Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Grandma Jewell's Crazy Quilts

Grandma Jewell standing in front of her house in Norwood, Missouri







Growing up the one thing I loved about going to Grandma Jewell's house in the country was covering
up with one of her hand-made CRAZY quilts.  She had a upstairs that was totally open and she had three double beds.  They were feather beds with lots of quilts to cover up with.  There was a railroad line about 600 feet from her doorstep and we would listed to the train whistles at night and the clickity clack of  railroad tracks.  To this day the sound of trains make me feel happy and safe.

Grandma's house had two stories and the bottom floor was heated by a wood stove. The upstairs became quite cold in the winter.

Grandma gave me this quilt she made years ago. It's a crazy quilt because all of the pieces are put together with no real design.  She kept a lot of the clothes her kids wore (which she made) and extra fabric and made all of the quilts for her house.  She used pieces of scrap flannel to back them with.




I'm certainly enjoying writing down the memories.


Ann

20 comments:

  1. Love the quilt I have of Gmas too! I don't tthink I have a single picture of her in front of the house. I will need to get a copy of this book when you finish.

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  2. Wonderful old photographs and a beautiful quilt !

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  3. I loved the crazy quilts my Grandma made. It is something all of her grandchildren treasure and covet.

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  4. Hi From Ann in New Zealand, not many Anns in Blogger world.

    Love your grandma's first quilt. Made one which I thought was a Chinese quilt.

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  5. quel magnifique souvenir de famille !

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  6. O, gosh, Ann...this is just priceless. Your family will be so thankful for all this good family info and the photos.
    I should do this...however, I have a cousin that LOVES doing it so I just leave it up to him. :))
    Very interesting..
    oxo bj

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  7. This is beautifully written tribute to your Grandma. I have a clear image of you snuggled under the crazy quilt, listening to the trains pass, and feeling happy and safe.

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  8. My mom saved old dresses and aprons and cut them into pieces for making quilts. She had sacks of pieces to sew into quilts when she passed away. The quilts she made were familiar around our house — I think we all slept under at least one.

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  9. they are so beautiful. My daughter brought back the queen size quilt I made for her.

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  10. such a wonderful tribute to your grandma! my mom, who had many talents, but she never made any quilts. now I'm wondering why because she had scraps from clothes she made. hmm...
    I love the crazy quilt shown!

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  11. oh, and you can see that I too like vintage photos because the one of me is major vintage!

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    1. I love quilts and yours from grandma are lovely and such memories from her house too! I love family vintage photos too. Thank you for visitng me, please come again. Big hugs,
      FABBY

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  12. How many generations did you go back too?

    I went back 100 years, and before that we have no records. I just finished my book.

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  13. Great quilt! She must have been an awesome Grandma!

    Thanks so much for stopping by my 5th anniversary Giveaway...the deadline has been extended until Friday.

    Enjoy your week!

    Jillian
    Bella Rosa antiques

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  14. I had to pop over here from your Tin and Sparkle post for ABC Wednesday! What a wonderful shot on your header (that drew me here, of course!) I assume that is grandmother Jewell and you in the shot, or perhaps your great-grandmother and your Mom. These posts remind me SO MUCH of my grandmother's house in Alabama when I was a child! The feather beds, the proximity of the train tracks and hearing the trains howl during the night (also a very comforting sound to me today!) and so much more. My grandmother made quilts...back then they were always from scraps and always used a LOT. My mother and I both quilt. My mom remembers playing under the ceiling hung quilt frame while her Mom and Aunts quilted around it. Fabulous memories! So glad to find you! :-)

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  15. I made my first quilt with Grandma, not as colourful as yours. 25 years ago, I made one for my daughter. It was very colourful, with just 9 stars.

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  16. Are you writing down the stories of your family? I wrote one about 100 years in Borneo, and my next I plan will be war time stories, fiction.

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