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beckarahn.rdf
February 2007
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My Book of the Week:
cover
The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
What I'm Currently Reading:
cover
Lady's Maid by Margaret Forster



Textile Word of the Week:
merino - High quality wool yarn made from fleece of merino sheep which is short, fine, strong, resilient and takes dyes well.











whipup
Becka's Library Shelf
Becka's Games Shelf
Monday, February 26th

apples bag


IMGP0461 (67k image)
prototype of the "bag with a zipper". i have a little tote bag formula that i use all the time and i have been trying to work out how to easily put a zipper in the top if the bag - something i could teach to my beginner classes. this one is pretty close. i love this bag! love the fabric - apples n pears and a striped twill. it has 4 different buttons on the straps from a jar of vintage ones that i picked up at a garage sale last year. straps long enough to put over your shoulder when you are wearing a big winter coat.
IMGP0461 (67k image)
tomorrow i am going to try and get to the studio to work on some enamels. here is the copper ready to go. i cleaned and filed these yesterday afternoon. no pictures from silversmithing class yet. our final session was postponed due to the weather so we are hoping we can make it to the rescheduled session.
IMGP0461 (67k image)

and finally, a nice little mention on a blog from someone who recieved one of my pendants as a gift: futuregirl
becka on 02.26.07 @ 09:03 PM CST [link]


Wednesday, February 21st

kids and construction equipment


They are tearing down the building next door to where I work. Complete demolition. The whole office is like a bunch of kids running to the windows every time we hear a big bang, to see what part of the wall they have knocked down. They will be building an apartment complex in place of the car wash that used to be there. Bad part - parking may become awful. Good part - new coffee shop right across the street. We will have to work out a friends and family plan with them.
becka on 02.21.07 @ 09:12 PM CST [link]


Tuesday, February 20th

dye day


roving (12k image)


we dyed about 24 square feet of wool roving yesterday. that is tons. two of the other textile mobile teachers came over on their day off and we made vats of dye. the whole building smelled like wet wool. we got some gorgeous colors, though not always what we thought they would turn out like. half is the supply for summer camps and half to my friend jen, the spinner, for making all kinds of yarn. we also experimented with handdyed and painted yarn. pictures to follow (when everything gets dry).
becka on 02.20.07 @ 06:37 PM CST [link]


Monday, February 19th

weekend update


1. spent many hours trying on lots of bridesmaids dresses with my sister and her friend. these two have made it to the top of the list so far.


2. took my sister out for sushi. she was very brave and said she actually thought it was very good. (shrimp & crab rolls are always a winner)
3. went to session 2 of silversmithing class. a few too many students so alittle bit of waiting around for things, but having fun. i have finished my first piece about 90% so i am going to do another something small next week.
4. works in progress: emperor's new scarf (see below), cute new purse with apples & pears fabric (in pieces on the dining room table)

becka on 02.19.07 @ 08:59 AM CST [link]


Wednesday, February 14th

Love to you ALL!


I had great plans to get a whole valentines thing going here at the blog and I just ran out of time (and Andy and I have both been home sick this week). Valentines day snuck up on me. I just got to sit down and address all of my valentine cards today. So I am declaring an extension of Valentines Day. Effective immediately and going through Saturday, which is probably when all of my valentines will be delivered.

Love to all of my readers, commenters, lurkers and anyone else who stumbles over!
becka on 02.14.07 @ 08:31 PM CST [link]


Sunday, February 11th

clean clothes


About a week and a half ago, our washing machine went on strike and decided that draining was no longer in its job description. So today we got to go and buy a new washer. To its credit, the last one was new in 1980, so I think it had held up pretty well. We spent the last week trying to convice it to work - oiling things, banging on things and finally just declaring that it was time to give it up. The new washer is happily purring away in the basement now and I am very much looking forward to clean clothes.
becka on 02.11.07 @ 10:26 PM CST [link]


Saturday, February 10th

not too much


Not much to report these days. Lots of work and not much else. I was a guest speaker at a school earlier in the week and did a show and tell about felting for an afterschool art class. Spent most of another day doing a teacher training with a couple of middle school teachers and I have a birthday party project today.

Andy is off taking pictures of frozen things around Duluth. A group from his office decided to go on a frozen photo safari. Sounds cold to me! I am going to spend the day in the dye lab doing some samples and a few experiments with silk. But first I am going to throw together a quick tea-towel apron. I have buried all of my cute aprons someplace and when I found a cute towel on clearance I decided that I needed to have a new one.

Pictures of experiments to follow, when the camera returns from the North.
becka on 02.10.07 @ 08:37 AM CST [link]


or maybe....



becka on 02.10.07 @ 08:24 AM CST [link]


Friday, February 9th

number 9



becka on 02.09.07 @ 08:47 AM CST [link]


Thursday, February 8th

this could be fun



becka on 02.08.07 @ 07:37 AM CST [link]


Tuesday, February 6th

or you could make...



becka on 02.06.07 @ 08:52 AM CST [link]


or you could make...



becka on 02.06.07 @ 08:42 AM CST [link]


Monday, February 5th

roses are red...



becka on 02.05.07 @ 08:38 AM CST [link]


Sunday, February 4th

happy hearts




Pattern
becka on 02.04.07 @ 03:47 PM CST [link]


Saturday, February 3rd

love is in the air



becka on 02.03.07 @ 10:05 AM CST [link]


Friday, February 2nd

valentines!


I nearly forgot my 2nd Annual 14 handmade valentines ideas! Here are numbers One and Two!





becka on 02.02.07 @ 05:51 PM CST [link]


finished kitty quilt


kitty-1 (215k image)


finished. I realized after I uploaded the pictures that I didn't quite get a shot of the whole thing, but you get the idea. In the second shot you can see the binding and the backing folded over. I love the quilt, it is super cute! I am finishing up a little something for baby's older sibling and I will get pictures of that soon. Hoping to get it all in the mail tomorrow if I can.
becka on 02.02.07 @ 05:48 PM CST [link]


Thursday, February 1st

the hound


My dog is not normal. Last night I went off for a knitting date and left the paper bag and leftover rice from my chinese takout sitting on the floor by my chair. Any other dog would have snarfed this down paper bag and all. Not my dog. She completely ignores the yummy food and instead wanders in to the bathroom and eats the rest of a bar of soap I had left sitting on the side of the tub. (She is totally fine - no soapy side effects.)
becka on 02.01.07 @ 07:52 AM CST [link]