Wednesday, March 8, 2017

West Houston Quilt Exhibit

Over the weekend, I attended the West Houston Quilt Exhibit, held at the Berry
Center in Cypress, Texas--
this local guild brings excitement to the community with their biennial
exhibit.  I always like to see what challenges that have been issued
to the members.

Love this challenge!  Candy!  What candy bar would you use to make
a quilt?  This one is PayDay--Made and quilted by Gloria Ware!
Such fun!  Pattern was from Owl Be Home by Christmas by Cherry Guidry
 
Celeste Fritz "Love Dark Chocolate!" 
Star Light, Star Bright from book
Hershey's Yes!!


Phyllis Rucker loves Mounds bars,
she chose "Mounds Moroccan Tiles"

Oh, can you guess what candy bar?
Bee Twixed!  clever name by Barbara Wenker
Taken from a pattern by Kathleen Andrews,
KwiltArt Patterns  This won third place in
the category 

I know what this one represents!
Peanut M&Ms by Lillie Hays
This was her original design and it
won an award


Hersey's at it again!  This one by Annie Forrest
No reference of pattern 

A collaboration between Pamela Hensley and Georgia
Johnson brings us Heath Bar--the note said:
the pattern was chosen because the ruler was on sale--
no reference to which ruler, except it does triangles
Here you have Millie Savage's take on Mr. Goodbar
titled "Sunflowers" pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts
by Edyta Star--raw edge applique

Do you like Babe Ruth Candy Bars?
Here's Linda Stewart's take on that candy.
It's quilted by Lillie Hays

"Run For Snickers" by Jean Fleming,
also quilted by Jean

Halloween theme was the creative way
Alice Sadeghpour decided to go with
Skor Candy Bar; quilted by Lillie Hayes
First place winner!!

And bet you can guess that candy?
M and M's, of course!
Teresa Beautz's "Old School Meets
New School", also quilted by Teresa--
this won second place prize.
check in tomorrow for more info


Tuesday, March 7, 2017

My Year Of Therapy Has Arrived.......................

It is a year of knitting techniques from Arnall-Culliford Knitwear
This will be a great adventure through 2017 and I'm looking forward
to what we will knit along the way.

I opened the bag and pulled out all these goodies!
I think I got a good bang for my buck!
lovely yarns

luxury yarns, like baby alpaca and silk!

wonderful sock yarns!
For March, our first assignment is Helical Stripes!
Here we go......... using the Zauberball--we are off
and knitting!! 

Monday, March 6, 2017

UFOs Bite The Dust!!

I always have a good day when I can say I accomplished something in the studio--
finished!  UFO!  Out of the bin into the world it comes!

I've had this one waiting in the wings for awhile--this was to
be made for the WOW weavers basket for CHT
June conference--my contribution--
I like making these hot pads.   I use indigo dyed woven fabric
for both the lining and the main.  These are some yarns that
I dyed and wove several months ago--and sometimes I hate to cut it up--
but I'll weave more--some day!  And this will go for a good
cause.  I also used my indigo dyed fabric for the bias tape trim.
One down!!


The other pattern that has been sitting around for awhile
is this!  I have made several of these--kept two and gave
many away for gifts.  I found this kit in the bottom of 
the UFO bin--so, it must be sewn
This is also using my handwoven indigo dyed yarns for
the outside and indigo dyed cotton cloth for the lining

Perfect blocks for this!

Great for storage of scissors, thread, pins, etc.
It is also a catch all for any loose threads

So excited! To finish another UFO!


Oh, then there is this kit!  Holy Smokes--I have
no idea how old it is--but, I had done all the
stitching on the wool front and back

This is the back

This is the front

Here are the handles--the whole kit was complete except for
assembling--why do I procrastinate with something that is
al------most finished!!
Okay, finally the handles are attached to the front

and the back!  And I have a great carrying bag for my sewing
supplies--another UFO bites the Dust!!
wonder what else is just waiting for a few
simple stitches to be finished??


Sunday, March 5, 2017

Weaver's Delight!

We are photo laden today!  And that's a good thing!
Our March WOW (Way Out West) Weavers met at a local library
to share their past adventures and weaving tidbits.

It's is so difficult to show off this lovely table square--
and it is square!  Since we are responsible to fill a basket
of goodies for the June CHT conference--our group chose
a kitchen theme.  This was woven by Marion C--

It is Spot Bronson weave structure--she felt that since we
are a weaving group, our basket should include wovens, hence
this lovely piece!  

It is woven with 8/2 cotton, sett at 24 epi

She even fringed all sizes and hem stitched to
add a polished note to the piece.
Wish I could win this basket!

Our other Marian C also decided to add something woven to
the basket--a linen table runner!

She finished it off using a Finnish technique to
soften the linen--she found the article in older 
Handwoven magazine--it's also good to keep those
old magazines around--never know when you'll find
something that will add to your knowledge

Such a nice finish on the hem--just too
marvelous for words!

Three of the gals took a recent workshop with Sarah H Jackson
She presented her Color Confidence workshop
Color is one of the most exciting components of weaving, and… learning to use colors confidently can be challenging. Mixing yarn colors doesn't work like mixing colors with paint, and even experienced professionals with in-depth color knowledge are often surprised by color effects in woven cloth. In these workshops, participants will explore fresh ideas for developing color studies, learn how various weave structures impact color interaction, and understand how to effectively translate color combinations into woven cloth.

There was some wrapping of yarns to see how design in
color works

Then the samples came out on the table.
This one, according to the weaver, was not
successful--she didn't like the way the 'tracking'
showed up in the structure.

I liked it!  Simple plain weave--and you get this pattern
just from warp and weft

Each weaver chose a colored warp from ones
that Sarah had pre-wound.  I'll take any warp
that is already pre-wound!!

Then the warp was crossed with various treadlings--


Here is another weaver's warp--8/2 cotton
sett at 18 epi

A glance at plain weave structure with
different warp colors


There are many elements to this runner to be liked

And this one--you can see the difference that color
makes

Oh yeah!!


This was an interesting workshop for those who enjoy color

To top off the meeting, Marian C, pulled out this
exquisite weaving she is doing for Complex Weavers,
fine threads group!  Oh, WOW!
She used four colors in this runner--can 
you see the color differences?  Neither could she

Her selvedges are perfect and there you can
see two of the colors

Alas, this lovely runner will be cut into sections
to share with the other members of the fine threads
study group.  We can't wait to see what others wove for
this challenge--and our Marian said she was not 
happy with this!  Can you believe?

Stitchin' and Listenin' !!!

 We're just a stitchin' and a listenin' while we work! I'm on a roll...........all is going well........... Then...............