I was looking through John Gillow's 'African Textiles' ( a wonderful book!) to get an idea for stitching and decided that the way I'd inserted the strip was not in keeping with the organic character of the cloth. 2 hours later , after lots of rude words and sighing , I'd unpicked the machine quilting and seams - its amazing how much time it takes to undo 5 minutes careless machining. Worth it though. I reapplied the Ndop strip on top (by hand) and reassembled the 'sandwich' with some lovely soft wool batting from a sample pack and cheesecloth on the back. Work is a bit difficult at the moment , with some sleepless nights, and its been very soothing and therapeutic to hand stitch this piece and reconnect with the tactile qualities of cloth.
When I came to trim the quilt down to 12 x 12 , I decided to cut at a slight angle to emphasise the wonkiness ( I'll need to add a label to say 'It's supposed to be crooked").
CQ APRIL JOURNAL QUILT "CROOKED CROSSES"
When I was downloading the photos I was struck by the similarities to a Gaudi wall in Parc Guell, its combination of organic and straight(ish) structures.
3 comments:
that indigo fabric is just fabulous and the work you are doing with it is equally wonderful.
This is lovely Margaret- some fabric just screams hand stitch me- it so suits what you have done. And lucky you to do a workshop with Charlotte Yde- I would love to spend some workshop time with her.
I like what you're doing with this fabric. It gives me inspiration to get to working with some batiks and fabrics I bought in Mozambique and South Africa a few years ago. I had planned to combine them with some American style patchwork, and seeing what you've done brings back my excitement about doing that. Thanks for the inspiration
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