a new quilt & and an old quilt

Side A (raw silk)

This time to explore the relationship between the front and the back I took the thread ends from one side and brought them through the other. What was the top thread (lime green) is pulled to the other side and tied; what was the bobbin thread (turquoise) is pulled to the front side and tied.

side A detail

It’s not reading terribly well, but I like the idea of using the thread ends from sewing machine and doing more with them than snipping them off.

side B

side B detail

Now for the last couple months I have been working to repair an old quilt and I finally finished it this weekend!! It has been a big project! A woman I met at Mutations Craft Fair asked me if I would be willing to work on this and I said I would give it my best shot. I had never attempted anything like this before, but I was glad for the chance to try it and glad for the income it would provide.

Quilt before

When I got it, the quilt was not in total disrepair, but had come apart in many places. Thankfully it still had all the fabric and all the batting! I began by taking out the previous repairs that had been done in black thread (groan) and fixed all the top piecing, making it whole again. Some of the batting inside had come apart and I patched that back together. And finally I did the hand quilting in long lines and stitched the binding back up.

Front, after

The beautiful part of this whole project is the story. The woman (Pat) who I have been working with was recently remarried and this is her husband’s mother’s quilt. They had to move her out of her home and while they were going through everything Pat found this quilt and rescued it from the trash. Her idea, and this is what we did, was to fix this heirloom and give it to her husband for his birthday. Pat and her husband (I can’t remember his name) came by this afternoon and picked it up and it was wonderful to be part of this precious gift. He was very surprised to see it again and I hope he will enjoy having this part of his family history for a long time to come!

Back, after

After I had been stitching it for a while I began to notice two very distinctive stitching styles, other than my own. I wonder how many people worked to put this quilt together? Just two? or a whole group?

detail of fabrics

more detail fabrics

I love these old fabrics. They felt very thin in my hands, like they had lived a long life.  I wondered: did these fabrics have a history before this quilt? or were they chosen specifically for this use?