Decisions!

We need a quilt--a longer wider quilt!  We purchased a 'mattress in a box' and hubby got the extra thick one--and then we added a topper!  It's like--run and take a flying leap to get into bed.
Maybe, we need a small trampoline to jump on to make that hop!  Anyway, really like that bed, but
all the quilts are too short--he likes to tuck them in at the bottom--now, all we have are not that long--hence the search for a new quilt pattern--that is quick plus it must be easy--we would like to have it by winter time.

How about this one?  Stash buster from Cluck Cluck Sew free tutorials

the bins are full of scraps and it would be nice to bust that scrap bin wide

open and GONE!

This one is pretty much the same type of pattern, but longer rectangles. 

Two by Four  Film in the Fridge has another free tutorial that looks

quick and easy

another stash buster

This is called Bricks and Stepping Stones

Quiltville has a free pattern breakdown for this charmer.

I also saw it here 

Confessions of a Fabric Addict has this tutorial on what she calls a slab block

This is just a little more involved--so, this might be left for when I have

more time--when is that??

Art Gallery Fabrics has this super looking quilt called The

Belle Wave--

I just can not decide which one to begin--

And I'm still looking!!

And Then There Was Some Sewing Time.................

This house is one total disaster--furniture is moved away from the walls; some has been moved into other rooms--pictures have been taken down--it's a land mine waiting to happen!  We have the painters in....................and they are painting downstairs, which has high high ceilings.  Scaffolding has to be used to reach the water leak problem.  While the painters are working downstairs I found time to sew!  Yes, I could sew in my studio upstairs!!  And stay out of the way of the painters!  Here is the fruit of that progress.............

This is April's pattern from A Quilting Life

I'm using greens and pinks from a layer cake

I bought some time ago.  Not my favorite

colors, but it will be a charity quilt and I'm

sure someone will love it.

I found that I hadn't finished last week's pattern

from Pat Sloan's Solstice Challenge

And this one was on the ironing board--just needed to press on 

the petals and do the blanket stitch around each.

Estonian Knitting

It's hard to photography this knitting--but, trust me,

I'm knitting away and finished the April pattern

for Elizabeth Ravenwood's Estonian knit along.

Here is the second Estonian pattern from 

a different knit along--this one designed by

 Toni L. Lorenz--both patterns are on Ravelry.

It is also April finish!

I've enjoyed both of these knits and with the addition

of beads, the scarves will look smashing.

Traditionally, Estonian knitting uses nupps--which

are not for me!  I tried them once--that was enough

to know I don't like them!

If two Estonian knits wasn't enough, I signed up for a third--

this one is also designed by Elizabeth Ravenwood and

it will give me patterns that that the other two do not.

I'm using Knit Picks lace weight yarn in an icy blue--it's

Alpaca/silk blend and feels really good.  I'm just on the

fifth row; had to stop to look for beads to use--still no

nupps for me!

Challenge! Join In!

Devan Alana has a challenge for us--

her knitalong began yesterday--April 17th 

there is no reason why we can't join in today

or any day this week or next.  This is the Elena Shawl

KAL and will be featured on Ravelry or here on her

website.

She proposes to finish May 13 in Sevilla--would I like to

be there to knit along with everyone else!  

She has instructions in English and Spanish--

it goes to prove Knitting language is universal!

What To Do With Leftover Easter Dyes

Do you shop the after Easter sales?  Not just for the candy--which is fun--I shop for the leftover dye kits for eggs!  They usually sell cheap and I hoard them throughout the year.  They can be used to dye eggs later in the year, but I like to use them to dye my fiber.  I have dyed silk yarn in the microwave with dye mixture.  I came upon this cool way to dye a 'cake' of yarn--

Have fun!! and dye away!!

Happy Easter!

May your day be filled with family, friends and much love!

Happy Easter! 

And a free stitching pattern for you 

from Elefantz

Just Keep On, Keeping On!

I'm working on my Intarsia, which is the next adventure in the

Techniques for the Year project.  At first, I thought I wouldn't like

knitting this--but.....................

I like it!  And I want to just keep knitting and knitting.............

to find the time to just sit and knit on this project!

The yarn is so soft and cuddly and the pattern is

easy to follow along.  

You notice the orange markers--well, I forgot to put regular markers

in my bag and I wanted to knit--but we were away from home base--

what could I use?  I walked around looking for something to

slip on the needle and low and behold, why not a plastic straw!!??

The plastic straw markers work okay--just need to be careful

when I slip them from one needle to the next--sometimes

they pop off--I still have plenty of straw left though to

cut more little slices.  Here I've added the third yarn--there

are five yarns to be added--this is fun!

I just want to sit and knit and knit and knit,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

life gets in the way!

Go Play In The Mud!

Years ago, I took a workshop with on mud painting on cloth--mud cloth, 
a rich looking fabric that is also called  Bogolanfini.  

In the Bambara language, spoken in Mali, the word bògòlanfini is a composition of three words. Bogo, meaning “earth” or “mud,” lan, meaning “with” and fini, meaning “cloth.” The word is translated as “mud cloth.

We had a super day we had playing in the mud!  Just like kids!--we collected different colored soils from the region, added soy milk as our mordant (stabilizer), and painted away on our treated cloth. 

Recently, I thought of this cloth when we were at a wine function and the ground was soaked with early morning rain--we had mud on our shoes, our jeans, in the truck, on everything--

I have my shoes sitting outside the door to dry--love that color though--

will make a nice mud cloth painting!

I had seen an excellent exhibit at the Denver Art Museum one summer--

and a past blog showed some mud cloth a friend brought to

share.

Here I have found for you a couple of interesting features on mud cloth.

This one is for kids who like to play with mud!

And this one is for those who would enjoy painting on canvas!

and here is the ultimate feature! Painting with soil (mud, if you please!) on walls!

Weavers! Weaving!

WOW (Way Out West) Weavers study group met early April--

bringing members together to discuss the past month's 

weaving adventures.

Finished!  Yes!  Finished! Rep Weave Mug Mats for

CHT (Contemporary Handweavers of Texas) conference 

to be held in early June in Houston

Our group volunteered to weave 175 + for one of the

meals--and this mission was accomplished by some

dedicated weavers!  It was not necessary for

each mat to be exactly alike--a design process for

the weaver.  These are Karen's mats in which she

used rag strips for her weft

I like the look of the warp all fringed out

Karen bundled them nicely too!

Tracy is donating this lovely towel for the raffle basket

She had made one for a gift and donated this one for

the basket--some lucky person will enjoy this addition

to their kitchen

Here is Karen I with her recently finished rag rugs.

The one on the right was featured in the latest issue

of Handwoven by Interweave Press

Look up the issue to get the recipe--you too can

weave this!

Both of these rag rugs will go to her new house

Her brown and blue rug can be used in any room.

 Karen is featuring "Workshop in a box" in her Etsy shop.

Jump over to her blog and read how she can help you

make a handwoven towel.  Her box includes the warp, weft,

all the instructions plus link to her tutorial videos--

she posted only 5 boxes at a time

Gretchen missed our March meeting--so she

brought and shared her color warp from the recent

guild workshop.  She chose more pastel colors (so like her

in fact!)

Here is plain weave--look at the tracking

Here she did summer/winter weave structure

side by side to see the comparison. 

She left the weft sides so she could remember

which color she used in each section.

Never a dull meeting when you gather with weavers!

Playing Catch-up...............

It is a treat to be away from home base occasionally, but

when we return it is time to play 'catch-up' on the quilt

blocks I have missed.

I  cut the fabrics for each block before I sit to sew--to me,

that's better than cutting and then sewing for each block.  The black and

white blocks are from Pat Sloan's Solstice Challenge--

begin winter solstice and end summer solstice.

I decided on black and white as a challenge to myself--

it's not easy to work with these values; need to determine

light, medium and dark in these fabrics--some are

successful, others not so much!

Jacob's Ladder--a popular block--this is an

oversized block in the plan.

This is also an oversized block--goes together quickly when

you cut large squares!

Odd man out--this is year long quilt along is designed by

Sheri of Quilting A Life.  She always has helpful hints and

tutorials.  I decided on pink, green and tones of reds for

this quilt--this will be girl's charity quilt.

Anyone for bright colors?!  This is from Pat Sloan's free 2017

Mystery block "Children's Library"--this is April's block--

since this is a quilt for kids, I decided they would like

a hamburger right in the middle!

Caught up till May 1st!

Stitching Away...................

When I don't want to sew or knit, I'm usually keeping my fingers active

stitching on these snowmen letters--These are from a book

Here is the booklet--I'm about 1/4 of the way through

all the patterns!

Crabapple Hill Studio 

If You Crochet--This IS A Stunner!

I don't crochet often but when I saw this lovely shawl--I'm thinking about picking up the hooking habit.........................This shawl is a real knock-out, stunning beauty!

This beautiful Lost in Time shawl is made by Charlotta Hjortbacken (@charlottahjortbacken on Instagram) with 6 skeins of Scheepjes Secret Garden and hook 5.0 mm. The size is aprox 135 cm wing span and 68 cm over the spine.

This comes to us from Mojo Crochet

NO, Don't Tell Me--Intarsia!

It is the second pattern and tutorial for the Year of Techniques from Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

I loved March pattern!  It was such a clever way of knitting stripes without that annoying

mark of changing colors.  I so looked forward to April's pattern and when it

came out--there was that dreaded word INTARSIA!  oh gee whiz!  Will

I enjoy this pattern as much?

What is Intarsia anyway:--The intarsia knitting technique enables you to introduce areas of color in any shape, size, and number to the background. Think of these intarsia areas as islands floating on the sea of their background. Intarsia fabric is lightweight and fluid because it is only one strand thick.

There are all sorts of videos and instructional material to be found.  Intarsia just wasn't something I enjoyed doing and now this pattern pops up.

Since I purchased the kit I have the yarns so we'll begin--first, we'll watch the tutorial 

That seems simple enough, doesn't it?  print off the pattern, bring out the needles and the yarn and we'll begin...........

I Think I Need A Spreadsheet....................................

spread·sheet

ˈspredˌSHēt/                 

noun

1. 1.

   
   

   an electronic document in which data is arranged in the rows and columns of a grid and can be manipulated and used in calculations.

   
   

   "we have a color-coded Excel spreadsheet of all of our trip expenses"

   • 
     

     
     

verb

1. 1.

   use or create a spreadsheet.

My husband is an engineer--enough said if you have a friend, spouse, etc that is also an engineer!  He makes a spread sheet for everything!  and I do mean everything!!

I must say it is one way to keep track of what's going on--but I always give him a hard time about his 'spread sheets'--

he makes a spread sheet for

•  his tool collection; 
• the vinyls we have; 
• songs he likes; 
• trips we have taken; 
• wines in stock; 
• tax receipts 
• expenses
• you name it

well, now I'm thinking I need to make a spread sheet for all these projects that are piling up on my table!

Oh, I don't need one to add or subtract numbers I just need one to help me REMEMBER what projects I'm working on or have signed up to do--I need a visual listing!!

Let's see:  there are several quilt projects ++++ knitting projects--each with a beginning and ending date.  Do I have the fabric I need?  Or the yarns to use?  All that could go on a spread sheet.  

 one problem----I don't know if I want to say to the engineer husband- that I'm making a spread sheet-why you ask?

He just might take over MY spread sheet!  

Georgia Fiber Fest

Class Schedule

6th Annual GEORGIA FIBERFEST September 7-9, 2017--Columbus Convention & Trade Center Columbus, Georgia with Franklin Habit as our featured speaker & teacher  Teacher, Patsy Zawistoski, fiber spinning expert Patsy Zawistoski's classes all start at 9:00am and end at 4:00pm  Thur - Hemp, Ramie, Bamboo and Tencel: Cellulose Fibers Old & New Fri - Beguiling Blends on Hand Cards, Blending Board, and Drum Carders  Sat - Color Options for Handspinning Colored Roving  Registrations online in April