Learning To Applique---BETTER!

I applique--not great--but I've appliqued some!  I love the process

of stitching around perfectly (?) shaped edges--so when this

applique opportunity came up--I jumped on the bandwagon--

I want to learn how to applique much better than I do--

I KNOW--it takes practice, practice, practice.  So, I'm

thinking that this monthly quilt along BOM will be

helpful.  This comes from Erin Russek, who has the

most outstanding patterns in all of internet kingdom as far as I'm concerned.

Today, yes, today, she is giving you the beginnings of this lovely

pattern--she has several tutorials on how to achieve the perfect

pattern piece to applique.  Check it out in her blog--One Piece At A Time--

Breed All ABout It! Calling All Spinners............

Have you wondered about Sheep Breeds and wanted to know more?

Here is your opportunity from Namaste Farms

• Information about the breed
• What to expect from the fleece
  • How it Dyes
  • What the breed standard is
    • colors
    • length
    • micron
• What the fleece is best suited for
• examples of raw and dyed fleece and these tutorials will be interactive where you can ask questions live in chat. There will be a different breed every episode.  
• Every Thursday, beginning January 16 at 1 PM PST, you can tune into Facebook
• free learning experience.

You can find the group on Facebook in groups/redding method

What Fiber Technique Catches Your Fancy?

What fiber technique catches your fancy?

Mine is dyeing!  Natural dyeing is my favorite workshop or class--

if you understand how your fabrics are dyed, then you

are in another world.

Chemical dyeing is interesting but natural dyes--

oh my gosh!  You can hope you get the same color each

time you hit the dyepot, but not always..

there is change in temperature, water or dye stuff,

then you have a variable color on your fabric--

that's what makes natural dyeing the greatest adventure

of all time in my book!

and indigo dyeing--oh my!  This is the way to go!

My goal for 2020 is to do more dyeing--either chemical or

natural dyeing--or maybe some surface design!

Check out Chemknits on you tube!  

Color of the Year!

What is your favorite color?  Did you see the 2020 color forecast from Pantoneview?  This group of designers and colorists hand us the colors for the season every year--This year BLUE!  Who doesn't like Blue!

From inky blues and bio-luminous neons, to summer browns and seaweed greens, colors for Spring/Summer 2020 display depth and complexity. ... Color harmonies and cross-fertilization step forward to display harder color contrasts: turquoise with a lagoon grey or a bright orange with taupe.

Blue Blues the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect.

But, my favorite color isn't blue, even though I like working with blue--

I like to work with the warm colors--like ORANGE!

Orange, the blend of red and yellow, is a mixture of the energy associated with red and the happiness associated with yellow. Orange is associated with meanings of joy, warmth, heat, sunshine, enthusiasm, creativity, success, encouragement, change, determination, health, stimulation, happiness, fun, enjoyment, balance, sexuality, freedom, expression, and fascination.

Orange is the color of joy and creativity. Orange promotes a sense of general wellness and emotional energy that should be shared, such as compassion, passion, and warmth. Orange will help a person recover from disappointments, a wounded heart, or a blow to one’s pride.

The meaning of the color orange is stimulating, vibrant, and flamboyant. While made up of red and yellow, it carries less aggression and fierceness than the color red due to its combination with the calming color yellow.

More Sew Alongs

If these don't keep you busy during the year--I don't know what will!

Quilt Doodles Doodles will begin the new year on January 15th

with a new Block of  the Month--Grandma's Attic-- traditional

sampler quilt--maybe a stash buster but two colors would be

nice also--a main color and white/cream background.

There will be 12 blocks

Another quilt that begins January 15--Moda Block Heads 3!

It will launch with 14 Block Heads (Designers) and total of 56 blocks.

Take a look at Block Head 2

Make A Scrappy Quilt began January 1-runs through Jan 16

• Jan 1 to Jan 16 we'll make a Scrap Happy Quilt!
• Dig through your fabric
• Decide on Colors
• Get ready to Sew blocks on Jan 1
• Jan 8 we'll sew more blocks 
• Jan 16 show off a top and enter in my quilt show and I'll have a giveaway!! 

Childhood Games Mystery

• Starts Jan 22
• Runs 19 weeks  to May 27
• Several block sizes
• Pieced blocks 
• ALL EASY to do! 
• Fat Quarter Friendly
• Fun and Happy just like a Childhood game should be!

From My Carolina Home   

charm packs and 5" squares will make this delightful quilt

beginning January 17th!

Roc Day--Treadling On!

Distaff Day, also called Roc Day, is 7 January, the day after the feast of the Epiphany. It is also known as Saint Distaff's Day, one of the many unofficial holidays in Catholic nations.
Many St. Distaff's Day gatherings were held, large and small, throughout local fiber community. The distaff, or rock, used in spinning was the medieval symbol of women's work.
In many European cultural traditions, women resumed their household work after the twelve days of Christmas. Women of all classes would spend their evenings spinning on the wheel. During the day, they would carry a drop spindle with them. Spinning was the only means of turning raw wool, cotton or flax into thread, which could then be woven into cloth.
Men have their own way of celebrating this occasion; this is done through Plough Monday. It is the first Monday after Epiphany where men are supposed to get back to work.
Every few years, Distaff Day and Plough Monday falls on the same day. Often the men and women would play pranks on each other during this celebration, as was written by Robert Herrick in his poem "Saint Distaffs day, or the Morrow After Twelfth Day" which appears in his Hesperides.
Some modern craft groups have taken up the celebration of Distaff day as part of their new year celebrations.

And since January 7, 2020 falls on midweek day, our Roc Day celebration will take place the weekend before--January 4 or the weekend following, January 11.  We gather our spindles, our wheels, fibers and food (food is always encouraged!) and meet at a central location.  

luscious fibers to spin.............

a chance to try a new fiber or spinning technique

an opportunity to see how one spinner uses her wheel

questions answered and topics discussed

Oh, yes, a chance to spin on a flax wheel

and see what exactly a distaff is and how it works

Always a spindle or two in sight--this one spinning silk hankies

Ah, yes a chance for the spinners and weavers to get back to their wheels and looms after a long holiday sleep--treadle on!

This is a repeat of post from January, 2014

Twelfth Night Becomes Mardi Gras Season

As the twelfth night of Christmas rolls around, I should be finished with my 12 days of Knitmas--well, not...................I pooped out about 5 days in--it's become another UFO in my stash!

You can bet your bottom dollar, I will participate in Carnival season with King Cake!  Oh yes, the delicious once a year 'bread' that lasts for the whole of Mardi Gras--which means bakeries will be producing lots and lots of King Cakes until Fat Tuesday eve, February 25, 2020.



Here is a video on how to make your own King Cake--but, I'll be visiting many local bakeries to pick one up for our enjoyment.  For our January Spin-in, the person who receives the baby is asked to bring King Cake the next day--as we meet for five days--we have lots of King Cake!!

"Epiphany" or twelfth night is known to Christians--the word comes from Greek that means "To show" just as Jesus showed himself to the three wise men and to the world on this day.

• The king cake is a tradition brought to New Orleans from France in 1870.
• It’s an oval shaped cake that tastes like a cross between a cinnamon roll and a french pastry.
• It is decorated in the colors green, gold and purple. Green is meant to symbolize faith, gold is power and purple which represents justice.
• It is supposed to represent the crown of the three wise men who visited Jesus.
• A plastic baby is hidden in the cake to represent the baby Jesus. Whoever finds the baby in their cake, is named “king for the day” and is supposed to host the party the next year.

Maybe, you'll have King Cake at your festivities this year!