Handmade Mom and Grandma Gifts

In an older post, I talked about making Christmas Stockings for all your family members as gifts or decoration.  This time, I want to just focus on gifts for Mom or Grandma, whether for Christmas, birthday, or Mother’s Day.  Most mother gifts can be easily turned into a gift for grandma with just a little added creativity.

One year for Christmas (December 1986),  I made my mom an apron with the hand sizes of her 9 grandchildren on it.  She wore it on a few occasions but never to actually cook in, as she was afraid she would stain it and it was one of her greatest treasures.  To make the apron, I had each of my brothers’ wives trace their kids’ hands and send them to me.  Then I traced them onto a white sheet, embroidered the hands in red and green (for Christmas, however you could do it in pink and blue for Mother’s Day).  Then I cut the apron skirt out, as well as a bib that I embroidered with the name she preferred the grandchildren to call her.  I then cut out ruffles and ties with along the bias.  I also added the date on one of the ties so we would remember how old each child was when it was made.  My mom got 4 more grandchildren years after the apron was given to her.  When we moved my mom closer to us and I was packing I found the apron in her stuff and packed it for the move.  Then after my Mom passed, I found the apron again and passed it on to one of the mothers whose child’s handprints were on it.

A similar gift we gave my mom was a purchased necklace that said “grandmother” and had baby shoes with the birthstones of her grandchildren on it.  That we kept adding birthstone booties to that until it was too heavy for her to wear.  She wore it often until then though because she liked it when people asked her about it and she could tell them about her grand-kids.

Other handmade gifts I have shared over the years with new moms were quilt blocks made for hanging on the wall.  These blocks included the applique Dutch boy or girl pattern with the child’s name and birth date embroidered on it.  Baby showers usually got crocheted booties, caps, or blankets.  Most of the people these were given to kept the handmade treasures even after the children outgrew them. 



No comments: