A Tribute to Pearl

My grandmother, a farmer’s wife, did needlework of some kind every evening.  She kept a basket of embroidery by her rocking chair along with a hand-made bag of crochet or tatting thread complete with mail order patterns ready to be worked into doilies or  edgings for pillow cases.  She quilted regularly with a neighborhood group of other farm wives from 1919 to her death in 1975.  As my interest moved in the same direction I came to realize just how good she was at what she did. Her tatting and crochet often won awards at the county fair.  I marvel at her embroidered pillowcases where the wrong side looks very nearly as neat as the right side.  Her hand quilting would win best of show at today’s national quilt competitions. I aspire to become as skilled at least in quilting—I gave up on tatting and crochet.  “A Tribute to Pearl “ seeks to honor her work and the work of those women who continued to keep their hands busy into the evening hours after daily chores and evening dishes were done.

So how does this project begin? None of the pieces used in this project were made by my relatives so I did not hesitate to consider cutting, dyeing or otherwise manipulating them.  I acquired the linen towel with beautifully sewn handwork on the hem and centered motif at auction.  Since it was in pristine condition it served as the centerpiece of inspiration. A doily with the popular pineapple motif had a coffee or other stain that I could only lessen but not eliminate so didn’t hesitate to add color and include it and even consider cutting it into pieces.. A current reproduction of the bark cloth drapes that I remember hanging at farmhouse windows frame the centerpiece.  A photo of a young, spirited version of my grandmother posed against a classic roadster of the times seemed most appropriate to include (I recall her saying she dated in a horse drawn carriage so would love to have known the “rest of this story”).

So, the pieces are gathered, arranged and ready to stitch with addition of  embellishments.