Thursday, March 3, 2016

Old Quilt-New Life


 

 My mother gave me an old 'cutter quilt'. I'm glad I snagged it before it made it to the trash! I really would never cut up a quilt unless that was the only way to salvage a bit of it. These projects were made for three friends of mine in Japan. (I spent a couple of weeks there this past January/February, visiting friends and favorite places in and around Tokyo.) I wanted my Japanese friends to have something that was all American.

 I randomly cut the old quilt (about 6" X 7" pieces), not worrying about getting the sides straight. The images were drawn by hand, not worrying about perfection. I chose modern fabric on purpose to be a contrast to the old fabric of the quilt. The applique is hand-needle turn. I then embellished each piece with embroidery, buttons, and a one old snap.

After all the tops were finished I put a back on each and turned the edges to the front to make a self binding. I don't like the look of this on a real quilt (separate binding on those), but I felt these little pieces were thick enough as it was and I did not want to add more bulk to the edges. I used embroidery floss to tie the layers together in a few place.

I really enjoyed making these three little quilts, the recipients seemed to like them too. 

 

Dragonfly

Dragonfly closeup

Bird

Bird, close up

Flower Pot

Flowers, close up

Two Backs