Yesterday I was quilting on the longarm and I always think about weird things when I’m quilting for hours and hours.  What was running through my mind yesterday was how things have changed through the years.  As I was thinking about just quilting . .

• When I first started quilting, I only wanted to hand piece and hand quilt.  That was “real” quilting.
• When I got my first longarm, there was a bit of a debate in the quilting community about whether quilts done with a stitch regulator should be on a level field with those quilted without a stitch regulator.  Now, the stitch regulator is accepted and I suppose there was a bit of controversy about computerized machines.
• For quilts entered in some of the larger juried shows, photos had to be sent in on slides . . no digital photography allowed!  Thankfully, that’s changed!

Then I began thinking about my grandma’s sewing habits.  The first sewing machine I remember her having was the old Singer treadle.  At some point, she got an electric machine but it was a really inexpensive one and by then, she wasn’t sewing much.  Think what folks in my grandma’s generation would think about automatic needle threaders, and needle up/needle down positioning, all the fancy stitches so many of us couldn’t live without.

Aside from the big stuff like dishwashers (except for me!), microwaves, clothes dryers, cell phones, computers, Kindles, and things like that . . think of all the things that my grandmother just wouldn’t believe possible:

• Blow dryer – I remember my grandma using curlers and a big plastic thing that went around your head and a tube blew hot air in there!
• GPS – can you imagine what they would have thought of that and most of us can’t even think about going across town without the aid of GPS.
• Automatic ice makers – they were doing good to have a freezer with ice trays.  A couple of weeks ago our ice maker in the freezer was acting up and we were ready to go buy a hotel type ice machine because we were sick of running out of ice.  The hang up was that I wanted one that made ice like Sonic and they were outrageously expensive but in the meantime, Vince figured out what was wrong with our ice maker so  . . no Sonic ice for me.
• Automatic gate opener – Most folks don’t deal with gates but I remember my grandparents . . when they got home whether it was dark or daylight, sunny or raining, my grandma got out and opened the gate while my grandpa drove in.  She’d close the gate and walk down the driveway. Nowadays, we all have our automatic openers for garages and gates with the little keypad on the outside.

A biggie for me and probably most of us is the internet.  I use it to find recipes, to get info on everything from places to eat in Abilene to remedies when your dog eats chocolate to communicating with all of you!  Even though I can vaguely remember life before the internet was in every home, I just don’t know how we made it without it.  Guess you don’t miss something you never knew.  Sure hope it’s around for a very long time!

As you’re going about your day, think of things that are so different today from how they were when your parents were growing up or when  your grandparents were adults.  Share them . . I love hearing about things like that.

When Adalina was born, I bought a journal and I write down things that I think she might find interesting 20 years from now but who knows what technology will bring.  Some things in our day may be the same or very similar in 20 years. Some things may be obsolete.  SO many times I’ve wished I knew more about things that went on in my grandma’s days so I’m going to document things I think might be interesting and Adalina can have those journals if she wants them.