Some time ago Kari and I were talking about my blog and she suggested I do a give-a-away sometime. Something I've never done! Sweet as she is, she even offered to make something . . .
and one day these cute potholders were hanging in a pretty bag from my front-door handle.
Could I just pretend I forgot what we had talked about and keep them? I've got to say, when this girl makes something, it's never just plain or ordinary.
I guess I can't blame my boy for falling in love with her!
I think this ties in well with a certain post last week, especially since Kari's own Oma is turning 102 this year! Looks like the long life genes run in her family as well! And I suspect that her grandmother would attribute her long life to near the same thing . . .
homemade chicken noodle soup, cookies . . . and exercise, which I know came with hard work ethics. She certainly did not get where she is today, because of an easy life but, more-so, by the grace of God.
Obviously potholders signify some good home cooking and these Russian dolls remind me of some of my heritage. So, in honor of "homemade" and long life, we will draw a name from today’s commenters.
If you sign in as anonymous, remember to leave you first name after your comment, so that we know whom to announce. A name will be drawn . . . most likely tonite, announced tomorrow sometime and the winner can then email me with an address, in order to receive this unique and beautiful set of potholders . . . just because. Actually . . . partly to see who else is lurking out there and partly to say thank you for visiting.
If you have a story to tell about the oldest person you have known, or what you admire/d about your grandmother, that would be fun too ... and, who knows, it may just help you win.
54 comments:
Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!
- kristal :)
Anneliese, I always love to "drop in" on your blog, and am delighted I happened to drop by today. The handmade potholders are just lovely, and a sweet gesture by your dear Kari.
I lost my grandmother, who we affectionately dubbed "The Polish Princess," just two years ago. She and my grandpa were married just shy of 70 years, and we have more stories to tell than your blog has space. In honor of my grandma, I made each family member a "pierogi" Christmas ornament to hang on the tree each year in remembrance of her.
Gramp died just a couple of week ago at age 91. Not quite the 102 of Kari’s Oma, but a good long life we thank the Lord for. Thanks for honoring long life and “handmade.” :-)
Pam – Cleveland, Ohio
Adorable potholders, Kari!
Well, I don't even know where to begin when it comes to talking about my Grammy! I guess I could sum it all up by saying that I lost her nearly 3 months ago, and her absence in my life will be forever felt. At her funeral, she was described as an "umbrella", one who protected with her prayers and one who sheltered with her care and hospitality. Missing my umbrella...
I confess, I am a lurker. ;-)I visit regularly, having found you from MGCC. My Grandma died many years ago (I was in first year University, many many years ago) but I still remember her kitchen and her amazing bread and her smile. My Mom had her smile and I'm told I have my Mom's smile. Those sweet ladies live on...Marilyn
You can never have too many potholders!
You know ALL about my Oma! :) I was really glad to have the opportunity to travel with her to her home country a year ago, and learn how she grew up and meet the people who are so important to her.
I think we both learned a lot about each other, and I am a better person for i!
How fun!! I would love some new potholders for when we move back to Canada in a few months.
Sadly, both my grandmas died in the same week when I was just 5 so I never got to grow up knowing the joys of a grandma. God did bring some wonderful people into my life through the years, including my mother in law who is a great mennonite grandma. She has learned how to be a wonderful long distance grandma as you can well relate. We are so thankful for skype and how easy it is to communicate whenever we want to.
Leana Janzen
I love your blog, and check daily to see if there is anything new and of course who wouldn't love to get a sweet surpize!
How very cute those are. That's really sweet of Kari to make the offer and to follow through! All of my grandparents died before the 1990's. I'm glad my parents are outlasting them in the age department.
The pot holders are just darling. I read your blog regularly. It's so fun for me to read about life in a place so far away and so different from where I live. I also appreciate your posts of encouragement and insight. My grandma Ammerman taught me needle arts. She had me embroidering tea towels at the age of six. I now cross-stitch and have for more than 25 years. It's my joy AND my therapy!
Dear Annelise:
I love to read your blog and the potholders are so cute!
Have a great day - Krista
My Grandma died in 1987. She played a huge part in my growing up years although we lived across the country from each other. She made Easter dresses and coats for me and my sister. One time she even made a coat with a matching umbrella! I remember her as the one who taught me to bake cookies and to do things in the kitchen. She broke the ground for me becoming a cook in my mother's kitchen. One of the things I loved about her was that she always had big groups of people over for meals and the table always had pretty decorations on it. One time there was a mirror with little ice skaters on it! She also was a terrific Scrabble player!
What wonderful handiwork went into those potholders! Aren't daughter-in-laws wonderful!!
My great-aunt at 102 (yesterday) is the oldest person I know! How special she has been in my life, though she never had children of her own, Aunt Elizabeth evokes many feelings of love and fun by those who have had the privilege of knowing her! Special birthday cards, small Christmas treats and those wonderful honey cookies made for each family! What a wonderful legacy she has left behind with her strong faith in God! She continues even today with many health issues to cheer others on and encourage.
Have enjoyed your blog and your recipes! Thanks!
Lenora
We had company over for supper on Sunday and served homemade chicken noodle soup, fresh buns and banana and chocolate cream pie. I told the story about how when we visited my grandma and grandpa we could always tell if she had made us homemade chicken noodle soup and fresh buns by the living room window being all steamed up. I have so many "food memories" from my childhood.
I love Matryoshka dolls. I collect them. My collection was greatly increased when I went to visit my brother and his family when they were living in Moscow.
Thank you, sweet Anneliese for your beautiful blog. It is a true reflection of you. I am so often encouraged and inspired by your entries.
June
i would love these sweet pot holders and because they remind me of my (similar) heritage i would love to have them too! and speaking of birthdays and everything its that time of year when its mine AND ben's birthdays so in honor of all that (and remembering you bringing cupcakes to our class around birthday time :)) pick me! pick me! -amanda b!
ooo so cute Kari!!! and my favourite colour!!!! hope I win!
I'm not sure I've ever seen such adorable pot holders. I can see why you would be tempted to keep them, but how sweet of you to do this giveaway.
The oldest person I have known personally is my husband's great aunt, Mabel. She lived to be 100. She lived with my husband's family when he was growing up and as a little boy he spent a lot of time playing cards with her. She was a very sweet lady who we still miss today.
I drop in on your blog nearly everyday. Sometimes it's for the words of wisdom...sometimes to see your family...your hostessing...My grandmother will be turning 94 this year. I am so thankful to her for teaching me how to cook and bake, so I may pass our mennonite food down further generations. The MGCC site as been awesome for helping out!
I love the potholders! They are adorable.
Your site is an inspiration - thanks, Barb
Sweet petite potholders! And sweet of Kari to make them for you.
My memories of my grandmother include homemade chicken noodle soup and cookies as well...and zwiebacks and pluma moos...and a VERY clean house. It's fun to remember!
Love your blog...and I'd love to win your beautiful potholders! They would look great in my kitchen too!
Both my Oma's live in Holland...and I would love to be there visiting them right now with my mom, who left for Holland yesterday! They may live far away, but they are both in my heart!
Cutest potholders EVER!!!
Anneliese, these are so cute!! I love to drop by even if you don't do giveaways! (Neither do I, so I can't complain). My Grandmother is 94 years old and still alive in Oregon. She is a wonderful woman who has had a great deal of difficulties in her life. She was married to my grandfather for 68 years before he died. I call her often and we talk about all kinds of things. She has always been an example to me in my life. Thank you for reminding me how precious she is.
I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog! My grandma just passed away last year. I best remember her for her zweiback, rollkuchen and the countless times she played Uno with us! She sewed up a storm - including my bathing suits (much to my horror!), flowergirl dresses, and my mom's wedding dress. She is most definitely missed in our family.
Wow--I could use a few new ones as I keep melting mine!
Alice
amdamsteegt at gmail dot com
How fun to do a give away!! The pot holders are so cute. What a wonderful family you have...such a blessing:)
Tanya
Oh, those are adorable potholders! My maternal Grandma lived to 89, and was a very special person in my life. My mother, now 90 herself, learned to bake bread and cook for a threshing crew while Grandma was hospitalized. Mom has baked more bread and buns in her life than anyone could count... used to bake 10 loaves of bread at once, twice a week for our large family. And when asked, and how many buns, she said, "Who had time to count buns?!" Indeed.... How thankful I am for these honorable women in my life.
Marg N
The potholders are very sweet- just like my Oma, a tiny sweet woman with her thin hair pulled back into a little knot at the nape of her neck. So many yummy Mennonite dishes were served in her simple home, with grace and love.
My Oma died exactly two years ago.
When I asked her about her chicken noodle soup recipe, she would giggle a bit and tell the story about another woman who had always admired her chicken noodle soup ~ but when my Oma told her friend about her recipe, and how the stalk included carrot and celery, her friend had exclaimed "but that's not how chicken noodle soup is made!!!"
Another wonderful memory of my Oma is that, as she got older and more home-bound, she would say that she used to be able to help people in a hands-on/tangible way but now her hands were used for spending more time praying for them.
She was such a stead-fast woman ~ she had such an amazingly difficult life story (life in Russia, husband taken during the war, traveling by boat to Paraguay with 4 children & pregnant, discovering ~ YEARs later ~ that her husband was still alive and had remarried, etc. etc. etc...) yet always came back to the fact that God was amazingly faithful and good! I miss her!
Anita (Sawatzky) Brown
p.s. Mrs. Friesen, I really enjoy reading your posts :)
Really cute potholders! My maternal grandmother died when I was 10 and she was 60. I was actually spending the night with her when she had her heart attack. I heard her crying for help and woke my uncle who was still living with my grandparents and going to college. Needless to say, that was traumatic. But remembering happier times...she is the one who taught me to make "hand squeezed" biscuits, taught me the words to "Love Lifted Me"(a sweet old hymn)while we sat on her front porch in a glider one Saturday afternoon,took me fishing, and loved me with all her heart! I loved going to her house and would stay as long as my parents would let me! When she died, I said if I ever had a little girl, I would name her after Mother(that's what we called her)......24 years later that is exactly what I did!
Such cute pot holders!
My Grandma passed away almost 5 years ago and hardly a day goes by that I don't miss her. She was one of my best friends and I loved spending as much time with her as possible. Grandma loved to cook and collect recipes... but the funny thing was that my Grandpa's favorite meal was macaroni and cheese! One of my favorite memories was making Christmas fruit cake with her every year. My Hubby and I aren't that crazy for fruit cake, but I still try and make it because the memory is so sweet.
Okay, you got me....to comment! I love those potholders! I don't ever use oven mitts - just too clumsy. I prefer to fold over a thin potholder and hold it just like your give-away potholders do. Perfect.
My Oma enjoyed knitting. Each granddaughter received a knitted afghan from her as a high school graduation gift, and mine was striped in the colours of the rainbow. She told me she had seen a rainbow and written down the order of the colours to use as a pattern. What a special keepsake! She passed away in 2002 at the age of 94.
They're adorable! I remember my maternal grandmother for her peanut butter cookies, and my paternal grandmother for her Norwegian Lefse. And I love these potholders because they remind me of my 2 missions trips to Ukraine when I was a young adult!
Super cute!
My Grandma is in her 93rd year and is still going strong! I think her trick was bean soup and fresh buns...so that is what is on my stove cooking for dinner tonight!
Come to think of it, during our last visit she said she goes straight to the cookies now! I better get baking!
I enjoy seeing Kari's creativity. What an amazing gift she has! These pot holders are fantastic.
I am fortunate to still have one of my grandmother's alive AND live in the same town as her. Unfortunately, time is starting to take a tole on her mind and body. But to me she will always be the grandma who always welcomed us any time of the day with chocolate chip cookies (as well as many other things).
I remember, as a child, asking her for her chocolate chip cookie receipe so my mom could make these special cookies. Her reply, "I don't have anything written down. I just put it together." I recall wondering how it could be possible that the cookies always taste the same even though she doesn't follow a receipe.
There are a number of receipes that I have of hers. I want to make sure these parts of her continue to be passed on. I can't help but smile and remember when I endulge in her meals...it really is 'comfort' food.
Vicki Leppky
Was precious pot holder! Please put my name in the draw. I would LOVE to win!
I has a wonderful, loving, nurturing, menno cookie making Oma that I was so privileged to have know. With her health falling her we thought she would never make it to see me walk down the isle. By the Grace of God she did and that was the BEST gift I could have ever had! She passed away before my girls were born and I wish that she could have met them. I can just imaging how she would just laugh and smile. I miss her dearly but know that she is singing with the Angles in Heaven, sitting with her heavenly Father. One day I look forward to feeling her strong hugs once more. -Chelsea Thiessen
So fun!! You did such a good job with this post...how blessed we are to have all these amazing Oma's! And thank you for all the sweet things you said, I loved making these pot holders for you!
Love the give-away idea! Those pot-holders are adorable...great job, Kari!!
They're so cute! Great job Kari!! :-)
WOW! How special are those potholders! It is amazing how people touch our lives with such unique gifts that God has given to them. Each day God places a special gift in our lives
J. Wiebe - Calgary
My grandmother lived to be 91 years old. In the early 1900's she cooked in lumber camps and later ran a restaurant. Her cooking was legendary-that's what I remember most about her. And how she served her meals. Always at a beautifully set table replete with white linens, beautiful china, and sparkling silverware. We were expected to use our best manners; please and thank-yous were required and never, never leave the table without asking to be excused. And why would you leave the table? It was laden with juicy roasts, mashed potatoes with rich gravy; fresh picked vegetables and always...home made pie for dessert.
I try to keep my home as she did; but I know I'll never do it with her grace.
PS: Can you include me in the drawing?
As always, I had to stop by and check out your blog today and lo and behold, you're having a draw which even compels me to send in a write-up about my Oma Schulz!
Cooking borscht, or baking her famous Erdbeertorte, sewing dresses for her 5 'Fast' granddaughters or starting a hopechest for each one of us girls, all these things, and many more, were ways for her to express her love for us, for God and for others. After a cooking session at her house, she would often request a foot massage during which time we would have our heart-to-heart talks about everyday living and faith. She was a faithful prayer warrior and always had a heart for young people. In fact, in later years, when she was considered one of the 'elderly', she claimed she belonged to the younger generation!
We were very blessed to be the recipients of so much love, faith, and generosity!
The potholders are adorable! My great grandmother (Granny) lived till 101 and passed away in 2006, just a few months shy of her 102nd birthday.
Kristin
I like checking in on your blog. It makes me feel closer to Kristal as well : ) My great great Aunt is turning 103 tomorrow!!! She is still spunky and with it and amazing. My Mennonite Grandmas lived well into their 90's.
...would love to win those cute potholders. Nice work Kari : )
Kirsten
So ... this is the first time I have commented here though I have talked to you personally to tell you how often I am encouraged by your blog entries. But I can't resist today for two reasons: 1)the potholders are just too adorable to pass up the chance to add them to my kitchen and 2)my husband's grandmother is 108 and getting closer to 109. She is a wonderful woman whose mind is still very much alert, who can still read a Jane Austen novel and keeps up on the daily news. She has given me wise counsel even just recently and often has a quick witty answer to something I might ask.
Those are just darling.
I remember my great grandmother. I loved her so much. She was artistic with textiles and yarn. She made quilts, rugs, doilies, mittens and generously gifted people with them. When I was little, she lived in a tiny town, in a house with a backyard outhouse and a wonderful red hand pump in the kitchen where the tastiest water anyway poured out into my cup. She had a twinkle in her eye and great food in her kitchen. She was Swedish and her name was Helmy.
PS The pot holders are amazing! So cute.
I do check your blog, almost daily, from What Matters Most and I am always encouraged by your words of wisdom, faith, family or hostessing...if you only knew what a ministry you have in blogging. As a young woman and wife I feel like I am mentored by you women who are just a generation older. Thank you for writing! Those pot holders are so cute! I'd love to have them in my kitchen :) --Amber Wiens
Didn't have time to check the blog yesterday so I'm out of the draw. but, Kari, those are really cute potholders and it sounds like you could make a bunch for the next family gathering and be able to sell them!
Those are so cute!!!
-Corinne
I know I'm a day late in checking blogs to be entered in the draw, but, good job on drawing out the lurkers :)
I think you know how I feel about your blog - just such a creative & effective ministry!
What a talented d/l you have - very cute potholders! I wonder if she might come up with another pair for, say, mothers day? :)
Regarding knowing older women; working where I do (Tabor Home & Tabor Manor) I have met some really amazing centenarians - it actually surprises me sometimes to realize how sharp their minds still are, even though the body is understandably slowing down.
Have a wonderful day, Anneliese.
You must be thrilled beyond words at the prospect of having Kristal & her beautiful family living nearby. I am SO happy for you!
haha, I just re-read mine..wow how did those mistakes get there. Congrats to Anita the winner!:) -C
Miss Debbie
Did I read this correctly; you called your daughter 'mother'?
Eva
Eva .... the way I understood Miss Debbie's comment was that they called their gandmother "Mother" .. she did not say what her name was... but they named her daughter after this grandmother.
Great Post Anneliese, and here I am just a bit late...but now if you go to my blog..you will see that I was busy also recognizing someone who is at that ripe age and only because of the strength of God in his life.
Great give away and many happy thoughts to so many of your readers.
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