A Pause For Remembrance

Today is the anniversary of that dreadful day September 11, 2001.  You will always remember where you were when you heard that news--the twin towers had fallen and many lives had been lost.

Today, let's take a moment..................................................................................Reflect!

The photos are embedded in your memories!

Linsey-woolsey!

I've always been interested in how spinners and weavers of Colonial America made their clothing.

Since I have spun all types of fibers and know how long it takes to spin just one bobbin of any fiber--I'm completely overwhelmed thinking about their daily tasks and how they accomplished clothing their family as well as keeping food on the table!

The above quilt is an example of at least one textile that survived the test of time.

According to family tradition, the quilt is made of pieces of shirts worn by boys in the Lowrie/Knox family, several of whom died in the Confederate Army. The cloth, according to the family story, was homespun and dyed with walnuts and china berries.

Some of these textiles use 'linsey-woolsey', which means there is a linen warp and wool weft--all hand spun.  In later years, especially in the South, it would be a cotton warp.  Now, stop, think--how long would you take to spin and weave fabric for your family?!

check out Linsey-woolsey and Civil War Quilts 

One Skein of Yarn--What To Do?

There is a Knit Along on Ravelry (of course! my favorite go to website!)

Yelp!  It's that time again--time to start think about winter wear--let's begin with 

One Skein of Yarn and knit one of these delightful hats.  Most of these patterns use Worsted

weight yarn, but I'm thinking why not use two or three strands of my sock yarn to get the

gauge I need?  Another way to use up the stash!!  

Andre Sue Knits has this cute and simple hat.

Purl Bee always has fashionable patterns available

Balls to the Wall Knits has this cute Wickerwork cap designed by Gretchen Tracy.

Copyrights for Artists

Copyrights for artists has always been a big topic of conversation.  What does copyright include when you have created a piece, written an article, taught a workshop?  Is it original?  Many people think that copyright is a method of preventing people from making anything that’s similar to their work. That’s actually not true. Copyright is nothing more than the right of the creator to control the copying and distribution of his work. But it is an important and powerful concept that you really do need to understand as an artist.

Here is a chart that explains copyrights the best way I've ever seen.

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

You see I have this hand spun yarn--and in order to meet a challenge deadline, I need to make a decision.....soon!  Every January we have our spinners gathering and each year there is a theme.  The theme for 2016 is "Cotton Candy".  WEll, I have the handspun cotton--but, what to knit from this lofty soft stuff??

I did have this pattern picked out at first:

Here Be Water Dragons by Quinton Lime  but then I looked again at the pattern (after I'd printed it off, of course!) and found there was an error--so glad I didn't begin this one.  Now, Houston We Have a Problem!

The problem--there are so many interesting patterns to choose from, like:

Falling Leaves Scarf

Pattern by Robin DeWeese

Shetland Shell Lace Scarf

by Frances Goodman

Tiger Eyes Lace Scarf

by Toni M. Maddox

Dayflower Scarf

by Toni M. Maddox

Foreign Correspondent's Scarf

by Lexy Lu

One Row Handspun Scarf

by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Spiral Staircase Shawl

by LizAnn Petch

3S Shawl

by Amy Meade

 Decisions, Decisions, Decisions--I'm thinking I'll put the patterns in a hat and pull one out!  that could be a solution for sure..............................................

National Read-a-Book Day

"I cannot live without books"  Thomas Jefferson

Some historical facts about books.........................

• The very first books used parchment or vellum (calf skin) for the book pages.
• The book covers were made of wood and often covered with leather.
• The books were fitted with clasps or straps.
• Public libraries appeared in the Middle Ages.
• Books in public libraries were often chained to a bookshelf or a desk to prevent theft.

And today: 

E-books are rapidly increasing in popularity.  E-book (electronic book) refers to a book-length publication in digital form.  They are normally available through the internet however,  can also be found on CD-ROM and other forms.  E-books are read either by computer or via a portable book display device known as an e-book reader, such as a Reader, Nook or Kindle.

What will you read today?

Lesson Learned!

This seems to be my week to learn new things!  It has been said that you should learn at least one new thing each day--in my case, I'm happy if I learn something new each week!
Recently, I've been working on this star block called Emery's Stars from Quiltville.

For me, it is easiest to make half square triangles from printed paper.  I print the pattern from Quilting and Whatnot on regular paper. 

 I wanted this block to be 10.5" so am using finished 2.5" half-square triangles from the website.  I've used this site many times and worked up most of my blocks

and this is the layout so far, but it needs more blocks--this isn't going to make a very large quilt.

so, back to the website to print off more patterns--I worked up several pages, cut them apart

and then measured--

I don't know if you can tell, but these 1/2 triangles are suppose to measure 3" but they are 1/8" off--

do you have any idea what that 1/8" would mean to a block?  Or many blocks?

Back to the drawing board--why were these pages coming out slightly off?  Then, it hit me--like a ton of bricks--I got a new PC and it is running different software--well, duh! that would do it!

That's why the brilliant people at Quilting and Whatnot--have this at the top of their page!!

Measure for Accuracy!  Well, I didn't at first and I wasted lot of time and effort on these 1/2 triangles--(of course, these will be cut down to 2.5" for another project! so not really wasted!) 

Reformatted my brain and printer and printed off the correct size!  and...................

We have the correct size!