Very Satisfying
So close to the end, I can’t help but smile,
even with a few bags under the eyes.
When a huge challenge is close to the end game, it is very satisfying and also a bit hard on the back and hands. Oliver’s quilt is taking on the look of possible completion. Yesterday and today was spent tying many knots with embroidery floss. Thanks to some very kind elves, I have floss to tie knots with and to do counted cross stitch with until my end game.
My sister, Elvera, and I were invited many times to help my Mom finish quilts. The quilts were either hand sewn or tied with wool yarn. After these last several days I wish I knew the size of the needle that was used to push through a cotton quilt top, the batting, and the cotton backing, all the while using wool 
yarn. I had all I could do, using a slender needle with an eye just large enough for the embroidery floss to fit through, and that was accomplished by using a needle nose pliers to pull the needle through. The beauty of wool yarn is that over time the wool would ware and the individual fibers took on the look of each yarn knot to resemble a flower bud, something acrylic yarn can’t achieve.
I am very pleased that the majority of the materials used for this project did come from my stashes. Without the stashes, Amy’s wish for a “large blanket” could have become quite spendy. I filled my stashes from the close out sale of Grandma’s Quilt Emporium at a $1.00 a yard sometime in the late 1990s. It would really smart to purchase that same quality of yard goods for the going price of $8.99 and $9.99 a yard. The stipulation is, when I am asked to do a project, and the yard goods are not offered up by the person making the request, it is my choice of what I will use. Dennis takes down various totes for me to shop from as I make my choices. By the way, the quilt will be 60″ x 82″. Not quite the size of a twin sized bed, but I am sure this size will suffice for cuddling as well as fort building as Oliver gets a bit older.
Tomorrow we will be rattling the totes to find just the right fabric for the binding. I know I will have to find a piece that is ¾ of a yard, or several to put together to make 294 inches of binding.