The cold is exhausting. Luckily we're on the western part of the Siberian coldfront but still, -15°C (that's 5° F for those who aren't metric ;o)) is really cold. Especially at 5 am in the forest. Fortunately, the dogs don't seem to mind. And no, they don't wear vests or anything. I'm the one in the seven layers of woollen underwear and sweaters and whatnot. I praise all ancestors who had the idea to breed sheep.
Due to the cold, I wasn't as productive as I wanted to be. A lot of my ironing is still lumping around in baskets but I descided it was time to work on my quilt again.
Two years ago, I've sewn DH a quilt. As it happened, I was unable to walk around much with a rather bad knee and 6 weeks to wait for the appointment at the specialist. (BTW by the time I had the appointment, the knee was better and we could start aftertreatment at once - and it most probably saved me from a knee surgery. Lucky me.) So I took the opportunity and made the quilt. When I asked DH about specifications, he just said: large and green. Well, that's what it is:
The larger pieces are hand dyed (synthetic dyes) bourette silk and the smaller ones small linen pieces I bought in bulk from a flax cooperative in Northern Germany some years ago. They sell (sold?) the leftovers from their tailoring in bulk. The quilt was sewn during those 6 weeks, while I was cooling my knee and watching the whole 7 seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Therefore I called it Forest Quilt or an Hommage to Gene Roddenberry.
The quilt stitiching was done with two different green linen threads, it has no batting/wadding but a flanell backing and really is warm enough. And it is about 2x2m (which is a bit more than 2x2 yrd).
Why am I telling this. Well, first of all, I really like the quilt and wanted to show it to you. And secondly, last year when I went off to ISEND, I took a lot of hand dyed (natural dyes) patches with me to have something to do while sitting around. And the top was finished in december:
The patches are mostly vintage cotton and linen and some are bourette silk. The undyed fabric is from a bolt of vintage linen. Rather dense but wonderful fabric. Like the Forest Quilt, this one is about 2x2m as well, no batting/wadding and a flanell back. This time, I quilt with some silk threads and a hemp thread, some naturally dyed. And although I told myself after the Forest Quilt, I would never ever quilt such a large cloth again in one go, right now it is quite cozy underneath it.
Stitching on my quilt and watching and listening to Jude's magic diaries (I'm still behind schedule) made me think what I am doing.
I like complicated, colourful pieces. But my patchwork blankets are mostly functional and for warmth. Maybe my approach will change when I begin piecing a larger cloth together from all those experimental pieces, we'll see. I always was really bad at following patterns and trodden down paths. Back then, I tried to follow patterns and tried to make things like the manual said they should be made. And I failed colossally. Always. So I began seeing patterns and rulebooks a bit like the pirate code, more an inspiration and as a guideline, which worked much better. And now I am on my way to really let go and go with the flow, so to say. I know, I wrote this before, but I still feel like I am standing on a cliff top ready to jump, not yet jumping. More like hopping up and down on the spot, opening my arms, ready to fly and shouting FREEDOM ;o)
Right now, some words are buzzing around in my head: neo-tribal, post-apocalyptic and most of all STELLIFEROUS.Weird combination but they all fill me with a warm fuzzy feeling and I think there is potential in them.
The cold has one big advantage: the night sky is crytal clear and indigo blue, with a bright yellow moon and lots and lots of stars.