We’ve all learned to dampen the end of the thread, wind it around the end of one’s finger, then roll it off the finger, between the end of thumb and finger. When you pull the bulk of thread off over its end, it just becomes a knot.

There is, however, another clever way of knotting the thread, it’s called “the quilter’s knot.” It’s very simply made and always very uniform in size. It’s made by wrapping the thread around the needle. You then pinch the thread very tightly around the needle as you pull the needle and thread on through and off the needle. That roll of thread, as it leaves the needle, becomes the knot. That knot is always the same small and tight-sized knot.

One of a quilter’s goals is to have the knot not show at all, so that knot will be very small. If you need a larger knot, just wrap the thread a time or two more around the needle before you pull it off the needle.

There is another time in our lives when it can become very hard to thread the needle. If you have someone in a nursing home, those older and sometimes crippled, arthritic fingers just can’t. If you remember to, note and maybe show them the quilter’s knot.

We grandmas always have fun teaching that small grandchild to thread a needle and sew on a button. Sewing on that first button is always a thrill for the small child and really a special event  for us grannies, also.

Remember to cut that thread on a slant. It makes threading that needle even easier.           

— Aunt Norie, PO Box 265, Tonganoxie, KS 66086; auntnorie@att.net