shreds

Sometimes it's just good to do something, even a very little something, on a project that you have in mind. Just to keep it alive when you don't have any likelihood of really launching into it anytime soon. I think I just have to embrace my completely haphazard, ad hoc way of working on and prioritising things.

 I bought this quilt a few years ago at the now defunct Kirkland Antiques Center. One of the stalls there was closing down (the whole place has since done so) and everything was discounted by 70 per cent, including this 1930s quilt from Nebraska. Parts of it, particularly the borders, were very damaged, so I trimmed them off (not sure whether this is quilt sacrilege or not) and it has sat that way for a good long time, always with the intention of mending and rehabilitating it.

Over the past few nights I have unpicked the cut-off sections, taking out the batting and salvaging what pieced sections I can. I hope to use them one day to repair other parts of the quilt and perhaps the backing for a new binding. It has been fascinating to see the true fabric colours revealed inside the seams and to see how much they have faded over time. I have also learned that the quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted and that the maker's sewing machine's tension was off.

* Quick gripe about the Kirkland Antiques Center: my goodness, I went there one day when miss bear was small and they insisted that I couldn't take the stroller in. It wasn't that busy and there was plenty of room to move the stroller about. So instead I got to walk around the place with an inquisitive two year old and a staff member none too discreetly trailed us around the entire shop.