Grandma’s Quilt
This morning, after a short visit with my mother in St Jacobs, I drove out to Len’s Mill Store in Hawkesville. This store was recommended for quilting supplies and I needed to get fabric to border and back my quilt squares.
The saleswoman in the store was so very helpful! I am a newbie at this and know very little about any of it. We pick a pale yellow for the borders and a matching yellow flannelette for the back. She figured out the quantities I’d be needing, something I had no clue how to do. I paid for my purchases and home I went to start constructing a quilt.
By 5:30 this afternoon I had my four columns made. Laying them out on the spare room floor it was apparent that one column was too short. 
My grandma made these quilt blocks, likely when she was quite old and her eyesight was not good; they are not very even. The blue square seemed to be the culprit, so I first tried taking it apart and re-sewing it — that wasn’t sufficient. I went looking for fabric to make a new square.
I wanted another blue but didn’t really have much. I did have a bit of fabric that we’d used for Trina’s flowergirls’ dresses — dark blue with silver spider webs. This really appealed to me — I want this quilt to be flower garden like because Mom’s greatest joy in life was her flowers. And it’s my opinion that gardens need spiders.
After supper I cut and pieced my spider web block. Laying it down with the other I realized I’d pieced it wrong. Can you see my error?
Taking it apart and re-assembling it will be a task for another day.
Winter Projects
Only the second week of February but it feels like it has been a long winter. It certainly has been a cold one! I’m so glad to see the days getting longer; spring will come.
I seem to be better at starting projects than finishing them lately:
- I’ve started another Owl phone cosy, hoping to make a tutorial. I really have a hard time writing down what I’m doing.
- My mother’s room at the Long Term Care Home is not big enough for us to personalize it with any of her furniture. She has a crocheted afghan on her bed that I made many years ago, but her space still looks institutional. I hit upon an idea: When Grandma Roth died (1981) Mama gave me some quilt patches that she (Grandma) had pieced. Mom and Grandma had given me a single bed quilt they had made after I got married; I used it ‘to death.’ These patches are in the same pattern. There are 23 of them, not quite enough for a single bed. The piecing is certainly not professional, but some of the fabrics I recognize and that is kind of cool.
At any rate, I hope to finish piecing this quilt for my mother’s bed. The women of First Mennonite Church gave me some advice on how to do it, and the women of Bloomingdale Mennonite Church have offered to quilt it for me. Thank you all! - Trina recently sent me a link she thought I’d be interested in. I was! http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/quilt-inspired-square-and-pillow Tara Murray of Alaska is a very talented designer – check out her website http://mamachee.com/ I think this quilt-inspired pillow is a fantastic way to use up bits of coloured yarn! I have 7 squares made:
- And speaking of quilts – one more project that I started many years ago, and I really need to finish, is my daughter’s wall-hanging. When Trina first went to school for fashion design I took pieces of fabric from clothing I or she had made plus pictures of her wearing those articles and pieced a small quilt:
(click on the picture for a larger version)
I really need to get my act together and finish these items while I still want to stay cosy and warm inside!
Boots for Billie
My little dog was not made for cold weather. And it’s been COLD this winter. Billie has a hard time going outside even to answer nature’s call, much less to take a walk. We both miss the walks. Hopefully we will return to more “normal” temperatures soon.
In the meantime, I tried to make some boots for my girl’s little feet. I’d bought some at the dollar store, but I couldn’t make them tight enough to stay on. There were patterns online of the same design, but that wasn’t what I wanted. Once again, I created my own.
I first made an outline of her paw; adding a seam allowance gave me the sole of her boot. I cut soles out of thick black fleece and “shelf liner” to give her traction on the hardwood floors (something she didn’t have with the dollar store boots). For the upper I used a small saucer to make a circle, then cut a smaller circle in one end, then removed about a third of the bottom. These I also cut from black fleece. I used ribbing for the leg part of the boot.
I folded the upper in half and seamed it. Then I seamed the ribbing along the length, folded it in half and sewed it to the smaller opening in the upper. I marked both pieces in quarters to have them sewn evenly together.
I then used the same technique to put the soles on. I sewed them right sides together so the seams would be inside.
When I had all four made I tried them on the dog. She was not impressed! She wouldn’t leave them on her feet. The dollar store boots had Velcro strips to tighten them — I carefully removed them and hand-sewed them to the new boots. Now she couldn’t kick them off so easily!
Not a happy camper.
She did perk up when I mentioned the T-word.
Billie doesn’t really like these boots (and I’m not sure they are a good design; I may have to try again) but we have walked further when she’s wearing them. We even had a short walk yesterday when it was -11ºC (-15º with the windchill) (12º/5ºF).
Heirlooms
Here is a picture from about 1955. Yes, that is me in the middle of the table. Imagine, these three little imps on the table, two older ones unseen and a baby — Lord have mercy!
Notice the items on the sideboard — a few of them survive to this day:
The chicken cookie jar, on the bottom right side, though the lid has been much mended and even autographed over the years;
The egg scale, top right corner — I do remember using this when we lived on the farm. I believe we took eggs to the market along with the cook cheese and other food items. (I remember getting good money for elderberries and pickling corn!)
I know the silver vase on the top left shelf was also among Mom’s things — I believe John has that.
This was a familiar site to all of us kids — Papa studying/sermonizing. The bookshelf behind him was last used by Tara Gingerich Heibert when she was pastoring at Breslau Mennonite Church. In the foreground of the picture the handle of an old flat iron can be seen; Papa had a set of them he used as bookends. Unseen on his desk is a florescent lamp. I have one of the flat irons and the lamp:
As well, I have several items from my grandparents: a glass front bookcase that Grandpa Roth bought at an auction sale. Unfortunately one door got broken and the pieces lost since I’ve had it. On the top of the bookshelf I have two silver reindeer (who have long since lost their antlers) that always sat on top when the shelf was in Grandma’s house:
Also from Grandma Roth, an electric clock that was in her kitchen, above the sink. It was originally a darker colour, I refinished it. The two birds and the green decanter I believe also belonged to my grandmothers, though to whom exactly I don’t know.
Grandma Gingerich’s rocking chair — in my mind’s eye I can see it in her livingroom at Omer’s.
These are items that are important to me. They remind me of who I am by bringing to mind those from whom I came. I want to pass these items and stories behind them on to my children and grandchildren.