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My grandmother passed away over 4 years ago, but last year my mom gave me some things that belonged to my Grandma. Some of those things were lots of hoops. There were lots and lots of hoops, in different sizes. My grandma was very talented. These hoops were leftover from a candlewicking class she taught for years.
At first I wasn’t sure what I’d do with them and I was tempted to give them away. But then I had a couple of idea. I only have little ones left, but I have ideas for them too.
First, I used the 18-inch hoop to add some variety to my collage wall. Then, last week, I finally put my grandma’s 14″ hoops to good use! I made art for my master bedroom.
It was a long process to prepare all 16 hoops to be displayed. I ironed the fabric, inserted the fabric into the hoop, cut the fabric down to a half an inch poking out the back, then used masking tape to secure the fabric down and make sure it was hidden.
Of course, my kids were doing homework at the table while I was doing this. A mom is always multitasking.
I used a large 3M Velcro strip across the thick part of the hoop, which is all I needed to hang it because they’re really light.
My husband helped me hang them because I’m too short and it really was a two person job (he hung each one while I said helpful things like “rotate clockwise, rotate counter-clockwise, to the left, to the right”). We started with the bottom middle and went from there.
I was instantly in love with how it looked, even with nighttime lighting. The next day, when I looked at it with light streaming through the windows, I loved it even more. It is exactly what I hoped it would be.
This is how my bed looked last week with the mirror hanging above the headboard.
And now, with my heirloom hoop art!
It has been up almost a week and I still get excited every time I see it, several times a day. I love how it makes me think of my Grandma every time.
I wish she could tell me what she thought of this. Heaven knows, she’d have her opinion on fabric choices and locations. I miss my opinionated, feisty grandma.
In other news, Cookie was not making taking these pictures easy. She kept wanting to re-arrange the pillows. She may look guilty in this photo, but her tail was wagging too much for that to be true.
I would take these pictures without her, but that would mean I’d have to shut my door and she’d just be crying on the other side of it! I can’t bring myself to that, which means she is in every photo.
About those heirlooms laying around your house — Is there something you can do to breathe new life into it, to honor it, instead of it sitting around in the way? The possibilities are limitless.
From my home to yours,
Mary
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Oh that looks so pretty! Such a nice tribute to your Grandmother! I have wanted to do something with hoops also….just need to find some more…probably at the thrift shop. I like to embroidery and this would be a good way to show off some of my work. I like simple homey items like this!
Thank you so much! I bet your embroidery in hoops would be beautiful too.
This is such a great idea!!!
My mom passed away in 2017. I took home a lot of her clothes, with the intention of making quilts, and maybe some memory bears, for myself and other family members. Well, because of one thing or another, I’ve only gotten as far as cutting out some squares, but not enough for even one quilt.
Putting pieces of my mom’s clothes in hoops will be such a nice way to display them, since quilts and memory bears are not happening as quickly as I’d planned.
Thank you!!!
Oh, I love that idea of using her clothes as the fabric. What a beautiful tribute. I should’ve done that with my grandma too, but we donated all her clothes. She dressed to the 9’s every day of her life, it would have been a pretty fancy fabric collection.