A Pattern and a Memory

I was browsing Ebay last night. I usually tap the search button for vintage patterns. No, I don’t need anymore, but like Forrest Gump would say, “you never know what you’re gonna (find) get.” I’ve been good—no ebay purchases for several months now.


Anyhow, this popped up. What memories.

My mother’s Mom, known as Maw Maw to all of her 13 grands plus 4 great grands before she passed away about 25 years ago, wore bonnets. She wore them most anytime she was outside. She tended the chickens, she wore a bonnet; she worked in the vegetable garden, she wore a bonnet; she tended her flowers, she wore a bonnet—so you get the idea.

I remember the hall tree where Pa (grandfather) hung his hat everyday when he came in the house and where he picked it up on his way out the door each day. That’s where Maw Maw hung her bonnets. Yes, she had several. I don’t remember seeing her sew a bonnet at her treadle machine, but in all likelihood she made some, if not all of them. Many of them had been feedsacks in another life, I’m sure.

I can still see her donning her bonnet bending over to check for a ripe tomato.

Also vivid in my mind is a photo (it’s probably around here in a box that I brought from Mom’s house) of Maw Maw and her 6 sisters. It was probably a holiday or reunion of sorts when all the girls were together. The seven of them all had on bonnets in the photo. It was black and white 5x7 as I recall. Three were sitting, and other four were standing behind the chairs. Wow, that has really stuck in my mind.

Maw Maw lived to be 97. Her family came to Texas from Tennessee in a covered wagon, and we all loved to hear her stories. She had seen lots and survived lots and was a strong, strong woman. If I can keep going as long as she did, I hope to be half as strong!

Do any patterns ever trigger specific memories with you?