In the pipeline...........

More socks in the pipeline for holiday gifts.  I'm having fun knitting all the socks and my hands haven't cramped up yet so that's a good thing. 

Love these lavendars and purples

These are very fun, have finished the first sock, this is sock #2 of the pair

We spent a few days on the coast escaping the smoke of the valley.  There was still a bit of smoke on the coast and inland just a mile from the beach there's heavy smoke. We have a big fire just to the south of us spreading most of the smoke but then there are also fires to the west, east and north. The AQI (air quality) has been hazardous for weeks, it's ugly out. I hate summer/fire season. 

Comedy of Errors.........

 Many thanks for Peg for sharing this draft in her late July blog post. I just started weaving on this today and love the look although it is fiddly but then she warned it was......lots of color changes and I haven't gotten a rhythm yet, also always trying to make sure the colors get carried up the side for their groupings. 

But it was a comedy in errors getting this on the loom - I'm blaming it all on the prednisone I started on Saturday for intense sciatica pain. It is helping quite a bit but I'm wondering what will happen when my 9 day course of this med is over, will the pain return???  I'm waiting on the scheduler to get me in with PT so hoping that happens soon.  Now back to this project.  I wound the warp, got it wound on the back beam yesterday. I threaded the heddles. Then I sleyed the reed - I'm using 24 epi in a 12 dent reed only I didn't double check which reed was in there and it's so close to my 15 dent reed. You can guess what happened - I got to the end of sleying the 'wrong' reed and sat back and could see it immediately so I pulled all 476 ends out, put in the 12 dent reed and re-sleyed.  I got the warp tied on the front beam and started to weave to make sure all was correct - nope. But it wasn't a threading error, I had 3 out of 10 treadles tied up incorrectly. I have NEVER used the wrong reed and NEVER tied up treadles incorrectly in my 37 years weaving so I've determined it must be from prednisone brain, if there is such a thing.  At least fixing treadle tie-ups is much quicker than dealing with a threading mistake. 

I stopped to watch HGA's Textiles and Tea zoom presentation at 1:00 and now am having a hard time going back to the loom, just can't seem to focus. While the presentation was on I did cut out fabric for 4 tote bags for gifts (maybe one a gift for me) - I'll get to sewing those another day as I need a color of thread I have none of........isn't that always the way it is.........

Phew........

Phew.........these cross stitch ornaments took a long time to stitch and put together. I realize that I'm getting older when it gets harder to see 32 count fabric to stitch on even with reading glasses and an Ott light with a magnifying lens. It was a real challenge at times. I had thoughts of making more for a few gifts.....not happening!  These will look great at the beach cottage, not just for the holidays but all the time as decor. Now back to working on holiday gifts. 

 

Another start...........

 Another pair on the needles of the socks I'm knitting for holiday gifts.  I finished pair #2 the other night, started pair #3 last night. I love how this one is turning out.  I'm using a solid gray for the cuff, heel and toe.  Getting a lot of sock knitting done in the evenings while we watch Suits on Netflix - we're hooked. 

In other crafts I'm working on small holiday gifts here and there.  Hoping to get a warp on the loom soon but need to finish up a couple of other projects first, feeling very scattered. Would love to get holiday gifts finished up in the next 2 months so I can get back to a wall quilt I had taken a class on. 

Moving right along.......

I'm moving right along knitting socks for holiday gifts. I finished the pair I started last week, now have another pair on the needles. Also working on some other small gifts. 

Not much else to say.  It's hot, but not as hot as it could be, that's coming this weekend. Just like every summer we're in extreme fire season - fire just a bit to the west occasionally throws some smoke in our direction but it's mostly blowing the other direction. Counting down the days until the end of fire season. I hate summer. 

 

Sox in progress.........

I've decided I need to knit a number of pair of sox for holiday gifts so no idle hands around here for the foreseeable future.  Here is the first - I'm down to the instep on both pair, have them going at the same time so it's easy to match up where I start and stop in the pattern for contrasting cuff, heel and toe.  Also working on some other gifts but can't post them here..........

 

Inkling away..........

First warp on the inkle loom down, one more just like it to go. New inkle weaving project for holiday gifts so can't show until after the holidays, so months away from the reveal. 

Christmas in July............

First off, why in the world do my pictures from my phone want to turn sideways when uploaded to the blog??? I took pictures holding the phone 2 different ways and the same happened with each. Many times at least one of them will be turned correctly.  And I save them to my computer and edit them turning them the correct way but when loaded to blogger they turn back. ACK.  I give up. 

Anyhow, got heddles threaded, reed sleyed yesterday on this warp. It's a combination weave from a workshop I took from Robyn Spady. the threading is based on the Periwinkle overshot pattern in the Davison book. The treadling is polychrome swivel. This makes a sturdy fabric but not suitable for anything where the back would show as there are very long floats - would be great upholostery fabric or for a project that is lined. I'll be using this for our holiday card inserts. So far it's been slow weaving only because I haven't gotten in a rhythm with the color changes and treadling. Maybe others wouldn't think it's slow weaving but for me it is.........but since I'm not weaving to sell anymore it really doesn't matter. 

I have another pair of socks started, will take a photo once I'm more than 2" into the knitting. I want some denim colored socks, only denim, not stripes or other patterns.  I'm still working on some black socks but can't take those places to work on because if the light isn't good I can't see well, especially if I drop a stitch. 

 

I am remiss. I meant to post these socks earlier in the week but totally forgot.  Neighbor Jill in the knitting group I was invited to last year gave us all a ball of holiday sock yarn at the beginning of the year and we're to create something with it for this upcoming holiday season. I made these slouch socks - love them. I only had a little bit of yarn leftover so made a little ornament for her, a tiny basket of yarn complete with yarn balls and knitting (on toothpicks).  Picture is sideways, don't ask me why...........

Took this picture last weekend at The Wool Co in Bandon (on the coast).  I went to visit Kelly, the owner, and saw this in the yard - it had been put up to celebrate knit in public day the weekend before. I love it - hope it lasts for a long time.  Of course in visiting I bought more 'stuff' I didn't need but what does need have to do with anything.......

 

Almost done.......

The king size quilt for the trundle bed in the guest room is almost done. Some people call this a spider web quilt but I need another name for it as I have a spider phobia, don't even like typing the word.  I took my pieced quilt top to a long arm quilter, Stitched on Second, and picked it up this week. This photo shows it laid on the floor in the foyer while I trimmed it up. This was not easy.  I have since learned that Stitched on Second will do the trimming so next time I do a big quilt I'll pay them to do this. Smaller quilts I can easily do.  I now have the binding (the charcoal gray background fabric) sewn on the front, turned to the back and clipped. It will take me several evenings to hand sew the binding to the back.  I have very little leftover fabric but I think I can eek out some pillowcases using one or more of the prints as the borders on white on white fabric as the body of the placemats.  I have some bolsters that sit on the bed against the wall that will definitely need recovering but will have to find a suitable fabric for those (dreading that sewing chore).  So good to almost have this big project done. I'd like to make another king size quilt for our bed but that will have to wait........maybe next year........
 

Polka dots.........

 Here's a picture of the 8 finished towels - I wove each one with a different color weft. Feels strange to only put on enough warp for 8 towels but now that I'm not selling I don't have the need to. Four of these will immediately be used as gifts, others will be stashed away for future gifts or for me.  Next up at the loom is to finally weave off a scarf warp that's been on the AVL for way too long.  But first I need to trim  and sew binding on the quilt I picked up from the long arm quilter this week - picture of that to come once it's finished. 

Berries......

 strawberries picked this morning, more ready in a day or two

thinking maybe scones or shortcakes are in order

berries are yummy

On the loom........

I decided to weave this towel draft again although now I'm not sure of my color choices in the warp.  I do know once off the loom and washed the circles will show up much more so hopefully I'll like them. 

I'm sorry I can't tell you whose draft this is but I do remember I found it in the May/June 2019 issue of Handwoven. Well, being honest I don't remember this off the top of my head, I had it written in my notes from the last time I wove these towels. 

This is weft color number 3. I'm not sure what color will be next. I had hoped to have this warp woven off this past weekend but it didn't happen. Since I no longer sell woven goods I'm not weaving much these days but would really like to get back to it.  There have been many projects on my very long to-do list that I could never find time for.....not sure how to get my mojo back........

 

Ready for garden goodies........

Sam made me this great potting bench/sink out of leftover composite deck board cut-off's from when he rebuilt the two decks. I had seen a picture in a magazine a few years back of one made out of pallets so saved it for inspiration. I love it.  I need to put a hook on the back wall for a colander, maybe some fun outdoor metal art too. I do have to empty the bucket of water, the plum trees will love the extra water. Misty has discovered it's great fun to hang out right there to catch the water as it's flowing to the bucket. 

Here's a close up of the sink. It's just a plastic storage container from Home Depot. The faucet was 1 of 2 I bought over 30 years ago that we never used. There's even a stopper for the drain hole. 

Now all I need is for the rolly bugs and earwigs to stop eating my veggies as they pop up from the soil. I have noticed they don't bother the veggie starts I've bought, just the tender starts from seeds I've planted - this happened last year too. I even planted some marigolds amongst the veggies last week and noticed this morning that they're eating the leaves off those - I thought marigolds were a deterrent. Sheesh.  I've tried a organic bug spray meant for gardens last year, trying a different brand this year - not working so far. if anyone has any ideas please leave me a comment. 

 

Quilts.........

Recently I worked on some sewing/quilting projects.  The wallhanging above was from a kit a friend gave me. It's got many small pieces in the center, applied wool flowers, it's 15" x 18". I machine quilted it, some stitch in the ditch, free motion around the flowers, diamond window pane in the borders. I am not a quilter - this size is around my limit.  I'm interested in exploring tiny quilting so this has gotten me started. For tiny quilting I'm planning much smaller than this. Adding it to my very long to-do list.

I finished the 4 placemats I had started a couple months ago - I just did simple quilting on them. I had enough of some fabrics to make some serged napkins. 

 This turkey wall hanging was made from a quilt kit gifted from another friend. It's fused applique with crazy free motion quilting. As I said the quilting part is not my thing but I manage. I put a hanging sleeve on the back but it may end up being a table centerpiece around Thanksgiving - undecided as of yet. 

Also on the quilting front I took my king size spider web quilt to Stitched on Second for long arm quilting - it should be ready in a few weeks. 

I'm finally getting back to the loom. I wound a towel warp on the back beam the other day, threaded heddles and sleyed the reed yesterday.  But have other things on the calendar the next few days so will get back to it soon. 

 

spider webs........

 Earlier this week I finally finished piecing the spider web quilt. It's hanging over a table in this photo. I started this right after the holidays. Very slow piecing with all those fabrics and widths.  Yesterday I ordered some fabric for the backing - I was limited in my choices since I needed 118" wide to avoid piecing. I really don't like dealing with huge amounts of fabric at the sewing machine - putting this one together was a bear as it's king size. I'm hoping where all those 'slices of pie' come together in the center of the spider webs it's not too thick for the long arm quilter. 

Even though I have a need for another king size quilt that may wait until next year - smaller quilting projects as well as weaving and other crafts are on the agenda for the rest of this year. Yesterday I was working on a turkey wall hanging/table centerpiece quilt. A friend gave me the kit for Christmas. I've got the turkey all pieced, actually pieces cut out of numerous batiks and fused. Will post a picture after I sew the two borders on. I'll quilt this myself since it's small.  I've also got 4 placemats all sandwiched and ready to quilt which I'll also quilt myself. 

Our weather has finally turned to spring - we are out of the freezing temps at least for now. I've got apple and plum trees flowering so sure hope there's no hard freeze. I haven't planted any of the early veggie seeds yet - maybe this week.  I'm afraid what's going to happen is that we'll go straight from winter to summer in a week. 

It's been a while

It's been a while since I last posted. Back then I had taken day one of a quilt workshop on paper piecing.  I attended day two a couple weeks later and this is the start of my quilt which will end up being a 42" x 42" wall hanging or table topper. There are many more of these blocks to be made that will radiate out from this center.  I've found that I really like the paper piecing. But I had an issue with the teacher's instructions being different than the commercial pattern which resulted in pieces being cut wrong and me not liking my curves. I know my curves would have turned out better had I followed the pattern instructions. As far as pieces being cut wrong I did buy a bit extra fabric so I'm hoping I have enough. I may end up contacting the quilt shop to have them send me more of several of the fabrics just to be sure, hopefully they still have more. If I can get more of most of the fabrics I may remake these 4 blocks. (the background looks tan but it's really gray)  I never attended day three of the workshop - it snowed and was quite snowy around my town until early afternoon. I don't think I missed anything as it was just continuing to sew blocks. I did learn something new and loved it so in spite of issues it was a success and the shop where I took the class is great. 

Because of things going on in my family life I never got back to working on this project. My mother had a few falls, resulting in hitting her head, hard, and started going downhill quickly. She passed away two weeks after the last fall. Even though she was 94, had moved into a memory care facility and was getting more and more frail it was still a shock. I've always been certain she would live to be over 100. I can't say enough good about the memory care facility where she had been living - the Lodge at Countryside Village (Grants Pass, OR).  All of the staff are so kind and compassionate. 

As I wait to get things started with settling her affairs I decided to spend time at the sewing machine working on the quilt blocks from the quilt I started after the holidays. It's been very therapeutic. I now have only 3 more blocks to make and then I can start sewing them all together. I'm anxious to get it finished and off to the longarm quilter. I'm anxious to put away the piles of fabric strips and fold up the craft table. 

If the weather cooperates I'd like to get out to clean up the raised beds. Usually I would have had some early things planted but there's been no time and even if there were the weather has not been good - snow, sleet, rain, cold.  Maybe we'll be heading into more spring like weather later this week........maybe............

So, that's my life at the moment. I would like to say I'll post more often but it may not happen, at least not for a while. 

A little bit......

....a little bit of sewing happening here but not much. Did did come up with borders for 2 sides of the sample blocks to make them placemat size. They will have dark purple binding, it's already sewn, ironed and ready to go.  I now have 4 placemat tops set aside to quilt later on.  I've figured out my fabrics for the second part of the quilt workshop but now I'm questioning myself on what goes where.  For the immediate I'm back to making blocks for the teal quilt top for our guestroom bed.......I'm sure that will be set aside again soon to work on other projects. 

Snow off and on here the past couple of weeks, has been some on the valley floors but mostly a bit higher in elevation, enough to mess up driving on the passes to the north and south of our valley, and then many feet higher in the mountains, that is great thinking ahead to fire season. 
 

Paper piecing......

 Last month I signed up for a 3 day paper piecing quilt class at Stitched on Second in Gold Hill. Friday was day 1 which was to learn the technique. Here is my block from that day, it's made up of 4 smaller blocks. The pattern is out of a Carol Doak book, the instructor provided it. It's fittingly called 'Cindi's Block'.  It was suggested that we should make 4 more big blocks and use them as the center of a baby quilt. I have no use for a baby quilt and I don't have a use for a wall hanging in these colors (I was working from bits of stash fabrics). I have decided to use them to make a set of placemats - I will add borders to 2 sides so I end up with a rectangle. They will be bright and cheery to use on the deck table once it's eating out weather. 

I'd love to be working on this over the weekend but the weather is nice and we need to get the plum and apple trees pruned - 2 plum trees done yesterday, will do the apple trees today. Did grapes last month. Roses still to come sometime in March. And it's getting time to think about the garden. There has been lettuce, spinach and chard growing under ground cover all winter.  It's amazing how much we have growing on a city lot - more than we ever had when we were on acreage. 

Day 2 & 3 of the workshop come in a couple weeks. We have homework to do - buy our fabrics, cut out paper patterns. I already bought my fabrics but need to decide what will go where.  The pattern we'll be doing for those 2 days is called Arizona Cactus - more complicated and includes curves.  

This month was a bad one for me to sign up for a class but I'm so glad I did - I love learning new!  I'm really enjoying the paper piecing. Of course I 'had' to buy a lightpad from the quilt shop halfway thru the day.  I have a tiny lightbox that I bought for who knows what over 25 years ago but it can't compare to a lightpad that has cutting mats that fit on top and it's big too. And I even got a carrying bag. Added benefit of being so flat to store, it won't take up much space. Every new technique comes with a new set of tools that must be added to the cupboard!  

This photo has been sitting on my desktop for quite a while now, since right after the last post when I was weaving it. I couldn't capture the iridescence in this scarf and the sequins don't sparkle as much as in real life. As I said in my last post this is my guild challenge - use gold to celebrate my guild's 50th anniversary. 

 I originally thought I'd weave a second scarf but then came to my senses and cut this one off to finish it. Since I'm no longer selling my handwovens what would I do with 2 scarves with sequins, even if I did use a different weft. I suppose I could have rethreaded to a different draft but still, I just don't need more scarf inventory, still have quite a bit from my selling years.  Instead I tied back on and am weaving using different variegated tencel wefts to create fabric to make notecard inserts. I will use notecards......I'll be using a dragonfly punch for the cardstock. 

It's snowing this morning - so nice to see some snow. It won't amount to a whole lot by the time it's over but it's covering the ground and is so pretty even though it's still dark out. 

Sparkle.......

It's not evident in the photo but those are sparkly holographic sequins in this tencel scarf on the loom. The Saturday Handweaver's Guild will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and our challenge for the year to weave gold. Hopefully there will be an exhibit along with other celebrations. 

At first I was going to weave this with gold warp & weft but in my sampling it looks so flat so I started trying out different wefts. I really like this greyed teal weft. I put enough on for 2 scarves, still trying to decide between a few colors what color the weft will be for the next scarf. 

This is plain weave with double weave pockets that I slip each sequin in and then close them up on the next shot thrown. I made some scarves many years ago using this technique. This scarf will have a repeat of 5 rows of sequins on each end. For a conference exhibit (2001) on recycling I wove fabric with bigger pockets and slipped small circuit boards in them. This is a 6 harness weave. At some point I'll need to figure out how to weave a fancy twill with pockets........I'll add that to my very long to-do list. 

I tried out 3 different styles of gold sequins when sampling. They all happened to be from my way too large stash of specialty sequins. These are square and holographic gold. I buy my sequins from Cartwrights Sequins. I don't know if they still have these, haven't explored their website in quite a while since I have such a huge stash in a multitude of colors, sizes and shapes. 

This project is a nice break from working on quilt blocks. I've made 40 of the 72 needed - they are slow going. I'll get back to them sometime this week. 

Spinning.......

 I got back to spinning before the holidays......not spending a lot of time spinning but I am spinning.  I'm working on some merino/tussah silk/tencel blend dyed by my friend Whitney of Twisted & Dyed Fibers. I got the first 2 braids spun and finished plying a couple nights ago, last night I wound the first of it into a skein. Two more braids to spin. And no, I'm not sure what this will grow up and be, will start thinking about it once I'm done and see how many yards I have.  I'm spinning it between a lace and fingering weight. I tend to spin fairly thin, will have to concenrate on spinning a little thicker after I finish this because I find so many patterns I like that require DK or worsted weight yarn. 

Sox on the needles

Last year I think I only knit one pair of sox, or maybe I finished a pair from the year before and then knit another pair - can't remember right now.  Recently I decided I need a pair of black handknit sox so went searching through my stash and found this fun black yarn with specks (will take the 2 skeins I have). I haven't gotten very far and they'll be a long term project to cart along with me places......although it would be nice to wear them this winter.........

Still working on quilt blocks - think I have 34 now, not sure how many I need, at least 60 but probably more. I'll figure that out shortly.  I've been listening to the audio version of Outlander's book 7, An Echo in the Bone while I stitch. I downloaded it from the library so only have so much free time to listen to 46 hours, I 'think' I'm going to finish before it disappears from my Kindle. 

I've signed up for a quilt class in Feb/March. It has points and curves so I'll be learning new stuff. It's been so long since I've ventured out for any kind of class or workshop - I'm so looking forward to it.  I have finally gone back to my weaving guild meetings as of this past Saturday - nice to see many who I haven't seen since the start of covid.  I did wear my mask though with illnesses on the rise in our area. 

Wall pouches

I made a few of these wall pouches for gifts this year. I'm pretty sure directions for this project were in an email from Bernina with a link to the Bernina site. 

These two are in my sewing room on the wall behind my machines.  The pouches are made using 4" embroidery hoops and pouches sewn to fit.  I've hung them using Command hooks. 

 Here are two that I hung next to the Macomber loom. I already had the little basket that I made years ago - it's job was to hold bobbins but it was always overflowing with empty bobbins, bobbins with bits and newly filled bobbins for the current project.  With the addition of the two pouches I've got them all covered now. 

I'm still working on the quilt blocks shown in my last post and will be for a while - it's slow sewing.  I've now got 15 blocks sewn. I'll probably be in need of a break soon so will think about what to put on the loom.........or get off the loom as there's still a 3 scarf warp on the AVL............

A better year......

Yes, I've been a terrible blogger by not posting.  I just haven't done much that I feel like sharing, or am just not in the mood to post......such is life. 2018-2022 were struggles with family illness/death, moving my mother twice to more care within the last 1 1/2 years, several hospital visits for her, but I'm determined 2023 will better. Christmas week we got my mother settled into the memory care building of her retirement community - she likes the smaller community so it will be a good move for her. The last straw in assisted living was her brawling in the dining room - a little dramatic but pushing someone with her wheelchair was her demise. Have to laugh about it now. 

When I had time in the fall I was working on gifts but alas, I forgot to take pictures of them so I could share them here.  Oh well.....some sewing, some knitting, some cross stitch. I'm still working on cross stitch in the evenings - I've been shopping in my own cupboard for small kits, many Shepherd's Bush, that I bought years ago. 

The past 2 years or so I've been collecting small bits of fabric for a quilt for the guest room bed.  It's a trundle bed but I want the quilt to cover the entire bed when the lower bed is brought up.  I started on it 2 days ago. 

Here are strips of fabric cut at varying sizes from 1 14" to 2".   There are 38 different fabrics plus the dark charcoal gray background.  I'm afraid tables in the sewing room will look like this until the project is finished which means I won't be working on any other projects at the machine until it's done - basically the thought of packing it all away to work on something else is overwhelming.  I'm hoping I have plenty of fabric, I've only cut a very small amount of it so far. There were 3 other fabrics I had but they got culled for being too gray. 

Here is the first block.  It actually consists of 4 triangles.  It's around 13".   This is sewn on paper to keep the bias edges from stretching out of shape. I've pulled the paper out from behind the charcoal gray but the rest will wait until it's sewn to squares around it. 

And this is what it looks like when 4 blocks are finished (16 triangles) - it created a spider web of sorts, an octagon. I'm loving the look. I looked at 2 different patterns, one in a magazine, one a free pattern online, to come up with my final design.

I will try to do better posting and I actually may have some fun projects to share since I know 2023 is going to be a better year - I'm determined to have more time to spend being creative.

I wish you all a peaceful and safe new year. 

 

Pick up stix...........

A friend asked me about how to do pick up letters using the article in the Winter 2022 issue of Little Looms. I bought and downloaded the issue and set to reading the article, very confusing. But my biggest confusion was in that there were two projects for bookmarks using pick up on the inkle loom.  I mistakenly assumed both articles used the same technique so warped up the loom for the first article. I've done inkle pickup in the past but the instructions for these were so confusing for both the pebble weave pickup and the letters - very wordy but not a good wordy. Maybe I was just being dense..........

Luckily, I finally noticed that the bookmarks she wanted to weave, above, were a different technique. Easy peasy as the pebble weave look is made by the color order, not by pickup.  Only the letters/spider are pickup.  So, I cut off the other warp and rewarped for this project. 

Here's my quick sample where I was getting it drawn in to the correct width.  I did 3 more letters after this fairly quickly.  It's fun. The only issue I see is that there are long floats, see the bar on the H......and there are fairly long floats on the back. Will be just fine for a bookmark but wouldn't be good for something like a strap.  I'll have to go back and look at pickup I've done a number of years ago to see how the floats look on that. I need to draw letters on graph paper so I can design other words to weave on this warp. I'll be getting together with my friend this weekend to show her how to do the pickup. Will be fun. 

 
 

Once again..........

Once again I haven't posted in a long time.  I just don't feel like I have much to share.  But I am working more on creative projects than I had been but most are holiday gifts so I can't share them here right now.

We needed some new pillowcases for the beach cottage so I whipped these up last week - two of each, ready to put to use next time we're on the coast. 

Yes, the photo is sideways - have no clue why, sometimes happens when I use my phone.  

I went to the Hugo Quilt Show the beginning of the month, always fun as it's mostly an outdoor event. I always buy raffle tickets and I won a big basket filled with kitchen/grilling related goodies. Very fun. There are many things we'll use, some we won't that will be passed on to others. 

I started spinning some lovely hand-dyed fiber, will share when I get my Hansen e-spinner out again. It's having a slight problem Sam needs to figure out - the foot pedal isn't working. Luckily, I can turn it on with the switch so it's still quite useable. 

My brother arrives from the east coast today for a visit - he's sitting in Denver waiting for his second flight as I type. I haven't seen him since before covid so I'm really looking forward to his visit.

Will try to post more of what I'm up to again.

 

This and that.........

 A big thank you to Susan of the Thrums blog for posting this plaited twill and herringbone draft she got off of handweaving.net . Her baby blankets are so beautiful. My towels are much plainer as I want to weave many colors. I used two different off whites in the warp, one of them a barberpole of two colors of off white.  I love this draft so much I'll probably weave something else in it soon, maybe some table runners. 

I've also been working on small cross stitch projects in the evenings but can't show those since they're gifts. Actually, I shouldn't have shown this towel pic above as most of this warp will end up being gifts.  I'm getting close to starting a quilt top for the trundle bed in the guest room/office but need to finish all holiday gifts first. 

Fire season isn't over yet, not sure when it will be but we have had some rain which has given some relief on the fire front. Unfortunately, it's been in the mid 90's and dry again. The next two days will go down to the mid-70's but then temps back up to the upper 80's/90. I am so ready for fall weather, hoping it happens soon. 

I really haven't had anything to share lately, kind of still in a funk, and just not doing anything I think is share worthy.  Maybe that will improve, maybe not but I can't worry about it. I do appreciate all who check in when I do post..........

Seas the day........

Many thanks to all for letting me vent on this blog about the fire, it sure helps my mental health to be able to do that. The fire is still raging this morning, more resources arriving all the time. Having 100 + temps does not help with the fire fight.  Friday a dry front is supposed to come through with added winds - not a good thing. The smoke yesterday was in the highest hazard level, this morning a bit better. This fire won't be out until fall/winter rains but hopefully it will be contained before too many more losses.......hope, hope...........

I don't think I ever posted these cross stitches that I finally got framed.  I stitched them quite a few years ago, just hadn't added charms. A couple months ago I added the charms and stretched them over foam core and took them to Michael's for framing during one of their 70% off sales. I love how they turned out - they're now ready to hang at the beach cottage.  Not sure if the charms are easy to see in the mermaid piece, they're all different. The matt is actually silver - love the way it turned out.

I love the shell piece  - the charms on this one are all cockle shells.

And then there's this sweet little piece, looks big here but it's really very small. It's hard to see but there are pulled threads in this one.  I'm pretty sure all three of these will end up in our bedroom as other walls are pretty full but the bedroom walls are lacking.  I still have many cross stitch pieces done over a span of 30 years that need to be up on walls, on pillows, whatever - maybe this winter I'll figure out what to do with them all even if it's giving some away because I have nowhere for them. 
 

This and that............

 'This' is a warp of some holiday towels that are on the loom right now. it's an undulating twill that many made candy cane towels out of several years ago.  They're fun. 

'That' is the forest fire that is ravaging in our area. I thought we might make it through fire season this year without a major/mega fire but not so lucky. On July 17th we had a lightning storm come through parts of SW Oregon - our county alone had 58 fire starts the last I knew. Almost all of them were put out quickly, none remain a problem except for the Rum Creek Fire up river from us. It has now made national news programs. 

It's in very steep terrain, very dangerous for fire fighters, one died there last week. They are working on putting in fire lines and contingency lines but most of the fire fighting efforts are by air because of the terrain - bombers dropping retardant and copters dropping water. There are crews of structure protection fire fighters working on protecting homes. The evacuation orders go from 1 - get ready, 2 get set and be ready to go at a moment's notice, level 3 go now you are in grave danger and you may not be able to be saved.  There are all 3 levels on this fire encompassing a huge section of the county. For how far the fire is we are still seeing level 1 approaching where we live which is on the outer western edge of the city of Grants Pass. Levels are changing constantly - first change for the evening just a bit ago added more area near us to level 1. Governor Brown ordered the Conflagration Act on Saturday which brings more resources to the area and yesterday declared a state of emergency which brings even more resources. Some are already arriving, hope they continue to come in to help our area. 

We already have a fire plan in our house - our GO bags have been packed most of the summer and are on the floor in the bedroom to grab and run, rolling carts sit near paperwork that could be thrown in quickly. We have friends in towns just to the east who have offered us refuge if we need to leave. Two vehicles have full gas tanks. I could make light of it and say it is what it is but I can't - I get very anxious over fire and I'm not doing well, I'm very scared for those closer to the fire including many friends, I'm very scared for the fire fighters, I'm very scared for not just my city but others in the fire's path and I'm very scared for us.  Please send positive thoughts our way, we need them right now with temps around 100 forecast for the week. 

Frayed........

Yes, that's how life feels at times - frayed. But in this case it's a baby/toddler blanket made with recycled blue jeans. I used 3 different sheep fabrics from my stash on the back. I love the way it turned out but I'm afraid this is the only one I'll be making, snipping all those layers took forever and really ouched my arthritic hands.  I'm not sure what I'll do with this if the local foster kids organization doesn't take it with other donations from our local sewing guild. I'm not sure why they wouldn't like it but who knows. I'd make this again using something other than jeans fabric, something soft and easy to snip like flannel or cotton. Anyhow, it turned out really cute and would have been a much quicker project had it not been for the heavy jeans.  I need to come up with some other projects to use up the rest of those jeans. 

Last week the extended weather forecast showed the temps going from 110+ to the low 90's, upper 80's this week........well, it was wrong, once again.  Upper 90's, 100's later in the week. We are in extreme fire danger from now until fall rains. The fire in Northern California is close and we're getting socked in with smoke. I've really grown to hate summers. Our first 10 years in Oregon wasn't bad but each year we have more and more days over 100 and fire danger is worse. it doesn't help that our AC is limping along and the house is warm and stuffy - new HVAC system on order. I'm on my countdown to the end of fire season. I use the end of September as my last day although that's rarely it but hopefully we've at least had one rain by then - 60 days to go.......

 

turn your head.........

Going to have to turn your head to see these towels.  Have never figured out how this happens when I use my phone for photos - I even took the photo twice holding the phone different for each picture and both turned sideways.  

Anyhow, so I have done a little weaving, not much but a little - 10 towels on this warp.  I do have 2 more projects in the planning stages to get on the loom.  I went shopping in my own cupboard in the sewing room to find several small cross stitch kits - been stitching on those in the evenings while we watch tv - they will be small holiday gifts. 

I've cut out squares to make a toddlers blanket out of recycled blue jeans with different sheep fabrics on the back side.  I need to google how to make it - it will have raw edges and will get washed so they fray. I have plenty of jeans but not sure if I'll make more than one of these..........

Hoping others are keeping cool enough in this heat spell. We were already in the process of getting bids on a new HVAC system when our AC went out yesterday.  It's limping along today with the outside unit being continually misted to keep it cool, not sure how long it will last, if it will even last the day. (hmm, wonder what our water bill will be) I think it was 111 yesterday, today the forecast is for 113. Dry thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next several days - not a good combination with how dry the vegetation is and this heat - additional fire strike forces are now in the area in prep for a possible big fire. We have had numerous small fires in the region, all human caused, morons......

I know I haven't been posting much at all for a long time, I guess I just don't have much to show or share.......not sure when that will change but I'll post when I've got something. 

 

Struggling........

I'm really struggling with coming up with posts for my blog. I'm still not very productive and I'm still not really motivated to do much which includes taking photos. I decided since I had taken these photos that I should force myself to post.

I am weaving a bit again.  It's really hard when going from weaving to sell to just weaving for myself or gifts or to learn something new..........just not as much drive.  I saw this draft over on Susan's blog recently - she wove scarves using it. I thought it might make a nice table runner for our dining room. I like it just fine.  I wove 2 others using different weft colors to use as gifts. 

I just took this warp off the loom and washed it. This undulating twill was being woven by many weavers a couple years ago. I wove it using 10/2 perle cotton to use as the fabric for our holiday cards this year.  I like it so much I may have to weave myself some towels.  Of course I have very little white and red 8/2 unmerc. cotton in my stash which covers 2 walls in the studio from floor to ceiling so I'm going to have to place an order. I suppose that means I'll order some other colors I'm low on at the same time. In the meantime I'm winding a warp for some turned twill towels. Hopefully before fall I'll have a number of warps woven for gift giving. 

On another note I've been so depressed since hearing the official Supreme Court ruling although I could see it coming. I know abortion is a heated topic and I respect other's views but that doesn't mean I think it's right to take away a woman's rights - yes, I am pro-choice and always will be. I will hope that Oregon will be a refuge for those seeking abortions and nothing changes that. How horrible to be setting back a woman's right to choose 50 years. What will come next because something isn't directly addressed in the constitution???  Nasty comments on this subject will not be posted, I will trash them. Respectful comments are welcome.  And that's all I'm going to say on the subject even though it will be on my mind every single day. 

This and that.......

Yes, I rarely post anymore, I just don't feel like I have much share and just don't have much motivation these days to even take the photos. But here are a couple things I've been working on. 

Susan from the blog Thrums posted this draft. She wasn't sure where she got it from, maybe handweaving.net. I thought I'd weave a table runner project using it. This is the gray, working on a pale sage green now and will do a blue one. I'm using 5/2 perle cotton. I originally thought if I liked it I would put on a towel warp using this same draft but I'm not enjoying weaving it that much so I'll pass on towels. I do want to get a towel warp on soon, also a warp for our holiday cards which I've now picked a draft for.

I did some sewing - 17 tote bags for the Head Start kids. Our neighborhood group of the American Sewing Guild does quite a bit of charity sewing.  This is one of the groups we sew for.  We fill these with fun stuff we buy from grant money and deliver them at the holidays. 

Other than this not much to share, just can't think of much to say...............