My mom is an accomplished teacher, baker, knitter, crotcheter, spinner, and quilter. There is very little she could not do if she set her mind to it. She has even made with my step-father a kayak. She has tried woodworking but tends to leave that to my step-father (who BTW possesses many accomplishments such as spinning yarn which is very very very thin).

A few years ago, mom gave me a quilt which she called “Russian Egg” because the pattern looked like painted Russian Easter eggs. She cut out squares of that and thensquares of other colors to fold origamy-like Cathedral Window quilt squares. But it all required many, many tiny stitches — to create the squares initially and then put them together.

This quilt has adorned our bed for at least ten years. I decided it was time it had a bath. Now I did not ask my mom, but just assumed it could go in the washer since she makes just about everything to go in the washer. Into the washer, it went. Then it went through two 80-minute drying cycles on the high cotton setting.

Now I knew when I put the quilt in the washer, I would have some minor stitching to repair but after going through the washer and dryer, I noticed that some of the squares had unraveled from each other so I had more minor repairs to make than before it was washed.

I laid the quilt on our bed and pulled out a needle, thread, and scissors. It was during the next 45 minutes that I really began to appreciate the craftsmanship and patience of the person who made this quilt.

Later that day when we spoke on the phone, she told me that cathedral window quilts may not be entered in the Minnesota State Fair quilt competition because they are not considered quilt since they do not have a batt or quilt stitching. That just seems ludicrous because this quilt required more stitches than any regular quilt. My mom deserves a blue first place ribbon for this quilt!