Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Family Ties

When I first saw a quilt made with men’s ties featured in a quilt magazine, I loved the idea.  I didn’t have any ties to work with, so I put out the word to the men in my family to never give their ties away, but to pass them on to me instead.  Fortunately, my brother Scott  has to wear a tie to work every day so he has lots of ties, and he passes his older ones on to  me.  I saw him this weekend, and he gave me this new batch:
Ties new
I have made Grandmother’s Fan blocks from some of the silk tie fabrics.  Here are a few that I have currently completed:
Tie blocks so far

Of course, since we quilters can not bring ourselves to throw away anything that might possibly be useful, ever, even if it might not be for years and years, even if it’s the next generation that has to figure out what to use them for, I also have these:
tie tags
I’m open to suggestions as to what to do with these labels if you have any….

As a “Thank You” to my brother for his supply of ties, I made him a pillow from some of them.  The picture is grainy, but you can get the idea:
Tie pillow

Since I can’t end this blog post with such a poor quality photo, I’m going to throw in this picture of Toby at no extra charge.  This is the face that greets me in the morning:
a1

7 comments:

  1. The tie blocks look great! How about just sewing the tie tags to a piece of fabric and making a wall hanging or pillow?

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  2. did you see the post on the selvage blog about the labels? I like what you are doing with the ties. I am collecting ties, but not very fast because I have to get mine at garage sales, for a quilt as well. They look good on the black.

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  3. I like the tie blocks that you made. Very pretty. I wouldn't have a clue what to do with the tags.

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  4. I've got a few projects brewing with my father's ties - I bet your brother loves his pillow (if not, just send it my way). Great job quilting green!

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  5. what a great way to re-use things! ..i may go raid my dad's closet!

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  6. I like your tie blocks, i think I'd make sure you stay friends with your brother ;>) Toby is really growing, what happened to that "little' guy? Take care my friend

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  7. Clever! Since my DH has retired, his ties are all in a box. I was going to give them away, but you have given me some ideas on what to do with them.

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