Endless Renewal
Sunday, September 7th, 2014I went to a friend’s house and asked her little daughter where she was. ‘Oh, she’s upstairs getting new ideas from some old books.’
Quilting has wonderful traditions of recycling, remembering, and rejoicing in a wonderful heritage. For the studio tour this year, I have been revisiting the Crazy Quilts from the 1880’s. They have a great deal in common with Art Quilts: inventive design, collage techniques, ‘fancywork,’ use of popular images, and a decorative purpose. They were not made to cover a bed. And pets never slept on them–too many buttons and embellishments.
This section of ‘What they are wearing’ features a patriarchal ancestor framed by a house shape. My embroidery skills are minimal by 1880’s standards, but our fabrics are more exciting. I also used free motion machine quilting. I’m certain that it would have been used for the old quilts had it been available to those quilters. We also have better image transfer techniques that make it possible to capture some of the quality of old black and white photos. Much easier than using kerosene and a spoon!
The Tour is September 13 and 14th. If you stop by our house, you can also see great woodturning from Dennis. For more information about other artists, go to the Front Range Open Studios website for a map and links to their information.