Tuesday, September 7, 2010

i don't know what to say

 

back to the "op shop", that term is catching on for me...
on intuition
don't usually go so often
but
look what was there........
and
squares
.
it's really quite beautiful. machine sewn, and i am now very curious about who got this far
only
and gave it up?
and what will
i
do...at first thinking of taking it apart, because of the squares, using them in "my" way
of panels
but tonight, i keep looking at it and i don't know.
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20 comments:

deanna7trees said...

i love it. keep going.

grace Forrest~Maestas said...

deanna...
it's luminous.

nandas said...

grace... this is for your couch ... i would say be practical. someone just gave you a gift of time. you could put your pieces on each end. if you needed to put your own hand on it you could...

grace Forrest~Maestas said...

i feel like putting an ad in the paper, with a picture of it...
in the personals section:
seeking maker of this cloth
but then
our thrift shop gets it's stuff
not only from local donation, but
also from somewhere in Albuquerque.
it's a St.Vincent de Paul shop...
large catholic organization...
nation wide....
but the more i think about it,
i feel like i need to honor the
original impulse?

nandas said...

you know what you need to do...

kaiteM said...

grace, honour the find, it was a gift for you. it may have been given up for all sorts of reasons, but most likely voluntarily, so not wanted back again.
enjoy it and think abut it for a while before you do anything.
and let it think about your place too, it doesn't want any sudden changes, it's only just arrived.
pleased you like our Op Shop term.

Jacky said...

It may have only just arrived, but it does look at home already Grace.

I love that someone has stitched this and then via the 'Op' shop it has been gifted to you ... as if the universe knew you would finish this piece and cherish it.

Who knows the story...we can make up many, and maybe some day, per chance you will happen upon its story....but then maybe it is a story keeper?

I am so pleased you found this cloth and look forward to what happens next.

Jacky xox

Unknown said...

A windfall of denim comes into your hands, the bounty enough to wear, enough for you to create a futon cover. So you began with your panels,showing the natural beauty of the cloth and the stitch. And then you were led back to the thrift store and came upon this "op" cloth, denim squares, all stitched together, waiting.

How is incorporating this cloth to your futon cloth any different than using cloth from others, to make your story cloth creations? Add what you have made to it and it all comes together as your cloth. Finding this beautiful put together denim cloth was no random chance; it was meant for you.

If you need to share your gratitude with the cloth maker, a personal ad is good or you could write a letter to the editor of your local paper and to the newspapers in Albuquerque.

Penny Berens said...

Hi Grace, I'm with your initial need to take it apart and put it back together the way you would work with squares. It is beautiful as is, but you need to be comfotable working with it. Perhaps putting a photograph of the original piece on the back would help the telling of the story.

jude said...

holy shit! sorry. just work over it and around it, and maybe under it.

grace Forrest~Maestas said...

off to help shear a buck goat.

Deb G said...

Ooooooh.... As for what to do, I'd leave it and consider it a gift. And embellish on top to make it more panel like if that was what I wanted. What a find!

Storycloth said...

yep - it is superb - keep it as one for the most part..I reckon. Gilly

Susan said...

Wow! What a find - I vote keep it and add your own things to it. I especially love the lights, darks and fades meeting up at the seams.

Yvonne said...

This find is so perfect for you! Intuition right on! I love when that happens and I sometimes am grabbed by mine to get to a thrift shop and invariably there is the exact item for me.

helen said...

Jude is on the same page as me, cut holes, reverse applique,stitch on top, etc. Welcome the big piece. I have a sister who makes these denim quilts for her church and I could see her dropping a started one off. Anyway, who's to say where it comes from, there is a book out called "The blue sweater" about a girl working in impoverished counctries helping impower women and teach them how to make money from their craft. Anyway the title comes from the fact that she sees this girl in the blue sweater she loved as a child and gave to a thrift store. The thread of the travel of that sweater is quite amazing, when thrift stores are tired of product it goes to impoverished countries so this denim could have traveled from Michigan, one never knows it's starting point.Thanks for recycling, clothes going to a land fill is ludicrous.

Suzanna said...

What a rainbow of blue...I vote to just look at it for a long time and it will tell you what to do

grace Forrest~Maestas said...

Yes.
i am going to look at it.
Wait.

today i went to my daughters to
shear the senior goat buck. a guy
kept saying he would come. $50.
but he never showed up. so...we
took a deep breath and set to it.

buck goats are strong.
buck goats pee on their legs, their
belly, their beards to smell lovely
and appealing to the does.
they stink.
are sticky.
he had not been sheared since he
came, over a year ago
sticky. smelly.
but we did it.
he was way more cooperative than
we'd guessed and it is DONE.
ta da.
during the shearing, when the clipper was buzzing quietly away,
in our silence, her, me, the goat,
my thoughts drifted to the denim
squares. just looking at them in
my mind.
i will wake tomorrow and look
more, in reality, and we'll see.
could go either/any way.

when i got home, there was an
enormous magnificant electrical
storm. DIRECT fierce lightning
strikes. the house vibrated.

a perfect day.

Heartwideopen said...

What a rare and wonderful find! I've learned you just have to be in the right place at the right time to find something like this! I can't wait to see what you decide to do with it!!!!!
HuGGs!
Debo

helen said...

grace, i thought about this piece and if you were undecided about the machine pieced squares you could cut at the seams and weave through them just like in cloth to cloth and still keep it's original intent with your own personal self added, or maybe even only weave part of it.Good karma was shining on you, you are very lucky to get such a find.