A New Craft ??????

Imagine my surprise this morning when , on the front page of one of the sections of the Houston Chronicle, I found an article that describes in detail how to make a felt Christmas ornament - complete with a "Sewing Primer" which describes in detail how to do a blanket stitch!!!



Duh -- hello folks! Where have you been for the last fifty plus years? My son, (I won't tell his age but he draws social security if that tells you anything) saids "Mom, we used to make those in grade school!"

Makes me wonder how many other things folks don't remember - like my sweet mother-in-law and my grandmother Jordan ("Ma") sitting in their rocking chairs crocheting and discussing the events of the day. And the beautiful handmade pieces they created - doilies, baby blankets, tableccloths and bedspreads - yes, I sais bedspreads!

Or my mom with her embroidery needle flying to work bautiful designs om dish towels, pillow cases, or dresser scarfs - these memories are locked in securely in my mind....And what about quilting - first piecing the blocks, then setting them together and putting them into the frames io quilt.

First the frames had to be let down from the ceiling where they were suspended
with binders twine. Then the lining had to be put in, actually sewed to the frame in large overcasting stitches. Then the batting had to be placed ever so carefully over the lining. In even my Granny's later years, batting could be bought by the yard or by the roll. Long before this, it was corded into bats about 6'" by4".
Imagine making enough of these to cover a bed size quilt lining!! Not to mention actually quilting the quilt, which involved stitching through all 3 layers with small stitches - p
referabl.y 10 to 13 stitches per inch. Now THERE was a craft to write home about!!

Speaking of "writing home", I have a letter from my Granny to her parents . Mr. and Mrs S. C. Hager, dated March 8, 1912. And I quote, "Well Mama. I have 9 sweet little chicks. They are shure pretty. I had 10 and the hog tuned the coop over and killed one , and broke up one hen that would have hatched next week, I was shure mad." This letter bore the complete address
of mr S. C Hager, Corn Hill, Texas and the postage was 2 cents. My, my, how times change!!

Enough "til next time - - - Nanny





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More memories of school days- - -

Remembering school days brought back a bunch of things . . . .

How about autograph books Remember them?? They were passed around from friend to friend to write some thing to remember them by. Some of the standard, AND GOOD ONES, were
First comes love, then comes marriage,
Then comes Joyce with a baby carriage.
(This was the usual order of events back then!)

Another - May you have a wonderful life with just enoughclouds to make a beautiful sunset,

A favorite uncle (Uncle Chancy) summed it all pretty well when he wrote:

Well, kid, life is real and not a rage
So calm yourself and act your age!

(I find myself reviewing this good advice sometimess - even now - after all these years have gone by.)

School Days, School Days -

When I was a kid, many, many, many years ago, there was an old song that went like this:

School days , school days, dear old golden rule days;
Reading and writing and 'rithmetic taught to the tune of a hickory stick.
You were my bashful barefoot beau - I was your queen in calico;
I rode on your sled. I love you, Joe; when we were a couple of kids!

Now in the little two room school house I attended, there were 2 teachers - Miss Faye and Miss Frances. Miss Faye's husband was indeed named "Joe", but Miss Frances' was called Claudie.
Sooooooo, when we sang above mentioned song Miss Faye sang out loud and clear. "I love you,
Joe". Not to be outdone Miss Frances chimed in with "I Love you, Claudie", then they would both almost collapse with laughter.

Yes, this really happened and I look back fondly remembering these 2 young teachers
proclaiming their love in such a happy and meaningful way!!!!

(Picture shown is site of old schoolhouse)

Here I am again!!

SWIFTLY CAME SEPTEMBER



by Joyce King Eddlemon



Swiftly came September, lingered just awhile;

Every day as precious as a baby's smile.



Swift the years are passing - chapters of our life-

Happiness and sadness; peaceful times and strife

Woven all together to form a tapestry

Of golden threads, and silver, for all the world to see.



Swift my thoughts turn backward

To a by-gone time;

Memories grow more mellow

As a well-aged wine.



Happy times and laughter,

Loved ones young and old

Blend to form a treasure

More rare than finest gold.



Walk with me, beloved. back to yesterday;

Savor all the joys of life lived in a simpler way.

Know as down the road of life each footstep that you take,

Each song you sing, each joy you bring tomorrows' memories make.



(Written for Skip,Beth, Sue & Ann - my personal masterpieces-

and for Jim, Roy and Fred who brouht much happiness.)

Summer's almost over

Whenever I see all the ads about kid's clothes and school supplies, it reminds me again of how MUCH things have changed. When school was about to begin back in the olden days, preparations of a different kind went into effect. Living in the country, a lot of our shopping was done by mail from catalogs like Sears and Wards. Amazingly, these companies not only showed available fabrics in nice color pages, but included swatches of the actual fabrics in the catalog.

That's when the fun began! My mom and I sat down together to pick out which fabrics I wanted new school dresses made from. This is the part I have never under stood and still don't. I could pick out a picture of the way I wanted a dress made, and Mother somehow knew how much fabric to order and how to cut a pattern like the picture of the dress I selected. As I recall, I got three new school dresses - can't imagine how in the world my parents paid for them in those hard depression days. And how did she manage to make her own pattern just from looking at a picture??

She was very creative - later, in Junior High School there as a craze to have a white shirt
with names of friends written all over them. You bet I had one, only mine was embroidered. Then for the junior high picnic at the end of school most of the girls were by then wearing shorts which my folks were not too crazy about. So - Mother to the rescue!! She made not only me but my best girl friend a short one piece playsuit with a striped collar and cuffs -And a skirt to match the collar and cuffs with buttons all down the front. We thought we were really dressed up, and had a marvelous time. (Incidentally, this picnic was at Sylvan Beach - anyone out there remember Sylvan Beach?? ) Or Burbank Jr. High?? I had a lot of fun in school and to this day love to smell Crayolas.

I"m sort of mixing old school days like the early grades with later fun of Junior High. We used to get new readers signed out to us and that was always such an exciting day. The big problem here was that I usually had mine all read by the time we had lessons in them . Maybe that is why my house today looks like a second hand bookstore. Oh well, and all of our kids love to read, too!

A funny incident happened when Mother took me to register at Burbank. My mom was little and cute and we waited and waited as other parents went in with their kids, until finally she got up nerve to ask why we could not go in. A very embarrassed student in charge of letting people in, apologized and explained she thought Mother was one of the new students. Lots of memories - - -

Good to get together!

Well, reunions are over, for awhile. Next one is sort of my immediate family, although anyone is welcome, so come on over. It is Labor Day weekend, very low key after these two big ones, but still dear to my heart. September 7 was my Navy Man"s birthday and since he passed on at age 46, it is hard for me to imagine his being an old white haired man. He would be 85 this year. But one thing for sure, he would be a good-looking 85. Pictures shown in this post are when he was 17 and just joined Navy, then when we were married for 1 week -ages 18 and 20.

The reunions were great - first his folks at the Swertner community center, Must have been
45 or 50 people there, but that is a small crowd considering in the "good old days" there might be 100 plus. They went to a river or lake and camped out for 2 or 3 days. This reunion started 78 years ago, and back then most of the family were farmers or ranchers and had sizable families sso the numbers added up quickly. I thought I was the oldest one at his reunion but come to find out a cousin , Clovis' husband, is 87. . It is a far cry from years ago - even when I was new to the family, when we had singing, and games and barbecuing and pranks galore. Now we meet in air conditioning comfort, visit, eat, and go home. But it is still great bonding . . .

Then on to my granny's reunion. Not very many this year-think my daughter counted 30 odd . But such good hugs and remembering and food - oh my!!! Of course I delighted in showing off my new twin great grandaughters , almost 9 months old. They live in North Caro;ina so it was their first trip to Texas. Aren't they something special? And good babies - laugh all the time - hardly ever cry unless they see their mom fixing their bottles!! Of course everyone had to show kids and grandkids pictures of weddings, new babies, etc. Did I mention that my oldest great grandaughter went with us. She is 16 now - beautuful girl, and just seems perfectly content going along on one of these famuly "remember when? trips. I babysat this one wuite a bit when she was a baby and I guess we "bonded" as they say nowadays. We have a special relationalship.

Second day of Granny's reunion was in a small town not too far from Georgetown, and on the way over we drove by where the 2 room school I (and some of my cousins) attended as little kids, was located, The building no longer stands but it was fun just seeing the road and location and all. Also drove by where our mail box was located, probably 1/2 mile from where the farmhouse stood. I thought it must be 2 or 3 miles when I was 7 or 8 years old. Drove by the little lane that led up to Granny's farmhouse, so we crammed a lot of mememories into the day. Another great day of visiting and eating and reluctant goodbyes for this time.

Many thanks to my youngest (I usually say my "baby") for taking time off from her job on Friday and Monday to get us there and back and to my oldest daughter for making the 1100+ mile trip from North Carolina to be there.

Again...Seems Like A Small Town

Well, I'm seriously thinking of throwing this computer out the window! Every time I think I am catching on a little, something really DUMB happens - - like I type a nice blog, and suddenly it just disappears into thin air - WHOOF!!, 'bye 'bye, so long!! I wanted briefly to tell you about this little neighborhood I live in. Remember it is on the edge (next street over is out of the city limits) of a city of over two million. Anyhow after I enjoyed an MRI on my back a few days ago, I went by the post office and someone called to me and said "Hi, didn't I just see you coming out of the Y?","Yep, you sure did".. (I exercise at our local Y a couple or three days a week, with a younger friend - she is only 78.)

Then I just had to run by Whataburger and get some biscuit and sausage gravy for breakfast. (This is a southern staple food - can't live without it! ) Well, I have told you before about Dorothy, the 79 year old waitress at Whataburger. So she came over and greeted me, and I started to get uo to get some coffee, and she said," I'll get it for you" So she brings me a cuppa and plops herself down in my booth, and we just a had a good old visit..

Then I go to our neighborhood store the next day, and they have published a dollar off milk with a $10.00 purchase. I hand the cashier, Mary, my coupon, and she says "Oh honey, this was through yesterday!" I knew that; I just forgot what day it was. She says "Take it over to the courtesy booth and tell you want your dollar."

I said, "Are you kidding?" She said no, so I go over and get in line, and I guess I was too slow for her, she comes up, takes the coupon out of my hand, and reaches around someone at the window and said "Give her a dollar." And they do. . . It is amazing what this white hair does for you sometime.

No more time tonight - have to leave early tomorrow for Central Texas (God's Country) for the afore mentioned reunions so must get my beauty sleep - hee hee!