At last, I have finished a very long-term WIP. This goes back a few years, when I bought some strips of knitting at an estate sale. They were done in white "bedspread cotton", i.e. a size #10, three of them in an alternating raised leaf pattern. One strip was over a foot wide, two others slightly narrower. There was also a long strip in a different pattern, plus an unfinished one in that and lots of extra cotton. I got them very inexpensively, as this was just before "women's work" started to be appreciated again. Obviously, someone had started to make a knitted bedspread and been unable to finish it.
I bought the stuff and set it aside while I decided what to do. I knew I wasn't about to knit all the extra strips which would be needed, but was otherwise uncertain, although I thought it might be nice with the wide strip in the center and narrower strips inserted in the sides of a woven fabric. However, I KNEW it was going to need an edging, and I don't care to knit lace, so I set about crocheting a pineapple edging, a little at a time, while "helping" dh to watch tv, and produced thirty feet of it.
Then, a couple of years ago, mousing around the fabric store, I found this cotton waffle weave type fabric in 45" width. It may have been called "cowboy cloth", but don't hold me to that, but I bought three yards of it.
I FINALLY put it all together just before dh got his new pacemaker, and it looks just gorgeous. I split the fabric down the middle, then again down the center of the two pieces and hemmed all the raw edges on the sewing machine. I had wondered for a long time whether I should hand stitch the lace to the fabric, but decided that, (a) it would never be finished in that case, and (b) I didn't need to be such a purist. The center strip turned out to be closer to two feet wide when I stitched it onto the two side pieces, and the narrower ones are close to a foot wide, so the whole thing hangs over the bed almost to the floor and the lace shows up beautifully. I still haven't decided what to do with the other stuff, I will just have to let that "mature" a little longer.
Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.