Finished quilted throws

 I had dropped off my quilted throw tops to Jordan Quilts for long arm quilting just a couple weeks ago. I knew it would be 7 weeks before they'd be ready but last Thursday they called and had them done. So, during the Superbowl and today I got the bindings on them. I love the way they turned out. I haven't been getting good color with this new camera - haven't figured out why as it's just a newer version of the old camera. The throw above has a pale blue background and navy accents.

This second throw really isn't pink looking - the background is a light lavender with plum accents.

I really like this pattern - it's called Fast Lane and I bought it at Jordan Quilts along with the Kaffe Fawcett 10" layer cake bundle of prints and the solid background and accents.

More charity sewing......

I finished up my charity sewing with my quote for 13 tote bags...…… only 12 seen here because I neglected to pick up the other one sitting on the ironing board. They're all ready for later this fall when we fill over 100 of them with goodies for Head Start kids for Christmas.

Now to sit and handstitch the back of the binding of my two afghan quilts while watching the Superbowl.…..

Community Sew

At our local American Sewing Guild meeting on Tuesday I picked up fabrics for our community sew projects.  In an effort to not clutter up my sewing room I'm working on those now in-between other things on the calendar.

I've made 17 polar fleece caps for Head Start - these will go in the tote bags we fill for the kids next November. Nice to get more than my quota done so early in the year.

And yet, another sideways picture from my camera - don't get it, doesn't matter which way I take the photo sometimes they turn out sideways, even when showing up correctly on my desktop - I've given up. I should always use the camera but sometimes it's easier to grab my phone that's sitting right there on the table.  Anyhow, here are 10 pillowcases sewn for a care facility here in our town. There is no deadline on these but I will get them turned in this next month.  I'll probably end up sewing more of these throughout the year.

Next up are 13 tote bags (my quota) for the Head Start kids. Hoping to knock those out in this next week so I'll be done with them for the year. We get a small grant each year to fill them with coloring books, crayons, pencils, sharpener, toothpaste & toothbrushes, Kleenex and treats......and the polar fleece caps.

Another project waiting in the wings is putting the binding on the two afghan quilts.  I took them to Jordan Quilts to be long arm quilted, lead time was seven weeks, they were ready in two, picked them up yesterday. Would like to get the bindings sewn on tomorrow so then I can work on handstitching it to the back during the Superbowl on Sunday.

If you've never checked out Jordan Quilts online and you're a quilter you should go check it out.  They have lots of free patterns and great video tutorials......not to mention a huge selection of fabric. If you sign up for the newsletter you'll get a mailing almost every day.  I am so lucky to have this shop just five minutes from my house.

I had planned on getting a warp on the loom this week but got sidetracked with these projects. There's always next week............

Birthday girl

 Today is Misty's 1st birthday.  We had a serious talk about the fact that she's now one and needs to stop acting like a 6 month old......

…...she didn't listen...…in one ear, out the other...….

New towels......

There are finally new towels in my etsy shop.  I've had the pile of them sitting for a few weeks hoping for enough sun to have nice natural light coming in the window for photographs.  Well, that didn't happen so I took the photos anyhow.  It's already one of my dreaded jobs, no sun makes it even harder.  But here are the towels - there are two of each embroidered towel design in my shop.  There are two each of the handwoven towels.  I'm loving a few of the new embroidery designs - the lucky shamrock speaks to me as do the flowerpots and lavender wreath.....oh and that chicken on the yellow window pane towel.....I'm almost hoping it never sells o it ends up in my kitchen......

My shop is woefully low on handwoven towels. There eventually will be some more as I need some for gifts in the next couple of months and I always put on a long warp so there will be extras to sell. I am slowing down on selling.  There are so many arts/crafts on my very long to-do list and only so much time in one's life. So, I'll keep selling but it will be on my terms, most often when there are extras that come off a warp. So many projects, so little time...…….now it's time to start getting to them...…

Askew........

Yes, here I am again using my phone camera and pictures coming out askew and no matter how I fix them on the computer when I upload them here they're wrong.  Oh well...…

I've made accessories to match The Sampler Cowl knit earlier.  This upsidedown hat is called Sisters Hat  by JanKnit Designs - a free download on Ravelry. It's named after the Three Sisters mountains in central Oregon around 4-5 hours from here.  I started knitting it using one strand of my handspun but it looked too flimsy so I doubled my handspun and it turned out perfect on size 7 needles.

And I made the Welted Fingerless Gloves to go with the set. This pattern is by Kit Hutchins/Churchmouse Yarns.  I used size 6 needles and a single strand of my handspun, which is around a DK weight yarn. This pattern was a little confusing but I went with what I thought it meant and did just fine. I did 2 purl rows before binding off which wasn't in the pattern.

So, this set is destined to be in my spinning group's display at the county fair this coming summer. I came up with a theme for our display of drawing inspiration from flower seed packets. My seed packet was Penstemon. Hoping it turns out to be a fun display with seed packets hung with items they inspired.  I may do another project since I got this one done early - that one in purples & blues.

Outlander........

I decided to revive making inklings just for this last holiday season. These are numbers 25 and 26 in the series. For Outlander fans you may have figured out it's Jamie and Claire.  Is anyone else excited that next month the new season is out on Starz?  I'm ahead by 2 books than where the season is so I'll have to watch a few of last season's episodes to remember where the tv series is. 

I also made a few of these recently - covers for 5x7 notepads.  This was another case of taking the photo with my phone and it turning.  I have it saved correctly on my computer but when loaded to the blog it turns and I can't correct that. No one seems to know why this happens. I've decided I'm just going to have to use the camera rather than the phone for anything I want to post to the blog. I'm going to offer to teach my local American sewing guild how to make these sometime this year.

Quilting......

 In bits of time here and there I'm starting to work on an afghan quilt (a gift) using Kaffe Fawcett fabrics. I bought a 10" package so I could get many prints without buying too much.  As it turns out I may have enough of the 10" squares to either back the quilt or better yet make another. Will be giving this thought as I work on it. Tomorrow jury duty starts so I have no clue if I'll have much time this week or not. One nice thing is I only live a few minutes from the courthouse.

A few days ago I decided to switch my fabric cabinet with the belongings of this one. The other cabinet is in the corner with less than 2 feet between it and my work table, really tough to search for fabrics. What was in this cabinet were things rarely used so I switched them. Marie Kondo would be impressed with how I folded all the fabric the exact same size to stack in the cubbies - I cut a piece of cardboard to aid in that chore. The top big shelf has fabric for clothing, the rest are quilting cottons.  The bottom two right cubbies hold ziplocs with bits and pieces for scrappy quilting......at some point. There is another cabinet cubbie in the entertainment stand in this room that has all beachy fabrics and sheers for clothing. It took forever to fold and organize but I have a feeling of accomplishment for doing so...….my memory is now refreshed with what I have and other than if I need something for a specific project I better not be doing any fabric shopping.  I found some really cute sheep fabrics in my stash, lots of them, which may end up becoming baby quilts to donate locally.

Disposable.........

Trying to fit in some fun stuff these days in-between the crap...….that word sounds funny because it's a not a part of my vocabulary but I guess it fits with my life these days.  So, a few days over the last week or so I worked on embroidering towels for my etsy shop.  They aren't listed yet as I need a day with good sunlight to get decent pictures, not sure when that will happen but I'll be ready to go with the new camera. I posted last year about a spot showing up in my photos - a speck of dust got on the inside of the lens of the old camera, it's just a point and shoot but I loved it. It would cost more to repair it than to buy new so I bought new with birthday money from late last year. I do still have the old camera and will carry it while hiking or walking on the beach, I can take photos if it's moved to the side so I can crop out the spot.

Speaking of things not being worth repairing - my printer (all in one machine) died two days ago. A problem with the print head and a new print head costs more than what the printer originally cost or what a new printer would cost.  So, we got a new printer yesterday. At least Staples gives a $30 recycling credit for the old printer...….when I say old printer, it's barely over 4 years old but that seems very old in printer land these days. I sure wish it was worth repairing appliances/electronics these days but they're made to be short lived and disposable, not cost effective to repair them.  Yes, I could have saved that old printer and replaced the printhead but I also have to look at dollars and cents I'm spending so buying new was best.

Here is one of the towels I embroidered, the photo was taken on a cloudy day and at the machine so color is off - the stripes on the towel are a light aqua - the design has poppies, trees and mountains. I love the way these turned out.

I recently bought this chicken pattern. It's stitched on a light yellow with white windowpane checked towel.  There are many others geared toward upcoming holidays, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Easter/Spring. They will be in the shop as soon as photography work is done.

I'm almost ready to start on a quilting project but trying to decide if I should weave something first.  So while I decide today may be spent re-organizing in the sewing room.  I need to switch 'stuff' in two different cabinets which entails re-folding and re-organizing all the fabric.

This and that......

I hope all had a safe and happy holiday.  Life has been challenging these days but I'll muddle through it, hopefully without totally losing my mind.

Once again photos taken using my phone have a mind of their own. I took the first picture with the phone held vertically but it turned anyhow, and even though I saved it on the computer and turned it the correct way and it shows that way on my computer screen once I uploaded it to blogger it turned again.  The second picture the phone was held horizontally. The two pictures below the phone held vertically, they turned out perfect when uploaded to blogger.  I don't understand it. I guess I'm going to just make sure I use the camera which I know will turn out correctly every time, before and after editing. Does anyone know why this happens with photos taken with a phone???

So, sorry that you have to turn your head to see this. Right before Christmas after I had finished all gifts I knit this cowl - it's called The Sampler Cowl and is by Heather Lynch. This was knit from my handspun which was spun from merino/tussah silk roving I had hand-dyed. I have enough yarn left for a pair of fingerless mitts which are on the needles and either a hat or headband.  This cowl pattern is free on Ravelry.

I saw this adorable fabric at Jordan's Quilts and had to buy it - this incredible fabric shop is just 5 minutes from the house!  I thought when I bought the fat quarter pack that I was only getting the prints but there was the big panels folded up along with them.  So I put the panel in the center, pieced the light colored prints for the first border and darker colored prints for the wider outer border.....and then piece 3 solids for the binding. This quilt is for Misty.  Sometimes I like to lay on the floor with her and she loves being under an afghan with me - so that's what this afghan quilt is for. It was quickly machine quilted, good thing you can't see it the details!

Here is a before picture of our gas fireplace at this house which we bought 1 1/2 years ago. We're slowly updating it room by room. Not only was this ugly with it's drywall mantel but it also put out zero heat.  And it was very scary to light the fireplace.

Here is our new and improved gas fireplace. Not only does it put out tons of heat but it will put out heat without the fan running, total radiant heat which is great if there's a power outage. It couldn't be easier to light with a little battery operated remote. After the new fireplace was installed we closed the wall back up with cement board and tiled it. Big black tiles on the hearth and small black tiles with white running through them on the wall which complements the kitchen granite. Then we hired the kitchen cabinet maker to make our mantel. That took a while as there were several measuring mistakes made but eventually it was installed (last week) and we love it.

The carpet is just cut in front of the hearth as it will all be coming out soon. We're still trying to decide what kind of flooring - laminate, real hardwood, whatever. Our past two houses had real hardwood floors that stood up to running dogs and one dog who drank water so it ended up all over the floor. So, we definitely need a floor here that will stand up to a crazy dog. While we research flooring we'll move on to the painting project - white ceilings, light gray walls and white trim and doors. It's an overwhelming job with the high ceilings what we may or may not do ourselves.

In-between house projects I hope to get more time to spend in the studio this year although the January calendar is already looking stinky.

Too much Santa

Too much Santa celebration yesterday - Misty ended up under Sam's desk sleeping it off.

Visiting Santa

I was going to wait until the 25th to post this pic but Misty insisted I put it up now.  She was so proud of how well she did visiting Santa...…….other than not wanting to leave when it was the next dog's turn. She could have stayed on Santa's lap all afternoon. I wasn't listening to what Santa said to her but I hope he didn't promise her any plush toys as she'll gut them within minutes.

New on the needles.....

New on the needles is the Sampler Cowl.  This is out of my own hand-dyed, handspun - merino/tussah silk. I'll probably have enough to either knit a matching hat or fingerless mitts, or both. I'll work on this in the evenings while we watch tv. Here's the link to the free pattern on Ravelry - Sampler Cowl

Reindeer

It's hard to believe but we did get Misty to sit still with reindeer antlers on - she seemed to like it.  what will be interesting is how she reacts to a picture with Santa this weekend - hope Santa has an extra beard in case she eats his...….

Surfacing......

I'm surfacing for a bit. Life has been overwhelming and I just haven't had anything to say. I'm going to try to make an effort to get back to blogging in the new year......if it doesn't happen then I guess it wasn't meant to be and I'm not going to fret over it.

I did recently finish up a towel warp. I've woven this draft before but this time I just didn't care for the results as much - not sure why as I used the same size threads - the only difference is previously it was all cotlin, this time unmercerized cotton. They're ok, just not as pleased as I was with the first batch. The rest of what I've been working on are gifts...….finished, wrapped, shipped - hurray! One of these years I'm going to go straight from Thanksgiving to New Years and skip everything in-between........yep, sound like a scrooge but not really, just overwhelmed and stressed...….

We were on the coast recently - Misty sure knows how to relax.....she's either running flat out or she's snoozing like this, not much in-between.....she wears me out.

Happy Thanksgiving

Color update.....

These are samples from the Color Confidence workshop with Sarah Jackson. Each participant, 19 of us, had been given a warp ahead of time to get on the loom, all of them had 5 different colored stripes. Mine was yellow, light orange, orange, hot pink and pink. Some of these samples are plain weave, some are summer and winter. 

We looked at and discussed everyone's samples - it was quite interesting to see weft colors chosen and those that were successful, those that were not. In my sample I really like the summer and winter samples on the bottom quarter of my right hand sample. There were colors I would have never considered using with these warp colors that turned out very successful.  I'll be using this knowledge in future weaving. 

I don't weave with orange often, I've got around 6 pounds of 2 different shades of orange in 8/2 cotton that I can now see as towels using some what might be called unusual weft colors but I now know will turn out quite interesting.  I already had a towel warp planned using 3 shades of seaglass greens, I may now try different wefts than I had already thought about. Hoping to get to this project next week. 

I wish I had gotten photos of everyone else's warps as there were some incredible color combinations in them. I think we're going to use our samples in an exhibit at the library early next year so I'll have a chance to get photos then.  

We also worked on wraps where we took photos and made yarn wraps around cardstock using 5 colors out of those photos. These were great color exercises. I totally enjoyed Sarah Jackson as an instructor, she did a great job even with the horrible cold she had. 

Color........

My weaving guild is bringing in Sarah Jackson for a 3 day workshop on color.  Sarah sent the warps and will be bringing all weft materials.  All the warps were different, this is the one I ended up with. I got the table loom warped yesterday and all my supplies together as I'm not one to leave it until the last minute. It should be a fun workshop and I look forward to learning new things about color interaction.

Happy Fall

I love autumn, it's my favorite time of the year, it's still nice out but the air is crisp and has a bit of a chill to it...….so happy not to be sweating like during the heat of the summer.  I could skip summer - go from spring directly to fall and I'd be happy, love winter here in the northwest too, love rain although we don't get as much as we used to.

I made these pumpkins several weeks back.  I saw them in a magazine, can't say which one now as I gave the stack of them to a friend.  I made a total of 9 pumpkins, which is what I got out of one 8 ft fence post. And one 4 ft dowel was enough for all the stems. I bought orange and green outdoor craft paint.....just put one coat as I wanted the wood to show through. Found raffia in my stash and bows were made. The magazine version also had some artificial leaves at the stems, I bought a small package but then didn't like the look so squirreled them away into the bin of craft supplies.  I'm pleased with how these look on my porch, the other 3 are on the other side of the door. They would look cute with jack-o-lantern faces painted on them too but I want these to last for the entire autumn season, not just for Halloween. Will have to figure out where to store these the rest of the year.  I'm wondering if I should get a real pumpkin and carve it for trick or treaters to see......guess it will depend on if I have time or not...….

Happy Fall You'all

This and that.......

 I started working on another small hexxie project.  This one a gift so it got pushed to the front of the to-do list above the hexxie afghan project I'm working on while riding in the car.  I love the colors for this new project, not sure what the background will be, have a few options. This is all that will be shown of this until after the holidays.

 Misty's Aunt Patricia brought her a baby wubba earlier this week.  She promptly chewed the ears off and now the brains are leaking out so wubba had to go to the hospital for stitches. She might have to stay in rehab for a bit until Misty decides she can live for a while before having her brains ripped out again. This pup is hard on toys unlike our past two goldens who just loved them.

Misty runs all out crazy and then all of a sudden collapses, this time with the rope toy still in her mouth. This is what she's doing at the moment so I'm hoping to get in an hour or so weaving right now, better hurry and take advantage of the quiet.

So far behind.......

I am so far behind in life I don't even have time to do any blog posts.....and I really don't have anything interesting to share...….

I needed to take a dessert to the annual fall meeting of our regional American Sewing Guild chapter. I decided to make these gingersnaps. They turned out a little crunchier than normal, I think it was the switch to canola oil.  But they're what a gingersnap typically is - very yummy.

I finally got a few minutes in here and there to get a towel warp on the loom. This is an 8 shaft turned twill block pattern. I'm planning on keeping a couple of the towels that come off this warp for our own kitchen, I may use black for the weft for those.

Misty is doing great settling in - it's tough to get pix of her as she's always in motion and camera shy. We started dog obedience class last week.  She has her sit, down and stand conquered.....here at home.....not sure what will happen at class again tomorrow as once she gets in a room with other dogs she's a nut paying attention only to what the other dogs are doing. I've told her she can't embarrass me again this week, she needs to apply herself during class.

"Are you looking at me???"

beach r & r

I just can't seem to find time to post and really, do I have anything new to say or show, nope.  But here are some pix from over a week ago over on the coast. We don't know if this is Misty's first time to the ocean since we adopted her at 8 months just a few weeks ago but we're guessing so by her reaction. The little waves on the river inlet had her crawling on the ground, I couldn't get my phone out quick enough to catch that picture.

She's watching birds here - she's definitely a birder

Oh, the water - who knows what would have happened had she not been on a leash

She's definitely a water dog unlike our past two goldens that only liked to get their legs wet but nothing else and they weren't about to swim.

Not sure what caught her attention here

And here she is back at home laying under the sewing table as I'm working at the adjoining table. I had to put the sewing machine pedal up on the table so she wouldn't lay on it.....this does make sewing difficult......but she's so danged cute when she sleeps.  Her coat is just starting to come back in on her stomach from being spayed a few weeks ago.

Ice dyed scarves

I finally did the photography work, such as it is, for the ice-dyed silk scarves that have been hanging over my ironing board for weeks...….finally couldn't stand moving them one more time to use the iron so bit the bullet and took photos so I could list them in my etsy shop.

Here's one batch - all are 8" x 70" - there are a couple I almost kept but I already put aside a few for myself, in reality how many would I actually wear.

Here's another batch of the same size silk scarves other than the blue/grey one second from the top on the left - that's an infinity scarf. There are other infinity scarves already in my shop.

And here are the rayon/silk devore scarves. These are a little bigger being approximately 13" x 70". They're a lovely weight, so light and airy.....and the burnout devore designs are wonderful, they can be seen better in some close up shots in my etsy shop.  All these scarves are now available for sale HERE.

No weaving going on here with a puppy but hoping to get the loom warped in a few days...…...behind a closed door to keep paws out of all those threads that will be hanging until I get it wound on the back beam. I have gotten some time to work on a few gift projects but really much of life is consumed with a big puppy who is learning more day by day.

Barn Quilt

Yesterday I took a workshop on painting a barn quilt by Suzi Parron.  I picked the pattern Ribbons because it reminds me of weaving. It's painted on plywood with exterior house paint.  The back is only primed so I need to paint the back before we hang it outside. I'm very pleased with my quilt square and would love to do more...…….will be putting it on my very long to-do list for sometime in the future.

Still for a minute.....

Here's a better picture taken this morning on our walk. She was still for a minute because she heard a dog barking off in the distance. Visit to the vet today to check on her spaying incision - bit inflamed but ok. X-ray to check for the missing wooden clothespin she munched down. Nothing showed up although sometimes wood doesn't show in the xrays - vet not concerned. Picked up Heartguard, got her dog license, talked about still feeding large breed puppy food. For being as petite as she looks she still weighed in at 53 pounds. They've got her in their calendar for when shots are due so we're all set up. Got home and placed a Chewy order - wonder how long it will take her to figure out what Chewy boxes look like...….

New family member

Yesterday we welcomed a new baby into our home - she's an 8 month old golden retriever named Misty who needed a new home. After losing our old golden Bailey we didn't feel like it was time yet but here was a golden needing a home so it felt right. Her owners are older and ill and just can't care for her any longer - heart wrenching for them. We found out about her through our neighbor Jill, mom to golden retriever Rio. Misty is beautiful, she's so sweet, she's also into everything. She's so busy I can't catch a good picture of her so here she is napping and getting all rested up so she can go 'shopping' around the house for something to get in to again. I'm sure she'll be full of energy again soon. She's a handful but then isn't every puppy. We're hoping she doesn't eat too much 'stuff' and get in trouble because she sure wants to grab everything and chew it up. This morning it was a wooden clothespin unrolling a roll of toilet paper and trying to eat that. At least she's housetrained so we don't have to worry about that. Wish us luck...…

Grown up tie-dye

I love ice-dyeing but had only done scarves and shawls up until recently where I ventured out into socks, fabric (for future sewing/quilting projects) and now a couple of tops for myself.....I think.

I love the way this bronze/brown top turned out and plan on wearing it this coming week. There was no rhyme or reason to how I scrunched it up on the screen for ice-dyeing. Even Sam was taken by how lovely it turned out......

….but he agreed I must have lost my mind when I dyed this one. These are not my colors....at all.  It's pretty but just not me. Will have to give thought as to whether I keep it or try to find someone else it would suit better.....or just wear it around the house and not care that it's too baby blue for my tastes.

In case anyone is interested I bought these tops from Dharma Trading Co.  Great place to find blanks for dyeing - it's where I've always gotten my scarves and shawls to dye. They also have tons of dyes, lots of surface design supplies plus much more. And they have super quick shipping.....for me it's 1-2 days since they're just south of me in California.

I'm in one of those places (in my pee brain) wondering why I bother blogging. I started this blog in 2008 as a way to help promote my handwovens, roving I used to sell and other creations. I don't think it did much promoting as many who follow me are other weavers, spinners and sewers/quilters. I still follow many blogs and enjoy reading them but there are also many that don't post to their blogs anymore, just to Instagram or Facebook. Will give thought to the future but not today.....too much else to do...…..