Cloth Therapy

Grandma told me this story, but my memory isn't the best, so some of you may want to add details that I get wrong. One time Grandma Evans got sick. I can't remember with what, but she was bedridden for quite a long time. It was a very serious illness. Grandma H. was, I think 5 years old at the time. Because she was the oldest, it was left for her to take care of the smaller children. She made mush for them to eat. She took care of her mother and everyone else. The stress on her, as a five year old was great, and eventually she had what might be considered a nervous break down. The doctor told her mother to give her simple things to do and not stress her. So they had her, can't remember if it was cut or fold cloth as a sort of therapy. Ever since then, Grandma loved to feel cloth. Whenever she would get a bag of used clothing, she would sit and run each piece through her hands and feel the cloth. It was soothing to her, and she loved to feel the different textures.

Okay...this doesn't fit here, but while I'm thinking about it.... I remember watching Grandma paint quilts. She would often run the tip of the paint tube on the inside of her polyester pants to get it started. She had found that polyester cloth helped get the paint flowing. Consequently, many of her pants had paint marks on the inside of the waist. :) Delores