Wall Hangings

I have been making some wall hangings for a consignment gallery.  These are woven with purchased wool yarn as the warp.  I used some of my handwoven yarns in the weft of the fabric on these hangings.  I also added some embellishments.

Starting on the left: The first weaving has polished stones added as embellishments.
The second one has beads that I made with polymer clay probably 3 or 4 years ago.
The third one has two pieces of crepe myrtle bark woven through the fabric as embellishment.
The fourth has a slice of a shell that is attached as an embellishment - since all the blue colors remind me of the ocean. You may also notice the other colors, yellow, pinks and browns giving the impression of a beach at sunset.

The piece with hand made beads was the first of these that I wove.  Since the colors reminded me of these beads, I pulled out the beads and added them to the work.

There are six beads in total on this piece, but the topmost one on the right blends so perfectly with the design that you may have difficulty seeing it in the photo.
The hanging sticks for these are made of locally sourced bamboo.  (thanks to my brother for gathering it for me!)



My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
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Quilt Weekend

Thanks to social media, I am aware that this is International Quilting Weekend.  This morning I decided to watch The Quilt Show episode #1404 with Victoria Findlay Wolfe.   I love Victoria's style of "play" quilting.  Just sew pieces together quickly and see what happens.  Okay, so maybe that is over simplified.  Fortunately this weekend you can watch her episode on the Quilt Show for free.

I was inspired to pull out some pieces and PLAY.  I went for a little more than 15 minutes but I had fun.  I have "little ones" for the rest of the weekend and most of next week, so I won't get to do anymore sewing most likely.
Here are my play pieces.  Only one of them is a full block but the other pieces will be added to and become bigger another day.

For three of them, I cut up a big four patch and sewed it onto corners and a side.  That will add some cohesion when they all go into the same quilt later.

I hope your 'quilting weekend' is being fun and/or productive.

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger" - I can not reply.

A bit of Spinning and weaving

I haven't been doing much quilting lately as I have been engrossed in my spinning and weaving.  No fears, I have NOT stopped quilting, it is just on the back burner right now.

For St Patrick's Day, I decided to wind a couple of warps for my loom.  The warp is the part of the fabric that runs the lengthwise grain - you know, in quilting it is the direction with the least stretch - or almost NO stretch.  In Weaving the warp is the background to the piece but can really add color and sparkle.  I call this one Leprechaun's Treasures as it it green (clover) and gold (end of the rainbow.)

I had already shown you the yarn I spun in coils or beehives.

I decided really quickly to add that into my fabric. I wanted to see how it acted as weft (the cross grain of the fabric.)

Look at the texture and color pop it adds. 

I did some other textured yarns and some patterning in the weaving. 

Fun little color "bubbles"

No that is not a shadow in the top section, I used two colors. 

I also made another warp that will be used later - but I have six meter of this one to weave yet. 

Here is the other warp. I confess it is more "my" colors. 

The teal or peacock blue really makes me smile.  Of course these colors would also work wonderfully for a quilt.

At this moment I have more wool fiber absorbing the dye.  Once it is dry it will be spun into yarn for even more fun with fiber arts. 

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger" - I can not reply.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

As you may know (if you read the sidebar) I have some Irish heritage and I am PROUD of it.  For the celebration of the green, I have dyed some wool using green as one of the colors.  Then I spun it into a beehive art yarn.

See that lovely green in there!

And now I will "torture" you with my rendition of Danny Boy. There is no need to watch the video. To make it possible to upload to youTube, there must be video..so it is all clover.


Have a GREEN and Happy Day.

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger" - I can not reply.

Scrappy Play

One of my favorite things to do with piecing is just PLAY.  Because of that I have lots of pieces of piecing.  Some of them are big chunks. Some of them are just odd shaped blocks.  Some of them are "what if I..." blocks.
So I decided to do a layout and see if there is enough for a quilt.
OH MY!

This is at least big enough for a twin size quilt.  I am sure I have even more pieces in other "stash spots."  My plan is to do this in sections of quilt as you go.  Then join it.  The joining strips will be "lost" in the wild variety of this scrappy quilt.
Looking at the picture, I think I may chop the lower left piece in half(ish) to spread out that plaid fabric.

If you want to learn to do scrap quilting too, Craftsy has a great class on it with Pepper Cory. It is called : Scrap Quilting: Waste Not, Want Not.   (This is an affiliate link. If you click it and purchase the class, I may receive a small stipend.)  This is a great time to try a Craftsy Class.  For the next five days (counting today) many classes are 50% off.   AND Craftsy has a money back guarantee.
I will tell you that I do take Craftsy classes.  I don't recommend anything that I wouldn't buy.   I have not taken the Pepper Cory class, so if you take it, I would love to hear your comments on the class.



Don't miss the giveaway on yesterday's post - it ends Friday.  FYI - GothicL (and SEVERAL Others)- you are a no-reply so unless you leave me your email address, you can't win.

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger" - I can not reply.

((CLOSED for entry) Giveaway!!!! Japanese Lanterns Pattern

Today I am giving away two PDF copies of my "Dance of the Japanese Lantern's" quilt pattern.

This is a fairly easy quilt to make and if you chain piece it will go together quickly. 

Giveaway now Closed.  Winners are:

#5 Julianne

and

# 9 Jeanna

and because I want to do it there is a third winner!

# 1 rarely seems to win - so Lynn - you get a prize too. 

To enter leave a comment telling me what color background fabric you would choose when you make the quilt AND what types of fabric you would use for the lanterns.  

I will choose two winners on Lucky Friday the 13th.  As there is no issue with shipping or customs, this giveaway is open to everyone.  However,  I must be able to email you.  If you are a no-reply you need to leave an email address or you simply can not win. 

Be aware that for this giveaway I may not answer comments if there are lots of entries. Please share and send your friends over to enter also.

I am linking up with Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber for her Spring Giveaway. 

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger" - I can not reply.

EQ7- Playing with Design

Electric Quilt version seven (aka EQ7) is a very fun quilt design software. This morning I started it up and added two blocks to my sketchbook from the Block Library that is included.
I am not telling you which two blocks, but for a bit of fun will let you see if you can figure it out.

The first one I call "Soda Shoppe" if you look the red sections form Strawberry Soda bottles and the yellow sections form Lemon Soda.  The little blue squares make the soda bottle caps.

The next colorway I am calling "Blue Pop" even though it somewhat loses the design. The blue was my first coloration. It also somewhat "gives away" the blocks used.

Do you ever play with quilt design to see what you may want to make later?

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger" - I can not reply.

UFO - no more!

I finally took out the table topper that has been in my UFO list for some time and layered and quilted it. Not only that, I even got it bound - all in one day.
Actually it was half a day.  In the morning I met with a lady from church and helped make fleece blankets for children who come through the "Room in the Inn" program.  Room In the Inn is a program that provides safe places to sleep in the winter when sleeping outside can be deadly.  Most of the children who come through have very little in worldly possessions.  So, the goal is for each of them that comes through to get a soft blanket of their very own in bright happy colors.  I am thrilled to be helping with this.  You will probably see some of these later.

Meanwhile, that table topper....  It was a kit that was gifted to me when I retired less than a year ago. I pieced and fuse it within two weeks of getting it. Then it languished in the UFO heap. (UFO is UnFinished Object.)
Here it is all quilted, bound and ready to use.

 I actually had a lot of fun quilting this piece.  I played with the quilting in the bird appliques to add eyes and texture.

I would say that the day was a delightful success!

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger" - I can not reply.

Lazy

This crazy weather is not being conducive to my ability to create.  I am being plain lazy.

No fears, I am fine.  Life is still good - I am just having a 'go slow' to use a British labor union term.

Carry on, I will return in full force in a few days.

Meanwhile, here is a bit of my artwork for you to enjoy.

Transcend

Forbidden Crossing

Tomatoes for Pablo

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger" - I can not reply.

Stubborn - Use Your Faults

A few people I know would tell you that I am stubborn.  The fact is - yes I am.  Once in a staff training the instructor used me as an example (a good one - thank goodness.)  He described me as "tenacious."  I leaned in to the woman sitting next to me and stage whispered "That is just a nice word for stubborn."   There were several snickers from those who have worked closely with me.

What is the difference between being stubborn and tenacious?  Mainly it is in the implication.  Tenacious is generally used for someone who hangs on until something is completed. Stubborn is used more for people who will not give up because they want their own way.  

When you are creating or learning a skill, stubbornness is not a bad thing.   I believe I showed my spinning wheel here before.  I have become a decent spinner with wool.  But a while back, I ordered some cotton to spin.  I got the good stuff - Pima Cotton Sliver (sly-ver) - because I was sure it would be easier to spin.  For months, it has frustrated me - first on the drop spindle and then on the wheel.

I also wanted to be able to blend the fibers that I dye easily.  So, since one of my friends is an Ashford dealer, I asked her about a blending board.  She didn't have one in stock - but it is on order. Meanwhile, she has loaned her board to me.  So I have been making these blended fiber put ups called "rolags."

The are fun to make and spin into yarn.   I spun several (not pictured) into this lovely yarn that is hanging on the shower rod to dry.

I decided that maybe I could blend the cotton with the wool and use it that way.  So I did a couple of small rolags and spun them.  It didn't spin up easily so I let that idea go for a bit.
Of course I went to Google and started searching for a way to blend the two. No luck in that search but I did find a video that I had watched once before on spinning cotton.  So I tried again - yes, I am STUBBORN.  

Guess what? My "stubborn" paid off. I have been spinning this cotton

It looks like this on the bobbin of my spinning wheel

So what if I am stubborn? - I did it! And I can repeat it.

What is one of your worst faults?  Have you found a way to channel it and "use it for good"?

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger" - I can not reply.