Old Lace and Ancestors

The bride looked very pretty in a gown of white messaline silk, trimmed in Venician lace.

That is how my grandmother's wedding dress was described in the newspaper announcement.  The wedding took place on September 10, 1913...103 years ago.  Fortunately for me, as the 'Family Historian and Scrapbooker, the clipping and wedding photo survived and has become a Family Heirloom.  What I wouldn't give for a scrap of her Venician wedding dress lace.

What I do have is a collection of antique lace...some of it possibly 103 years old.  As you might guess, it is somewhat fragile, but amazingly intact and beautifully aged.  Perfect for embellishing the scrapbook pages that represent a bygone era of our family, and the photos of my grandmother and her sisters.

Old Lace and Ancestors...Great Grandparents Wedding Photo...1878.

Clover's Clever YoYo Maker

Not so long ago I stated I never wanted to make a YoYo quilt due to what a pain it is to cut out a kabillion circles, turn down an 1/8th of an inch edge, do a running stitch all around and finally...draw up the stitches to form the YoYo.

I still don't want to make a YoYo quilt, but I do want to make YoYo Flowers.  Especially since discovering Clover's Clever YoYo Maker.

Who knew making YoYo flowers would be so Easy Peasey!

Really...they are easy with the 2 piece plastic template/form which snaps together to hold the fabric in place.  I've been using my 1930's reproduction fabric scraps as well as small print scraps.  There are several options for making the center...#1 a stitched circle that pushes up through the center...or...#2 a button.  Since I have lots and lots of buttons...that's the option I've done the most of, so far.

This is my new 'Sit and Stitch' handwork while watching TV.  As you can see, Clover suggests using the flowers for making corsages, table runners, bags and so on.  I plan on using them on bags for sure, and my 'OverDoSue-ness' has kicked in with some ideas that will require making a Round YoYo.  Do you think Clover was clever enough to make a Round YoYo Maker? 

Of course they were!!! 

I've ordered the Round Extra Large AND the Butterfly YoYo Makers!

Like I said....OverDoSue-ness has kicked in!!!

Gardening Through the Texas Drought

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality website reported that sections of Texas are recovering from the drought that officially started in 2011.  From then to now, prolonged, dry conditions put a strain on water supplies for all users and implemented surface and groundwater regulations throughout the state.  How has that impacted my vegetable and flower gardening?

Before 2011 our Back Yard Garden took up most of the back yard with above ground planter boxes as well as beds along the fence line.  In 2011 the planter boxes were removed with gardening relegated to the fence line beds.  No gardens in 2012 and 2013....it was all we could do to keep the grass watered on a once a week and then once every other week mandatory schedule.

When digging in the dirt is in your 'Genes', you will do whatever it takes to 'Backyard Farm'.  In 2014 we recycled bath and dish water along with our scheduled allowance and captured rain water.  We had a nice crop of squash, okra, and tomatoes from our mostly 'Container' garden.  Last year...2015...we decided to Farm at HEB (grocery store)...so no Veggie Garden or Flower Garden.

Texas Mother Nature has been a bit more generous with RAIN in 2016, and even though we are still on a mandatory watering schedule, we decided to 'Container Garden' this year.  Three tomato plants and three mounds of squash in the fence line planter box and my favorite 'Red Geraniums'. 

We are blessed!

1947 Mother's Day 'Mother Pin'

 

It was Mother's Day...Sunday, May 11, 1947...her first Mother's Day.  Her baby daughter was almost three months old.  Her husband was in Japan, and although her parents lived in the same small town, she was the one and only person to mother the baby girl.  And so she did for the rest of her life.

 

For the past three Mother's Days since her death, I have worn her 'Mother Pin'.  As you might have guessed, it is as special to me as it was to her...for you see...I was there for her first Mother's Day and the day Dad pinned it on her dress.  It was a month or so after Mother's Day in 1947.

Although it isn't marked, the pin likely was made in Japan.  It was a popular Mother's Day gift for service men to send or bring home to their mothers and wives. 

The 'Mother Pin' is one of several pins from my Mother's collection from the 1940's and 1950's.  They are in mint condition as she seldom if ever wore them.  They were always kept in a special wooden box along with a few other precious momentos. 

Now they are 'Family Heirlooms' with precious memories of Mother.

Old Quilt and Old Lace Has New Life to Show and Tell

Pieces of this old quilt has been around since the 1930's, as some of it's fabrics are from that era's feed and flour sacks.  It probably was pieced during the 1940's, as some of it's fabrics are from that era.  It definitely has 100% old cotton batting as it is wadded and bunched within it's stitched blocks.  To say it is 'Scrappy' is an understatement...with it's Make Do and Mend...it's unraveled seams and torn binding.  You see, once upon a time it was tucked around a mattress supported with slats and wire springs. 

This old quilt was the focus of  Letter C in the 2013 AtoZ Challenge...Chisholm Trail Quilt.

The Armadillo Squad was gathered around Sudie and an old quilt...and I mean old as in frayed binding, worn thin calicos and clumped cotton batting that had settled within the quilted pieces after many washings and many days and nights of being tucked between bedsprings and mattress.  It was obvious that the quilt was special to Sudie, who was pointing out a block in the middle of the quilt, "This here block is stained with my Granddaddy Chaps blood." You could hear a pin drop as we all collectively uttered, "Oh my, Sudie, how did that happen?"  Sudie motioned for us all to have a seat as she settled in her chair with the tattered and blood stained quilt draped across her lap.   HERE is the rest of the story.

Now it has a New Life with New/Old Stories to Show and Tell.

 

I wonder if anyone will notice Sudie's Granddaddy Chap's blood stains hidden under the pocket and spattered here and there on the inside of the New/Old Bags! 

Yep, lots of 'Life Left to Show and Tell !!!

April AtoZ Challenge In Review

The 'Header' for this years challenge was inspired by a linoleum cut which was a demo for a printmaking class.  The watercolor background worked out perfectly to stage a vintage zipper and feature the Tags of four previous years of the AtoZ Challenge.  There you have it...a culmination of 5 years of participation with everything from Art to Zippers Collections.  In the four previous challenges, writing and story telling was the focus of each post with photographs giving each story a visual that related.  This year, has been a reversal of focus with photographs of 'Collections' with a short history for each Letter.  The following is a Photo Collage Review.

 

Click on ART Tag

To Review Letter A~Z Posts

(listed in reverse alpha order...2016 AtoZ Label)