Crazy Quilts With A Past

I've mentioned recently that I've been working on my family tree.  I've done really well with it so far but I've reached a brick wall with my great, great grandmother, my great grandmother and my grandfather.  I'm not giving up, just taking a short break until I can figure out where to look next.

In the meantime, I wanted to put the word out that I'm looking for Crazy Quilts/blocks with some history behind it.

Have you used photos of your great, great grandparents?  Photos of you great grandparents?  People who are long gone but lived an 1800's life and have been remembered by you via your crazy quilting?

If you have, please send me your crazy quilts and your stories!!!  I want to share your work, your family and their stories with the readers of Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine!!

This my great grandmother Adria.  My mom was named after her.  She was born in 1889 and died in 1918.  A very short life but she sure lived!

I'm not going to share her story here, I think I'll save it for the magazine.  But I want your stories!!

You can email them to me.  The link is in my sidebar!

Thanks!!!

Pam

Genealogy - A Tiny Breakthrough!

A person could lose their minds going through endless lists of names, dates, documents and websites.
But today, I had a twinge of luck!!!  While searching for my grandfathers birth record, (he was born in 1907 so I wouldn't have thought it to be so difficult to find), I managed, by accident or luck, to find out exactly where my great grandmother is buried.

From things that mom had told me, I thought she was buried in Chicago near Hyde Park.  Nope!  She's buried in Kendallville, Indiana!  That's where she died and that's where she's buried.  Knowing the screwiness in this part of my mom's family, I first thought she was perhaps sent back to Illinois for burial.  It wouldn't have surprised me!

Anyway, I know the exact cemetery, the section and the lot number. 

Researching family history can be at times, morbid and sad.  My great grandmother lived a very short life but I will tell you, the woman lived!!!

So do I by any chance have any readers who live in or near Kendallville, Indiana?  If so, please email me!  I could use some help, that is if you're willing to run to the cemetery and snap a photo for me.

I thought while I work on the research for this book, that I would take the time to do a little something nice for myself.  I started a little cross stitch sampler early this morning:

Okay, so it doesn't look like much yet but it will.  It has kitties on it!  And ya'll know I love kitties!!  I hand dyed the fabric and I'm using Sampler Threads to stitch this.

I will get back to crazy quilting but I've been enjoying a little cross stitch.

So stay tuned for updates on my "crazy" family research and to see the kitties on the sampler when I get that far.

Oh, and did I mention that Editor Extraordinaire, Mary Anne Richardson has graciously agreed to edit my great grandfathers biography?  Trust me, with Mary Anne doing the editing, it'll be very enjoyable to read!

Genealogy

You can do anything, but you can't do everything!

A few months back, my mom asked if I would do some research on a few members of her family.  Specifically, her grandmother and grandfather.  I said sure, thinking it would be a piece of cake.  Little did I know!

Putting a family tree together can be a lot of fun, especially these days with so many resources available online!  Obviously, I started with myself and worked my way back through the generations.

My mom's maternal grandparents easily fell into place.  Both sets of my dad's grandparents easily fell into place.  I knew their history anyway.  I've been hearing it since I was little and it all laid out pretty much as I had been told.

My father in laws family went as planned too.  I've mentioned this a few times here but in case you didn't know, my husband is related to the Kellogg's of Battle Creek.  W.K. Kellogg (who invented cornflakes) is my husband's 4th great uncle.  Pretty cool huh?  Yep, that part of my tree laid out just as I was told.  Piece of cake!

And then there are my mom's paternal grandparents.  The ones she wanted information on.  OMG!  I had no idea what I was getting myself into!  The research, the mysteries, the questions, the elusive information due to name changes, multiple marriages, the missing 1890 census...the list goes on.  All I can say at the moment is SOAP OPERA!

Although I'm little by little putting the pieces together (with quite a few surprises along the way), it's been a slow process.  I've been working between several different genealogy sites and thank goodness for newspaper archives!  I've run into quite a few brick walls but I've been breaking them down, one by one.

So why am I telling you all this?  First, because I haven't been around much lately, 2nd because I haven't had a lot of stitching to share lately and 3rd, because I've decided, with all the work I've put into this, that I'm going to put together a book about my great grandparents.

Okay, so you're probably thinking "boring"!!!  No, no, no!!!  There is nothing boring about these 2 people.  I had no idea and neither did my mom!

I think putting a book together on my great grandparents will be a really fun project and I'll share more information as I go along.   They both lived quite the interesting life!

Between doing the family research, working on the magazine and taking care of my house and cats, I haven't done too much stitching.  I did a few simple little cross stitch ornaments.  I like to stitch in the morning while I watch the news and drink coffee.

And I did get a couple of projects completely finished up:

So that's what I'm doing these days!

And while I'm here, if I have any readers from the Newark/Licking Ohio area who might be interested in answering a few questions for me, could I ask you to email me please?

Okay, I'm off to break down another brick wall!