Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Happy Belated Anniversary Mom & Dad



My parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on January 11th. I have a set of 8 x 10 black and white photos from their wedding. My friend scanned them for me. This is the only picture of I have my parents and both sets of grandparents. They had to move up their wedding date because dad's leave was changed at the last minute. The night was cold and icy, but the wedding went well.

Doesn't my dad look dapper in his Navy uniform? He joined the Navy when he was 17 near the end of WW II. He worked in the laundry room on a ship in the Pacific. His biggest war story is his ship was anchored next to the one where the Peace Treaty was signed at the end of the war. He still has his Navy uniform and his pea coat. When he dies my son will get those items.

My mom still has her wedding dress. She hasn't been able to wear it for years. I will probably take it someday. Not sure what to do with it, but I have plenty of time to think about it.

My dad has been in a nursing home since last summer. But on their anniversary the staff helped my mom have a celebration at the home. They had cake and balloons. My brothers made it. My mom has a cousin who was married within days of mom and dad's wedding and they have celebrated every major anniversary together in the last 60 years.

I never knew either of my grandfathers. But I did know both grandmothers. My maternal grandmother is the one who taught me to sew, crochet, do beadwork, and needlepoint. She lived with us until I was six years old and then married the widower across the street.

Not much quilting going on the last two days. I've been trying to decide what color thread and what designs to use for quilting my Birthday Garden Quilt. I have a butterfly stencil I'm going to use in the middle of each charm block. This morning I decided this is my quilt and I don't intend to enter it into a quilt show so I'm going to experiment with different quilt motifs and different thread colors. So today I treated myself today to 7 spools of Mettler silk finish thread: pink, navy blue, purple, yellow, red, green and white. Now the only step that's keeping from starting the hand quilting is marking the quilt. I'm going to experiment with marking and not marking the quilt too.

When I first joined Yahoo Groups I used to send in a quilt question about once a week to gather and assess the answers. I haven't done that in a long time so I thought I'd start asking a question here, hopefully once a week. If you take the time to answer I will aggregate the answers and post them here.

Here's the first question: What is your least favorite element to make in a quilt? Mine is curved pieces. I can't bring myself to cut them or sew them.

14 comments:

Libby said...

They all look happy -- that's a good sign *s* 60 years is quite an accomplishment -- Congratulations.

I have never thought about my least favorite part of quilting. I guess ironing the fabrics in preparation of starting a new project. A necessary part, but not a lot of glory in that step.

bettsylyn (Lynda) said...

Happy anniversary to your parents.

Seems at the moment that my least favourite part is putting borders on - not that it is hard - but so many of my tops seem to stop there, and I really need to push myself. Maybe it is because after making the main part of the top I am ready to move on. This is the year of doing borders for me.

Pam said...

Thank you for sharing some of your family history....60 years is awesome. My parents were just a few months short of that when my daddy died. What a great legacy to leave their children.

May Britt said...

A lovely family story.
My least favorite part in quilting is the binding. All my friends teases me about that. When my dear mother was home (she is in a nursing home now) I used to bring her all my quilts that needed binding. But now I have to do them myself and I hate it :)

Patti said...

Wow! 60 years is wonderful! How neat they were still able to celebrate.

The part I like the very least is marking the quilt top for hand quilting. Don't have to worry about that usually for machine quilting thank goodness. I also hated to baste the sandwich together - one of the reasons I love having a long arm.

The Calico Cat said...

Binding.... (curved piecing a close second becasue I am soooo visual.)

Marla said...

Least favorite.....making the back and borders....

Anonymous said...

Congrats to your parents - this year would have been my parents 60th anniversary too - they both passed away 2 years ago.

Least favorite element? Hmmm I really don't care for set-in seams. When I have to do them, I sew them by hand instead of machine.

Elaine Adair said...

I loved your memories of your folks and grandparents. It is so dear that you are combining that 'old fashioned' photo with this new technology.

My least favorite part of quilting is layering/sandwiching and basting - mostly because I have to do it on the floor, and my knees aren't cooperating. The smaller quilts can be done on a large sewing table I have - not so bad.

I LOVE to do the binding!

Nancy said...

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

My least favorite part of making a quilt would have to be a toss up between borders and binding.

Unknown said...

Well, if I have to be honest I'd say choosing fabrics. I know, that is everyone's favorite part! I love kits and fat quarter bundles. All the work is done for me. I don't even have a working stash...my fabric, even though I have a lot of it, doesn't really inspire me. Of course, it is absolutely great for scrap quilts and I do a lot of those.

Katie said...

My least favorite part of quilting is having a dead line, so I don't do that very often. I also dislike the sandwiching but think maybe it won't be so bad now I've done it a couple times. Currently I'm frustrated with how my my fabric choices haven't worked together.

Tracey @ozcountryquiltingmum said...

I've really never curved either. I will also only miter for bindings, not in the quilt itself.

Tracey @ozcountryquiltingmum said...

And well done on the parent's 60th-if you had been more trouble they may not have got there so congrats to you as well!!