Snowy Evening: A Five Year Finish

5 years or so ago, Marianne, John's sister asked me if I wanted to work on a quilt project with her and Rachel. It was a Crabapple Hill design titled "Walking in a Winter Wonder Land"  with redwork embroidery snowmen with a pieced border. This is the picture on the pattern package:

I was intrigued, I have always like redwork and hadn't done any but I didn't like the title block with the musical staff and especially the block with a little verse on it.  It as just a little cutesy and meaningless to me. I said yes anyway and asked Annie if she wanted to do it with me. I had all of mom's red fabric that she had collected in the 70s, 80s, and 90s that she has stashed and thought it was be a fun way to use some of it. 

Annie and I loved quilting together. It was so fun to get together on Mondays, her day off and stitch for a few hours. We soon decided that we each wanted our own quilt and would do the embroidery on our own and piece the border together.  I was a little humbled to see that Annie's redwork was finer than mine. She was much more meticulous and sewed finer stitches than I did. And my redwork was pretty good. We would work on the quilt in the winter months then summer time, yard work and trips would happen and we would have to put our stitching away for a while. 

I finally got to the point that I had to make a decision about the verse and title blocks. Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" has always been a favorite of mine, even though I later learned he wrote it when he was contemplating suicide. "And miles to go before I sleep"  is a very profound thought no matter where you are in life. 

So I used Frost's title:

And the first verse of the poem:

As a side note, I machine quilted it using mono filament threat on the top. It is a clear nylon thread like very very fine fishing line.  So fine it is hard to see. I didn't want the quilting thread to show over the redwork and knew if I hand quilted it it would be another 5 years before it got finished. Using a non cotton thread goes against everything I know about quilting, especially one that is so non organic. But it did what I needed it to do and I am happy with the results. 

Now to finish the rest of my unfinished projects. Like this one:

Coal Stoves and Creamed Tuna

I asked Mama what Grandma did after Guy died. She moved her family to a little home on Center Street and 2nd East. It was a small 1 bedroom house with 12 foot ceilings that was heated with a coal stove in the living room and one in the kitchen. Grandma's sister Antionette bought her a white coal stove instead of the ugly black one for the living room. Mama said she used to help pull the wagon they used to carry the coal to the house. 

Mom remembers standing behind the stove in the living room to get warm. The coal dust used to get everywhere in the house including the walls which needed to be washed once a week. Guy's brother would come over and wash them for Grandma. One of mom's jobs was to clean the grime off the windows. She once said that this was the days before detergent and the soap they had didn't cut the grease and grime very well. So they really had to scrub to get things clean. 

Grandma and mama shared the bed in the bedroom with David in a crib. Keith and Dean slept in the living room. I asked mom what they lived on. She thought a minute and said "l don't know, I do know we always had enough to eat, but sometimes just barely."  They usually had a pot roast on Sundays but one Thanksgiving all they had was creamed tuna and grape juice in crystal glasses. Mama later found those crystal glasses in a box of things after grandma died and gave one to each one of her brothers as a memento. 

When things got hard mom used to hear grandma talking to Guy as if he were there, more to comfort herself than anything else. Grandma had wonderful faith and knew things would work out. After a few years they were thrilled to move into a nearby 3 bedroom apartment with central heating. 

Halloween

I finished several Halloween projects this year. For some reason I must have been feeling pretty industrious. The first was a pillow I made fo Matt and Erin from scraps from Halloween skirt and pants I made Ian, Lily and Molly while I was watching them while Matt and Erin were on a 2 week business trip to England and Ireland. 

The second was a wall hanging for Chris and Meg as a housewarming surprise. We hadn't been to see theim in Reno since they moved and went to spend Halloween with them. It was just a panel I added borders, but I think it turned out spooky cute. I love the green bat border I used for both. It is the only fabric I bought for both projects. 

I did a little wool project by hand. They are easy, rewarding and fun to do. Kind of like paint by numbers only with a needle and thread.  

And a few Halloween pictures of the grandkids. While we weren't there with Ian, lily and Molly I was with them for 2 weeks. 

I actually want treat or treating for the first time in year with Ezra, Travis and Maggie. I love the look on Ezra's face. He was a gladiator and Travis was Hiccup from "How to Train Your Dragon."

John and Maggie.  I love her new haircut. She was a police officer. 

And Annie in her Viking hat with her new puppy Tappen.