frenchtown fiber

Chris Mundy and Kate House try to make art while navigating the crap life throws at them.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Clinkers in the Coal Stove




Here is a little something I worked on between New Years and today. It is nearly done, I just have to sew on more beads. The name of it is "Clinkers in the Coal Stove." An explanation is in order.
When my husband, Joe, was a younger man, he lived in a small cottage on a horse farm. The heat source was loud and annoying, so he got himself a small coal stove. When he left that situation, the coal stove was transported to a friend's basement, where it has been these last 25 years. It has recently been rediscovered, and, to the relief of his friend (and his friend's wife) Joe has reclaimed the thing. He set it up in our cellar and it now provides heat to the area, which would otherwise be freezing. This is where my sewing machine is set up, so I'm grateful for it.
Joe was having a hard time keeping it burning, but now seems to have remastered the knack. One of the problems is "clinkers," which are bits of coal that haven't burned all of the way to ash. When you "shake down the stove," (shake the ash out from the bottom) these clinkers don't fall through the grate and can clog things up. The stove won't draft right and it can go out. That is where the name of the quilt comes from.

3 comments:

Quiltplay said...

This is really lovely. I love the batiks in earthtones.

Chris said...

Thank You very much!

Anonymous said...

I can understand your problems. I too had a tough time when I started my blog. But they really do make it easy. Stick with it and you'll learn. My most fun is connecting with others around the world who quilt. My blog is westmichquilter.blogspot.com/