Cleopatra's Fan

My entry in this year's Fine Art of Fiber show is another in my series of quilts called Something From Nothing.  This is my own little challenge project, made with decorator fabric samples and other "found object" fabrics and trims.  You can find photos of the whole collection on my website.

What follows are the steps I took to create this quilt.

My Quilt Care Book - Update

Hey, hey!  I am sooooo excited!!!  My book on caring for antique quilts is having just kind of success I hoped for!  

I heard recently from a quilt restorer who has been using the info in my book, and having great results.  She wrote, "I've consulted your book many times, so thanks again for the great advice."  

Here are her before and after photos, and comments.  I am extremely grateful for her permission to share them with you.  Just look at her beautiful work!

"The red, black and white quilt was used and much loved by the owner and her dog.  The dog had taken several areas away from the edges. I was extremely lucky to find fabrics that were very close in color.  I was able to add a little batting and stitch in the replacement pieces."

Favorite Quotes #6 - It's The Little Things

I've been caught up in a book by Elizabeth Goudge called "The Bird in the Tree".

It's a rather slow moving story - one that in the book group we had with homeschooling teens and their parents would have elicited the oft-heard comment, "But nothing happened."  So far, and I'm a third of the way into it, it's much more of a character study with lovely, lovely poetic descriptions of Nature and Life.  And I always love a good tale told in poetic language.

Here are a few noteworthy quotes, about art, and therefore about Life ......

Kampsville Quilts

What does this:

(photo IL State Museum)

have to do with this?


Answer:  Kampsville, Illinois.

Twinkle, Twinkle

Twinkle, Twinkle, Kathy's Star

This happy quilt came to me with several tears and some weak and splitting fabrics, which I patched.  The owner is taking the quilt to someone in her area that does long arm machine quilting, who can help replace at least some of the missing quilting.  The thread has weakened and snapped throughout the quilt.

There's nothing unusual to tell about the repairs.  It's the design and story that make this quilt special.

Here's the inscription on the label:

Three Pine Trees

The quiltmaker's name was Jeanette Cooper.  She was the second wife of the owner's great-grandfather, Herbert Dudley.  His first wife had died in childbirth and Jeanette was employed as the housekeeper.  She then married Herbert, and the owner's grandmother was their only child.  Jeanette died just two weeks before the owner's mother was born, in July 1933.

An additional family story tells that Jeanette's stepmother had tried to poison her when she was a child!  She certainly added some interesting tales to the family "story book."

Narrative Portraits

My Grandma, Marion Straus, c. 1899-1900

My previous post introduced you to a vintage collector I've just met via blogging, and some lovely old French fabrics.  Here's an intro to another friend of mine.

My friend Barbara Novak has a really interesting and unusual business.  She makes audio recordings of elders speaking about their lives and experiences so that they can review and interpret their lives, and so that families can keep and share family tales and memories.  She's just recently been starting up a second theme - stories about birthing babies.  Barb has loads of experience as an oral historian and interviewer, and is able to gently draw out lots of information and thoughtful insights.  I love the name she's given her business.