Mon - March 20, 2006

Trying Weaving

Bought a loom and after a year I finally warped it and have woven my first piece.

Sara wanted me to see if I could weave a long narrow piece of fabric that could be used as a sling for babies. Using this request as my impetus, after almost a year I warped the loom. I used leftover crochet thread I had from years and years of crochet projects, so it ended up being warped in an odd lot of pastel colors. I did the weaving with white crochet thread. While it was on the loom it looked like it was a very open weave and I thought it would make a nice light sling for summer. But once we took it off the loom we discovered that it's really heavy. I was reminded, though, that five yards of anything will be heavy. She did try it on with Gwynyn when Gretchen brought the twins out for a visit. It worked just fine as a baby sling.

I had a really good time doing the weaving. I started out using a stick shuttle that was cumbersome because the fabric was just a little too wide. (The loom is 42 inches) Sara gave me a boat shuttle for Christmas that was great! I loved it and the weaving went much faster once I started using it. I'm really taken with what all you can do with the eight heddles and ten treadles, pattern wise. I did this weaving with a pretty simple twill pattern. I still have some warp on the loom that I may use up by tying the treadles in a different order. The weaving I just finished was my very first ever. I figured out how to warp it and do the patterning by reading books and online hints and instructions. I think the thing is really ugly, but that's ok. The cats are enjoying sitting on it. There's plenty of room for everybody. Here's a picture of the whole five yards taken from the second floor balcony, as well as a little closer picture. I don't think you can see the twill patterning in the pictures. I've got a picture from the loom that I'll try and dig out to add so that the twill shows a bit.


This picture has been stitched together to get the whole length in. You can see that it stretches longer than our six foot sofa.


This is a little closer shot of one end.


Found some earlier shots. Here's the newly warped loom with just a couple of inches woven.


And if you look at this picture just right you can see the twill pattern. Mostly you can see it in the green stripe.

Posted at 07:29 PM    

Catching up on my last year of quilting

It's a little bleak, but I did do some quilting in the past year

Well, blogging once a year is something, I guess. Now that I'm happier with our new ISP I'll probably do more of it. I think that the last quilting project I blogged about was the giraffe quilt I made for Reid. I was really pleased with it and there's a picture of it in my July 12, 2005 archive blog. (I guess it's not been a whole year since I've blogged about quilting.)

I've also finished a quilt for a friend who was expecting a baby in February. I haven't heard about the baby yet. I need to check up on her. She volunteered with me at the library so we only saw each other there and we had started working different times so hadn't really seen each other recently. She's really sweet, though, and I'm excited for them and their new baby. The quilt was one of Nancy Chong's 2 Fabric Applique Quilt patterns called Bear Aloft. I did it using the ragged edge method she recommended in a beige flannel and a rust flannel. It goes really quickly. She did her sample piece in three hours she said. It took me a bit longer, but not too much. You sandwich the backing, the batting, the background fabric and the fabric which you're going to applique on which you've drawn the pattern (no seam allowances--just the picture). After you baste it all down you sew around the drawing, then clip about 3/16-1/8 inch away from the sewing lines on the outside of the picture, and then quilt inside the picture and around the border. Sew on a binding and you're done! You can even do the binding with a ragged edge if you want.

Posted at 05:50 PM    

Tue - July 12, 2005

The Giraffe Quilt

Finally finished Reid's quilt and it fits him perfectly.

I finally finished Reid's quilt. I hand quilted it and you can see the grass design that I quilted into it. I really enjoyed the hand quilting once I got started and forgot about the rules. I had a hard time trying to quilt on the hoop so I did it free form. I did large stitches around the giraffe spots with two strands of brown embroidery floss and call it "primitive quilting." I'm anxious to quilt another quilt now, but need to get one put together. I do have my crumb quilt top almost finished so I could probably do that one. If I can get this to work I'll dig out a picture of my crumb quilt and put it up. It's on another hard drive and I have to go dig it out.

Well, let me see if maybe I can get this blog to work. Last time I was here I couldn't get it to work.

Posted at 09:21 PM    

Thu - March 10, 2005

Mon - February 14, 2005

Finished a felted fish!

Got the first felted fish done. It's not as small as I thought it was going to be.

Finally got the first of the knitted felted fish done today. It wasn't that difficult to knit, but I kept ripping out because I wasn't happy. But today I got the last fin knit and felted it in the washer. I'll show it to my daughter, Sara, this weekend and we may decide to try felting it a little more. I was expecting it to be smaller. If I want to make some more to hopefully put into a mobile I'd really like them to be smaller. But...we may decide to make it into a toy. It knit up to about 12" and has felted down to about 7 and a half inches. The yarn that Sara dyed for it looks really great in it. Here are some before felting and after felting pictures.

This is before felting. He's about 12 inches long in this one, I think. That's a 6 inch ruler above him and goes from the end of his nose to about the middle of his dorsal fin.

This is after he's been felted. The 6 inch ruler goes from the end of his nose back to his blue tail. I think he's about 7 or 7 and a half inches long here. He looks out of focus in this picture comopared to the other picture, but that's just the felting. The colors look a little subdued, but there was no dye in the felting water so the color and fuzziness are all due to the felting.

But anyway, I'm so excited to have this one finally done. I think I'll make a couple more. They should go faster because I assume I won't do as much ripping.

Posted at 10:34 PM    

Wed - February 9, 2005

Knitting Felted Fish

Making a mobile or throw toy for all the new babies.

Went to my new quilt group today and had a good time. We're trying to get a weekly group going and have met twice so far. We were talking about trying to meet at the library or local quilt shop, but have decided to meet in private homes instead. Last week we met at my house; today we met at Jo's house. Next week will be my house again. We're going to have a quilting focus, but work on any UFO's or current projects. Today most of us knit. I'm working on a knitted fish that is then felted in the washing machine. If I get several of them made I may make a mobile out of them for a baby. If I only get one or two made then they'll be throw toys. I'm making them out of an old Irish knit sweater of my husband's that he was disposing of. My daughter saw it and wanted to rescue the wool in it. We took it apart and wound up the pieces and she dyed it bright colors with Koolaid. Here is a picture of the wool after she dyed it.

This is my first attempt at using double pointed needles and I'm struggling a bit. Not so much with the double points really, but with all the color changes in the fish. Here's a picture of the pattern.
Won't the colors my daughter came up with for the yarn work out great? I can hardly wait to get one finished. I'll take before felting pictures and after felting pictures and post them.

Posted at 10:35 PM    

Tue - February 8, 2005

Back again...

I can't believe it's been five months since I last entered something. I've gotten a few crafty things done in the intervening weeks. The big news is that the twins arrived safe and sound at 6 pounds a piece on 26 September. Just missing my birthday by three hours. Owen and Gwynyn.

Well, I finished the turtle quilt, but instead of doing a fish quilt for the other twin, I did octopi. I got them both finished just before they arrived to visit for Christmas. Here's a picture of the two of them before they went home with the twins to Indiana.
Now I'm working on a giraffe quilt similar to these for grandbaby number three who is due the end of March.

In between I crocheted some hats for the twins and their parents:


And knit a hat for the new munchkin who we're waiting for:
Henry is our official baby hat model. We discovered that his head seems to be just the right size.

Now, besides the giraffe quilt, I'm knitting a colorful fish to felt for a baby to play with. If I get around to making a couple of them I'll hang them in a mobile for somebody.

Tomorrow I'm meeting with friends in the hopes of getting a quilting/ UFO group going. I'm counting on them to get me moving with all of my UnFinished Objects!!

Posted at 08:56 PM    

Tue - September 7, 2004

Earlier Projects

A Halloween wall hanging and a Hawaiian quilt top I finished earlier this year.

Spent the morning chatting with youngest daughter who was having computer problems and eldest daughter who is expecting twins momentarily and can't figure out if two of the car seats she's interested in will fit in her new Ford Focus in the rear facing position. Got the computer problem straightened out, but wasn't able to help re the car seats. Spent the afternoon volunteering at the library. So... no quilting done today. (Though the day isn't completely over, so may get a few stitches in yet.) Thought I might put up a couple of projects I finished earlier this year.

The first one is a Halloween Cat wall hanging that I did for the Senior Center to sell in their boutique. Someone donated the kit, but it was fabric only - no pattern or picture. I volunteered to come up with something and this is what I turned out.

All the fabric except the orange was in the package. I backed it with the character fabric.

Then I appliqued this Hawaiian quilt top for my quilting instructor, Nancy Lee Chong of the Pacific Rim Quilt Company .

Luckily she had a deadline or I might still have it in my to do pile!! I felt a real sense of accomplishment when I finished it and I discovered that I really do like to applique.

Posted at 10:31 PM    

Sun - September 5, 2004

Turtle quilt progress

I got part of one of the turtle shells done today. It's progressing!! I'm so excited. Hopefully I'll get at least one of the turtles done by tomorrow. You can't see much but I just had to take a picture of the progress so far...
Can you see the turtle shell taking shape?

Posted at 08:58 PM    

Sat - September 4, 2004

Hats, hats, hats

One more hat down, more to go....

Last night I finished the purple hat I was working on for the Senior Center hats for kids program. I really like the pattern, but the hat's a darker, redder purple than the color that showed up in the photo. I guess I shouldn't have put it in a dark room and let the flash wash out the color. It's in a children's size, but I might try making one for me in this pattern one of these days. It went really fast.

Now I have some really pretty apricot colored yarn that I've started with yet another pattern for this hat project. I'm not real taken with this third pattern, but will finish the hat to see what it looks like. I'll post the picture when I finish it.

Started crocheting a pair of socks last night, but think they'll use up more yarn than I thought. I bought a skein that was supposed to make a pair of socks, but I think that may have been knit socks. The crocheting seems to be going through the yarn a lot faster. Don't know if I'll get different yarn to crochet and try knitting this particular skein, or get more of this yarn to finish what I've started. I'll think about it.

Posted at 09:35 PM    

Turtle Quilt

The turtle quilt is under way!!

Yahoo! I got the background for the turtle quilt converged yesterday. I think I'm really going to like it with the turtles on it. The idea is to see the turtles swimming up from the dark depths of the purple on the bottom left up to the light at the surface in the upper right.

Today I got the applique fabric basted to the background and have stitched the first stitch. When I get one of the turtles done I'll post a picture. Now, back to appliqueing!!

Posted at 09:11 PM    

Thu - September 2, 2004

Still trying to learn how to use this blog software

I made notes about my some of my crocheting in my quilting blog today while I'm trying to figure out all the intricacies. I bought some yarn today for the Feet Need Socks crochet along and hope to make my daughter a pair of socks. Haven't decided what pattern to use yet. There were a lot of interesting patterns offered. I'm also working on hats for kids in need... a project sponsored by the Senior Center in town. I'm on my second hat. It's a gorgeous deep purple. The first one was a burgundy. I think I like the second pattern better than the first one. Here's a picture of the first hat....
I'm almost finished with the second hat and will post a picture of it when it's done.

Posted at 09:03 PM    

Oh dear....

Stopped in at the local yarn store and, oh dear...., what lovely yarns!!

Today I met with my weekly craft group. We're making Christmas decorations for the Senior Center to sell at their fall bazaar. Afterward I finally stopped in at the local yarn store. Oh my goodness does she have some beautiful yarns. I bought a skein to make a pair of socks for the Feet Need Socks crochet along. I'll give them to my daughter. It's a beautiful variegated yarn of blue, apricot and light purple. Also signed up for her yarn of the month club. You get one of her variegated hand dyed skeins plus a sample of the solid matching yarn. The colors are only available for the month and only to the club members. This month's is a maroon, almost purple, and sand or apricot. It's gorgeous.

Got the convergence background for my Herd of Turtles quilt almost finished today. Just need to sew the second set of strips together. I'll include a picture of it when I get it done. And then I'll be able to start putting the turtles on.

We got a little chilly today so have a nice cozy fire going in the wood stove for a bit. It's so nice to sit and quilt or crochet by a fire. The Senior Center is sponsoring a Caps for Kids project and everyone is busy making hats for kids in need for the winter.
Here are a bunch of them hanging up on the wall.
Here's one of my hats. I'm working on a purple one now in a different pattern.

Posted at 08:43 PM    

Wed - September 1, 2004

Getting started with this blogging thing

Got energized to start working on my projects from reading other blogs on line. Now I'd like to share some of my projects.

I accidentally stumbled onto Mariko's Super Eggplant blog while looking for people's opinions on what they received in Malden Mills remnant bundles. She is so upbeat and gets so many projects done and seems to have such a good time that I went looking at some of the other blogs she visits, and one thing led to another and now I'm hooked. Seeing everyone chat about their project has re-energized me to work on my projects and I'd like share some of them. Maybe if I have to confess how much or how little I've gotten done I'll do more...

The two that I really, really need to get done first are a turtle quilt (Herd of Turtles by Nancy Lee Chong and one that I'm designing using gold fish to go with the Herd of Turtles quilt. We're expecting our first two grandchildren shortly (twins!!) and the quilts will be for them. I've decided to do the backgrounds the same and they will be purples and blues running from dark to light converged as in Ricky Tim's convergence book. The Turtles will be a lime-ish green batik and the gold fish an orange-ish batik. Now that I write it here, it sounds awful, but the colors really are gorgeous together. Today I vow to get the converging done...

I'm also working on Maggie Walker's Country Journal quilt for my husband. I've got the first two blocks done.

And I'm taking a monthly applique class that has sort of turned into a club. The instructor has starting giving us one of her original designs each month for sort of a block of the month. It's wonderful to see all the different ideas that show up from the same pattern. The blocks are very stylized flowers and I'm doing mine in vivid colors on a deep purple background. I've got three of those blocks finished.


The three blocks I've gotten done so far. I'm thinking of using black sashing when I get ready to put all the blocks together.

And... I've designed a simple landscape quilt of our church for them to use as a raffle or however they want. I've purchased fabric for it and drawn it, but have otherwise not started it.

Posted at 10:47 PM