Mr Pussy Takes A Nap
The time has come to put the quilt on the bed until Spring. I made this quilt from thirty tapestries that I bought secondhand and sewed together. So much work goes into stitching tapestries, but then no-one knows what to do with the completed ones and they end up in car boot sales, markets and charity shops. My plan was to make a quilt of unloved tapestries.
At first, I collected all I could find and I liked the idea of sewing together these tapestries that were often ugly and creating something beautiful from them. But then I found some special ones that were far from ugly and decided only to use the nicest. At this point, I discovered there were hundreds listed on ebay and soon I had tapestries turning up in the mail from all over the globe.
There is another side to this too, because I chose to make the quilt in memory of my mother. A warm and colourful quilt that would stay with me always and evoke memories of her tucking me up in bed when I was a child, this was very attractive to me. Now I wanted to collect the images that she loved, birds, boats, flowers, paintings and landscapes.
Eventually, my house was piled with tapestries, far more than necessary for the quilt and I spent months shuffling them around on the floor to create the ideal arrangement before I sewed them together. Then I attached a lining of the softest lemon yellow velvet and the quilt was complete a year after my mother died. Now, every Autumn, I bring it out at this time and I love the feeling of lying beneath it and surveying its rich colours, both as I lay my head down each night and every morning when I wake too.
How fabulous. I can see a new cottage industry arising out of this
Love this. Really beautiful work!
I have long assumed that you were a man; but this – and your comment today about rings on your dressing table (in Mr Pussy) gives me pause. It’s of no consquence, of course, but the way in which you sally forth around Spitalfields and talk to everyone seemed more consonant with a man’s life. But I imagine you’ll continue to keep your gentle readers guessing….
This is a beautiful quilt.
How incredibly sexist you are, Wolfiewolf! I’m simply astounded by your comment. “Sallying forth and talking to everyone” has got very little to do with what’s in one’s pants. Were you born in the 17th century, per chance?
language is about mind set, the would be aspiring intellectual loves words like sally forth and bollox like that. thats why i love mr pussy, hes what he is, should have his own tv show, would be brilliant just him doing stuff for half an hour
great great blog
Delightful!
I love the way the squares are oriented in all directions so that no matter which way you look at the quilt there will always be some squares in “head- on” view for your enjoyment. Nice.
The black cat next to tapestry cat is great. As a textile artist I think this is such a great idea. I also feel sad for the abandoned tapestry.