Spinning a random post from one Hodgepodge question

 

 This week there is just not time to write a Hodgepodge post.  Sometimes when that happens, I'm able to answer just one question and that works out great.  Not this time, though.  The one question I would have answered would have been about my favorite cookbook(s). 

That would take way more time than I have today, so I'm simply spinning it into a post about cooking magazines, vintage and newer, which I have always enjoyed cooking and baking from.  Most of the text is coming from a draft of a book I'm thinking of publishing about kitchens I have known and loved. 

You may never have heard of Farm Journal, a magazine which was subscribed to by farmers and ranches all over the United States — maybe Canada too.  In the 1960s my family subscribed to it.  Near the back of this magazine was a fairly hefty section just for women.  Loads of wonderful recipes that had been sent in by readers or developed in the Farm Journal test kitchen were featured here.  The recipes for a specific issue of the magazine often had a theme — say, garden produce, gifts from the kitchen, cakes, beef or chicken main dishes, or whatever.  When the Farm Journal arrived in our home and I got my hands on it, the recipes were the first things I turned to.  I imagine a lot of country women and teen girls did the same.  

Farm Journal cover from December 1961

And then, logically enough, Farm Journal began to produce cookbooks.  How I loved these books!  My mother purchased many of them — and later on, so did I.  There was a cookie cookbook, a large, comprehensive Country Cookbook, a freezing & canning cookbook, an Informal Entertaining Country Style Cookbook (one of my top favorites), a chocolate cookbook, a family favorites cookbook, a healthy snacks cookbook and many more.  

The Farm Journal Homemade Cookies cookbook

Thanks to the evocative and folksy writing style of Nell Nichols, the Farm Journal food editor,  I could read those volumes by the hour.  The recipes were so delicious, too.  The chocolate cookbook is completely spattered and freckled with brown from baking so many of the sweet treats.  The Family Favorites cookbook is another from which I made recipe after recipe.

When Taste of Home magazine came out, both my mother and I subscribed.  I had been  cooking in my own kitchen for some time at that point.  I think the reason we instantly fell in love with Taste of Home is that it had that same folksy feeling as Farm Journal.  Indeed, the reason Farm Wife News, of which Taste of Home was an offshoot, had originally been started was that all of the older farm magazines and journals had begun to discontinue their women’s sections.  Understandably, rural women missed that and were thrilled when Reiman Publications stepped into the void with Farm Wife News.  My mother subscribed to that, as did I after it became Country Woman.  Then Reiman branched out even more with Taste of Home, a cooking magazine loaded with recipes, and a staff of field editors from all over the United States and Canada.  I still have every Taste of Home issue I ever received, and I've cooked and baked from them often.  When Quick Cooking, later renamed Simple & Delicious, came along, I subscribed to those too.

When each new issue arrived, I would always find a new recipe — usually many more than one — that I couldn’t wait to try.  My mother was the same, and so was my friend Marilyn — and later, my daughters when they had their own kitchens.  We would so often compare notes about what recipes appealed to our families and which one we would like to try first.  Some of my very best recipes came from Taste of Home or other Reiman publications.  Although I enjoyed submitting recipes to their contests, it came to the point where I was limited into which ones I could send in.  So many of our favorite recipes had come from there in the first place!

I stopped subscribing to any cooking magazines some years ago.  I have all of the recipes I will ever want or need (although that doesn't stop me from pinning more to my Pinterest boards!) and right now I am cooking with very limited ingredients due to a special diet my hubby is following.  And yet a couple of weeks ago in Maine, I picked up a free 2024 issue of Taste of Home in a thrift shop.  Must be I still find them somewhat irresistible!

A chilly Hodgepodge

 

Taking a moment to join in with Joyce and the gang for the Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.  Here we go ...

1. What's a winter memory you treasure (can be from any winter in your lifetime)? 

Probably my most treasured winter memories are from childhood.  We lived at the edge of a farm field which contained perfect hills for sledding (or sliding, as we always called it then).  Every day after school, no matter how cold it was, if the hills were in good condition, we were out there.  We had runner sleds, aluminum flying saucers, and eventually even a toboggan and a bobsled that someone gifted to my brother.  We wore longjohns under our pants and wool snowpants over them, thick socks and buckle-up boots over our shoes -- and of course, sweaters, jackets, hats and mittens.  Sometimes scarves as well.  

We would stay out until it got nearly dark and we were soaked right through.  Then we'd go in, hang up our wet clothes down cellar, and drink hot cocoa with big spoonfuls of marshmallow fluff.  

2. Tell us about the last time or a recent time you were caught up in red tape. Does it send your frustration level off the charts or is it something you've come to expect when dealing with any sort of bureaucracy?

Can't think of a good answer to this except that whether dealing with the state, the town, or any governmental body, or even the medical establishment, or insurance companies, often the right hand does not seem to know what the left hand is doing.

Nothing to do with red tape, but below is my finished January sampler -- part of a set I've made of the three months of winter.  This is my first year displaying this one.  Love it.

 

The little "Snow Day" pattern was included and I made that one first.

3. Do you eat/like fish? Do you cook fish at home? What's your favorite fish dish? Ever been ice fishing? 

We do like fish.   Below is a plate of fish and chips, which is probably our favorite fish dish.  I don't cook fish at home too often.   Probably fish chowder would be the dish I'd be most likely to make at home.  Nope, never been ice fishing, though it's a big sport up here when conditions are right.

4. Did you watch any of the US President's Inauguration coverage on Monday, Jan 20? On a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being not at all and 10 being very very) how interested are you in politics in general? Do you follow/keep up with/ get involved with local politics? 

We did watch a good bit of it.  Were invited to the home of friends for a watch party, which was fun.  I would say that we are quite interested in politics, maybe an 8 on a scale of 1-10.  We do keep up somewhat with local politics -- especially on the county level.  And not politics, but patriotism and love for our country propels my hubby to participate in a local flag wave that's happened every Saturday morning in our town for nearly 230 consecutive weeks.

5. What's the coziest thing you own and what makes it so? 

I am going to say our vintage soapstone wood stove. I don't have a good photo of it, but it's in the background of the photo below.  We used to have a different, century-old wood stove in that spot, but moved it to our camp and installed this one, from my parents' home in our kitchen instead.  Oh, it is so cozy.  You may know that soapstone is a material that holds heat beautifully.  The nice flat top of this stove means that we can also use it to heat things -- like a little pot of simmering fruit and spices -- or to warm up leftovers or a cup of tea.   Usually in winter we have used our wood furnace (forced hot air, with ductwork to all of the rooms) exclusively, but this year we are using the kitchen stove as well and it is really making a difference to how much wood we use.  Surprisingly, we are using less.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Although we didn't get a ton of snow, we are in a deep freeze here at the gateway to the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Fifteen below zero when we got up.  It is all the way up to 2º now.  Perfect conditions for making ice art like that below.  I made these in a heart shaped cake pan using some very large rose petals from a bargain bouquet.

 
And there is this week's chilly hodgepodge!

Snapshots from summer

 

 Last fall I was thinking back over Summer 2024 in preparation for sharing a testimony with other ladies.  I thought about how many wonderful memories have been preserved in photos that we took.  (Now, in light of the devastation to that area from Hurricane Helene, I am doubly glad we took as many pictures as we did.  And I wish we had taken more.)  It seems to me that this past summer is one of the nicest that we have had in a long time, as far as good memories go.  At that time, I began a post full of summer memories.

I found myself thinking of these memories in terms of snapshots.  Actual snapshots, as the first part of the definition below describes:

Ice cream with our friend Terry -- I'm so thankful we got to do this (and got this photo) on a day when she was feeling well and able to fully enjoy it.  That is a flight of ice cream on the table in front of her.

We had plenty of opportunities for ice cream this past summer and fall.  We always share, so the calories and sugar are not quite as bad as they might be.

Family members playing cornhole on the porch of our Airbnb farmhouse in North Carolina as the rain fell outdoors.  We had lots of time to make precious family memories on this trip.

Time with old friends at Table Rock State Park in South Carolina.  So thankful for the gift of friendship and being able to encourage one another in the Lord.

Mountains upon mountains on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  God gave safety in travel and many opportunities to ponder His might, sovereignty, and endless creativity.

 Cousins at Cracker Barrel (plus Emily's and Julia's friend Lily).  Even though many of Emily's siblings weren't here, it was a wonderful time for these cousins to reconnect.

 A wonderful couple of days with our friends Tom and Judy in Pennsylvania.  We have been wanting to visit them for some time and are so thankful that a visit, although brief, finally happened.

Reconnecting with our precious friends Chris and Debbie in the Maritimes (we stayed in New Brunswick but also visited Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island).  We had not seen them in over ten years.  What a delight to pick up where we left off.

 As I reviewed further,  I thought more deeply -- about other memories that are recorded in the heart.  We didn't get photos of those, but some pictures are indelibly (I hope) etched upon upon hearts and minds.  These could be considered snapshots too, more like the second part of the definition.  And I frequently find myself taking out these "pictures", reviewing the blessings and sharing them with others.

A few Scripture verses came to my mind: 

"Many, O LORD, my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which are toward us; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee.  If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered."  (Psalm 40:5)

"Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually ... the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name."  (Hebrews 13:15)

"I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth."  (Psalm 34:1)

"I will meditate also of all Thy work, and talk of Thy doings."  (Psalm 77:12)

"We will not hide them from our children, showing to the generations to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He has done."  (Psalm 78:4)

And so here are a few of those snapshots to share with you: 

* Sharing a meal at a restaurant with dear ministry friends -- enjoying wonderful food and a fun atmosphere, but even better, sharing from the heart as we encouraged one another in the Lord.  This happened a few times with various couples and families.

* Having a moment of prayer as various friends parted from one another, not knowing when or where we will meet again in this life.  But knowing we will meet again in heaven!

* Realizing as we reconnected (and praising God!) that some of our friends have been through very difficult times, but they have continued to walk faithfully with their Lord.

* Experiencing amazing hospitality all along the way as we were blessed by people using that spiritual gift.  Wonderful accommodations, fantastic food, and just all-round caring and sharing.

* Having opportunities to minister this summer -- Sunday School, VBS, our regular volunteer work at TWNE,  and hosting a couple of cottage prayer meetings at our little camp.

* Even better, watching three of our teen grandchildren minister in music at church and in teaching VBS.  

* Through the generous hospitality of our New Brunswick friends, getting to return to a provincial park on PEI where we'd spent many happy times camping with our children. 

* Being blessed by a memory book our daughters put together to commemorate our half-century of marriage.  The notes from far-flung family and old friends were so precious!

* Getting to have our NV granddaughter Emily with us for an overnight stay at the North Carolina Airbnb.  What a delight to have her with us around the table and to look after her needs for just a few hours.

* And maybe one of the dearest, most precious snapshots of the summer -- the seating for our Cracker Barrel meal worked out so that the four adults were at one table and all of the grandchildren, plus Lily, were at another.  At one point my daughter looked their way and whispered, "They're praying!" Yes, oldest grandson Sam took the lead and they all bowed their heads as he gave thanks for the food.  

There are more -- many more.  But I have delayed publishing this post long enough, so I'll leave you with  just this handful of snapshots from last summer.

The Jar of Jelly -- a Christmas poem I have loved for years

 

  
The Jar of Jelly 

 To others' eyes, it may not look like much;
Wrapped up in festive ribbons and some seals
To make it look more Christmasy and gay.
But you for whom it's meant will find, I know,
All that is packed within the little jar,
You will translate the label properly
And see just what the contents really are.
"Wild grape -- " you'll say, and suddenly
You'll not be walking dusty city halls,
But down an autumn-gilded little lane
Between the jewelled vines of old stone walls.
Instead of dingy bricks beyond a court
You'll see a spruce-green hillside, sharp and clear,
Sweet fern and bayberry will scent the breeze,
The whirr of partridge wings delight your ear.
It is not much to send, this one small jar,
But you will see that in it, pure and true,
Shimmers the essence of the place we love,
Preserved especially by me, for you. 

-- Barbara Overton Christie 

 I've posted this before -- in 2006! -- but I am posting it again for the enjoyment of my newer readers.  I have loved this poem for many years.

  My mother had several issues of Farm Journal's Christmas Book, and I loved to peruse them every year. This poem was included on a page with recipes for gift jams and jellies. 

 I was fortunate enough to be given some old issues of the Farm Journal Christmas Book in later years, and the issue containing this poem happened to be one of them. I have enjoyed so much having these books for my very own. 

This poem in particular shows how even a very small gift can come straight from the heart -- and that it can be much more than just a jar of jelly.

The picture I didn't have

 

I've shared before about the delights of my mother's kitchen at Christmas time when I was a child.   At one time I wrote: "Kitchen gifts were somewhat of a tradition in my family as I was growing up.  My mother made pans and pans of her maple fudge, but she also made lots of Christmas cookies, and loaves of cinnamon swirled bread which she topped with a thin white icing plus sliced almonds and a few candied cherries. "

We didn't take photos of everything we did back then as many of us do now.  Taking photographs in those days involved a camera loaded with film.  When the roll of film was used up, one sent it away to be developed.  Both film and developing cost money, so in the 1950s we planned photos carefully rather than always being spontaneous with them.  (Although many snapshots, particularly of children, were taken spontaneously.) 

All that to say, at least in my childhood home we rarely took photos of food.  So I don't have pictures of my favorite Christmas goodies.  Those pictures all reside in memory's picture album, gilded with nostalgia.

The other day, I was sorting through some more boxes of Christmas cards and stationery to prepare for more Etsy listings.  And I came upon the card pictured at the top of the post.  It was just an inexpensive freebie card sent along with others to potential donors to a charity.  And this card just spoke to me of my mother's Christmas preparations.   Nut meats, and candied fruits, made an appearance in her kitchen every December.  The bread board resembles closely one that she had.  And oh, the bread itself!  Although this looks like a bread studded with fruit, my mom decorated her cinnamon-swirled yeast loaves almost exactly like this, with a thin white icing garnished with cherries.  The only thing she did differently was to add some thinly sliced almonds to the trimmings along with the candied cherries.  

What a lovely reminder of my childhood Christmases!  I am so happy to have come across this.

A very special cookie for all of your Spring and Summer events

 

Last Wednesday evening my Nevada daughter messaged me on Instagram to ask about this recipe.  Her young daughter had a piano recital coming up and Joanna wanted to make these cookies to add to the refreshments at the recital.  

It's so appropriate!  Decades ago,  I made these cookies for the piano recitals of all three children. They were a great favorite on the refreshment table! In fact, they became such a favorite of the kids' piano teacher that I frequently presented her with a tin of these as an end-of-the year gift. These cookies are quite a bit of work, but the impressively delicious results are worth it!

The recipe (which I originally found in a Farm Journal cookie cookbook) ended up being published in another cookbook, The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook. This came about in an interesting way.  

 

Our children's piano teacher was an elderly lady with many students.  One of the families whose children took lessons from her lived in a large and beautiful home and they offered their music room, complete with baby grand piano, as a recital venue.  

I wanted to bring cookies as elegant as the surroundings, so I tried this recipe.  And the hostess enjoyed them so much that she asked if she could have the recipe.  Friends of hers held an annual cookie exchange and she thought these cookies were special enough to share.  Later when Yankee published the cookbook, this wonderful recipe was included.

 SPRITZ CHOCOLATE SANDWICHES

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Buttery Chocolate Frosting:
3 Tblsp. butter, softened
4 1/2 Tblsp. unsweetened baking cocoa
3/4 tsp. vanilla
Dash of salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
About 6 Tblsp. light cream or evaporated milk

1 cup chopped walnuts

For dough, beat butter until light; gradually add sugar, beating after each addition. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla to blend well. Sift together flour and salt; gradually add to creamed
mixture, mixing well.

Put star plate in cookie press. Working with one-fourth of the dough in the press at a time, press out strips of dough about 2 1/2 inches long about an inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 400° for 6 to 8 minutes or until very delicately browned.  Remove cookies to cooling rack at once.

For Buttery Chocolate Frosting,
combine the butter and cocoa. Beat in vanilla, salt, sugar, and enough light cream to make frosting of spreading consistency. When cookies are cool, put them together in pairs with frosting between. Dip ends of sandwiches in the frosting and then in the chopped nuts. Allow frosting to set before packaging or storing cookies. Makes about 5 dozen sandwich cookies.

A note on the quantity of cookies this recipe will produce.  The original recipe says it makes 69 sandwich cookies.  I had adjusted it to say 5 dozen, which would of course be 60 sandwich cookies.  However, when Joanna made these, she found she only got about 30 sandwich cookies (2 1/2 dozen).  So when making these, be aware that the quantity of cookies can vary greatly depending upon how large you make them.  

Jerusha  about to press cookies

Finished product!

It's so much fun that these cookies are being served at a second generation of piano recitals!

A surprising vintage find

 

Back while cleaning out the old homestead in 2020, there were many fun vintage finds that we uncovered.  Among them were boxes that evidently accompanied my mother when she left home to get married.  They held mementos and other things from her childhood, college years, and even her young adult years teaching school.

The oldest of these boxes contained many childhood treasures (even old school papers and report cards!) but one of the most precious things I found was a cardboard suitcase that seemed intended for doll clothes.  It is 1930s vintage and is labeled "Dolly Peggy and Her Hope Chest."

I just did a little research online and found this from Worthpoint: "A Dolly Peggy Hope Chest. 8"x3"x6". Made by Transogram Company Inc, NY.  The chest is made of cardboard with a metal handle and latch.  It is covered on all sides with pictures of Dolly Peggy traveling the world, taking a bath, buying new clothes, pictures of a train, plane and ocean liner.  Even has a picture of her little dog - Rags.  Inside fully lined in pink and cream paper with a moire pattern ... A bit timeworn, but a really neat doll accessory!"

As you can see, the one I found was "a bit timeworn", also.   I opened it up fully expecting to find doll clothes.  But what I found was actually even more precious to me.  Apparently I didn't take any photos of it, but that's okay.  It was a sort of crumpled up piece of fabric, which turned out to be a partially completed stamped cross stitch with this saying: "A Friendly House by the Side of the Road With a Friendly Welcome for You".  The skeins of embroidery floss were there with it.

It doesn't take a detective to know this was a project my mother had started as a child, but had never completed.  What intrigues me more is a snippet of a memory of something my mother had shared with me.  How, when she was a child, her father was very ill and spent time in Boston in the hospital.  Her mother was there with him, and various extended family members took up the slack at home: supervising the maple sugar operation, looking after the children, and so on.  One of those who helped care for the children was a teenage cousin, I believe.  My mother recalled how this girl -- I think her name may have been Rebekah -- taught her and her sisters to sew doll clothes and to embroider.  So I think it's not too much of a stretch to assume that this was the project my mother practiced those skills  on.

 Well, of course you know I had to finish that incomplete project.  The floss was still there, although I think it didn't include yellow, so I used some from my stash.

And I did finish it-- using the colors she had started with on areas that she had begun to stitch, then choosing from among the included floss (along with yellow to brighten it up) to stitch the remaining unstitched design.  And it languished for a bit until I thought of the exact right thing to do with it.

You see, I own a framed cross stitch from the same era -- stitched by my Great-Aunt Mabel and dated 1935.  It's very similar in design, which makes me guess the one by my mother is from the mid-1930s as well. As you can see, the saying is "How Dear to This Heart are the Scenes of My Childhood when Fond Recollection Presents Them to View."  I've had this for awhile.  It always hung in my grandmother's house, near her desk and the chair where she spent many hours talking on the phone.  When I acquired this heirloom -- which had always intrigued me, even before I learned to embroider -- I immediately hung it in our bedroom.

But then.  Along came our camp, and after it was made livable again, I decided to take Mabel's cross-stitch to hang on the freshly painted wall of the bedroom nook.  It looks wonderful there.

And so, upon giving it some thought, I realized that my mother's sampler should also be framed and hung on one of the other walls in that nook.  A good idea, but easier said than done.  At first, I thought maybe I would try to match the frame on Mabel's stitchery (or have my husband make one),  but quickly realized that would be nearly impossible -- and also that this wasn't about perfection.  Our camp is so full of quirky, whimsical old things that a little detail like frame color and style mattered not a whit.  

Then the problem began to be finding an affordable frame that would fit.  Walmart was no help.  I found some frames that I liked, but getting a large enough one was going to be expensive.  And they didn't have the colors I liked on the larger frames.  This cross-stitch piece doesn't look as big as it actually is.  I confidently purchased an 8x10 frame before realizing the design wasn't going to fit.

So we began to visit the thrift store on a regular basis to see if we could find a suitable frame, or even a piece of framed art.  Our favorite local thrift store has quite a fast turnover, so we felt we would eventually find just what we needed.

It took a few months, but one day Mr. T found a framed art piece that he thought was the right size.  He "measured" it by laying it down on the floor tiles, which he guessed to be about a foot square.  He was sure it would be right -- and it was!  We wasted no time purchasing it, removing the artwork, and using it to frame the needlework.  It fit perfectly and looks so good with the stitchery.

Although this one is blurry, you can see its place in the corner of the sleeping nook, and you can also see how the border is somewhat similar to the one on Mabel's stitchery above.

 This one is less blurry.  Even though our camp is in the woods on a dirt road, it truly is "by the side of the road" and we do offer a friendly welcome to those who can visit us there.

 After almost 90 years, this sweet sampler is just where it belongs.

Sew many memories

Autumn always brings memories -- some good, and some, like my back-to-school memories, not so good.  In my early years school was very difficult for me.  Thankfully, as time went by,  I did eventually realize that I enjoyed learning and so I managed to cope with the other aspects that had made school so challenging.

As I've gone through old treasures at my childhood home, one unexpected good memory of back-to-school surfaced.  It's the one where every fall, my mother made me some new outfits for school. 

It had to have been late summer each year when my mother would take me downtown to look at pattern books in our local five and dime.  I would choose patterns I liked and sometimes we would pick out fabric together.  Other times, I distinctly remember choosing fabric first.  There was a shop in a nearby town that had lovely fabric.

I am sure I had a jumper similar to the one pictured at the top of the post.  I think it was a teal flannel print with sort of a Tyrolean look.  So sweet!

One of my favorite dresses was a collarless shirtwaist made out of a fabric with botanical drawings of fruit on a cream colored background.  I had a pretty pin resembling peaches that I wore with it.   I still have that pin today!

And, in fact, I found a piece of the fabric in my mother's fabric stash when we cleaned out the house:

You can see how pretty it is!    If I remember right, the dress I had was view 2 below.

 I could literally go on for quite some time about the various outfits and dresses that my mother made.  My aunt, who could sew but was a busy mom of six, often mentioned her gratitude that my mother sewed for me -- because all of my handmade dresses and outfits got passed on to her girls -- three of them, before making their way back to my much younger sister.

And she also made some special occasion things too, like 8th grade graduation dresses for me and, years later, my sister.  She also made both of our high school graduation dresses.

Pretty sure the one above was my 8th grade graduation dress.  It was made from a gorgeous pale aqua chiffon with the jacket of matching lace.  So pretty!

And I think this was my high school graduation dress.  It would have been view 1, made in a heavy white lace.  I think the buttons and neck trim were pale blue satin but I don't remember for sure.
 

 One of my finds in cleaning out the home place was a box full of homemade Halloween costumes.  There was a Dutch girl costume -- which I actually remember wearing, complete with a blond wig with braids -- a pirate outfit (that one was only partially homemade), and a Little Red Riding Hood cape.  My mother was an amazing seamstress.  I found the pattern for the clown costume below among her sewing patterns, but I don't recall her making one of these.  The pattern itself seems to have been unused, and I sold it for $10 in my Etsy shop in 2019.  View 3, with the bow tie and the red vest with tails, is particularly nifty.

Time went on, as it is prone to do, and in later years my mother sewed at least one wedding dress besides mine (which was extremely simple, with a definite "prairie" flair).  The daughter of neighborhood friends was getting married on a low budget, and my mother made her dress for her.  Though also quite simple, it was really a lovely dress and made our neighbor friend feel so special (and look so beautiful) on her wedding day.  She also made a maid of honor dress for me for a wedding I was in.

Later than that, I recall my mother sewing dresses for her own mother, my grandmother.   I've written before about how my grandmother always dressed so nicely.  Even her housedresses were attractive (she never wore slacks) and her aprons and earrings matched them.  But I think in later years she must have had difficulty in finding dresses she liked, especially for special occasions like family parties.  So my mother stepped in and sewed them for her.  Below are some of the patterns she likely used:

My mother sewed clothing for herself, too.  But it's a little bit ironic (and also a little bit sad) that she never got to make patchwork quilts as she intended to.  The closest she came was stitching up a quilt out of red and blue bandannas for a grandson leaving for college.  Better than nothing, but with all of the fabric scraps she had amassed over the years, I know she was looking forward to making some patchwork designs. 

Life hit hard with the illness and eventual passing of two children, then with Parkinson's disease, and the quilting plans fell by the wayside along with other plans and dreams.  

Readers may justifiably wonder if I learned to sew at my mother's knee.  I did not.  It was my mother-in-law who challenged me to learn to sew when my girls were toddlers, reminding me that some day they would need pretty clothes and even formals, and it would behoove me to start when they were young.  Here my mother did enter into the story, for I chose a couple of simple patterns (and allowed the girls to choose the fabrics) and stitched up two little dresses on my mother's sewing machine at her home so she would be available for any questions.  

Much to my surprise, I found that I loved to sew and yes, I did continue making clothes for the girls and myself for many years.  These days I am much more apt to choose projects with straight and simple seams, things like place mats and pillow cases, but I do hope that some of the things I've made will one day spark "sew many memories" for my family.

Fishing for answers in the Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

 So it's Wednesday again, and that means it's time for the Hodgepodge -- the linkup where Joyce, at  From This Side of the Pond, asks the questions and bloggers provide the answers on their own blogs. I'm not at all sure how this happened, but I haven't done a Hodgepodge post since sometime in July.  Even though I really don't have time to write one today, I could quickly think of answers to these questions, so here goes:

1. What's your earliest memory?

Sitting in my Grandpa's lap eating one of the Canada mints he always kept in his chore coat pocket.   He died when I was four, so I never really knew him.

The above photo is Grandpa with one of my cousins around 1954.  This looks like spring, and he died that fall.

2. What's something about you today that the old you would find surprising? 

I can speak in front of a group without being immobilized by fear and self-consciousness.

3. Do you like to fish? Are you a fish eater? Favorite fish (to eat)? Favorite way to prepare fish? 

I don't enjoy fishing, but I am a fish eater.  My favorite fish to eat would be haddock and I like it fried.  My favorite way to prepare fish at home would probably be my mother's fish chowder.

4. What's your biggest first world problem? 

Most days, just trying to reheat coffee without a microwave. 

5. What one word would you use to describe your year thus far? 

Challenging.  

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

What a blessing it was to be able to travel to Maine for a celebration of life for our blog friend Vee this past weekend!   My hubby and I were able to meet Deanna from Creekside Cottage, and Abby from Little Birdie Blessings, along with their husbands, and what a wonderful meeting that was!  Vee's family welcomed us warmly.  My hubby and I had previously met Vee's sister Kim, an incredibly kind and gracious lady.  Now we got to meet Vee's daughter Laurel and her son Adam and his wife Michelle, as well as other family members.  We were so thankful we could attend.  The gathering was so enjoyable and a true celebration of our dear friend.  Delicious food, beautiful flowers, wonderful memories, and many touches of yellow, her favorite color.  I believe that only eternity will show how many lives Vee impacted for the Lord in a variety of ways.

Deanna and her husband Tim are so thoughtful!  They brought bouquets of flowers, not only for Vee's sister, daughter, and daughter-in-law, but for Abby and myself also.  Here is mine after it arrived safely home with us on Saturday evening.

And that's the Hodgepodge for this week!

Just one question

It's a busy week at our volunteer jobs, and any blogging must be done from my tablet, but I didn't want to dispense with the Hodgepodge entirely.  

So I decided to answer just one question.  It's this one:

5.  What was your favorite thing to do as a kid?   Elaborate.

Of course, there were many things I enjoyed doing as a kid.  But one of my favorite activities was paper dolls.  Of course I owned many wonderful sets of paper dolls.  Back in the day they were very inexpensive.  They came in large softcover books, with the dolls ready to be carefully removed from their card stock covers and their wardrobes and sometimes accessories ready to be cut from the pages inside.

Some of these sets represented movie or TV stars, like the Lennon Sisters paper dolls above (snagged from Pinterest).  Others were characters from cartoons or kids' books.  Trixie  Belden and her friend Honey Wheeler, for example.  There were many different sets of Barbie paper dolls.

But my favorite paper dolls were the ones I made myself.  I might draw my own, or trace around an existing paper doll.  Then I would find colorful magazine pages to use as "fabric" to design clothing to fit the dolls, adding tabs to hold it in place.

One Christmas, my parents got me the most amazing gift: a Betsy McCall Fashion Designer set.  It included a light box and patterns for paper dolls and every sort of clothing and accessory imaginable.  Entire pages of skirts and tops, for example, with dozens of combinations to choose from.  So much fun!  I spent hours with this activity.  It's a special childhood memory for me, and the set remained intact for my daughters to use.  Fun times!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! 😀