I mentioned recently that as a child I didn’t like ‘girly’ things. And in a post that followed I said that in 1944 I was taught some knitting and mending at school. That year I also liked to do needlework in the presence of Aunty Ilse. I was nine years old then, going on ten. Come to think of it this must have been about the only year when I did learn a bit about needlework. Any other year I totally shied away from doing anything like sewing or knitting or embroidering. I just wasn’t interested. It is a fact that never again during all my school years was I required to do such work again.
Mum would always sew a lot of things for us children. When she was at her sewing machine she was not to be interrupted. She wanted to be able to concentrate on her work. She would sit all day at her sewing machine until the garment at hand was finished to her satisfaction.
The winter 1943/44 was rather severe especially in the open countryside. We lived there because of air-raid attacks over Berlin. Mum had sewn us warm winter coats and hats to match. In the following picture you can see what we wore to keep out the cold.
Mum did sew the coat I’m wearing, also my little brother’s outfit. Mum also knitted the hats and gloves.
AuntyUta 
Hallo liebe Freundin wünsche dir einen schönen Nachmittag,mein schöner Urlaub ist leider schon wieder vorbei.Es geht alles viel zu schnell die Zeit sie rast.Ich hoffe es geht dir gut und du hattest schöne Pfingstage ich bin ja erst Montag Morgens zurück gekommen und ehe man alles gewaschen und weg geräumt hat brauch auch seine Zeit.Mit der Handarbeit das kenne ich auch noch,habe auch viel gemacht.Wünsche dir eine gute Woche und liebe Grüße von mir.Gislinde
Welcome back, liebe Gislinde, from your beautiful holidays!
Ja, ich hatte eine Cousine, die hat auch immer sehr schöne Handarbeiten gemacht. Ich konnte da nicht mithalten!
Meine Mutter, ja die war gut in all solchen Sachen. Sie hat sehr schöne Sachen für uns gestrickt mit sehr schönen Mustern darin.
Wünsche dir auch eine gute Woche, Gislinde. Liebe Grüsse aus Australien von mir, Uta.
You have a wonderful mom who made sure her little angels are warm, comfortable and safe. I admire people who make things with their hands and I do know that homemade items are labor of love.
Thanks for this lovely comment, dear IT. Yes, I know our mum loved us very much.
I know the area and found it rather desolate. The village Lichtenow looked, in 1990, like a WW II film set. The streets were empty and I expected Russian T 36 tanks coming around the corner any minute. Eerie ! But we found a bakery and bought beautiful Berlin doughnuts filled with jam.
Hi Berlioz, I remember these beautiful Berlin doughnuts that are like balls. We did the rounds that day in 1990 in our rental 2CV with my brother Peter and daughter Caroline.
Those days must have been very hard on you and your family Auntyuta, especially your mother as she would have tried all in her power to protect you and shield you from harm, including the weather.
Ian
Maybe I didn’t stress this enough in my writing: We really lived kind of a privileged life out there in the country. I mean we didn’t live in a mansion. Accommodation was very basic. But we were extremely well looked after thanks to millionaire owner/landlord Werner M. All the hard work in this primitive surroundings was done for my Mum by Maria.
I remember Mum was always cheerful during these days. The danger of going to Berlin once a week she found exciting. And her children were safe in the country being looked after by Maria. Towards the end of the war when we stayed with Grandma in Leipzig, and when the house we lived in was totally destroyed by bombs, I guess life did become very tough then. But as I remember it, Mum still handled everything with good humour.
The real hard times for us came later on!
Thank you very much, Ian, for all your comments. I love getting comments! Cheers, Auntyuta.