Home Again Home Again Jiggety Jog...

I am home safe and sound and it is a good thing, even though I shed a few tears at leaving my Mom and Grandma.  :)  I come from a long line of weepy folks who can't say goodbye without tears!

In my 5 weeks there I managed, I think, to be a daily help (cleaning, cooking etc), took care of a couple of projects (scrubbing the deck, fixing the shower head) and helped Mom redo the upstairs bathroom. (stripping the wallpaper, spraying texture, painting, new towel bars and new shower curtain and bar)  I also managed to take a lot of photos of cemeteries for Find-A-Grave.com (over 100) crochet the last of her yarn into 15 granny squares for my 'Grandmas Yarn Afghan', and came very close to completing my needlework.  (sometimes watching grandma consisted of actually just watching her breathe when she was having trouble).  And of course with me as 'muscle' we were able to get grandma out for a drive or shopping or to the beauty parlour six times. 

Visiting her sister in law Uarda

The completed bathroom

During the time I was there we also did some cleaning out of her craft drawers.  I can tell you that my grandma is a pack-rat!  She actually used so many everyday items in clever ways that she was somewhat justified in saving all of this stuff, but the rest of us aren't that clever and some of it had to go!  She had yards of fabric that us girls (the cousins) split up amongst the two of us who sew, and thread, pattern books, patterns she sent for 'mail order', zippers she took out of old clothes to use in new, iron on transfers, blanket binding (for all the baby blankets she made over the years), snaps and buttons, rick-rack!  I will brag a little here about my skills in packing, I took two suitcases (pilot bags) there and mailed a flat rate postal box and got home with all of the following (including of course the clothes I took there)-

The goal was to only take things I knew I would use and to not have to spend more money than it was worth to get it home.  Grandma was hoping that we could put all her stuff to good use - so we will try.

 Part of her quilting 'stash' came home with me

There is 7 and 8 yards of these fabrics for quilt backings, one of the stores in town sold out and all of these were pennies on the dollar.

Some are just quarters and some are already cut in 2 and 3 inch strips.

Some of her books like these are from the 40's and 50's,

Lots of buttons and thread- some of this is really old, one of the eyelet packages has a drawing of a woman with a corset! Snaps, and overall buckles, needles and crochet thread for doilies, I even have her old thimble and little snip scissors!

And her quilting books and patterns, some of these are her templates for quilts I have seen.  Does anyone else remember Capper's weekly?  It was a old newspaper that catered to the farm family,  well,  grandma used to order patterns from them and some of them are here. (Capper's is still around as a bi monthly magazine celebrating rural life)






All of this has to be put away now and every now and then I will pull something out and use it and think of grandma which is how I think she wants it to happen. 

Aack!  I need a tissue again! sniff...