Sashiko

The other day Leo the cat started pestering me around 3pm, herding me towards the front end of the house.  I couldn't figure out what he wanted until he stopped in front of the (cold) woodstove and gave me a yowl and the stinkeye.  Oh!  "Start the f*cking fire, human!  I don't have any thumbs!"

 We use mostly wood to heat our home, and I find that I enjoy the rhythm of chopping, stacking, and feeding the flames.  However, the house is long and narrow, and the woodstove and our bedroom are at opposite ends, so we also have a oil-filled radiator in the bedroom, set low, to keep the chill at bay. The Radiator Adoration Society holds daily meetings, and there's room for one more on the other side.

In the mucky weather, I spend more time indoors...so I'm more inspired to make things for the home than I am to start a new sweater that no one will see while I'm at home watching Netflix.  We travel often to Japan, and I have a strong appreciation for traditional Japanese crafts.  We also use milk crates for seating in our living room, and I thought maybe I'd do a fun craft and defeat the dreaded waffle-butt at the same time.

All the materials used for these crafts were thrifted and cost less than $3.00 Canadian.  This pleases me to no end. 

 The base fabric is a dark blue linen, with applique patches of some blue and white tie-dye.  In between the patches, a simple sashiko running stitch design gives it more depth.  I thought about making a skirting for them too, but at this stage in my life I don't feel any need to pretend that we're too classy to use milk crates as furniture.

There are actually two identical crate toppers, but there was only enough sunlight to get a clear photo of one of them.  It's winter here, all right.

Mike approves of this craft whole-heartedly.  It's manly enough for a man cave, but cute enough for the front room.  The back of the pillows is a simple overlapping envelope like a pillow sham, and the stuffing is an old folded towel.  It works very nicely - no more waffle-butt, but the cushions stay very nicely in place without any slippery polyfill or having to tie them down.  

Back to the bedroom, where the cat likes to kick the door wide open and let all that precious heat slip out into the house and dissipate into nothing.  You'd think an animal that concerned with warmth would care, but again, no thumbs...plus he has nothing better to do than press his nose into the radiator.

The solution?  Japanese style door curtains (noren).  They help hold the heat in, while being high enough off the ground not to pick up hair and drool from old cats and labrador retrievers.  Heat rises, so the room stays warmer, but doesn't get as stuffy as it would if the whole door were covered or closed.  These are made with the same linen for the background, with a separate circular applique of sashiko embroidery (in a traditional hex pattern, which is way easier than it looks) on another applique of light blue cotton.

If you are interested in trying sashiko, here's a simple summary of what to do and not to do to vastly improve the look of the project.