What I love about quilt alongs is that they're generally very manageable in terms of time spent per segment and in total, and don't generally have huge fabric commitments either. I'm not knocking Bonnie Hunter, her mystery quilts are fantastic and a lot of fun, but I am not usually looking to make 400 some odd flying geese in one week followed by like 200 square in a squares the next. One or two blocks is fine for me, and it is yet another way for me to play with my scraps.
So Pat Sloan offers quilt alongs on a pretty regular basis, which I didn't know until I joined a Facebook group and someone posted about it. So I started Grandma's Kitchen VERY late...like, in the last month. Mom had been asking about the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt I did and seemed interested in doing something like that, but definitely didn't have time for 5 million flying geese. So I told her about Grandma's Kitchen, and we decided to do it together in our own styles.
She decided to use a springy Fig Tree fat quarter pack and one of Fig Tree's solids for her background, following the program's fabric requirements. As usual I am not known for following instructions very well, and I decided to do mine all scrappy and in fall colors from my pit o'scraps. I don't have a picture of her blocks yet, but here's mine from earlier tonight.
I am using whites, creams, and tans for backgrounds, and fall colors plus dusty blue and plum and minus green. After this picture was taken, I finished one more. She will be somewhat annoyed to know I have gone ahead of her by three blocks, lol. Pat just started a new one that I think is two blocks in...thinking I might jump in!
But there's something else cool about this quilt along. It's called Grandma's Kitchen for a reason - it was inspired by her grandma and her memories of her. I am fresh out of grandmas (applications accepted)...my Grandma Bowden passed in 2003, and Grandma Henderson passed in 2014. I don't have them anymore, but I do have memories. Each block is a theme around which people shared their memories. Here are some of mine, in order from left to right.
Top Row, Block 1: The Kitchen Table
Lots of stuff happened around my grandmas' kitchen tables. With Grandma Bowden, I would sit with her while she chain smoked and watched golf and we'd play Rummy for hours. I feel like I should remember how to play Rummy, but I sure as shit don't. Then with Grandma Henderson, we'd sit and talk, eat orange danishes, and she would play go fish with my brother and I...later she taught us how to play blackjack and hearts. Lots of card games at grandma's kitchen table.
Top Row, Block 2: Sticky Buns
This block is all about the made-with-love foods grandmas make. To be honest, I don't remember the foods Grandma Bowden made...I don't recall much other than the great porkchop incident. But she did a LOT of canning and had a fantastic backyard with several fruit trees, strawberries, grapes, tomatoes, and blackberries. Great Grandma Bowden made some mean peanut brittle and sweet rolls. Grandma Henderson made all kinds of goodies, on account the woman loved chocolate. The best fudge on Earth came from her house. Chocolate cookies. Angel dessert.
Top Row, Block 3: Key Holder
This block is all about the special places grandmas keep their keys. Seems like they all have a funky bowl for keys in the kitchen. Mine had a wooden key box near the garage door, where grandpa labeled every single hook.
Top Row, Block 4: Half a Modern
This block was about the contrast between Pat's two grandmas - one was all about having modern, up-to-date appliances, and the other didn't go for those things. Mine were both fairly traditional, but I suppose Grandma Bowden was more practical and less sentimental about the stuff she kept. Grandma Henderson was a curator of family things - she used my great grandmother's cookie press, kept her little bean pots, and little things like that.
Top Row, Block 5: Glasses and Cups
Grandmas seem to have odd glasses that they have had since the dawn of time. I remember Grandma Bowden had these huge, amber colored glasses. I have a few of them now. The bottoms are all scratched where they have been stirred for years and years. They're great because they're so oversized. Grandma Henderson had these funky, blue juice glasses that I always thought were so fancy because they were like chubby wine glasses. She also had these pretty black and gold Japanese themed glasses...she used to use the shot glass to take her pills.
Middle Row, Block 1: Wash Day
I was very rarely around when it came to wash day at my grandmas'. We lived out of state, so we only ever came over for vacation. She might do a load of laundry here or there, but nothing massive. Grandma Henderson I remember occasionally dried things out on the line in nice weather, but that's it.
Middle Row, Block 2: Oh My Stars!
Grandma's and their euphemisms around kids...they're great. Grandma Bowden didn't exactly hold back on the swears, but Grandma Henderson tried. I didn't hear her eve say shit until I was a teenager, and she looked around before she let it fly. I do remember her saying that someone didn't know shit from shineola once. She also said crapola quite a bit. She had a thing for the -ola suffix.
Middle Row, Block 3: Grandma's Apron
Neither Grandma wore aprons that I can recall, so...I have nothing to say here.
Middle Row, Block 4: Kitchen Window
Both grandmas had their sinks under a window, but their houses were quite different. Grandma Henderson had a one story house, with a view into a small, but very green backyard. There was a thermometer outside the window, and the view was stopped by some very tall arbor vitae. Grandma Bowden had a two story house that, because the area they lived in was an addition, was oddly arranged. The kitchen window looked out right over the neighbor's roof and into their backyard. It made for good people watching...the neighbors were weird folks that the local PD probably knew by name.
Middle Row, Block 5: Recipe Box
SO much of their cooking came from their memory! I don't think Grandma Bowden had a recipe book or box...she, to my awareness, did most if not all by memory. Which I think is why we can't find the recipe for her lemon cake or stuffing. Grandma Henderson also did a ton from memory, but kept a little, bright yellow index card box for recipes she clipped from magazines or got from friends.
Last Row, Block 1: Peppermint Swirls
This is about the candy dishes ad candies grandmas keep. Grandma Bowden had a pretty, purple mercury glass jar she always had chocolate coated peanuts in. I loved to raid that thing! Grandma Henderson didn't keep a whole lot of candies, but she would always get our favorite breakfast stuff.
Last Row, Block 2: Kitchen Door
Grandma Bowden didn't have a kitchen door, on account that it was on the second floor; the deck was off the dining area. Neither did Grandma Henderson...the way the house was arranged, the back door was off the dining area, and the "kitchen door" was off the laundry room.
Thank you for the block naming and your associated memories. It was fun to read. It will be great for you to revisit this post of yours and relive the memories again. Sounds like you are a blogger like me. You write as much for yourself as for your online audience. From a practical view, some of my recorded instructions and data have actually saved me when I want to go back and make something again or get more of a certain fabric or check out a reference. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Diane! I will be doing another post soonish...I just finished the remainder of the blocks so I'm working on those stories :-)
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