Re-Purposing Old Quilts: Table Mats and Napkins

Di Povey

After 43 years of creating quilts as a professional teacher and quilter, some of my quilts have started to show their age through normal use. So, what to do with un-donatable items? My fun solution has been creating table mats and napkins.   I’ve made many sets mostly from Australian Flora and Fauna prints.  Here is a set of table mats featuring finches and desert peas. Minimum quilting is required (I machine or hand quilt horizontally 5 cm apart and bind with straight cut binding folded double).  

Re-Purposing Old Quilts: Desktop Mat

Di Povey

After 43 years of creating quilts as a professional teacher and quilter, some of my quilts have started to show their age through normal use. So, what to do with un-donatable items? My fun solution has been creating table mats, and this, my latest, a desk mat for my keyboard and mouse to adorn! Minimum quilting is required (I machine or hand quilt horizontally 5 cm apart, and bind, or use a finished size 1.5 cm lazy fold over technique). For this desk mat I used “Scenic Route Wildflower Garden…

Re-invention of an old rug

Di Povey

  This is not a restoration, but a ‘re-invention’.  Restoration would mean the attempt to make it look like the original, but this is NOT the case here! It seems that ‘mice’ attacked this old and loved rug in Granny Squares, owned by a friend.  The conundrum of time vs the desire to honour the original item came into the conversation, so here is the result. I picked out the rodent-ravaged pieces, and using some squares from an abandoned project, inserted them into the item.  It now has a new chapter…

The cost of our time – only the well off can afford to buy Aussie made at Aussie prices.

Di Povey

Like all of us makers, I do what I do because I love it!! And that will always be the case! But every once in a while, I think about what it would actually cost to make if one were being commissioned to make it.  What if I factored in all the hours of making the components, assembling them, and of course, the cost of the materials themselves? – what sort of price should that command? Everytime I go to an arts and crafts fair in Australia where I live,…

Wave Pattern Throw Rug

Di Povey

This is my latest project,  a repeating wavy design in greens and browns, ‘Aussie’ style colours. I made a Flora de Flora for my daughter’s wedding gift, but she prefers a simpler style, so I’ve gone back to a relatively simpler style of project. I love this design and have used it a number of times in various projects, including my  hot colours stripey blanket. It is tempting to add different patterns, but I have to hold myself back to consider my daughter’s preferences.  I have however, indulged myself with…

Flora de Flora by Veronika Liachovic

Di Povey

This is my current project, now designated as an engagement gift for my daughter and her beloved. The design is by textile maestra Veronika Liachovic, an amazing textile artisan. The pattern is FREE via her website, you just have to be patient with the ads – but I believe it is totally worth it.  I am amazed and grateful that she offers it free, considering the amount of work that goes into the design creation, and then the work of translating it into accurate and readable instructions.

How to block a crochet blanket

Di Povey

‘Blocking’ most simply put,  means saturating the blanket, and then allowing it to dry in the shape you want it.  It’s amazing the difference this will make to your project.  The reason is the wetting allows the yarn to relax, allowing it to settle into the required shape as it dries. What you will need: laundry trough of nice warm water, some large bath towels to remove excess moisture, large towel or old quilt large enough to lay your blanket out single thickness for drying, tape measure, pins This is…

Classic wool polo neck jumper

Di Povey

Moving to a much cooler clime triggered the need for truly warmer garments – and this of course means WOOL!  Preferably Aussie wool from my point of view, so Cleckheaton was a natural choice.  Nothing like pressure to start and complete a garment before it becomes a UFO, and I had left Mildura with virtually NO winter wardrobe!  Here is the completed project and I love it!  Here are the deets for the knitting nerds: yarn used: Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8 ply (DK or double knit).  Yarn content 85% Australian…

Yarn Bomb for Art Vault – Take II

Di Povey

(Copy requested by local paper) Local textile artist Di Mann-Povey brought a touch of colour to Deakin Avenue recently with a ‘Yarn Bomb’ installation.  Assisted by her friend, Sandra Bolton, from Geelong; Mann-Povey was discovered by our photographer, adding the finishing touches to her artwork. The work was inspired by another recent Mildura exhibition, “Voice of a River,” inviting the response of artists to the crisis confronting our local river system.  It reflects on a time when the rivers ran clear and were healthy and abundant with life, both flora…