Back to journal making

The watercolor paper needed to finish up leather journals finally arrived.........via slowboat..........but I guess that's what one gets with a free shipping offer so I can't really complain.

 I got all the paper cut for the remaining 12 journals I want to make. Six of them still needed end papers so I decided to do some stenciling.

Here are the 6 end papers that need to sit for a while, the Shiva Paintstiks need to cure. The end papers get folded over the 'books' of watercolor pages so the design on the right of each paper is in the front of the journal, design(s) on the left are the back page in the journal. Each of these goes perfectly with the leather colors and buttons chosen.

I also got 2 journals put together, both of those I used some of my paste paper for the end papers.....forgot to take a picture of those.

I couldn't resist.........

 While on the coast we frequently go to second hand/antique shops. We pretty much furnished the cottage over there from them.  Why we still go I'm not sure since we have no room for any other pieces of furniture.........but we're hooked. So.........this machine was marked down to $65, I couldn't leave it there, it had to come home with me, if it hadn't been marked down I could have easily walked on by.  Does it work? I have no clue yet, that's not the point, the point is I love to look at it.

This one has a cabinet that goes over top the machine rather than it folding down. It's so pretty.  Now where will it live??? I have no clue. There is no room in the beach cottage..........and here at home I've got one without the machine and it has a marble top, and I've got one with the machine, it's the type that folds down and has a cover. So......where will a 3rd machine live??? I have no clue yet. We didn't have room to bring it all back here to the valley so we brought the machine and lid - next time over we'll bring the desk part. Bailey refused to let us put the back seat down in order to bring it all home, he was not sitting next to that 'thing' - he wanted 'his' back seat. So.........I've got some time to figure out where to put it.......

Leather journals.......

In spite of being out of the studio too many days this week I did make some time for journal making. 

Here I'm auditioning a button - the final step in the making of a journal

Here they are - sorry no pictures of the insides with the lovely/creative end papers. I've got watercolor paper cut to make 6 more, then I've got leather cut for 12 more but I made a math error when ordering paper and don't have enough so more is on the way from Dick Blick. Many of these will end up for sale in my etsy shop in the not too distant future.

"Who you looking at?"  Bailey's bed behind me when I sit at the computer - he can sleep like he was doing here, before I rudely woke him up, or he can lay his head on the window sill and watch the forest critters.

Journal making

My life doesn't seem my own these days which results in very little time weaving. Lo and behold I had the entire day at home yesterday and I could have woven on that 3 scarf silk warp that's been sitting on a loom for weeks. But I just couldn't get into it. I couldn't sew because my Bernina is in for maintenance. I looked at the pile (on the floor, for months) of already cut leather, big folder filled with watercolor paper waiting to be cut into journal pages and fun papers for end covers for the journals. I thought - I'll start working on making all those journals, then I can get that pile off the floor and into a nice box of finished journals. Of course, this will take a while because I have a lot of supplies but it sounds like a fun activity for right now.

Here are some leathers paired with my homemade paste paper that will be coordinating end papers. The paste paper is so fun and I'm so glad to have a good use for it.....you see, I made it many years ago with my dear friend Janette when we had a paste paper play day. Janette lost her very long battle with cancer back in 2011 - I thought about her all afternoon while planning out which paste papers will go with which leathers.

Some black leather will get paste paper end covers, others will get Asian paper that I'll use spray adhesive to adhere them to watercolor paper so they have some heft.

These leather covers will all get Asian paper as end covers.

So, this is the paper picked out for 15 different journals. Then there are at least as many pieces of leather cut out for more journals but I have no more end paper so those I'll do what I've done on past journals, either watercolor paint the end papers or stencil them. I'll concentrate on those after I've made all of these journals.  Yesterday I did get 2 journals made and paper cut for several more......but a friend came over to buy some roving so we spent time visiting instead of me working on journals......time well spent visiting with a dear friend.  Eventually journals will show up in my etsy shop......but they need to be created and then comes the dreaded photography.........

Excitement here is a bear opening the bird seed pail and eating seed one evening, next evening he tried to carry the pail off but heard Sam open the front door so he dropped it. Then overnight he decided to pull down our very high steel cable holding bird feeders between trees - one feeder is missing. I want to put the pail out this evening so we can see it, Sam doesn't want to lose the pail.....

R & R

This past Friday we decided we needed some R & R. Life has been too busy lately and we have not gotten over to the coast much the past 3 months due to snowy road conditions on the passes or commitments connected to daily life. We pretty much did nothing other than walk, sleep, nap and eat out..........did us both a world of good.

These pictures were from up on the bluff where we were walking Bailey - it was a picture perfect day, high 50's, blue sky, only a bit of wind. Here's looking to the left down the beach.......

.....here's looking straight ahead......

.....here's looking up the beach to the north.

The quilt top I pieced and then had a long arm quilter do the quilting for me is finally on the bed. I got the binding on recently. We don't have much on the walls in our bedroom at the beach cottage yet and I can see that something is desperately needed over the bed. I'm considering making a wreath with shells and sea glass..........will give it thought, I never rush into decorating decisions.....

And in closing we watched a labyrinth being drawn in the late afternoon of the sunny morning, the clouds were moving in but no rain so the drawing went off as scheduled.  It was pretty windy and chilly by afternoon so we didn't stand out on the bluff too long too watch. Check out the Circles in the Sand website to see some of Denny's other labyrinths.

Pancakes done!

 I finished my pancake afghan quilt. It was sewn from gingko fabrics I've collected. I used what I thought might go together that would also go in our living room. I had varying amounts of the different fabrics so went with what was in my stash. I do have an entire shelf of gingko fabrics left but they are in other colors like pinks, blues, purples.........not sure what they'll eventually grow up to be.

Here's the backside. It's chilly today so this evening I'll be snuggling under this while we watch Heartland on Netflix. I've started another quilting project in the works but it's for a gift so I won't show it for a while.

Pancake quilt..........

I've started sewing the pancakes together for my afghan quilt.....2 rows so far.....9 more to go...

Pancakes.....

 I finally decided to start making the pancake/circle afghan quilt for myself. Here are 77 circles awaiting an X to be quilted in the center of them before starting to join them together. That was 77 circles of a top fabric, back fabric and batting cut, sandwiched, sewn and turned. Sounds daunting but it really wasn't too bad. These are from my gingko fabric stash. The backside of these circles are either all black or black mixed with other colors,,,,gingko fabric, of course. Not sure how it will all look when put together but I'll love cuddling under it regardless. I would have preferred to have all light colors for the top side but I didn't have anymore yardage and I couldn't find more so the pale rust color got added into the mix. I've got all but one stack quilted with an X now, I've run out of steam sitting at the sewing machine to finish the rest..........plus I finally finished listening to Drums of Autumn, book 4 in the Outlander series so it seemed like a good time to stop.

This was what it looked like yesterday in-between snowfalls. The sun came out and melted it all off the trees although not off the ground. This morning we awoke to a fresh dusting but once again the sun has been out and has melted most of it.

Bits & bobs.......

 Finally the quilt top I started a couple years ago made it to a long arm quilter in January - don't ask me why it took me so long to get it to someone. I took it to Sew Cute Quilting & Fabric Boutique in Dillard, OR - we pass it on our way to and from the coast. If it hadn't been that convenient it may still be sitting in the basket with the backing and batting.  This morning I got the binding sewn on - I love these little clips - so much easier than using pins on something like this.

 My mitered edges turned out great - I cut the corners  off the quilt so it wouldn't get stepped on as we walk around the bed. Here the binding is turned to the back ready for the final hand-stitching. Yes, I could stitch in the ditch and catch the backside of the binding but I really like not seeing that machine stitching in the binding. Once it makes it onto the bed at the beach cottage I'll take a photo again. It's hard to see in the pictures but the quilting is a sealife design with shells, sand dollars, starfish and kelp.

 I spent some time sewing yesterday making some snap bags. The tops have metal measuring tape inside the casings so the tops can be pulled out and snap back closed. These three go with a tote bag I made a couple years ago. I also made 4 more small ones in various stages of construction. I'll be leading our neighborhood American Sewing Guild group in how to make them later in March. I took photos along the way so I can give each person written directions too.

This painted silk warp went on the loom the other day but other than auditioning wefts I haven't gotten back to it. This is a dye job gone awry. I mixed that purple dye with varying amounts of gold dye hoping to get more of an ombre feel but it didn't come out as expected. So, after sitting for 2 years on the shelf I decided to just put it on the loom and get it woven. I've got enough for 3 scarves - I'll vary some wefts and also vary treadlings. I'm hoping once woven I'll like them better than I am right now........I could easily take that purple out of the warp, not sure I want to do that though.

More weaving - whoo hoo!

It's been a great 4 days - other than running orders to the post office I have spent 4 days at home weaving. This makes me so happy, it's where I want to be, nesting at home, nesting in my studio.

This morning I tied on another painted warp and auditioned wefts. I decided to go with, from the top, the forest green and the deep red/rust just below it. The first scarf was the deep red/rust weft woven using the treadling that creates the above pattern............of course, I forgot to take a photo of it.

Here is the scarf using the forest green as weft and a change in treadling. I decided to see what would happen if I wove 2 repeats of the treadling and then reversed it for 2 repeats and kept repeating that - I liked it. I'm actually thinking I may like this for a towel warp. This scarf is much prettier in person, it's kind of washed out in the photo.

Although I have another painted warp to go on the loom it won't happen until sometime next week - life is interfering and I won't get much time in the studio, maybe a little here and there so I can get the warp on but probably no weaving.  It was great while it lasted..........

 💘💘💘  Happy Valentine's Day  💘💘💘

I'm on a roll............

I'm on a roll with these painted warps. Although I'm not excited with the autumn colored ones I'm going to knock them out. These 5 painted warps have been sitting on the shelf for too long so it's time to get them woven..........then I won't feel guilty when the weather warms up and I want to paint more warps!

Here's the second scarf on yesterday's warp - got it woven off this morning

And this afternoon this painted warp went on the loom. I'm ready to start auditioning wefts for the 2 scarves on this warp - so far I've got 5 colors to try. This warp is tencel like the one above.

Next painted warps up are a silk one in golds/purple and another tencel one in autumn colors. I'm taking advantage of time I'm getting in the studio this week - it used to be the norm but life seems to have gotten in the way the past couple of years. And with this time in the studio I decided it was time to start listening to an audio book, #4 in the Outlander series, Drums of Autumn - there are 38 discs - I've listened to 7 so far.

Another painted warp

Another painted warp on the loom....this one tencel....2 scarves worth.....first scarf woven

Finally weaving.........

 I finally got some time at the loom to weave this 3 scarf warp off. I painted/dyed the warp months and months ago, it's a cotton/rayon blend. I used tencel for the weft in all 3 scarves. These are a bit thicker/heavier than I usually weave scarves but I'm sure they'll be lovely once washed. Above a rust weft.

 Here's a tan weft

Here's a mauvey/rust weft

Finally.......something on the loom......

 It's been a while but this afternoon I put a painted warp on the loom. This one a cotton/rayon blend. Here I've got it wound on the back beam. I've got 4 or 5 painted warps in the studio that have sat neglected for a couple years - not sure why other than the fact that they all seem to be autumn colors and I haven't been in the mood to weave those colors.

Threading the heddles

Auditioning wefts, not the green at the bottom, that was just waste yarn to spread out the warp. Will think on this a bit longer before deciding which 3 I'll use, or maybe just 2 of them making 2 of the 3 scarves the same.......don't have to decide that tonight.

What I've been up to......

Hmm, what have I been up to this week..........other than adminstrivia, which I've grown to hate.  Well, I've been out several days, one of them very fun getting together with a friend to lunch and start watching the new season of Frankie & Grace........or is it Grace & Frankie???  I can't remember, doesn't really matter.  I have pulled together all business and personal tax stuff but am still waiting on some 1099's - this is the earliest I've ever gotten it done. I've written a grant proposal for my weaving guild.......not submitted yet as I need to ponder on it a bit more. And I finally did a little work on my handout for the boundweave program I've got to present next month - I just can't seem to get my mind wrapped around what I want to write and what illustrations/photos to include.......to make myself feel like I've done something for it I did type up the bibliography this morning. This afternoon I started pulling many cones of cottons off some shelves, 4/2, 6/2 and slubs - time for them to move on to other homes. Eventually they may end up in my etsy shop but first I'll see if there are any takers here locally.

I needed to start another knit shawlette as I needed something mindless to work on while watching Frankie & Grace. This photo doesn't do this yarn justice - the color is much softer in person - I'm loving it.

In the evenings I've been working on a cross-stitch for the beach cottage. I've just got the border to finish up, charms will get attached on all the starfish. After I finish this one I'll pull out another one I already stitched with a shell theme - I'll need to add the charms, block the fabric over foam core and then get them framed.

More stash sales

More yarns added to my stash sale this morning.........got stopped in the middle when etsy decided to have unscheduled maintenance on the listings manager, thankfully it started working again today.

Above is Dana, a 100% rayon at 2100 yds/lb. Very slinky & shiny. Various prices due to various weights. They can be found in my etsy shop or here by clicking on the 'Other Stuff for Sale' tab.

There are too many to bother with listing here - they're all in my etsy shop. Some rayon novelties, some rayon/cotton novelties, silk/wool and rayon/wool.

Now off to do something that doesn't entail sitting in front of a monitor - administrivia is killing me!

Stash Sale

I've got some new things added to my Stash Sale. Go to the tab at the top of this page 'Other Stuff for Sale' or for even more descriptions check them out in the Stash Sale section of my etsy shop.

New tee's in the closet......

I did get some tee's embroidered for myself. The black and chartreuse are 3/4 length sleeves that I had planned on stitching today. Then I found the two short sleeves in browns that looked like they could use something. First the gingko leaf, I love anything gingko. Then, in preparation for the Olympics the  'peace, love, curl'  tee - I'm more than ready to binge watch curling next month.

Thinking ahead............

Thinking ahead a bit to St. Patrick's Day with embroidered towels, usually I'm way behind on creating for holidays. I did stitch some a few weeks back but some have already sold so I've replenished with these new towels to go with the others. All are in my etsy shop. Hmm......which should I stitch for my own kitchen??? It's hard to decide.

Now off to stitch a couple long sleeved tee's for myself..........then to work on that boundweave handout that I just can't seem to sit in front of the computer and do........if I work it right I'll run out of time today to work on it.......yes, that's bad........

Knit, knit, purl...........

A couple weeks ago I went through my (huge) stash of knitting yarn and came across a big skein of Mushishi by Plymouth yarn - 95/% wool/5% silk. This was all because a friend requested cute hats for a friend who lost her hair from chemo. So, I made the hat and it went off to it's new home. But I had quite a bit of this huge skein left and loved how the hat turned out so much I decided to knit another one, and then a pair of fingerless mitts. I was thinking I'd keep this for myself but now am not sure as I don't wear hats often so I think it will go in the 'gift box'. I know a couple people right off the top of my head who would love this set. 

I haven't been posting as often, just haven't had much to share and wonder sometimes how many really read it or care............so, I'll just post once in a while and see how it goes. I spent the day at the embroidery machine yesterday - pix to come of new celtic/st patricks day towels.........once I edit them, that is..........

First snow of the season overnight, much has already melted off. Up in the mountains they got more and there's even a rumor that the ski resort in the region will finally open this weekend. We are lacking in rain and snow this fall/winter.

12 Days of Christmas - done

Here is the 12 Days of Christmas spin-a-long yarn all finished. The beauty and sparkle can't be captured in a photo.........at least by me. This has not been washed/blocked yet so it will look a little different after that. I'll count up the yardage after washing. Once I know how many yards I have I'll be on the lookout for the perfect project for it.

More boundweave.........

Ok, so I can see how I got caught up in boundweave many years ago and wove so many samples - it's downright fun. Today I put a quick warp on the table loom for another couple samples. I used a cotton seine twine rug warp which is plied tightly and is very strong - a great choice for a rug. Both samples were woven at 5 epi using 2 threads as one for extra strength.

The first sample I used Lamb's Pride Bulky Wool yarn for the weft. I chose that because it's the thickest wool I have in my studio leftover from some knitted felted projects and rug hooking. Although I don't know how it would wear as a rug (without testing it) it would make a great weight rug. I really enjoyed weaving this sample.

Next up another rug sample - I used fabric strips cut 3/4" wide. This would also make a great weight rug and I know rags would hold up well. From weaving this I can see having a fabric that is dyed all the way through would be the best choice - no worries about making sure the right side of the fabric showed. My white worked well, the gray worked well too as it was a batik and the same on both sides. The black fabric was a bit of a pain because it was a light grey on the back side and I had to try to keep the black side out, you can see in some places I wasn't successful.

I'm not a rug weaver but have woven them when I've needed a rug for myself. If I find myself needing another rug in the future I will definitely consider boundweave.

Boundweave...........slow weaving............

It's been a long time since I've woven boundweave and I had forgotten just how long it takes to weave this weft faced weave structure. In March and then again in April I'm giving presentations on it to two different local guilds.  In 1999 I presented a guild program on boundweave and luckily I had woven a 3" notebook full of samples. But I was missing a few I had interest in so decided to put on a warp for the first two.

Weaving letters - symmetrical and asymmetrical. It was fun but took me oh so long to weave these small samples. How did I manage to weave that 3" notebook full of samples back then??? I mean, I love the look of boundweave, and I don't mind slow weaving working from a graph paper design but I wove a ton of samples back then......must have been a slow year for anything else!

Almost all my samples were woven using 5/2 perle cotton as the weft although I did weave one sample using 10/2 perle cotton - I must have been nuts, at some point I might have to figure out how many picks are in that 7" sample. I don't have any samples using thicker threads, like for rugs, so that's what my next set of samples will be. I'll be using a thick wool weft for one sample and fabric strips for another - I'll be weaving krokbragd, a 3 harness boundweave.

After the second set of samples are woven I've got to totally re-vamp my handout. It's needs a tremendous amount of updating but for some reason the file never made it from computer to computer - who knows what happened to it. So, I'll be starting from scratch working from the one print copy I have, essentially starting over.

Here's a long boundweave wall piece I wove back in 1999 - shuttles in a color spectrum.

It hangs in the hallway outside my studio - I love it as much now as I did back then.

A bit of stitching..........

 When searching for something else in my studio I came across stamped pillowcases ready for embroidery. I bought them several years ago, they got put in a cabinet and forgotten. Lo and behold they go great with the embroidered quilt I have on the guestroom bed at the beach cottage. So off to buy embroidery floss to match the quilt and start stitching. I'm halfway through pillowcase #2 - I've got 4 of them to stitch. It's so fun to do and how rewarding to have them go perfectly with this quilt.

I finally decided how to spin the 12 Days fiber. The first 3 (on the left) bothered me at how they didn't flow with the other jewel tones. They're perfect with the graphic the collection was based on but not perfect to my eye.  So I pulled off bits from the jewel tones to mix in the first 3, and I pulled bits off those to add to the jewel tones.  Just little bits but I think it's enough to tie them all together. I divided each colorway into two so I can spin on two bobbins and then ply them together. I'm pretty sure I'll stick with that decision. I'll probably start spinning this evening.


Fun to have some different projects to be working on but I must get back to weaving - it's been way too long. I'm vowing to mark days off on the calendar and not let others intrude on me getting back to nesting here at home. First off to do is weave more boundweave samples as I've got a guild program to present in early March, then present it again to another guild in April. I've got all my notes together to compose a good handout, that will take a big chunk of time. Luckily I've got some samples from when I presented this topic back in 1999 so I'm not starting from scratch, just have to fill in a few blanks.