A very special quilt

Many many years ago, like sometime during the 1970's, my Grandma Woodruff bought a set of quilt blocks and floss.  She stitched four blocks and either tired of the project or got busy with another one.  One day, she showed it to me and asked if I would like to finish embroidering the squares.  I, of course, said yes.

 I manged to embroider 4 more blocks and then I put it away myself.  I think I got bored because I just didn't (and still don't) like embroidering cross stitches.  And, my knots weren't as nice as Grandma's.  She could tie a knot using one hand and that knot would be nice and big, tight and at the very end of the floss.

Then one day during the 1980's, my other grandma, Grandma Berends, needed a project.  So, I brought the remaining four blocks over to her and she finished embroidering them.  At which time, Grandma W. told me that if I'd piece the quilt, she'd hand quilt it for me.  So, Mom and I went shopping for fabric.  I wanted to match the green, but both Mom and Grandma B. thought we should go with pink.  And we did.

By this time, it was 1987.  I took the blocks and the pink fabric home and I pieced the dang thing.  I hated piecing it.  Hating having to stitch perfect straight lines, hated sewing all those pieces together.  I just hated it and vowed that I would never again piece a quilt. (I haven't, either!)

But, I got it done, and Grandma W. quilted it. She drew her own design on the pink borders.  She almost always designed her own quilting pattern, and she quilted a lot of quilts (like 40 some baby quilts for her great-grandchildren.)  I used the quilt for a time on my full-sized bed, but then some of the stitches (the embroidered ones) started pulling out (probably mine since I was the worst at making knots.)  I quit using it and put it away in an acid-free box, wrapped in tissue paper.  I got it out not long ago just to admire the work and to remember both of my Grandmas.

When Grandma W was quilting it, I knew it was special simply because it was something we three worked on together.  Now that they both are gone, it's even more special.