Lena
I am so like my mom, Lena. There was nothing that she wasn’t up for in the world of sewing. One thing I am not . . . is the baker that she was. It would have put Martha Stewart to shame. Confectioneries of all sorts were at our home to enjoy at Christmastimes. During an average week she could very well hand donuts for Raymond to enjoy for afternoon coffee. The donut holes she saved for us kids. The water from boiling potatoes during the week was saved for the white yeast bread that was baked on Saturday. The enriched water with the nutrients from the potatoes being boiled added extra taste as well as the homemade bread staying a bit more moist. In today’s grocery stores the potato bread from various high name brands will likely sell for $3.89 a loaf.
What I do resemble in Lena is my curiosity in fighting my way through patterns in the studio. Many need to be read over and over to get the full drift. And . . . sometimes a prototype needs to be made to get the kinks out. Lena would use bleached muslin for her “what ifs.” I have some fabric pieces that have been given to me that would not work well in a finished piece I am working on. The thread count and the grudge fabric that the printed design was printed on, would not wear well in a quilt that I would be working on. On the flip side, there have been many quilts made out of printed feed sacks that were purchased with chicken feed concentrate inside a 100 lb. sack. It was not unusual that there would be a request of the farmer, from the home front, to pick out more than one sack with the same design on it, this yielding several yards of usable fabric.
Today, I toughed it out in the studio, though a bit chilly. You’ve guessed it. We have kept our home a bit cooler this winter. As long as I had on good shoes, my feet didn’t draw the cold from the cement floor. Kevin offered a hemmed carpet piece that he has in storage, but with pins being dropped and threads that weave themselves beyond what my Filter Queen vac can handle, I do prefer a bare concrete floor. My Swiffer can do a great job. When stitching a project it means a lot of moving from the sewing machine, to the ironing board and to the cutting table. It is when I sit for too long of a period of time, that there can be problems in the back and hips. Gotta keep moving.
As cloudy as it is, it might not feel like 33 degrees out, but there are bare spots showing in the sidewalk.