Can you remember these quilt patches from some time ago? The ones with the small birds and flowers. (see Post Tweedle Dee Dee) Well they have now been incorporated into a quilt…or at the very least, the start of one.
cuckoo and Maples
The patches were intended for my Dad, to be part of an 80th birthday quilt, but he is now 82 and announced last month that he and his partner Lois were going to get married. After some discussion among sisters we decided that the intended birthday quilt would be adapted to become a wedding quilt which could be pieced and layered here and quilted by their friends in Canada where they spend half the year.
Patch details
Each patch was cut from old table linens found in a number of charity shops. Incidentally this turned out to be apt given that Lois adores a good charity shop and has familiarised herself with just about every “Help the Aged” this side of Hadrian’s wall.
I had already introduced the Scottish connection with embroideries of local flora and fauna but I needed to introduce Canada in some way: Maple leaves was bonded to some patches and they would later be quilted at a Bee in Canada.
Maple leaves in Blues, greens and salmon.
the third verse of words of Kahlil Gibran’s wise wise words on Marriage were embroidered around the central square:
“Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the Oak tree and the Cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”
Letters from the back
Strips of scrap fabrics in stoney hues were pieced around the text. In my mind they, to a certain extent, represent the stone pillars of the temple.
As ever, I find the back almost more enticing.
The top layer is not quite finished. I still want to add a border with the tunes that my sister wrote for Lois’s mum and Dad – Jean and Sherman Yelland.
So a wee bit more work and then layering up. We’ll probably have a quilting or two here before the quilt crosses to the other side of the world for the attention and stitching of friends further afield.
Central square before the stoney strips were set around it.
So this has all got me thinking about setting up a series of quilting workshops here on the island, perhaps with a bit of song thrown in. What do you reckon to that idea?
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