I am a country girl... I grew up outside the city limits a small rural town. It was a 15-minute drive to town. We lived nearly at the end of a long gravel road between the Fort Lyon Canal and the Arkansas River. Our closest neighbors were at least 1/4 mile from our driveway.
One of my first friends was Georgia. Her bus stop was the next stop after ours in the mornings. We both had blonde hair and blue eyes and we thought we might be able to fool the teacher and get her confused if we fixed our hair the same. Georgia and I were "school" friends. By this I mean, we were friends while at school. It wasn't often that we would go to each other's houses on weekends or after school.
This was at my 7th birthday party... a Hat Party. Mom made the cake to look like a hat and we made our own hats using paper plates, ribbons and silk flowers. I am holding the cake and Georgia is right behind me. The other friends that attended were Paula, Tawana, Jolynn and Carrie... and of course, my brother, Kelvin. Paula passed away several years ago, but I am still fb friends with the rest of the girls.
And there were the "woods". A small wooded area where hide-and-seek was played. I was a big fan of Winnie-the-pooh and the Hundred Acre Woods and imagined that our woods were much the same.
There was always access to jump ropes and "skip-it" balls. For a while, Chinese jump ropes were popular, and the game of Jacks was always popular on days that it rained. I remember there was a Jacks tournament one year. I didn't win, but I did participate.
Other games that were "indoor" games were Red Light-Green Light and Mother, May I.
These two blocks represent your childhood friends and games that you played together. Please note, if you are making a quilt in the traditional layout, you can choose to not make the Pinwheel block, which is a 6" block. (FYI, I plan to use four of the eight 6" blocks in the corners of the borders and one as a label for the back.)
The patterns are available in my Payhip store... Pinwheel Block ... Friendship Block
I'll be sending out the memory book pages in a few days... in the meantime, enjoy making your blocks and your personal trip down memory lane. I'd love it if you would come back and participate in the block parade. :)
What games did you play as a child?
Leave a comment... I'd love to hear from you!
Keep Piecing,
Melva
The games we played were similar and also included Monkey In the Middle. One of my friends and I played an imaginary game of Nancy Drew...investigating mysteries afterschool.
ReplyDeleteFun post, Melva - you brought back lots of memories for me, too! Shorts under our dresses - oh yes, and snowpants under them in the winter. There's nothing like lifelong friends, though. I'll enjoy making this block!
ReplyDeleteIndeed shorts were needed. Red Rover was a popular game.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your memoirs and am astounded you still keep up with all the girls. I played the same things, we had a similar playground without the woods. Plus musical chairs, pin the tail on that poor donkey. I loved board games like yahtzee and monopoly too
ReplyDeleteLeeAnna
What a sweet post. Love the hat party! You and I had the Arkansas River in common. It runs through northeastern Oklahoma, and a big part of my memory of it was two floods when we lived "in town" in the mid 1950s!
ReplyDeleteI missed the second block and am going to go looking for it. :D
Loving this post! I grew up in a new suburban neighborhood with lots of kids. We played all the games listed already, as well as "Cigarette Stoop Tag". The neighbors across the street had a playhouse and we spent hours there. And I loved Yahtzee with my grandma. I'm still in touch with one of my childhood friends. We catch up by phone every now and then, and it's like old times!
ReplyDeleteLove this, Melva!! We played a lot of the same games, but growing up with all boy cousins, we also played a lot of football, baseball, basketball, and army, not to mention cowboys! Love the pinwheel blocks - one of my favorites!
ReplyDeleteLovely blocks. You seem to have had a wonderful childhood. Love the photos! Thanks for sharing on my weekly show and tell, Wednesday Wait Loss. https://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions/2024/04/03/wednesday-wait-loss-374
ReplyDeleteWe lived JUST outside of town, the city line was at our back fence in the small town I grew up in. Daddy bought an acre just as the neighbors had done and built our house after clearing most of the trees. Behind our house was a huge, many acres of cleared field between us and town which had strawberries growing there some years, or corn or peas, or... Across the street was a smaller field that had strawberries too, then it started popping up houses. Mother called them Ticky-Tacky houses, as they were pretty much all the same.
ReplyDeleteWe played a lot of those games too! Every recess we would run to play four square, so much fun.. of course jump rope, basket ball, tag, monkey in the middle... and Marco Polo in the pool.... Must get my blocks for the quilt started!!! Thanks for joining in on Monday This & That and I hope you had a great week! xx
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