Monday, January 24, 2011

Tattered Treasures

Happy Monday to you!  Am I weird???  I love Mondays!  It just seems like a new start every week.  And I seem to need a new start every week! 

Things are getting interesting around here.  I won't bore you with details, but I think we may be moving before long.  We have been thinking about moving from Tulsa to the OKC area to be closer to the kids, particularly Cameron (7 yr. old grandson).  We've found a possible house so we'll see how it plays out.  The great thing about it is that wherever I go, I can take you with me!!

In previous posts I have mentioned a bit about my love of working with old quilty items.  I only have a couple of rules.  The item must not be usable in it's present condition and I always try to maintain the integrity of the piece.  No bunnies or bears or jackets for me!  Usually wallhangings or tablerunners are what I end up with.  They are officially referred to as "Tattered Treasures".  I've been doing this type of work since the mid 1990's.  I sold a lot of pieces over the years, but as I got deeper and deeper into designing fabric and patterns and writing a book, I had no time to attend to that.  But it really is my first love so my hope for this year is to get back to that, at least some of the time.  In this post, I showed you my Four Seasons quilts made from salvaged house blocks.  The quilt below was in shreds almost.  Here is an idea of what a salvaged block looked like...

(click on the pics to enlarge)

I took four of these blocks, removed the 4-patch in the center and replaced it with a solid white fabric similar to the white in the blocks.  I then sewed the four patches together securely and used that piece for my Butterflies.  By placing my butterfly template carefully on the 4-patch, I can have 2 colored butterflies in any arrangement that I like!  Much more interesting to my eyes than a single fabric butterfly.  Then, of course, there are buttons and other items used for embellishment.  It's tied with feedsack string.  I hadn't looked at this quilt in a long time, and I think I would like to add more fun stuff to it!  I then used an old plaid tablecloth for the backing and wrapped it to the front to finish the edges.  I generally add some hand quilting around the edges of the appliques to maintain the vintage look.


I really miss doing this type of 'art' quilt!  I have so many ideas in my mind, I can hardly stand it.  As I said, this is where my heart lies and I hope you don't mind seeing more of these projects from time to time.  I would love to hear ideas you might have for using old things if you have a chance! 

Hope you have a great week!  See you next time~