Only Yesterday         

It seems like only yesterday that I removed the flannel sheets from my bed and put on the summer garb of percale. In reality, it has been about two months ago. The summer wasn’t warm enough to shed the flannel snake skins. The nights have been cool enough to warrant a warmer covering.

This summer has been another wet and cool one. My lawn has enjoyed it, stretching heavenward and needing mowed twice a week, but I resisted, only completing that chore once each week. The only good thing about the cool autumn weather has been the beauty found in the multihued leaves and for some reason, the wonderful cloud formations. Many of the clouds have seen wispy, in a feather or fern frond way. They have been remarkable.

The coolness of the October weather has compelled me to pull of the short-lived percale sheets and replace them with the flannels. I did have only one set of flannels, but I found a set of barely used ones at our school’s yard sale and I bought them. Now, I don’t have to pull the flannels off when they get dirty, wash, dry and put them back on the same day. I can just replace them with another set and wash the others at my leisure.

I like the feel of flannels when I crawl into bed at night. The percale sheets would greet me with icy fingers while the flannels welcome me with warm and wide open arms. It is almost as though they know what kind of day that I’ve had and want to cuddle and make me feel as though they care.

I like my bedroom to be cool. It helps me sleep through the night, but the flannels keep me toasty and I like that, too. I have on my bed one of two knotted quilts that my mother-in-law, Retha Morrison, helped me to make. The top is made with various colors of double knit squares that are place onto a fleece backing, then knotted with yarn at the alternating corners of the squares. The fleece backing may wear out, but anyone who has used double-knit knows that it wears like iron. The fleece can be replaced and the quilt lives on, reincarnated like the Phoenix.

Retha started to make these quilts on a small scale. I mean that she would make baby quilts for people that she knew who were having a baby. She would use pale colors and white double-knit and knot it to a large bath towel. It made a personal gift for the parents and the newborn child.

Retha passed away, nearly eleven years ago, but I carry on the tradition and make baby quilts for relatives.