by Donna Wilson in Virginia
My wonderful mother Frances Linville was struck with the dreadful Alzheimer's disease and went through all the stages including constantly repeating herself, being paranoid, and finally just mellowing out. My sister Effie and I live out of town, so the bulk of the caring for Mother fell to my other three sisters and my sister-in-law. After several years of dealing with Alzheimer's, Mother's little body finally wore out and she went to be with her Lord on November 21, 2010.
When we were going through her clothes and deciding what to do with them, Effie (the quilting sister) said we should cut them up and make quilts out of them. So, she took Mother's clothes to her house and made quilting squares out of the ones that would work for a quilt.
We then planned a " Quilting Party Weekend" at my sister Betty's house in Chesapeake. We each picked the squares that meant the most to us, and with a lot of help from my sister Effie, we started piecing them together. Over a period of several months we each had completed most of our quilts, but on all of them, there were still parts needing some machine sewing and hand stitching. My sister Effie said that we should go someplace fun to finish them. She found a farmhouse in Staunton, Virginia, for the weekend of December 2-4. She and I decided to pay for renting it as a gift to show our gratitude to the other sisters who did most of the work caring for Mother while she was going through the trials of Alzheimer's.
All five of the sisters met at the farmhouse on the afternoon of Friday December 2, 2011. We brought food, music, sewing machines, and our unfinished quilts. My sister Effie brought her pumpkin soup for lunch (she is also the cook in the family). We sewed until almost 2 a.m.--talking and sharing stories about our childhood and Mother. We only stopped for dinner. Effie hung stockings on the mantel that she made out of an old 1930's quilt that belonged to Mother. She also decorated a small Christmas tree with ornaments that Mother had made.
On Saturday December 3, we got up early and ate a special breakfast made by Effie. We sewed a little and then headed to town for shopping.
We started our tour of the town by going to the Visitor Center. A lovely volunteer gave us great suggestions as to where to go while we were staying in historic Staunton (sorry we weren't able to visit them all).
We went to Sunspots Studios where we had our very first glass-blowing experience! As a Christmas gift, my sister Brenda paid for us all to blow our own glass ornament. We loved this place!
We also visited the Cranberry's Grocery & Eatery where we watched as the woman cut handmade frankincense & myrrh scented soaps. She offered to let us cut our own. What a great smell for the holidays!
At Rachel's Quilt Patch we bought trendy yarn to make scarves. The owner was very interesting and has written several Christmas books. We also visited the Staunton Consignment Shop where I bought a lovely antique tablecloth. We bought handmade soaps and other gifts at the Staunton Augusta Art Center.
It was dark when we got back from shopping and having dinner at the historic Depot Grille. We unloaded the car, got comfortably dressed, turned on the Christmas music and started back on our quilts. We didn't get to bed until around midnight, but all of our quilts were mostly finished! The next morning we packed up to get ready to travel home. Effie took pictures of us and our quilts in front of the fireplace, on the front porch of the farmhouse and standing in front of them hanging on the clothes line in the backyard. What fun! Effie set up her tripod and would run to get in the pictures.
After lunch, we said goodbye to the farmhouse and headed to town to pick up the ornaments that we made the day before (they needed time to cool). We also bought many hand-blown ornaments for gifts for family and friends. As a topping for our trip we went for dessert at the Depot Grille. We then went back to our vehicles and hugged and said goodbye and left to go home to Blue Ridge, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, and Herndon.
We still have one quilt to go for my sister-in-law Thata who moved to the Philippines with our brother Bob after Mother died. Hopefully, it will be finished as her Christmas gift next year.
This was one of the most enjoyable times of our lives. We are sisters by birth and friends by choice: Betty Greene, Donna Wilson, Marlene Thompson, Effie Shaw, and Brenda Van Dorn.
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