Home, Sweet Home

"Home, Sweet Home" by Deonn Stott 
adapted from Timber Lumberjack pattern and featuring "Lumberjack Aaron" 
fabric by Stacy West of Buttermilk Basin for Riley Blake Designs

Hi, I'm Deonn, and this is my husband Evan!  This "Home, Sweet Home" quilt commemorates our experience of building our latest home together - my Honey with his hammer and me with my tape measure, pencil, and saw. 

It reminds me a little of that American Gothic painting.  

A little over five years ago, my husband and I were part of a Co-op of ten families who worked together to build our own homes. Self-Help Homes provided a supervisor, and each family in our group invested a minimum of 35 hours per week, working on each other's homes. We hired subcontractors for the big stuff. Here's the first wall of our house going up:  

  

Evan is a carpenter by trade, and it was fun to work alongside him and build together. I'm pretty proficient at measuring and cutting, for quilting, that is!  So, my main assignment became cutting wood.  

I learned how to use various tools, primarily a miter saw or chop saw, to cut wood for framing, staircases, blocking, truss supports, flooring, and finishing trim, such as baseboard and casing. I even had my own tool belt and hammer!

The houses on the side of the quilt represent the other nine houses in our group. We finished our homes in August of 2020 - eight months after we began. You can see the finished homes in this little video spotlight:

What an experience! It was an unusual way to spend those early months of the Corona Virus, but we persevered and built something beautiful! Not only did we build our homes, but we built a neighborhood and bonds of friendship that will last a lifetime! 

And now we have a quilt that is more than just a quilt.  Like every quilt, it is a piece of our lives stitched into cloth.

Happy Making!

~ Deonn