Playing with Dolls

I loved playing with Barbies as a child. I think I got my first one when I was around two years old--there are several old snapshots of me in family albums with me toddling around clutching a blond ponytailed Barbie in her black and white striped maillot. Yes, that iconic one. I had a lot of other dolls too, but Barbie and her friends were always my favorites. Like many sewists, Barbie was an early muse and a inspiration to start sewing. Chatty Cathy didn't have a chance even with the ability to speak.

In the early 2000s, my ASG chapter ran several fundraisers featuring the raffle of a doll with a complete wardrobe made by members. After some American Girl fundraisers, we decided to have one featuring the Gene doll in 2001. Gene is a collectible fashion doll whose narrative was that of a movie star of the 1940s and 1950s. As a result, lots of glamorous vintage-inspired gowns,  ensembles, and costumes! Eventually, other dolls were added to the line before it was retired this year.

I remember making an outfit for our fundraiser on 9/11--making it helped me stay calm during that horrible day. It was based on this pattern:

I always had fond feelings towards Gene for so many reasons. She was pretty, detailed, a bit larger than Barbie, and what a backstory! Long story short, I've been wanting one for quite a while. I recently bid on a used Gene on eBay and brought her home. She came with the teal "Destiny" ensemble--the gown, earrings, gloves (which I can't get on her), stockings (!) and shoes.

I also bid on an outfit so I could see how the clothes were made--and face it, so I could play with her. I'm not one of those people who'll keep something unused in the box for collector value. No point in that.

This outfit is incomplete so I was able to pick it up for a semi-reasonable price. The ensemble is called "Gene's Day Off," or something like that. I guess even a movie star can't wear gowns all the time.

I realize this is totally frivolous and silly, but I have a long history with fashion dolls and their little wardrobes so they occupy a soft spot in my heart.  I'm sure I'll have fun dressing and wardrobing Miss Gene. I have several patterns from back when we did the fundraiser so I'm ready to go.

Hillbilly Cookies

Yeah, I know. The name is not exactly politically correct. However, consider the place and time.

This is one that came from my aunt back in the late 1960s. She was a teacher in the Louisville or Jefferson County (KY) schools. The school system used this recipe to make use of the FDA surplus foods that were supplied to them back then, and they were regularly featured in the school cafeterias of my youth. Yes, they actually cooked food at each school!

This recipe is easy and surprisingly good! I make no claims for dietary goodness or appropriateness for special diets. They're treats, after all.

Hillbilly Cookies

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons cocoa
4 tablespoons butter (the original recipe was made with margarine)
2/3 cup peanut butter
2 cups oatmeal

Measure out all ingredients and lay out sheets of wax paper before starting to cook. This goes fast and you won't have time later.

In a heavy saucepan or dutch oven, stir and boil sugar, milk, cocoa, and butter on high heat for only 3 minutes. Time the 3 minutes for the moment you turn on the burner. If you cook the mixture for too long, the cookies will be too dry to hold together. I realize that individual cooktops may vary, but the point is this--this part goes really fast so have everything measured and ready to add in advance. That includes the peanut butter and the oats! The goal in cooking the sugar mixture is basically to just melt everything together until there aren't any sugar crystals remaining, so don't keep cooking after that has occurred.

Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until melted. Then mix in the oatmeal.

Working quickly, drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto wax paper and allow to cool.

There you have it. Except for the drama of the boiling sugar mixture, it's pretty easy and simple to make.

My Sewing Backstory

Lindsay T raised this question the other day, and it got me to thinking about how I came to sewing. I had never thought my sewing story was anything special, but I enjoyed reading hers and some of the others that have appeared in Blogland as a result.

So here goes...

I come from a family of needleworkers. On my mother's side, Grandma liked to do needlepoint and crochet. While she was able to sew, she didn't like it much. Mom, on the other hand, was a sewing fanatic who took every sewing class offered in her high school. (Interestingly, the public schools in Louisville were segregated by gender as well as race in the 1940's, so she attended Girls' High. Its brother school, Male High, still exists and is now co-ed). Mom continued to sew after high school and made a bunch of her clothes for her work life as a secretary. Back then, styles were much more formal and she actually hand tailored a lot of her wardrobe!

On the other side of the family, my other Grandmother also sewed, mostly quilts. I didn't know her as well because she lived in Appalachia and Grandma lived close by. But she did a lot of quilting for pay, which a lot of the mountain women did.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my Uncle Bobby was also a big supporter of my sewing. He also did a little sewing, mostly home dec items like draperies and reupholstery.

Mom kept on sewing after marriage, making home dec items as well as clothes for herself and us kids. Her machine was a White that had a cabinet. It resided in the dining room of our home. She had purchased it with a small inheritance received from her aunt, so I imagine it was a TOL at the time. It only sewed straight stitch with reverse, but there was an extensive set of feet and a buttonhole attachment (those attachments make the best buttonholes, by the way). It was olive matte textured metal, and the styling was similar to the cars of the time, with chrome and everything. In short, a tank. Instead of a foot pedal, it had a lever that you controlled with your leg.

When I got to be about 11 or so, I started lobbying Mom to let me use that machine. Up to that point, I had made some little hand sewing and embroidery projects. Grandma started me at the age of 5 with those types of projects. But I wanted to sew "real clothes!" So OK, Mom said, but you have to take Home Ec so you know how to sew properly. Deal! Once I enrolled in the class, she showed me how to thread the White, gave basic instructions, and I was off to the races!

The 7th Grade Home Ec class, ugh! I know a lot of people remember Home Ec fondly. I'm not one of them. By the early 1970's, Home Ec was mainly a remedial type class for (mostly) delinquent girls. I stuck out Sewing and Cooking (also required by Mom), and then left formal Home Ec training behind me. Hoorah!! I think the only things I made in Sewing were a pillow and a poncho. Well, it was the 1970's .

Meanwhile, I was sewing all kinds of stuff at home. Jeans, pants, halter tops, babydoll tops, skirts, dresses etc. etc. I also did jeans modifications, such as converting straight legs to bell bottoms by adding a godet to each side seam. I learned to crochet around that time too, so added that to the mix. Although my parents didn't support RTW purchases, they were supportive of my fabric habit (clever parents!), and back then I think you really could save money by sewing. There was an independent neighborhood fabric store within walking distance, in addition to Kresge's Five and Ten Cent Store (predecessor to K-Mart). I also could take the bus to Stewart's Dry Goods Store downton if I wanted something special. Stewart's is long gone as the result of department store consolidation, but it was the fancy department store back then. They had a wonderful sewing department. Baer's, which succumbed last year, was also downtown and thus reachable via bus, but it was more the fancy place you went for ballet costume supplies, as well as fabric for formals. RIP to all of them.

I kept sewing all of the time through high school, making tons of clothes. I had no fear and would make just about anything. I still continued to sew in college, mostly during breaks because I didn't have a machine at school. I wish I'd had one! Vanderbilt was (and is) a wealthy school, and I could have made some cash doing sewing for the rich kids. Same thing in grad school at Florida, sewing during breaks.

My sewing took a break after graduation. However, Grandma gifted me a portable Singer on a visit home, so I started sewing a little bit with it. It's one of those classic black ones in the bentwood case. I haven't used it in years but it's a great machine. I should get it refurbished so I can play with it some more. I did acquire a Singer buttonholer that will fit it on an antiquing expedition a few years ago. Like I said, those attachments make the best buttonholes!!

My XH bought me my first "modern" machine 22 years ago when we were living in Melbourne, Florida. My first machine with zig zag capabilities! Plus many other bells and whistles. I gave it to my friend John a couple of years ago.

My sewing really took off after my divorce in the early 90's. I joined the ASG, got my own dedicated sewing room, discovered Ann Silva's, learned about sewing personalities, attended classes, and started gathering all kinds of sewing supplies. And of course, I learned that the internet was a fabulous sewing resource too. Once again, off to the races! It's difficult to fit sewing in, but I've learned it's important to make time for it--keeps me happy and sane.

A Little Bit of Four Play

La Belette Rouge posted her response to a meme this week and invited her readers to post four items about ourselves even if we weren't tagged. Well, all right. That's simple enough. I don't know if any of the following are "new," in the sense that I haven't posted them before, but none of them are recent disclosures at least:

• I'm addicted to food shows. I watch the Food Network every Saturday morning, and I positively must watch Top Chef each week. I don't feel obligated to actually make anything I see on these shows, although there have been a few.
• Although my house appears to be clean, I'm a lousy housekeeper. I have trouble investing a lot of time into toiling over a spotless home. I really should hire someone. But in the meantime, don't look too close if you come over to visit.
• Ditto with gardening. I'm not very good at it, even though I have relatively easy care xeriscaped yards front and back. We're talking cacti, people! However, there are weeds to be plucked and leaves to gather from other people's properties. Uggghhh.
• I'm a clothes horse. I blame it on my parents, who were frugal to a fault. All my cute RTW clothes as a little girl came from my Grandma and Great Aunt. God bless them, I could look nice at Easter and Christmas, at least. When I was preschool age, my Mom used to make darling little outfits for me, but she later lost interest in sewing. Not sure why that was, exactly. I will give my parents credit for encouraging sewing. Even when they weren't willing to shell out for clothes, but would finance fabric and patterns. Well, OK...that's probably a big reason why I have both a closet full of RTW and a room full of fabric waiting to become fabulous custom clothes someday.

A New Tag

Trinilove of Life Happens to Be Positive has tagged me with the following: "your mission if you accept is to list 7 facts of your sewing history and tag five people to do the same." OK, I'm game with the 7 facts, but I'm a little laissez-faire about asking people to participate. I think this is a cool little meme, so if you want to do this, blog it and send Trini and me a little note, mmmm-k?

So here they are, 7 facts of my sewing history:

1. My first sewing memory is a little project that my Grandma gave me. It was a handkerchief with a design on it, and you outlined the motif with an embroidery floss running stitch. I was 5 years old. The needle was blunt, but I can hardly imagine something like that being marketed as a child's project today in our watchful, litigious society.


2. My mom was one of those cautious moms who was always afraid we'd hurt ourselves around the house. So, when I expressed an interest in sewing when I was 11 or 12, she insisted that I take Home Ec so I'd learn to "properly" use a sewing machine. Once I was enrolled, she let me start using her sewing machine, a circa 50's White made of solid metal with an olive drab finish. Man, that thing was a tank!! It didn't have a foot petal, it had a lever that you pushed with your thigh. I made many, many projects in junior high and high school with that machine.


3. The 7th grade home ec class was absolutely awful. The girls in the class were primarily of the "hood" clique, and I did not fit in with them at all. Our first project was a poncho. It was the 1970s but uggghhh!! I couldn't wait for that class to be over but it was enough that I had open access to the sewing machine.


4. When I was in the 10th grade, I went to live with my Grandma for a while. Long story that I won't get into here. Grandma did not like to sew, her needlework activities were needlepoint and crochet. However, like most women of her era, she had a sewing machine that was used for general maintenance and repair of the household's clothing, for curtains, etc. That machine was a "portable" Singer with black enamel and golden accents, and it had a bentwood case. Another tank, and that thing also weighed a ton, even though it was a portable. When Grandma passed away, I inherited that machine and it currently resides in the front hall of my home.


5. Because my early machines were both straight stich only, I got really good at making French seams.


6. I had a sewing hiatus during my college and grad school years, more due to lack of a machine than anything else. I got my first "modern" machine 20 years ago, when my then-husband bought me an early electronic machine from Montgomery Ward. I recently gave that machine to my friend John, who is delighted at learning to sew!


7. My stash accumulation habits have been aided and abetted by my late Uncle Bobby, who worked for years in the custom drapery business. He would bring home remnants and roll ends of high end home dec fabrics with instructions to use them for something. He later taught himself to do basic sewing and fabricated cornice boards and draperies for his house with the help of the ladies in the work room. He also liked doing re-upholstering and made his own cording for his projects.

She also asked a question about little black dresses, "is yours ready to wear?" Why yes, yes it is. My current LBD is from Talbot's, it's the black version of this:

It's matte jersey dress, and I recently bought at Talbot's--very basic, as a LBD should be. I got it to wear with jackets and such for work. I also got the navy version.

Greetings from New Jersey: a Quick Update

8/21/08: Edited to add some links!

I'm still in the Tri-States, having left Long Island Sunday afternoon for DF's hometown, Hasbrouck Heights. This vacation has had a lot of activity, but here are a few highlights of our agenda:

• Saturday: the fanciest wedding I've ever been to in my life, a complete bacchanal. I've never seen so much food and drink in my life! When I get back I'll post some photos and expand on what took place.
• Sunday: off to meet with DF's family for a matinee production of Spamalot on Broadway. Do go see this if you ever have the chance. I laughed for 2 hours solid.
• Sunday night: Dinner with DF's family at the Charthouse, which has a tremendous view of the NYC skyline. The website has sound (hate that!), but there are some nice photos.
• Monday: off to NYC to the Empire State Building. We also went to Little Italy, which is almost gone, for lunch at Vincent's. I also made DF go up 7th Ave. to the Garment District to see the Needle and Button statue, also the Garment Worker statue. No time to shop, but now I know where to go. Unfortunately, we did not see Tim Gunn or anyone else from Project Runway (kidding!), although I did see Parson's.
• Today: A tour of Northern NJ, including a visit to DF's oldest friend "Richie the Dentist." I think we're going out to dinner or something tonight.

Additional highlights included several experiences with mass transit, including the Long Island Railroad, the Jersey bus system, cabs, and the subways of New York. I know this may not seem like such a big deal to some of you, but remember that I'm a Southern girl living in the West and we don't really have mass transit. For the most part it was cool, and I'd definitely use it if I lived in a major metro area.

Whoops, an Addendum

That meme I did on the 28th has been circulating on the blogosphere, and I've noticed that many responses have an additional question:

Jobs I have had

Hmm, I didn't answer that one. But here goes! These are the ones I've had since completing my formal education in the early '80s, starting with the most recent:

• Business relationship manager for a large regional bank (my current job).
• Back office support for a large mutual funds company.
• Accounts receivable for an international medical supply company
• The dreaded mortgage brokerage job I mentioned the other day.
• Marketing rep and financial consultant (2 jobs) at a credit union.
• Credit analyst and branch manager (2 jobs) at a large local bank in NM. This bank later became the bank I work for now.
• Business relationship manager for a bank in Florida.
• Loan officer for a non-bank lender in Florida.
• Advisor/consultant for a Small Business Develpment Center in Mobile AL.

And before all that, a variety of jobs through school: waitressing, retail, etc.

No matter how bad the particular job has been, I've learned from each of them. I should be grateful for that.

Tagged Again

MarmaladeKiss recently tagged me with a meme. On this one, I have to answer 6 questions about myself. At the end of the post, I then tag 6 people and post their names, then go to their blogs and leave them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read my blog. Then, I must let the person who tagged me know when I’ve posted my answers.

What was I doing ten years ago - 1998

Uggh, 10 years ago I was working for a horrible employer in the mortgage business. Looking back, I can't believe I worked there and put up with it as long as I did. Without going into a lot of detail, let's just say it wasn't a happy time for me for the most part. Good thing I had sewing to keep me sane!

5 things on my to do list for today

Go to the gym. 5 pounds have snuck back on. Must. nip. in. the. bud.
Do some more work on a top I'm sewing.
Laundry, a never ending chore.
Top Chef (is it on tonight?)
Plan what to pack for Vegas trip.

Snacks I enjoy

Triscuits, hummus, cheese (current favorites: Wensleydale with cranberries and Kerrygold Dubliner), dark chocolate.

Things I would do if I was a billionaire

Hmm, not as easy to figure this one out as I thought. It would probably need to go in phases.

Phase one: pay off all debt, quit my job, set up finances so DF and I can live comfortably the rest of our lives. This phase would include a home that would have room for our various interests. A studio for me, a man-cave for him. Office space. An indoor/outdoor kitchen. Exercise room. I know, it sounds kind of shallow at this point, but it's my fantasy.

Phase two: travel, travel, travel. I've never been to Europe, and DF wants to go back to Vietnam. It would be great to have the money to go and stay for extended periods of time.

Phase three: set up a foundation to fund community projects that are important to us. Establish trusts for relatives, so they're taken care of. I don't want to just give it to them, though. I think it's important to have incentives in life and strive for yourself.

Places I have lived

Louisville KY; Nashville TN; Florida (Gainesville, Panama City, Merritt Island, Melbourne, Miami); Mobile AL; Albuquerque NM

6 people I want to know more about

Umm, I've done several of these lately so I think I'll probably cheat on "spreading the love", and not tag anyone. No offense, hopefully. This is a good exercise, and I think it would be neat if some of these queries filtered into some other blog posts.

Aunt Sook Aprons

My latest project has been a couple of kitchen smocks that my sister E named "Aunt Sook Aprons", after our great aunt Sook. This style was a staple of her housekeeping attire, wearing them when she cooked and cleaned her little house in New Albany, Indiana. No, Sook wasn't her real name, that was Sylvia, but I never ever heard anyone call her that. It was always Sook.

E originally requested one of these several years ago because she wanted an apron that would provide good coverage when cooking dinner after getting home from work. She remembered Aunt Sook's smocks and asked if I could make that specific style. An internet search commenced, and I was fortunate enough to locate a pattern at Patterncentral.com. According to the website, "Here you will find over 500 Sewing, Craft, Quilt, Crochet, Knitting, and Embroidery Patterns. Our company has been in business for over 50 years selling patterns through the newspapers and now we are also on the Internet." So those of you who are old enough to remember the patterns you ordered from the paper now have a resource for them.

I'd made 2 Aunt Sook Aprons for E previously, but she gave one of them to her friend who has a medical condition that makes swallowing difficult. The friend wears it to protect her clothes when she tries to eat.

So I decided to make a couple of new ones, one to replace the one that E gave away and another one for her friend. I figure that you need at least a couple, one to wear and one to wash. And of course, I have plenty of cottons to work with! Both designs have kitchen themed fabric, the green with its vegetables and the black has little kitchen utensils in the middle of the black squares. I classify this type of project as "utility sewing," but at the same time, I enjoyed making something that I know will be appreciated and used.

And of course, I have yet to make any Aunt Sook Aprons for myself. Isn't that typical?

As a seasonal note, I've been working on Christmas like everyone else and here's my tree! I go for an eclectic look, with lots of glass balls and featuring ornaments I've made or collected over the years. Too bad I can't capture what it really looks like, the flash really flattens and washes it out.

And in local news, Albuquerque seems more like Seattle or San Francisco this week. Over an inch of rain yesterday and more expected today. It's not quite cold enough for pretty snow just the less pleasant aspects of precipitation like slick roads.

Uncle Bobby

Carolyn at diaryofasewingfanatic posted an entry yesterday that contained this challenge:

However, this week I want to turn the tables. If you read my blog, I would like you to shout-out and tell me where you are located AND name one person who is inspirational to you, sewing-wise. It doesn't have to be someone famous or well-known, it can just be someone who inspires you to continue to sew or who taught you to sew or whom you would like your sewing to emulate.

I swear, Carolyn, I posted a reply to you. But for some reason, it disappeared into cyber-space. Good thing I saved the response because I can still share it with my blog friends.

I have a lot of inspiration sources for my sewing, but one who came to mind as I read the post was my late Uncle Bobby, who was my mom's younger brother. Uncle Bobby worked for Stewart's, THE department store in Louisville back in the day, in their interior design department. He installed window treatments in high-end homes in Louisville and Lexington KY. He used to always share stories of the fancy Victorian town homes and horse estates he had visited, and how they were decorated--the color choices, the furnishings, etc.

Stewart's used to sell the (large) remnants at employee sales for next to nothing, and he'd always pick up a few choice pieces and tell me to make something from them. Even after Stewart's closed and he went to work for other workrooms in the area, he always did that.

Even though he's been gone a while now, I still have several pieces of his fabrics in my collection. He inspired my love of textiles and opened my eyes to fabrics beyond those available to a middle-class suburban teenager.

I don't really even sew home dec, but Uncle Bobby's encouragement of my sewing has inspired me to this day.

Advance 3031

This one is for Carolyn, who asked for a scan of this pant suit:

As near as I can tell, this one dates to the 1940s. Although I can't find a date anywhere on the pattern, I'm basing this on a couple of factors. First, the styling of the drawing. Those hairstyles just say "bobbysoxer" to me. Second, the fact that this pattern isn't printed. The tissue is marked with symbols, and I remember my mom (HS class of '49) telling me that patterns used to be done this way. If I'm right, then this is a pretty bold pattern for its time. Pants? Naw, that just wasn't done way back then, at least outside of the home.

No, there are no copyright dates on any part of the pattern, so I don't have that to rely on. So a guesstimate will have to do. I do love this little blurb on the instruction sheet:

All Advance Patterns are cut accurately for size and conform to the measurements recommended by the Bureau of Standards of the U. S. Department of Commerce.

Ah yes, another reason to think this is from the 1940's. Government agencies are a good thing.

I don't know if I'll ever make this up from the pattern itself. It's a little small for me, but I couldn't see it going to the prison or landfill. It's a little historical jewel, you know? I can see myself making a similar outfit as an homage, using a more current pattern, though. Carolyn is right, the basic lines are awesome!

Vintage Musings

Marji posted about vintage projects July 23 and issued the following challenge:

So I'm going to challenge you, what do you still have hanging around that
you created years ago - pics, actual patterns, actual garments? Do you have
a fabulous collection of knitwear designs from decades ago? Show us.

I like vintage clothes and have since I was in grad school, during the first wave of vintage. Ahhh, to live in Florida when retirees moving south were getting rid of fabulous 1940s and 1950s wear! I had friends who made great money picking through South Florida thrift and charity shops for excellent swag, then turning around at selling it to the students at UF. Those were the days--good stuff could be had relatively cheaply. I wasn't doing a lot of sewing then but I had several cool beaded outfits that I liked to wear out clubbing.

But lately, I'm of 2 minds re: vintage. I love all the vintage garments I'm seeing on various blogs like Hungry Zombie Couture and Pins and Needles, not to mention Erin's inspirational pattern shots on A Dress a Day. But I'd feel like I was in a costume if I wore them myself. Maybe my time for full-out vintage looks is over.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures of myself in outfits back in the day. I remember at least 3 dresses I made for high school dances in the mid 1970's:

• There was a chiffon and crepe print halter dress I made for the junior prom. The chiffon was white with purple flowers printed on it. The crepe was plain white. Both polyester of course. The chiffon was an overlayer that also formed a capelet attached to the halter's neckline.



• Homecoming senior year was a long sleeved black Qiana dress with large art deco flowers. I'm not sure, I think it was empire waisted but cut narrow and a bit low cut for high school.



• And the senior prom dress was a Gunne Sax knockoff--they were the rage! Mine was yellow cotton with yards of white crochet-look lace. I liked it so much better than the drab tea stained shaded of the real Gunne Sax dresses from the store. I remember I wore white patent leather platform sandals with that one, and my date wore a matching yellow and black tuxedo. Don't laugh, it was cool to dress that way back in 1976!

I know these photos must still exist someplace, probably at the 2 family houses in Louisville. I'll ask my sister and brother to take a look around for them sometime when they have a chance. David still lives at my parents' house (nothing has changed) and Ellen inherited my grandparents' house from my uncle when he passed away. Both places have been in the family a long long time. The actual patterns are probably long gone though, and my mom's notebooks from her sewing classes in the 1940s. Too bad.

Anyway, back to me and my early sewing days. I actually used 2 machines, my mom's White (a tank from the 1950s that had its own cabinet) and my grandma's Singer (a "portable" black enamel tank with a bentwood case). I still have the Singer.

I remember being pretty fearless in my sewing. Of course it helps that I could run up a pattern right out of the envelope. Plus I didn't know I was supposed to be intimidated by fabric and patterns. So I'd try almost anything. I'm sure there were a lot of mistakes, but I was oblivious. I wore my clothes and loved them--the jeans, the embroidered cowboy shirts, the tunic tops, halters, sundresses, "baggies" with cuffs, shirt dresses, and on and on. My parents would almost always finance my fabric purchases, more so than my RTW trips to Stewarts, Bacons, and Levy Brothers. There was a fabric shop (creatively named "The Fabric Shop") located within walking distance at the local shopping center, which made it easy to buy fabric in the afternoon, sew it that evening, and wear it to school the next day.


Actually, the 2 most vintage things I have at my house are quilts that were made by my mom's paternal grandmother, who worked as a professional seamstress for a time.

This one is a doll quilt. Based on the bubblegum pink color and my mom's birthdate, I'd peg it at mid-1930s. I'm planning to have it framed one of these days for display in the sewing room. I think the doilies are from around the same period. I don't know their provenance, but I know my maternal grandmother had them at her home. They're teeny tiny gauge crochet and I want to frame them up too.

This one is for a regular bed. It's handstitched and made from scraps of men's shirtings, but was meant to be a utility quilt, not a "company" quilt. That's Ghost checking things out. Basically there are squares of plain muslin crazy quilted with the shirtings, joined together and hand quilted with a fan stitch. According to an appraisal I had done, the fabrics date from the 1910's.

Strangely, I don't have any quilts from my paternal grandmother, who lived in Appalachia and quilted all of the time. This is probably because she made them to sell, like a lot of the mountain ladies did. She also had a lot of children (13) and grandchildren(?) and the family quilts probably all went to the daughters (My dad received a shotgun when she passed. No, I'm not kidding).

Like a lot of us, I've been acquiring vintage patterns. Most of them have come from my ASG sewing sisters (meaning free or near free). Maybe I'll sew some of them up in spite of my misgivings, maybe not, does it really matter? Anyway, I've already gone on and on about my early days of sewing so I'll post more about that collection another time.