Little Bits of Tough

I'm thinking of small wonders for Christmas gift bags--here is a favorite recipe for those little bits of tough for the kitchen.

These little things are called Tawashi

 

A different take on Scrubbers from Simply Notable  Check out the

web page for the instructions--Happy knitting!

Precious Fiber

 This precious fiber is much like wild silk and linen  yarn made from thousands of the finest fibers of the stems of lotus flowers.  The craftsmanship behind this fabric, originally only entitled to Buddha, is made by the weavers in a small village in the middle of Inle Lake in the Shan Mountains.

Here the procedure is shown by Viet Nam Weaver and spinner, Phan Thu Thuan--

Garments made from this lovely fiber

You might ask--how much for this fiber?  To me, it's priceless--so I'm sticking

to spinning the next best thing--silk!  At least, it's easier to buy--no need

to wade hip deep in water to find!

Tying Knots--Weavers Take Notice

 So Much Knots to learn!!

There are so many knots in the gallery of knots but the one knot that weavers' should use is the 

weaver's knot  

Weaver's should use this when tying two threads together-- Here are some other useful knots.

How about an alphabetical display of all knots known to man (well almost all knots!)

Fall Reading List

 

It's time to begin another reading book list--I've had some of these books

for some time in my library--why I by-pass them for others, is a question

I ask my self all the time!

Starting at the top:

• "Poison in the Pen" by Patricia Wentworth--if you haven't read any of her books, you don't know what you're missing.  This is book #29 of Miss Silver adventures.
• "100 Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez--I've been thinking of this book alot lately--time to pull it out--I also found a free audio version that I can listen to as I read
• "The Gates of The Alamo" by Stephen Harrigan--You can't read enough books about the Alamo!
• Sharon Kay Penman books are outstanding--she writes about early English history--"The Reckoning" The first of three books about the Welsh Princes.  I rather enjoy her writing about historical fiction.
• Another Sharon Kay Penman book, "Falls the Shadow"--second book about Welsh Princes
• "Billy Boyle" written by James R. Benn--a book about WWII--history!

What will you be reading this Autumn?

Orphan Blocks Become A Quilt

 Do you have leftover blocks from a quilt--and wonder why did I make extra blocks?  What in the world am I going to do with all these?

Let's build a quilt top with those orphans.

One of my quilter friends had seven cat blocks that were extra

and didn't know what to do with them--I said I like building orphans into

quilt tops--so here I am, several months later working on these

interesting blocks.

First off, I placed the cat blocks where I think they should rest

on the top--then I add other blocks to fill in the spaces.

Cat block at the top looks out of place so it was removed for

later placement--let's continue to build our top..

I keep moving those cat blocks around--didn't really want them stacked on top of each other,

but it just might be the only way to get this top together--

I've rearranged these cats so many times!  I think I like this setting so far--

let's see how it works out next time I'm in the sewing studio!

Finished!  I had some kitty fabrics left overs so used those strips for the borders.

I hope this will be loved by a little tyke who loves kitties. 

I'm now working on another orphan block quilt with this beginning layout

Don't usually like to work with blocks on point but this looks awesome so far!

Linen is My New Friend

 It seems when I shop for clothing now, I'm always looking for that label that says "100% Linen"

Yes, I've become a linen snob!  I found this interesting video on how linen is produced--since it's a manmade fiber there are many steps for plant to become fiber for use.  Maybe, you'll find this interesting as well.  But, Please, don't become a linen snob--leave that up to me!

Let's Play................................

 

Usually Mondays are dull after a long fun weekend--here is our chance to Play

with 37 designers with a different project each Monday beginning October 5 and

running through December 14--time to make some of those Christmas gifts.

Mondays with Marcus Fabric Designers

"Just Say Boo" from Fort Worth Fabric Studio has already begun  but

there is time to play catch up and complete a bat, some wonky stars and who knows

what else in this mystery Halloween adventure.

Play Along with Fat Quarter Shop in this exciting unique quilt top --

blocks are released 

Serendipity quilt benefits Make a Wish Central and South Texas,

which grants wishes of children with life threatening medical conditions,

giving them hope, strength and joy.

So, LET"S PLAY!