A perusal through my stash of fabrics inspired a pair of works with a touch of poetry.
Victorian quilt pieces hand pieced with initials of the original maker stitched in the corner, were reversed to give me a blank canvas. I have to say that these quilts were cut up long before I acquired them and common for damaged and worn pieces.
I also used the reverse of old Indian embroidered textiles that were also greatly damaged, the front side were stitched in brightly coloured thread.
Keeping the same colour palette and kantha stitch brought a similarity that made the two works a pairing.
On the first picture shown, a couple of lines from the poem by John Keats "On the grasshopper and cricket", are free machined stitched onto the background.
"The poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run."
The second picture has an excerpt from the poem, "Generation to Generation" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
"We live, not by things, but by the meanings
of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords
from generation generation."
This particular excerpt is very apt for the choice of materials, all antique with their own story to tell.
Both works are approximately 40x40cm in size and have now been sold, one journeying to the USA and the other Denmark.
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| Initials stitched on corner of antique quilt |
