My cousins and I got together this past weekend to sort through the numerous pictures and handmade lace that we found while cleaning my grandmother’s house.  The house will be demolished soon, so we spent three days recently going through it to see what could be salvaged.  What to do with all the treasures?  The solution – a family reunion.  We decided to get together last Saturday.

The day was  perfect-  from the weather to the great food and sharing  of memories.   It had been humid most of last week.  On Saturday, the weather cooled down to the high 70′s, low humidity, with a slight breeze to make what I think is just a perfect summer day.  Every one bought dishes to pass.

What an array of salads, each one better tasting than the last.  Such fun!

We looked through family pictures and so much other memorabilia.  The highlight of the day was a baby book belonging to my cousin.  Her mother had died when my cousin was 13 months old.  She and her father lived with my grandmother for most of her childhood.  She had never seen the book.  Most of the entries had been filled in by her mother.  We all enjoyed looking at it with her.

We also found a purple heart fr0m World War II that belonged to my uncle who was killed in a tank explosion.  In addition there were things like school report cards and letters from Italy and her sons during the war.

The ‘broomsticks and old lace’ is really ‘a rolling pin and old lace’.  I remember helping my grandmother  roll out the pasta with this rolling pin. It was the one item I really wanted.

She would also crochet by the hour.  At the reunion, we were able to sort through and share many of the pieces she had made.

One of my cousins chose a lace tablecloth that my grandmother had made.  Unfortunately it needs some repair, so I’m on a mission to find someone to fix it. I’ve washed it with quilt soap and laid it on a sheet on my lawn to dry.  I think it is beautiful.

I also chose a large strip of lace that must have been made for a bed-sheet.  Not sure how I can incorporate it into a quilt, but I’ll do some research – You never know what I am going to come up with.

A beautiful day to share memories with family!

There's always time to quilt!

Last month some of my cousins and I helped to clean the home of our 90 year old aunt who recently went to live at an assisted living facility.  It is a job that brought back many happy memories for all of us.

The home belonged to my paternal grandparents.  My parents and I lived in the apartment above the main house until I was 13-years old. It was a middle-class blue color neighborhood; one where you could feel safe playing outside until dark.  Unfortunately it has fallen to the urban blight that is so common nowadays.

There was an acre of land that was home to fruit trees, a grape arbor, berry bushes and vegetable  gardens.  The land sustained my grandparents and 10 children through the depression.

Growing up with Italian grandparents, I remember aunts, uncles and cousins congregating at the house on Thursday evenings and Sundays for generous servings of homemade pasta, meatballs, sausage and freshly baked bread.  I was an only child for 11 years, but I saw my cousins so often that they were more like brothers and sisters than cousins.

One of our favorite places together  was the front porch. I couldn’t resist taking one more picture of ‘the cousins’ and our uncle on the front porch.

The house is slated for demolition  soon.

We have found many family pictures and hand crocheted lace made by my grandmother.  What an excuse for a family get-together!  The cousins will gather at my house this weekend to go through the ‘bounty’ we were able to salvage and share memories.  Everyone is bringing a dish to pass and we’ll have Italian sausage and meatball sandwiches.

There's always time to quilt!