ChickenS............................

for some reason, I'm doing the chicken blocks from Fatcat Patterns

 This free block of the month began in January--so, you

guessed it--I've done five blocks already!  I'm a 

sucker for chickens--the blond headed daughter has

chickens--so I make these for her.

The other day when we were at the ranch,

I saw not one but Three chicken quilts I've made

for her--

She displays them across the sofa, tacked to the

wall or just draped over a chair--

Okay--enough of these chicken blocks!

The five blocks I've already made are going into a 

reversible table runner!!--oh, guess I need to do

one more to make the runner look right

Here chick chick--

that's enough for me..

Summer of Weaving

Are you familiar with Handweaving.net?  This is a great

resource for weaving drafts and other information. 

Just recently they received a rare 1910 Italian book

on weaving pattern compositions titled Manuale de Compositore

di Tissuti by Pietro Pinchetti--this manuscript contains

1230 drafts for shaft looms.

You can find the collection Here.  These drafts range from 2 to 54 shafts! Some very interesting 8 and 16 shafts included.  This venture took months to obtain so quite the find to add

to the collection.  The original is from the Smithsonian Library and has been

digitized for public use.  You can download a copy here

The text of the publication is in Italian, of course!

Weavers don't need to read the words--we can read the drafts

to make sense of the pattern.

Found Treasures!

After I came across my silk paper treasure chest,

I looked in one to find many 1" and 2" squares--

okay that's all well and good--can always

use those tiny pieces somehow and somewhere.

Not only did this 'treasure chest' yield tiny squares

but, also

This wonderful pile of 'booty'!  Yea, I can see

a small quilt in my future and all the pieces are ready

to sew!

Maybe, having the chests 'lost' for awhile gave the

tiny elves time to work up perfect 2.5" blocks--

So glad I found my treasure chests full of treasures!

Silk Paper--

My studio has been moved three times within the last year!

It's exhausting work to pack and unpack--put things away

and then forget where you put anything--it's not in

the regular place you thought!  and then there are

some things missing!  well, not really missing--I just

forgot where I put it--

The last time when I thought I was settled--

I came across my silk paper boxes--

I love silk paper!

What is silk paper you ask?  There is an excellent book

by Kath Russom on Handmade Silk Paper--

Yes, this is silk paper!! paper you can write on,

create structures with, shape every which way you want,

a fun activity too! 

The back of the box--shaped like a treasure chest

Another chest made from silk paper--front

side

back--

I just might make more silk paper--to use in my wall hangings--

a great way to use up all that silk roving I need to spin!

Miniature Block Stamps

You can give a gift to someone and eventually,

the gift comes back to you--

The giving works with non tangible things or

with tangible.

Case in point--the following small hangings

This  one was given to my mother for Valentines' day

many years ago--Recently, when she had her fall and

went into Assisted Living, we cleaned out her house and

I found this in her bedroom--it came home with me--

This one was given to my mother-in-law--

she loved red--and when she passed--

it came back to me.

These two small quilts are my treasures--and I'm

grateful they can be in my house again.

I created these little miniatures with stamps 

I've had them for years--although friends have asked to borrow

I don't let them out of my sight!  These tiny stamps were

used often--

I did find Bowers Art Rubber Stamps- creator,

James Bowers--he passed to the happy stamp heaven

in 2015--

there are tons of rubber stamps, but I haven't seen

any like this lately.

I just might stamp again since I found the stamps!

Thread Painting Or Needle Painting.......

Doesn't matter what you call the technique--it's still a 'freeing' opportunity to be yourself on fabric with needle, thread and motion.  

Laughing Cat Designs has a tutorial for her machine thread painting--

The basic thread painting stitch is only a free motion zigzag on the machine.  

The goal is to add color where it's needed--a zigzag stitch can achieve a

painting effect with different threads--it will also highlight and shade

different parts of the piece.

Check out the rest of her tutorial on how she uses thread painting--

Give a look at Nancy Prince's website--

This is machine thread painting!!  Just WOW!

We have seen many different types of thread painting at

Quilt Festivals--the quilts look likephotographs--just

unbelievable.   Nancy has a photo gallery to admire

plus a tutorial--you too could do this type of thread 

painting by machine.

For me, I prefer Needle painting by hand--

Mary Corbet has a excellent experiment that you can try.

Here is one of my Needle Painting embroideries--

the cartoon is from a agate geo stone--I loved the

look of the circles in various shapes 

I used silk threads to feature the highlights of 

the smooth surface of the stone

This was so much fun to stitch--I don't know why I

haven't done more of these--maybe, it's time to pick up

that needle and thread again to do some needle painting.

Another Warp for Towels

Okay--I'm ready to weave again--but, first you must wind a warp--big decision to be made--
What colors?  What size fiber?  What sett on the loom?  The last question will be answered first--
whatever the pattern is on the loom now--that's what it's going to be--yep, I'm just tying on and pulling through----AGAIN!  Think I've done this four times already--it's a regular twill pattern warped now and there is so many ways you can change the treadling to make different patterns.

What colors for the warp?--Easy--I go to my fiber closet and pull out all the colored yarns--and size, I don't worry about--anything goes in this warp.

I'm using bright colors--nothing white or natural, my lightest this time

is yellow--but the rest of going to brighten up the towel

How is this warp looking?  I'm not sure I want to leave the yellow now that

I've seen it in photos--might change that out.

and, I'm not worrying about the way the colors lay--just random--

try it sometime--it's a freeing--no planning!

The size of yarn runs from 10/2 to 8/2 cotton.

Okay, warp is ready--

just need to finish that last yard of weaving to begin warping again........