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Thursday, September 28, 2017

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:

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5 comments:

  1. Goofin' Off Around the BlockSeptember 28, 2017 at 10:23 PM

    How fun that you have all those pictures of your grandma fishing and the fish she'd caught. I'd say your newest block is a great representation.

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  2. PattySeptember 28, 2017 at 11:02 PM

    Very fun biography on your grandma. Looks like she had a passionate and wonderful time fishing! Great memories.

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  3. Home Sewn By UsOctober 3, 2017 at 11:29 AM

    Hi Jen,
    I love reading your history that accompany these blocks. The pictures are priceless and your block does a get job both your grandmother and mother (and aunts, too!). ~smile~ Roseanne

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jennifer Fulton Inquiring QuilterOctober 3, 2017 at 6:49 PM

    I so enjoy reading stories about your Grandma. I feel like I'm really getting to know her. Thanks for linking up to Wednesday Wait Loss.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AlidaPOctober 8, 2017 at 10:43 AM

    Beautiful block and beautiful story! This quilt is going to be so special!! Thanks for sharing!!

    ReplyDelete

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