Woven In Time--Great History of Merino Wool

Thank Goodness!  Merino wool is coming back!  Enjoy this video!

Calling All Hookers!

Calling all you crochet hookers!  This one is for you!  Sometimes, I wish I could crochet faster--this shawl is lovely!

You can find the free pattern here

There is a different stitch that I wasn't familiar with so here is

the video for Herringbone stitch....

You can find other free crochet patterns at Moogly Blog  Happy Hooking!

A Good Country Day

One good day in the country = five good days in town.  Our weavers study group were invited to visit the Sky Loom Weavers studio, located on a country road.  The drive was great!  It's spring after all---the road ways were blessed with wonderful wild flowers--and the weather was outstanding!

The studio is loaded with all sorts of woven wonders, handspun yarns,,

super books of knowledge, screened porch surround the studio,

purple martins are swooping and diving around the gourd houses..

fiber braids ready for spinning

balls of lovely dyed wool, alpaca, llama

There are looms warped ready for weaving

towels 

Marion came prepared to weave braid for

state conference goodie bags

Now for show and tell from the members--

Rosemary bought this coverlet at a garage sale

One side

the other side--we all guessed at the name of the pattern--will

need to do some research

Rosemary is very resourceful with her scraps--

she has used her over bits, dyed in the sun,

to make small felted balls for decoration.

Fern had taken the recent workshop given by the guild

on double weave and these were her

loom products

interesting and unusual

Barbara began a new adventure in her weaving skills--

tapestry!  This is one of her first attempts--

really good work for a beginner.

The back of the tapestry.

She also had lovely dishtowel that she wove with

8/2 cotton in purple hues--lovely to look at,

delightful to touch

Dottie loves to 'hook' and she's good!

This is her latest creation..

These are the 'tongues' attached to the sheep--

look at all those little stitches--all by hand!

Penny had two woven rugs to show--these are all

wool weft and cotton warp

The other rug is handspun llama, core spun =, as weft.

Perfect to stand on--bare foot!!

A great day was enjoyed in the country with my

fellow weaver friends!

Somewhere Along The Way I Got Lost...................................

There it was--a bin with half finished Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery quilt--

"On Ringo Lake".  I worked on that thing so much I got bored with it after

the clues came out in November, 2017, 

and -binned--it!  And walked away!  And forgot about it....

Then the grandson popped the question to his girlfriend--

whoops, they'll need a wedding gift!

and a nice gift from me to boot!

Okay, let's go through the bins of UFO's and 

there it was!

the bin with the On Ringo Lake Mystery waiting to be

finished--guess I'll pull it out and begin work on it again.

I -think- all the parts are there--50 main blocks along with

some sundry areas that had been pieced. I had to 'refresh'

my memory about what went where.....

And  some of the rows had been joined--maybe to

half way--these are set on diagonal and oh, how

I hate working blocks diagonal!!!  Just can't keep it

in my head how to work these sets--anyway, I

had to find my place again and where to begin

and finish this sucker--wedding is coming up-- 

need to finish and get it to the quilter this summer--

gee whiz, how could I leave this for so long--

almost finished--then realized I didn't cut the corner pieces--

oh, well--this will be finished sooooooon!  I have

no choice now that I pulled it out of the bin........

I pulled it together BUT borders are still needed to make a king

size quilt--oh, the dilemn--what to add???

The top is finished!  It should be king size now

with added borders

I decided on a small coral twist border--

thought some about the outer border but

then my mind went to just simple to finish off

the complex of the quilt--

needs a good press and off to the quilter!

feeling good!!!

Think Tiny.................

I'm beginning to think I like tiny!  Little pieces of fabric that I can

scoop out of my trash bin to make tiny little blocks!

Temecula Quilt Company will share with us one of

her small quilts--I'm eager to begin these tiny blocks

and Finish a quilt!

I've been working with Kathleen Tracy's Small Quilt Lovers on Facebook

to make their monthly blocks for a mystery 'tiny quilt'  

I'm loving how these small tiny pieces fit together to form

a small tiny block--so perfectly!

UFO's Here We Come.....................................

I've had this in my studio for months now--time to get it done!!

This company has many different laser cut patterns but I selected

this one since we live part time in Hill Country Texas

Everything you need to complete the project is in the

package--why did I wait so long to put it together??

Easy to assemble too--All the pieces are fused; just need 

to sew the background together--place the pieces and iron!

Place on backing, do binding and you're done!!

One UFO--DONE!

From this book I'm working twelve blocks of calendar--

for gift giving--these are quick little ditties!

But for some reason, I can't get myself in gear to

finish them!

Sew on the binding, trim and sew down the binding--

what can take so long?   

My problem--I look away and there is another project

I want to work on as well.............and off I go.....

I hope no one else is like me and see "squirrels'

everywhere!

Let's Do IT!

I've finished knitting my red socks, except for the toes--and began another sock pattern to keep the needles warm!  Just one problem--those sock toes are waiting and waiting because --I hate the Kitchener Stitch--mainly, because I can never remember the way the stitches go--I've looked up "Kitchener Stitch" on computer and found so many ways to close the toes of socks--guess that's why some people like to knit "toe up" socks--never close up a toe again!

Anyway,  here is a ditty that I can remember easily--

K = knit (insert needle as if to knit on 1st stitch of front needle and slide off)

P = Purl (anchor next stitch on front needle - insert needle as if to purl & pull yarn through)

P = Purl (insert needle as if to purl on 1st stitch of back needle and slide off)

K = Knit (anchor next stitch on back needle - insert needle as if to knit & pull yarn through).

Thanks to Louise Tilbrook Designs!  I can do that stitch while repeating the saying "King Philips Purple Knickers"!  What a way to remember...................

Just look at those toes!  All thanks to King Phillip's Purple Knickers!!

Fibers News from Around The World

For the past few months I've enjoyed the posts from

Sheila Dixon, Hand Spinning News

She gleams the most interesting articles and news

events from around the spinning world to present

in an informative newsletter--

The February newsletter contained such news as 

the following.........

"Lice and HIstory of Textiles"--oh my!

who would have thought of that topic!

but, quite the read!

and on the lighter side.......

Cartoons staring Yvonne, the wisest sheep I know!

Sign up to receive her newsletter to receive such things as

patterns for 

lace curtains--tips and tutorials, learning to spin,

basics of fiber, reviews of products, inspiration, gallery

of sorts of exhibits, artwear, etc.

Thank you Sheila for keeping the fiber world active!

Loving Stitchery

Allie-Oops Designs is now on Facebook since

Craftsy did their deed and purged her designs--

well, it's not Craftsy now but something like

Blueprint--anyway, she is hosting a free

stitching now--you can join her

FB page and receive the designs through the files.

Her designs are a way to learn new stitchery 

techniques or just use the ones you already known

These are a stitchery garden of flowers and

wonderful sayings

All important messages for today's daily life.

Happy stitching!

Mystery Quilt Along Begins Soon..................

You can find this group on Facebook

Partners in Design is a group of  11 quilters who will give you

their unique design in this quilt along--it's a mystery, so

we'll just have to see what, when and how this is played out.

Beginning March 12, you can sew up an interesting block

each month--Free!  Yes, Free!

Bobbi @ Snowy Days Quilting

April @ JANDA Bend Quilts

Sandy @ SandyStar Designs

Sherry @ Powered By Quilting

Sandra @ Sandra Healy Designs

Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing

Abbie @ Sparkle On!

Becca @ Pretty Piney Quilts

Jennifer @ Inquiring Quilter (that’s me!)

Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts

This is the fall quilt that was designed for quilters--pretty cool, huh? 

I'm sorry I didn't sew along-- :-( 

But, this is another opportunity!

WSW............................A Little Weaving, A Little Fiber Art

One of my weaver groups (Westside Weavers--WSW) met earlier this week--we just enjoy each other's company

and sharing our latest fiber adventures.  We have been weaving for years!

and believe it or not--are going back to the basics in our fiber activities.

Rosemary had her small treasure pouches to show off.

She is taking all her small bits of handwoven fabrics

and making these treasures.  in the middle you can see

her angel of love.  

Pat has been working with Sugar and Cream yarn to make

an exciting baby blanket for her first great-grandchild!

She wove it double weave to get a nice size for the

new addition to the family

Penny had  a piece of fiber art--eco-dyeing

that she purchased at January spin-in from

Lisa of Dicentra Designs--it's super perfect!

Nice size scarf or table runner--I'd love to wear this anywhere!

Our hostess, Fern, showed off her piece of eco dyeing--

different technique--one is steam (above), hers was

boiled for an hour--interesting results for both

Fern also had some pieces that she achieved at a recent

fiber workshop by Molly Koehn

These were using stencils and indigo dye

What a super great morning!  spent with fellow fiber enthusiasts-