“You need to write your memories down, Mom,” my daughter said.  “You’ve been researching family history, but you aren’t writing your memories down for us.”
(Perhaps I didn’t consider myself history!)  Actually, I didn’t think of my life and my memoris as that important until my daughter reminded me they would be lost if I didn’t record them in some way for her, her children and future generations.
I’ve enjoyed discovering facts and stories, letters and photos concerning my ancestors.  I’m pleased my parents wrote down some of their memores.  But I hadn’t thought much about doing mine.
So…I’ve begun to record and …read more

As we celebrate the Fourth of July, I think of other years…of my childhood and with my daughter and grandchildren.  Although most of us in this multi-generational household have work schedules (four of us work at a supermarket), we still have time to engage in patriotic activities.
There are fireworks in a neighboring town on Friday night.
A parade also is held there on Saturday morning.
We prepare special foods that have become a family tradition, including a barbeque. 
If the weather is good, we also may hold a yard sale this weekend.  Yard sales have become traditional over summer holiday weekends in our …read more

“I still remember sitting with her in her apartment…quilting while she told me her entire life history. I wish I had the sense to have had a tape recorder, but alas, I did not,”Susan Lazear says, as she relates her experience in a blog entry about restoring her grandmother’s quilt.
How many of us wish the same…that we’d recorded stories and memories of parents, grandparents and other relatives who are no longer here to tell us about our heritage?  Or we wish we’d at least jotted down some notes as they told stories.
These family stories are precious.  When we hear parents and …read more

One of my favorite activities consists of researching and writing about my family stories, along with developing scrapbooks that depict these tales.  In fact, I’ve been developing this into a business that brands me as a family writer.
You’ll find many ways to save your family memories in scrapbooks:

Simply a collection of pictures with names or captions
Adding journal notes and explanations to the pictures
Writing stories and using the photos and pictures to illustrate
Write a fiction story, or biography, illustrated with scrapbooking techniques, as I’ve been doing with the story of my Uncle William “Buffalo Bill” Mathewson of New York State …read more

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com
 In the United States, we’re celebrating Fourth of July, or Independence Day. There are parades, fireworks, community activities, and for many a weekend off from work.  You may be involved in a craft or quilting show since come towns often feature such events.
When I was growing up, we couldn’t take a day off from the dairy farm. However, we usually visited relatives for a holiday meal, a family reunion type of gathering, then returned home for the evening chores. Then as dusk descended, we watched fireworks from the “Big Hill,” a hay field on a hill top from which we …read more

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com 
  I’ve been checking out some of the Lifestyles Channel blogs participating in the Celebrating Valentine’s Day Round-up and discovered one that brought back memories.  MaryE at Baking Delights describes the Valentine’s Day cake she helped her mother decorate at age three.
This brought back Valentine’s Day memories and family traditions. My mom always baked a special cake on Valentine’s Day and let us children help decorate it. We had a Valentine box with cards for family members. One of us was selected to be the postman and distribute them after supper.
When our daughter was young we had a special meal and dessert.   …read more

   Quilters continue to respond to my posts about quilting, family times, and tea time rituals that bring back memories.  They also share stories of memories-in-progress as they gather with children for cooking, crafts, sewing and quilting, as I did with my grandmother and aunt.  We also created memories in my own home which span the generations. 
Why not start writing down these memories and memories-in-the making?  These are part of your family legacy and should be saved!
If there is interest, I’ll make this a regular feature, where I share quilting memories and tell you about research I’m doing as I develop my Trails End …read more

QuiltingandPatchwork.com
  When I reminisce about quilting with my grandmother at eight-years old, readers often write and share me their memories, too.  If you’re teaching your own children to sew, you’re creating memories and a family heritage for them.
My tea time post, Tea Breaks for Quilters, has brought back memories for other quilters and women who spent time with Grandma in their childhood.  Write these memories down so you can share them with your children, your neices and nephews, and other family members.  Otherwise they may be lost.
Share with us here at Quilting and Patchwork your quilting and tea time memories or …read more