Old Quilting Bee Photos

 I had a bunch of old photos to take to Mom for her to look at.  We got them kinda sorted out.  

If you were married 25 years "The Aunts" used to send out instructions for a cotton quilt square with embroidery on it that included your name.   Then they would get together and sew the top together and have a quilting bee. 

This was my parents quilt, Mom said they got it when they were married about 35 years...because they had lots of catching up to do when they started the project.

The "Quilting Bee" was held at my cousin Art and Kathy's home on the lake. 

Mom still has her quilt, I packed it at her apartment and it went to storage. 

You can see the squares were all different pastel colors of cotton material....each design unique. 

Far Guy and I have two quilts...two double size quilts because by the time our anniversary rolled around I had many cousins participating!

It was a great family tradition.  Many thanks to the Aunts that started the tradition! 

Far Side

A Mission

As you all probably know I am a volunteer at Find A Grave.  We spent a number of days walking local cemeteries.  We still have one to walk if the weather permits. 

Tuesday was the day I chose to walk this Catholic Cemetery.  I have two aunts, two uncles and two cousins buried there.  Far Guy went along, Chance watched from the car.  I gave Far Guy a camera so if he found a grave that I needed a photo of he could do it.  We had 35 graves to find and found 24 of them…so it was a successful afternoon in the rain/snow.

The grounds of this little cemetery will put many other larger cemeteries to shame. 

It is well kept.  See the Christmas tree?

They added some black dirt to low areas this Fall and probably seeded with grass too so in the spring the grass will grow.  The middle patches of black dirt are right in front of my Uncle George and Aunt Grace’s headstone.  It was thoughts of my Aunt Gracie that made this a mission to complete before winter….she died last May and I wondered if the engraved dates were in place.  They were.

I found a classmate’s grave and headstone, and my cousin Lyle has a brand new beautiful headstone.  I photographed both.  It was a lousy day for photos but they are what they are and are better than nothing. I can always replace them with better photos in the Summer.

Now I have the photos to enter at Find A Grave….I have started a list of obituaries to transcribe…but that is a winter after Christmas project.   I have asked a number of people for photos and or obituaries.  Some obits will have to be researched and found in newspapers.

So now we say goodbye to November and hello to December.  The days are so dark and dreary that I am tempted to just wish the month away. It has been raining and or snowing for days.

Funeral: Aunt Grace

Yesterday was my Aunt Grace’s Funeral.  She was 82.  Two years ago when it was her 80th birthday, her kids showed off many of the quilts that she had made.

Many were well worn and used.  She like to see them that way…well used=appreciation!

Sadly in the last few months she lost the use of her hands, no more quilting, embroidery or hand work to keep her mind busy.

She was one of the kindest people I have ever known.  She was a good Aunt.  She was married to my Uncle George who died in 1997.  She invited me to quilting bees even though I couldn’t quilt…I learned and whatever my stitches were she always said they were perfect.

Far Guy and I both went to the wake, and then I attended the funeral.  After the service we had a Minnesota Funeral Lunch; scalloped potatoes with ham, bread, green beans, pickles, coleslaw, macaroni salads, fruit salads, every color of Jello with and without fruit and every kind of cake or bar you can imagine.  I didn’t take Jello cause I don’t like it to melt on my plate and get mixed up with my hot foods.  I balanced my slice of bread precariously on top of my green beans.  When I sat down to eat, I arranged my food just so… my other baby brother said “It is all going the same place anyway.” I know but I still don’t like my food to touch. I had a fine visit with one of my cousins who is usually too busy this time of year to talk.

It was raining.  I left before the Funeral Procession, I wanted to get some photos at the cemetery.

The rain was not letting up.

The casket awaits.

I got out of the car and stood under a very tall Spruce Tree.

Aunt Grace’s casket bearers were her seventeen grandchildren.

It kept raining, after the priest was done, someone began singing Silent Night.

The voices carried across the graveyard as it rained and rained. 

Rest In Peace sweet Aunt Grace

Her birthday photo I took two years ago.

This is the poem her children chose for the inside of her funeral program.

******

Mother’s never die – they just make quilts in the sky.

We will often remember and then realize.

That mothers are special and wonderfully wise…

And when she “Goes home” to recieve her reward

She will dwell in her heavenly home,

and make quilts for the Lord

Where she will “light up” the stars

that shine through the night

So dry tears of sorrow, for mothers don’t die-

They just move in with GOD and make quilts in the sky.

************

 

Wistful Wednesday: Two Uncles

My parents come from large families.  Since my Dad has eleven brothers and two sisters I have many Uncles.

 

This must have been taken at some family gathering.  Cousin Verniel took the photo and shared it with me.

Uncle George on the left and Uncle Arnold on the right….looks like they brought out some sauna dressing room benches into the yard.  Looks like they were at Uncle Ervin’s place just from the lay of the land.  Late on summer evenings that woods would be filled with fireflies.

Uncle George was son number eight and Uncle Arnold was child number thirteen and son number twelve.  My Dad was son number ten.

Uncle George was a farmer and a fixer.  A piece of baling twine could be used to fix many things.  He was a kind, kind man.  He married Aunt Grace and together they merged her girls (she was widowed early in life) with four more children that they would have together.  I always considered the older girls “real” cousins…one day one of them said to me “BUT I am not a real cousin.”  Maybe not to everyone…but to me they were “real.” One was four years and one was two years of age when their Mom married Uncle George…so he was the only father they ever knew and they called him Dad.  

Uncle Arnold was a farmer and a carpenter, he could build just about anything. He was a wonderful gentleman who always had a kind word or two.  He and his wife Sharon have five sons.  I know one reasonably well, the others I don’t know at all. They lived on the farm where my grandparents raised all their children, now their oldest son lives there.

This photo was taken in 1978.  Uncle George would die in 1997 from cancer at the age of 74.  Uncle Arnold would die in 1991 from a heart attack at the age of 59.  Both of their wives are still living. 

My grandparents raised a wonderful bunch of boys and girls.  They were all hard working law abiding, welcoming, kind, honest people.   There wasn’t one I didn’t like or admire for some quality.  Not a carouser in the bunch….although they could make lots of noise at a couple of Shivarees I attended when I was little.

Wistful Wednesday: Roots Part Eleven

My Grandfather ( My Dad’s Father) in the field on the farm where I grew up.

1952

I love this old photo…and this one too.

My Uncle Adolf and My Grandpa in 1952 enjoying lunch in the field.

In 1953 when my Grandmother died my Grandfather became a very eligible bachelor.  He dated a number of women.

He did not approve of face paint (lipstick or rouge), card games ( Checkers were okay but cards were the work of the devil), dancing or drinking.  Women were meant to stay in the home and take care of the children…if they got an education they should be nurses or teachers.

He would stop by our house during the week.  I always enjoyed his visits.  IF for some reason my brother or I were sent out of the house…his visit got us out of the dog house. He smelled like mothballs and wore long underwear year round, the underwear kept in  warmth in the winter and kept his body cool in the summer(evaporation).  Most of the time he wore suspenders.  Those mints I enjoyed were in his shirt pocket or the pocket of his coat.  He chewed and spit..he could spit farther than any person I knew and he had reasonably good aim.

He remarried, Grandma Annie…she died and he was told to move out.  He lived near Uncle Hugo’s on Shell Lake in a tiny house that was quickly built for him.  Then he made the rounds living with each of his children when he couldn’t live alone.  He stayed at my parents a month or so…we enjoyed all his stories.  The hemorrhoid story is a classic.  He said that he would slice open the hemorrhoids with a razor blade and then put iodine on them…he said “It only hurt for a bit.”  Grandpa had some false teeth but they made his mouth sore and he saved up his hearing aid batteries for church on Sunday. Eventually he ended up with Uncle George and Aunt Grace permanently until he fell.  He was in the nursing home for a short time and fell again and died.  He died on December 14 1978 just 4 days short of his 88th birthday. I missed him very much after he died.  He lived longer in years than all of his children so far.  This month my Dad will turn 88 and Aunt Anna will turn 79, they are the remnant.

 

Grandpa Sam with the sauna just down the hill at the farm

This photo is one of my favorites… cousin Geraldine shared it with me.  It is most likely the last photo taken of Grandpa.

A quilt makers birthday

My Aunt Grace celebrated her 80th birthday yesterday.  Her children planned a lovely get together at the community center.   My Uncle George ( My Dad’s brother died in 1997 so she has been a widow a number of years.)

Aunt Grace is a quilter.  She has made many quilts for her family.  Some were on display yesterday, it caused much discussion ..remember this one?  Look at this one..well loved!

I first learned to quilt at her house years ago.  Making those tiny little stiches so they looked like all the other ladies in the “bee” was a challenge for me. I am not sure why they invited me, but I was welcomed and I learned to quilt one stitch at a time.  Those “bee” days had the best lunches ever with everyone bringing something along with stories and laughter. 

One of my cousins is the best cake baker ever, there were cakes galore.  All with different flavors.  Who knew…my cousin Wilma should have opened a bakery!

I had blueberry, Far Guy had chocolate…after we had a lunch of ham, roast beef, scalloped potatoes, baked beans, potato salad, every kind of fruit salad imaginable, trays of vegetables and the obligatory pickles and herring.  Pure Minnesota comfort food. We skipped supper after that lunch!

 

Aunt Grace received some beautiful flowers.

The best gift of all was to have all her children and most of her grandchildren and great grandchildren all together( about 100 of them) for her special day. Here are my cousins in birth order giving each other a bad time.

Happy Birthday Aunt Grace!