Making alphabet blocks

This has been a really happy, fun project. Last year in September our first grandchild was born and we have a darling little girl in our midst now. I didn’t rush to make things for her, but instead sat back and watched to see how parenthood and child rearing looks these days. Of course there are a mass of clothes, toys, equipment and ideas about it all. Some are still the same as when mine were little, some are new fangled and better than 35 years ago. Technology rules not just in terms of things like baby monitors, but also with advice at your fingertips on anything and everything to do with baby. When my daughter was pregnant, I told her some advice that a very wise and elderly GP gave me when I was expecting my first child : “In thinking about how you want to bring up your baby, look to your own childhood and think of all the things that you think were good, things that you might change and what are the cherished memories that made a difference. Then you have the formula for your own parenting plan”. These words stuck with me and I did try to put all of that into practice, bearing in mind, of course you have to put that all into the perspective of the time in which you live, the financial resources available and the modern ways of thinking due to scientific progress.

Knowing that I was to be a grandmother, set me thinking about my grandparents and what I could take from that, to carry forward for our grandchild. It was a pleasant pastime and interesting to think that so many years have passed and how simple life was back then.

I only remember my maternal grandparents. My paternal grandfather died long before I was born and my grandmother passed away when I was a toddler. I have virtually nothing to remember her by - either materially or emotionally (except a rocking chair and that is a whole other story, coming soon) and yet I am considered to be very like her in appearance and character - she was a needlewoman. My other grandparents are clearer and the memory of them is very dear to me. They lived by the sea in Sussex, which was a long way from Yorkshire. They had a pretty bungalow with yellow shutters and a large garden full of roses, that was my grandfather’s pride and joy and although we didn’t see them often - the summer holidays always brought a visit and all those days are a hazy, golden time in my mind. Home cooked meals, jigsaw puzzles, picnics on the beach, rambling over the Sussex Downs and blackberry picking and evening card games. It was always happy and my grandmother was always smiling and cheerful despite awful arthritis. She knitted a yellow cardigan for me every year for my birthday and it was worn until I had outgrown it and the next one came. My grandfather died when I was 11 and my grandmother ten years later. Like most people, I wish I could go back and speak to them again and ask them so many questions about their lives. Little written record of anything survives and a few old black and white photographs are all that is left to give me clues. So when I began to think about having a grandchild, I found myself forming some ideas of what I wish I had from my grandparents, both in the longer term and what I might make for ‘now’.

One idea which immediately sprung to mind were these lovely alphabet blocks in my favourite ‘Anna Maria Horner’ book. It seemed like a fun idea that could be built up over a period of time and something I could keep here for when she comes to visit. During the move I had uncovered some charm packs of fabric and these make a perfect pairing for this project.

The cross stitch charts are straight forward and it’s fun to pick colours for them. It is a nice little thing to have on your sewing table so that when you have the odd half and hour you can add stitch up a block here and there.

Making them up proved a little bit more trial and error. I used woven iron on interfacing on all pieces including the cross stitch panels. This added some stabiliser to help them keep shape. I found that it was necessary to use some heavy interfacing on the top and bottom of the blocks to help the rigidity and make it possible to stack the blocks when finished. I did try template plastic, but the edges were quite sharp then I tried ‘Decovil’ iron on stiffening, which is according to the label ‘leather like’ in feel. It is an excellent product, which I can see will be very useful for bag making. It feels flexible but firm enough so the blocks will be able to stack.

For the stuffing, I cut up all the loose pieces of batting left over from quilts. This was a great way to use up these as they are they are bulky to store. I literally chopped them into small bits and was astonished at how much was needed for each block.

They actually look really so pretty all together and of course you could just chose to spell the child’s name and pop them on a shelf. I still have plenty letters to do, but it’s a quiet background sort of task. When little Daisy came last week, it was so lovely to play with her with them. They are safe and colourful and really very cute.

I haven’t made all the letters yet, but this collection can be added to at anytime on a rainy afternoon and anyway, as maybe more little ones come along, there will be more names to make.

Dressmaking projects up next in the sewing room so hope to see you soon. Ruby x