Friday, March 29, 2013

Adding to my resume

                                                                                                                                                                                           
 A friend of mine brought me a new kind of project this week. This quilt was made by his grandmother and he was wondering what to do about the binding which is badly worn and with the 8 patches that have disappeared.
They all seem to be from the same piece of flour sack print. Trouble is that the print was mostly black with just a bit of white. My sister reminds me that black dyes usually have a metal component. I just remember that black in a quilt can really be a problem.

I'm thinking of replacing the pieces with a dark purple print if the Etsy shop I communicated with can find something for me.

There doesn't seem to be much other damage to the fabric in the Double Wedding Rings on the front and minimal staining on the back.  The batting has migrated badly throughout as the quilting is not dense. I've been searching on the Internet for information on repairing old quilts and have gotten some good information. So after this project I'll be able to add "simple quilt repair" to my resume.  


Today's Bird

This little fellow is called a cattle egret. When I first came to Florida there were some cattle ranches in the area and if you drove by the pastures you would see these birds in among and sitting upon the cattle. With urbanization in this area, you now see them in parking lots and on sidewalks looking into the bushes  trying to find the anoles that are common here.

Usually they are completely white, except in breeding season when the feathers on the top of the head and on the breast are a light peach color and the feathers on the back are a different texture that I'm finding difficult to describe

2 comments:

  1. Good for you repairing that treasure. I think those mordants might be in browns and purples too. My old quilt made by my great grandmother has very little batting left and it is quite densely quilted. I think the cotton fiber was just spread out over the surface before layering.
    We have cattle egrets here in Japan too. I used to see them frequently on the island of Miyake.

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  2. A lovely old quilt, and if the repair is lots of work, that will be so valued. Little birds, they are indeed lovely to photograph. How is the bicycle?. Cheers from Jean

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