Technically, this blanket is a “quilt,” but my mom always called it her “musical blanket.” The first skill used was cross stitch, then the stitched pieces were bound with bias tape and appliqued to a single piece of fabric printed with little snippets of written music, that was given to me by my son-in-law Troy George. Then a layer of batting was cut to size and sewed between the front piece of fabric with its appliqued cross stitch pictures and a piece of fleece fabric which became the backing. Once all three layers were joined together, the entire blanket was encircled with some silky pink blanket binding. With all of that in mind, I decided that it was the “making of a blanket” (or quilt) that was the due process, so I chose “sewing” as the menu.
The whole thing didn’t even start as that type of a project, and I didn’t know what I would do with the “symphony” of cross stitched pieces that I asked for in the cross stitch round robin I originated a year or so before the blanket was completed and subsequently given to my mom for Christmas in 1996.
Here’s the blanket as it looks now, after my mom used it well, for many years. It came back to me (as with so many of my gifts to her over time) when she passed away. It no longer has its shiny, soft binding. The rest of the blanket is still in great shape. The binding was worn away except for little scraps here and there, from my mom “worrying at” it with her hands while turning it around and around, as she sat in her chair at the care home where she finally had to be, near the end of her time on Earth. One of these days I’ll replace the binding. I think I’ve put it off because of memories…sigh.
The horn was stitched by Mary Julius, of Lanham, Maryland.
The banjo was stitched by Claudia Nay, of Valparaiso, Indiana.
The violin was stitched by my daughter Jackie George, of Aberdeen, Washington.
The mandolin, harp, violin, and clarinet were stitched by me, when I was still living in Aberdeen, Washington.
The saxophone was stitched by Kitty Bowman, of Coquille, Oregon.
The guitar was stitched by Ada Karyus, of Ransomville, New York.
The drum was stitched by Dianne Kindel, of Texas.
What a wonderful quilt full of memories. :grinning:
Yes! I just realized that I usually get it out to use, at Christmas, and I didn’t! I can see it in a stack of blankets over to my left, though, so now I will get it out for the rest of the winter. 😀