On this weekend of the Equinox—as the sun crosses the equator and the hours of day and night are roughly equal all over the earth—there’s been a Springtime harvest of Oma’s Pumpkins here in Harpswell, Maine.

My mom (above), happily known as Oma (having finally achieved grandmother status 24 years ago), has been occupying herself over the winter months by cutting, stuffing, and decorating her new crop for spring. My folks live next door to us and she would ask me if I thought this or that old sweater looked “springtime” enough to make a pumpkin out of it, and then a couple days later, the sweater would be transformed. She got a big kick that I thought a bright pink sweater would be a good candidate, but there it is below, all decked out for the change of seasons.

Green plaid upholstery fabric remnants made for more subtle spring pumpkins, below—one sprouting carrots, and one with yo-yo’s left over from another of Oma’s projects.

There are more of these newly arrived “cucurbitae” in the OmasPumpkinPatch Etsy page that my son Sam maintains for his Oma. Please check them out and if you enjoy them, please leave comments for my mom either in this post below or on the Etsy page. She’s quite pleased that she receives more comments on her posts than I receive on mine.

10 Comments

  • Oma,
    The pumpkin made from multicolor sweater is gorgeous (bottom photo). Now I know where your daughter gets her artistic talents.

    Keep on creating beauty.

  • This is hilarious that Oma loves that she gets more comments than you do, Susan. It is so sweet that we “older” grandmas can garner this much attention thanks to lots of assistance from our children and grandchildren. Without this help we might be just sitting and rocking. [Insert smiley face]
    BTW, that’s a beautiful spring crop of pumpkins!

  • Love all the pumpkins but the bottom pumpkin with the lime green flower would be my favorite. Amazed by the variety of ribbons, flowers, stems, etc that you use. With the use of sweaters they look sew cuddly. I called my grandmother Oma too as she immigrated to Canada from Holland after the war. Keep it up Oma. Love seeing your creations.

  • So wonderful, colorful and unique! Here’s hoping I’m still creating things of beauty and fun when I make it to 80+! Lovely little bundles of Joy! Happy Spring Oma????

  • Oma,
    You are so creative! I love that you are still “raising” such beautiful pumpkins. I’m curious–will you please share how you get your inspiration? Do you think of your ideas when you see the “pumpkin”? However you do it, I absolutely love the way you decorate them! And, please tell Susan not to feel too bad that you receive more comments than she does; you’re quite good at this and you’ve been creating art for a very long time!!! We love all the artists in the family!❤

  • I just ordered three! These are so beautiful! Oma I was lucky enough to meet you at a retreat. You are such a sweet person and have such a beautiful smile.

  • Wonderful creations. Love the way they are decorated. I love how you take something old and make it new again. Clever lady!

  • Beautiful pumpkins made from fabric remnants and recycled clothing. Oma’s creativity is far above my imagination, to have the foresight of creating such beautiful pumpkins that could be made from a loved one shirt, or a sweater that you just are tried of.

  • Hi Oma,
    Your pumpkins are lovely and you look like you would be fun to be around. Taking a class taught by your daughter is on my bucket list. Hugs from Lodi, California

  • Another beautiful batch of pumpkins. It is no wonder Susan never runs out of ideas for new quilts with an artist like you for a mother.

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