Weaving guild challenge.....

I have finished my guild challenge.  Each member blindly chose an envelope that contained a beautiful postcard of a national park. I chose Isle Royale which I had never heard of - it's an island in Lake Superior (Michigan) that's very close to Canada.  It's only open a few months out of the year. 

Rather than create something inspired by the colors in the postcard I decided to use the actual art from it. I scanned the postcard, enlarged it and then printed it out on two pages of fabric backed with paper that's meant to go through an inkjet printer. I warped up the loom in a Theo Moorman draft using 10/2 dark gray perle cotton and dark gray sewing thread. the sewing thread is the tie down thread. I cut the printed fabric into 1/4" strips a handful at a time to keep them in order and started weaving. 

I wasn't sure how to finish the piece for hanging and went through several different ideas. I had woven enough plain weave for a backing. I didn't want to quilt it but it needed some umpf so I used an iron on pellon product to make the front and back a bit stiffer. I didn't have enough of the plain woven fabric to make a binding and I had decided I did want a binding - I found a print fabric in my stash that went with it perfectly so that became the binding.  i didn't take a photo of the back but I created a label that I printed on fabric to put on the back. Also on the back I put triangles of fabric in the corners to insert a slat of wood for hanging - if you know quilting you may have done this for small wallhangings. 

I can see in the photo I need to push/adjust a few of those fabric strips to have straighter edges again, it's easy to do. They moved a bit during the sewing process. 

A side note - If you're interested in seeing the postcards for all the national parks they're available to purchase, they also have posters and some other items. They really are beautiful to even just look at on the website. My guild bought a box of them for our challenge. 

Another sidenote - when a fellow guild member, another Cindy, saw the park postcard I had picked she immediately told me about author Nevada Barr who has written murder mysteries that take place in national parks and that there was one on Isle Royale. I looked it up and found that was book #3 so I first read books #1 & #2.  I then read book #3 on 'my' park which gave me insights into what the island is like. I've now just started book #4. I need to check out how many there are. So far my library has had these and they're also available through Library2Go/Libby. 

I don't always participate in the yearly guild challenge, all depends on if it interests me, this year was a definite yes. It will be fun to see what others were inspired to create from their postcards. 

 

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

First scarf woven

First scarf woven off the warp I put on the AVL last week.

Patina......again.......

 Here is one of he finished Vines & Leaves scarves. The photo doesn't do it justice. The combination of 3 colors of copper in the warp and dark teal in the weft creates the most incredible iridescence. I wasn't sure if I'd like them or not but I like them so much that I'm considering keeping one for myself. This one is now listed in my etsy shop.

 Yesterday I blocked the shawl I started back in May. It really looks more pink in person than in these photos. I'm not quite sure why I'm having trouble of late capturing accurate color.

Here is it worn around the front as I so often see shawls online and in magazines these days. Usually it's too much bulk......in my opinion......but this shawl is so light and airy that it feels great wearing it this way........yes, I did put it on to test it out.........

This afternoon after I finished twisting the fringe on the scarves and taking photos I looked over at my shelves of handspun and decided I need to get brutal about going through it. Much of it that has lingered is from when I first learned how to spin, and it is lovely, but it's mostly Romney wool from a former local sheep herder and just doesn't suit the type of projects I care to do now. There are some really lovely singles I had originally planned to use as pattern weft for overshot afghans.......but I no longer have those colors in my house so go they must. So, I pulled everything down and have piles sitting waiting for photographs so I can move the yarn on to someone else......and then other bags that I will give away. So, how come I'm moving out all this yarn and the shelves still look stuffed??? 

Tomorrow I'd like to wind a warp to get on the AVL but I could easily get sidetracked taking photos of this yarn.........I'll see how I feel come morning......

Patina

I just finished weaving a couple of tencel scarves in my 40H vine & leaves pattern. They're soaking in a sink right now. I used 3 different shades of rust/copper in the warp and used a dark teal in the weft. This photo doesn't do the color combo justice - it makes me think of copper patina. Do I like the way they turned out? Don't know until they're dry. There will be some iridescence in them.

Packaged and out the door........

 It's always a rush to get something packaged up and out the door to the post office. I know I could do better but I strive to mail out an attractive package without too much additional cost. First almost all my items have this hangtag on them. It's a folded hangtag with item details and washing instructions on the back and a small story about me on the inside. The only items that don't go out with these labels are my embroidered towels and a few other small items, they have miniature tags.

 Here is the scarf wrapped in tissue with a reusable gift tag ready to mail. I also put a thank you note in the package and place it in a reusable plastic bag to protect against damp/wet during shipment, then into the shipping bag or box. My reusable gift tags are newer to my packaging - I created them using a tag punch with cardstock and then gluing on a piece of handwoven fabric.

I stitched up a couple of these towels the other day just because I thought they were so darned cute. There are two of them for sale in my etsy shop now. I haven't spent much time at the embroidery machine lately but need to get back to it because I've got some great new designs. I buy my digitized designs from Embroidery Library and Urban Threads.  If anyone is ever interested in a particular design please let me know, I'd love to stitch it up for you - my only restriction is that it must not be larger than 4" x 4" as that's all my inexpensive little embroidery machine will stitch.  Look how cute that towel looks with my tea mug, total coincidence - hmm, I might have to stitch one of these up for me........

Shawl warp

I finally got back to the shawl warp today. Finished the first shawl and am part way through the second. For the second one I used a different rayon novelty seed yarn. I 'think' I'll like these once off the loom and washed......they're very beachy which I do like.

Notecards listed in shop

I just listed 7 different styles of handwoven blank notecards (with envelope) in my etsy shop for sale - they can be found in the Notecard/Greeting Card section of my shop. Many of these will work for holiday cards in addition to everyday all occasion cards. And what a deal - buy 3 cards and I'll throw in a free card of my choice. So much nicer than a plain old mass produced printed paper card for the same amount of money.

Not the traditional overshot

This baby blanket warp is not the traditional colonial overshot - the border is but using stripes in the warp is not. There will be this large border area on each end of the blanket. I love the look. This afternoon I got this warp tied on and started weaving, then it was just too danged hot to continue weaving, just got enough done to see how it will look.

Baby blankets

Baby blanket warp going on the loom - will have overshot borders for a girl blanket, a boy blanket and a few that could go either way.

We've been lucky so far this fire season but now fires are popping up all over the region. Luckily they've jumped on them quickly but Friday evening 3 homes and 4 outbuildings lost in the fire 20 or so miles south of us.........a human caused fire, perp already in jail but probably won't stay there for long since no one in our county wants to pay for law enforcement.  Sore subject for me - lowest tax rate in the state, we pay 25% of what most counties pay - these morons in my county vote down any taxes for services. Personally I have never understood why we get to vote on things like law enforcement - that should be a given and we shouldn't have the choice of voting it down just because we don't want to pay any taxes.  We also no longer have a county library system - thank goodness a group finally got together to take over the libraries and make them a community library funded by donations. Folks like us donate each year but everyone can get a library card whether they donate or not which means those same morons that vote down having a library now get library benefits for free. I think being inside in this 100+ degree weather is making me grumpy so enough of my ranting because I could go on and on about the craziness in this county.........



Life is good..........

A bit of weaving on the coast - I finished up the false damask towel warp (now awaiting washing and hemming) and put on another cottolin warp in a 2 block twill pattern.......off white warp, oatmeal weft. If my oatmeal cottolin lasts all towels will be woven using it, if not I'll choose another color to finish up the warp. I love neutral elegant but kitchen worthy towels and have nothing neutral for sale at the moment. Will get back to weaving on this warp next time on the coast.

Bailey sure enjoyed the temps in the 60's & low 70's on the coast - what a relief from the weather here in the valley which will be back up in the triple digits in a day or so - ack. I keep telling myself "at least there's no humidity" but it really doesn't help when it gets up over 100.

Life is good

New towels in shop

New false damask towels ready to purchase in my etsy shop.  I have to admit I'm in love with this weave structure and the block arrangement I designed........that's why it's back on the loom again in a multi-colored warp.

A bit of weaving.......

We spent the past 6 days on the coast - absolutely lovely weather, sunny, cool and windy.....could have been a bit less wind but I'm not complaining because it's so much hotter here in the valley. I did some reading, some relaxing, some spinning , some weaving and some of lots of other fun things.  This morning before we headed home we went to a blueberry farm south of our beach town and picked over 18 pounds of blueberries........not sure how many we ate while picking.  Blueberry jam is on the schedule for tomorrow, I think I've got enough sugar for at least 2 batches. Will freeze blueberries but since I have a couple lemons I might have to make some blueberry lemon bread.

 I got back to weaving on the false damask warp I had started weaving last time over, just love this weave structure for towels......

......here they are in a cheery yellow

Since I finished up that warp and am still on a kick to use up my cottolin stash I put on another towel warp in the same draft but this time I was using up odds and ends of spools that were getting low. I've got 4 different colors I'll use for wefts on these 10 towels. These look pretty orange in the photo but there's no orange in them at all - mauves, pinks and a little lavender. I think after this there's enough cottolin left for another mixed color towel warp.....not sure what weave structure yet. After that I'll move on to something new on that loom.

Bailey is exhausted after his time on the coast. The neighborhood was hopping so he sat out on the front porch watching and never got his naps. He was especially interested in watching the kids play baseball across the street, and then later the kids next door shooting off fireworks. But the highlight of his time on the coast was getting this new football at the parade on the 4th. We sat on the curb and he watched the parade, watched all the kids running out into the street to get the candy and toys being thrown. But then a bus from Bandon Dunes golf resort went by and threw out this little football - no kid had a chance, it was coming right at Bailey and he jumped up and grabbed it. Go figure why a one of the top golf resorts in the world threw out a handful of footballs but Bailey was happy they did.

I love my new shawl.........

 I love my new shawl woven from some of my handspun alpaca and silk, the weft was commercial  merino/tencel.  I've been wanting/needing a black shawl..........I was thinking solid black but I'm so glad I decided to use this handspun with all the silk colors in it. I can wear this with practically anything.  Now all I need is for fall and winter to come along as it's hot, hot, hot outside. I'd be quite ok skipping summer which would mean also skipping fire season..........

I put on a handspun warp for 2 scarves and wove the first one. Before weaving the second one I want to see how it feels after washing since I used some handspun weft. If I like it I'll use the same weft for the second scarf, if not I'll find something else. No waste of warp cutting of as the warp I tie back on will become the fringe of the next scarf. Those stripes in the warp aren't from separate skeins, that all one length of handspun blending from one color to the next.

Next up is another warp of handspun for scarves. I'm trying to pull together some items made of my handspun to use in our county fair display this summer. These won't be entered into the fair for judging, just part of our display that we sit in front of and demonstrate spinning during the fair.

So, interesting thing happened yesterday with my new laptop with Windows 10 on it - I lost all my favorites. It may have been a Microsoft update, or it may have been Norton which was running but somehow my favorites disappeared - ack!  Luckily it's not my main computer so it only had around 15 favorites on it for sites I visit regularly while away from home. I've had the laptop for a few months and there had been no issue until yesterday. Has anyone else had this happen?  Was there a way to retrieve your favorites?  And for the record I do not care for Windows 10 - Windows 7 has been great (we know Windows 8 was a bust for MS). Why mess with a good thing? I sure wouldn't have bought a new laptop just because of this new operating system except that my netbook bit the dust..........

PS - is anyone else watching Outlander? The season will be ending all too soon on July 9th.  I heard that Starz has picked up season 3 & 4 with 3 in the works already. I binge watched the first season on DVD when a friend loaned it to me this past winter - I 'had' to sign up for Starz so I could watch the second season as I couldn't possibly wait until it comes out on DVD. 

New handwovens in shop

I finally did a bit of photography work......dreaded photography work........so I could list a few items in my etsy shop.

The handwoven table runner using a hand-dyed warp.

A white chenille shawl - perfect for a wedding or any ole' time.

Another white chenille shawl using a seed rayon as weft to give a nubby or pearl like look

Finally.....the alpaca and silk handspun

I spun this black baby alpaca and dyed silk yarn a while back. I started 2 different knitted shawlettes and took them out because they just didn't look right, then I started a crocheted scarf and didn't like that. Today I decided it needed to be woven, finally I got it right - it's going to look beautiful woven. It was close on having enough yardage - I only put aside a tiny bit in case of any broken threads which did not happen. I just wove it in plain weave to show off the handspun.....although my first choice would have been some sort of twill but I didn't have enough yardage since a twill needs to be sett closer, which would mean more warp ends. For the weft I'm using some commercial merino/tencel yarn I had gotten from Webs a while back - it's perfect. I can't wait to cut this off the loom and get it washed......it's not finished until it's washed. I'm thinking this will be for me as I've been wanting a black shawl to wear with many colors. It's a shame I couldn't capture the sheen of the silk in the photo..........

Here are what the batts I spun it from looked like.  And here's what the handspun looked like (3rd photo down) - I plied it with black thread.  This is pretty good for me - less than 2 years from batt to handspun to finished project........usually it sits in some form or another on the shelf for a while before being finished.

Now I'm looking at 2 different novelty handspuns that have been sitting on the shelf marinating for a few years thinking I'll weave some scarves out of them. I do need some new items made from handspun for our county fair display this summer.

Just white..........

 I got some time at the loom this afternoon to sley the reed and tie on for these white chenille shawls. I'm using a white rayon slub for the weft on the first one.

I'm using a slightly off-white rayon seed yarn for weft on the second one. Remember I used almost all of the chenille for the warp and was hoping there would be no broken threads..........well, there almost was......I had one thread weakening where the fuzz was coming off leaving just thin thread so I put in a repair thread for around a foot and now am hoping that particular end isn't weak the rest of the warp.......looks ok so far.

The hope is that these sell - the last few times I wove white chenille shawls they sold immediately......brides seem to like them for a wrap with their gowns.......with that said watch these linger in the etsy shop..........

Ice-dyed warp

Here's the finished ice-dyed warp woven up in an undulating twill. I like it but don't know as if I'll ice dye any more warps..........the watercolor effect I was going for wasn't quite what I expected, not as much color variation.