I should start an occasional feature here with the theme, “how did this happen?”
This is a detail of a larger piece in progress that has an interesting story. Well, nearly everything I make has an interesting story, that is why I create. Anyway, the base of this piece almost ended up in the trash. For a while, I was buying a fair amount of box lots at a local junk auction, of which I was interested in only some of the contents. One such box lot contained a vintage printed tablecloth that had seen better days. There must have been other table linens in the box that were in better shape. This one had so many holes in it, there was no way I could re-purpose it into a garment or overdye it. This ratty tablecloth begged me to give it another chance, and so I have. One day last summer, I took it up to the cemetery at the top of my hill, along with a bunch of crayons, and started making rubbings of the carvings on the gravestones. I didn’t stop until most of the cloth was covered in rubbings.
My next step is to start quilting this bit of crayon craziness. I am going to start with thread sketches of buildings that once stood in the little community that surrounded the cemetery. Check back next week to see if I actually started any of the quilting on this or the Upcycle quilt.