Friday, July 03, 2015

Sibley Textile Mill revisited

Ever since I visited Sibley Mill, a textile mill here in Augusta Georgia that closed about 30 years ago, I searched for a quilt made locally that could have scraps from the mill.
Denim backed quilt on the front steps of Sibley Mill

I just may have found it...but may may be as close as I'll come!  I bought this at an estate sale.  Yes, she was a quilter.  Yes, she lived near the mill.  Yes, family remembers it being in her house.  Here is the kicker...no one remembers her working on this quilt and women in her church were known to trade or gift quilts often.

So for the meanwhile this will remain just a "southern quilt circa 1970, likely made in the Augusta area."
adjacent to the dye room

I did get a chance to go inside the Mill and do a bit of photography.  The building is pretty much empty except for a hydroelectric power plant.
abandoned spools of thread in the dye room

Interesting place though the 100 degree heat at 9 in the morning was a bit tough to take!

and I ended it by lugging a really heavy quilt around to get photos...just a bit crazed!
So I have now have loads of post processing to do...translated to messing about in editing programs with raw photo files.  The down side is that heat kicked my optic neuritis into play and so I don't have the best color vision...the files will have to stay on the back burner for now.  Good thing I have a large library of BBC mysteries to keep me occupied!

2 comments:

Sherrill said...

Oh man, I'm so sorry your neuritis was kicked off by the heat. That's not good. Hope it calms down quickly. Your denim quilt reminds me of one I made for my young son before I really knew what I was doing. Cut up a bunch of jeans into squares, sewed them together and used a flannel sheet for the back then 'birthed' it. It was SO HEAVY, when I put my boy to bed and covered him, he'd be in that same position in the morning!! HA Didn't use it much and no idea whatever happened to it.

Janet O. said...

I love the photos you share within the mill--fascinating.
Oh, that O.N. is such a bummer, but I can see how the 100 degree heat in the building and dragging a heavy quilt with you could kick it into gear.