Permaculture in Action

Monday, January 13, 2014

My Creative Space

Finding the space within the busyness of farm life for a little creating has become a priority for me over the last few years. Whether it's sewing, knitting, spinning or whatever new thing that comes along, I make time for some each day.


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The Wedding Quilt
A few months ago I offered to help a friend create a quilt for her daughter's wedding present. My friend is not a sewer but dearly wanted to make this quilt after her daughter made a passing comment about family heirlooms. She wondered if she could possibly make a quilt that could be passed down from mother to daughter . She had a project in mind..a crazy patchwork quilt that she had won a few years back was the inspiration for the wedding quilt.

 Now I've made a few crazy patchwork cushions in my time...





..and so thought I could be of some help.

My friend chose the fabrics and gave me the combinations for each block and I sewed the patches. It has been great fun working together to make this quilt. I have enjoyed teaching my friend some simple embroidery stitches and she has enjoyed learning them and feeling a great sense of achievement at completion of each patch.

There is the patch with a little piece of lace from her own wedding dress, another patch has fabric from her mum's wedding dress and others with doilies made by her grandmother..truly an heirloom.

And there are little pieces of embroidery that have meaning specific to this family.

I feel so privileged to have been a part of this creative project, spending time with this dear friend, sharing some of my skills, and creating something so beautiful and practical. 

Yesterday we decided to lay the quilt out in preparation for sewing the patches together. We placed them all down, then moved them round, and then moved them round some more. Stood back and decided that they needed to be more balanced so started all over again...

Here's what we come up with..


There are still two patches that need a little more embroidery and then we will be ready to sew the patches together. We will get together next weekend for a lesson on the sewing machine.

We have enjoyed these times together. Once we were joined by two of my daughters which motivated us to have ourselves a mother/ daughter craft day once a fortnight. And now there is a beginners sewing day in the pipeline. Once upon a time women got together to combine skills and teach each other crafts. I now understand why!

Edited to add a link to Linda's  post today. What a coincidence that we both post about quilts and the sharing of the making of said quilts.

9 comments:

  1. I often wonder how you fit everything in to your already busy days, but the saying must be true that if you want something done, ask a busy person!

    Loving the idea of mother/daughter craft, and sewing days. And what a special gift you are helping on. I'm sure the daughter will cherish it.

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    1. Some things do suffer. You should see the state of my house!

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  2. I love quilts. They have so much love embedded in them. We have a tradition of baby quilts - we give everyone a theme and the background colour, and people make a square. Then there's a "sewing up day" where we get together for a lovely social day sewing them together. It's a lovely gift for a new baby.

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  3. It's beautiful Kate, what an awesome gift.
    My son is getting married this fall and I am working on a knit blanket as a gift. Now I just need to finish it before the heat returns to the south.

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    1. Oh yes my knitting has gone by the wayside with the heat we are experiencing at the moment.

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  4. What a lovely thing to do together with a friend! I'm about to start on a quilt for a friends wedding. My girls and I will work out the design and choose the fabrics together but as it's a machine sewn quilt there won't be much for them to do until the hand sewn binding!!!! Then, the girls will be helping out!!!
    I used to make lots go quilts but this is the first for 6 or 7 years and I'm quite excited!

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  5. What a wonderful thing to do. I'm still a beginner with quilting and haven't done any for ages, but this (and Linda's) makes me want to go find little pieces of fabric to stitch together.
    A friend is organising a new 'sustainable crafting' weekly get together which I'm pretty darn excited about. What ever you are working on to be brought in and done as a group. A chance to talk and share skills.

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  6. I love it! I've made a few very, very simple quilts over the years, but don't have the patience for anything intricate - I always marvel that people seem to sew things together so... well - seamlessly - everything I turn my hand to seems to come off looking like it was done by a 10 year old!!


    Mel

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