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

Jello

 In pre covid times Far Guy and I liked to attend Auction Sales...and garage/rummage sales.  

I am sorting through some old photos on my Simple Save...oh it is slow going but a good trip down memory lane.  I am working in 2009 right now. In 11 years many things have changed.

This is a fun puzzle.

I  had many a jello made in those crystal bowls... my Aunt Marie like to serve jello over a lettuce leaf and topped with cottage cheese...uffda.  ( For the record Cottage Cheese will make me barf.)  I tried to graciously scoop it off to one side.   I like just plain jello...with some whipped cream on top...and Lemon,  Lime or Blue Raspberry are not my favorite flavors.... give me Orange, Black Cherry or regular Raspberry any day of the week.  My Grandmother put all kinds of fruit in her jello....sometimes more fruit than jello...I hated the grapes.  If Grandma made plain jello it was kept in a crystal refrigerator dish that had a pretty crystal lid.  

Far Side

Labor Day Funeral

Yesterday was my Aunt Maries funeral.  It was an overcast day, the rain held off until late afternoon.

My Aunt liked flowers, any kind of flowers.  Yellow roses were her favorite and her two remaining siblings gave her a perfect one in a bud vase.

On Sunday afternoon before the visitation at the funeral home, I began to gather flowers for a bouquet.  I wandered here and there throughout the yard and the wild gardens, although it is getting late, there were still flowers that looked pretty good.  The vase and the ribbon were both garage sale finds. 

I called a few of my cousins..I asked them to bring some flowers to add to the bouquet…some had cosmos, some had phlox, some had dahlias and some had zinnias..we had so many flowers that I had to borrow another vase from the funeral home.  They were perfect, a wonderful blend of shapes and colors, my Aunt would have loved them.

The service on Monday was lovely, not too long and not to short, my cousin spoke eloquently of his mother and her life and  about how the Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  The Pastor had a tough act to follow.  Of course we sang “Amazing Grace.”

After the service we had a proper funeral lunch, a sandwich, pickles, sliced tomatoes,  a variety of cold salads, and of course any kind of homemade “bar” you could want…you have to feed your grief before going to the cemetery. 

The drive to the cemetery takes about 25 minutes..if you drive slow it takes a half an hour.  The cemetery is high on a hill in the middle of nowhere ..a tiny little cemetery where most of that side of my family is buried.  Trees surround the cemetery, so it is not visible from the road..and the road in goes up, up, and  up some more…I have been at this cemetery when the weather was bad and the road was impassable and both the mourners and the casket bearers had to walk up the steep hill. Once you get into the cemetery there are two areas..the flats or another hill which overlooks the flats. My Aunt was planted high on the hill next to her husband and parents.

  So..it is over..another funeral pamphlet tucked into my old white bible.  Another life all summed up in a few paragraphs.  It is a good thing that there is no space limit on good memories:)

Yellow Roses Were Her Favorites!

And then there were two, my Dad comes from a large family, there were fourteen of them. Now there are two..my Dad and his sister Anna.  Their sister, my Aunt Marie who was 82 just last month and diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer twenty- four days ago died yesterday afternoon.

I sat with her the other night, I am not sure if she knew who I was, but at least she knew someone that loved her was there.

I learned many things from her over the years. How to take care of two babies at once, as she was the mother of twins.  How to knit, she took the time to show me how to hold the needles and my thread just right to make stitches that are not too loose and not too tight.  How not to be quite so cranky..she was a bit of a crank, that is probably why we got along so well together.

Some of my favorite memories were long conversations on an Amtrak  trip from Minnesota to Seattle one year for a cousins wedding.  We made good traveling companions.

She was not only my Aunt, but also a good friend.  Between my husband and hers they could tell some awfully funny stories and she would giggle so hard that she would practically wet her panties.  

I will miss her, but it was time for her to go on, she was so tired and worn out.  I am positive that she will be there to greet me whenever I am called to my heavenly home.  Her faith was strong, it had to be, she was widowed twice in her life.  The first time on her tenth wedding anniversary, and the second time many years later on her second husbands birthday. She leaves behind three sons and five beautiful grandchildren.

  

I visited her years ago in the hospital when she had her open heart surgery, I brought her a  couple of yellow roses..she said “ Yellow Roses are my favorite.” :)