Quilting

I saw a picture of an old woman with a patchwork quilt on her lap. It's possible that it was simply a piece of beautifully printed fabric, but I think it was a quilt. And I wondered whether the woman had pieced it and quilted it herself.

 

In days long ago, she might have sewn the patches by hand, little running stitches one after the other joining together two-inch scraps of fabric. But whether she pieced it by hand or on her old treadle Singer machine, I'm sure she didn't actually quilt it alone.

 

For the quilting, she stretched it on a large frame so it was ready for that week's quilting bee. A dozen of her friends and neighbours seated themselves around the frame as if it were a large dining room table, and, each one with a needle in hand, they spent the afternoon quilting together the top, the batting, and the back in tiny, even stitches. Many hands make light work.

 

Irma Rombauer's definition of eternity is "two people and a ham." My definition of eternity is "a queen-sized quilt and one quilter." So this old woman was grateful to have had the help of her neighbours.

 

Copyright 2011 Ann Tudor

www.anntudor.ca
http://www.scenesfromthejourney.blogspot.com