20 years later

At a family get-together last year, hosted by my sister Mary and her husband Jim, she pulled their wedding quilt out of its storage box (it was the middle of summer--the quilt was put away until needed) and explained it was their favorite cuddle-up quilt. I was delighted to hear that! But the years of love had taken their toll on the binding.

This is the main reason I prefer doubled bias bindings. There are plenty of layers.

When I knew I'd be returning the next month for an extended period, to help my folks take care of themselves after some health issues, I grabbed all I had remaining of the original binding fabric, plus likely candidates if there wasn't enough of the first fabric.

It was good to have that quilt under my hands again. I was so pleased with how fabrics had mellowed and faded, yet remained solid. The stitching was holding up and the ink on the label hadn't faded away nor eaten through the fabric.

My mother didn't own a rotary cutter, nor any rotary cutter rulers. She had a mat, but used it for cutting mats to frame her artwork. It was back to the 20th century for me, measuring and cutting the old-fashioned way.

Not even the luxury of cushioned Fiskar handles!

I just cut off the worst of the frayed original binding and sewed the new binding over what was left. I found my personal note, provenance if you will, that I had forgotten about.

It was restful, hand-stitching the binding down in the early morning sunlight out on the Parental Unit's back porch. My sister didn't get to see the finished product until after I left, but she was absolutely thrilled with how beautiful it was, again.

One morning my folks had a realtor friend over to discuss options (move? don't move?) and I threw the quilt on the bed I'd been using during my stay. It was amazing what a homey atmosphere it immediately added to the room. My mother was quite taken aback at the transformation when she walked in.

That's a quilt's Super Power!