I guess I can post this since it's quilt related....
With having so many fires lately and sitting by them, my thoughts have gone back
to when I was a little girl. My greatgrandmother on my mother's side was "momo
Ossie" and she lived with her sister, "Aunt Bernice". Momo Ossie's husband died
when she was younger and Aunt Bernice was never married.
They lived going toward Baton Rouge, LA, north of New Orleans out in the country
where there were a lot of strawberry farms at that time.
I remember going to their house in the fall and winter and they had a fire in
the living room and their quilt frame was lowered from the ceiling. ALL winter
long they would make quilts. Aunt Bernice would sew on the treadle machine and
momo would always be hand quilting while she was sewing or sometimes they would
both be quilting, mostly in the evenings. There was always a large quilt on the
frame and in the evenings when they were finished, or when they had company and
wanted to visit, they would raise the quilt frame up toward the ceiling and tie
it off over on the wall. It was sort of a cleat I think.

By spring time, they had made MANY quilts of all sizes and colors. We always
went there for Easter and many times around this time of year. The folks from
New Orleans and Baton Rouge would come out to pick strawberries and they would
go past their house. They would hang their quilts on the clothesline and put a
sign out QUILTS FOR SALE. They also sold eggs, pecans, jams from local
strawberries, etc. The "rich folks" from the city would stop and by their
quilts. This would give them money to restock their fabrics and supplies and
extra spending money. They were always so happy when they sold a quilt.

Of course, they made all of us kids one and our parents. I still have mine, but
some were just worn out with love and use. Momo Ossie lived into her 90's and
Aunt Bernice lived to her late 70's. After Aunt Bernice died things were never
the same. Momo Ossie had to move near one of her sons and lived in a tiny little
trailer next to his house so as to keep her independence right up till she died.
She always continued her quilting and gave them to family. She always made pecan
pies up till the end and loved to cook chicken n dumplings and all kinds of good
food.

Those have been my thoughts lately and just wanted to share them with you, my
quilting friends, as I know you have fond memories of your own.
Thanks for listening.
Sandra

What wonderful memories! Thank you so much for sharing them.

What wonderful memories to have! Makes one wish we could go back and relive......

Those are very wonderful memories! You should write those kinds of things down. I don't know if you have children or not, but those will be the kinds of things they would love to have way down the road to combine with their own memories of you.

Your post reminded me of these two older woman who live down towards Amite, LA. They have a little stand out in front of their house where they sell strawberries and other goodies, though sadly I haven't seen them there the past couple of years. We always stop and buy strawberries from them on our way back from the Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula.

Perhaps one reason I'm having all these memories come back is because my daugher is about to have my first grandbaby ANY DAY NOW. She's due on Jan. 20, her birthday. Thanks, I will write them down. I have started a journal this year. I haven't done that in a long time.

P.S. I'm originally from Bogalusa, LA.

What great momories. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Print these memories out and put them with you other important papers. Your kids will find it someday! :D

What a beautiful and meaningful story, Sandra! Thank you for sharing. It brought tears to my eyes.

I'm so glad you shared your memories with us. Your recount was really interesting. I love the smell of snuffed out candles and the smell of coal burning stoves, takes me back to my childhood.

And now I know where you live, lol. I just asked you when I replied to your PM.

I've heard a few stories women using the "lower the table from the ceiling technique". Didn't know if it was a local thing or not. Glad to hear it's not. And how wonderful that quilters shared across distances, even "way back when"!
Thanks!

It was a frame that was "old" to them. It was just 4 long strips of wood joined at the corners. I think it had screws w/twist on/off bolts so that it could be taken apart. Then there were ropes/cords going up to the ceiling through hooks in the ceiling and they would pull the ropes to raise and lower and then tie off at a cleat over on the wall.
I'd love to find one of these old frames. I don't remember how they attached the quilt exactly. I want to say some kind of spring clamps, but remember it being rolled under some. I'd crawl under it and play and look up through to see the light coming through and them sewing.

Beautiful memories!!

Thanks for the wonderful story. I live in Lafayette La. and have visited the plantations between Baton Rouge and New Orleans many times. I can actually visualize what it was probably like for them in the house with the quilt frame.
Hubby was working in St Marys Ga and we were there for 2 months. We loved the area/

What a beautiful memory. As others have said, write it and many others down!!!

I, too, find myself remembering those who are gone. How I wish my children and grandchildren could have grown up in such uncomplicated times. How I pray that at some point we can get back, at least in part, to the lifestyle we had then.

so neat. Thanks for sharing

Such a wonderful memory. You told it so well that I could imagine them sewing and quilting in front of thier fire. You must print the story out and start a scrap book with whatever photos of family and quilts you can find. Even quilts that are tattered have a story to tell. Thanks for sharing your great memories. May in Jersey

Thanks for taking us down memory lane. What a lovely remembrance of these two women. I hope you have written down more stories for your family and loved ones so they may also enjoy an inkling of what you did.

Now I have to wipe drool off the keyboard from talk of chicken and dumplings and pecan pie. Ummm.

LOL.... You can just look at my waistline and see that I have inherited, and am passing on, the cooking aspect as well. I cook all that good southern food and have a garden and chickens. Thank you all for your sweet comments and would love to hear some of your memories. One friend wrote and said she was sorry she didn't have any. I said, you have made them for your grown children and now are making them for your grandchildren daily.

I loved "hearing" your story. Everybody's right about writing it down. Whenever our whole family is together, the young ones want to hear all about the way it used to be. We're always retelling stories about the family, and when we embellish too much they correct us and tell us how it really was. They want to hear the stories over and over
again.

Thank you for sharing such a wonderful members.

I have a similar quilting memory, only my grandmother had a wooden quilting frame that was set up in the living room during the winter in their house on the farm, and it almost always had a quilt on it when i got to stay there. It was where I took my first stitch on q quilt my grandma and one of my aunts were tying. I was 4 years old and wanted to 'help', so I was allowed to poke the needle down into the quilt, but had to crawl under the frame to pull the needle all the way through, and then push it back up again. That quilt frame went to town when Grandma and Grandpa moved off the farm, and Grandma usually had a quilt on it...almost always a Log Cabin. My sister now has that old frame, and a couple of years ago, when I went to visit, I thought I'd gone back to Grandma's house, because the frame was set up in her sewing room...with a Log Cabin quilt stretched on it ready for quilting! (The quilt was a friend's, but all of us grandkids did get a Log Cabin quilt from Grandma when we turned 18.)

What wonderful memories. I agree with all those who encourage you to write them down, especially for your new grandchild. I am from New Orleans originally, but all my people were Landrys from the Lafayette, Louisiana area. Isn't it wonderful how those lovely quilting women in your family have left you with such memories. They stay with you forever. My husband made my mother and me a quilt frame that hung down from the ceiling. We found a photo of such a frame in an old magazine, and he was able to build one. Whenever my mother came up to Virginia to spend summers with us (when we were posted back to the States), we would lower the frame, put a quilt top in it, and mom would quilt all day. I have pictures of her doing just that. My daughter, who was only ten then, would also quilt as would my best friends. Since the quilt top was pieced by my mother's oldest sister, this quilt has three generations of the women in my family in it. I wish we lived closer so that we could get together in a quilting bee and reminisce. Thanks for such a lovely memory.

Ah, those are great memorial stories--and a tribute to your families. I think this bears a reminder to all of us quilters: Make sure to document and label your quilts. They truly are part of our family history, and the information about them needs to be handed down, just like the memories in our heads and our hearts.

Great memories, I don't have any like that, I'm sure my Grandmother probably made quilts, we didn't live close to have many memories of her. My Mom had quilt tops that I can remember, never quilted any with five kids there was never enough time nor space nor money.

We have one of those stored in the attic. It belonged to my late MIL's aunt and will be given to another family member at some point.

My mother and granny quilted on a frame like this. I think they just have long spike nails dropped in holes in all four corner the hold the frame square.
The frame board had hole drilled down the length evenly spaced and when they attached the quilt they whip stitch the quilt on the frame using the drilled hole for the needle and thread to go through.

I also use to play under the quilt frame...had to because the quilt covered most of the living room.

I have some similiar memories of my Aunt Bernice Clark from Independence, La who made satin quilts and sold them. Her daughter, Bessie Clark, helped her sew them in their home. They are both deceased now.

Great memory!

Sandra,

What a rich legacy. Thank you for sharing your story. I could "see" them quilting together.

Sandra,

What a rich legacy. Thank you for sharing your story. I could "see" them quilting together.

It sounds like you had an amazing Grandmother and she left you with just wonderful memories!

Sounds like you lived in my Gram's house. The quilt was lowered from the ceiling when all the aunts gathered for their twice weekly sewing bee.

I'd sure like for the uncomplicated times back. It was
sure different back then.

I have may great grandmothers frame she gave it to my grandmother and my grandmother gave it to me.

mine are hewn out of popular and have holls drilled down the side and in the corners

No one in my family was ever a quilter or sewer that I know of. My mother was a crocheter and made me a quilt from a kit which I still use. My MIL was a quilter and started one in the Depression and finally finished it in the 70's when she retired. She continued to quilt on her frame she bought at a garage sale. It was the kind that sat on the floor that you pinned the quilt and everything to. She is the one who got me interested in quilting although I have only made 2 large quilts. I have several she made us and they are being used. I love the story of the ladies in Georgia.

Thank you so much for sharing this lovely story. Yes, those grandmother memories do come to mind with greater intensity when we are waiting to become grandmothers too. My grandmother's love still comforts me and I've tried to pass that along to my granddaughter. How lucky your family is to have you! How lucky we are that you shared with us!

When i was little my Mom belonged to a group the"sewing circle". before i went to school and in the summers when they met-once a month, i would play under the quilt frame. Mom had to be the youngest one there as the other ladies were probably grandmothers. their quilting frame sat on 4 stands. the quilts were thumbtacked to the boards and the boards were held together at the corners with c-clamps. they would roll it up as they went and was also portable b/c they met at different houses.Perhaps that was the first quilting seed that was planted for me.

What lovely memories. As a kid we were transfered constantly and then I married a Naval Officer and moved even more. Never got to know my grandparents very well. Now that my DH has retired we have settled and I hope somday to have grandchildren and give them memories.

My Grandmother hand pieced her quilt tops in the summer, then quilted them in the winter. I remember her stitches being so tiny that it looked as if a machine had sewn it. Each stitch had to be just right. She too sold her quilts. Mostly she made them for family.