Fearless Females: March 18

The Accidental Genealogist is running her annual “Fearless Females” month of March. I’m so happy to be joining in, although admittedly a little late. I will attempt to catch up before the end of the month. If you want to see her blog and prompts you can look here: http://www.theaccidentalgenealogist.com/2015/02/back-for-sixth-year-fearless-females.html

The prompt for March 18:

“Shining star: Did you have a female ancestor who had a special talent? Artist, singer, actress, athlete, seamstress, or other? Describe.”

My mother and my grandmother were both talented seamstresses. My grandmother Peggy Barbour Straughen (1937-2008) focused her talents on quilting and needlework. She did mostly wall hangings. She enjoyed visiting quilt shows to gather inspiration from other quilters and she was never afraid to try new styles. The last quilt she made was a bed quilt for me. We worked together to select a design, color scheme and fabrics for the twin sized bed quilt. The picture below is some of her quilting and needlework that were displayed on the alter at her funeral.

My mother uses her talent mostly to make clothes, household items and crafts. I remember many outfits she made for our Barbies and American Girl dolls growing up. She also made two of my prom dresses. You can count on homemade bibs for any baby gifts. She loves making aprons. She is also a very talented crafts-person. She runs a booth at our church craft fair with gorgeous decor items that usually have a vintage feel to them. Everyone in our family agrees she should sell her crafts on Etsy!