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.

Recycle, reuse. reinvent

Again, over lockdown I was trying to use what was at hand. I am a real sucker of buying unfinished work from the opportunity shops. These hexagons were some that I had acquired in that manner. A bag of hexagon that someone had lovingly cut out and then not used. I mused about their history - had someone passed away, were they surplus to a project or had someone just got tired of joining them together I joined them together and then cut out some leaves and added some eco dyed and some stitched between organza real leaves. The diagonal strip of machine quilted coffee bag inner acts as a strong visual and this line is repeated in the pale yellow block at the bottom left. The pods hanging from this diagonal are actual pods that have been encased in organza. I added some bits cut from an old book and laminated onto the piece and then stamped freely with some softie stamps to knock back some of the pale lemon hexagons that were too bold. The whole is mounted on felt

Single Use Plastic

Continuing on from the theme of using teabags as a substrate or art material, this quilt was made from a photo of an old lady who sheltered with me in a tropical downpour in Java. I asked if I could take her photo and she agreed. When she saw her photo she thought she was so ugly. I thought she was just so beautiful with her woven hat and plastic sheet raincoat and so much life and mystery in that face! Not long after this, Mt Merapi erupted and I wondered what happened to my wonderful model and if she managed to escape and continue her life anew.

The images below give a close up of the stitching on the teabags that brought her face to life. Everything used in this art quilt was recycled from the woven hat - remnants of Tamara’s art project, to the background scraps to the old scarf and finally the single use plastic that found a new life