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!

Scary Halloween!

Needless to say I had to stay alert to keep Watson and Dobby away from the candy.  Difficult when one can go high (Dobby) and one goes low (Watson!)

Early in the day I went on a another Photo walk with the Augusta Photo Festival.  This time we visited a closed Textile Mill here in town.  This mill made Denim used by many of the big name jeans manufacturers.  The mill was in use until 2006 and had been active for just over 100 years.  (for those of you not in the U.S. - 100 years is old here!)

The machinery has all been removed however the power-station still operates and generates electricity from the river.

It was interesting to shoot in such low light. 

As a quiltmaker I was looking for evidence of the textile mill everywhere...The blue is from the dye room.  There was a long shallow pit in the center of floor and the walls were painted various shades of blue and indigo.

So I'm trying to think how I could incorporate this into a quilt.  I don't want to make a blue jeans quilt (been there done that and my hand still hurts!)  Maybe one with lots of indigos, greys and some oranges.  Those are the colors I remember most from the day...