When I was a kid one could go from door to door selling things and make 2-3 dollars a week. And believe me I did. I had a wagon I ask for one Christmas, I kept it filled with all kinds of things to sell. I was a general store on wheels. I would set out in the morning and get back home around 3:30 in the afternoon. I would do this 2 or so times a week I had a regular route. Sometimes I would go into a new neighborhood, this was usually a wise move as the women in these houses had not seen my wears before so they were easy sells. I had 3 women and a man that made things for me to sell I got to keep 25 or 50 cents on each item and this added up pretty fast. Mrs. Brenninger made aprons, pillow cases and trimmed hand towels. While her husband made corner shelves he had designed out of ply wood, and little oak leaf shelves as well. Their daughter Shirley also sewed and made things to sell. But it was Mrs. Luther, who made toss pillows. Beautiful toss pillows there were clover shapes, and triangles, round, and square all boxed with zippers, all had welt cords, and some with buttons. I guess this is why to this very day I cannot stand pillows without welt cords and I like boxed pillows rather than knife edge. To me toss pillows that are not welted are simply not finished, just 2 pieces of fabric sewn together. Mrs. Luther made other beautiful things as well she made draperies and even all her own cloths. She covered the chair in my bed room, I mowed her lawn. She taught me how draperies and toss pillows are made. Although I have never made either I have a basic understanding of how these things are done because of her. I have made some of her designs over and over and sold them for a lot more than the 2or 3 dollars we sold them for in those days. Her clover leaf pillow boxed, welted, and with a centre button is still one of my all time favorites. Her boxed and welted rectangle with rows of buttons is also a favorite of mine. This particular pillow was really expensive, it was at 4.50 out of the reach of many. Mrs. Luther was a great story teller as well. She told how Mr. Luther had accidentally killed her first husband and married her so she couldn’t collect insurance. How he used to knock her son over at the dinner table, how she eventually just got up and took her son away. She had a glass eye too, and would tell me how her brother accidentally poked her eye out. So be careful… She and I would eat dinner together occasionally. Thick steaks rare, with lots of butter, on thick pieces of bread to soak up the blood, baked potatoes, and red tomatoes from her yard. She would refer to something’s being” hard as a brickbat” I have never heard anyone else use this term other than myself. Imagine how hard a brick bat is… She lived in little aqua house at the end of our street, a miniature of her son’s rather lavish house around the corner. Hers had mums all around it that in the fall would be “white as the driven snow”. Never heard that again either…But my all time favorite “she had a face that would stop an 8 day clock” now that’s a very telling comment…
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