They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions … if so, my road is well paved! So many memories keep coming up on my Fb page – and I continue to be totally unfocused both on actually blogging and on the content of the blog – that I think I will try to write about whatever moves me for the day than be focused. We will see how that works!

So, …

we are not talking about storm vs rain sewers … but sewers who sew things! My mother was a sewer throughout her life. She made her clothes (and mine) as I was growing up and when I was a teenager, she taught me to sew. She also taught me to keep the “cuttings” of leftover fabric “just in case”. I still keep them! Once one has such a collection of cuttings it is called a “stash” and can, if not carefully managed, overwhelm any storage space available for it!

This is the last of the “stash” I inherited from my mother as she moved from her house into a retirement residence in 2009. She took to quilting in her 50’s and thus had large numbers of pieces of fabric – 100% cotton! -in her “stash” that I used  when I was making masks through the first two years of the pandemic and donating to the food bank for their clientele. They are now handing out N95 masks and the clientele are now used to having to bring and wear a mask so this last piece of fabric has been cut out to make a cheerful blouse for me to remember my mother.

30 years ago as my mother took up quilting seriously, she made me this “quillow” (a quilt with a pocket into which it could be folded to make a pillow or into which feet could be put to warm.). It was especially welcome as one of the original squares was the leftover cuttings from a dress I made from fabric my mother was given by Great Aunt Molly from Great Aunt Mabel’s (Grampa Scammell’s sister) stash in 1978 when she died and Mom had given me. I gave Mom back the saved “cuttings” to use in her quilting and she saved it and some other fabric “cuttings” from clothes I made as a teenager to make this quilt. As one can see, the quilt has received heavy use over the years and, given that the age of the fabrics was much older than the quilt, some have failed – it is now somewhat more of a “patchwork quilt” in that I have added complimentary fabrics (mostly bought during a trip from Jordan to visit my brother in Qatar over New Year’s 99-00) as patches for the failed older fabric. Still more memories added to the quilt!

40 years ago on 24 April 1982, Sahib and I received this quilt, made by my mother, as our wedding gift! My mother had used the “cuttings stash” I left behind when I left home and some of her own “stash” to make the quilt! I can remember what she and I made out of the fabrics, what patterns we used, what clothes we had – and what fights we sometimes had about taking an incorrect seam out! Needless to say, I have now added a few more “patches” as repairs when older fabrics have failed from being well used. When Mom gave it to us, we both had a few tears!

ps. The lump under the quilt at the back right is our cat – who loves to crawl up under a quilt when she thinks the house is too cool and have a long snooze!