Wednesday, November 13, 2013

TEXAS FURNITURE MAKERS SHOW

Texas Furniture Maker Show presented their finest work in this 14th year at Kerr Arts & Cultural Center in Kerrville, Texas.  What a show!  How can you not love the art of furniture making with the most interesting of materials--natural wood!?
 
This is the headboard for bed--
 
Love, love this hutch!
 
Lots of inlay with turquoise
 
There were also some 'quirky' pieces, like this wall hanging
 
 

 
and this giant clothespin!
 
overview of the showroom
 
 
why not place this desk in your office?
 
and this bedroom chest would be wonderful
 

 
Texas designed fireplace screen
 

 
side board.............
 
 
fabulous dining table made from one single slab
 
 
 
display table
 
 
jewelry chest
 
 
 
and this whimsical coffee table--these all pieces that you like to take home with you.
 

Thursday, November 7, 2013

WHY? OH, WHY?

WHY OH WHY??? Did I join Ravelry?  why oh why do I look at all those groups and patterns??  But, here I am looking at all the mysteries and other sundry knitting projects beginning in November and December.... 
First off is from Renee, who is goddess knits.  I have knit several of her previous lace shawls--always well written and free, if you get on the band wagon soon enough.  I did the summer shawl, not the fall one, so now it's time for winter knit!

And one of my favorite hat designers--Wooly worm Head--love her mysteries, which are always stylish and uses stash yarn

One dear me--a sock mystery from Melissa of Hazel Knits!  Love to knit socks and mysteries!

Erica of Fiddleknits is hosting a collection of color work shawls, featuring her birth stones color range of yarns.  First shawl will launch November 15th. 

Another mystery sock pattern--I'm in!  I have no will power!  This one is hosted in sock knitters anonymous group with Stefanie Bold as designer. 
 
 

Monday, November 4, 2013

Contemporary Handweavers of Houston Annual Sale

It's just perfect!!  The CHH (Contemporary Handweavers of Houston) held their annual sale in late October.......and I'm here to attend!  The first time in years I've been able to see what our members are creating. The sale this year was held in our Guild House--a smaller venue than in years past.  When I arrived on the first morning of the sale, it was already bustling with activity--shoppers galore!  That's a good thing! 
As I roamed through the crowd, I ran into many of my weaver friends--here is Olga and Rosemary looking over the jewelry table.  Olga is a world class felt maker and had several of her jewelry pieces in the market.

Lovely hand-woven pillows

and the tea towels!  Oh my--what a variety!

Feast your eyes on these goodies!


There were even Handspun yarns

And batts of spinning fibers!

Here are a few of the different hand-woven items--loved the luggage tags!

Small trinkets for stocking stuffers

And the silk hand dyed scarves........................



Rag rugs for any room of your house

Tree ornaments.............and cards


Silk paper orbs

And let's not forget the wearable garments
and you say, what did I buy?

One of those gorgeous spinning batts--perfect for a project--more later on that...

This lovely crackle weave towel by Marian Carlson

And shadow weave towel by Barb-e-designs

A felted pouch for my business cards, clever creation by Rosemary. 
I was excited to attend this event and see so many of my weaver friends and their creations!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Whoooooooo! Happy Halloween!!!!

Whooooo!  Trick or Treat!  It's always a treat to visit with expatchers quilting group!  And Judy's house as usual is decorated for the occasion............
Primitive Gatherings magazine and their patterns--here Judy used one of the calendar series to create this whimsical wall hanging--and don't you like the way she used the cheese basket as the background.  


Table toppers are always a hit on any table

There are no witches here.........

Draped over Judy's long arm quilter are these two hangings ready for the finishing touches.   She makes them ahead of time, ready to be given as gifts when the opportunity presents itself.


And she is cutting flannel for her daughter's snuggly blanket 



The color combinations are super duper

Here is a stack of flannel blankets waiting for the blanket stitching around the corners


Baby blankets to be given away as need arises--

More wonderful fall hangings in the background with Judy M(standing) and Camilla (our 'mother' who is moving away soon--ahh, we are going to miss her!)

Linda and Sandy are conferring on a pattern app for their I-pads

Now, isn't this just smashing!!?

That's Brenda sewing away

and one of missing has come to visit--Judy C has been supervising work on her retirement home and that keeps her busy busy!
I have a passion for this magazine and so does Judy M.  Primitive Gatherings is such an interesting publication--some quilting, some wool work, little stitchery--Judy made this wool work from one of the PG magazines.


Here Linda is stitching down the binding on her Christmas quilt. 
No Tricks here, just plain good Treats!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Let Us Zig, Let us Zag!

This is just something about Frankie's Knitted Stuff .  Not only are there great knitting patterns, but also unusual patterns.  And too boot--the patterns are all FREE! for a donation to Children's Liver Disease Foundation. 
I liked this pattern, but I'm not making a blanket!  Nope, but a scarf! 

What can you do with only 10 stitches?  Well, this is easy Zig Zag for sure!
One strip is finished--but, this is going to take forever.....if I knit only one strip soooooo why not do several at one time?!  Genius, huh?

Sure, it's genius, except for all those loose threads hanging everywhere, but it is quicker to knit all at the same time
 
We are making progress--there could be just one small problem--maybe, the ZZ's are too uniform!  Stay tuned for the finished scarf results...............

Good Day To……..

 It's always a good day to take some time for yourself.  it's also a good day to do nothing when the day is rainy and no outside act...