I’ve recently been exploring stitch with paper and cloth again. The photo above is an early effort.
Yes, the label says really early – 15 years ago.
This scrapbook quilt, Military Memories, seemed the prefect way to store and display some of Jims paraphernalia from his days in uniform.
I chose some patriotic fabric as the background, pieced a border inducing some military motifs from a novelty fabric or two, and added ribbons, pins, buttons, and patches.
The black and white photograph is printed on paper and sewn on, while the map is printed on fabric. I used a wiggly stitch of some sort to secure it to paper
The back is camo fabric, but the paper envelope holding the label is easy to see. The quilt measures 11″ x 16″.
Yes, this is an early effort of mine, and the sparsely spaced quilting reveals that I’ve changed my ways – now I usually quilt things until they are bulletproof. But it’s interesting to me that I continue to find some of my earliest quilts were exploring techniques I still embrace. Fabric and paper stitched together – it never gets old.
I recently had to buy a new one of these. If you sew, you recognize this as a seam ripper. We all use them to rip out mistakes, but Ive lately been using one a lot – to deconstruct some garments.
I came into possession of some old sewing paraphernalia and vintage clothing in our family. I sorted and washed and cut apart and added the bits to my stash. Most deconstruction is done with scissors and a rotary cutter, but button removal is most easily done with a seam ripper. There were lots of buttons. There was some delicate lace edging to remove with a seam ripper, too.
The seamstress wasnt a quilter, but she had some unfinished projects. The yellow at the top of this photo is a little girls dress – almost finished – only the lace to add down the front. Maybe buttonholes were needed. Maybe the little girl decided she didnt like yellow, maybe she outgrew the size of the pattern.
There was yardage of the navy fabric on the right in the photo above. From the shapes of the fabric that wasn’t used, I knew an apron had been made from that fabric.
In the bundles, there was fabric that was wool, rayon, cotton, silk; of course I am anxious to dip some of these in the dye pot. In the interest of research and because I like to do such things, I wanted a record of what fabrics were made of which fiber.
Also on my want-to-explore list is making books with fabric. Ive done some of that, but for this one, I started with a paper booklet and stitched the fabric swatches on the paper, leaving room to add written notes.
There were also some patterns and what looks to be a template cut from a 1956 newspaper. Some of these treasures will end up in art projects of mine. For now, bits of all of them are in this project, the booklet.
I left room to add swatches of the fabrics once they are dipped in the indigo bath, and as I continue to dig through the treasure chest, more embellishments can fill some spaces.
It was Saturday, the day for adventure. Our ride-about for the day took us to some antique stores; old favorites and a new one, a reliable lunch spot for a bite to eat, and then
part of a huge hooked rug designed by Steffen Thomas
Then we found ourselves visiting an art museum in an unusual location. Our cars navigation system complained, this destination includes roads with incomplete information.
This art museum has an address with Natures inspiration all around.
A quilting friend had told me about an exhibit here showing art quilts interpreting some of the work of Steffen Thomas. The art quilts were nice, for sure. But the discovery of Steffen Thomas artwork, the man himself, the museum, and the docent, Ashley, were all pleasant surprises to add to our day and to our bank of memories.
Steffen Thomas was a German-born artist who spent much of his career working from his home near Atlanta. His work includes massive bronze sculptures, mosaic tile work, welded iron pieces, and paintings using oil, acrylic, and mixed media.
I was entranced and inspired by all of his work, some pieces mesmerizing me more than others. The museum set up allowed me to examine details of his techniques up close.
I wasnt disappointed in the quilters interpretations of Thomas work, either. Interesting textile techniques, materials, and stitching were represented. I even recognized the names of some of the fiber artists whose work was there.
The month-long exhibit has included lectures and demonstrations on not only fiber arts, but floral arranging and edible flowers, too.
An informative brochure provided to accompany this exhibit states that Steffen Thomas was joyful person. It shows in his work and in the museum dedicated to his art.
What a fabulous discovery we made. Thanks, Kaye, for insisting that I travel to see this exhibit.
This Arts in Bloom exhibit will be at the museum through May 25, so you still have time to see it.
The website for the Stefffen Thomas Museum is here.
For those who expect to see one of my quilts in a post, here it is. We did take a couple of small quilts along. This old brick building and tree beckoned, so I posed Granny Zees Baskets on a chair. The story of this quilt is shared in detail here.
I recently gave a talk to a guild about using indigo fabrics in quilts. I shared old quilts and new ones I had made. I included purchased indigo fabrics from Africa (again, both old and new ones), commercial reproductions of indigo fabrics, and fabric I had dipped in the indigo dye bath myself.
Once home, I rearranged quilt displays so I could visit with these pieces more.
And, with warmer temperatures outside, I knew it was time to resurrect the dye pot and get busy.
So for the past couple of days, Ive been dipping. Yes, even a lampshade.
This is a tablecloth my mother crocheted for me in 1985. It was beige. I would see examples of this in antique stores and think how beautiful these objects would be if they were blue.
So I bought one to test my theory. I dyed this one on Tuesday and I liked it so well that I dared to dye Mamas handwork on Wednesday.
I dipped a lot of other fabrics each day, too.
Napkins are always a favorite. The group pinned together is 9 matching linen napkins that had never been used. All the same size, I think they will be great backgrounds for appliqué.
A printed black on white linen skirt takes the dye beautifully. And, one of the most delightful pieces I dipped is a piece of Modas new line of barkcloth. Its 100% cotton, but beefier than quilting cotton, and dipped and washed and dried, it is soft and buttery and ravels beautifully. Raveling well is important to me.
Ive joined a new online group with Jude Hill, her latest adventure in soulful stitching. Ragmates in this journey with me can expect to see some of this dye lot in future explorations. Ive written about Jude before in many posts, but she is the one who convinced me that I could explore indigo dying. Thanks, Jude.
Sheep, goats, old buildings, a quilt show, and MEN IN OVERALLS. What else could a country girl want on a Saturday?
The place was swarming with men in overalls, and suspenders, and straw hats.
These sheep were waiting to help with the demonstration of shearing. (by men wearing overalls and suspenders, of course.)
Oh, and there was a train, too! This country girl was thrilled. There was a tractor parade, as well, but that wasn’t as exciting somehow. One man sitting near me said, “I’ve seen all the tractors I want – when I was a boy, I saw the fields from the seat of one every day.”
There was even a quilt show on the grounds! The members of the Wiregrass Quilt Guild hosted their annual show and one of their members had a one-man show in another gallery.
The camera recorded images for upcoming art quilts. Old buildings, animals, people. Don’t you just know this guy wants to be on one of my Men in Overalls series?
And, one of the men in overalls came home with me. See, we had a goal in mind when we left home. We anticipated the dress for the day!
Yes, I have a pair somewhere, but the idea is MEN in overalls.
This was at the Folk Life Festival in Tifton. The grounds are now part of ABAC and make up what is now called the Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village, but we who have known of it since its beginnings still refer to the place as the Agrirama, its original name. More information about the place is here.
Ive been in love with men in overalls my entire life. in recent years, Ive had fun with images of such men on art quilts. As I wrote this, I did a search of my blog and realized there are several Ive never posted. Here is one of them:
This photo of an unknown child was printed on vintage linen, quilted, and mounted on a burlap canvas.
When you are retired and dont have a rigid schedule, the most innocent errand can become an adventure. One day this week we headed out to sign some papers (its tax season, you know, ugh). A couple of quilts and cameras were tossed in the car, and off we went.
A stop at a park yielded a few shots of quilts. In the photo here, Granny Zee’s Baskets posed in front of an old church steeple.
My latest teaching sample, Portable Magic, posed on an outdoor window.
We have this thing about photographing cabooses, so Remember Me posed on this one.
The Drugstore Deli was our choice for a delicious lunch. This veggie quiche and salad were beautiful – and they tasted as wonderful as they look. The blue cheese dressing was homemade with chunks of cheese. Oh, my! Youve gotta try that!
The lunch was even better when we realized old friends were sitting nearby and we had a chance to visit and catch up.
Within sight of the restaurant was a quaint old building Id never noticed before. Its been there, weve been there, but just never noticed it.
It is an old jailhouse now housing the historical society. The bars were perfect for posing quilts, as was an old theater bench outside.
I think Kaffe Fassett would love these brick walls!
Ive written about the Drugstore Deli before, in this post.
My latest quilt project is finished and has been on an outing already. Loving Blues rode with us to 7th Street Salvage today. Coincidentally, perhaps, everything we liked was either blue or white.
Catherine graciously permitted me to pose my quilt in several spots, and oh, what fun we had! Blues posed on a mantel,
on a group of bathtubs (love the blue oars, too),
on a dry sink (Im really in love with that pump!),
and outside on a precious little structure. Those blue tin tiles are fabulous everywhere, arent they?
Once home, Blues posed with the treasures we brought home. The blue sphere is a duckpin bowling ball. The pins and balls on display reminded Jim of playing this game at Indian Springs State Park during his childhood. The coloring on this ball meant that it was coming home with us! (and yes, those are blue metal tiles you see in the corner.)
The sun was out for a few minutes, so we let Blues swing in the breeze.
Yes, the vest I am wearing had scraps that found their way into this quilt, too.
Quilt details: It measures 40 x 60 finished.
This has memories stitched together, some fabrics held my memories, some held memories of other hands, other lives. All fabrics were either vintage linens I had purchased, many of them overdyed in indigo, or bits of clothing from my closet and Jims.
There are fabrics from several of Jims shirts, some from shirts of mine. The V is made from a homespun cotton fabric I bought at Elco Antique Market in the 1980s, my mother made a jumper for me and I wore it for years. Now some of that precious find lives in this quilt.
I changed the name. That earlier post was called Loving Hearts, and I thought that would be the finished title. But, no, the quilt said it was about Loving Blues. Ok. The label is a big heart cut from an overdyed linen tablecloth remnant with beads added.
Like memories that vary; some bring smiles, some bring tears; these fabrics differed, too. Some light weight linen from my breezy summer shirts was soft and stretchy. Others, like the ticking used to make the letter E and the handwoven toweling used for the L, were thick, made to be durable for centuries. That made quilting interesting. I chose a meandering vine with hearts.
And the pins and silicon tips I mentioned in this earlier post – they are great! I feared that they might make maneuvering the quilt under the sewing machine a bit trickier, but, no problem! And the pinching motion necessary with safety pins, which is hard on arthritic hands, is gone.
I have a friend Paul who has a way with words. He peppers daily conversation with phrases that keep you on your toes. When I get an email from him, I savor it because I can revisit the conversation with him without strugglng to remember exactly how he put it.
Paul gave me permission to share a recent email message. You can see what I mean.
Sandy,
For reasons I don’t fully remember, I’ve refused to buy Jean a Valentine gift. I’ve insisted on making something and have persisted doing so for several decades. These gifts are often something which might make a grade schooler’s mom roll her eyes. Roll them enough to hurt. Carved pennies, personalized mini-street signs, repainted toy horses and many efforts I can no longer recall. It can be surprising difficult to get inspiration and that solution often comes at the last moment.
Several weeks ago, a valentine’s themed dishtowel at Ingle’s found its way into my cart. I had no thought of how to use it.
On Valentine’s eve, when I should have been working, I noticed A Beekeeper’s Daughter among my favorites. Loving Hearts quickly made this year’s solution clear. A trip to the local Walmart provided the needed supplies. It also created several “deer in the head lights” experiences as small children rounded corners at top speed, stomped past the thread display far too close to my recently operated on foot and disappeared around the next aisle before I could think of something mean to yell at them. They knew what they were doing. I froze in terror with no clue which way to run.
At the end of the next work day I hand stitched my version of a Loving Heart. Jean seemed satisfied.
Thank you for the last minute inspiration.
Paul
Here are photos of some of Pauls heart projects.
Paul: I made three stepping stones and a big mess on the shop floor. Paul: Because Jean often comments about pinto/paint ponies each time one trots across our television on an old western, the repainted horse is the effort which pleases me most.Sandy’: When I saw this, I did a music search and enjoyed listening to some Italian arias!
And, if you are wondering, yes, my Loving Hearts quilt is finished. Once I attach the label, a blog with photos will be posted.
We returned to SEWE (the SouthEastern Wildlife Exhibition) in Charleston, SC this weekend. It was once a regular excursion for us, but its been many years since we were there. We took lots of photos, but not many in the art exhibits; there we were just absorbing the art and talking with the artists. Most photos were from our strolls around town.
Here are some rather random images and observations I made.
Charleston is such a beautiful city. Old can be so glorious!
The sound of horses hooves on cobblestones is unlike any other.
Sometimes collectors of old duck decoys have them x-rayed as part of the age evaluation.
Many galleries in Charleston include work from several artists; they take turns manning the store. That gives them a chance to meet their fans, but also have undisturbed time to work.
Repetition is a great design feature. And not just in quilts.
Art takes on many forms. The fine art gallery had examples of paintings in oil, watercolor, and acrylics. We saw stunning examples of charcoal drawings and amazing photography. There were wood carvings and bronze sculptures. And we learned about less familiar techniques (at least to the Gilreaths) like scratchboard and carved bird feathers. Oh, and using feathers to make bowties and cumberbunds.
These feet may be old, but they still get us around. We logged more than 15 miles on foot to see the city.
Even when the city is crowded, the side streets and alleys are quiet, quaint, and serene.
I just love window boxes.
Street photography is powerful!
Details are important. Like the music playing in the art venues. Live bluegrass in the fine art gallery associated with SEWE and steel drums in the park where vendors were set up.
The weatherman is not always right. Gloomy skies and rain were predicted, but that was minimal.
Bricks and flagstone and pea gravel and cobblestones make great paving surfaces, either singly or in combination.
Even though an image is familiar, maybe iconic, it’s still a thrill to see it again.
I love geraniums, any time, any place.
It’s always nice to have a quilt in your purse.
On the way home, we visited Beaufort. Another extraordinarily beautiful town. The tumbling blocks quilt posed again with some boats.
Note: As I usually try to add a link to a quilt if I’ve already written about it, (so you can read details about it if you wish), I went searching for this blue quilt. How interesting that it was in this post about staying in beds and breakfasts – because that was one of our observations on this trip – that the overnight stays in chain hotels are usually forgettable, but staying in a great B & B is money well spent.
And, further exploration yielded this post, where I talked about backsides. It seems that I had this quilt on my mind in conjunction with backsides of people…like the lady with the cane. Interesting!
And, the blue quilt pictured was discussed here, too.
I looked up from the sewing machine and saw another heart on the wall. I hadn’t exactly forgotten this one, but she is old.
I made her in 2005 in answer to a challenge at my local guild. Tess, our Challenge Queen, had directed us to make a quilt including hearts. A great idea since we are the Heart of Georgia Quilt Guild.
I was new to the world of quilting and to the challenge notion. This was my second opportunity to enter that competition and appliqué was the newest tool in my toolbox.
The pattern came from a book by Robyn Pandolph and many of the fabrics I used came from her designs, as well. Those were the days when I used fabric from one collection. And followed a pattern. As already stated, I was new at this quilting thing.
New at giving titles, too. I named this one Princess Priscilla loves Paisley.
Well, I sorta followed the pattern. I remember the challenge specified hearts, plural, so I added the hearts in the border. They are low contrast (I love that touch of subtle in a quilt) and asymmetrically placed. (Oh, how I love that!)
And the doll nestled among all those quilts is just one I had to bring home with me a few years ago. She’s happy bouncing around the house posing on quilts.
Speaking of posing, Priscilla went to Tifton recently and posed in front of Plough Gallery there. Don’t you just LOVE these blue doors? And, the hexagons in the paving on the walkway?
And the art in the gallery is nice, too! More stories from this place to come.
