Friday morning I was moving rather slowly; "Arthur-itus" has been visiting for a few days. I slept in late and was just having my first cup of coffee when the phone rang. A church quilting buddy called and said she was at a garage sale in town, and I needed to get over there quickly! Yeah, right, I thought. She insisted, and told me they had a Yo-Yo quilt, and she didn't want it, but she thought I might. So I called another quilting buddy to go with me, even though I really didn't feel like going. She asked the lady to hold the quilt for 30 minutes and gave her my name, and then left to go on to another sale somewhere. As I "cripped" up the drive-way, I heard the lady say, "Here comes (my name)". She got the quilt, and her helper and she held it up for me to see. Before I even got up to it, I knew I wanted it! (Heart pounding by now!) I asked the price and almost fainted when she said $50. She obviously had no idea what she had, and of course, I didn't tell her! I just said, "I think I'll take it" and pretended to check it a little closer. My money and her quilt changed hands, and I hobbled back to the car. My friend was in awe too.
I came home and immediately spread it out on my back bedroom bed. I still cannot believe it! I almost felt like a thief!
I've seen a few Yo-Yo quilts in my life, but never one like this! Each 8.5" hexagon center has thirty-seven (yes, 37) hand-stitched yo-yos that are consistently 1.5", and the path around and between has 24 more white 1.5" yo-yos. I have yet to get an accurate count of the rows and hexies, but I think it is 1l x 11 rows, and is about 109" square or maybe more, with the scalloped edge. (I guess I could do the math, but haven't.) I'll have to have help to get it measured accurately. Anyway, it hangs the same on both sides of my bed (full size), and has a deep overhang at the foot, and also a pillow tuck of one block! In the last picture, you can see tiny specks of blue peeking through; that's my bedspread, so you can see how closely they are put together. Every stitch is by hand! Again, I still cannot believe I got it! It can be seen from the entry into my den, and just looks lovely to me! On just a rough calculation, I figure there are more than 4,000 yo-yos! Just making those would have put me in the grave, and then the maker figured out her design, and then another big job of connecting them all together on four sides! I haven't gone over it row by row yet, but will soon. For the most part, it is very secure, and there are about 8 or 10 yo-yos that need a bit of repair, which won't take long. I asked for the name of the maker, but the lady didn't know; said a friend had put it in her sale. (I still cannot believe it!)
I have a regular hand-pieced and hand-quilted Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt, with a green diamond path that was made by my aunt, and it is beautiful, but when I saw this yo-yo one, I had to have it too! (Did I tell you I'm so glad I got it? ---- Yeah, I think I told you! *giggle*)
When I got home with the quilt, there was a message on my phone from the friend who had called to tell me about the quilt. Her voice seemed a little stressed, and she asked if I had bought the quilt, and quickly said if I was planning on keeping it (are you kidding???!!), she was okay with it, but if I was going to give it to a friend, or sell it, she wanted it. She said she realized she had made a bad mistake, but she had already insisted I go look at it, and she had already left the place. So --- again, here came another guilt trip! I felt bad that she wanted it, but she agreed that she had passed it. I said if it would alter our friendship, she could have it (and I held my breath until she said she had no problem with me keeping it!). I'm sure it will not be a problem for either of us, but I did tell her that if I ever decide to get rid of it, she can have it. I asked her why she did not buy it at first sight, and she said she just hated to spend the money. Well, duh! (She and her husband had bought out the leavings of another quilter's estate sale a couple of weeks ago.)
Today I almost finished quilting my new July 4 table topper, and the binding is on, ready to whip down. Maybe I'll calm down enough tomorrow to get it finished.
Have a restful Sunday, everyone. Think I'll go take one more look at it, and then hit the sack!
---"Love"