Temperature is dropping

Fall has officially arrived. Leaves are falling, the fields are getting picked and kids are wearing jackets in the morning to go to school. I have even made a couple dinners in the oven as of late. The heat of the oven has taken the chill and damp out of the air.

This is the time of year I like. A light sweater or jacket is needed and throw an extra quilt on the foot of the bed.

I use 80/20 batting so there is some weight, but it isn't to warm to cook you out. I haven't tried wool yet, but tempted to get one and hand quilt an applique quilt to see if I like it. Has anyone used wool yet?

So many choices anymore. Poly thread, wool battings what happened to all the traditional stuff? I know times change. Computers and tablets and cellphones have changed our lives forever. What happened to the needle and thread? The treadle machine and cutting out templates from soap boxes with scissors? Are we better off than our grandmothers, aunts and great grandmothers?

Do you sit and reflect on what they did? I know I do. Wondered how long things took to get done. Where they got fabric and supplies. Many has to order from the Sears catalog to get batting and threads, pins and needles. Scissors lasted you for decades to be sharpened on a wet stone. Needles were bent, but the worked way beyond when the should have. Thimbles were bought as a cherished gift and were always close to the seamstress that they maybe would come up missing.

Hand quilting was done at the church in the basement, but the best quilters. They charged by the yards of thread that were used to quilt your top. The first machine quilted quilt I ever saw was sent out to be done and they cost $25 back in the fifties. Nothing fancy grids or cross hatching on the diagonal.

Fabric was 35 inches wide and whole cloths were pieced many times to get a full bed size wide enough. Percale and broadcloth were the terms used to indicate you wanted a quality cotton. Muslin was used a lot with feed sacks to make a contrast. We use silks and denim, flannel, linen and 100% cotton which all cost dearly.

The digital age has us all connected on line or through our devices. We know what you are doing on the other side of the World in seconds. A hand written letter to request fabric from a dry goods store took weeks to arrive. In the hopes you ordered enough to complete what you needed. Now we can print our fabrics out on the printer with our computers.

Times have changed, but our passion to create nice things for our homes has not. My mind wanders to days gone by and times when things were more simple. The only thing that is really the same is Women are creative with what they have to make life more enjoyable. Chris