The Weird and Wonderful

There was an article in the Guardian recently by Rowan Moore, writing about his love for weird and wonderful objects that don't fit in with current ideas of good taste. Moore wrote,

I’m drawn to things that show a desire, a dream or a belief, where you can get a sense of connection with the maker.

I was reading this one early morning, upstairs drinking coffee and I glanced down at the weird and wonderful quilt covering my bed.

I found it on eBay a long time ago. It's hard to know how I was drawn. The good description probably, the quilt carefully folded so that only the best bits are shown. I might not have been so keen on it if I'd noticed that chintz edging. 

The figures, flora and fauna are appliqued on coarse unbleached cotton. The stitching is not exquisite. The fabric used for appliqueing is vintage so maybe the quilt is decades old. I've had it for at least fifteen years and am guessing most of the fabric pieces are from the sixties/seventies.

At first, I thought the scenes depicted on the quilt were biblical but now I'm not so sure.

That creature must be a unicorn. There are no unicorns in the bible. 

This might be a dog, probably an Afghan hound although I'm not sure about the feet. I think I had a smock top in that brown fabric when I was about seventeen. Which was fifty years ago. Scary.

 These fabrics are actually rather fabulous. 

Aren't they?

Sprigged cotton juxtaposed with snippets of mid-century atomic. What's not to love about this creation. How great it would be if the person who made it (or her descendants) could know that it fell into good hands and that I love it and would not part with it for any money. That's my connection with its maker.

PS. I was working on a blog about death but did this instead.