Grandma’s Kitchen quilt is all pieced and ready for quilting. It was difficult to get a picture as it is 80″x100″. The picture looks like two different quilts but it isn’t, it is just the angle. I added white sashing between the rows and both white and blue floral borders all around.
Grandma’s Kitchen at I Love To Make Quilts
Thanks for visiting with us.
Grandma’s Kitchen QAL block #25 is the final block and it is called Famous Cookies. This has been a fun project and I was so excited about getting the block instructions early that I finished it, attached it to the previous block, and added the borders before I remembered to take a picture. If all goes well I should be able to finish putting the quilt top together and posting it tonight.
I have no memories of either of my mammaws nor my aunts making cookies. They did make wonderful fruit cobblers, pies, and cakes. I remember a special German Chocolate cake one of my aunts made that took an extremely long time and would melt in your mouth. Aunt Mary did everything by hand to include grating the coconut and gathering, hulling, and chopping the walnuts. If you are not familiar with hulling walnuts it is not a fun experience and if you got the walnut stain on your hands it would last months. We were lucky to have a couple of huge walnut trees in the yard that produced lots of walnuts.
Back to my sewing room to finish this quilt top.
One more block to go for Pat Sloan’s Grandma’s Kitchen Quilt Along. After finishing this block I realize I should have put ‘something’ inside of the basket but I can quilt some flowers and leaves while I am quilting. The name of this block is Grandma’s Purse and I am a little lost with this one. Neither of my mammaws carried a purse as they very seldom left the home place. They grew their own food, the doctor came to the house and the rolling store came by for things not grown. We also had the Jewel T man, a traveling salesman, that came about once a month with his car loaded down with items for sale.
Mammaw’s apron pockets took the place of purses. She had everything she needed in those deep pockets; hankies, safety pins (called latch pins then), pieces of twine, small scissors, spare buttons, a threaded needle, and even a biscuit sandwich wrapped in a muslin cloth to eat while working in the garden at times. Oh, that thought made me remember how good a biscuit and jelly sandwich would taste between breakfast and dinner.
These memories have been pleasant for me during the past weeks but it is amazing how much time I have devoted to the blocks of the week. Of course, at one time I was working on three at one time and I will have three pretty projects at the end.
I am looking forward to working on the Regatta quilt after New Years with my friend Roseanne at Home Sewn By Us as we will work at our own pace following the pattern. We plan on posting pictures of our progress (or lack of progress in my case). Everyone is welcome to join us. Check out Roseanne’s blog for more information. I also plan to sew more charity items.
Yesterday was my one year anniversary for blogging. This year has flown by and I have made so many new friends, discovered new patterns, and learned so much from the tutorials that my fellow bloggers have posted. I cannot believe I have so many followers and, in turn, follow so many talented people. I have quilted and even taught quilting classes but still learn new tips and techniques from blogging. I am looking forward to another year of learning and sharing.
Pat Sloan at I Love To Make Quilts has posted us another great block. Block #23 is called That One Item and our memory story is that one item that makes you think of your grandma.
Cooper Family Memories
The one thing that makes me think of Mammaw Cooper is seeing an older lady with her long hair twisted into a round bun. The only time I ever saw Mammaw with her hair down was at bedtime or when it was washed. She was a very private woman and was embarrassed to be seen with her hair down.
My daddy was the seventh child and the baby of the family. This was the second family for Pappaw Henry Cooper and he married Mammaw Cooper after his first wife died. He was a lot older than Mammaw and he died when my daddy was in the third grade. By this time most of my dad’s siblings were older and on their own. My dad quit school to help support Mammaw. Even though he did not have much formal education he was a very proud and smart man who owned his own businesses all his adult life.
This week’s block by Pat Sloan is called Pick a Posey. Since most of my relatives lived on a farm, our lives were full of plants and flowers. My Mammaw Cooper had a beautiful bunch of roses that ran all along the fence at the back of the house. She never trimmed or fertilized them and they grew in abundance. When I asked her what kind of roses they were she always replied, “old timey climbing roses”. I don’t know if this was the correct name but it described them perfectly.
My Aunt Monnie had iris flowers is all colors all around her house. She called them ‘flags’. I didn’t know they had another name until I was in the seventh grade and studied Tennessee history where I discovered they are the Tennessee state flower. She also had lots of creeping phlox growing on all the banks behind the house. They grew so thick they choked out the grass and weeks and did not need mowing. If plants were not low maintenance they soon disappeared.
My Aunt Mary loved all kinds of flowers and she grew them everywhere. She especially loved peonies and would cut bouquets for the tables. She also had tulips, bachelor buttons, and daisies in addition to all the flowering trees such as dogwoods and crepe myrtles.
Thank you for visiting and taking time to read some of my memories of the good old days.
As Sami and I were out-of-town for Thanksgiving I am late finishing block #21 but here it is and it is so cute. I do not have enough contrast between my colors but I am happy with it. As you may guess, this block is called Telephone Time by Pat Sloan.
As neither of my grandparents had telephones my memory comes from my aunt’s phone. We had an old black phone that did not have a dial. When you picked up the phone and clicked the button the operator would ask, “Number please” and would then connect you. I can remember our old phone number (981-W2). We were on an eight party line system and had a special ring (ours was two short rings) to know which family was to answer the call. We listened when we picked up the phone to make sure someone else was not using it. One lady on our party line would take the phone off the hook when she took her nap during the day and none of the other seven families were able to use the phone until she woke up and replaced the receiver.
At one point my aunt decided the ringing telephone was too annoying so she made arrangements with the phone company that we would not receive calls (or rings) and only have outgoing calls. She kept the phone this way until they finally did away with the party lines and we got a dial phone.
This week’s Grandma’s Kitchen block of the week by Pat Sloan is called Lovely Dishes and so our memory story is all about dishes. Neither of my mammaws had a full set of ‘matched’ dishes. I do not know where the dishes came from but there was an assortment of patterns and styles on their shelves. I remember at one time gas stations would give you a dish with a fill up, and each station had different patterns. This was when gas was twenty-five cents a gallon! Neither of my grandparents owned a car but my uncles would give them the dishes they received at the gas stations.
I loved the different dishes with all kinds of pretty patterns. I remember picking the plate with my favorite color or flower and filling it full of good food.
On a sad note, the quilting world lost one of our stars this week. Nancy Zieman of Sewing with Nancy passed away from cancer. She will be missed.
Thank you for visiting with me and reading our blog. Sami and I always enjoy having company stop in for a visit.
Grandma’s Kitchen Block of the Week #19 by Pat Sloan is called Mending Basket and our memory stories are supposed to relate to that, so here goes mine.
My Mammaw and all of my aunts had a sewing basket where all the mending resided until it was repaired. Unless it was an emergency repair it had to wait until a rainy day or winter time as summers were pretty busy around the farm. I remember lots of denim scraps to patch jeans and overalls and lots of buttons in jars. I can remember my aunt sewing on buttons and patches while we watched Bonanza, the Rifleman, and Roy Rogers on TV.
Thanks for visiting my blog. Please feel free to visit or share.
Grandma’s Kitchen block of the week #18 is called The Fridge. It is designed by Pat Sloan. As the name states, our story this week is memories of ‘The Fridge’ and here is mine:
Our ‘Frigidaire’ was one of those with the rounded top and a very tiny freezer on the inside. The freezer had a couple of metal ice trays that everyone ‘forgot’ to fill with water so ice was never available. It was not self-defrosting either. I remember heating water on the stove until it was boiling and sitting a pan inside the freezer to defrost all the ice that accumulated. This was an ongoing process and it was a pain. I am so thankful for frost-free refrigerators now.
Our fridge was not full of condiments like we have now. Things like mustard and vinegar were not refrigerated and left overs were eaten at the next meal or put in the soup pot. No prepared food was purchased from the grocery as all our food was stored in jars in the cellar, in the smoke house, in the hen-house, or in the cow.
This fridge was also very loud. It was not noticeable during the day but it would wake you from a sound sleep when it kicked on at night.
Thanks for visiting with me and reading about my ‘good old days.’
Block 17 of the Grandma’s Kitchen Block of the Week by Pat Sloan is named Pantry Goods. My story that goes with the block is all about the garden and all the bounty that we enjoyed from it. My aunt had a huge garden that supplied food for her family (that included me) and my grandparents. The work started in the spring with plowing and planting and continued through the fall with the gathering and canning.
Everyone worked the garden. I remember spreading fertilize when I was very small. I used a little tin bucket that I filled from the bag of fertilize. I walked down the rows behind the plow that was pulled by a team of mules and threw handfuls into the prepared rows. One of my cousins followed behind me with seeds or plants, depending on what was being planted. Another cousin followed him with a hoe and covered the seeds. After all the planting came the hoeing….every day. This kept the weeds away from the plants and the dirt from hardening around the plants.
When the vegetables were ready to be harvested then came the canning. Going into the cellar (our ‘pantry’) under the house to bring out the empty jars was not one of my favorite jobs. I was always afraid one of the boys would close the door on me. I still do not like going into tight, dark spaces. The jars were washed in hot, soapy water and since my hands were small enough to fit in the jars, I was assigned this task.
I usually sat on the porch and readied the green beans to start the canning process. My cousins would pick the beans and bring them to me so I could pull off the strings and break them into pieces. Each time I would get to the bottom of my basket the boys would bring me more. One time I broke beans for about six hours before we stopped to start making supper. I made the comment to my aunt that I was so tired and glad to stop for supper. In her old country way she looked at me and said, “I don’t know why you are so tired, you have been sitting on the porch all day.” Those are still some of my fondest memories.
Each Sunday at church the ladies would brag about how many jars they canned that week. Not only did we eat fresh vegetables all summer, but all winter we had the wonderful canned vegetables. This was ‘fast food’ in the olden days. 🙂
Peggy and Sami Quilts 