Valley Mama

Sewing My Great-Grandmother's Quilt

I love quilts. Especially scrap quilts that tell a story of so many projects made...each fabric a reminder of a shirt, a skirt, a dress, a toy, a random piece found at a thrift store. I do not have much experience quilting (my first ever quilt still sits in my project basket awaiting completion) but I do have a large basket that holds a growing collection of fabric scraps, just waiting to become a funky scrap quilt. I imagine feeling inspired one day to piece together a square or two, place them in a basket, and add new squares from time to time until I have enough to make a quilt. One day.

Now, after our last trip to Creede, my own scrap quilt will have to wait a bit longer. I get to finish my great-grandmother's first. 

Recently, while Aaron was traveling for work, the little ones and I packed up the car and headed up into the mountains to visit my parents in Creede. While we were there one of my favorite things happened...my mom went through her fabric stash. This means that I get to add all sorts of interesting things to mine.     

Of all the fabric I brought home, including a couple of fun vintage pieces, I think I'm most excited about these squares of an unfinished quilt begun by my great-grandma. 

It's clearly a scrap quilt, with squares pieced from many different prints. The fabric is old, some of the colors a little faded...and I love it. I look at all of these completely random pieces...most probably scraps from other projects, and think about what she made with them. A dress for a daughter, perhaps a granddaughter? Curtains for the kitchen?

I don't know what these fabrics were originally intended to be, but here they are now, squares of prints and patterns stitched together so long ago, lying on a beautiful drafting table that belonged to Aaron's father. My Granny Griffin's hands sewed these squares, my hands will finish this quilt, and perhaps, one day, it will keep my own great grand-daughter warm.    

My mother taught me to sew when I was very young, and I am so thankful that she did. It's a skill I am constantly glad to have. She learned to sew from her grandmother, Granny Griffin. As I sit with Mason, watching him work on his own beginner projects with a needle and thread I can feel the connection to past and future generations that comes from this work we do with our hands.    

I'm sure that when my great-grandma sewed these squares she had no idea that she would never finish the quilt, that the squares would end up with my grandmother, Granny Jane, to be passed along to my mom, and now, to her great-granddaughter, me. I love that I can take this work that she started and add something of myself to it.   

One of the quilts that covers our bed is a Granny Griffin quilt. It is well loved, and has been repaired many times by my mom. It is not fancy, but it is warm and comfy and I am so happy to have a quilt made by her. And now, I get to make one with her.

Thank you Granny Griffin, for your many hours in front of a sewing machine and for passing your knowledge along to the next generations, and thank you Granny Jane and Mom for passing this opportunity along to me. 

I'm not sure when I'll finish this project, but I cannot wait to get started!

Spring is for Sewing

If there was any question about the matter, let me say that spring has definitely arrived here in the San Luis Valley. The robins have returned from their winter homes and are hopping around all over the yard, and the infamous spring winds are blowing the valley dust to the sand dunes (along with any other smallish items laying around my yard). Our spring winds are hard to love. Ask anyone from the valley. Just when the weather warms and spring calls us outside, the winds come and blow us over, sending us back inside once more.  

I always think of that line from the Greg Brown song, "Spring wind blew my list of things to do away," this time of year. Our springs winds blow way more away than my to-do list, and while they can be infuriating and make us all a little crazy, for me, there is a silver (though dusty) lining. Lately, the spring winds may be sending me inside, but I'm welcoming that time indoors to enjoy my sunroom studio and my sewing machine while I can. When summer comes, gardening takes over my life (in a good way), and there is scarcely time for laundry and cleaning, much less crafting. Spring brings balance (think equinox) between my indoor and outdoor worlds, and I appreciate and celebrate that.  

We converted the sunroom to my crafty studio a couple of months ago, and I am not the only one who is enjoying my new favorite room. I keep finding this one curled up on every soft surface she can find...

And legos have invaded one of my tables...

But I don't mind. There is still plenty of space to spread out, cut fabric and sew (on at least one sewing machine) and finding cats in baskets and lego guys perilously perched on my presser foot just keeps things interesting.

My spring sewing to-do list is quite long and ambitious, but I like to dream big. Most are clothes for me and the littles to wear this spring and summer, with some possible linen smock creations to sell at the farmer's market alongside our veggies. With some naptime-sewing this weekend I was able to finish a sweet little spring linen jacket for River and choose/wash/iron some fabrics for my next few projects.

I adore this jacket. It is a kimono-style wrap jacket with a pixie hood. The outer linen is from an old linen dress of mine, and the lining is a pink fox print flannel that River loves. And my favorite part is a little peek-a-boo (or boo-peek, in River speak) applique fox under the hood.  I used this pattern, available as a PDF download on Etsy.  

I could not wait to try it on my little pixie, and she seems to love it as much as I do.  Of course, it required a photo shoot...

I think I may need to make one in my size...

Most of these photos were taken right down the road from our house at the beautiful Yoga Ranch, where, thanks to our friend Elizabeth, we get to spend some time.

Time enjoying the horses...

Climbing hay bales...

And watching the birds fly overhead...

Yes, spring is here.  We get out and enjoy it when we can, and when the winds blow a little too hard, we retreat back indoors, with plenty of springy projects to occupy us until we head back out again.

Planting Seeds, Growing Green

Wow!  It's been a while since my last post...

Sometimes it's nice to step away from the computer, put the camera down and just live life's moments with a little more presence.  

And then there's the warming weather and coming spring, which call us out, out, outside, to play, swing, climb and explore.  

I cannot remember a February this warm since I've lived in the San Luis Valley. During the winter months I often get asked if I miss the garden; if I'm just waiting impatiently for the winter to be over so I can get back to growing food again. My answer often surprises people: not really. I adore summer and growing food for my family and my community. I love fall with it's garden bounty harvest and beauty. I relish winter for the rest and rejuvenation the season brings. And when spring comes, I embrace it with renewed enthusiasm for gardening and growing...but not until the time comes. No, I appreciate the snuggly, slow days of winter (even more now), and I'm in no hurry for them to be over...and then it happens. The light returns, days lengthen, we go outside without our warm winter layers, mud from melting snow oozes everywhere, and those first brave bits of green begin to peek out from sheltered places.  

This is the first awakening of spring (for me at least).  It's playful...reassuring. Our freezing valley nights will prevent gardening from beginning in earnest for another couple of months, cold snowy days will creep up sending us back inside, the restful time is not quite over, and we welcome the warmth and light back with excitement for what is to come.      

When February's warm spell first appeared, I thought, oh, this will pass soon, no reason to go getting spring fever.  And then it just got warmer, and though we still have our cold valley nights, the days this past month have been amazing. One day a couple of weeks ago I said, "that's it, I'm planting the greenhouse." I could no longer resist the temptation to get out and plant. Just like the warmth, the urge to "come out of my winter shell" came quicker this year, but I'm not fighting it.

So, I pulled on my rubber boots to wade through the mud, and the littles and I went outside to play in the garden. We did a little spring cleaning, and even a little planting.

And now, in these first days of March, we have little seedlings, emerging from the warm soil in the greenhouse.         

I have the two best helpers in the world. The garden calls to them as well, and has become the focus of much outside play and work (they're really the same thing, right?).  

The chickens are certainly glad that the snow has melted, and also spend much of their time in the garden, pecking through last year's stalks and seeds.

Given the coming warmth and awakening, it seemed like a good time to get outside with our friends for co-op day to plant some seeds and enjoy the sunshine. You can hardly keep these little ones inside these days anyway (not that we want to). Our inside time consisted of preparing a yummy snack of fruit and seed bars, a brief circle time with one of my favorite rhymes (below) and one of my favorite books, The Story of the Root Children.  

This rhyme is fun for the children to act out, starting as seeds tucked into bed and "sprouting" at the end.

"Sweet baby seed so small and round
Time to rest deep underground.
Under the earth you safely hide,
Stay there now, don't peak outside.
I've dug a wee hole and I've put you to sleep,
but soon your leaves will come up and your roots will grow deep!"

Then it was outside to play and plant. Soil was mixed, pots were filled, seeds planted.

I brought out some of the sunflower heads Melissa stashed in the greenhouse last fall and the children picked out the seeds. Oh, and this was after that moment when I was searching the box of seed packets for sunflower seeds until realization struck that we had all the sunflower seeds we could ever need just a few feet away, still on the last years heads... Winter does leave us a little hazy sometimes.  

And when you get tired of planting seeds, there's always pot stacking...

After a beautiful time outside we came back in to eat the snack we prepared together earlier and have our closing circle.  

Spring, I welcome you, whenever you come, in all your layered, trickster ways.