Blip 1500

This quilt, made by my great-great grandmother, SJW (1839-1931), is one of my family treasures. It’s a style known as a “crazy quilt,” as the fabric pieces vary in size, shape, color, and fabric. Measuring 64 x 58 inches (about 163 x 147 cm), it’s not big enough to cover a bed, but might have been draped over a sofa, or on top of a bedspread, where all its rich colors and patterns could be appreciated.

In many ways, my 1500 Blipfoto journal entries are like this quilt — each one different from the other, yet making up a pattern of my days, months, and years, in small details. I think my great-great-grandmother would have enjoyed looking through those photos and words as much as I relish every inch of this quilt!

My last milestone — my 1460th blip — was posted the day before we knew that Blipfoto’s future was secure. Everything I wrote then rings true now as well, so I’ll just say a heartfelt “Thank you!” to everyone who visits my journal and shares their lives with me here. There’s nothing more wonderful than this virtual community!

(The extra photo, taken about 1920, shows SJW, 81, with her son (far left), grandson, and great-grandson — my Uncle Bill — at about six years old. If you'd like to see me in today's St. Patrick's Day parade, check out the extra photo in Phil's blip.)

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For those who are interested in history and genealogy:
— SJW’s mother died when she was nine months old; she was raised by her mother’s parents, wealthy landowners in Virginia.
— In March 1861, at age 21, she married a 31-year-old Virginia lawyer, WHW. Her wedding ring was made from a nugget of gold he had panned at age 20 in the California Gold rush. 
— WHW enlisted in the Confederate Army (45th Virginia Infantry, a colonel at his discharge) seven weeks later, and their first child, my great-grandfather, was born in January 1862. Four more children were born in the next seven years.
— SJW was widowed at age 32 with five children, ages 2 to 10, when her husband died from the injuries he sustained in the war.
— The U.S. Federal Census of 1880, eight years later, shows her three sons (18, 16, and 14) working as "laborers," and her daughters (12 and 10) at school, while SJW is “keeping house.”
She might have had a pension from her husband’s war service, but little else to live on. Nonetheless, her eldest son, William (my great-grandfather), became a lawyer, as did his son.
— She subsequently lived with her daughter Sallie Jane and her family (husband, three children, and sister), and then with her son William, his wife, and two sons. 
— SJW died in 1931 at age 91 years 9 months, outliving her husband by nearly 60 years. Her obituary noted that she “was remarkably active for her age, being able until a few days ago to make her way about town unassisted.”
— She lived to see her grandson marry and have four children, all of whom remembered her well.

Blip 1500