Mitsugi Saotome

Friday, October 26, 2007

calico quilt

i love things that have a story. i love things that have history. i love things that are refashioned.

about fifteen years ago, we came across a delightful book called calico bear. it's about a homemade teddy bear that is given to a lovely little lad. as he gets older and outgrows bedtime bears, his mummy refashions it into a quilt. years later a young lady uncovers the quilt in the attic and refashions it into a little bear for a little girl, who is actually the little-boy-grown-up's daughter.

we've read and re-read and sung this beautiful story to all the 5kiwis for years, and it's the story i think of every time i make a quilt. i'm really excited cos i've finished Mnearly6's quilt, *five* days early!!!



it has history, sleeps, and much love woven into it. it's made from something old, and something new: pieces of fabric squares from Big Brother's quilt, fabric from Bigger Brother's quilt and favourite Pooh Bear sheet that he has grown out of but cannot bear to give away, and fabric from Biggest Brother's sheet that had all but worn out too.


of course there's a *secret pocket* on the back, joined to the old sleeping bag that i slept many childhood summers in, and it has *six* buttons, one for each candle on Mnearly6's cake (his name is appliqued onto the central blue tie-dyed piece, but i've camouflaged it in case there are any weird stalkers out there in the Virtual World, so if ya wanna see it IRL, you'll have to travel to our place, k?)...


for the whole of october, Mnearly6 has been counting down the *sleeps* until his Birthday day. we're down to five: five sleeps until the long-awaited quilt will be yours, with all my love, and your brothers' love too X

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well done, Katie! It is gorgeous and you are the Mama of all Mamas!

Yay for you and for Mnearly6 :)

8:43 PM  
Blogger twinmomplusone said...

beautifully done! hooray!

8 sleeps till my twins turn 6 ;)

2:36 AM  
Blogger Hay said...

Well done. I **LOVE** the secret pocket. You do realise by creating these beautiful, special traditions you are making one heck of a legacy for your poor daughter in laws lol. Oh teach me to sew my lovely Kate!!
Simply gorgeous, but now everyone knows M5's 'real' alias???
Oh, and we too are counting the days, in fact Ky just said...'Whens M's birthday again?'
We sent a little something yesterday, but the freakin post office is closing down or refurbing so they only had the HUGEST post bag ever, so I hope he doesn't get too excited upon arrival. Looks far more impressive than it is lol.

9:38 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

COOL
I love your story of Ms quilt
I love how his name is on it
Im sure hell get a lot of use out of it
and LOVE it

also like the sound of that boy might have to put it on my library list

9:44 AM  
Blogger skatey katie said...

hey, thanks for the love, girls.

hay
you had me freaking out, so i've posted *doctored* pix instead of the *name* ones...
i know, i am such an Anti-Stalker.

sewing is dead easy. all you need is a machine..... it's like driving a car, seriously, you just put your foot down and *go*!!!

7:25 PM  
Blogger Hay said...

I distinctly remember it being tricky when I was in high school. Something about bobbins and threading the machine was so confusing! :)

11:50 AM  
Blogger Liesl said...

It's a beautiful quilt for a beautiful lad. You're a wonderful mama, Kate :)

2:01 AM  
Blogger Setiuz Mama said...

Wonderful!!! There's nothing more to say!

11:20 AM  
Blogger BeachMama said...

Kate, your talents never cease. Such a gorgeous quilt and fashioned from so much love. Well done.

2:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ahhh...the calico bear quilt, it reminds me of our little Tyler ( who is now huge!) It's where we got his name ...love you folks

7:15 PM  

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