During these times, nothing went to waste. Grandma and Grandpa worked hard on the farm, which included raising their own food, growing their vegetables and fruit, and "putting up" everything for the long Missouri winters. Staples such as flour, sugar, seed and feed were bought at the general store. The suppliers had found out that the plain white cotton sacks that these came in were being bleached (to remove the brand logo) and were being used for material. These suppliers realized that if they printed these sacks with fabric prints (all kinds of patterns!), that the ladies of the home would choose these over another, and take the "free" fabric and make what they needed. This would start with dresses, then the smaller scraps would make tea towels or tablecloths, then the tiniest scraps would be saved for the "scrap pile" and used to make the quilts for the family. They even used the "pulled thread" from the sacks to crochet into lace and doilies.

Grandma remembers sending Grandpa to town with a scrap piece in his pocket, with instructions to get the same pattern, as there was a project that needed more of it. Grandma made many, many dresses, aprons, tea towels and pillowcases, as well as cherished quilts.

I was charmed to listen to Grandma tell her stories of life like I could never even imagine. I told her so...and Grandma said yes, well Patricia, you are lucky, you never had to sit in church with your handmade feedsack dress, next to the town ladies that had their fancy dresses on.

Wow, I realize how really fortunate we are now, and how different and easy our lives are now...and that is why I love that era of quilts. When you see a gorgeous quilt made with feedsacks and realize that these incredible pieces of art were made with "throwaway" materials, after everything else had been cut from them,...well, it just is amazing.