A visit to Mom’s home and cleaning closets I found parts of
a quilt. And of course, it brought back
memories of Mom and quilting with her in the basement in Storm Lake. Often when my children were young, she would
have a quilt set up on the frames and ready to tie. We’d talk and tie…take a break with children’s
duties and coffee.
The quilting frames are 4 long pieces of wood that my grandpa
had cut. He then nailed strong fabric
along the edges. The four pieces were
then positioned and secured with C clamps on the backs of chairs. Well, that sounds easy! In reality, the frames have to accept the
size of the backing. That of course
takes maneuvering and re-clamping. Next
comes the filler and finally the top.
All of this is pulled and pinned.
Then the tying starts.
We worked around the outside before rolling the quilt. (Rolling the quilt meant taking off the C
clamps and rolling evenly and clamping it again.)
Early on my grandma taught me about tying knots. She had me tie the first step…over and under
to start a square knot. Next Grandma
told me to bring the yarn around both ends and bring it up…like I was tying a
horse. (Alas having never tied a horse,
I did learn how she wanted me to tie a quilt!)That made the knot stand up.
When not in use, the quilting frames live in the basement
rafters. They moved to Mason City with
us and now live in my basement rafters.
 |
| pinning |
 |
| C clamps |
 |
| finished and bound |
