Arent' Grandmas the best? That's how I first got attracted to needlework. I used to watch her embroider and sew and crochet. I absolutely loved to watch her crochet plastic bread bags into rugs. She was a farm woman and a firm believer in the "make it do or do without" philosophy.
My favorite remembrance of her is the time she embroidered denim shirts for the three of us girls. This was the rage in the early 70's in our part of the country, but Mom and Dad couldn't afford to run to the department store and buy three store-bought shirts for us. So Mom found some plain denim shirts, took them to Grandma, and explained what she wanted.
I don't remember my sisters' shirts, but mine had snowflakes and red and white trim. The first day I wore it, the richest girl in school (her dad was Ryan White's first lawyer in his AIDS battles) told me she wished she had a shirt like mine. I couldn't wait to get home that afternoon to call Grandma and tell her what Suzy Vaughan said about my shirt!
That's a neat story.
One funny thing: my mom just couldn't learn to crochet as a girl. But when she was in her mid-forties, she got me to teach her.
Anybody got any pics to show off?
I can remember my Grandmother standing by the fireplace, holding me in her arms, and telling me that Huey Long [Long died before I was born] was a wicked man who wanted to "take from those who work and give it to those who do not work". She planted the seeds that grew into my poliltical philosophy. Later when I was 8 or 9 years old she taught me to embroider, crochet, tat, and sew. I mostly do needlepoint now. My Grandmother's influence in my life was profound in every way. I miss her every day.