January 5, 1974 The Mountains, The Quilts, The Race, The House and The Dress

Dear Mother,

"We all seem to be having the same kind of weather. It is terribly cold so we still have every bit of the big snow we got before Christmas. There are mountains of it piled everywhere and you have to wear boots every time you go out.  I haven't been out a lot but went out by myself to run some errands one morning. It is slippery on lots of streets and parking is bad but I didn't have any trouble.

Mrs. Follick finished my quilt and I went after it. It is just odd scraps but it is pretty now that it's quilted. I will give it to Ann and hoped it would be finished before she came home but Mrs. Follick moved so didn't get it done. She didn't want me to bring another one yet so I'll have to wait my turn again. I wish she'd do all of mine and get done but I'm really not in a hurry so she works others in. She'll call me when she's ready for one. I did go ahead and order batts for all my tops. Sears had them on sale so I just ordered them so I'd have them ready any time.

Yesterday I finished all the feather stitching on the big wool quilt you made for me. I have to press the material for the lining--it's red--and then I'll be ready to tack it. I'm putting some dacron batting in it so it should be a real warm cover. The bed in Ann's room is oversized and I haven't had enough covers for that bed and ours too. This should be plenty warm and plenty big for that bed.

I have really enjoyed having the free time since New Years when I didn't have to go anywhere, no one came, and no one called. I told B I'd like all of January to be like that and I could get caught up on a lot of things. My clubs start next week and then the race will begin again.

I've started working on a program I have to give for two groups in the next month or so. My subject is quilts and I'm going to use it for both programs. It is real interesting and I'm learning a lot but don't have all my reading done yet. There are loads of books on the subject since quilt making has become so popular. Ann says there is a new store in Columbia that sells only quilts or makes them for people. It would be interesting to see the place.

It seems like months since Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas and it is always so nice to have the children home. The house really comes alive and looks it. B gave me some beautiful earrings and a robe and I gave him an electronic computer. He's wanted one a long time. I don't know a thing about them but he has already used it several times at home and at school and says it will make income tax figuring easier.

All of the Christmas stuff is put away except a gingerbread house that Ann brought. It is real cute so I'm going to pack it away and hope bugs don't find it. You can't eat it but it is made with cookie dough and frosting.

We bought a chair for the living room and it's to be delivered today. Everything is on sale right now so we just stopped at this store to see what they had and found it. It is called russet but it is simply a light orange. It should look nice with our dark green couch. I also found my red shoes on sale. That just happened, too. I didn't dream I'd find any but just walked back to the shoe dept. of a new store we have at the shopping center and they had some.

The shopping center has sure grown this last year. It has a whole new wing with lots of stores and one in Bergner's Dept. store like the one in Peoria. It is a nice store.

We're still eating Christmas leftovers so I haven't bought many groceries except milk. I think I'll use up things out of the freezer now because I don't like to keep meat too many months--especially pork. It gets to tasting old.

Larsens' New Year's Eve party was real nice. There were 24 of us and most of us have been together for many years. We went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and then to Larsen's house where they showed pictures of their trip to Japan last summer.

I spent one day this week taking Charlotte's white dress apart. It was so big on me it has to be re-cut so I tried to buy the same pattern in a smaller size but the pattern has been discontinued. I found another pattern in the last book you gave me that is cut much the same way so I'll try to get that one.

Don't worry about your letters being late. Just stay inside when the weather is bad and don't take any chances."

                     Love,

                        Bonnie

NOTE: The making of gingerbread houses became a long tradition and I tried to bring one home each year. We often made them on the day after Thanksgiving.

As for the "computer", I assume Mom meant "calculator".

The patchwork quilt is nearly worn out after years of use, including being in the trunk of the car for "emergencies". I recognize scraps of fabric from my grandmother's aprons, Mom's shirtwaist dresses, baby quilts, etc.