Thursday, July 17, 2014

My Gudrun Sjoden Curtains

After having purchased synthetic white lace material to make my studio window curtains, I became less inspired because what I really wanted were the eco-cotton Gudrun Sjoden curtains and so I waited awhile to really think about this some more.  Then, one day I decided that I wouldn't be happy with the synthetic lace (it's hard to bleach the sun stains out of synthetic cloth but the cotton, I can whiten more easily...that was my reasoning (aside from having to use my sewing machine to make the other curtains up) and so I ordered three panels of ready-made curtains.  As you can see, they are filmy 'lawn' type of cotton cloth, gauzy enough to almost see through but not entirely, so they are very light and airy looking.  The new curtains arrived when my friend Beckie was here quilting and she and I spent the morning stroking the cloth because it is so fine.  Each curtain came in its own little bag of white (ecru actually) cotton with ties.  We are going to cut up the bags and use them in a quilt sometime.   I hemmed the curtains up by hand and hung them with the tie tops.  It doesn't take much to entertain me these days believe me, I am thrilled with them.  However, my desk tops and studio floor were a mess.  So, the curtains led to the purchase of an Ikea storage unit (below the desk) which eliminated a mess beneath the desk and when I can afford it, another will be purchased to sit beneath the table top to the right.  After that, I looked at my book case and deep-sixed a lot of stuff out of there.  I'm still working my way around the floor of the studio as this is where a lot of clutter collects aside from the top of the tables.  My rulers and T-squares got hung on the back of the door leading out to the back porch and I'm feeling so virtuously tidy now that I don't want to start another project because it will get all messed up in here again.  I think I'll look at it tidy for awhile.
Rosey

posted by RoseyP @ 4:14 PM

7 Comments:

At July 17, 2014 at 7:59 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Rosey, your room is beautiful. Great space for a creative person!

 
At July 18, 2014 at 2:12 AM , Blogger Laura in IA said...

So lovely and summery Rosey. Your sewing space is so bright and light.

I did a little moving on out of patterns I was not using while looking for the one I want to use. The whole room may look better before I find it. LOL

 
At July 18, 2014 at 9:52 AM , Blogger RoseyP said...

Laura, I've never had my own workspace in all the years I've been quilting until we moved to the country 26 yrs. ago and remodeled this house. I've always worked off dining room tables or laundry room counters. My space here is not large (I've visited Jean in Mill Bays workroom and it's gorgeous, overlooking the mountains in the distance, a big space with lots of table room, I'd covet her room for her space) but trying to maximize the space I do have is something I'm trying to do now by the purchase of another storage unit, getting more efficient in where I store things and then, always, the throwing out of what I don't use. This is the hardest part of all but this time, because of these wonderful curtains, I'm determined to clean up my act. The ceiling of the small room which is off my dining room where I feed my B&B guests, (there are French doors between the rooms) is a slant ceiling going up to the base level of the second floor. It has skylights in it, which over the years have given me nothing but grief. Finally, last year when a new roof was put on the house, the roofer felt that we'd had a bad roofing job the last time round and he took extra care fitting out the skylights. Thus, we had no rain coming in last winter, we had new electric cables put on the roof (which is north facing) to melt the ice, and now I am looking at repairing the mess of the ceiling in my studio. It needs to be repair and repainted, another disruptive job but one that needs doing, thus, more reason to get rid of what I don't need in here. It is bright because of the skylights but I've had to make cotton curtains, rods at each end, to put up in the windows to keep the heat and glare down. Great in winter, not so good in our hot sunny summer months. I think one of the things that quilters constantly work against is their own mess and I'm no different...I'm not usually a messy person but boy, can I mess up my workroom. I have to keep my fabrics in my dining area out of the sun, stacked in plastic containers...thus, I have placed my quilts on my B&B website so people know that they are coming into a working studio area...they eat breakfast with my stacks of cloth. Seems to work. I also have a mannequin who, unless I'm working on an outfit, is gracefully bare...we call her Emily BigTitz. She occupies guest space as well....It's nice to have space to work in but I think most of us make the best of what space we have.
Rosey

 
At July 18, 2014 at 8:37 PM , Blogger Sara in Florida said...

Rosey--what is that colorful quilt on your table? It looks interesting.
Sara im Fla.

 
At July 19, 2014 at 5:58 AM , Blogger RoseyP said...

Sarah, it's a project that came from a design I found in Art College some years ago. It is film dissolved in acetate and by the late Prof. Robt. Preusser, who taught architectural design at M.I.T. I've always wanted to render it into cloth but in order to do so, I had to draw more solid lines rather than the very wobbly lines on the design. It's been a real challenge and I'm not sure it's as successful as I'd hoped. With so many little units and random patterning I came to realize that colour was the only thing to hold it together visually. Because it is for submission (although not always acceptance) to a Sacred Threads call for entry, my colour scheme was stained glass window colours. I'm not sure how it will all turn out, it's a wall quilt, 24" x 40". I'll get it quilted up and see how it looks. It's been a challenge that has given me much pause for thought and a real learning curve as well. It has a gold cross imbedded in the design work.
Rosey

 
At July 21, 2014 at 7:39 PM , Blogger Jill from Portland said...

I just love your curtains, would I be able to find them on the web?

 
At July 22, 2014 at 6:17 AM , Blogger RoseyP said...

Yes, you can Jill, and they are doing all that I had hoped they would do...they're filmy enough not to block out the outside entirely but are giving me some privacy in my studio. They float in the breeze of an open window. You can order them from Gudrun Sjoden.com in Sweden. They should still have them listed under 'Home' (furnishings). If you have difficulty, post again and I'll give you some more direction with their office in Scotland. Rosey

 

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