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| "Thinking of You" tag on The Marion Pillow pillow and photograph by Nita Lou Bryant |
for Charlotte
This one's personal.
My brother's wife is in the hospital for an extended stay, in a city that's a five-hour drive from where I live--a trip that I'm unable to make anytime in the near future. I've talked on the phone with both my sister-in-law and my brother; I've sent flowers and handmade greeting cards, but I wanted to send my sister-in-law something more tangible that she could hold onto. So I made her a soft pillow (see photo, below).
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| The Marion Pillow pillow and photograph by Nita Lou Bryant |
I started by piecing together some floral-print fabric scraps in colors I thought my sister-in-law would like. For the back (see photo, below) I chose purple.
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| The Marion Pillow (back) pillow and photograph by Nita Lou Bryant |
As I sewed and pressed and trimmed, I considered what image to include in the design. As frequent readers of this blog know, I am ever enamored of incorporating into my sewing projects photographic images via fabric transfer. I tried to think of something that would be a comfort to look at, something that would remind my sister-in-law of love and home and family. So I went to my stash of old photographs and chose this one of Marion, my mother, taken when she was a young woman. (See photo, below.)
My mother's no longer living, but she and my sister-in-law were close for many years and spent lots of happy hours together when they lived in the same town. I happen to think that my mother's face is one of the sweetest, most comforting visages a person could find, especially if you were fortunate enough to have known her. So I framed her photo with wide pink grosgrain ribbon, top-stitching all around it, and filled the finished casing with just enough--but not too much-- fiberfill because I wanted to keep this pillow soft and huggable.
I put it in the mail to my sister-in-law yesterday, and it should get to her before Sunday.
Then she'll have Marion at the hospital, keeping her company.
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| The Marion Pillow, close-up view of front pillow and photograph by Nita Lou Bryant |
