Thursday, September 2, 2021

Quilt recycling!

Does this ever happen to you? You work and work and work on a piece and feel sure it's just right...and go to all the trouble of quilting and binding and sleeves and all the rest of it...only to then realise when it's been hanging on the wall for a few days...that it's a complete DUD!!! Or that you don't need it any more...it was a piece on the way to something better and bigger.

So...What do you do with the quilt? You can just roll them up in the cupboard of course! And I did that for many years...but...the pandemic has lead to an epidemic (!) of death cleaning in my house! And I found several pieces that I really wasn't very happy with at all...but then I had the idea of making pillows - and they came out GREAT!! what was ugly as a quilt, when chopped up into a pillow became strong, dynamic, intriguing.

Now maybe I should have just divided the quilts into interesting small pieces....well perhaps....but I think the pillows are so neat they'll make wonderful presents.

So far I've chopped up 4 quilts....so I'll show you before and after:

The finished quilt was called Legacy and was in Quilt National a few years ago...and has long since gone into a collection....but I had a small study piece where I worked on the idea...to see if I liked it...and also if the stitching would work...this little piece is now a pillow!!

The next quilt - Forcefield - was one of two...the idea was great...but the colors all together...well TOO MUCH! But divided into two large pillows.......

The more colorful quilt is Brief Encounter - which just won me a prize at the local art show...the version in neutrals was my study piece, much smaller...but big enough to make a nice pillow....I'll show you both sides:

The last quilt was fairly large - so far I've just made a couple of big pillows...but I have enough for two more......or....maybe the half that is left might be a good quilt? Hmm....time will tell!!!!

Hope you find the idea inspiring! maybe we'll have a pillow epidemic !!!! My christmas presents this year? pillows and chocolate to enjoy while lying back!!!and why not? And, if you have been...thanks for reading. also please note if any of you are on feedburner, they're closing it down. So please just check back from time to time to see if I've written anything - I don't write often these days...or you can email me - there's a link on the side bar. and thank you! All best wishes for a nice pillowy future! Elizabeth

7 comments:

Claire said...

Good idea about using the quilt tops up as pillows/cushions. I have a few in my stash that I don't really like but never thought about using them as cushions - will keep it in mind. Your cushions are lovely, the cushions aren't preplanned and have great movement and design in them.

tierneycreates said...

Absolutely brilliant recycling! I always mean to comment on your blog more but you are on blogger and I am on wordpress so I get lazy to log into blogger, ha!
Your art is brilliant!

Christine Staver said...

I haven’t made pillows, but have turned things I did not like as quilts into notebook covers.

Elizabeth Barton said...

Hi Claire! thank you for your comment. I too was surprised how neat the pillows came out, especially the grey one...these were all finished quilts...but I also have some tops and excess "fabric" left over that I think will make some very neat ones. And everybody always loves an extra pillow or too - cushions they're called in the UK by the way.
Hi Tierney! and thank you too...I must admit to ignorance as to the difference between blogger and wordpress..i am frustrated by blogger making it more difficult to post - everything seems to be in code now, not as much WISYG - very annoying...but then "a learning opportunity" of course!
Hi Chris! and thank you as well...i love reading comments...notebook covers...hmm....small appliance covers too would work...and I love small skinny back support pillows in the car...oops! now I need to make a few more duff quilts!!
Elizabeth

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