Quilting life

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly - 12/1/2010


You can’t go home again, but I was able to get back to my native Iowa over the holidays. And I wasn’t able to escape Texas. There, on the living room wall of my mother’s home, hung a small quilt she had made using quilt blocks from Kerrville.

This story began a few years back when Kerrville resident Lois Charter was a show where I mentioned that my mother made quilts for all of her nine children. Lois was a quilter herself, as well as a native of Iowa. She corresponded with my mother a few times, and when Mom came to visit, we were invited to spend some time at Lois’s home.

Sometime after that, Lois sent me 1000 one-square-inch quilt blocks she had accumulated, with instructions to pass them along to my mother. I did so, and did not think much more about it (I have many hobbies - quilting is not one of them).

So it was a special joy to walk into the farmhouse and see those 1000 quilt blocks transformed from piles in a shoebox into a one-of-a-kind wall hanging.

I cannot imagine the patience and skill required to work on such a project. My mom has been doing it since 1958, when she got her first Singer sewing machine. While modern moms learn by taking classes, Mom learned by watching her grandmother. She sews pieces together with the sewing machine, then hand stitches them to the batting and backing.

She has no idea how many quilts she has constructed. She made at least one for each of her nine children (“some have more than one”), plus lots of baby quilts for her 25 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren.

I tried to interview her, but she didn’t have much to say. In her life, quilting and sewing are simply what you did. Along with making clothes, canning vegetables, and baking bread - which she still does.

She can’t even say how long it takes to make a quilt, but acknowledged that one of the more elaborate creations took a year. Of course that is in between regular chores of running a home. Her work became more efficient when the last of the children left home, as she could use one of the bedrooms as a quilting room, complete with quilt frame to keep the working pieces organized.

Like quilters everywhere, Mom uses whatever material comes her way, from old jeans and flannel shirts to pieces of polyester to the thousand quilt blocks from Texas.

Mom’s quilts are elaborate. Mine features the Texas star. My brother’s quilt has the actual notes of “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” quilted around the edge.

“I look at that now and think, wow, I really did a good job!” she told me.

Why do you do it, Mom?

“I like to create things,” she said, adding, “and the kids love them.”

xxx

Don't be a Maxine

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly 12/9/2009

“Exactly when was it, Mom, that you become so afraid to try new things?”

That was the blunt but loving query I asked my 80-something mother, Maxine, during a recent, infrequent, phone conversation. I was chiding her for not getting on her computer and learning how to use a basic email or a Facebook account.

You see, my mom used to be an intrepid explorer. As a young girl, she was the oldest of five sisters living on a farm in Iowa. She left the farm in her teens to study business in the state capital, married a sailor, and raised nine kids. She chased down wild horses, cooked and canned, and tended a huge truck garden.

Her reply? “If I do get on email, will you talk to me more often?”

“Every day,” I said honestly. I am still waiting for her to do it.

But other seniors are not waiting. They quickly discover that computers are easy to use, and once on, they can not only correspond with their children, but they can see pictures and videos of their grandchildren, look up old classmates and war buddies, and make new friends who share their interests and hobbies around the world.

It is understandable that computers intimidate some from a generation that was born before airplanes, television, and indoor plumbing existed. If you are one of those who just don’t feel comfortable trying a computer, don’t worry. We have courses and instructors designed just for you. For 20 years we have offered Computers for Beginners, and trained hundreds of people of all ages and backgrounds how to join the computer revolution. That course literally starts with learning how to turn on the machine and how to move the mouse. By the end of the course, students are playing games, writing letters, and emailing friends.

From there, the options are up to each student. Many go on to learn more about email, how to fix old photographs, how to use digital cameras, how to make greeting cards and signs, and how to use word processors and spreadsheets.

How about shopping online? It sure beats getting out in the crowds and traffic, and is completely safe. And shopping online doesn’t mean you bypass the local economy. There is probably not any local store that doesn’t have a web site you can use.

I like to listen to classic radio programs, with my favorite the George Burns & Gracie Allen Show. In the 1940s, advertisers mounted a mock campaign to increase safety in the home. They titled it “Don’t be a Gracie,” referring to Gracie being prone to accidents.

With all apologies to my mother, I plead with you non-computer users “Don’t be a Maxine.” If you are hesitant to use new technology, come in and sign up for a class. We promise to be gentle. And if you have someone in your life who shares my mother’s distrust of computers, urge them to try something new by getting them a gift certificate for a Club Ed class.

Who knows? The first person they email, might be you.

xxx

For a last minute gift, how about a gift certificate for a class in Club Ed? One lady gave her 70-year-old mother a certificate for sky diving! For information, call 830-895-4386 before Dec 18.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.