meanwhile, i've been unloading goodies from my trip, and settling back into my home. amongst these treasures are two drexel living room club chairs that i remember growing up with (mom bought them back in the 50's) that have been in storage in my folks' garage for nearly 25 years now. they are in quite a sorry state, but as such, are crying out for restoration and recreation...but more on them later... while dropping these off at my storage unit (where i have many antiques and other items that don't currently fit in my tiny cottage, but simply can't bring myself to let go of yet), i spotted a huge basket full to overflowing with.....silk ties!! glorious and wondiferous silk ties from days of old when i worked for lawyers and wore suits (oh, the hideous crime against humanity!!). ties were one of the few garments with which one could be creative when working in such a conservative environment...and i took to them with wild abandon! old ties, new ties, hand painted/hand dyed ties...it didn't matter, so long as they were silk, i loved them!
being the horribly addicted clothes horse that i have always been, i amassed, quite literally, hundreds of ties! it seems the last time i counted them, i reached 346 before i gave up because they kept turning up in the oddest of places.
these, of course, were immediately loaded up into the truck and brought back home. i think at one time i had contemplated the idea of making a crazy quilt...or maybe it was a dresden plate quilt?...from them. clearly, they had other ideas since they immediately began whispering a myriad of requests...all related to my more current work with slow cloth, kantha stitching, boro techniques and spirit cloth! i think these lovely snakes of silk will live in my studio for a bit before slithering their way into my quilting...
tonight, however, i am going to watch eat, pray, love and start a small cloth for something i have in mind...
oh...and i saw this fragment of wonderfulness today...
namaste'
I've also been collecting ties for some time now.(years?) But who can pass up the lovely silks: Italian, Japanese,Chinese, etc. you can find cloth from every country almost. Some I have opened up and used the silk in other projects, one doesn't have to keep it in the tie form, as many other people seem to do,it's just beautiful cloth. I also have some great woven, wool, as well as hand painted ones. If one looks at "Good Will" they can find treasures like this for only a dollar.I love my ties!!
ReplyDeleteglad you made it through the "hills" unscathed. i'm enjoying your blog very much. and really, those ties are quite marvelous!
ReplyDeleteI have a small collection of ties I've started too. Found at a garage sale and bought because they were so much fun. Glad you made it home safe...one of my brothers just slid down one of the passes recently...said it was one of the worst trips he's done.
ReplyDeleteAaaah great find these ties!!
ReplyDeleteI still have some of my man but not that much.
"Dismantling" them into useful pieces is quite a job !!! I used a piece in the big cloth I did in Jude's Patchwork Beasts class.
oh my, deb! i'm glad he is safe! ice slides are never fun!
ReplyDeletethank you, velma! I enjoyed wearing them at one time...now it's time for their rebirth. i shall have fun with them once again!
ReplyDeleteels, i'm looking forward to that workshop next time! meanwhile, just creating some on my own....
ReplyDeleteyou could weave them....
ReplyDeleteJude, true....and most likely will...amongst other things...
ReplyDeletei too am glad you are safe... that photo, though breathtakingly beautiful, also looks treacherous.
ReplyDeletei was wondering about those ties... if they are cut on the bias will they still be stable enough for weaving, or do you have to cut them in shorter pieces on the grain?
you know, nandas, i don't know... guess i'll find out when i start playing with them! new adventures...what fun!!
ReplyDeletenothing, and I MEAN NOTHING! could make me drive in that kind of snowy icy roads! i know we do what we have to do, but man, you are awesomely brave...
ReplyDeleteshaking off that snow packed image...you hit a treasure trove with the ties! you could make slow cloth from now through eternity!