From Grandma to Charlotte to me

My grandmother Nelson made this quilt about--actually, I don't know how long ago, but it's likely as old as I am. I thought the other day I'd ask my mother, but then I remembered she has been gone for 32 years. Funny.

Anyway, my mother gave the quilt to me a long time ago. I used it. I also put it inside two sheets for protection as I continued to use it.

It was wearing out, tearing, pulling apart, the batting bunching.

Charlotte moved here about eight years ago. She's a quilter, and how. I took my grandma's quilt over and asked if she could do some work on it.

She did. She cut off the binding, put new batting here and there, cut away the muslin that had worn through and put new muslin where needed, stitched up most of the torn places, and bound it up again.

I left it there for years. I mean years. Intending whenever I thought of it, which wasn't daily, to go get it. Charlotte and I talked about putting it up on her frames and getting people to come over and work on it. That never happened, and I'm glad. Why comes later.

Finally, Monday of this week I went over. She did not ask any pay, but she had spent some money on materials and so asked for $12. I remembered a couple of years ago she said $16, so that's what I paid. I thought I ought to give her something for storing it, too, but she refused.

Thanks to Charlotte for what she did for me. It was a lot.

Now I'm working on it, finding the places that need to be retied, using Charlotte's heavy thread, leaving the old ties where they are if they're still tied and strong. Because Grandma put them there.

I like doing this part, although I know it will take a long time, but that's okay. And this is why I'm glad we never got around to having other people come work on it. It's my job to do. Charlotte wants to come and help me. I don't want her to, but I haven't said that to her yet.

I had told Charlotte I didn't love my Grandma enough. It's true. I knew she had not liked or approved of my dad; I learned she had been hard on my aunt. I thought her hard, but I was only a child and didn't see her often. You know?

But my mother loved her very much.

And here is what's happening. I'm learning about Grandma as I tie this quilt, trying to figure out if she had a pattern for tying or not. Seeing how she put those pieces of cloth together with the muslin in between--a resourceful person, frugal, and with a sense of color and design. I do not know what garments she cut up or had scraps from, but I am pretty well sure she did not go out and buy new fabric for this quilt. Even the muslin may have come from flour sacks. Not sure.

I am learning to love my grandmother better. High time, I know. But not too late.

This quilt will never be a prize winner. It's old and faded and looks like it has had a lot of wear. It has. But it will be mine and still useful and something from my Grandma.