It's the 15th of the month, and that time again to produce any work made from scraps. I just have two small scrappy projects this month. Firstly, although I haven't done very much sewing in the last month, I did manage to make a few red hexies for the redwork quilt I posted about back in February. I haven't done a lot more on it, but had a bit of a reprieve on the deadline. You may remember I'd been working on it for a friend's 75th birthday gift, and was wanting it finished by the end of March, but Christine's sister decided they should go overseas to celebrate their milestone birthdays.... it was her 70th this year. Since it was all a bit rushed, and she was leaving the day after her birthday, she suggested we celebrate when she got back, so I still have a couple of weeks to work on getting the top pieced, if not the whole quilt finished.
I've also managed to prep the pieces ready to make flying geese blocks to fill in around the redwork embroideries I've done. Now that I'm feeling better, and more focused, I'll put the blocks back up on the design wall and work out where these will go, and what else I need to do.
My second project is a bit different, and is one where I've used paper scraps. I've had these metal card file boxes since 1987, carrying around the country with me, each time I moved, knowing ....hoping!.....someday I'd find a use for them.
They have a bit of history behind them. Back in the 80s I worked for DoCs (the welfare) in Western Australia, and these boxes were used to keep the card files of anyone who came into the office requesting a food voucher. Not a very good system, as there was no-cross-referencing with other offices, and people could go from office to office and claim a food voucher many times in a week. It was a very exciting time when all those handwritten records could be entered onto a database, and with the tap of a button, we could see when and how often a person was applying for assistance and respond accordingly.
Of course, the metal boxes were obsolete then and were to be thrown out, so I rescued these two, thinking I'd "do something with them". Well it only took me 30 odd years, and so, with the help of some discarded seed catalogues, this one's being turned into a seed storage box.
I gessoed the base of the box, then tore words and pictures and layered them all over, brushing on more gesso as I went. They're not finished yet, one side to go, but I'll add a layer of matte medium over all for protection, and fill up with seeds. It's been good to have a fairly mindless project to keep me busy, and great to have all my seeds in one place, and easily found.
Kate (me!), Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, D
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, N
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline and Sue L.
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, D
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, N
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline and Sue L.
till next time............
What a super idea, well worth the incubation period.
ReplyDeleteA very long incubation!
ReplyDeleteLove the red hexi's and the way you have finally made use of something that would have gone to the landfill. I would never have thought of it but the boxes are so cute.
ReplyDeleteThey're great boxes, shallow enough not to lose things, but the lids are nice and deep, so tall things can go in.
DeleteYou have to love a gardener's collage, it's such an insight into what she holds dear in the garden! Those boxes look incredibly sturdy, and with the finishing coat they're never going to deteriorate. Such a great idea, and wonderful to see such durable scrap take on a new life.
ReplyDeleteThey were such vibrant pictures in those old Digger's catalogues, I couldn't resist marrying up the two 'discards'. I'm glad you like them and happy to have had a project I couldn't muck up while I was unwell and then recuperating.
ReplyDeleteNanette, I hope you feel much better. I worked in a school library and we had cards in wooden boxes before computers moved in and all the students went on a database. So much easier I must say. Good to see you are making good use of your boxes.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chel, definitely on the mend. Fu ny to think there was a time we shuffled through cards to find people.
DeleteI love how your quilt is shaping up - red isn't a colour I wear very often but it really makes a quilt sing doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteAs for your seed boxes, they are beautiful and useful and you can't ask for better than that. Well worth the wait.
Same here, I'm not drawn to red, but it's a wonderfully vibrant colour, and my friend loves it. Ah yes, nothing like a 30 year wait, all those times I packed them up for yet another move, I must've been thinking maybe this time I'll find a use for them.
DeleteI like red a lot and am working (well, kind of) on a redwork quilt so I LOVE your hexies! I'll look toward to seeing this all come together. And I have nasty, old metal box that would be vastly improved with your technique--thanks for the idea!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to go have a lok at your redwork quilt, maybe some onspiration for me. Can't wait to see your metal boxes, glad I could help you look at them differently.
ReplyDeleteI love how you decorated the file box. 😊
ReplyDeleteI hope you feel all well now.
Thanks Nil, it's rather fun to tear up paper and glue it down without having to think too much :) I'm having more good days now than bad ones thanks.
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