Sunday, February 25, 2018

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.


Wednesday, February 14, 2018

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..........

 ðŸ’˜ðŸ’˜ðŸ’˜  Happy Valentine's Day  💘💘💘



Tuesday, February 13, 2018

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.



Monday, February 12, 2018

Another painted warp

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


Friday, February 9, 2018

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


Saturday, February 3, 2018

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.


Friday, February 2, 2018

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.