When I was little we always took the old catalogs and made door stops out of them. When my father was little the old catalogs were used for toilet paper in the outhouse. You could sit and read the catalog and then rip out a page to use as toilet paper. When the toilet was moved indoors and such paper was too heavy to flush without clogging the toilet the old Sears, Roebuck catalog had no use anymore but people hated to just throw away anything so they made door stops out of them. I always had to go to my grand mother’s house to get the catalog because my brother or mother beat me to ours so I remember working on a door stop at her house. Very seldom did I get to finish mine as I could not sit still that long so Auntie (my grandmother was known to every one as Auntie) always finished it and used it in her house. When we left TN I took the phone book and made this door stop from that. Now the catalogs are not large enough to make a good door stop and many are made from too heavy a paper. To make a good door stop you want most of the pages out of new print paper and the only one today is the large telephone books but it has to be one that has the yellow pages too so that it is large enough to make a good door stop. 
Here is my completed door stop. I hope to make more of them as it is so relaxing working on them and they look so neat. We don’t need a door stop any longer as the houses are not as warped as they were back in the early 19oos. Now our door stops keep the door from opening so far they hit the wall, back when I was little the only way to keep a door open was to have a door stop to hold it open. The same was true of windows. You needed something in the window to hold it up. When my brother was old enough to go hunting he always came home with a deer each year and we used the lower leg of the deer as a window stop. Before that we used a stick, now the windows stay up by themselves so another part of history is lost. There is one other thing I remember and want to make again was the “draft dodgers” Back in the mill houses where I grew up there was no insolation in the house and when the cold winds of winter began to blow it blew into the house around the windows and under the doors so my mother made long stuffed snakes or animals such as a fox or dog and laid them on the windowsills or in front of any outside doors. That way the floor stayed a little warmer. I think some of the old houses still need those.
Rosemary, did you make these in Nova Scotia? Do you remember seeing any at your grandmother’s house? Nancy, I am sure you saw these, do you remember them? Have a great day
Oumapetts's Blog 
Sure I do remember but not the deer leg. No hunters in my house. What I do recall doing a lot of is weaving holders on the little peg looms. The different colored loops we used with the hook to pull them through. The ends of my fingers would be sore from jabbing them with the hook. Do you remember the birch bark baskets you and I would try to make to put blueberries in that we picked?We weren’t very successful but we kept on trying.
Also the clothes line at your house that had the pulley to use standing on the door step. Warren clipped a snake on the line with a clothes pin. I went out to hang my bathing suite and got the snake pulled smack in my face. Did I yell!!!!
And the mud pies you and I threw at the house next door near the pantry window. They spattered through the screen into the pantry the lady had just cleaned. We were punished for that one. We didn’t do it intentionally.
So many memories from the visits Mom and I had every summer at your house. So many years ago, but so vivid in my mind.
Love you, Nancy
Hello, Carol, I don’t ever remember seeing those catalogue doorstops, especially at Grammie Carver’s. She used her catalogues in that other way- in the outhouse which I always tried to avoid. She only had a flush toilet the last few years of her life, poor woman. I think a flush toilet is the most valuable thing in our house! I hope your afternoon with Regina is going well!
We are very lucky in many ways over our grandmothers. I think my most valuable one is the washing machine and tissues. I can remember having to wash my husbands handkerchiefs when he had a cold. I did have a washing machine but they were not very effective against a cold and the slime on the handkerchief had to be washed out by hand. Each new generation brings one more thing that makes our live easier, thank God.
Today was the best day so far with Regina. She did so well with her homework and we both had fun with it. She had quite a long time left to play with the house that Norman is building and when her Nana came to pick her up she even showed her how much she had done today and what she had learned and was so excited to do so.
I used to make these with my grandmother as well.
I used to make these with my grandmother also.