Friday, August 7, 2020

August and Elizabeth is in Milwaukee

 Thank goodness for USPS tracking that let me know my quilt "Elizabeth, My Almost Perfect Cat" arrived in Milwaukee safely to wait to appear in The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show 2020 Virtual Experience--a joint venture of PBS Wisconsin and Nancy Zieman Productions, LLC. The event will be September 10-12, 2020, and can be seen at this link. 

The real Elizabeth is unaware that the quilt is no longer on the wall, as long as she can get my undivided attention occasionally.

I have been doing some repair on a very old quilt, using fabric and parts from a second quilt for the repairs. This involved frequent threading of a needle for hand stitching. You have seen tools that look like a gimmick. . . well, this little jewel is one of those, but it works like a charm. 

Place needle in needle slot, thread across thread slot

Press down on lever

Voila! Lift threaded needle out and pull thread through

The two quilts show evidence of lots of use, love, spills, stains, perhaps even some dog teeth, and washing. One was in such poor condition that it could be cut up for repairing the other one. The outcome certainly doesn't look pristine and new, but it can be passed on to another generation in this family. The first picture is the worst quilt. The other pictures are of the quilt with pieces being replaced.

Old quilt to cut up for repairs
The older quilt, for cutting up

Repairs underway

Replacing a bonnet and background

Meanwhile, there was lots of sleeping going on. But I had to wait for their naps to get anything accomplished.



Rahrah keeping me from reading

Tarbaby on garage floor

Finishing up new quilts (quilting and binding) is much easier than working on old ones! 




2 comments:

tierneycreates said...

Professional nappers!
I bet you feel so relieved knowing your Elizabeth quilt traveled successfully - bet that was stressful!
I've been quilting since 1999 but I only recently learned (2018) to use a needle threader! Nifty invention :-)
Nice repairing on the antique quilt and happy colors on your latest one!

Martha Ginn said...

Yes, Tierney, they have that sleeping perfected. Sometimes it's all I can do to keep from joining them about twice a day. The antique quilt smelled musty but I couldn't wash it until I did some of the major repair. Airing outside helped; then it washed and dried very well.