Be With Me

wool yarn, stranded knit 

15 ⅝ " x 15 ⅝"

2013

SOLD!

The show at the Green Bean came down this past weekend, and I have now had the chance to properly photograph those pieces that were finished ... at 3 am ... the day of the show. I put everything in my car and, by the time I got in it to leave, the whole thing smelt like Green Bean coffee, ha! Didn't think about how the fibers would absorb odors.

Overall, the show was a success. Sold one knitted piece and a few prints, and now the community knows me as the "Ain't That Some Shit" girl. It was the star of the show with everyone wanting to know "how long did that take you to make??!" I didn't track my time, but I started designing it in September and it was finished by the end of January. I worked on it at cookouts, road trips, and all through Christmas vacation, I would catch snippets of time when I had them, on top of longer days on my couch. Hard question to answer!

 Toothbrushes // Houses

wool yarn, stranded knit

12" x 12"

2013

I love this one. I realize it doesn't incorporate text, but I was so happy to finally be able to incorporate toothbrushes into a piece! I had this image of two brushes side-by-side rolling around in my mind for some time. There's definitely going to be a follow-up designs in this same style.

 Aloof #1 (blue)

wool/acrylic yarn, intarsia knit

16 ¾" x 30"

2013

  Aloof #2 (orange)

wool yarn, intarsia knit

16 ¾" x 30"

2013

 Aloof #3 (pink)

wool/acrylic yarn, intarsia knit

16 ¾" x 30"

2013

My brother thinks these 3 should be bought together as a unit, I had them individually priced, but I can imagine some cool ways to hang them together on a wall. They have been the most complicated design thus far, both in knitting and building the frame, but it paid off. I hung one of them sideways on my wall, and it's giving me ideas for a vertical-style knitting in the future...

Stay tuned!

My boys and their respective antique quilts. 

The quilt on the left came from Pa May's estate, Adam's step-great-grandfather, after he passed earlier this year. Adam's mother, Dianne scooped up all the valuables from his house and hosted a family lunch, wherein she announced that we were to all pull 2 slips of paper from a bowl she was passing around. She had written each valuable on these slips, and we were to take the 2 items whether we wanted them or not! (Gotta love her manipulative organization) Lo and behold, I picked a quilt!! I was absolutely thrilled. She had taken the liberty of washing it, in the washing machine, which I wagged my finger at her for, but I'm secretly thankful for a must-free quilt. 

Novelty fabrics like this came into popularity in the 1920's and flourished through the 40's, typically designed with inanimate objects or scenes relating to leisure, and representing American daily life. Nautical motifs were particularly popular. I would guess that this particular fabric dates to the 40's. It's a very simple patchwork top, one half is patterned in red and blue, the other half in turquoise and purple in the same design, with machine-stitched, diagonal quilting lines. I was told that it was filled with horse hair but upon closer inspection, it's a cotton batting. I did a burn test on a sample of the filling and there was no presence of synthetic fibers so that potentially supports its age. It at least doesn't disprove my 1940's guess.

The second quilt is a bit older and has been with me for a longer time. My grandmother (once again) found the quilt top packed away in her house in Nashville, TN. (She grew up in west TN, which is where it probably originated) Being that it was only a top and never finished into an actual quilt, meant it was never used and in pristine condition. I took it home and finished it, hand-quilting it in the car when I moved out to Los Angeles in '08. Here it's pictured at a quilt guild meeting, where I was able to get it dated by a professional. She gave me the time frame of somewhere between 1900 to 1920. 

This is pre-novelty fabric era so you'll see a lot more plaids, stripes, florals, plains; and the scale of their pattern will be tiny. Scales in textiles designs have gotten larger and larger as we've progressed through the 20th century. The fabric here that I've placed my finger behind is probably the oldest fabric in the quilt, I would say second half of the 19th century. It shows its age beautifully and I was excited when I discovered it. Where there was once brown dye, it has now eroded the fabric due to the metals used in making the dye. It's a great example of old manufacturing techniques in textile history.

As you can see it now has obvious damage to it. When I first noticed the top starting to tear, I had the choice to retire the quilt to a protected, covered life in a closet or under a bed somewhere. I ultimately made the choice that it was something better enjoyed being used and accepted the fact that fabrics do not last forever. Because I was young and poor at the time, I chose cheap polyester batting to fill the quilt. As a result, it's a wonderful summer quilt because it retains none of your body heat, and I still don't regret the decision to keep it on my bed. I have admired its beauty and appreciated its function. And ain't that the reason we have these things in our lives anyways??