Wednesday 13 January 2010

Well, it has been quite a time since I started this blog..I have been a little more productive with the quilt. Although my aim, to have it finished for my daughter Jess to take with her when she started University, didn't happen. I then thought it would be ready when we visited her for her birthday in November, um no..... then for Christmas....er..but alas here we are, January, BUT I only have two squares left to make....so hopefully a lovely Easter gift ...... So, about this square....the yellow gingham is from a cushion cover made by my grandmother Eva , a fine seamstress. She was my maternal grandmother and lived in the same town as my family. She was a year older than the year...I always loved the fact that she was born in 1899, it seemed so romantic, her birthplace was Holloway in London, my Grandad took great delight in telling everyone that he saved her from the gates of the jail.... Her full name was Eva Adelaide Maud...something she hated, named after maiden aunts, as was the way then. She had a hard life, but was a real lady. As with many women of her generation her education finished too soon, but her whole life she read and read, listened to Radio 4 and took a newspaper every day. I spent many hours with her, we talked and talked, she taught me to sew, and to sing funny old Edwardian music hall songs, like 'Joshua, Joshua sweeter than lemon squash you are.....' She was tiny a little over 5 feet and used to love to tell me when she was a young girl her hair was so long she could sit on it! Her eldest daughter had been a GI bride, my Gran and Grandad visited twice, the second time, in 1968, they decided that my cousin and I should go with them, as I was only three my mum said no! Sadly on that trip my Grandad died suddenly, so it was probably for the best...but the formidable little lady Eva came home with his ashes in her luggage on the Queen Elizabeth, as she was determined not to leave him in America! Well, that is a little about Eva....on the yellow gingham patch there is a row of perfectly formed running stitches sewn by her...saved forever in my daughters quilt..although you cannot see it I have embroidered her name on the patch....a little bit of her to be kept forever...my darling Grandmother Eva!

2 comments:

June said...

This will be a keepsake quilt for sure Andrea. With Eva stiched in every piece. I LOVED reading about her and how sad that she lost your grandfather on that trip. Your mother was so wise to keep her little one home. i just love stories like these.
Oh my jeans are definitely feeling a little tight these days as well. Winter is not a good time for my body.
hugs

Yes here's to longer days ahead.

Andrea & Co said...

June, thank you for your kind comments.

My first tow snowdrops appeared in the planter by my back door today....horray!!!

Andrea x