Month: January 2019

The Farmhouse visits The Farm House

This was one of the first few blocks I made for the 52 Tuesdays quilt. It seemed like a good idea to get a photo of the quilt with the subject that inspired this image in the background.

It was a dreary day, even drizzling cold rain, as I propped the quilt on a swing in front of the building. The hayrake and bicycle wouldn’t be included in this photo shoot, but a warm fire beckoned us inside for a few more photos.

Becky, the owner of the Farm House, was gracious as always to allow us to pose the quilt and shoot a few images.

Having a quilt in tow is a bit like carrying a baby with you, or a cute puppy. Conversations are easy! Everyone, at least in the south, has a quilt story to share. It often starts off with “my grandmother…”. I love hearing those stories.

52 Tuesdays in front of The Farm House, the subject of Tuesday #4

Judy, who works at The Farm House, said seeing 52 Tuesdays triggered fond memories of her grandmother’s quilts. That’s another reason for dragging my quilts around all over the place.

Other photo shoots at The Farm House are described in these posts:

Seven Black Birds (in the photo above).

The Farmhouse (with several quilts shown and featuring Jim’s post-processing skills).

Christmas Quilts on the Farm (interior and exterior quilt poses of Christmas quilts).

Dirt Roads

“But all of us have stories.  Who doesn’t drive past an old homestead, an old store, a bridge no longer in use, and say, “I remember…”.  That memory can live on only if we share it.  Write it down, make a voice recording, or at the very least, tell it to one person who will remember it.”

I found this quote in my notes for future blog posts.  I’m always telling people to “write it down,” when I hear stories told.  Like photographs that are no longer printed, stories from our past and present experiences may get lost.  

My friend Marie has recently published her memoirs, Dirt Roads Lead Home: A Memoir About Connections to a Place.  It’s currently available at amazon.  Details are here.

I was privileged to be an early reader of Marie’s stories and found them delightful.  I love reading memoirs of all types, but Marie and I share common roots in small town, rural Georgia landscapes.  Although our growing up experiences were in many ways not alike, her memories of buses and clotheslines and kitchen routines brought similar, yet different, personal flashbacks to mind.

Marie included maps for her family members to relate to places in the past.  Drawing maps led to the thought of drawing other things, so the volume is illustrated by Marie’s delightful sketches.

If you are a country girl from the South, or if you aren’t, check out Marie’s book to trigger memories of your childhood.  Then write them down!  Or sketch the place.  Or make a quilt.  Or do all the above!

Note:  After a month of no blogging and not much sewing; just in a different routine, it’s good to be back at it all.  I’ve been stitching by hand on the past few evenings, and it does feel great!  Today the sewing machine is humming, too.  The festive life is good: cooking, visiting, entertaining are all fun, but I’m glad to be back in a familiar groove.