Important things

Mother sewed most of our clothing until we were actually out of school, and although she never actually "quilted" with needle and thread, she did tie a lot of quilts. When I was pregnant with my first child, the Mr. was in the service and on tour overseas. I stayed with my parents until after our baby was born and the ship came back. I had lots of time on my hands so I made my baby his quilt. However, mom made some quilts for her grandchildren and this square above is from my nephew's quilt. My sister, the "farmer" sent it to my for repair. As you can see, much of the cross stitch embroidery is gone from years of being drug around by him and lots of washing and drying and just loving wear in general. I was originally going to cut the squares and restitch them back as so much of the white fabric is threadbare. However, I decided to take it all apart and try to just repair ripped seams and put a new backing and batting in and retie it. In one or two of the squares, the embroidery is gone completely. This was obviously made with muslin and the yellow is a polyester, popular in the 70's and it wears like iron and is in relatively good condition. It will be handed down to his daughter, so I am trying to keep as much of the top original as possible, even the embroidered squares. Will post a picture when finished. The "farmer" by the way has new baby goats, but one nanny had 3 kids, one of whom was born dead and another died shortly afterward. The remaining little boy is small, but eating she said. She also told me "death sucks". I could not deal with that which is why she is the farmer. The other two mama goats had twins each. And one of her little hens is nesting on eggs!!!
Several years ago, I was given an incomplete set of sterling silverware by a good friend. It has been in a chest ever since. I want to make a wind chime as I posted in an earlier blog and use old silverware. Being the cheapskate that I am, I would not pay $3.00 for a piece of silverware at the flea market last week and thought I might use pieces of this. I decided to see if it was of any value and had tried years ago to get information on it but couldn't. Well, on the first try this time, I found the information I needed. E-bay has a used set for 6 (4-place setting) for $750.00. Another site which sells individual pieces for replacement or completion of a set had 1 (4 piece setting) for $99.00 and another for $105.00. Some pieces aren't even available. If I were to replace just the sugar spoon and could find it, it would be about $40.00. This friend wanted me to have this service for 7 including 6 soup spoons and the butter and sugar above. This is an important thing to me and it will not be going into the making of a wind chime.

"A joy that is shared is a joy made double." ~ Anonymous