Making the Hourglass Quilt

Beginning the process... and bringing out fabrics to choose between for the darks and lights

some of the darks

on to the lights... I use the same triangle template to mark both lights and darks. 

 every light has been matched to a dark

...pictorial sequence follows...

 I love using the treadle sewing machine... she is a 1936 Singer and uses a class 15 bobbin .

2 lights and 2 darks combine to make a 5" block. if you were doing one for yourself, you can make them any size you want, depending on the design of the quilt you wish to create.

always pressing the seams to the dark side... pressing the seams at each stage of the process makes it very pleasant to work with the blocks and keeps everything lying flat.

arranging the blocks so there is always a dark touching a light

seamed several lengths of wild bright cotton print for the back, pinned it into the frames, added a layer of batting and then the top was smoothed over and pinned in place

after the blocks were sewn together I felt a dark colour border  all around the outside would frame it in nicely... now it's in the frames and a couple rolls have been done.  it's so pretty, if I do say so myself... the colours just danced in the sunshine

 this quilt is being tied with embroidery floss at each corner ... I make 2 passes thru the fabric and then make a double knot and trim the thread to 3/4"

 my funky quilt stands.. they come apart for easy storage

 almost done tying 

measured and cut out 4" wide fabric strips for the binding... then sewn together, seams pressed and the entire length pressed in half lengthwise

 sewing the binding all around the edge of the quilt. 

 after this I trimmed the excess fabric away and folded the binding to the back and hand hemmed it 

Hourglass Quilt   all Finished... soft, cozy, cheery and bright....  and I love it!!

Living in The Studio

A shot of the end of our kitchen.. we use it more like a studio, being as the house is so small... Everything is stacked up to the ceiling.   Brought one of the kerosene lamps out just in case the power goes out... I want to be ready... but right now I am enjoying the light being reflected off the snow.. altho I am not crazy about snow, by any means.

We had our first fire of the season back on Oct. 11. felt really good too.. had a little fire on most every day since.

 It has become cold very early this year... feels like we are going into our next Ice Age right before our eyes. 

Had the 2 cds. of firewood stacked outside and drying since early summer.. this is the wood for next year. mostly maple... we have this years wood already dried and stored inside.. we always dry our wood a year ahead if we possibly can... That is the woodshed John built last summer... sure is nice to have a real woodshed now instead of the Hobbit hut we had the first year here. that year it was stacked outside with snow piled all around it and John had to dig down to it every time we needed some.. looked like he was crawling into a igloo to get it on his hands and knees.. was not fun... good exercise tho, if one wanted to look at it in a positive way.

This stack of 2 cds was put away in the woodshed at the end of October.. that is late for us but it was not an especially good drying year. but John had it covered with two old sheets of tin roofing which let the air thru and kept it pretty well dry... all in now!!

Been playing around in my sketchbook this year during our sabbatical.

Oatmeal Brown Bread with raisins, sunflower seeds and flax... Love having time to make bread for us all.. it has been so many years since I have bought bread from a store, I can't remember. I always make 2 batches at a time and divide each batch in 2.. makes it easier to store and keeps it fresh as I put the other 3 in the freezer and then I don't have to make bread for a few days.

in the side field the milkweed is gently spreading its seeds... little parachutes flying everywhere.

Planted the garlic on Oct.22... later than last year.. was waiting for the ground to dry up a bit as it was a rainy Oct.  ...managed to plant over 100 cloves, double what I put in last year .. had to sacrifice them from the crop I grew this year.. sure hope they grow. 

to finish up I covered them with a thick layer of straw.  

I store them in a net bag I crocheted last winter.. this type is called Music and they are the best tasting garlic I ever had.. got the original bulbs from a garlic farmer not far outside Fredericton.

The birds are liking the sunflower seeds in the feeder outside my studio window.  We used another old piece of tin roofing to make a roof for the feeder, to give the birds a little shelter while they treat us with their beauty.. usually a big fat gray squirrel is sitting in there.. 

The snow is coming down out there right now and amounting to quite a bit. 

Still making a few earrings or posting some designs that have come to light after searching around in the backs of the jewelry storage cabinet... 

These sold in minutes on our FaceBook page soon after I posted them.

"Square Spiral" earrings, solid copper, antiqued with sterling shepherd  earwire... approx 7/8" across and 1 1/4" long. $25. pr.

"A little Medieval"... hammered shaped Sterling with African Turquoise... approx. 2" long .. handmade at Desideratum studio. $25. pr. 

If interested in any of our earrings please send us a message on our right sidebar. 

Well looks like winter has come early.. Hope everyone has a cozy place to curl up and stay warm.. till next time, Cheers, Gwen at Desideratum Art and Jewelry

the process of making a pieced patchwork quilt

...also called a scrap quilt...
Designing and planning in my sketchbook

using all scrap materials that have accumulated over time

lots of pressing all the way along

laying out for colour placement... lots of shifting and moving around of the little blocks

... during the making of the quilt top we were renovating and rebuilding this little old house .. by the time I finished quilting it, we had finished laying the hardwood floors (that was back breaking work that we don't want to do again none too soon)

 the back was pieced

 the batt 

the top ... sandwich is complete... 3 layers... now into the frames

Quilting in progress

 rolled up so it doesn't take up so much room.

end of the first 200 m. spool of quilting thread

unwound and removing from frames

 binding has been cut, sewn into a very long strip, pressed in half and is being sewn onto the quilt

trimming the excess

 hand stitching the binding to the back

just wanted to see what it looked like in the winter light

back

The End ..

 or maybe just the Beginning... 

of enjoying a functional handmade beautiful object.

created at our little old homestead by Gwen Buchanan... with much Love

xo