One of my family heirlooms, a quilt made by My Grandmother, Dora Lamberth. Dora was married to Jim and the two of them had a passle of girls before they had my grandfather, James Garland, whom they lovingly called Buddy. Grandmother was a country housewife. She cooked, she cleaned, she raised children--not to belittle these jobs, on the contrary--they were and are manditory to our very survival. Grandmother Lamberth wore an apron everyday as she did her chores. She cooked on a wood stove, milked the cows, fed the chickens and gathered the eggs, kept a spring and fall garden (which is virtually gardening all year long), and did all these jobs well. Guess what she did in her free time? WHAT FREE TIME? you ask? That is what I want to know. Then I began to put myself into the timeframe of around the turn of the twentieth century (1900) No television, no electricity, no telephones, outdoor bathrooms--so that's why my mother said grandmother didn't wear any underwear--convenience!! Five children running all over the place, breakfast, lunch, and dinner to make for her family, food from the garden to preserve and put away for the winter, clothes to make for everyone. I am tired already!! The quilts were made -----NOT FOR FUN? No, not for fun--for warmth-----------------and the winters were colder back then. The temperatures in East Texas dipped down into the teens often and in the present time it almost never gets that cold. We are about to have an "Artic Blast" where temperatures will be in the teens and everyone is going nuts about it. They say it hasn't been this cold in 25 years! But it did when my great grandparents lived. The quilts were a nessessity and my grandmother made her necessities pretty. Would n't you agree. This is the only one I have, but I am sure they were all just as nice. This one looks like it was made in the 1930's which was the later part of her life and one of her last quilts. The patterns is Improved 9-patch. The fabrics used in this quilt are from sacks that flour, sugar, and feed came in. Manufacturers were so smart to cater to the farmwife. Can you imagine what it would be like if these commodities came in fabric sacks now? I would be the first one to the store to pick out my fabric. Depending on what I was in need of, I would have a fat quarter to a yard of fabric.
As the Artic Blast hits and your heat kicks on, pause a moment to think what life was like for your great grandmother. She might have had to go out and stack the wood by the door so it would be a little easier for her to get to it as she stoked up the fire. Those warm quilts probably were also used to wrap up in as the family hovered close around that fire to keep warm. I must say that I long for the simplicity of the time. But it's an idealistic thing with me as I would never want to endure the hardships of the time. No medications when your kids are sick--no transportation ----EXCEPT A HORSE OR A MULE--and I'm sorry, but that just would not work for me--I need TUNES!
