Flashback Friday

If you search through the US Archives, you can find lot's of really old books. Sometimes, they include photos that really inspire. Here is one of some dress fronts that I really liked.

And, one of the motifs could be easily interpreted into a crazy quilt embroidery motif too! How great is that!

Tomatoes Anyone?

Flashback Friday 6-31

Remember my Grand Grandmother Farmer...from a few weeks ago....

 We turned up this old photo...and the women in center is an earlier photo of Granny Farmer. The young boy she is holding...is my Grandfather Robert.

Flashback Friday 6-24

 

Was it a normal occurrence for a lady to have a bird? I'm not sure, but the image is one that would make a nice silkie, with embroidery added to the skirt, sleeves, and bodice. Color her with some pastel pencils...

Flashback Friday

 

Like a lot of women, I hate to have my photo taken. Perhaps if I were tiny I would feel differently, but...I really don't think so. I just have never liked the way I have looked...well, not for a very long time anyway. My hair is always "doing it's own thing". And now that I am older "and looking like my mom" it is worse. Where is that younger women still inside of me!

But for you, I'll share the current photo of me...although I have cut my hair to right below the ear since this was taken...

And, for comparison...3 generations. My mother, my daughter, and myself...back in 2002. 

Compare my mother then to me now...and you'll see that I truly am my mother's daughter!

Flashback Fridays -- Mom & Dad

There are thousands of memories of my parents as I was growing up..too many to share really. I'm so lucky to not only still have my mother still with us; she lives right next door! We lost dad to lung cancer in 1995...and miss him so very much! 

 This is my favorite photo of my parents together.

My Dad the Soldier

Today, I thought I share some photos of my dad...when he was in the Army. 

He was in the infantry and drove a fuel truck. He was wounded in action and spent the remainder of his life in a good deal of pain from multiple back surgeries. 

(Dad is top left)

Regardless of his injuries, he never had a bad word to say about the military, his job during those years, or the country.

Margaret and Jenny

This is my grandmother Margaret Farmer (right) and my great-aunt Jenny Champion (left). They are sisters.

One of my fondness memories of the two of them together is the summer I was in the 11th grade. My girlfriend, Brenda Barnes, and I were working at the high school painting the halls and getting things ready for school to open back up in the spring. We were part of a student work program that went all year. During the school year, we worked in the assistant principal's office or the library...but during the summer, they found any odd job that could be done by us kids...and put us to work. It was a great way to spend the summer...earning some money! We were required to bring our lunch, or we could walk up town to the square and get a hamburger. Neither of us could afford that each day...so I asked my Aunt Jenny if she would fix us a sandwich each day...and we would pay her (seems to me, we each gave her around $10 every 2-weeks when we got paid).  We thought we'd get a bologna or peanut butter/jelly sandwich. But, the first day we went to her house (which was just a few hundred yards from the high-school) we had a full meal on the table. Boy, my Aunt Jenny would cook! I don't believe I have ever eaten better my entire life; as I did that summer! Every day we had cornbread or biscuits (the best I've every had!); fresh sliced tomatoes and cucumbers; and some kind of vegetables and meat...or a big pot of stew or soup...or beans and cornbread! Yum! I'm hungry just remembering. My grandma was an okay cook...but not as good as my Aunt Jenny. She tried...and I think the two of them had a little competition going at times. One would cook one day...and another the next sometimes. Other times, they just did it together.Oh how I wish I could turn back the clock...just to have another few minutes with both of these women!

Flashback Fridays

As I was blog surfing the other day, I came across a topic titled "Flashback Fridays" which included older photos of the blogger's family. This was intriguing to me. So, thought it might be of interest to ya'll as well. My photos will include family...but will also include past fashion and such as well.

To start off, this is my Great-great grandmother Farmer. I was too little to remember when she passed. She was a large woman; very tall and very sturdy. My mom thinks that she could be where my love of stitching came from...as she was always doing something with her hands. In her time, it was usually hemming pants, sewing buttons, darning socks, or crocheting. She was a work horse...cooking 3 large meals each day, washing clothes by hand, canning foods, gardening, taking care of the house and her seven children. Sunday was the only day she was still...and Mom says her thumbs were constantly moving as she rocked in her chair...as though they just could not keep from doing "something". She is the mom to my Grandfather Robert Farmer her youngest child...and she babied him.

Here are my grandfather and grandmother...Rob and Margaret Farmer. My grandmother did not sew that I am aware of...but she is the only grandmother I have as my dad's parents did not live near us. I only met my grandmother Seaman once in my lifetime...and I was in my 40's by then. But, that's another story...for another time perhaps. I spent time in the summer helping them in their chicken houses when I was a teenager. When I was younger, we lived with them some of the time, and played in their yard. My grandmother always made the best breakfasts when we stayed in the summer!...or perhaps it was just that I was so hungry after working!