My Legacies

A legacy is something that comes from someone in the past, according to Webster.  I certainly grew up with women in my past who had a love of sewing and they left that legacy to me.

This is a picture of my family.  Left to right, my grandmother (Ethel), my grandfather (Freddie holding my older sister, Sarah), Aunt Ruth, Aunt Polly, and my Mom (Martha).  All the women in this picture sewed.  My mom had a sewing machine that my grandmother gave to her when she got married.  My brother still has it.  My grandmother taught 4H.  I learned to make an apron from her at a young age.  My grandmother also quilted.  I have some of her blocks.  

But this post is about Aunt Ruth.  She was my mom's older sister.  I can only imagine these girls as young girls.  I know they were full of life.  Aunt Ruth was one of my mentors for hard work.  When we worked in the tobacco fields, Aunt Ruth was the stringer.  We handed three leaves of tobacco to Aunt Ruth and she would tie it to the tobacco stick with string.  You had to be on your toes to keep up with Aunt Ruth.  Aunt Ruth contracted hepatitis in 1974 and left us when she was far too young.  Her passing was a great loss to the whole family.  

Aunt Ruth's first great grandchild was born in December.  I can only imagine how excited she would be as I remember how excited she was when my son was born.  When I read about the birth of Jasper, I felt that I had to make a baby quilt for him in Aunt Ruth's honor.  I know that she would have made him one if she were still here.  So, here's Jasper's quilt...

It is by the Trip Around the World pattern from the book Tradition With a Twist.  I think about little Jasper embarking on his life with the world ahead of him.  I hope this small gesture comforts him in the early years of his life.  Congratulations to his parents, Richard and Ashley, and his grandparents, Dick and Deb.