Grandma’s Kitchen BOW #6 of 25

Pat Sloan’s Grandma’s Kitchen Challenge block of the week #6 is called Wash Day. I made the block with the yellow center first and decided it did not have enough contrast so I also made a blue center. I like the blue much better. The yellow just did not look as good sewn together as it did in my head.

Pat’s BOW comes with a story about the memories of Wash Day and here is one of mine:

My great grandparents on my mother’s side raised her after her mother died when she was a baby. Known to everyone as Ma and Pa Neal, they lived in a coal mining community in small house with a creek behind it. My Uncle Bill told everyone that they had running water but is was in the creek behind the house. The wash-house, complete with a wringer washer, big galvanized tub, and heating stove was located between the house and the creek. Water was carried from the creek to the wash house on wash day.

One of my chores while visiting was to carry water from the creek to fill the washer and rinse tub. As you might guess, it was not my favorite job. Wash day always depended on whether the creek was running clear or muddy. Muddy water would mean no wash. One day Ma told me to run down to the creek to see if the water was clear. Uncle Bill was going hunting that day and I wanted to go with him so I told Ma that they must be blasting up at the mines because the water was muddy. I know she knew better because we could hear when the blasts went off but she said that we could wash the next day. All during the hunt I worried about telling Ma a lie and the trouble I would be in if she walked to the creek and found it to be clear. As soon as we got home I ran to Ma and told her I lied about the muddy water. The next day I carried water to water all the tomatoes in the garden in addition to filling the washer and tub. I never told her a lie again.

Thanks for reading more of my memories.