A Lovely Crazy Quilt

This great Victorian crazy quilt was brought to me as a top.  I replaced one missing corner area with a brown silk, covered several worn pieces with crepeline to protect the fraying fabrics, backed it with a black cotton, and bound the edges with a brown silk.

Here is a square with several crepeline-covered pieces - the white piece on the left, the two central light pieces, and the one on the lower right, where the broken silk is very easy to see.  From this photo, you can get an idea of how nearly invisible the fine crepeline silk is.

Lovely Tablecloth

This lovely tablecloth was rescued from the bottom of some huge piles at an estate sale. Hooray for salvage operations!

I'm finding myself drawn to all sorts of textiles and other art with a multi-color, full-spectrum palette.  So this cross-stitch embroidery is just the thing for me, really cheerful and pleasing.

Unique Vintage Dress and the Fashion Originators Guild

Here's yet another really cool vintage clothing item I have repaired for Basya Berkman Vintage Fashions.  It's a two piece outfit, a wool dress with matching wool and fur jacket, dating to the 1930s or 1940.

   

There are three stand-out facts about this outfit:

A Resting Place for Mr. Spenalzo

Remember reading recently about my adventures making the dead body for the recent production of Arsenic and Old Lace?

Well, I made him as a stuffed body that could be dressed differently and used again for some future production.  So on our recent costume put-away day, his clothes went back into the costume boxes along with the things worn by all the other actors.

Costume Put-Away Day

Last Tuesday, we, that is the Thin Ice Theater costume crew, held a big Costume Put-Away Day.  Our costume (and props) collection is stored at 3 houses, mostly in big plastic bins with some special items on hanging racks. You can read about the origins of our collection here.  And you can read about about how we've re-purposed costumes for each show:  The Importance of Being Earnest, You Can't Take It With You, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Little Women: Beth, Amy and Jo and Meg, and An Ideal Husband.  

Our task was to sort and store everything from the past 3 shows - Witness for the Prosecution, The Phantom Tollbooth, and Arsenic and Old Lace.  Lots!

Our Rug's Resumé

Our living room rug has now appeared in its fifth show with Thin Ice Theater.  So, I figure it's time that the rug has its own resumé:

2008.  The Man Who Came to Dinner by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
photo by me - set by Joyce Elias

Bear's Paw Quilt

I did some patching of worn spots on this quilt, and mended an area with a hole through all three layers.  But that's not why I decided to write about it.  I just really, really like this quilt.  To my eyes, it's a totally successful design.  

Sometimes, to help myself learn what makes a successful quilt design, I like to play this little game.  I imagine how the quilt might look if the borders were different, or if it was not bordered at all, or if the blocks were set differently, or if the coloring was changed.  I can't find any changes that would improve this quilt for me.  When that happens, I know I've found a quilt I really like.