Unlike many of the themes posed for the Endeavourers Challenges, for this one - "A scene from a book" I knew from the outset what my inspiration would be.
This BeRo baking book was tucked away amongst my Mum's recipe books when I cleared my parent's flat last year. As you can see it has been well-used since it was published in the 1950's. The front and back cover is missing, but apart from that all of the pages are intact, if rather dog-eared.
These pages were the inspiration for my scene
After some deliberation I chose to represent my scene in the form of an oven glove to reflect the source of my inspiration.
An old teatowel was tea-dyed to give me the appropriately stained and shabby background fabric.
Then I took inspiration from this book for the appliqued motifs. I used the freezer paper applique method from the book, but if I was doing something similar again, I would go back to the Crafted Applique method I used for my
raindrop as some of the tiny pieces frayed quite badly, as you can see below.
I added some embroidered baking terms too.
The back of the oven glove was quilted with machine-embroidered phrases from the foreword to the book.
Finally, I used the first recipe in the book to bake some rich scones to be taken with a cup of tea and some jam and cream this afternoon :)
Head on over to
Celtic Thistle Stitches to read more on the inspiration for this project.
Once again I had a lovely time getting all of the elements of this project together and to be able to finish it off with an afternoon cream tea is an added bonus!
I am looking forward to seeing what my fellow Endeavourers have come up with for this challenge, I am sure that I will, as always, be amazed. Thanks again Catherine and Janine for organising another great challenge.
I'm always so impressed by the way you think outside the box in the way you approach your pieces. This is marvellous - it's so poignant! I'm really looking forward to reading more on your blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks Catherine, I usually start with a straightforward rendition of the particular theme but somehow always end up going off at a tangent!
DeleteI love that you made your quilt for this theme an oven glove! You've really captured the spirit of that recipe book with the tea dyeing and all the applique and text details. Your cream tea was well earned :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Janine, once I decided on the oven glove the rest just fell into place.
DeleteGreat idea and useful, too. I love the words you put on the glove, reminiscent of your mother.
ReplyDeleteThanks Debbi, I could do with replacing my oven glove but I think this one will be decorative for a while at least :)
ReplyDeleteThis is so clever, I love it! Tea staining the towel was a grand idea, and the additions to it are so fun. A nice reminder of your mom to have in your kitchen!
ReplyDeleteThe teatowel wasn't the most pristine in the first place Wendy, so tea-dying was probably an improvement :)
DeleteFiona strikes again -brilliantly! I think the fraying of the little pieces actually adds to it, making it more like the frayed book -and, perhaps, the frayed attitudes? I enjoyed, as always, reading your blog post about your thought process -the gradient of the words, for example; baking terms to attitudes. What seems random is anything but!
ReplyDeleteFrayed attitudes is a great term Maureen, I think we can all relate to that! I hadn't thought of the fraying in the applique as connecting with the dog-eared state of the book but now you mention it I shall claim that it was intended :)
DeleteI love this!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you have gotten the package I sent you yet, but I considered your work when choosing something for you, and what came to my mind was the way you break the quilting plane and choose different shapes, go all 3-D and everything, as well as the way you place details to notice in every piece. And I see all of those features in this piece as well. What a lovely tribute to your mom and other moms like her!
Thanks Gwen,no package yet but I will let you know as soon as it turns up. You have me all intrigued with this description now :)
DeleteThis is great! I really like the shading on the oven glove from your tea dyeing. It mirrors the cookery book and it gives the piece a life of its own, as if it has been around for a while and been involved in lots of baking and cooking through birthdays and celebraions. I have my mum's book from the sixtie and its all semolina puddings, soda bread and proper hearty dinners with carrots and turnips!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see the changes in cooking over the years isn't it Ruth? The original scone recipe in the book used lard rather than butter, but you would be hard pressed to find that as an ingredient nowadays I think.
DeleteHi Fiona. What a great idea. I love your oven glove!
ReplyDeleteThanks Andree these challenges are always fun to pull together :)
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