Saturday, January 11, 2014

Lordy, The Thing One Finds When Deep Cleaning

It is almost Christmas, and I'm in a frenzy.  Magic Man's family is coming HERE for the holidays.  I'm excited to be hosting, but what were we thinking?!?!

MIL is a terrific housekeeper.  Me?  Not so much.  I maintain a little dust and chaos is healthy for a home.  But push aside my beliefs, I want MIL to be comfortable.  So along with freezer food preparations, scrubbed floors and bathrooms - and I do mean scrubbed, there's washing sheets, rearranging the guest bedroom to open trundle for Magic Man and me.  (Can't let MIL and FIL sleep in those uncomfortable beds), decorating the house AND the Magic Shop Party Room, where the festivities will be held.  Home was a cheap hotel.  Food to be served at the Party Room where the rest of the family would camp.

All of this nonsense to let you know that in cleaning out the closets, I found a quilt top my Grandmother made, who knows how long ago.  She went into a nursing home in the early 80's.  We suspected it was made long before then.

When Granny was admitted to the nursing home, many of her possessions were divided; her house placed on the market, yada yada yada.  As the only grandchild who shared her passion for "making your own," I received this quilt top.  It had the batting and the backing, she started quilting but only finished about a 4" square, leaving me to finish the project.  With a 4-year old in the house, quilting was out of the question.  So the quilt went into the back of the closet, only to be recovered a month ago, almost 30 years later (see note about a little dust and chaos above).
Quilt Top on Frame
Now, life is calmer - just a tad, so I set up my quilt frame (never used, mind you) and tackled the project.  Magic Man came if from work, rolled his eyes and politely smiled at the monstrosity sharing our living room.  Justification - it isn't any larger than the Christmas tree, so I see no need for complaints.

Granny loved details.  She crocheted and tatted with sewing thread; knitted with fine yarns; hand stitches were practically invisible.  Her work was always exquisite.  She could sew like no one I knew and my daughter, her great granddaughter, has that same natural talent (but doesn't use it often).
Cross Stitched Detail
And now I'm quilting.  By hand.  It would be so much easier to send the top to April and let her long arm do the job.  That would not be acceptable by Granny.  I am happy the quilt lines are printed on the fabric.
Quilting, Quilting and Quilting
If you don't hear from me for a while, you know where I am.


2 comments:

  1. Hi Cindy, You left a comment on my blog, Rhythm of the Needles, and I had no way to respond to you (wish Blogger allowed a way to reply), so I'm answering you here! Here are links to the Vs on my sock yarn afghan as well as the corner triangles. I can also email you a .pdf if you prefer, Joanne. joanne @ jconklin . com
    http://www.rhythmoftheneedles.net/2012/07/mitered-triangles.html
    http://www.rhythmoftheneedles.net/2012/07/corner-triangle.html

    As for Tunisian crochet, I'm afraid that the only thing I know about it is that I met a woman many years ago who told me that she wrote a book about it. I don't remember her name, but that's the extent of my knowledge!

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    1. Thank you for the links Joanne. I clicked the "let me know about other posts" button, but this works. I'll check the links you sent and consult with my crafty friends. I love the pattern and would hate to see it go to waste. We travel a lot and I'm looking for things to keep me busy in the car.

      One last question. I do very, very simple knitting, like knit stitch only dish cloths. Do you think this is a project I might be able to do?

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