Uncle Bill did embroidery on old flour sacks...

Fourth day of residency at The Old Sale Rooms and once again, lots of visitors with amazing anecdotes and stories to tell, relating to and spinning out from, the theme of textiles. Some are brief, some are more descriptive, but each sparks an image and ignites a colourful flame to brighten this grey January day.

Two cousins recalling and summoning to life again, the handiwork of relatives long gone:-

Anne: "My Uncle Bill did embroidery on old flour sacks."
Wendy: "Uncle Tom did samplers in the Navy - ships and anchors."

Yesterday I photographed the rug braiding tools that were manufactured in Maine, New England. Today I met Natalie who recalls spending time with her sister who lived in Maine. It was there that she learnt the craft of rug braiding which all the women did.  Her sister used to examine her rugs for gaps between the braiding, saying:
"you're not a good rug maker if you can shoot peas through it!"

 Natalie recalled tapping the maple for sap:
"If the sun was out, the sap would rise quickly and the bucket would have overflowed if you didn't collect it by midday."

She recalled maple sap being reduced in big pans to make fudge and another delicacy: maple syrup poured into the snow where it hardened and could be then eaten like sweets.

Talking of making do and mending, Natalie recommended looking at the quilts of The Gee's Bend Quilters: here is a link to a wonderful documentary. Not sure if it will lead to it by just clicking, but well worth copying and pasting if that's what you have to do to view!

 http://vimeo.com/50454661

Tricia who does rushwork was interested in the possibility of maybe combining techniques of rug braiding with rushwork. Tricia told us about going to pick the rushes at Isle Abbotts:

"The first time I  went it was a very wet summer and I capsized my boat"

The next time Tricia went prepared, and joined:

" a wonderful gang of ladies in wetsuits who plunged into the water singing 'green grow the rushes o!' "

Oh I almost forgot. The rug, here it is. Less rugging, more talking again!