Sweet Americana Sweethearts: pioneer families

Friday, December 2, 2016

Pioneer Quilting Bees and Grandma's Wedding Quilts Series

In preparation to write my upcoming new release, Pleasance's First Love, I came across a treasure--a book that covers quilting and quilting history, with glossy pages filled with photographs and original-sources--in my chosen location of Colorado! What I discovered within The Quilt That Walked to Golden stoked my imagination and helped me come up with historically accurate, fresh ideas that would fuel my plotting of this novella.

Pioneer Quilting Bee, p 31, The Quilt That Walked to Golden

Women quilted alone, but with more leisure time and better transportation, they came together for afternoons of sewing. Quilting bees "were a purely American social custom, unknown in foreign countries," according to historian William Rush Dunton, Jr., author of the classic, Old Quilts... [Women] joined quilting bees because they wanted to socialize and enjoy themselves--and to show off their sewing as well as their culinary skills. "Our readers must not think that these feminine pastimes are a thing of the past. The old custom, hallowed by fond memories[,] is still observed: and Saturday Mrs. H.L. Wyman entertained a number of her lady friends with an old fashioned quilting bee," The Greely Tribune reported on March 9, 1893. "Ten pairs of deft hands aided the hostess in evolving a pattern that would have gained the approval of a Puritan matron and on the conclusion of the labor the mystic eleven sat down to a table loaded with good things gotten up for the comfort of the inner woman."

"Quilt-making was a social event that my mother looked forward to with pleasure," recalled Hazel Dalziel, whose family lived near Longmont. "...A quilting bee gave women a chance to get together in the home of one of the group and talk, perhaps to gossip. It was a friendly and relaxed atmosphere , and the women were making something of which they were proud. It was a vacation from the long workdays."

~ Source: The Quilt That Walked to Golden: Women and Quilts in the Mountain West, From the Overland Trail to Contemporary Colorado, by Sandra Dallas

Introducing Sweet Americana Sweethearts' Authors' New Series, Grandma Mary's Wedding Quilts.

Twelve Titles, including a Prequel.

All stories are connected by family ties--all main characters are grandchildren of Grandma Mary, who ensured each of her grandchildren received a quilt from her on the occasion of their weddings.

All novellas are Sweet, Clean reads, and all set in historic Americana--and all are as unique as their characters.

Brought to you by USA Today Bestselling, Award-winning, and Bestselling Authors who contribute to Sweet Americana Sweethearts. Look for this new series to debut in January 2017. Titles will be available on preorder later in December and release beginning January 3rd, 2017. See release schedule, below.

Cover Artwork by Shanna Hatfield.

My title, Pleasance's First Love, is book #5 in the series, and will release on January 13, 2017. We'll see her family gather to quilt together the top (pattern: Flying Geese)--a gift from Grandma Mary, and the bottom which Pleasance pieced together over her courtship with Jacob Gideon, and the astounding surprises that come to light when they're put together on the quilting frames.

Victorian Women, photographed with quilts. [Source]

Hi! I'm Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author.

I write frequent articles (or view recent posts easily on my Home Page, scroll down) about the nineteenth century American west–every subject of possible interest to readers, amateur historians, authors…as all of these tidbits surfaced while researching for my books. I also blog monthly at Sweet Americana Sweethearts (first Friday of each month) and Romancing the Genres (third Tuesday of each Month).

I love to hear from readers! Please drop me a note. Or find me on Facebook.

Sweet Romance Appropriate for All Audiences

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Folklore, wives tales, and/or magic - Doctoring, When There Was No Doctor!

Doctoring in the "old days"

Good morning all! A new story I am working on has a small child who is in need of some sort of pain reliever – in the mid 1800s! I did some research and came up with the answer I was looking for. But in the process came across some old folklore, wives tales, and maybe what some thought was a bit of magic. I though I would share it. It was pretty interesting. I hope you enjoy it!

Let’s say, Mary, a ten year old girl, wakes up one morning with a stuffy nose and a fever. She finds mom and tells her she feels achy all over and has a headache. Mom feels her forehead, gives her a teaspoon of cold medicine, maybe some aspirin, plugs in a humidifier to help her breathe, and puts her back to bed. Life goes on.

But what would have happened if Mary’s great, great, great grandmother woke up sick with a cold and fever According to American folklore, settlers of long ago believed there were specific methods of preventing or curing certain illnesses. As strange as some of these theories sound, these “fixes” have been passed down from generation to generation.

For example, it was believed that lettuce would help a person sleep. Chicken fat was thought to be a sure cure for earaches and reduced the possibility of deafness. Many different roots, leaves, and certain kinds of bark from the forest were boiled into teas for different ailments. Sassafras, catnip, horehound and pennyroyal were all brewed into teas and used to treat coughs and colds. Today, we are told pennyroyal is traditionally used as a poison. Even the smallest amounts can be toxic. White and black willow leaves and bark were brewed into a tea to break up a fever. This makes sense as willow is abundant with salicylic acid – aspirin. The pitch from the white pine healed wounds and sores. Cooked pine needles were used for toothaches.

Other theories passed down become more and more bizarre. If you had a wart, you would take a kernel of corn and rub it on the wart. You would then take the kernel and wrap it up in a pretty package and place it in the fork of two roads. This has to be done at night and there must be a full moon. The wart will be gone within two weeks. Unfortunately, the one who finds the package, opens it and touches the kernel will get the wart.

What happens if you wake with a cold or sore throat? Long ago, a big red onion would be tied to the bedpost, keeping the person in that bed safe from colds. Some thought a dirty sock worn around the neck would cure the sore throat. On the off chance you do get that cold, even with the protection of the red onion, here is what you could look forward to for the congestion. Dry mustard would be mixed with water and some flour to make a paste. A cloth would be put on your chest or back and this mustard plaster would be put on the cloth. The smell was

very unpleasant and if it stayed on too long your skin might blister.

Some pioneers thought if moonlight shines on your face while you are sleeping, you could go crazy. If a person got a nosebleed all they needed to do was press an iron key to the back of the neck. And last, but not least, if you got a toothache on the left side of your jaw, you would simply tie a string around the little toe of your right foot and the toothache was gone.

In today’s world we drive to the store and buy liquid medicines or pills to cure whatever our problem might be. What a different world we live in now. As I sit here I realize how hard it must have been back then and all the things early settlers needed to know to stay healthy. I notice the small wart on my knee and smile. The things some people believe!

Footnote: If, within the next few weeks, you see a small package at the fork of the road and there is a full moon. Leave it alone!

I hope you enjoyed this post, as I truly liked doing this research!

I write for all ages, from the early reader to adults. My books range from pictures books for the little ones, to fantasy, time-travel adventures for ages 9 to 13. I also write adult stories, including a family drama and contemporary, paranormal and historical westerns romances, under P. A. Estelle.

I was a school secretary for 21 years. My husband and I moved to our retirement home in Kingman, AZ, on very rural 54 acres, living on solar and wind only.

More about my books can be found in the following links:

www.pennystales.com

www.pennyestelle.blogspot.com

http://www.amazon.com/Penny-Estelle/e/B006S62XBY

https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146&Itemid=82

www.facebook.com/pennystales

www.pinterest.com/pennyestelle

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5820078.Penny_Estelle - Goodreads

http://www.twitter.com/pennystales