Bama Planter

I finally finished picking the last of the cotton from the side field. It is not hard to do, but it does take a lot of time.  I used one of the old cotton baskets but not for show or nostalgia but because it is what works best.  You can drag it along the row since it is so light weight.  It is also very easy to ring with the cotton as you pull it from the plant. Now I will quilt my Aunt Elizabeth's quilt top that she gave me. I use the cotton as batting with the seeds in it.  I have quilts over 100 years old and the seeds are there. It was not necessary to have cotton ginned ( seeds removed ) in rural Alabama!  The first cotton gins ( short for engine ) were little hand-cranked machines no bigger than a corn sheller.  If I could find one I'd buy it and use it. I got out my quilting frame ( still working after 150 plus years) and will get the process started.  I need Tasha Tudor to help me set this up. The gourd crop is out...

It's a beautiful day here. I chose three quilts to air out. On the right is a quilt my grandmother and two great grandmothers made in the 1920s. In the middle is a fan quilt featuring my favorite color, yellow. I bought it at an estate sale. On the end is a pinwheel made by a lifelong friend of my mother who used chairs for quilting frames and could whip out a quilt in less than a week. This is the front view of the house I live in. It was built in 1817 when my Wilson-Harless ancestors moved from Madison to Shelby County, Alabama. The house looks smaller than it is. The front log room is 20x30 ft. with a 9 1/2 ft. ceiling of 4x8 beams.