Stitching Away

Two very quick progress reports today.  First, the sample of the Upcycle project:

Image and design copyright RPS

I simply took a piece of muslin and drew a portion of the trick or treat lettering in marker.  Then, made some hasty sketches of chickens and free motion quilted them on my little Elna model 50 "Grasshopper."  Then I began to go over the marker letters in chain stitches, at the same time auditioning two different weights of WonderFil Eleganza thread.  In all of the drawing classes I have had, my teachers always stressed the importance of drawing directly from the real thing, don't try to draw from memory.  These chickens are proof of that advice. 

I have dabbled a little bit with one of the little Mardi Gras series - the ones where I was supposed to finish one a week - here is some hand embroidery that I am pleased with:

Image and design copyright RPS

I am off to at least find pictures of chickens.  There is a barn full of chickens within sight of my house, but I don't know the neighbors well enough to ask them if I could hang out there for a while drawing their laying hens. 

Progress on the Upcycle entry

Finally, I am rolling along with something!  My entry for the SAQA Upcycle show is taking shape.  My first step was to cut the base fabric, and baste the large chicken feed sack pieces to it.  I also raw edge appliqued some small printed feed sack pieces to have a little color where the chicken feed bag pieces don't quite meet.

Image and design copyright RPS

Next, I played with the location for the secondary focal point pieces - chunks cut from a vintage printed tablecloth (check out the mid-century mod chickens) and a fun hanky with some more funky chickens on it.

Image and design copyright RPS

Once I had a good idea where the focal points will go, I started to place pieces of printed feed sack in the lower right corner.  The pieces will be raw edge appliqued, and I will use the same technique in the upper left corner.

Image and design copyright RPS

My next step is to make a small sample of the trick-or-treat part of the whole piece feed sack and try quilting it with thread sketched chickens.  I plan on outlining the trick-or-treat lettering in dark gray chain stitching.  Check back on Thursday to see how that goes.

Distractions and Decisions

When embarking on a project specifically for a call for entry, it is crucial to read and re-read the entry rules numerous times throughout the process.  The ideas I posted last time for the SAQA Upcycle show, I have set aside.  The dyed tablecloths that I selected are too big!  I don't want to cut them down to size and lose the neat finished edges that those vintage damask linens often have.  I have many more options for upcycle ideas.  Behold, the very ambitious trick-or-treat bag:

This is a vintage feed sack that once held 100 pounds of chicken feed!  Some enterprising youngster turned an empty feed sack inside out and scribbled his Halloween dream on it, as you can see above.  I'd love to know where the kid who had dreams of filling this bag lived, to think that he could get 100 pounds of Halloween candy.  This had to be the plot of a teenage boy. 

Continuing my early planning for this Upcycle entry, I have pulled printed feed sacks from my collection and vintage kitchen linens with chickens on them.  I'll be collecting candy wrappers over the next couple of months.  I'll also be looking into an old candy brand from the past, Chicken Dinner.

Next time, look for a peek at another series that I am starting.  I don't seem to have enough to do!

Auction Finds

I had a good day at the local junk auction this week.  I came home with three sewing machines, though not anything greatly desirable.  These machines are robust but lower end models, not the machines that I look for as a collector who uses her collection.  This bunch will be serviced and donated to a group that works with abused and homeless girls.  The girls are taught sewing as a part of a therapy course, and each girl gets to keep the machine that she learns on.  I’m all for any program that gets any youngsters into making something.

I also bought this:

An unfinished hand sewn quilt top made with lots of different strips of 1930s printed feed sack cloth.  As much as I rant against looking at the backs of contemporary quilts, I must say, this one warrants study of the back.

The underside is a collection of more print scraps, and plain feed sacks.  This quilt top begs so many questions.  The obvious, who made it, and where?  Why was so much time spent on what is here, to leave it unfinished?  It also came with several loose stars, and two quarter stars.  Those little pieces will go into a collage.  I want to do something with the part top that preserves its integrity, but I have no desire to attempt to continue the pattern.

Auction Wins and Losses

Astonishingly, my sickly, blight-stricken tomato plants are continuing to produce beautiful fruit.  I've been canning more sauce for the winter, while gazing out at a goldenrod, Joe-Pye-Weed and ironweed filled meadow that will have to wait for another year to be simmered with silk and wool to create lovely colors.

I slipped out to the local junk auction last night, and came home with some more vintage damask linens to dye.  I was outbid on a handful of lovely doilies and a generous fat quarter of vintage bark cloth.  I have my limits on bidding, and even though I really wanted the doilies and bark cloth more than anything else on my list last night, I did not want to pay much.  I keep getting outbid or just making dumb decisions on bark cloth and vintage printed feed sack cloth.  Twice in the last three years, I have found a large box of uncut feed sacks, only to leave each auction before they even started because I didn't want to sit through half a day for one box of stuff.  Of course, the boxes might have gone for far more then I could have paid, I don't know.

So here are five things I really want to find in the waning auction season this year:

1. Bark cloth
2. Feed sacks
3. Wooden ironing boards
4. Elna model 50 sewing machine (the "Grasshopper")
5. A really good deal!

Trick or Treat!

I know it is not Halloween time, but I found a surprise "treat" recently.  I'm working on a chicken themed quilt, and I was going to cut into one of my vintage livestock feed bags for it.  This is the bag I selected:

I noticed some traces of faded post-manufacture writing on the bag, and by chance I looked inside the bag...

Some ambitious youth had made the feedsack into a trick-or-treat bag!  I am so amused by this, that I am thinking of making this a whole cloth quilt, and not using it for the chicken project.  I might just split the bag, and turn the "fill'er up" side out, pairing it with the remaining "right" side for a quilt top.  I would stitch the letters to make them show up better, and perhaps add color to the faded printing.  I'm not sure what else yet, but I will come up with something more to do with it.

What I would love to know (and sadly never will), is where the kid who used this as a trick-or-treat bag lived.  It is a large bag, it once held 100 pounds of feed.  I'm assuming he (this must be the work of a teenage boy) lived in a rural area to have access to chicken feed bags, but in a rural area, population is sparse, houses are far apart...  slim chance of filling a bag this size with candy.  Perhaps he was traveling to a city with visions of lots of candy.  I give him credit for dreaming big!