At Last!!

I have finished the Cathedral Quilt!!
Even though I used a thimble, I still have calluses on my thumb and the side of my finger. I don't remember having that trouble with the first one I made.
It is a 67" X 84", 100% cotton, brown, mauve, and unbleached muslin. I'm asking $995.

Tricks, but no Treats

My cathedral quilt is nearly finished. It will be ready for a picture by Halloween.

I’m reminded of a particular Halloween as a teenager. Back then we didn't know about “trick or treat”, but we did know about tricks.

On that Halloween my dad saddled up one of his gentle work horses for me and, with many instructions as to being careful, he actually let me ride off to meet my friends. There was only four or five of us, but we managed to think of several tricks. We moved some farm equipment out of place and took down mail boxes. A few of the neighbors even found their out-houses toppled over the next morning!

I have an idea that’s when the adults decided on “trick or treating”!

Old Money

I'm using the holidays as an excuse for not writing. Actually, I'm just procrastinating! Right before Christmas I stayed home and cat sat! I took care of the cat while the rest of the family did some visiting. That was a good time to work on my quilt. 

My Cathedral Window Quilt

As you all know, I make quilts. The first quilt I made that had a "pattern" to it was a Cathedral Window. I really didn't know what I was doing because I had never seen one. I had just seen a picture and thought it was beautiful. I decided to use double knit as I had a good supply of that on hand. As I recall, it took almost two years to finish and was so heavy I just about couldn't lift it! I still have it. I love using it on these cold winter nights. After many years of experience and observation in the quilting community I have started another Cathedral Window quilt. This time I am using unbleached muslin as the main fabric. We will see how this one turns out. I think it is fitting that this pattern should be the first quilt I made and, probably, also the last one I will make.

Working in the Fields

When I was 12 or 13 years of age, I was expected to do a little work in the field. I recall my dad planting a small acreage of peanuts. My sister, Dessie, and I were the ones who were put to work hoeing those peanuts.

On occasion I would chop down too many of the plants.  I could imagine that my dad would be very upset if he came along and saw all those bare places where the plants should be growing. I would stop chopping, get down on my knees, and very carefully try to re-plant the peanut plant! Of course it had no chance of living because the roots were already gone!

I don't know if he every knew what I did, but if he did, he never said a word to me.

Food from Heaven

On long, hot summer days I had very little to do when I was a child. I especially remember walking down the dirt road about a quarter of a mile to visit one of my sisters-in-law, Opal. She was married to my brother, Ned.

Opal was a very nice, quiet, soft-spoken lady. She would quite often think up some kind of “goodie” to bake for us.

On this one particular day she chose to bake a pan of gingerbread. While this was baking she got out of cup of real cream. This cream had come from the top of cold milk that came from their cow, not store bought. She whipped up this cream until it was nice and thick, adding a little vanilla flavoring and about a fourth of a cup of sugar. When the gingerbread came out of the oven, she cut us each a big square, topped it with the cold, sweet, whipped cream. That had to have been the most delicious thing I had ever eaten!

Gingerbread

 1 2/3 cups          All-purpose flour

 2 teaspoons      Ground ginger

 1 ¼ teaspoons  Baking soda

 1 teaspoon        Ground cinnamon

 ¾ teaspoon       Salt

 ¼ teaspoon       Cloves

 ½ cup                 White sugar

 ½ cup                 Dark molasses

 ½ cup                 Vegetable oil

 1                          Egg, beaten

 ½ cup                 Boiling water

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.    Grease and lightly flour a 9-inch square baking pan.

3.    Whisk flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and cloves in a bowl.

4.    Stir sugar, molasses, oil, and egg into flour mixture until just combined.

5.    Pour in boiling water and whisk until the batter is smooth and shiny, about 1 minute.

6.    Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Tap pan gently on the counter to remove any air bubbles.

7.    Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.

Top with whipped cream if desired. Recipe may be doubled for use with larger pan.

Hot and Dry

I remember summer always seemed so very, very hot. There wasn’t any kind of cooling system. One summer when I was a child must have been hotter than usual because we had no water!

Our water supply was rain water collected in a large metal tank located beside the house, at least that’s where it would have been if we had any! Since it hadn’t rained in a very long time there was none.

My Dad hitched up the team of horses, loaded several empty barrels in the wagon, and prepared to go get water. I was excited because he let me climb up beside him and go along.

We had to travel about five miles on a dusty, dirt road to a large, open well. It was spring fed with wonderful supply of water all year round.

When we arrived at our destination I was amazed to see a procession of wagons, all lined up with their empty barrels, waiting their turn to get a supply of water!