Skip to main content

Wondering

I had only one of these unfinished applique patchwork blocks in my estate sale lot, and no other blocks of the same size or with matching fabrics, so to make it into a bag I needed a back panel. This I decided to make out of scrap muslin.

I used the same green perle thread that I used to embroider the front panel to feather stitch the back panel.

Working on these orphanned blocks has made me wonder about the person who made them. I think a lot of these are practice pieces or just to try out ideas with colors and shapes. Some of the patchwork in this lot is very sophisticated and polished (the Lake House runner was one of the patchwork pieces that came with it), and yet others have obvious mistakes. The handstitching used for some of the piecing is very small and neat, which I admire as mine isn't.

I think as makers this person and I share the same kind of love for stitching, and perhaps some of the same flaws. I can't know what they intended to make of these blocks, if anything, but I think they would be glad to know someone is quite happy making use of them. After all, isn't that we quilt -- to bring joy to others as well as ourselves?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Old Loves & Such

My guy kindly bought me my favorite Chinese take out the other night, and my fortune cookie offered up an interesting story starter: This sounds sweet, right? Only the first thing I thought of was an old love coming back from the dead . . . . must be October. In other lovely news, my favorite hand-dyed thread artist, Lorraine from Colour Complements , is moving her business from Etsy to her own web site. Many of my favorite sellers on Etsy are leaving due to the whole "free shipping" coercion debacle, which has also soured me on the site. To show support I did a little shopping at Lorraine's web site and got in these: I love her threads and trims; you simply can't buy anything like them anywhere. Her work makes my specialty thread box look like a treasure chest: At night I'm spending just as hour working on quilting the scrap project runner, and I'm making slow progress: I'll keep quilting the runner while I try to decide on a design for t...

Wild Ride

Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds is an epic, dazzling film that hurls you into the Korean version of the afterlife while showcasing some of the most impressive special effects I've ever seen in any movie. The story begins with the death of firefighter Kim Ja-Hong (Cha Tae-hyun) who jumps out of a burning building with a child in his arms. The kid lives, but he dies at the scene. Two strangers inform him that he has passed away right on schedule, and toss him into a vortex that takes him to the world of the afterlife, where he meets his three guardians: Gang-rim (Ha Jung-woo), Haewonmak (Ju Ji-hoon) and Lee Deok-choon (Kim Hyang-gi). At the gates of the afterlife Ja-Hong learns that he is considered a paragon (an exemplary person who lived a noble and self-sacrificing life) and is eligible to be reincarnated -- but there's a catch. First he has 49 days to make it through seven hells in which he will be judged on his sins. His three guardians will help and defend...

Progress

My guy is back home safe, sound and exhausted. I think he just realized he's over seventy now. :) I didn't finish a sewing project while he was gone, but I did make some progress on the beach bag. I've tacked down all the fabric elements on top of the old backing fabric I quilted. Time to break out the embroidery thread box and have some fun.