Yet another sad and stressful day......

It seems like it's never ending - always something tragic or unbelievable or depressing on the news anymore which is why I've cut back watching once again. I couldn't believe my ears as I sat down to the computer this morning and put on GMA. I eventually had to turn it off as my stomach was turning, my chest tightening. My heart goes out to all those affected by the carnage in Las Vegas.

Last week I finally got to the bead shop. This afternoon I worked on beading a scarf. Above I used long pins to audition the beads on. It would be much easier if I had pins with no big heads on them but I don't seem to have any 'standard/old fashioned' straight pins any longer.

Here I've got the one end of the scarf beaded, working on the second end. It's probably hard to see in the pix but the beads also change color across the width of the scarf just like the warp does. I wish I could capture the iridescence of this scarf........actually I may have been able to if I had better lighting and background but this was just a quick shot in the middle of beading.

Last week I made a walker bag for a family member back east who is using a walker while recovering from surgery. These fabrics were from my stash, button from my vintage button jar. I think it's really fun and cheery - just what she needs on her walker. I've done some other sewing in the last week but it's all for holiday gift giving so I can't show it here.

And to end on a light note rather than how I started out - tiny little kittens!  We were on the coast this past weekend and the kittens across the street are growing up. Neighbor J had a feral cat, one of the many in the neighborhood, give birth in her bushes. J has contacted a rescue place that will come and get the kittens in a week and find them good homes. J has done a great job of socializing them so they'll be very adoptable. They will all be fixed before going to new homes. Since Momma wouldn't be very adoptable being somewhat wild J has offered to keep feeding and watching over her - they will come get her for spaying so there won't be a repeat litter..........at least not from her. Sure wish we both weren't allergic to cats because I'd love to bring one of the little gray ones home. I did snuggle one of these but then quickly went and washed my hands before touching my face or I would have been a mess for a couple days.

The Year of the Monkey

 Yesterday we went to Jacksonville for the Chinese New Year Parade. It turned out to be a beautiful day after it poured overnight.

 I love the dragons - so fun. There's a big history of the Chinese in this area due to the gold mining - not necessarily good times.

 I tried to get some pix of the hula dancers since two of my spinning friends were dancing in the parade but I only had my phone and I didn't get good pix of them. These 3 dragon pix were the only good ones I got out of the bunch.

 When we got home I got to work on stringing beads for the kits for the bow weaving program I'll be teaching at my weaving guild in April.

Stringing these size 8 beads on 5/2 perle cotton is quick work using a dental flosser. Of course putting together the number of kits I need will still take a number of hours to complete but it's a mindless, good watching movies on Netflix chore. Would love to get back to this today but today is sit down in front of the computer with Turbo Tax Home & Business day - argh.........

It's addictive.........

.....bow weaving that is.......well, chocolate is pretty addictive too but I'm trying to stay away for it at the moment.....not sure how long I'll last......

I wove a couple more bracelets that go around the wrist twice - findings and toggle clasps still need to be put on them.  The top one is using another variegated yarn.  So far all the bracelets I've done are with 6/0 seed beads because I wanted lots of examples to put on tables when I teach fellow guild members how to do this. But I had to try a bracelet using all different kinds and sizes of beads from my stash - that's the bottom one in the sea glass colors. I love it and might have to do a few more using a variety of beads.  I just placed my order with Shipwreck Beads for supplies for the class and found a toggle clasp with a seahorse and one with a mermaid so I had to order both to audition for this sea glass bracelet. I do need to break this addiction and get back to other weaving........soon......

It's too danged hot.....

It's too danged hot to do much these days. Even winding a warp or weaving is a challenge. My studio is downstairs which is partially underground along with the garage - there's no air conditioning down there but most of the time it stays cool enough even with our hot temps in the summer but when it's continually over 100 it just can't stay cool. (separate furnace downstairs with no heat pump so no cool air)

I've been cutting fabric and serging napkins early in the day before it gets hot - a big pile of them to match the new quilted placemats at the beach and after looking in our napkin drawer here at home I realized I needed to replace the faded worn out napkins we've been using so a big pile in the works for here at home too. Fun part is that I pulled from my fabric stash, that's way too big, sitting in piles all over that room. I used many Downton Abby fabrics I bought for who knows what project......now I'll get to see those fabrics every day in the kitchen.

Yesterday afternoon two friends came over to learn how to make a 'woven' bracelet we learned how to make at guild this past spring. We each made two bracelets and ate almond cake.......with fresh strawberries.

I don't think I've posted this almond cake recipe a friend found online earlier this year. It's easy, very yummy, and doesn't make a ton of cake for those of us that don't want a ton of cake in the house.

Almond Cake

1 stick (1/4 lb) butter
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp almond extract
1 TB sliced almonds

Heat oven to 325. Grease a 8" cake pan (I still had problems with a little bit of sticking so next time I'll add parchment paper too)

Melt butter in the microwave. Wisk eggs into butter.
Add flour, sugar and extract - mix well, pour into a pan, sprinkle with almonds

Bake 45 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired (I don't do this, it's plenty sweet without it)

I'm thinking I might have to try this recipe substituting lemon extract and adding some lemon zest.

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

We had a little different program at our weaving guild meeting on Saturday - we made bead bracelets. Fellow guild member Thalia was our teacher - she had decided since the nylon thread was woven around the leather cord and beads that it was technically weaving. This is my finished bracelet in my favorite color - unfortunately the camera didn't capture the sparkle.

 Here's a view showing the button used for the closure.  Of course the gal at the bead shop steered me wrong on the side beads to use - everyone else had beads twice this size (most buying kits from Thalia). So I put 2 beads side by side.  Was a little tough getting it started but then it was a breeze.  I'll be making a few more of these.

 An order of tencel arrived last week, it was on sale at Webs.  I was running out of some colors and then bought a few new that I haven't bought before - love the seafoam color, not sure about that baby blue but someone else will like it. Webs was out of black, which I use a lot of, so that's back-ordered. If you could see the shelves that house tencel in my studio you'd wonder why I bought more.......I have every color Webs carries now that I filled in a few.  I buy most of my yarns wholesale but I haven't found a good source for tencel and I go through a lot of tencel. If any other weavers out there know of a good wholesale source for tencel I'd love to know - the Webs sales are pretty good so I haven't put anymore energy into looking for several years.

Yesterday I warped up my table loom for an upcoming Robyn  Spady workshop. She's always well prepared and full of knowledge to share.  Yesterday I also wove the final scarf on the AVL warp and got those scarves washed.  Now I have a pile of scarves that need the fringes twisted - pictures to follow once that's done. But today I need to sew a tote bag for a birthday gift so my Bernina can go in for it's cleaning/maintenance tomorrow.  It's been really nice to get a few fiber days in my way too busy schedule..........

Beads.........

 I decided to do a little beaded embellishments. Above I used some green and gold glass beads. I'm using Nymo beading thread as it's very strong and the beads won't cut it, I have several colors of it.

 Here I've used some gold and clear/gold glass beads. On the final scarf off this warp that had a rust weft I added some seed beads to the twisted fringes but forgot to take a picture.

 I got a warp on the loom for 3 cotton/rayon shawls in a lace weave structure. I decided to try out adding beads while hemstitching. Worked just fine although it's tougher to get the thread (5/2 size) through the beads, many reject beads but I'll have enough for this shawl. (For non-weavers - ignore the turquoise woven part, was just quickly spreading out the warp and making sure all the heddles were threaded correctly)

Here's the start of the shawl with the beads hemstitched on. I'm considering cutting this first shawl off the loom (when finished) to wash it and see how I like the beading before I weave the other shawls. I may or may not want to use this beading technique on the others. I don't usually do this as to not waste warp but since the warp ends to tie on and spread out will be used as fringe I won't actually have any loss.

Beading

In April I'm presenting a guild program over on the coast to a small fiber guild. It's a program I've given in years past for my local guilds - beaded embellishments for weaving - a focus on fringes. Today I decided I must sit down and update my handout and make sure the beading kits were all together as it's a hands-on program. I don't like to leave things like this until the last minute and I do have to start pulling together all the tax stuff, personal and business, and struggle through doing our taxes (argh) so I thought it best to get this done and out of the way. I have a number of scarf examples to share but needed something that wasn't woven as only half the small guild are weavers. I decided to put a sweet little fringe on one of my ice-dyed silk scarves.

Here I'm attaching the beads to the scarf using a size 12 beading needle, size 11 seed beads and green nymo beading thread.

And here's the first end finished, other end of the scarf didn't take terribly long to do. I love the little bit of bling the beads add. This scarf is one I put aside for myself when I did the ice-dying - it's going to be fun and cheery to wear this spring.  I can't wait to do more ice dyeing.

Check out this video of winter on the Oregon Coast - this is why we love it so much.  Of course we know better than to stand that close to the edge with huge waves - the ocean is very unpredictable and can sweep one into the water in a second.

Adding beads to a fringe

After weaving for a while today on the towel warp I decided I really needed to stop so I could watch this past Sunday's episode of Downton Abbey but I can't just sit and watch tv so decided to work on twisting the fringe on a couple scarves while it was on. I added some beads to the fringes and want to share an easy way to get seed beads onto the warp threads - I use a big eye beading needle, this particular one from Beadalon and I buy them from Shipwreck Beads although I'm sure any good bead store would have them.

The very long, very thin needle is like 2 needles connected at the top and bottom so the center of it can be opened up and the warp thread slid in. I then pick up beads with the needle and slide them right up onto the warp end. I'm using size 8 seed beads. (Sorry the pix aren't real great - didn't feel like running upstairs to get the camera and used my phone, color is off and pix a bit blurry)

Then I twist the fringe like normal - love the little bit of sparkle it adds to the fringe without being overwhelming for those who might be shy about wearing too much bling...........although I can't quite relate to that......

Giveaway

In cataloging all my fiber/craft books last week I found a few duplicates.  I decided to have a giveaway of one of them.  The Beader's Companion by Judith Durant & Jean Campbell, published by Interweave Press.  My name is on the inside cover so it's not brand new, suitable to gift.....unless the recipient doesn't care that my name is in it.......  How did I get 2 of these great reference books you ask?  I had one, lent it out and forgot to write down who I lent it to, couldn't find who had it, so I bought another........then 6 months later the missing one showed up.

So, if you have an interest in a basic beading book just comment to this post, comment anything you'd like, what your weather is like, what you're up to today, what you like to create, doesn't matter.  I'll use random.org to pull a winner's name on Tuesday evening, that's August 12th. I'll post the winner's name, if there's a way to get in touch with the winner I'll also email to get a mailing address. If there's no way to contact the winner I'll hope that person checks back and see their name as the winner and contact me. If I don't hear from the winner within 2 weeks I'll pull another name.

UPDATE:  Toby you have won the book, please email me with your complete name and mailing address -  cindiesam at yahoo dot com

Giveaway

I'm holding a giveaway (US & Canadian residents only) for this great book called Beaded Embellishment - Techniques & Designs for Embroidering on Cloth by Amy Clarke and Robin Atkins.  I had this book in my library, it disappeared for a long time so I thought it was a goner, I bought another one......of course, the old one turned up later......so, I decided to share the second one I bought. (the cover is perfect, those are lights reflecting when I took the picture)

All you have to do is to visit one of my etsy shops - eweniquely ewe or eweniquely ewe fibers - and post a comment to this blog post telling me what your favorite item was in one of my etsy shops.  Yes, this is a blatant way to get you all to visit my etsy shops. 

I'll pick a winner using random.org next Friday morning, April 19th for the book. Be sure I can contact you through your blog or leave me an email address in your comment or check back Friday morning to see if you've won. If I can't contact the winner, or the winner hasn't contacted me by the end of the weekend I'll pick another winner and try again.

Guild challenge finally finished........

A little bling goes a long way........

I thought I'd finish the blingy bra today but no go.........definitely tomorrow........

I started with the beaded drop fringe along the bottom of the bra....seed beads, bugle beads, glass beads and crystals......

Then I moved to adding couched beads along the top edge.....seed beads, glass beads and pearls....

Then to decorate the center with glass buttons, seed beads, crytals, pearls and sequins......I decided once finishing this I had enough bling......I could have easily kept going but really didn't want to cover up my handwoven fabric.....

Pinning the satin lining in, this step took forever..........

I started handsewing the lining in, a tedious job trying to avoid tangling the thread around the beaded fringe. I got to the other end and realized that I really needed to take out all the top pins and repin, way too much slack in the lining. By this time my shoulders and neck are aching, time to stop for the day, will finish up tomorrow and unveil the finished project.........

Just step away from the needle..........

At our Saturday Weaving Guild meeting two fiber friends of mine presented a program on needlefelting postcards - the theme was to be a fuzzy valentine but I instead chose to bring ocean colors/charms for mine. Remember this is just postcard sized so it's small. We started out with a piece of commercial felt and then needlefelted on top of it. I brought a felted piece of handwoven in greens & purples I had in my stash to use as my background and then needlefelted some other colors on top of it. So, today I did all the embellishing of charms, beads, pearls, embroidery - I spent the better part of the day playing with it......as if I didn't have other things that I should have been doing.......but what the heck, this was fun! Finally I did have to move on to something else, I had to say to myself "just step away from the needle...." I had done enough, it didn't need any more embellishing. Now I need to decide how to display it, it's sitting on a piece of burlap that's auditioning for the role of background. I want to sew it to something, burlap, linen, felt, or something else, then stretch it over foam core and put it in a frame. I wish the seaglass, embroidery, beads and other details showed up better in a photo........

Scarves.....

I'm not quite sure why these pictures don't look great but that's life, after trying several times over a period of hours to post them I'm just happy they're up here. Blogger kept saying 'picture rejected' - that's a first of that type of snafu with blogger I've experienced. Anyhow, was taking pix of a few scarves this afternoon and thought I'd share.

Above is painted warp tencel scarf. It's hard to tell but it's a dornick twill. I love the colors in it so much that I kept a variation of this scarf for myself (there were two on the warp). I hemmed the ends and hand beaded the fringe.

This scarf in the crazy crayon colors is from a painted warp that hung in the studio for a couple years because I couldn't believe I dyed these colors together, they were so ugly. Finally one day I decided to go ahead and weave the two scarves off, this one with a purple weft, the other a blue weft. Surprise, surprise - I loved it so much I kept one and wear it all the time. The one I kept has a totally different beaded fringe on it. They look great with blue jeans or blue slacks, striking with a red top, also looks great with a white or purple top. This scarf is a cotton/rayon blend warp and a tencel weft. At this exact moment I can't remember the name of the twill - I'm guessing Wall of Troy but could be wrong. I'll have to try and remember to check that.

A wintery day of play.........

Yes, I said wintery day of play......what happened to spring??? I remember having 3 or 4 days of it and then we went back to winter - today torrential rains, wind, big hail and tonight the snow level will fall to 2500 ft and freeze warnings in the valley. Guess I'll need to pull all those planters on the deck up against the house or lose all.

So, here's the finished scarf of my handspun merino/tencel warp crossed with a commercial bamboo weft. I had been undecided on the sett and ended up changing it from 15 epi to 18 epi. It turned out beautiful but in hindsight I wish I had left it at 15 epi. The feel of this is 'like butter'. I added some beading in-between the twisted fringes, it doesn't show much which is planned, I didn't want a lot of added color to pop out, I just wanted sparkle. I'm happy with this.

So here was the beginning of my play day.....surface design. I never shop at Penney's but the other night some cute women's t's with cap sleeves caught my eye in the sale ad (sale is still on for a few days). How could I resist? Only $5.99, regular $14.00, just calling out to be embellished. I did keep a couple plain but had to play with the rest. Although not pictured many have a little embellishment on the sleeve or on the back shoulder. I could have gone crazy with the stenciling and silk screening but in reality I don't like that much design, much prefer simple and understated. First was the chartruese t that I bought to wear under this great rayon piece. I used stencils and Shiva Paintstiks - love the way it turned out.

Next was the brown t where I used a ginko stencil sheet and gold, copper and yellow gold paintstiks. The second picture is of the back shoulder.

Then a cute little flower in white paintstik on purple

The lotus blossom is one of the silkscreens I made last year - I used chartruese Lumiere paint. This also has a cute little chinese knot on each sleeve and the back shoulder

And finally on the black t a neat little abstract design in white paintstik with dragonflies in lavendar, green and blue

paintstiks. The second picture is the back shoulder. Since I'm not an experienced photographer I'm not sure why the wavy lines turn up on the body of the t-shirts in these photos. Sometimes it happens when photographing handwovens on the loom too.

Ok, big decision - do I head back to Penney's for more little t's...

New beaded scarves

Here are the latest scarves to get beaded fringes. All 3 came off one warp of 8/2 tencel - it was a variegated warp that I crossed with a different colors of 8/2 tencel weft. I first twisted the fringes and then beaded in-between them. I like the look, it doesn't scream beading but adds some sparkle.

I think I'm up to date now on what I've been doing, at least the things I can show pix of.....well, am still working on two different knitted socks, don't think I posted a picture of the ones out of handspun - will eventually get to it.

Scarves I wear

These are examples of another types of beaded fringes I've done in the past - all 3 of these scarves are ones I wear all the time. All three are hand-dyed. The green one goes from a blue-green at one end to the lime green at the other. The reds yellow one actually also has lots of blue and purple in it. I dyed enough for 2 scarves and just hated the warp afterwards - it hung in the studio for a long time before I wove it - after weaving I like the scarves so much I had to keep one for myself - it looks great with a red top and jeans. The other scarf in the purples/golds and also teal is one of my favorites - I also made matching earrings and a bracelet with the same beads.