the “nonna blanket” philosophy.

When my mom's family immigrated here from Sicily, almost all of the women were seamstresses. When I was little, I remember going to my grandparents house on Shultas Place in Hartford when my mom had to head into work. My great-grandmother would have me sit at her sewing machine in her second floor apartment & hand me embroidery hoops with fabric so I could practice my stitches.

She would save discarded scraps from alterations & sew them together to create enormous, volcanically warm blankets.. to which our family lovingly refer to as "Nonna Blankets".

Early in my repurposing journey, I was called to create with old textiles & reclaimed fabrics --- I literally could not stop thinking about it. I was gifted a box of discarded upholstery samples &, using the "nonna blanket" philosophy, I dove in. 

While I'm not quite ready for blanket-sized projects, these little ones are a good place to start. It is a beautiful mesh of my love of collage art & deep connection to my heritage. projects like these keep me connected to who I am. They remind me of where I come from, they keep me in touch with the line of women who came before me.