Weathered & Worn, loved and cherished a Victorian quilts final story ..

 

Quilt - meaning 

A warm bed covering made of padding enclosed between layers of fabrics and kept in place by lines of stitching, typically applied in a decorative design ... Oh but it is so much more than that!

Some might look at this piece of Victorian log cabin quilt in horror, or god forbid think it should be in a rag bag or worse a bin!  Me well I think it is utterly beautiful in every way.  Thread bare? well maybe - OK  yes but oh the textures and colours and so full of history if only it could speak and tell us stories.  Those of us who are fascinated by history and antique fabrics would flock any time of the year with a warm drink in our hands and sit and listen to what something like this amazing quilt piece had to say.  From where all the little pieces of fabrics came from to whom stitched it all together, was it one person or a sewing bee all around the table with the laughter and chatter of that period in time.... 

I have a few pieces from this quilt that I purchased, sadly too worn to adorn a bed any more but having cut (by hand not rotary cutter) it up and washed all the squares they are now ready to embellished by tiny hand stitches and to have a little bit of history added to them from me.

When I look at them they make me smile and idea's  fill my head and warm my soul with such love of them.

Each one is so tactile with their thread bare pieces of antient fabrics and have been patched a little over some decades ago.  Loose threads hang from them all with so much history soaked into the weft and weave .. stunning!

I have photographed each one of them for prosperity and am now having oodles of fun sketching designs and picking out words and quotes that might
be stitched upon them.  I am a wordsmith by nature and find that even one word can evoke thoughts, memories or emotions to a piece of slow stitching.

I often think of my late Dad - I miss excitingly  phoning him or running through their kitchen door to tell him something or another.  He tried to see things through my eyes and rejoiced in my happiness over silly things really, however I think he might struggle with my happiness and delight over what some may see as '"seen better days" fabrics but I know though if he were still here I could talk him round with my enthusiasm and joy.

Picking them up and laying them out on my large work table in different ways. Stroking the delicate and timeworn fabrics and all the time | know I have a huge smile on my face.

So many possibilities lay before me and it is an exciting journey of design and fabric art that lays ahead for them and for me.

Telling a story through fabric and threads is a beautiful and gentle art or indeed no real story at all just a piece that is stitched with little stitches and made into delicate patterns which everyone who looks at it sees something different in it with it gorgeous hues of colour and textures.

Preserved and adding to their beauty they will, I hope, be still loved and

cherished long after me.

One thing is for sure I am loving every moment of this creative process with these gorgeous squares of history from first finding the quilt to cutting it up and washing  each piece carefully and then the design and finally the stitching of them.

The shear joy of slow stitching is good for your soul and creating something unique, beguiling and primitive, to me, is perfection.

With freedom, quilts, books, flowers and the moon who could not be happy!

Oscar Wilde and me!

The Spring is on its way I can feel it in the sunny days that we are now having and my little garden needs some attention after the Winter and all the hard frost that we have experienced.  The last time we had a very hard frost I was in the garden and putting out some seed and worms for the little birds.  I saw that I had left a trowel in the soil and went to pull it out to pop it in my shed and as hard as I tried and pulling with all of my might I could not get it out of the raised border! Then sat perched on the angel that I have in that border was a robin who looked on with mirth and merriment at me .. cheeky little thing.

Save to say I have managed that now and I know that I must get out there this week to sort it out ready for all the little plants that are just peeping out of the soil and would like the weeds, that have prevailed over the Winter to be removed.

Vintage fairs are starting there season now too and I am ever so pleased.  I miss the social aspect of them, meeting up with friends old and new and of course wandering around and seeing all the wonders on each and every stall that is there.

So watch this space for an update on those that I can attend and they are starting in the next couple of weeks and I can not contain  my excitement.

I hope you have enjoyed my little vintage rambling today and hope you all have a great week.

Take care and as always dear friends .. Happy Stitching!

Sarah XX