Deconstruction and Reconstruction

We are having a new roof put on this week, and as I write this, there is the noise of air compressors and general thumping and pounding above me.  They're finishing up the final bit this morning, as there is a chance of thunderstorms today.

This was an attempt to take a clever photo of the workmen on the roof, which I could see in shadow as I did dishes in the kitchen and looked out onto the backyard.  It was fun to watch them move around on the rooftop in silhouette, though it may have lost something in the photo translation. 

Indoors, there has been another kind of tear-down and rebuilding going on. 

You may remember my grandma's quilt top, which was the inspiration for my Thoroughly Modern Lily quilt pattern. 

Instead of folding and putting away the old quilt top, which lay crumpled on a chair in the sewing room, I got a whim to cut it apart and see if I could remake it.

Before you gasp in horror, let me just say that as beautiful as this quilt top is, a good portion of the fabrics would never stand up to quilting or use.  Basically, all the solid colors need to be replaced, including the white background, sashing, and the cross-pieces in each block.  There were some other issues as well, a tuck here, a gap there, etc.

I carefully took apart one block, stitch by stitch.  I threw away the solid colored pieces and swished what remained in a sink of warm water and a little quilt soap, rinsed, then rolled in a towel to blot.  Then I pressed the pieces the rest of the way dry with the iron.  There's definitely some synthetic in this checked print; I could smell it when I pressed it.

I re-cut the pieces using the templates from the Thoroughly Modern Lily quilt pattern.  Grandma's pieces were just a smidgeon bigger than the templates, so it worked out nicely.

Redone block number one!

And here is a second one, before and after:

That "groovy" brown print fabric is my favorite.  Upon taking it apart, I could tell it was a mostly polyester, blouse type fabric, definitely not 100% cotton.  But it seemed to handle okay, and reassembly was without incident.

My intention would be to honor the general color scheme of the original quilt, though perhaps not put quite as much red back into the block centers, maybe mix it up a little more there.  I may also add some blocks of my own to make the quilt a bit larger.  Also trying to work, as much as possible, with what is in my stash.

This will be a slow process, one that I work on now and then.  I think it'll be fun, though.

I'm joining the gals and guys linking today at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.