Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Throwback Thursday

I've started this post a dozen times and erased it and restarted it as often. I've put in another day at packing; I'm tired and at 7:30 it's too early to go to bed.

My sister sent me a picture of a family treasure she had re-framed, and I thought I'd make it the subject tonight. I am too tired to think of a title, until I hit on Throwback Thursday, to describe the bit of nostalgia she took to the framing shop. 

Then I realized it's not Thursday. Too bad.


Mom always signed and dated her quilts. A corner block of this Sunbonnet Sue has her name, Lenore, and the date she finished the quilt, 1936. I slept under this quilt, and I'm sure my brothers and sister did, after me.

When it was old and seer, our dad made a frame and put this worn out, dated corner of the quilt into it. Jan had it put into another frame and has hung it in her studio. I see the reflection of other things I know hang on her wall, but I also see stains of history.

Dad made a frame probably in the sixties after he retired and could pot about at jobs he enjoyed. Let's say 1966, for the math of it, which means the quilt gave thirty years of hard service and washings. 

I see a couple of brown stains that I can account for. As a child in the forties and fifties, I was prone to ear infections and one remedy was to run a vaporizer overnight, with a nasty brown "medicine" distributed by the steam. I remember it being spilled one night, before it landed in the vaporizer, and left a nasty mark on the quilt.

Mom was quite sad about that. "It will never wash out!" was all she ever said about it, though. If you enlarge the picture, you will see how thin it became in those years of service.

Mom made a Sunbonnet Sue quilt for each of her granddaughters. I wrote about her quilts years ago when I began blogging. That link is to the Sunbonnet Sues. If you put "quilts" in the search box, you can find all the posts I did of all her quilts we still have.



47 comments:

  1. That is a charming bit of quilt. I like that it's framed.
    Did the icky, brown medicine help your ear infections?
    May all go well with the packing. Off to look at the link you provided...

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  2. Hari om
    Well, it's Thursday morning here in OZ and am thoroughly enjoying this throwback memory!!! My parents were both born 1936, so this caught my eye too. It is BEAUTIFUL, stains an' all. YAM xx

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  3. My mother would knit me skirts and tops..I hated them, but what would I give now to have one of those loathed garments made with love...

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  4. Such a treasure, Joanne. I love the name Lenore!

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  5. Both the quilt and the stains are great

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  6. So many memories in one little square of hand worked cloth. Priceless.

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  7. That's a wonderful way to revisit the past and write an interesting post! I used to read a mystery writer who incorporated quilts into her stories. (Earlene Fowler) I never knew that the patterns had names until then!

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  8. Memories are wonderful things.

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  9. Maybe you should put a card on the back telling the significance of the quilt piece and where the stain came from. It is a piece of family lore.

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    1. I'll mention that to my sister today. I've done the same on an old piece of embroidery.

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  10. I did the math. Your mom finished this quilt seven years before you were born. You were the oldest. Maybe before she married, even? Kinda fun to realize that.

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    1. My parents married in 42 and I was born in 43. Mom was 25 when she married. She brought a full cedar chest of needlework with her.

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  11. That is a lovely piece of history. What a good way to preserve part of a project too large to keep in its entirety.

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    1. Actually, the quilt was becoming a rag. In addition to the stain from the vaporizer, I see a large place where the cotton batt is entirely work away.

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  12. My Mother-in-law made Sunbonnet Sue quilts for her two oldest grand daughters. The younger one got a redwork quilt. My two girls still love and have their grandmother's quilts.
    Giving quilts is a great tradition... my sister-in-law has made and given many many quilts. One is in the works for our niece as a college graduation present!

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  13. This is really a treasure! I made a friendship quilt for each of my daughters and I have a quilt my mother made and so do my daughters. I have one from my grandmother with 30s and 40s fabrics and one from my gg grandmother who probably made it in Sweden. It was a crazy quilt with scraps of silk velvet which doesn't hold up. The backing fabric is unlike anything I've ever seen. They are all dear to my heart. I have a couple of flimsies I've made, too. But I have so much too much fabric! I think I told you about that craziness. Family quilts can keep us warm but they also warm our souls.....

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  14. Nothing like a quilt , really! They hold the most important memories. Even a scrap of a quilt, what a story and the memory of the vaporizer takes me right back instantly! We had the same one.

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  15. A definite treasure, stain and all - and it is Thursday here.

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  16. history worth framing, stains and all

    good luck with the packing...little and often

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  17. Love the framed quilt. We have six patchwork quilts made by grandmother. She died fifty years a go but her work and legacy still keeps us warm.

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  18. Lovely that it has been framed and you all know its history. I wonder what that little girl with earache would have thought of how it all turned out?

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  19. That is such a treasure to have, Joanne, stain and all.

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  20. I have several quilts that my husband's grandmother made. She must have been the fastest stitcher in the world because she made so many. The ones I have are truly rags now but I can't bring myself to throw them out and yet, they are beyond repair.
    Women's art is so often meant to be used, isn't it? And thus, it is so transitory. So much love and so much work in each quilt, not to mention talent and an artistic eye. And then used to shreds.

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  21. That's a wonderful "remember when" memory. Old quilts are beautiful no matter the age spots or stains.

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  22. quilts are memories aren't they? at least the ones our mothers, aunts, and grandmothers made. I have a few that my great aunt made.

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  23. I'm reading this on a Thursday, so it's perfect. How wonderful to have this snapshot of both your mother's skill and love, and your memories. I have to say that packing is my least favorite part of moving - and I have moved a lot. It usually is the impetus I need to get rid of stuff. Hope your move goes smoothly (and soon!)

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  24. That is so neat how your father framed this and kept it and for all the memories this quilt brings to you. Good luck with packing; it seems like it never ends, but then it eventually does, only to then have to unpack :)

    betty

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  25. That is lovely Joanne, what a great way to save her handiwork, I love how worn it is, all that love and comfort.

    XO
    WWW

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  26. Lovely memories Joanne - they are so important.

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  27. Quilt are amazing stories.
    Coffee is on

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  28. Nice memories, Joanne. My daughter had a Holly Hobby quilt on her bed when she was young. A friend made it and we used it until it basically fell apart. I love quilts... and have several a dear friend made for me. They mean a lot. Good luck with the packing, but don't overdo!

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  29. That's an unusual idea, to frame the corner of a quilt! When I was young a "quilt" or "eiderdown" was something different - a sort of duvet but without a separate washable cover. A shame about the stains, but still, you have to expect a bit of wear and tear....

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  30. It is Thursday here, too and that quilt was well used and cherished, as all the things in a home should be. You are lucky in both the quilt and your memories.

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  31. It's Friday here. I went back to see all the Sunbonnet Sue's, they really are very pretty.

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  32. Speaking of nostalgia, I still have a rag rug my mom made in 1946. It has my name and all my sibling and two sons on it.. Well used for "NAP TIME" in kindergarten...:)

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  33. You are so lucky to have that memento Joanne. The quilt my grandmother made for me was stolen by a roommate when she moved on. I still mourn it. It was the only thing I had of her, beyond my memories of course.

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  34. This is a wonderful Throwback Thursday post. Charming quilt too. Then there is that beauty hanging over it. :)
    Can't you get your granddaughter to help pack?

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  35. I am glad you were able to still find time to post. It was wonderful to read and thank you for sharing. Hope the packing and moving gets better and less tiring.

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  36. This is a treasure. My mom had quilts from her gr-grandmother, which were shredded and batting poking out. Great stories in each one.
    The only good thing about packing/unpacking is that we culled through stuff, kept what was mattered and discarded what was not.

    Keep us apprised. I'll go to your quilt posts.

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  37. Quilts have history like all handmade things. I enjoyed the story.

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  38. Quilts so often have personalities of their own, perhaps because they share the night hours with us.

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  39. Wow! That is so amazing! I looked at all the quilts she made. They are truly all treasures. It sure took a LOT of work to make them.

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    1. She and her girlfriends passed a lot of their spare time with all sorts of needlework, back in the thirties.

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  40. And thanks for the good cheery note about our stripy T-shirts. Margot almost wore a black and striped on. :)

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  41. It's funny how stains have a story and life of their own and maybe even more significant than the design.

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