No Time on My Hands [Paperback]

Grace Snyder (Author), Nellie Snyder Yost (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1986

When Grace Snyder, the matriarch of a pioneer Nebraska family, wrote these reminiscences in her eightieth year, she felt she had been blessed "by having no time on my hands." The story of her busy life begins on the high plains of Nebraska, where her parents homesteaded in 1885. She recalls her childhood in a sod house on a frontier that required everyone to pull together in the face of hostile weather, serious illness, and economic depression but that also held its full share of good times.

"As a child of seven and up," writes Grace Snyder, ". . . I wished that I might grow up to make the most beautiful quilts in the world, to marry a cowboy, and to look down on the top of a cloud. At the time I dreamed those dreams and wished those wishes, it seemed impossible that any of them could every come true." But she saw all of them realized.

No Time on My Hands is a remarkable chronicle of the sod house era and of Grace Snyder’s married life on a ranch in Nebraska’s sandhills. From there she finally flies above the clouds to exhibits where her quilts contribute to a worldwide revival of quiltmaking. Mrs. Snyder lived twenty years after the publication of these memoirs in 1963, to the age of one hundred. Her daughter, Nellie Snyder Yost, who helped to write No Time on My Hands, has added an epilogue to this Bison edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Snyder’s lengthy narrative is filled with humorous incidents, and she rarely fails to see a light side to even the most dreary event. Still the pathos comes through. . . . We realize Snyder’s importance as a folk artist, an outstanding quilter whose work was shown all over the country."—Denver Post

(Denver Post )

Product Details

• Paperback: 565 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (May 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803291647
• ISBN-13: 978-0803291645
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The autobiography of a pioneer woman, August 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: No Time on My Hands (Paperback)

As a little girl, Grace Snyder had three dreams: to marry a cowboy, to see the top side of a cloud, and to make the most beautiful quilts in the world. This book is about how her dreams came true. Grace lived at about the same time as Laura Ingalls Wilder, and her story is similar. She tells about her girlhood, her marriage and family, and making the quilts that earned her many ribbons and a reputation as one of America's finest quilters. She tells about good times and bad times, but throughout the book is the joy of a woman who lived the life of her dreams.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You think YOU have no time!, June 9, 2003

By 

Janet Dwyer (Hastings, NE United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No Time on My Hands (Paperback)

This book is an excellent history of how the midwest was settled - a little like House on the Prairie, but for grownups. From her childhood in a sod house to the Nebraska Sandhills as an adult, she accurately tells the story of what it was like to live in a rapidly changing world. It is amazing to think of how hard life was on the prairie, and yet she found time to make the most exquisite quilts. I read this book because I know of Grace Snyder as a master quilter, and enjoyed this book because of all I learned about the settling of my state, particularly the Sandhill region, of which I knew very little. She brings you into her family, and you rejoice in their accomplishments, and share in their sorrows. This book is a gem.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Little House on the Prairie Uncensored, April 14, 2007

By 

J. Orr "Biology Geek" (Midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Time on My Hands (Paperback)

My sister lent me this book to read because it featured some of our relatives, the Holms. I thought this book would be kind of dry, but it turned out to be quite the good read. It's a love story, a story of hard-ships and a story of heart breaking loss. Like Little House on the Prairie it explains much of the techniques that were employed on the frontier to survive, but it also does not spare any of the raw and unpleasant details.

Snyder's desire to create beautiful textile art runs through her life and this book binding together the hardships she faced; helping her move forward. The book is also filled with wit and humor, insightful observations and most importantly hope.