Sew what now?

Bells asked if I actually quilt my quilts. Nope. Sorry, Bells, I've been lazy in identifying what I'm doing. I make pieced comforters, not quilts. The ones I back with micro-fleece for the warmer climates are just two layers joined at the edges. The ones that get a batt are then tied every five inches to keep the batt from coming loose and lumping up inside. Pieced and tied comforters are very warm. Quilts are less warm, because the quilting, though it strengthens and stabilizes all the layers, squeezes out a lot of the insulating puffiness. Quilts used to be made with scraps and rags - shirts that were too worn to mend and those odd pieces of fabric left over when you cut out armholes and things like that. So you pieced them together to make an extra layer for the bed. And when you got three layers, you stacked and sewed them together, back and forth, and round and round, to make them strong enough to put up with three kids wrasslin' for the covers all night. And imagine the wear they would get being washed on a scrub-board. Then wring that sucker by hand and hang the heavy son of a gun up on the line? Boy, you just better not wet the bed is all I can say!

At the beginning of the 20th century, it was very uncommon for a person to sleep alone in a bed. Siblings, spouses, children and friends commonly shared blankets and body heat. Unthinkable now, when even married people share a bed big enough to sleep without touching. Three brothers in a bed must have taught guys a lot of survival skills. And imagine a sister fight that ends with having to sleep with the venomous little snake! No wonder our grandmothers learned to bottle their irritations and frustrations. You could bicker and pinch and spite away a whole night's sleep if you didn't find some other way to deal with it.

Did you have to share a bed growing up? I was the only girl. I didn't even have to share a room. What was it like to share that much?

(PS. Several folks have remarked that Blogger is not accepting comments. You might try the preview button and see if it will give you what you need to post. I, too, am getting that problem randomly when I visit my blog buddies.)