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I'm reading a quilt picture book called "A Treasury of Mennonite Quilts". It has pictures of the quilts and the stories of the women that made them. There's a sweet little story of one grandaughter (the 19th) who got a quilt from her gramma and saved it for her wedding. After she was married she saved it for Sundays only... she put it on the spare bed when they had company for dinner. Having no coat closet, she would direct everyone to that room to lay the coats and hats there....and everyone could admire the quilt.

oh so sweet. I miss Sundays dinners and coat closets...spare bedrooms...

Remember company coats all over the bed?

Such excitement in the air...people dressed up...usually a party with good food and happy people. Really fun times! Good memories.

Do you remember keeping track of visitations and Mom knowing it was her turn to put on hat and gloves to visit the Yorks or Davis family? Mom even wore hat and gloves to tge grocery store but we could only go on double-stamp day. Remember the cigarette canisters in the aisles of the store? After all, the doctor in the ads told us smoking reduced stress.

I keep a quilt on my front bedroom and rotate it to show off what I've made. Not sentimental but egotistical. LOL I did decide when I retired that I didn't want to lose touch with friends from work. There were 12 of us that retired within two years. I decided 6 was an ideal number for my table and for talking. So I split them into two groups and every other Friday they come over for lunch and to play games. It's not dress up time and spouses aren't invited. It's one of the best decisions I made when I retired. I've known them from 25-42 years. I spent more time with them than I did with my DH! LOL

Want a tea party with gloves and hat? Send out tge invitations. The younger crowd is doing it. I got a lovely tea cup and saucer as a favor at a tea party a younger friend hosted. A hoot!

We didn't do the hat and gloves, but we had to change clothes to go to town. No jeans, but had to wear skirts/dress to town or school. Pants to school only under the skirt in the winter.

This has nothing to do with quilts or Sundays or spare bedrooms but reading Evelyn's note reminded me of a conversation with DGS#1 today.

They just came back from a trip to Europs, first time. I asked Austin what his impression of Europe was and he said they dress up all the time. "Not casual like us Americans", I said. "No, Gramma, they dress up all the time!!!" Of all the things they saw, he was impressed by the clothes difference. Interesting.

And this thread kind of reminds me of those times here in America.

I went to a wedding shower once years ago where all the cups were at the serving place and the saucers were set on the tables in another room. All mismatched china cups. You found your place to sit by matching your cup to your saucer. it was so much fun!!!!

I remember having to wear pants (Colorado in the 50's) under my dresses. Felt so dumb. That and tights. My mom mumbled the whole time too. "Why can't the girls wear pants to keep their legs warm!!"

My spare room is my quilt stash room now. Would love to have a spare bed dedicated room...got too much stuff now! Way more than my mom ever did. I need to downsize!!!!!!!

Just this past week I was reminising with friends about this very subject! I am a child of the 60's, celebrated my 50th last November.
I grew up in a household with my sister and Mom and her Mother. I remember fondly there were several friends of my Granny's that we would go visit and spend evenings with. I'm not clear if these were co-workers or old schoolmates of my Granny's or what, but we always tagged along.
I don't think people/ families do this anymore.

This also brought up the subject of high school reunions. My one friend mentioned that her 25th is next week and very few classmates have made a commitment to come to the festivities. My thought was, years ago you went to these reunions to see and talk to those you lost contact with or seldom see or talk to. Well now with all this technology we have...we are never far from one another. We connect to everyone and find everyone via Facebook/Twitter/Email/Skype...seems like maybe the thrill of returning to a high school reunion maybe gone? No one is distant anymore.

Rondi

Well, if you don't have to go to a Reunion, you don't have to diet!!!

How timely! I'm not much for reunions, but went to my 40th HS reunion Sat pm. It was amazing- the cliques reformed Immediately, though they hadn't stayed in touch. We reminisced about how much colder it used to be, and peeling off our pants under our skirts at our lockers. Then there was the abusive principal with his "Board of Education", and countryside bus rides of over an hour. In the early 60's the Moms had "Kaffe Klatsch" and dressed up, serving finger sandwiches and sharing casserole recipes while the babies slept. Fathers worked 2 jobs and still managed to be Scout leaders, Little League coaches, and volunteer firemen. Frequent family get togethers meant a Huge pile of smelly tobacco stinking coats on the bed for jumping into. We were beyond dirt poor, but so was everyone else. Clothes were home made, and no fast food. By the late 60's most of the Moms went to work also, and the children did all the cooking and cleaning. Now in restaurants everyone is busy texting, tweeting, and on the cell with little real interaction at the table. Community involvement is almost nil, and the older generation is carrying the burden. Children have an amazing amount of information at their fingertips, but aren't equipped to handle some of it. Families are fractured and disconnected. At the HS reunion dinner I sat with 2 couples who met their partners on internet dating services. Not for me. Gosh- I AM old! The Good Old Days meant not enough food, preventable deaths, cars that literally fell apart, and killing your own dinner. Everyone knew your personal business. Well- that has now changed to everyone in the World knows your personal business!

I so remember the coats on the beds... wish people still got together like we used to did... Miss those times!

Oh fun, a nostalgia post!

Coats on beds....you were really lucky if one of the women came with fur, because that went on the bed separately & when nobody was looking (the party was in full swing), you could sneak in there & run your hands through the fur.

Grandma had an old mink stole that she gave me for dress-ups. It both fascinated me & creeped me out because the heads & feet were still attached! Very NOT P.C. these days, but that stole was probably from the 1940's, before PETA.

The coat I wish I still had was the one my mother wore when I was in elementary school. It was a medium green "heather" wool, almost a swing coat style (trapeze style?), with over-sized collar & cuffs. What I loved most about it were the BIG green wooden buttons down the front! They were the biggest buttons I'd ever seen. Every now & then I come across a vintage lot of buttons at a flea market, but none have ever had a button that big.

What is a "spare" bedroom? We have 5 br's for (now) 2 people & each room has its function. I don't have a "spare," but I sure could use one! I'd turn it into one big closet/dressing room for MOI. Like Oprah's closet, LOL!

My mother started a china tea cup collection when I was a kid. She'd get cups for Mother's Day or Christmas. Any good department store had them. Each cup had a different flower or design, and the patterns were often inside the cup, which I (looking with a child's mind) thought was neat. A lot of the cups were Aynsley, made in England. I always loved seeing them in the corner cupboard. I still have them, but they're tucked waaaaay back in a cupboard. I really should get them out again & use them! Oh, the days before you popped a tea mug in the microwave as you were still rubbing sleep from your eyes...

My mom wasa teacher and got china cups for presents. I continued with them for Mother's Day (my MIL too). My parents each had his/her favorite cups and used them for morning coffee... so a bunch of them didn't survive. They were all pretty ones, like the Anysleys. I used to decorate on ledges with them, until I discovered a bunch of them at an antique store listed for $85/each. I then gently put them up in the top shelf of my china cabinet and haven't used them since. GULP!!!!!

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This message has been edited. Last edited by: nancyc20,

Guess I should look up those teacups on eBay!

I had (past tense) a pristine doll's china tea set from when I was a child -- still in its box & everything. I didn't play with it much on purpose -- wanted to keep it like new. Then about 20 years ago, I thought maybe it would be nice to display it so I could finally enjoy it. I put it on a shelf with a doily & everything. One of our cats -- a kitten at the time -- thought he'd jump up & see it, too! Down came the doily with the tea set, and of course I wound up with broken pieces & a broken heart.

So I could just imagine my latest "bull kittens in a china shop" doing something similar with Mom's tea cups.....

Biscuit (the subject of my kitty quilt) took out a whole shelf of antique blue china. As I surveyed the blue fragments on the floor, I looked at and said,"Its a good thing I love you, Buster." And swept up the damage. When Taxi, my tuxedo took out the pink and white china on lace display, I replaced the area with books. When I discovered that Cider, my little dainty calico was shredding the good sofa under the cover and getting into china cabinets, I pretty much have said "what the h**l" and have plopped quilting projects there. Sigh. So now my house doesn't have the English china and lace cottage look I love... it (as a blunt friend put it) "looks like my whole house is my studio"

hmmmmmmmmmmm. Not getting rid of the cats, my loves, so trying to figure out what to do. atleast quilts on the wall are unbreakable, mostly not shreddable...si i i g g h h h
Well, at least she didn't call it a mess.

I stopped the sofa shredding by putting clear Contact paper on each corner. It's slippery, so no fun to scratch! And over the years, I'm so used to having it there that I don't even see it. I've told my friends many times that anything "odd-looking" like that in my house is always because of CATS. So don't ask questions!

I have one cat who can turn stove knobs, so we don't have any stove knobs on the stove unless I'm standing there cooking.

It's like having toddlers in the house, except toddlers who can jump high & stay up all night, doing stuff when you're not looking!