Another Recycle Quilt

A time for experimentation and challenge of not having nice tidy edges something I still find difficult from years of stitching in the traditional, “approved” manner. All the components in this quilt are recycled. The background is strips of old jeans woven together and later free machine quilted to help hold the weaving in place and to add texture and contrast. The doiley is a foil for the printed image on a foil coffee packet - a process I was playing around with at this time. The black and red windmills are actually large buttons from an old coat that have been embroidered through with red embroidery thread. The burgundy vertical is an old satin table napkin stitched with a koru design for renewal and the two diamonds consist of sweet papers sandwiched with decorative threads between organza.

This piece was made shortly after the Christchurch earthquakes and was a considered phase of renewal and letting go of the old but not ignoring the past. The colonial cottage in the foil print reminds us that our forebears lived simply and economically in cabin like accommodation with hard physical work and resilience part of normal life. This would be a theme i would revisit at later stages also.

The whole of tis small quilt hangs from a broken bough - broken but given new status as a support for the wall hanging. It is not a “pretty” quilt but there are layers of meaning within its construction.