Saturday, March 29, 2008

Cheltenham

it seems appropriate that my first post should be about a quilt that i didn’t even know i wanted to make. i didn’t know this because at least 10 dreamy ideas are already in the planning and purchasing stage. but haven’t you just gone to your LQS to find a particular specimen but as you run your fingers across the neatly stacked bolts you keep stopping to admire what seems to be prints that you could not remember seeing "yesterday” and you just quietly say to yourself "that’s so beautiful but I’m not looking for you today”.

several weeks ago a quilt pattern - with finished quilt hanging for me to admire - captured my attention. specifically designed for asian fabric the use of black sashing made it "friendly” when you just want to use everything you see & love even when they don’t seem to belong together. i told my "non-quilter-but-wants-to-quilt-someday” sister to check it out as she loves this stuff - as do i - but i just knew i didn’t want to make this one. doesn’t that explain why i would share such a discovery. then i found a seemingly simple blue grey & cream specimen that magically had the same strength as the black sashing. however i decided to use it’s power on what is the phenomenon of “shabby-chic” except my very fond childhood memories just refer to it as "very British".

when I was little i lived in the U.K. in the town of Cheltenham in the county of Gloucestershire. maybe the U.K. has changed and become very modern but in the 60’s i was always fascinated by the seemingly unmatching combinations of very large flower & botanical prints in the sitting rooms of our British neighbors. the chair didn’t match the sofa and the attached doily-protector-thingies-draped-over-their-backs-and-arms didn’t match the wallpaper which didn’t match the lampshade which didn’t match the teatray or the teacosy which covered the didn’t match teapot which also didn’t match the teacups and all of this absolutely didn’t match the housedresses &/or aprons worn by the women who were working on yet another didn’t match knitting or crochet thingie which "quietly" sat amongst all of the above in it’s own didn’t match basket. don't even get me started on the fair isle sweaters worn with very large plaid trousers. but to a young girl fascinated by it all - it made perfect sense. completely supported by the television characters in "Coronation Street" and "Til Death Us Do Part” and you have the discovery of the most beautiful messes i have ever seen.

so I’m going to call this quilt Cheltenham.

15 fabrics will be joined in a four-square-block. framed with a thin blue border. then a thin folded border. and then sashed with the blue again. above are the precut folded borders.

thanks for stopping by. come back again. then you can see what i've been up to.

1 comment:

Des said...

Wow! I love the name. I love how our past shines through our craft in modern day. No wonder you like Jane Austen! Yes, I'm totally up to date on the Masterpiece Theater Collection of Jane Austen. Heaven!I'm not a huge fan of Dickens but we ALL (the whole family) really got into Bleak House. Netflix is our friend.
Great first post!! Des