For the word "Damnation" you may substitute something of a more Anglo-Saxon origin - I am just trying to stay ladylike! I am MAKING - no, FORCING myself to sew two diamonds on it each day. (12 more to go). This takes me all morning or afternoon. The bitch lady that made it sewed it together using the cardboard piecing method, and never removed the cardboard, which is now rotting in parts, as is the silk fabrics used. She also used what appears to be extra-heavy black thread, damn her, but thinking on it that is probably just ordinary cotton thread back in the day - not like the polyester rubbish we have now. I am having to use snipe-nose pliers to pull the needle through.
It is very fragile and very difficult to work with. Oh, and did I mention she put a canvas backing on it? Cow . . . I am at the "I want to abandon it" and sell-as-is stage, but I have started so I will damn well try and do my best with it/for it, as it IS beautiful still.
Storm Eowyn (144 mph gusts in Ireland) isn't too bad here - trees just shaking a bit and occasional stronger gusts. Tam's power went out again but it turned out it was just one tree down across their line and it's been restored now.
Off to get some fresh air now. Stay safe all.
Update : Practice nurse never phoned to make me an appointment for my holiday jabs, which means it's going to be into next week and I daren't have it until the following week now. After the Fair.
Sharon - think I will take your advice and draw a line under it. Each mend is taking hours and still not to my liking (e.g. invisible mend).
In honour of my dad, who died today 45 years ago, I have been doing some Family History. I have - FINALLY, I have a tendency to procrastination - blown the dust off the big 10 generation printed chart and have been filling in the details of his family today. I was checking out Nancy Stumbles again (my 3 x g. grandmother, born 1785) and looking for newspaper links. The scanning of these turns up some odd words at times (e.g. they don't exist) but I just HAD to check out a Mrs Hairy . . . turns out it was Harry!!
It seems that you are feeling better! Walking is good for soul and body even when we must cudgel ourselves to get out there. It has been so cold here for over a week that I have to persuade myself that being outside is beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI would have to abandon the repair of that quilt. Many years ago I was asked to take on finishing projects that others had started. One was a group effort; none of the blocks were the same in size, points askew, etc. The other was blocks pieced from heavy sheets. After a couple of sessions I decided that the results wouldn't be worth the time and effort. I did salvage a quilt nicely hand-pieced in 1916--used the sturdiest of the 4-patch blocks, set them with a new but vintage-look fabric. I still have that one for its sentimental value, although it is fragile. When I worked at the quilt shop we sometimes were brought unfinished projects discovered in someone's attic. There was usually a very noticeable reason for the abandonment! We did our best to salvage these but I disliked being associated with the finished product.
Darling cats--always companionable.
I didn't go far, but it helps just to get some fresh air and stretch your legs. I get fed up with the same stretch of lane in the winter but lack the inclination to go somewhere in the car. May go round the Showground today as I've seen other folks walking there.
DeleteI will try one last heroic effort on the quilt today, as I thought of tacking in a piece of thick felt as a backing to sew onto. Even the edges of the diamonds have rotting card left if rest has pulled away and the thread is like rope! I will deny all knowledge of any obvious repairs!
It was beautiful once..but the way it was constructed..it has just gone too far!
ReplyDeleteResearch is made "interesting" the way some names were mis-heard, wrongly written etc!!
Oh I did want her to be Mrs Hairy Morris or something, but it brought a smile to my face just at the thought. I used to work with someone the other girls meanly called "Hairy Mary" as she had a lot of blonde down on her arms :)
DeleteThe quilt is still beautiful , but . . .
I would abandon the quilt, maybe take it with you to the next fair and get what you can. Miss Sheva definitely had the wind up her tail, dashing in and out the french door, up on the seat, then up on the fence, back down, inside, outside and repeat. I nipped into Morrisons and have bought some packs of plants, a peony, dicentra and astilbe, only £2 each ready for my raised beds. Hugs Xx
ReplyDeleteWell, it was priced at £75 and she virtually gave it to me (£10), so the only way is up.
DeleteI love it when cats have a mad five minutes. The girls still hurtle round like express trains - usually around 6 a.m., up and over the bed (and me!) to get me up. Morrisons have always been good for cheap plants and I've used them a lot in the past.
I'm glad the storm is not so bad. It is hard to be alone during extreme bad weather.
ReplyDeleteThe quilt is beautiful, but I am not sue it is fixable. Maybe sell it on and take the loss, if you paid a lot for it. I was asked years ago to repair a silk and velvet quilt, for a friend. The more I touched it, even oh so cautious and gentle, the more the silk crumbled away. I said not fixable. The friend, later, cut the four best sections into very large sections/squares that she has framed in a modern style under glass. The result is gorgeous, it covers a wall in her medical office, very stylish. And has preserved the quilt and brings her joy. So someone might find a use for your quilt.
Your deep window openings and wallpaper are so beautiful!
lizzy
Well, we were OK, but poor Ireland and Scotland took a battering - winds of up to 114 mph were recorded (before the recorder stopped recording - blown away?) and one million people without power in Ireland. Those poor chaps having all those homes to restore and in rural areas having to cut up trees to even reach the areas first.
DeleteYes, the quilt came at the right price (£10!!!) so it will find a new home for a bit more money.
Tam chose the wallpaper and paint for her bedroom (and did the work too). It's a lovely room. We have deep windowsills upstairs.
The cats look so lovely sitting there. I think that your are doing a wonderful thing repairing the quilt, but I would probably have abandoned the project a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I am about too. One last idea to try out . . . it has been getting me down but I have tried to persevere.
DeleteI had never heard of cardboard piecing until recently. It sounds strange to leave the cardboard in, but I am not a quilter so what do I know? I have my grandmother's quilt that she made for her trousseau. It is very worn and fragile, so it just stays in a box. I'd never thought it could be repaired. I think it is too old now.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there was a logic behind it but as a quilt it has made restoration impossible.
DeleteThe cardboard was left in bec these velvet and silk quilts were ''parlor quilts'' display only, never meant to be used or washed. The paper added stability and form. They were draped over pianos, or sofas, in no way used. Also I don't think back then 1880? sewers knew silk would disintegrate and need replacing. Last, the fabric was probably wrapped around the cardboard and basted to itself, the the diamonds were whip stitch together, catching only the fabric folded edges. The maker did not sew through the card. Possibly you can , from the front/ topside applique new diamonds w/out sewing thru the base. Or, again, just sell it on? I'd use it to make ''make do'' pinkeeps or stuffed hearts, using the good sections. You got a great price.
DeleteThank you, Lizzy. This was very interesting. (Plus I'm getting ideas on what to do with my grandmothers quilt)
DeleteOh thank you for that Lizzy. Never heard of them before, but it will help me with the description for selling it (and explain why it is so stiff!) I changed the needle yesterday (to a leather needle! used discretely at the edges of the card though where the heavy thread was used XXXXX to keep it together it is like each edge is GLUED together! Very dense. Where the card was rotted away and a hole in the top, I put a double layer of good felt and sewed into that and the top and it has helped. I am just about satisfied with the mends but being a perfectionist . . .
DeleteWell, we can't even be clichéd and say that's a labour of love, for love it you obviously don't {the hard graft, not the actual quilt}
ReplyDeleteWouldn't we love to give our forebears a lesson in penmanship, spelling, and the future! I am now trying to figure out when and why the Oxtables became the Huxtables in my tree.
No, damnty thing! I shall be glad to rehome it. Have several quilts to take. I have just remembered there is another velvet diamonds quilt in my sewing cupboard which needs the repair on it finishing. Yeesh. I will get it done for the May Fair - need a break first - but at least I have unpicked one edge of the back on that so it's easier to work on.
DeleteI follow a Genealogy group on Facebook and some of the writing on censuses or certificates! One looked like they had used fat felt tip and was illegible. One mum named her daughter Daisy Deepsea!!!
One last idea to try. Invisibly couch the top patchwork layer onto net (as historical textile restorers do) and then cut away the cardboard and canvas. You will at least preserve the decorative top layer and if someone else wanted to add a more suitable backing for hanging it’s ready for that next stage. But if you only paid £10 for it and think you could sell it on for the same or a bit more I don’t think I would even bother to do that. Have you seen Little Greene’s (the paint people) Beatrix Potter wallpaper. I’ve ordered some free samples for lining boxes of treasures. Better not tell Tam …
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean about the tedium of walking the same bit of lane. Our lane is beautiful, in a former Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty before the National Park designation superseded that, and leads to the shepherd’s church in the tiny hamlet and then onto the lords piece but the traffic and litter on the lane gets me down and then there are all the dog walkers on the lord’s piece so nowadays I slip out out of our meadow gate onto the drove road and walk around the big wood pasture sheep fields and down to the willow and alder fringed water meadows. This is where I often see the barn owl and during floods see the water fowl and have even heard chiff chaffs recently. I had an interesting morning yesterday helping with nightingale nesting habitat restoration at the RSPB reserve. We were cutting and raking up scrub (bramble and blackthorn) to create deep scallop shapes. This is done on a seven year rotation. I learnt that the idea is to create thickets of chest high brambles and thorn that no man could run into while leaving any trees as song perches. Now I know why nightingales love my wild woodland and as it happens my young mower has been brush cutting this winter the brambles that have been encroaching around our deer fence. The RSPB warden says the deer may now keep the new growth of brambles in check and he also said having the meadow alongside - long grass so lots of invertebrates - is ideal feeding ground for nightingales. So without really knowing but acting instinctively I’ve been making a good home for a bird that has declined by 90% since 1960, my lifetime. And yes we do hear and see nightingales from our garden and it is magical. So everyone, preserve your thickets of brambles and blackthorn and don’t mow the grass alongside. Right, I’m off to open the shop at 10am and it’s farmers’ market day and the sun is shining so let’s hope for lots of customers. I only work once or twice a month nowadays so I really enjoy it. I’m doing two Saturday mornings in February and one in March and my wages are very welcome too. Have a good day BB and keep moving, I feel great after yesterday. I was part of a group and the strong men were doing the brush cutting while I and others were raking and we had lots of breaks but got the job done. I popped into the farm shop on the way home, and then the garden centre for seeds. I bought seeds for sweetcorn Swift, chard bright lights and Sungold tomato and when I got to the till they were half price so £5 instead of £10 so I need to go back and buy more seeds before the end of the month when the half price offer ends. Sarah x
Nightingales - that's something I've not heard since childhood when they used to sing in the Damson trees near the house. Sounds like you have created the ideal habitat. Gosh Chiff-Chaffs already - that really is early.
DeleteWe have had quite a wet winter, so that has deterred me from finding new walks or going up to have the lovely walk around Pant-y-Llyn. Grieving robs me of the urge to go exploring far too. . I feel no urge to even visit the garden centre for seeds yet either. Roll on spring.
I am sure when you come to sell it, it will be worth all the effort you've put into it to repair it, a couple of diamonds each day is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteIn good condition, these quilts are very collectable. I have improved its chances anyway!
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