Granny's Ball of Twine

Me, Mom and Granny Pruett

This was taken on a July weekend closest to Granny's birthday, the fifth. We always had a family gathering to celebrate. This picture is at the top farm where I grew up in a three generational family. The pond and the orchard behind us no longer exist.  (Eminent Domain is such a dirty word.)

It was a learning house and a loving house and Granny was our center.  It was her unspoken position as the matriarch of the family.  We continue that tradition today and honor our oldest female for the wisdom of her age.

Granny lived with us many years after Grandpa was gone. She wore aprons with pockets that always had something interesting in them;  a rock, a string, a piece of fruit or, on a rare occasion, gum or candy.  Granny's pockets were like a set of encyclopedias, if you looked often you would find just what you were seeking.

What amazed me most was her constant saving of every string of twine she discovered.  Feed sacks and food sacks were both sewn with a seam of twine.  Thicker than regular sewing thread it could be used for a variety of things. The mystery of choosing the right thread or stitch to begin the unraveling eluded me for years but not Granny.

Granny would carefully gather and wind it on to her ever growing ball of twine. When it reached a size she could no longer comfortably hold she began another.  It will be useful one day, she would answer when I asked why she saved ALL the twine.

The uses were miracles I witnessed with Granny.  This twine could hold a June bug by the leg as he flew above your head.  Twine could hold a chicken.  It could help make a kite and it could make doll clothes and dog collars.

Twine made wonderful string games as Granny taught me "Jacob's Ladder" and "Walking The Dog" and other string tricks I've forgotten the name but never the tricks.  This twine could make a button "sing" and even make music if you were as talented as Granny.

Twine held my hair in a braid and it sewed a braided rug together.  Twine patched jeans and could even be used to catch a fish, make your shirt into a sack to carry things and make wonderful braided necklaces.

And it made quilts.  My first quilts were quilted by Granny and her twine.  She could move that needle so quickly and smoothly through the quilt layers on the frame that hung from our living ceiling (you could quilt and when another job arose you would wind the frame close to the ceiling until you could quilt again).

Oh, the things Granny gave me...the gift of imagination, unlimited possibilities, a strong dose of perseverance and a finely honed sense of humor.

When I prepared for marriage Granny was gone. I knew somehow she approved of my choice of life mate.  I carefully gathered pieces we had made together for my "Hope chest".  I made rag quilts from some of Granny's clothes and my quilts told a story.  When it came time to tack these, I pulled out one of Granny's balls of twine, threaded my needle. sewed the layers of quilt onto the same frame and began to tack.  I think she was with me then, smiling.  That's right, girl, a good strong twine will never let you down.

Granny and the magic of twine will never leave me.

The Night They Walked On The Moon

My sister and I were sewing
A new sailor suit
The top was long enough
For a mini skirt
The pants were Elephant Leg style
As they were making One small step
And one Giant Leap on the moon
We listened and watched
In black and white
But sewed in color

Looking Back for Poetry Jam

Sewing My Wild Oats...

uh, my pumpkins, gourds, sunflowers, corn and beans.  I am hot, sunburned and wearing a wife beater T.  I am not complaining.  I never thought I would say this but I've missed sweating.  Unlike other southern ladies I do not perspire delicately.  I sweat like a horse.  I am so happy for the warmth!

Sometimes hooking up equipment is a two person job.  Remember the purple and pink toolbox?  Still working!

I began planting sunflowers here and there from our crop last year. Just scooping a small hole where ever I wanted a sunflower.  The almanac said Tuesday was a good day for above ground crops so I am testing that.  May be a little early but I think by the time they sprout all danger of frost will be gone..hopefully.

Hubby decided to go big and plow a little patch for the wildlife along the creek.  He did that and I got to plant.

The far side of the creek is now planted.  May it feed who needs it most.  I also wandered through the edge of the woods planting gourds so they could climb brush and trees.  I planted pumpkins in the sand and in ashy ground where a brush pile had been burned experimenting what they may prefer.  Planted them far from gourds so they will not cross pollinate.

And the pack was with us every step of the way.

I had no idea how much I was craving playing in the dirt.

Lazy Person...

This old mirror is topped with Dad's road sign.

It comforted him, during Alzheimer's, to read his name

and know he was home.

I oiled the wood in the hall.  The smell of lemon oil flows through the house and makes it seem fresher and less wintry.  Now, if I could just get around to oiling Grandma's organ and the other wooden items, I might be in fair shape.  Just a square foot at a time...

I read of many doing winter cleaning and I am embarrassed because I seem to accomplish little while staying busy.  Two jobs do that, then throw in just maintaining daily life...not much time left to do the extras.

I did finally finish Hubbs' quilt, a memory quilt made from his embroidered shirts back when he used to have a job.  I did catch him snoozing in his recliner with it wrapped around him so maybe he likes it.

I have eight boxes of farm things to move to the shop. 

I walk through the house, looking, do I keep this or that?  I see all the work that cries out to be done and here I sit on the computer...remembering Granny's words..."Lazy people count their jobs"!

It's Monday...

and it's not wash day nor grocery day but sewing day and a holiday for me!  I am happily clipping and ripping away on Hubby's old work shirts.  He no longer holds the title embroidered so nicely on these shirts and he no longer works for the business so the shirts are mine...MINE, I say.

Plain, solid colors chosen by a plain, solid man who was good great at his job for years.  In political appointments when the lead dog changes, some of the team are replaced as was Hubby.  Through the years, Hubby performed many heroic acts although he would not say that, finding lost children, rescuing people, recovering people and helping the entire county run smoothly during disasters and during the good times. 

So today, I am finishing a quilt I began some time ago.  It will be for Hubby and his magic sleeping chair...you know, the chair that reclines and automatically puts the reclinee to sleep.

I sew happily on my old electric machine, have more trouble threading the needle than I used to but I can still get the job done.

Noticing the pile of jeans waiting for me to repurpose, knowing I will make yard quilts and totes and maybe a pillow or two, but that will be for another day.

Winter weather brings out the Suzie Home Maker in me and so I sew. This day may your stitches be strong, your tension just right and may you always be able to see the eye of the needle.

My Weekend Off and Catch Up...

My camera revived.  I had laid it in the morning sun in the kitchen window with all compartments open and everything removed.  I replaced the battery long enough to extend the lens and left it there.  God's light and the devil's heat did what I could not...it repaired it.  I did not get to try the dry rice method but do have it in my head, just in case, I need that information.

This was one of my test shots...my graduation photo from '72, one iron elephant bookend that I've owned forever,  and one Corning glass hen candy dish I found at a yard sale about fifteen years ago.  I wonder why I chose these two things to sit in the shelf beside me?

I had a wild hair, as some people say, this weekend.  I decided the tv room furniture needed to be in my sitting area and vice-versa.  I have had help moving one chair.  I still have one huge couch and one loveseat to move.  I am waiting on inspiration as to how to accomplish that.  When I get the furniture in the correct room, then I'll arrange it, I'm sure or I'm hoping with Bev's help because she is a true artist with furniture arranging (and many other things).

Bev came to help with my computer/craft/art/sewing room.  One chair came in here and two went out.  One chair went to Andrew's room from my sitting area.  One chair in the dining room and one from the den went to my room.  Are you confused yet?  I am!

Bev helped clean my floors...what a wonderful, sweet sister...moved some paintings and rugs around, dusted and washed dishes.  She was a life saver!  She has one big box of stuff packed for the shop.

Since my computer drama, I had not restraightened all the wires, etc...done.  My printer was returned and in now back by my computer. I have mended hubby's t-shirt pockets and altered some jeans.

Bev gave me homework, too.  I had one big box of toy parts to go through...broken ones, gone...collectibles in one box...just toys that someone else will enjoy in another. Working on another box to leave this house FOREVER.

Next on my list is sewing a tear in a chair arm and sewing a pillow seam that is partially undone.  Sadly, these will be by hand and I DETEST hand sewing.

Hey, I thought I was supposed to take it easy on a day off!  It has been a pure pleasure to see things go into a new spot and be cleaned, too.  It is very uplifting when you know a job is well done.

Now, a sample of outside photography, from my camera and my hot pepper, Ki-Anne.

No!!

This little bull is not running!

Ki's brakes are good.

They attempt to stare each other down.

Casually moving closer to each other,

The little bull is the winner,

and Ki, the chicken, runs out.

I Detest Hand Sewing...

That may come as a great surprise to many but give me a machine and I will sew up a storm.  The hand work can go to someone else.

I was trained as a child to embroider and piece quilts but never liked it.  My stitches were like a drunken path.  I did discover crochet and made rugs,scarves and afghans.  There is where the joy lay, it moved faster and I did not have to thread a needle.

I have sewn many things in my lifetime including my finger with an old treadle sewing machine.  When the girls were small I would lay them down on material and cut around them to make a pattern.  It worked well.  I have made Halloween costumes, play costumes and even sewed some hunting items that hubby would see in a magazine and ask me to make...just from the picture.  I did it.  I have sewn Pioneer Dresses for our yearly contest, I have made curtains and dog clothes.  All with a machine.

Quilting was also something I was trained to do and the beauty of them was amazing but not when I did it.  My goal was to enlarge the pattern and make fewer blocks, all by machine.  I have hand quilted on a quilting frame and hand tacked many quilts.  Not something I do to relax.

Now give me a pattern or not, it doesn't really matter and I will whip out a quilt top in a day...and it will be artistic and interesting and one of a kind.  I made five home made quilts one year for my daughter's friends when they graduated high school. I also made all "new" seat covers for my daughter's car using old jeans.  I make purses and yard quilts from old jeans with out one hand stitch.

Neither one of my girls sew.  They have shown me pictures of curtains, balloon valances and drapes and asked me to make them...I did...all by machine.

Tonight I had to sew by hand, ugh, but it was a good thing.  A patch has been hand sewn for the daughter that is training in the nursing field.  I could not find a thimble, I could not see well to thread the needle, I believe I was bleeding when I finished but the patch in on.  I must teach them to sew!

Sewing was a different thing for Mom and Grandma.  They had such great pleasure piecing  a quilt and such beautiful quilts they were.  All their stitches were perfect, all the same length and in a perfectly straight line.  Amazing.  Mom sewed all my dresses from the flour sacks when I was small and I still remember how proud I was of them. Grandma's patching should be in a museum!

All three of us, my sisters and I, sewed our own clothes for school.  In fact, I remember sewing some elephant leg pants with a sailor top, complete with tie the night they first walked on the moon.

Give me a glue gun, staple gun, duct tape and I can build anything but please, don't make me hand sew one single item.

I don't sew much any more.  It is not a real joy of mine but it is a good talent to have.

I will paint, I will write, I will draw, I will sew by machine, I will crochet and create with saws, hammers, drills, and dremils but please, never make me sew.

...and all this came out because I sewed one patch by hand.