A Stitch in Time, Saves Nine

Friends' Quilt top that I am talking about.

As a very, VERY young child I had contemplated and analyzed that expression over and over. When I think back about it, it makes me shake my head and smile.  I had wondered how one stitch could equal nine stitches? So I rationalized that the stitch size would have had to be different! Even before I realized it was referring to nine stitches, I thought it was saying I had to sew something before 9:00 and I would have saved the day! I’m sure this related to my learning to tell time when I was 4 years old, and at that point in my development, I was obsessed with clocks and numbers. Now, remember, I did say YOUNG child!  J  Of course, later in my elementary years it dawned on me that it meant fixing something, before it got worse, would be beneficial.  (ounce prevention/pound cure type thing).

Pinwheel phase!

Well, I’ve gotten totally sidetracked, but what sparked this whole blog passage, is my involvement with helping a friend preserve a memento from the past. Last year, a sweet friend of mine had mentioned off-handedly that she has a quilt top that her grandmother had made for her about 26 years ago, tucked away in a trunk. 

Ohana making herself comfortable
on one of my daughter's quilt.

Her grandmother has since passed away, her mother isn’t sewing any more, and she doesn’t sew at all. I knew that her grandmother had passed away, but the other two tidbits of info, I didn’t realize until recently.  

I remember thinking it was so sad to have a quilt just tucked away; but, we were with a group of people at the time and I didn’t follow up with additional questions.

Jelly Roll quilts, not yet assembled.
Super easy for beginners!

A few weeks ago, I was sharing a quilting story with her, and she mentioned the quilt top again.  This time I followed up with her!

In a nutshell, I am going to help her get this quilt top out from her trunk and completed it so it can finally be used. I picked it up from her office last week and we laughed how the colors she’d loved and chosen as a teenager were not going to look so dashing in her master bedroom!  J  I am going to try to bring in some darker colors and prints to use as borders and backing, to make this appear a little less girlie….  J

Working different patten layouts
for Log Cabin quilt. Other daughter's 

There is just something “special” about wrapping up in a quilt.  My grown daughters call quilts “mama hugs” or “burritos of love”. I guess you must be getting the visual of how well they wrap themselves!  They are both away from home and have their quilts with them.  They’ve both said that whenever they’re having a rough day, crawling under their quilts just seems to make the problems lessen and them feel closer to home. 

Another look with same blocks.

I’ve chronicled the quilts I’ve made by various patterns for various years.  It’s amusing to see my “pinwheel” or “log cabin” phases. 

I’ve loved every quilt that I’ve made and have found “homes” for each of them. 

Knowing that a quilt I’ve made and given away to comfort someone when they’re chilled, sick, tired, stressed, or just in the mood to feel “cozy”, makes me feel as though I’ve achieved that “stitch in time!”

A more "toned-down" version of
the Christmas quilt.

If you don’t sew or quilt, I hope you’ll realize it’s never too late to learn. And what a great thing to pass on to someone, be it the skill of sewing or the quilt itself!

May the Circle be Unbroken

Doesn't really pertain to the Blog,
but thought it would bring a smile to your face.

An exciting norm of our society, for women at least (although some include men), is our ceremonial ritual of a bridal shower. As adults, we’ve realized that the young couple will be heading out on their own, and consequently without the resources of their parents’ garages, cupboards, and attics we host a “shower” to bestow upon them gifts we know they’ll need!  With so many of the young people that we know getting married, an interesting dinner conversation occurred in our house a year or so ago, but has stuck with me.

Quilt and Afghan
Things you need for your home!

My oldest daughter, who was getting ready to leave to serve out of state in an AmeriCorps position, asked why don’t we have “showers” to celebrate young people just heading out on their own. Her points were valid as she brought up the fact she was going to need most things that a young married couple would need.  She’d need the tool kit to fix items in her home, lawn mower to take care of her yard, dishes to eat on, pots and appliances to cook with, towels for the bathroom, lamps for the living room, bed to sleep on, dresser for her clothing, etc., etc.,

Rite of Passage to receive your set of tools!

The conversation then transitioned to how differently the paths are today from previous generations.  A generation or so ago, couples married right out of high school; they went from parents’ homes to their home. Then it seemed the norm was to complete college and then be wed, with the couples still not actually “on their own”.  Going from dorm living/dining hall living to your own home still wasn’t really experiencing self-reliance.

Present day couples seem to come together with two apartments worth of “stuff” that they must now find a way to mesh together.  Suddenly there may be 2 toasters---whose is better? Now as we buy wedding gifts, we are beyond the need to furnish them with the basics, they have that. 

So, back to the dinner conversation……….

Extra quilts and blankets for the bed

We debated what few items someone would actually “have to have”.  I KNOW this is will be different for different people; however, these are the TWO items that my daughter had to have: 

1) DeWALT battery screwdriver/drill   

 2) Family recipes! Doesn’t quite seem to be what   the average 25 year old would ask for, does it?  

       J 

(Although, I use my DeWalt almost every day, so I understood her feeling that she couldn’t possibly live without one.)

Gentle breezes (and gale force gusts) help
create the beautiful sounds from the wind chimes

Knowing that we could easily provide both of those items (and we even threw in a beautiful sounding set of wind chimes that she could hang near her window to remind her of the sounds coming from the porch at her home many states away), my youngest daughter and I started putting together a cookbook of favorite recipes. We did it in “scrapbook” style with family photos included to bring back memories whenever she cooked. 

A recipe that my mother had written
 to put in my book over 30 years ago!

We hand wrote each recipe card and included heartwarming family trivia on every one of them. We covered breakfasts, casseroles, dinners, desserts, breads, hors d’oeuvres, punches, salads, holiday recipes, soups….you name it, it was there.  

What was even more special about this task was that many of the recipes that we were copying to put in her book, were from recipes that MY MOTHER made to put into MY book back in 1980! This gift to my daughter was just another way of keeping the generations connected.

Large Gingerbread House that I made 

As a family tradition, each year at Christmas I bake MANY gingerbread houses.  We assembly them all and then decorate to give as gifts to friends.  Of course we keep one or two for our house, too!  

Her Grandfather and Great-Grandfather
decorating mini gingerbread houses that
I'd made for a family Christmas party 20 years ago.

On the page where I included the gingerbread recipe, I also included a picture or two of friends and family decorating all those houses through the years.

I baked mini gingerbread houses for both daughters'
classrooms each year and the students decorated them.

Needless to say, she loves her DeWalt; however, even though she has a camera, smart cards, and flashdrives full of photos, she says she loves to get out the cookbook, hold it, and think of home.

I hope this prompts thoughts of ways that you can help make the young people you have in your life adjust a little easier to life on their own, while still keeping the connection there for generations to come.