It’s been a while since I shared progress on the Howard Wabi-Sabi quilt. For this Work In Progress post, I’m showing how I hand-quilted a few of the vintage weaves that were used in this object.
After much consideration, I decided that it was OK to sew on (aka deface) someone else’s work. This change of heart came after I was in Madison recently, where I asked my daughter to show me more samples of Margaret Howard’s work.
Oh my. There was so much of it. Huge plastic bins filled to overflowing. Several samples were woven with the same motifs found in the pieces I was using in my quilt. Perhaps each piece was not that precious to the maker. They were woven, perhaps for practice, perhaps for auditioning alternative color choices.
When I picked up my quilt blocks again, it was clear to me that my stitching could accomplish its task of quilting down the batting and backing while also reinforcing the existing weave patterns. To my mind, this is enough to honor the maker.
Today I am showing two blocks with embroidery finished.
Center Block before:
Center Block after
Fire Block before:
Fire Block after:
I’m aware that the differences appear subtle in the photographs. But in person, the embroidery stitches bring some color variation and texture that was lacking.
Thanks to Amanda for adding her embroidery to the work, which jump-started my own efforts.
Beautiful. It really makes a difference. It adds so much to the piece.
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Thank you.
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I love the additional embroidery. It gives an added dimension to the piece. Will you be using the samples above as sections in a bigger quilt? Or are they just practice pieces for now?
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Yes, these are quilt blocks. I have five with vintage fabric and four with regular quilting cotton. They will come together to make a lap quilt.
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Nice patterns.
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The embroidery definitely adds some interest to the pieces!
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Thanks.
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