Church Dinners and Diamonds

Monday night! You know what THAT usually means...an evening at my 94 year old mother's home. Time for the weekly ritual of vacuuming, bathroom scrubbing, and filling of the three bird feeders. Tonight also included threading of the needle on the sewing machine. Being totally blind in one eye and mostly blind from macular degeneration in the other eye - threading the Bernina needle is impossible for her to do. She is a woman with a mission and needs that machine in working order!

Every spring and fall church dinner she appliques a simple fruit or vegetable to ten flour sack kitchen towels. She has done this for YEARS! The church's spring dinner is approaching fast and she has one towel left to complete! In addition to the applique - each towel is machine embroidered with 'Sacred Heart Church' - just in case a dishonest church dinner volunteer would think about taking one of the drying clothes home with them. It will be ever so easy for the towel police to identify the stolen sack cloth! Also the parish priest gets his own towel - his name embroidered and a special applique. This year his towel sports an appliqued blue ribbon with a #1 embroidered in the medallion of the ribbon.

When I made the trip to the farm implement store to purchase the towels I bought an extra package for me. She handed me my bundle and I said, "What? The church people get fancy towels and you expect your own daughter to use plain unadorned sack towels? You just get busy and decorate mine too. It'll keep you out of the street gangs and away from the bars!" In response I got the expected response of, "Well NANCY!"

When I was over there tonight she already had the fruits, veggies, and one giraffe, iron-on appliqued on to MY towels. Once she completes the zig-zagging of the final church towel she will finish up mine. Ahhh...great memories and great TOWELS!

detail

Bloomin' Diamonds
~Base card  - Papertrey Ink Kraft
~Layer of DCWV The Pocket Full of Posies
~Layer of fabric eyelet trim (transfer of crap from my mother's house)
~Free digital image from Just Some Lines colored with Copics, highlighted with Stickles Diamond, tallest flowers dotted with rhinestones, bottom of cardstock smudged with lime green ink, top of white cardstock smudged with blue ink
~Prima flowers embellishments with sparkle metal brads, tips of flowers dotted with Stickles Diamond
Challenges
Aly's Sunday Challenge - Bling
I Did It - Bling
Bunny Zoe Crafts - Spring
Craft Your Passion - Use Pink
Alphabet - O is for Orange
Mami - flower

Thanks for clicking by.
All good wishes,
Nancy in Iowa