Bloomin' Garden

This post does not center around a garden theme. No, but by far, the hardest Bloomin' thing that these hands have ever accomplished! And many lessons were learned along the way. Stumbling through the internet is a favorite pastime and finding interesting and unique happenings is the highlight of this journey. Coming across the website Bloomin Workshop , the eyes feasted upon a free quilt-along. Now, how could one resist this opportunity to quilt along with one of the best? Of course, it was easy to jump on this bandwagon as it was year long process and project. Anita would supply the pattern idea each month and participants would just sew up their blocks to create a finished quilt by year's end. The project was a Medallion quilt--something new to learn and anticipate each month.
Okay, here is how you begin. Find your center medallion block. It must be 12.5"--well, that should be an easy task, but which block to make? It needs to be quite the focal point. Here is the block that was decided upon:
The first few sew arounds went along fine and dandy. Then one month slipped by and another and guess what, you are off schedule and there is the need to hurry to catch up with the group's progress. Chug, chug along is what this one was being called after a few months work. Stretch...... fit those blocks around the best you can. Then there was the month when there were bias blocks, lots of bias blocks and if you have to ripe (as in this case two times) the bias becomes slightly off--well, actually, big time off!
Finally, yes, finally, the whole was complete and bundled off to the quilter. Out of sight, out of mind, right? NOT! The quilter is having a rough time getting the top to quilt--why, well, it's because of all those mistakes in measuring and bias riping. My advice to her--just take out what you can and make the best of the quilting. Well, she is a saint! There was no swearing, no cussing, and hopefully, no talking behind my back about this quilt.... whisper, whisper..did you hear about that one medallion quilt she made?

The final project was an experience and the quilt along or chug along (in my case) turned out pretty good--thanks to one good quilter! and hopefully, if and when another medallion quilt is considered, the quilter will not shy away and say "never more".

Sock It 2 Me!

Next week is the beginning of our annual spinners gathering in Destin, Florida. OH, what a time we have and have had for the past 20+ years. Four days of spinning, gabbing, spinning, visiting, spinning, learning new techniques, spinning, shopping, spinning, meeting new friends, spinning, seeing old friends, spinning, show & tell, spinning and the list goes on and on. It's a fun week and hard to describe--you just have to be there! Each year we have a theme; theme for 2010 is "Sock It To Me". Well, you can imagine there will be lots of socks shown and worn.
Well, look what showed up in my mailbox one day!
A SOCK MONKEY! by way of dear knitter friend Judy in Colorado--what a surprise and a treat. And look what badge he is wearing:
Is that not a hoot?!! Good ole sock monkey will be the hit of the party and he is bringing along his game "Who's got the monkey?". Maybe, we can give away some 'monkeys' that are in our baggage to others. Well, just 'SOCK IT 2 ME'!!!

Creative friends

There are those who move among us that are very creative. They are not boastful. They do not 'toot their own horns'. They just quietly move among us. And then one day they display their awesome ability to 'wow' you with their talented work!
This is Olga. And this is her latest piece--Titled "MELT"

which was accepted in the exhibition "The Climate is Changing !", a juried traveling exhibition of felt textile art on the impact of human actions on the environment.
The exhibition will be opened at the Museo del Tessuto (Textile Museum), Prato, Italy on May 7,2010 and then will tour Germany and the United Kingdom and possibly other countries during 2010 & 2011.
Her tools are her hands, bubble wrap, wool, some silk and lots of hard work. Of course, her design idea came first.

The back of the piece and close-up of brilliant blue locks. Her scarves were featured in Harper's Bazaar online holiday gift guide "Luxury gifts for women who have it all". (#9 on slide show)
ART-FELT by Olga--an up and coming new international designer and talented artist. Yes, there are those artistic people who walk quietly among us.

Flannel comforts

A call went out from a quilter in our ex-patchers group. Flannel blankets were needed by doctor in a small community; the doctor wanted to give newborns in her center a little warmth and comfort since many of the parents were lacking financial funds to provide some essentials. This is a plea easily answered. On a recent visit to the local craft store, several discounted remnants were spotted in the bin--flannel and knit fabrics.
Purchasing length same as width for the top, add contrasting fabric for backing with right sides together, sew around (leave small opening for turning), turn, press and you have a nice blanket. Combining these fabrics along with a couple yards purchased from the bolt, three blankets were sewn. The pink plaid has been backed with a solid pink. The other two blankets will need a backing.
Take #5 perle cotton (there are many cones in my weaving supply closet!) and do a blanket stitch around the sides. This adds a nice finish to the blanket.

Project completed!

Finished handspun project for 2010!
The pattern is Dayflower Lace Scarf Blocking on carpet--only long area to work. Sorry, photo is little dark.

It feels good to complete a project that was begun in 2009.
Here is another project that has been lying around for some time. The yarn was purchased during a visit to Taos Sunflower when Martie still had her shop. Robyn Page of Pagewood Farm was doing demonstrations on how to spin this bulky yarn and for some reason, this yarn was calling my name!
If you knit on size 35 needles, you can create an unusual scarf.
Here is the photo that my friend Nancy took last week at Gulf Coast Roc Day--a scarf that makes you laugh!

Roc Day Weaving

These weavings were on the display table.
This was a lovely piece but being black it was hard to photograph.
This piece shows what you can weave using just crochet cotton.
Wonderful Christmas towels.
Nice weave structure!
And then there were those who were 'stalked' for the weavings they were wearing. This was scarf designed by Randall Darwall and woven by this weaver's friend--what a great gift to wear!
This weaver was wearing one of her creations--a twill weave structure. The black really pops the colors!
And then there were the woodmaker vendors who designed and produced lovely weaving equipment.
Lease sticks (above) and shuttles (below) created by Michael Harris
It was a super day to visit with friends from far and near plus an opportunity to see what others were doing in the fiber field. This Roc Day was sponsored by Baton Rouge guild--Bayou Yarn Benders--don't you just love that name? And this proves that weaving, spinning, knitting and 'hooking' are very much alive and well.

Roc Day Fiber

It seems the 'hookers' were in full force at Roc Day! Amazing what one can do with a blank canvas and a few strips of wool. The first photo is a close-up of floral rug in the booth of Rug Hooking vendor, Carrie. Sorry to say that Carrie doesn't have a website; she just gives an email address. If you are interested in her shop, please comment and that email will come to you directly. Here is close-up of one of Carrie's lovely rugs--patchwork crazy, but so cool! And take a look at these wonderful little wool pincushions Here is Marcia from Kenner, LA who hooked the flower rug. Marcia was using the time at Roc Day to do the binding around the flower shape.
Isn't this lovely? And so colorful.
Of course, there were many handspun knitted items featured at the event. It was great fun to look around the room and find some outstanding knitwear creations. Sometimes, you had to really 'stalk' the knitter to settle them to a place where you could talk about their work.
This was a Christmas exchange gift--wouldn't you like to receive this at your party? The recipient said she had to fight hard to keep the beaded scarf! Guess it was one of those 'steal' parties.
This scarf was felted piece. Karen uses bubble wrap to felt. She weaves the wool strips and then works away with the bubble wrap until the scarf is perfect! Quite a nice piece!
And what a diverse garment! Just a simple knit purl tube, tied at the top to use as a hat; untie and you could use as a cowl. The mohair locks knitted in at the crown add just the right touch.
Noro yarn is the highlight of this clapotis pattern. These were just a few of the knitted items that could be tracked down and photographed. Next post will feature the weavings of Roc Day. Stay tuned.