Birthday, Buying Spree & News

For my birthday our son filled dad's jukebox with 45s that I had owned when I was a teen. The jukebox is in the basement and too heavy to remove so we are going to embrace it. Our son had read my blog post about The Music I Grew Up With as a guide to what records to buy.

My dad bought this 1970s Seeburg Firestar from a local biker bar

Our son also made me dinner and gave me a collection of loose teas. So far they are very good!

My brother gave me a gift certificate to Monk's Bread and I got this great box of bread, biscotti, and preserves. They are made by Trappist Monks in Genesee, NY.

We can add more records to the jukebox so on Sunday after visiting the Clawson farmer's market I ran down to the Royal Oak flea market where I found hundreds of 45 records to choose from! I came home with:
Chicago-Does Anyone Really Know What Time It s
Dionne Warwick-PIromises, Promises and also Say a Little Prayer
Frank & Nancy Sinatra-Something Stupid
Barry McGuire-Eve of Destruction.
Marvin Gaye -Mercy, Mercy and also Ain't no Mountain High Enough
Bob Dylan-Spanish is the Loving Tongue
The Association-Windy

And I picked up other treasures.

My husband always talked about Rootie Kazootie and the Pineapple Pies which he loved as a boy in the 1950s. He asked for a pineapple pie, and his mom made him one. For over forty years he has asked me to make a pineapple pie. I think I did--once--perhaps it is time to make another. After revisiting this book, I am sure he will be dreaming of them again.

I had not read Robert Pinksky so picked up this 2011 volume of his poetry. A quilting friend was a relative and had met him at family gatherings when she was young.

I added a few pieces to my huge sheet music collection. I couldn't resist My Wife's Gone to the Country Hurrah! Hurrah! with Irving Berlin as one of the writers.

And I picked up some old pops songs and this adorable cover of Polly Wolly Doodle, a song our infant son loved me to sing to him.

The farm market is filled with goodies this time of year. Wonderful local corn, green and wax beans, sweet peppers, and beets came home with us. Also peaches and nectarines and heirloom tomatoes.

My husband baked bread yesterday, his favorite oatmeal. I made bread with apples from our apple trees!

I placed my first order to Penzy's Spices, lured by the excellent freebies. I bought a four-jar set of spices to make salad dressings and also lemon pepper (without salt) that uses real lemon peel. I got free shallots and cinnamon sugar, and some sample bay leaves, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks were thrown in too!

I  entered a coloring contest for National Coloringbook Day sponsored by Dover Publications. I won these coloring books!

Last week I took this quilt to show and tell in my weekly group. Remembrance of Things Past was made for a quilt guild challenge at Capital City Quilt Guild in Lansing, Michigan many years ago. The center is appliqued with colored pencil details. The fabrics, image scans, and embellishments all have some memories or ambiance of memories.

Remembrance of Things Past by Nancy A. Bekofske

detail of Remembrance of Things Past by Nancy A. Bekofske

In the photo below you can see the patch for Lawrence Tech where my grandfather Lynne O. Ramer taught mathematics; my brother later graduated from Lawrence Tech. Also, the SSX-1 submarine patch from my uncle Dave Ramer who worked on the sub in the 1960s.

detail of Remembrance of Things Past by Nancy A. Bekofske

My uncle Dave Ramer

my grandmother Evelyn Greenwood Ramer on the SSX-1

my grandfather Lynne O. Ramer on the SSX-1

I have pinback buttons on the quilt including Give Earth a Chance from the first Earth Day and an ERA button; also a scanned photo of our dog Kili (photo above) and a childhood hair ribbon, a mushroom pin I gave Mom. Note the scanned photo of Niagara Falls.

I am working on many projects, as usual: hand quilting my Peter Pan Story Book quilt, finishing my challenge quilt, and working on making hexies.

 It is hard to believe that September is quickly coming! Where did the summer go?

A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash

After reading Wiley Cash's fantastic historical fiction novel The Last Ballad I bought A Land More Kind Than Home. I sped through this Southern Gothic novel, its dark and unsettling sense of dread drawing my interest. The details of place and culture are outside my scope of experience, but the insights into human nature are universal.

A con-man turned preacher takes over a church. Hidden from view by newspapers taped over the windows, worship involves faith healing, poison, fire, and snakes. Also hidden from view is the pastor's abuse of power over his parishioners and their blind trust that allows him full rein.

"It was like Mama was lost in the desert and had gotten so thirsty that she was willing to see anything that might make her feel better about being lost." from A Land More Kind Than Home

One woman dares stand up to the pastor and demands the children stay out of worship. She teaches them in Sunday School in her home. It is her way of protecting them. She knows first hand that the pastor is a dangerous false prophet and has singled her out as his enemy.

"People out in these parts can take hold of religion like it's a drug, and they don't want to give it up once they've got hold of it." from A Land More Kind Than Home

Most affecting in the novel are the stories of the children. They see things that are hidden and confusing, and ultimately are targeted by the pastor.

When a child dies during worship an investigation ensues; the action rises to propel the reader to the conclusion, in which a form of justice dealt out, after which the community begins to heal.

"It's a good thing to see that people can heal after they've been broken, that they can change and become something different from what they were before. Churches are like that. The living church is made of people, and it can grow sick and break just like people can, and sometimes churches can die just like people died...A church can be healed, and it can be saved like people can be saved." from A Land More Kind Than Home

Cash was inspired by a true story. 

Getting Personal

A pastor can have so much power because of his position, and abuse of that power can become easy. Pastors are lionized, congregants sometimes flocking around like groupies. They are allowed into the homes and souls of their congregants. When my husband was in active ministry, the denomination required education in boundaries and sexual abuse. A pastor once asked if that meant that clergy could not ever date a parishioner; basically, the answer was sure, if you intend to marry them. We knew several pastors who did marry parishioners. And we heard of pastors who had sexual relationships that were illicit. Some, not all, lost their ordination.

The title is from Thomas Wolfe's You Can't Go Home Again:

"Something has spoken to me in the night, burning the tapers of the waning year; something has spoken in the night, and told me I shall die, I know not where. Saying: “To lose the earth you know, for greater knowing; to lose the life you have for greater life; to leave the friends you loved, for greater loving; to find a land more kind than home, more large than earth.Whereon the pillars of this earth are founded, toward which the conscience of the world is tending-a wind is rising, and the rivers flow.”

The Turned-Intos by Elizabeth Gordon

The Turned-Intos: Jane Elizabeth discovers the Garden Folk by Elizabeth Gordon was first published in 1920 by P. F. Volland in Great Britain. I have an American copy printed by Wise Book Company in 1935. The book is illustrated by Janet Laura Scott.

The book is dedicated to "children who love to work in gardens and who enjoy the big out-of-doors and the little friends who live there."

The Garden Folk mentioned are butterflies and insects, frogs and spiders, bees and hornets.

 Most of the full-page illustrations feature Jane Elizabeth in gardens.

  A few show Jane Elizabeth with her family or at home.

The cricket on the hearth harkens back to the Christmas story by Charles Dickens!

 Jane Elizabeth discovers a ladybug, below, while her cat looks on.

Jane Elizabeth stitching in the garden with her dollies looking on.

 Jane Elizabeth is not afraid of the spider.

 Jane Elizabeth and the honeybees.

 Jane Elizabeth in the cottage garden.

 And skipping through the fields after the butterflies.

This was meant to be a teaching book. Teaching aids include a vocabulary analysis and activities for each chapter.

Next week I will share the illustrations of the Garden Folk!

Vintage Sewing Patterns From My Past

In junior high, I had a required class in home sewing. We made an apron the Bishop Method and then an A-line skirt with darts and a back zipper. I chose to make a deep purple skirt. By the next year, I had outgrown it.

I really liked sewing and imagined making all my own clothing, just as I had dreamed of making Barbie doll clothes a few years before. Mom bought a used machine but she had trouble with it and nothing was made.

My mother-in-law was an addicted sewer. She was making all her own clothes, even pjamas and underwear! I taught myself to sew after my husband bought me a sewing machine for our first Christmas in 1972. While he studied in the evening, I kept busy with my Singer. 

One of my early projects was a snap front robe made with prequilted material.
Christmas 1973, me with our litter box trained pet rabbit.

Before he graduated I was making dresses, t-shirts, blouses, jeans, and skirts. I made leisure-suit coats and even a cassock for Gary! I learned by doing. My first sewing class was a gift when I graduated from university in 1978; I received a Stretch-and-Sew class voucher. I made a swimsuit.

I recently found a great resource for vintage patterns. It was fun identifying patterns I remember making.

This jumper pattern was one of my earlest projects. I made the short version in a yellow and purple acrylic big plaid. I loved the big pockets. I'm shocked there are no photos of me wearing it. I wore it every week to work with a full sleeve white blouse with a deep pointed collar.

Simplicity 5862; ©1973; Misses' Jumper in Two Lengths (Approximate Length of Short Jumper is 36"): The short jumper V. 1 and ankle length jumper V. 2 with bodice and skirt stitched to midriff has back zipper, shoulder straps and bias patch pockets.

I made several long sleeved smock tops with the pattern below. Actually, I wish I still had it. Those pockets are great!

McCall's 3522; ©1973; Misses Dress or Smock. Pullover dress or smock has puffed sleeves. Long sleeves gather into snapped cuffs. A, B, with drawstring in waistline casing has rick rack and eyelet or lace ruffling. B with Button trimmed front band or C with trimming has patch pockets.

These were the days of the 'leisure suit' and I made some coats for Gary, as well as ties, a bathrobe, and a cassock.

My husband in a leisure suit coat I made. 1973.

In 1978 I made a jacket similar to the green one in the middle on the above pattern. I bought a black and white tweed fabric at a designer fabric warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia. Gary wore the jacket when we picked up a vacuum cleaner we won at a local appliance store. I am wearing a woven plaid jacket I made. It had a belt, but it looks unbelted in this photo.

I remember owning this pattern.

I made this dress for my husband's graduation.

McCall's 3871; ©1973; Misses' and Junior Dress. High waisted, back zippered dress has puffed sleeves with elastic in casings, tie belt included in side seams. A, C has lower sleeves. A with lace trim, or B with lace ruffling has standing collar.

Not a good photo, but I made lots of T-shirts like I have on in the photo below,  taken on a trip to the Finger Lakes.

This top could be worn over a turtleneck. Once again...big pockets! I don't recall if I made this pattern or not, but I know I owned it.

Simplicity 6529; ©1974; Misses' Unlined Jiffy Jacket and Pants: The pants, without side seams, have elastic waistline casing and a back zipper. The top-stitched, unlined jacket, with front yoke and sleeves, has a front button closing, flapped patch pockets and elbow length kimono type sleeves wtih turn back cuffs.

Featured in Simplicity Fashion News, September, 1974

I made a short sleeved jacket with a matching skirt, here worn over a sleeveless shell. The print fabric had a bright green background!

The top on the far right on the pattern below is like one I made and embellished with the built-in stitches on my Bernina 830. I often wore it with bell bottom jeams when I was first attending Temple University.

I made this jumper and blouse around 1979. The blouse had a short stand-up collar and narrow cuffs. The dress was a wrap-around with a front and back panel that tied at the waist.

I wore this dress to class during my last semester at university. It had narrow pleats in the yoke.

Around 1980 I got this awful perm, so that dates this dress that I made. The photos were taken at Longwood Gardens in Chester Co, PA.

It had a buttoned bodice. I needed a class in how to adjust patterns to fit better since I was no longer a straight size.

I adored the Folkwear patterns and collected a few but the only one I made was this prairie dress. I wore it for Thanksgiving dinner.

I made this prairie skirt in a small blue and white check.

I loved, loved, loved this coat! The hood and deep pockets were so useful. I made it a herringbone woven fabric in brown and burgundy. 

When I found a patternless dress in a magazine I made it quite a few times. It made a good pregnancy dress. It used the width of the fabric for the skirt and top, cutting out a hole for the head. 

1987 at my baby shower

I made this maternity dress with a large color and huge bow. 

I wore this knit dress for our son's christening. It had dolman sleeves and a gathered waist.

Below, on the right, I am in a patternless outfit holding Chris in a shirt and overall I made that had bunnies on the bib. I enjoyed making lots of clothes for my baby and toddler.

I made this jacket for our son several times. It closed with velcro.

I made this paisley dress in the early 1990s, one of the last items I sewed for myself.

 A short set I made our son. He would chose fabrics.

By this time I was making quilts instead of clothing.