A Little Weekend Work

"Unless the grain of wheat dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). 

Over the weekend, I spent time with some friends rather than sitting home and sewing or weaving.  
Saturday we went looking at potential retirement homes - found one that we like but it has an issue with "redemptive rights" as it is a foreclosure. It is also "in the city limits" which means permits for every little improvement.  Oh well! 
We also looked at a church building. I think that would be cool, but the main part of the building has a floor that slopes toward the pulpit area.  That would be a pain and costly to change. 

Sunday afternoon, after church, we had a get together on the mountain.  The invitation said, "bring an instrument if you have one, whether you play it or not." I love that idea.  Since I play the pennywhistle but only really know 3 tunes that I can play without music, I said "Let's Go!"   There was a bagpiper, a keyboardist, a cello,and  three whistlers.  One of the whistler's also played banjo and one played guitar - she also used the back of the guitar as a drum, which I found interesting. I was able to play along on several songs just making up harmony parts. Occasionally we sounded terrible, but sometimes we sounded pretty darn good. The important thing was the fun and fellowship. 

Now,  in the few hours I had to ply my trade, I did some free motion quilting and set up the loom and started weaving. 
I have a couple of pictures of the quilting to share. 

The unedited photo

with a spotlight filter added

I broke up the space and used several quilting ideas. The pink thread kept breaking when I was doing one design, so I did the middle section of that are with a different design. (improvise, improvise!) 
I put a warp on the loom to do a "mindless" weaving project as I need more pieces for the sale in November.  Those of you close enough to come by, it will be November 23rd at the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Guntersville, Alabama from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.  I would love to see you there. 
Now the weaving pictures; first the on the loom picture showing the loom and the shuttle. The tension is slack as I don't leave it tight when I am not weaving as it can cause the warp threads to break or weaken. 

 Next is a close up of the weaving. you can see some of the warp threads at the top before they are woven.  You can also see the weave structure.  This is a rayon boucle yarn that I am doing in a tabby (plain) weave. I think this yarn makes a lovely plain cloth.  Rayon was originally made as an imitation silk. It is organic material, usually wood cellulose or cotton that has been treated to become soluble and then forced through a spinneret to make a silk like thread . Thus it has a lovely shine and is soft.  It also drapes well.

Most people think of rayon as a synthetic. However, it is really a semi-synthetic. 
Okay, so much for the weaving lesson. 

I have a couple of simple questions to ask you.  Have you ever read a book on creativity and the creative process?  Would you be interested in reading one if a quilter wrote one?  It would not be quilt specific, but would probably mention quilts and use some as examples. 

I need to add a reminder to check out the Quilt Angels project.  We will soon be into November, so there is still time to make a quilt to donate to this wonderful cause.
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