Tomorrow Is A BIG Day

Here's a day's advance notice: tomorrow, December 15, is my grandmother's 98th birthday. Is that not impressive?? This picture was taken on her 96th birthday.  She's a bit more frail, but still just as feisty as she's always been. Kevin and I stopped over to visit her Friday night; we took her a card and a carton of oysters of all things. She loves oyster soup, and my mom will make some for her. Funny.

This is the woman to whom I attribute my love of quilting. My mother taught me to sew, and I took to it early on. Mom made all of the clothes my sisters and I wore growing up, until I was able to make my own, about 8th or 9th grade. Quilting was never a big part of the mix then. Oh, I was aware of it, because every winter Grandma would have her quilting frame up and we just recognized it as a part of the decor when we were at our grandparents' house. (I have that quilting frame now and I'm planning to set it up after Christmas and quilt on it over the winter.)

It wasn't until I was married and thinking of decorating my own home that I began desiring quilts. I realized that I couldn't afford to buy them at antique shops or flea markets, so I determined that if I wanted quilts, I was going to have to make them myself. And who else to ask for help and advice than Grandma? We grew quite close through our common interest in quilting. For that I am ever so grateful, too.

Besides that quilting frame, I have all her other quilting stuff now, too. Over the summer, I cleaned the last of it out of her house and brought it here. I recorded that monumental task in several posts back in July. I also have been recording pictures of as many of her quilts as possible. The tab at the top of the page will take you to the ones documented so far.

This picture is from the late 1990s, I'm guessing. Grandma and I are at her quilting frame; the quilt she's working on is one that I pieced. I have it upstairs.

I have written many posts about Grandma over the years. Suffice it to say, it's a great blessing to be pushing (cough) 60, and still have a grandmother who is as spry and alert as she is. Happy 98th, Grandma!

Happy Quilting, Friends!