Monday, March 25, 2019

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!

Saturday, March 23, 2019

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!!!


Thursday, March 21, 2019

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!


Tuesday, March 19, 2019

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!



Sunday, March 17, 2019

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!!



Friday, March 15, 2019

Fibers News from Around The World

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


Wednesday, March 13, 2019

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!

It's Time--

 It’s time to think about greeting cards I’ll send out this year.  Most years, if I’m not feeling pressed, I’ll create my own cards.  One ye...