When my mom died, I found a box covered in puppy dog Christmas paper in her dresser. Inside, she had kept a bunch of memorabilia from her days as a bowling champion. I decided I wanted to do something with some of the stuff, instead of just leaving it in the box.
My original idea was to make a tote bag so I cut out one out of heavy twill-like fabric but then never had the energy to sew it up. A few days ago, I came across a canvas tote bag that @kittykill had sent as part of a prize package from the stitchalong last year! It was perfect!
I ended up blanket stitching 38 patches on it. Took me three days and lots of stab wounds and bleeding as well as sore fingers stitching through the canvas at odd angles, but it was worth it to me.
She began bowling in 1965 when my dad was stationed in Turkey…we had no TV and lived in the city with no car, so we all had to find other ways to keep busy. My mom learned to bowl.
Interesting fact…women were not allowed to wear pants on the street, so my mom walked to the bowling alley in her skirt and blouse and had to change to pants at the bowling alley…some women bowled in their skirts with shorts or tights underneath!
The bag, one side then the other:
Close up of her favorite patch…I also had the newspaper articles of her because it was a big deal for a woman to bowl three games of 200 each!
My mom bowled in every place we were, but she peaked when we lived in Panama from 1968-1972. We got to travel all over South and Central America with her to bowl…Venezuela, Honduras, Nicaragua, etc.
Of course, this influenced my life as well…I started bowling when I was about 15 in a junior league and then bowled in college on the Purdue University team! I only had a couple of patches from my junior league.
Thanks for looking and letting me share a project that meant a lot to me.
