04 February 2017

Signs and portents

Hopeful signs back at the flat, as home renovation (and clearing) continues.

From this -
 ... to this -

"How we live now"
 And in the studio, another hopeful sign -
I needed to quickly enclose the edges of a couple of UFO quilts found in a bag in the hell-hole upstairs, which is being emptied "one bag at a time".

The quilts are lap, or child, sized. They'd been in a bag for perhaps 12 years. Perhaps longer. They needed a wash, first of all - this one had rust stains, which disappeared on application of lemon juice.
You might call this a random-cut, pieced strippy, using hand dyes and white-on-white fabrics. The top third has been free machine quilted by going round the flowers and cherubs on the backing. The rest is held together with safety pins.

The other is about the same size (the feet give the scale) and was hand quilted in the 1980s. But beige?? what was I thinking! ("First there's beige and then there's death...")
One edge, and the backing, has been turned in to finish it; the backing is stained. I'll wash it and see what happens, but its future is doubtful. (Dye it? Continue the quilting? Cut it up? Throw it out?) Any takers?

Also in that bag is a small piece made maybe 10 years ago, just for fun, which is now being put to use as a table mat -
No need to be precious with this one, it's closely quilted and can take it.

3 comments:

Living to work - working to live said...

Suggest dye that beige one perhaps with some resist techniques and see what happens. You might get an interesting effect as the stitching takes the dye differently.

Then decide what next.

Stitchinscience said...

Yes, dyeing definitely for that beige. Tray-dying perhaps?

Charlton Stitcher said...

The trouble with unfinished things from a while back is that they sit on a shelf and in the mind nagging and getting in the way of doing new things I really want to do. Better sent on to another home and fresh eyes?