Introducing New Worlds With A Shrug: May 2014

Thursday, May 29

Tuesday, May 27

Inspired: Counterpane Quilts

Check out these beauties from Pauline's Boyd's quilt line, Counterpane.

I know, I normally go heavy on the
picture posting and light on the writing but I had to throw in some bits and pieces I gathered from a few of Pauline's interviews because she's as awesome as her quilts.

via FB

via Cloth&Kind

"When I made my first quilt, around 2004, I had never even used a sewing machine. I had no fabric so I just went around the apartment cutting up stuff – literally the sheets, curtains, clothes."

-Pauline Boyd, Cloth and Kind

via Instagram

via Cloth&Kind

"I had been struggling to work as an actress in New York for over ten years and the idea of letting that go started brewing in me. I took off to join my boyfriend in Asia where he was working, and I just took the time to sew and develop my quilting style. He bought me a foot-pedal table sewing machine and we dragged it home in a tuk tuk."

-Pauline Boyd, Cloth and Kind

This quilt is made from her Dad’s old silk shirts from
Paris, old tribal jackets and indigo from Vietnam and Laos. via Cloth&Kind

Her quilts often contain fabrics from eight or nine countries as well as vintage fabrics sourced locally.

"I’ve been lucky to be able to travel a huge amount the last few years- to visit my (now domestic) long distance boyfriend- and those trips always became these magical treasure hunts."

-Pauline Boyd, The Local Rose

Magical treasure hunts? I love that and they clearly pay off. The two quilts below for example have gold fabric from a tailor's floor in Marrakesh.

Eternia Quilt: "Inspired by women everywhere who
wear golden headpieces and carry swords." (No big deal).

Quartz Quilt : "Inspired by the imagined life of a miner,
my great grandfather's holy vision of white light in the
mines of Southern Illinois and the quartz lines that
move through rocks in Northern CA near the Yuba river."

Here's a photo of Pauline in Myanmar via Facebook: Smiles possibly iindicating an epic trade just took place? I like to think so.

"I ... love to trade for clothes when I travel. I’ll find out what the old ladies’ style is and buy new stuff at the markets and then go to villages. There’s always a really funny ‘here’s that crazy lady who wants our dirty old sarongs’ moment, but then they’ll start pulling out some quilting or patchwork to show me once we’re on the same page.”

-One Kings Lane Interview, here

Pauline must have some great stories. The quilt below is made with cotton, linen, hemp, silk and monk robes! A trade I would love to have seen.

via La Times

Via FB

Pauline doesn't limit herself to the textiles she picks up on her travels. She also finds inspiration and a use for everyday fabrics.

"... I’m just always looking, anything could be potential material- a striped end of an otherwise worn out kitchen towel, a dress that never quite fit. Men’s shirting from thrift stores always yields lots of yardage in more neutral tones and cottons."

-Pauline Boyd, The Local Rose

The screenshot below exemplifies the sheer awesomeness of her local sourcing efforts.

I could keep posting but I have to stop somewhere, and I think I made my point: Pauline should go down as the coolest quilter (if that's a word) in history. If you want to check out her quilts for yourself you can find her quilt archive here, facebook here and quilts for sale here.