A Downton Abbey High Tea Party - With Quilts!

photo by Theresa Nielson

The Clawson Quilting Sisters include some die-hard Downton Abbey fans. In celebration of the Downton Abbey movie release, they held a high tea at the community center.

Members contributed a block to make the teapot quilt below and they had a chance to win the quilt.

Note the real tea bag labels on some blocks!

Lucy Lesperance organized the quilt making and set the blocks together. Barb Lusk donated her skills and time to machine quilt it. When Esther's name was drawn she broke down in tears of gratitude and told me she felt blessed.

Esther with the Teapot quilt the group made

We shared tea-related quilt projects for show and tell. The quilt below used the Downton Abbey fabric line created some years ago.

Below is my mini quilt, "Tea, Earl Gray, Hot" inspired by Jean Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The ladies did an amazing job decorating the tables! Flower petals and sprays of ferns were the centerpieces. We had cloth napkins and name placards.

 Members contributed teapots. Everyone brought their own teacup and saucer.

photo by Theresa Nielson

The finger sandwiches and desserts were amazing! The display could have graced any article in a glossy magazine story.

photo by Theresa Nielson

Many of the ladies dressed for the occasion.

We had displays of teapots and teacups and tea sets and more!

I wish I knew the stories behind all of these beauties. Below is Barb Lusk's grandmother's teapot with hand-painted gold trim. The green Depression Glass, circa 1920, sugar and creamer were collected by my mother.

The creativity and attention to detail by the team of ladies who organized the event was on full display. 

My husband and I saw the Downton Abbey movie and it was jolly good fun!

Family Record by Patrick Modiano

My childhood was impacted by a move to another state, leaving behind my family, friends, and school. I was not the same child afterward. I did not live in the present for a long time. Memories of the past were held dear; I was awash in nostalgia and longing to restore what I had lost consumed me.

My grandfather wrote about his childhood in the early 1900s and I inherited his family genealogy records. Decades later I became a genealogy researcher. My father wrote his memoirs of growing up in the Depression and WWII years and running a business in the 1950s. Perhaps it was already in my blood to look back and record life. A few years back I wrote about my life on my blog, dipping into my diaries and scrapbooks to rediscover what I had forgotten.

Or misremembered. Somehow, our memories are not truly all fact, there is an element of fiction, rewriting, that happens in our brains. We naturally turn our experience into a novel, a story with meaning, a vehicle used to demonstrate the truth as we would have it.

"Memory itself is corroded by acid, and of all those cries of suffering and horrified faces from the past, only echoes remain, growing fainter and fainter vague outlines." ~from Family Record by Patrick Modiano

French Literature is my weak spot and I had not heard of Pulitzer Prizer winner Patrick Modiano. The cover and book title, Family Record, caught my eye and the blurb cinched my interest in requesting the galley.

Modiano shares his family and personal history through what are essentially short stories, glimpses that skip across time, weaving together a thoughtful consideration of experience.

He tells about returning to the places of his childhood and youth and encountering people who knew his family. He records meetings with strangers with mysterious pasts. And of the beautiful woman who pretended to be the daughter of a once-famous entertainer and who asked him to write his biography, setting Modiano on a career path.

He recreates the romantic meeting of his parents in occupied Paris and recalls the uncle who longed to live in the country in an old mill. He tells the story of losing himself to the present in Switzerland at twenty years old and seeing the man who collaborated with the Nazis to deport thousands from France, deciding to confront him.

"...And in Paris, the survivors of the camps waited in striped pajamas, beneath the chandeliers of the Hotel Lutetia. I remember all of it."~ from Family Record by Patrick Modiano

He begins with the birth of his daughter and the rush to obtain her birth registration and he ends with his daughter in his arms, a being yet without memory.

It is a lovely read, quiet and thoughtful.

The publisher granted me access to a free egalley through NetGalley in exchange for my fair and unbiased review.

from the publisher:
An enthralling reflection on the ways that family history influences identity, from the 2014 Nobel laureate for literature

A mix of autobiography and lucid invention, this highly personal work offers a deeply affecting exploration of the meaning of identity and pedigree. With his signature blend of candor, mystery, and bewitching elusiveness, Patrick Modiano weaves together a series of interlocking stories from his family history: his parents’ courtship in occupied Paris; a sinister hunting trip with his father; a chance friendship with the deposed King Farouk; a wistful affair with the daughter of a nightclub singer; and the author’s life as a new parent.

Modiano’s riveting vignettes, filled with a coterie of dubious characters—Nazi informants, collaborationist refugees, and black-market hustlers—capture the drama that consumed Paris during World War II and its aftermath. Written in tones ranging from tender nostalgia to the blunt cruelty of youth, this is a personal and revealing book that brings the enduring significance of a complicated past to life.

Internationally renowned author Patrick Modiano has been awarded, among many other distinctions, the 2014 Nobel Prize for Literature. He lives in Paris. Mark Polizzotti is the translator of more than fifty books from the French, including nine by Modiano.

Family Record
by Patrick Modiano
Yale University Press
Pub Date 24 Sep 2019
ISBN 9780300238310
PRICE $16.00 (USD)

Poems for the Very Young: Autumn

Today I am sharing Autumn poetry from Poems for the Very Young Child compiled by Dolores Knippel and illustrated by Mary Ellsworth, Whitman Publishing Co, 1932

See Spring poems from this volume at
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2019/04/poems-for-very-young-child-poems-for.html
See Summer poems at
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2019/06/poems-for-very-young-child-summer.html

Four Memoirs: Race, Family, Divorce, and All Things Greek

This September I read four memoirs!

Advanced Reading Copies of Motherhood So White by Nefertiti Austin were provided to my library book club by the Book Club Cookbook through their Galley Match. Along with receiving copies of the book for all our regular book club members we also had a Skype visit with the author!

The Wednesday Afternoon Book Club

Skyping with Nefertiti Austin

Austin's experience as a single black woman adopting an African American boy inspired her to write her memoir. She discovered a dearth of books that spoke to her personal situation, as if motherhood and adoption were white-only experiences. Austin addresses issues of systemic racism and stereotypes, the demands of California's adoption system, and the work and joy of raising a child as a single parent.

The book club has immensely enjoyed talking to the authors of our book selections, both because the writers become 'real' and so we can ask questions. We learned that Austin's editor said her first draft was too impersonal, her second draft too revealing! That makes three drafts on the road to publication! Also that she changed names to protect people's privacy.

Overall, our readers felt the book was educational and thought-provoking and thought Austin was delightful. Several readers 'loved' the book, one did not care for it. Several people also gained insight into the African American worldview and experience that was new to them.

Find a reading group guide at 

https://readinggroupchoices.com/books/motherhood-so-white/

Motherhood So White

by Nefertiti Austin

Sourcebooks 

September 2019

ISBN: 9781492679011

$25.99 hardcover

After hearing a lot about Redlined by Linda Gartz, I purchased it on Kindle. Gartz offers a vivid and compelling family history against the backdrop of their changing Chicago neighborhood. She keeps a balanced understanding of the legacy of 'redlining'--the enforcing of physical racial boundaries--and its impact on her white family and the African American community. The bulk of the story involves her parents' relationship, with insights gleaned from their letters and diaries. Their determination to stay in their changing neighborhood as dedicated landlords was both their strength and their downfall. I found it an enjoyable memoir.

View the trailer at
https://youtu.be/jmAnBPYrl6g

Redlined: A Memoir of Race, Change, and Fractured Community in 1960s Chicago
by Linda Gartz
She Writes Press
April 3, 2018
ISBN-10: 1631523201
ISBN-13: 978-1631523205
$8.69 ebook, $11.52 paperback

Greek To Me by Mary Norris was a find at the Barnes and Noble #Blowout sale. I loved Norris's blend of humor, travelogue, and memoir about her love affair with the Greek language, country, and literary history. The descriptive writing about Greece is beautiful--I feel like I have experienced it with her. It was a joy to read. I laughed, I was educated, and I was entertained.

Greek to Me
by Mary Norris
Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date: 04/02/2019
ISBN-13: 9781324001270

Two Minus One by Kathryn Taylor tells the story of the unexpected unraveling of her second marriage. Just over 150 pages, it is a quick and easy read. The tone felt even and subjective as Taylor describes her long friendship with the married man who unexpectedly announced his love, leading to courtship and marriage. He professed his devotion...until he came home one day and told her it was over. Having given up her job, home, and friends to support her husband's career, Taylor had to deal with grief and recovery at age 60. The memoir will be an inspiration to women who are grieving over a failed relationship. I read a Kindle version of this book.

Two Minus One
by Kathryn Taylor
She Writes Press
November 6, 2018
ISBN-10: 1631524542
ISBN-13: 978-1631524547

Helen Korngold Diary: September 15-21, 1919

Helen Korngold, Dec. 1919, New York City

Helen's first teaching position at Wellston with 7th Grade did not go well and she asked the principal to find a new teacher. Now Helen is bored again. Just housework to do, like in late summer.

September
Monday 15
I was bored all day.

Tuesday 16
Work just all day.

Wednesday 17
Housework is hard.

Thursday 18
Seems funny to be home.

Friday 19
But I like it better than Wellston.

Saturday 20
Fool around.

Sunday 21
Read – Theater party

NOTES:

Sept. 21

The newspapers note 'theater parties' in conjunction with many celebrations. I wonder what show Helen saw. Tillie, the Mennonite Maid, set in Pennsylvania?

Or perhaps Scandal, about a girl's 'madcap' adventures?

Sept. 21, 1919 ad from St. Louis Post-Dispatch shows the influence of Japanese style.

Fall suits and coats.

Quilts, TBR, and News

I finished the September block of Hospital Sketches, the block of the month run by Barbara Brackman on her Civil War Quilts blog.

There is only one block left to go, and then I need to determine my borders for the quilt.

I was thrilled when Barbara Brackman listed me as a blogger she follows in her blog Material Culture this week! Find the post here. Barbara is a quilt historian and has published many books including the essential encyclopedias of pieced and appliqued quilt blocks and runs numerous blogs including Women's Work , Chintz Panels in Quilts, and Clouds of Quilt Patterns.

I received two books in the mail.

Polite Society by Mahesh Rao was a giveaway win from the First Look Book Club. It is a modern interpretation of Jane Austen's Emma set in India. It is shown against my Austen Family Album quilt, one of Brackman's past block of the month series. Sign up for the First Look Book Club and every week you can read excerpts from some of the best new books being published and enter giveaways!

From the Book Club Cook Book came The Women of Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell, which I reviewed here. Today my library book club will discuss an ARC we received from the Book Club Cook Book--look for my review on Sunday.

My TBR galley list is getting thin! Well, for me it's thin. I have surgery scheduled in a month and am preparing to give myself a break reading on my schedule!  

I am currently reading NetGalley books:

The Book of Science and Antiquities by Thomas Keneally

Blow Out by Rachel Maddow

We Are the Weather by Jonathan Foer Safran

And a LibraryThing win,

Archeology from Space by Sarah Patak

and a B&N #Blowout sale buy,

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim 

New to my TBR galley shelf are two Patchwork Place books from Edelweiss:

Autumn Boquet by Sharon Keightley

Lynette's Best-Loved Stitcheries by Lynette Anderson

Yet to read from NetGalley are books coming out in November and beyond:

We Are the Weather by Jonathan Safran Foer

Broke: Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Promises by Jodie Adams Kirshner, which is about Detroit

Inventing Tomorrow by Sarah Cole, about H. G. Wells

Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition by Buddy Levy

Lady Clemintine by Marie Benedict, whose book The Only Women in the Room I read

A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler, a novel that has a lot of buzz

Big Lies in a Small Town by Dianne Chamberlain, an author my husband likes

I won Conversations with RBG from LibraryThing, still to arrive.

A meme was going around social media showing the use of food as bookmarks, of course destroying the books. I have a huge collection of bookmarks, and my husband uses his AMTRACK ticket stubs from his commute 30 years ago.

We are giving apples away right and left! I made a big batch of these Apple Crumb Bars--twice! And my husband has made apple sauce and I made apple butter. And also tried my hand at peach jam; it's been years since I 'put up' jams.

And just because she's so cute, here is our grandpuppy who we puppysit now and then! Ellie is a Shiba Inu rescue from Safe Harbor Animal Rescue in Vermillion, OH.

Kopp Sisters On the March by Amy Stewart

As a 2019 member of the Kopp Sisters Literary Society, I received an advanced copy of the fifth Kopp Sisters novel by Amy Stewart, Kopp Sisters on the March.

It came with lots of swag!

Stewart was unable to discover stories about the Kopp sisters during 1917 and 1918 so she let her imagination fill in the blanks. She decided to intertwine the National Service Schools into their story. She also brought in Beulah Binford, a notorious figure who had crossed paths with vaudeville manager Freeman Bernstein, who appears in Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions.

Stewart realized the storylines were all about reinvention. Constance has lost her position as deputy and jail matron. Norma desperately wants to insert pigeons into WWI war communications. The women who join the National Service Schools hoped to find a life with purpose and meaning. And Beulah wanted to put her sordid past behind her.

This book in the series felt different than the previous ones because Constance's story is not really the one that grabs readers attention, but Beulah's. Constance is continuing to learn her strengths and at the end of the book has determined to present herself for a war-time position. But it is Beulah's slowly revealed back story that impels readers.

Beulah Binford

Once again, Stewart uses historical fiction to present women's ongoing concerns: double standards, child sexual abuse, substance abuse, poverty, abandonment, motherhood, the vilification of female sexuality.

These women prove they have the strength, will, intelligence, and self-belief to achieve their dreams.

I can't wait for book six, which will take place during WWI!

I received a free ARC in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Learn more about the National Service Schools
https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/satin-khaki-women-join-military-preparedness-movement-1916

Read my review of the first Constance Kopp book, Girl Waits With Gun
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2019/03/girl-waits-with-gun-by-amy-stewart.html
Read my reviews of the second, third, and fourth Miss Kopp books
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2019/05/catching-up-with-miss-kopp.html

Kopp Sisters on the March
by Amy Steward
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Hardcover: $26.00; ebook $14.99
ISBN-13/EAN: 9781328736529
ISBN-10: 1328736520
Publication Date: 09/17/2019