Threading Needles

I spent the good part of an hour trying to thread a needle today. It was the same needle I threaded yesterday. It was also the same thread, from the same spool that I used yesterday. I have several of those little gizmos that threads needles, but the eye of the needle I was trying to thread was too small for the miniscule gizmo wire to push thread thru.

I snipped imagined frayed ends of the thread, along with the classic technique of wetting and pinching to make a point that would go thru the eye, but all I can say for my persistent efforts was zip, nada, zero, nothing. I even came up empty handed when I searched my needle cache for one I could use.

While I was struggling with my needle threading I thought of Dad who threaded all the needles Mom used when she quilted. He did not use a needle threader gizmo. He wore glasses but he did all the threading by hand. As he threaded each needle he judged the thread length Mom like to work with, and carefully pinned each threaded needle side by side to a man’s white handkerchief.

The needles were placed close together and in long rows. There would be hundreds of threaded needles by the time he filled the handkerchief. He had a special way of folding the handkerchief to protect the threads so they didn’t tangle. As Mom finished a needle, she pinned it to the handkerchief and gently pulled a threaded one from the cloth to use.

Mom found so much pleasure in quilting. Dad made her quilting frame along with rails of different lengths to fit any size quilt Mom wanted to work. Dad also helped with tracing the border designs. The two of them were a ‘quilting team’. Dad was as proud of each finished quilt as Mom was.

I have no idea how many quilts Mom finished. She quilted for many years so there had to be a large number. Most of her quilts were traditional patterns; although she once quilted a dogwood pattern I designed to be white on white. It was really lovely when it was finished and I was pleased it had been quilted so beautifully. She gave it as a present to the Dr. that did her cataract surgery.







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