Homespun and Handmade

Dear Diary,

Our local agricultural fair opens today and the historical society has done an exhibit for it on the hand crafts of the 19th century.  I help with this every year and it is always hot and humid when we do it...never fails.

As I worked on the exhibit I thought a lot about my genealogical project.  My ancestors had to craft nearly everything they had.  Looking at complexity of the jacket, which I turned inside out to show the hand work and boning, it is not surprising they had so few clothes!  But somehow, the women still found time for "fancy work".

We have several amazing Victorian crazy quilts in our collection and I've added a detail of one of them as my extra photo today.  I marvel at the skill it took to stitch them...and the patience!  It is hard to imagine their world but this year with my "hands on history" experiences I am getting a small glimmer of it.


The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. – Elder Uchtdorf