Grandma's Kitchen, block #13: Sunday Dinner

I had to put Pat Sloan's Grandma's Kitchen on hold for a few days while I finished my Texas Strong quilts for Quilts of Compassion. Now that they are done and delivered, I set to work on block #13, Sunday Dinner.

A few weeks ago I made a list of all the things that came to mind when I thought of my Gramma. I know that some weeks, it may be a stretch to make Pat's theme fit with an item on my list. Pat made it really easy this week. I don't know how often fish made the dinner menu on Sundays, but it made the menu on a lot of days.

The fish fabric I had in my stash didn't work with this pattern because the fish were too big. But I found the perfect print in the River Journey collection by Holly Taylor for Moda. I bought mine from Quilts & Fabric on Etsy.

Gramma was an avid fisher. She spent most of her life in Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes. Even her tiny town of Blackduck (population 600) had a lake. Every year, Gramma and group of her ladies got together to fish on the opener.

When I was going through pictures at Gramma's house the last time I was there, I found this picture of her, which looks like it should be a postcard of Northern Minnesota in the 50s.

Even when she lived in Arizona, she would still come up to Minnesota and Wisconsin to fish with family.

Edited to add: One of my favorite parts of this process is texting the link to this blog to my mom and aunties (because auntie Ann isn't on Facebook, ahem!). I love hearing their stories and suggestions and memories. So now I have more fishing photos to add!

The sign says, "Spearing Prohibited." Pretty gutsy behavior for the wife of the game warden!

I was also reminded of this print that hung in the basement of their Minnesota house by the pool table. It made the trip to Arizona, too. I wonder where it is now.

As the daughter of her mother and game warden father, my mom has also spent many hours fishing. In fact, at one point, she held the Minnesota record for the largest sheephead. It was more than 26 pounds!

My Grampa Leo even wrote a story about it the book, Classic Minnesota Fishing Stories.

Much to my family's chagrin, I did not inherit a love of fishing. Or fish. Or any seafood for that matter. When my family would take me fishing, I was more content to read a book while the others fished. I did like ice fishing though. Our lines were set up in the corner of our fish house and in the center we had all the accouterments of home: table, chairs, TV, radio, games. Mom reminded me that had a little heater, too, and sometimes had to open the door to avoid melting the ice! We spent many Sundays watching the Vikings, playing Scrabble, and jumping up when our lines started rattling. One year, an unexpected thaw caused our ice house to sink, and thus concluded the ice fishing season of my life.

I have moved my Grandma's Kitchen blocks from the design wall in my craft room to the large wall in our laundry room. We are more than half way through! Seeing the blocks made me realize that I need to redo two blocks, so this picture is missing the Half a Modern and Kitchen Window blocks.

Previous blocks:

#1: The Kitchen Table

#2: Sticky Buns

#3: Key Holder
#4: Half A Modern
#5: Glasses & Cups
#6: Wash Day
#7: Oh My Stars
#8: Grandma's Apron
#9: Kitchen Window
#10: Recipe Box
#11: Peppermint Swirls
#12: Kitchen Door
#14: Salt & Pepper Shakers
#15: Games Shows & Soaps
#16: Small Change
#17: Pantry Goods
#18: The Fridge
#19: Mending Basket
#20: Lovely Dishes
#21: Telephone Time
#22: Pick a Posey
#23: That One Thing
#24: Grandma's Purse
#25: Famous Cookies

If you'd like to see what I'm currently working on, follow me on Instagram at de Jong Dream House.

Linked to:
Pat Sloan (Click here to see more Sunday Dinner blocks)
BOMS Away @ What a Hoot Quilts
Design Wall Monday @ Small Quilts & Doll Quilts
Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts

Linky Party @ Tweety Loves Quilting

Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River

Main Crush Monday #90 @ Cooking up Quilts

Monday Making @ Love Laugh Quilt
Moving It Forward @ Em's Scrapbag
Needle & Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation
Off the Wall Friday @ Nina Marie
Oh Scrap! @ Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Show Off Saturday @ Sew Can She
Wait Loss Wednesday @ the Inquiring Quilter
Whoop Whoop Friday @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

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