A Child’s Rocking Chair, Through the Decades

joynealkidney

5 years ago

Probably for Christmas one year in the 1940s, Leora Wilson gave little rocking chairs to each of her six grandchildren.

Gloria and I are entertaining our dolls, who are enjoying the little rockers. I’m pointing to where we live on the globe, which I still have.

I suppose this one, and my sister’s, were eventually relegated to a store room, as our old farmhouse didn’t have an attic. Both of us were 4-H members, in the Penn Township girls’ club called the Penn Gwens. We needed projects to complete, to record in our record books and for the Madison County Fair.

The little rocking chair became a project of painting and reupholstering it.

I noted that the name of the paint was Chiffon, and that I’d braided the rug, which was another project.

The fabric swatch gives you an idea of how much colored photos of that era have faded.

I’m sure Marilyn had more fun that it looks! Her rug was black, rose, and off white, made of old clothing. Mine was a light blue, made from a torn-apart electric blanket that no longer worked. Marilyn’s father, Bob Lawson, taught us the art of rug braiding.

Marilyn Lawson and I did a demonstration about making braided rugs from discarded clothing and blankets.

Meanwhile, I’d learned to do needlepoint. When son Dan was small, in the late 1970s, I refinished the chair. This time I designed and needlepointed upholstery for the seat.

Now the little rocking chair belongs to granddaughter Kate in the Twin Cities! She’s so busy, I don’t think she sit on it. Or anything else.

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Marilyn had polio as a child.