I was interested in the comment about our foremothers.
We forget the luxuries we enjoy as necessities that my great grandmother didn't have access to - - washing machine, dryer, sewing machine, vacuum cleaner ... to mention a few.
Not only did they not have our every day luxuries, I would venture to say they were better housekeepers and homemakers than we are.
As far as there being more socializing "back then" .... we communicate so easily with persons thousands of miles away, living more online than we do in our real time world, sometimes. My great grandmother didn't pop in to town on a whim. It was a planned trip and took a long time to get ten miles ... ever tried riding in a wagon? Forget those shaking machines we use for muscle toning, etc.
And, if I want to make a quilt, I pick up a magazine, pick out one of up to 25 patterns, and pop into the car to buy all the yardage I need for the project .... and, probably more yardage for projects I may want to do fifteen years from now!
My great grandmother, would save scraps from other projects, PLANNING ... blocks she may have seen from a quilt in another community ... AND, figure the measurements .... Look at the Dear Jane quilt and think about the planning and creativity a woman did in her own heart and mind ....
My great grandmother didn't pop into her freezer to pick out a couple of tv dinners for supper so she could go do something else ... every movement, every day, every activity, everything was about surviving and MAYBE thriving ... and, the fact that she could see and seek beauty ... in the midst of a barren prairie ... the little things .... I don't see that her life was simpler, but I do see that she was more intelligent and capable than I am (and, dare I say - - most of the women of my time?) ... and definitely a better planner of time and user of resources, wasting little, utilizing everything, all the while grateful for every day that her children were fed.
Having said all of that ... the tools I have (I have too many) are they toys? Only because I may never even take them out of their packages. Our lavish lifestyle, even the poorest among us, would cause my great grandmother to rejoice that her simple contribution to society could take her offspring so far.
I used to watch quilting shows and enjoy them thoroughly, thinking about maybe one day doing something like that .... even a four patch can be an adventure when you have never done anything like it. However, I could just never decide that quilting was a practical industry for my time, energy, and $$$ .... and, then I watched a Quilt in a Day program and Elenor Burns introduced the rotary cutter .... and, FINALLY, I could see the practicality that has brought me to today.
Last year, a member of the Auxiliary brought me a find from a thrift store ... fabric and the pattern - - a 1976 Family Circle magazine with the red, white, and blue theme. She wanted me to cut the pieces for her, and I most certainly did.
I want to commend ALL of the quilters who started quilting twenty plus years or more ago.
Had that magazine and pattern been the first introduction to quilting for me, it would have been the LAST! With my rotary cutter and shape cutter, I could cut the blocks pdq ... the instructions were HORRIBLE! For a beginner, it would have been a disaster! And, the extra work that the pattern called for was heartbreaking. Those of you who have endured cardboard templates and scissors to cut every thread ... who never owned a sewing machine before you started quilting .... you are my HEROES!
I am grateful for all the creative, productive minds that made quilting feasible for someone like me.
I apologize for everything I have purchased that I thought I HAD to have, only to find out .... I really don't want to cut out Marti Michell templates, when I can strip cut! LOL
Thank you to the thinkers who made quilting fast, easy, and fun!
And, thank you to the communities, such as this quilting board who has made my community a bit larger than it would have been had I never got online. The community I move and work in daily is made better because of my ability to chat with friends at odd times of night, to get answers to my questions almost as fast as I can think of them.
My great grandmother never had it so good. She could have never imagined that the thing she did for practicality reasons ... would go further than her quarter section of homestead out somewhere in the prairie. But, she did give us something that we can pass on to those who come behind us - - she faithfully carried out the most mundane tasks so that her family could grow to be good citizens of her nation, and she taught them to follow in her footsteps.
My prayer is that we continue to do that for those who meet us daily, especially those in the community right where we live.
Is there a word limit here? <g>