'mended hearts'
So I found a beautifully worn and soft quilt a while back and I took it home, washed it very gently and then slowly started to cut it up and pick it all apart. The faded colours and the vintage prints began to remind me of both of my grandmothers....they would have worn day dresses made of this type of beautiful printed soft cotton, so I put some signatures of paper and cloth together and added some photos of Irene May and Ada Dorothy.
Whenever I find old faded baby clothes on my weekend my scavenger hunts, my heart skips a beat. I found this worn soft blue embroidered baby dress with the tiniest mother of pearl buttons you ever did see, and I love to use these little faded dresses in my journals. They are ever so daintily embroidered and seem handmade.
My beautiful grandmother Dorothy with my father, her first son and second child. What few photographs of my father as a child I have are so precious to me. My grandmother was born in Holborn, London, and her father William enlisted on New Year's Eve 1914 in the East Surrey Regiment and was away at war when she was born the following year. Her husband, my grandfather George Herbert, was a RAF pilot and served in the second world war, and was also gone for many years. Her life can't have been very easy, but thinking of her and what she endured with kindness of heart, faith, and grace has moved me, and strangely somehow through the threads that bind us together, remembering her has given me much comfort and strength, especially in trying times.
I loved working with this vintage quilt so much that I am almost finished making two more journals with the same materials that I will offer for sale. The textures of this vintage quilt have been such a joy to work with, I love the idea of restoring something handmade, tattered, and forgotten. Both journals measure 6 X 7. Once they are finished, I will come back to show photos if anyone is interested in owning one of these journals. They have such a rural 1940s vibe, especially adding many handwritten recipes on old bits of faded brown paper. These books really did make themselves in that starting with this quilt just threw me back into my childhood and being in my grandmas kitchen watching her turning out pies of every sort like nobody's business. She was a kind gentle loving grandma, wife and mother and I suppose this journal is an ode to my love for her.
See you soon,
Lisa xoxoxox
