Scissors

Textile Tuesday



Three by three by three.  Three generations, three specialties, three scissors.  The top pair are my Gingher scissors.  I'm mostly a quilter and taught Business and IT.  The middle pair are my Mom's Gingher scissors, now mine because of her dementia, she at one time mostly sewed clothing but ended up being a quilter, and was a Home Ec teacher.  The bottom pair are my Great Aunt's pair of Hartfort Buttonhole scissors, she sewed her own clothing and some embroidery, and taught math, specifically upper level math and mostly Calculus. 

Monday Memories


This is the Sowle Farmstead.  In the picture is my Great Grandfather John Sowle, his wife Viola and my Great Aunt Mabel.  Viola would die before Mabel was 20 years old and John would marry Pearl and their son, Leland, would be my Grandpa.  There was 20 years age difference between Mabel and Leland.  Mom lived here through high school when the farm was sold.  The house was there until after I was born, although I'm not sure how much longer, and I would have still been a baby so I have no recollection of ever seeing this in person.  The house and barn are long gone and corn now grows there. 

Flower Friday

     This is a wild rose of some sort at the Lakeview Campground east of Tok.  This is where we started our summer road trip and our first night camping, both of the trip and ever camping together.  A small campground of only 12 spots and that night only three spots were used.  We heard a crane sounding and several loons calling most of the night.  The campsite we chose was right next to the lake.  Was a great start to our 11,300 mile, 56 day road trip.  We travelled the Alaska Highway to the Cassier Highway, through Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Duluth, across the Mackinac Straits to Alden, MI and family for a couple of weeks.  Then continued on to through Michigan and crossing at Port Huron to Canada to Buffalo, NY to Montrose, PA and more family for a bit.  Left and travelled up through Toronto and around Lakes Huron and Superior, through Winnipeg, Manitoba and then headed towards Edmonton, Alberta.  Caught the Alaska Highway where it officially begins in Dawson City and back through Yukon and into Canada.  It was a fantastic adventure.

Lupine

Canola Fields in Manitoba

Dryas

Throw Back Thursday

John Sowle

     This is my Great Grandpa John Sowle.  I can't trace my family history any further back with him as he came to Ithaca, Michigan on an Orphan Train from New York City.  That is all that he knew and when he reached St. Johns, Michigan, a farm family plucked him off the train.  In his early teens he ran away from the Sowle farm as he was basically an unpaid laborer more than an adopted son.  For a while he worked in a livery stable and slept in one of the horse stalls, but that ended abruptly.  The undertaking had a shop above and one night a body fell down the oat shoot into the stable below.  He left.

Sowle Farmstead

     He eventually made it to Ithaca and set up in farming and married Viola and they had my Great Aunt Mable.  Viola  died young and he then married Pearl and my Grandpa Leland Sowle was born.

Working Wednesday - Drapes and Insurance

 

 

     Today has been more of a work day than usual in such that there is a work day in retirement.  Started out by answering emails related to my small business of conference planning, which dealt mostly with informing prospective guest speakers that we don't have the money this year and filling out insurance forms, for the second time, for the underwriter even though what the insurance agent had me fill out was almost a duplicate.

     And then we finally got started on the new drapes.  We've had the fabric, seen above, for about two years after taking advantage of a 60% off on the fabric with a 50% off coupon even on sales items.  Was quite the deal.  Then we had to special order the traverse rod since here in Alaska, we're apparently the only people that ever want that kind of rod form Home Depot.  We've had that for about a year.  So, it's time to start and today we got the rod up.  I wanted to be able to do some actual measurements before cutting any of the fabric.  Will do some serious math tomorrow and then probably get started on the sewing.  Wish me luck.

Textile Tuesday - Wedding Quilts

 Quilt for former student and his husband for their wedding.

 Quilt for formers students new step-son.

Quilt for Nephew and his bride.

 

     I seem to have made more quilts in the past two months than I have in the past two years.  What with everything that needed to be done towards retirement and the last year working, getting settled into the new routine at home in retirement, and then the busy summer with our long road trip, I seemed to have left behind my crafting joy of quilting for a bit.

          I started in April and May for the quilt for my Nephew and his fiancé for their wedding.  It was a simple pattern, the snowball block, but the tediousness was in cutting 154 squares and then making sure I had 616 smaller squares for the corner triangles.  I used a jelly roll for that part which made quick work.  I got the top done but didn't quilt it until September after we got back from our trip in July.  In August I started on the wedding quilt for my student and had that mostly done and quilted that in September before we left for my Nephew's wedding. 

     When we got back, if fiddled around and then decided that  fat-quarter pack I had would make a nice colorful quilt using the Yellow Brick Road pattern for my former students fiancés son.  Little kids don't always understand all the attention directed at others and hey, when Justin and Phillip are cuddled up under their quilt, Koebryn can cuddle up under his.

     And now I am busy working on a quilt for our new grandson for Christmas.  Following a design that my Grandma made for all of her grandkids at the time in the later 1960's.  I've decided to carry on the tradition.

Memory Monday - Education

     Our family has experienced this building in three different time frames.  This is Grawn Hall on the campus of Central Michigan University.  In the 1930's it was the main campus building for classes when it was known as Central State Teachers College.  My Great Aunt Mabel was a student here and went on to teach Mathematics at her high school alma mater for about 40 years, often teaching small classes of Calculus and other upper level math in a small farming community.
     In the late 1960's, Mom was a student here.  It was now known as Central Michigan University.  She majored in Home Economics and minored in Physical Education.  A major/minor combination that her advisor would not sign off on.  Her reasoning was that housewives did not do sports.  The Dean had to sign off.  The funny thing is, that her and two of her classmates had this major/minor and all three got teaching jobs in smaller school districts because of this combination.  Remember, at one time boys and girls PE classes were not mixed and PE teachers did not teach the opposite sex.
     After a degree in business and a brief career in business and hospitality, I returned to school at CMU to obtain my teaching certification in business ed with a concentration in something new called data processing.
     Grawn Hall is still there.  A good solid building that borders one side of the Mall.  Updates of course have been made but the outside still looks the same.  There is an additional wing on one end which has been endowed as a business center.  A current remodel is currently underway that is adding an atrium and gathering/reception area on the back side.  Education classes have now moved on to a new building of their own across campus, but this will always be the education and business building to me.
     Our family has 96 years of work history rooted in this building.