This week we welcome DeAnna Julie Dodson to Author Memories.
DeAnna has always been an avid reader and a lover of storytelling, whether on the page, the screen or the stage. This, along with her keen interest in history and her Christian faith, shows in her tales of love, forgiveness and triumph over adversity. A fifth-generation Texan, she makes her home north of Dallas with four spoiled cats and, when not writing, spends her free time quilting, cross stitching and watching NHL hockey. Her first books, In Honor Bound, By Love Redeemed and To Grace Surrendered, are a trilogy of medieval romances. She is also the author of the contemporary mystery, Letters in the Attic.
Grandmama's Mirror
by DeAnna Julie Dodson
Grandmama, my dad's mother, was almost eighty when I was born – Dad was the last of her ten children and I was the last of his four. She passed away a few days before she would have been eighty-eight, so I don't remember a lot about her. But there are two things I do remember very clearly: she never said an unkind word about anybody and she always made the most wonderful handmade things.
I wish now that I had even one of the darling doll dresses she crocheted for me when I was little. Of course, they were all "loved" to pieces years ago when I had no appreciation for the work that went into making them. I do have two or three of the lacy doilies she crocheted and a few embroidered dishtowels, too, but being the last child of the last child, especially since she had six daughters of her own, I didn't end up with much more of her precious handwork.
The one treasure of hers I do have is a lovely mirror framed with crewel embroidery. Dad thinks she must have made it sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s after his dad had passed away and all her children were grown and out of the house.
I don't really know, but I believe she must have made the mirror from a kit. It looks like the pattern was printed on the linen and, once she had done the embroidery, she put the linen on the frame and that was that. But it's always been very special to me, and I'm sure I got my love of needlework from her.
I don't really know, but I believe she must have made the mirror from a kit. It looks like the pattern was printed on the linen and, once she had done the embroidery, she put the linen on the frame and that was that. But it's always been very special to me, and I'm sure I got my love of needlework from her.
What I remember of her home when I was a little girl was that there were handmade things everywhere. I wish now that I had been old enough for her to teach me to sew and, more than that, old enough to talk to her about her life and how things had changed since she was a girl.
Besides her crochet and embroidery, she made dozens and dozens of quilts, though those were "working quilts," made to be used. Like my little doll dresses, they were loved out of existence long ago, and I never saw one of them or even a picture of one. But Dad tells me she would be delighted to know that I'm a quilter, cross-stitcher and embroiderer, too, and am rarely without some kind of sewing project going. I try to make her proud.
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Leave a comment with a valid email address by midnight, Sep 18th
if you want to be entered to win a copy of DeAnna's novel,
In Honor Bound.
Name will also go in the draw for the Welcome Prize Giveaway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leave a comment with a valid email address by midnight, Sep 18th
if you want to be entered to win a copy of DeAnna's novel,
In Honor Bound.
Name will also go in the draw for the Welcome Prize Giveaway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Honor Bound, Crossway Books
Step into the days of knights and ladies,
of kings and kingdoms, of chivalry and honor,
of sacrifice and truth and undying love . . .
Step into the Kingdom of Lynaleigh.
DeAnna's quilt/cross-stitch page is:
http://www.deannajuliedodson.com/quilting.php
DeAnna's website is:
http://www.deannajuliedodson.com
