A Little Patchwork

There were a few leftover layer cake squares in my stash.  These are ten inch squares of fabric from a design line.  These came from the same layer cake and I have a few more left in neutral colors.
So I took the squares and started some aimless sewing. I used some piecing "tricks" that I have learned from the internet.  I made half square triangles and quarter-square triangles.  Then I played with putting them into a design.  I liked what I saw so I sewed them together.

After taking the photo, I realized that I made one mistake in piecing it together. One of squares should have been rotated one turn to the left.  I don't think I will take it apart- but I reserve the right to change my mind. This is one of those times that a design wall would have come in handy.  Stepping back is much like looking at a photo.  You can see the whole in a different perspective.

I think I will add some borders and perhaps triangular end pieces onto this and make a table runner.  Time will tell.

On my loom there is fabric. In fact there is close to five yards rolled onto the cloth beam.

I have been using a lot of my hand spun wool yarns in this fabric. The warp is black wool, so it doesn't distract from the colors in the yarns. At this point, I have a plan for the fabric, but sometimes the fabric has other ideas.....stay tuned.

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.

Rambling in the past

A discussion with a friend over dinner pulled up some old memories.  You see, this friend has a daughter who once was a model for a portrait painting class.  As she told me about this, I said, "That sounds like a class I took with Janet Rogers several years ago." The class was on watercolor flowers and portraits.  Later that evening, I got an email from my friend saying that the painting is by Janet Rogers. At the time, I did not know this friend, so her daughter was just someone serving as a model for the class.  There were two models who sat for us- at the same time.  I chose to paint the other model, largely because she was seated closer to my painting station. I confess that this painting was not attractive.  However after I returned home, I did paint some portraits and partial portraits.
Here is one painting that I did of a partial face.

Later on, I painted a sketch portrait of my father.

In the class with Janet Rogers we also painted flowers. One of my favorites was this painting that I did of sunflowers.

It seems rare that I can paint this loose and free. I love the spontaneous look of this painting.  My niece loved it also  so it is now in her home. 

Thanks for rambling with me through some of my past painting adventures.

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.

Guess who won?

About a week ago I got a very happy email.  It said "You won the Black/Brown Summer Giveaway package."   One of my faults in buying fabric is that I generally buy rich colors like jeweltones and rainbow colors.  There are very few darks and neutrals in my stash.  The exceptions are solid black and solid white and an occasional tan.  So this was perfect for me.  

I don't know if you are familiar with Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber, but she is possibly the best fabric dyer that I know.  In addition to her blog -  that I subscribe to, and I suggest  you do also - Vicki has a lovely Etsy shop where she sells her hand dyed fabric.

But I get ahead of myself, let's look at my prize!

I goofed and put this on a dark table for the photo.  The "black" is actually very dark indigo shades.  (Be still my heart...) They make me think of a rich night sky. And the browns (on the right) are luscious mottled hand dyed juicy browns and the almost blend into that table. Wouldn't they be perfect for tree trunks, or even brown hair?

 There was also a 2 1/2 yard package of Mistyfuse in black.  It is the perfect fusible for dark fabrics.  There are twelve fat eighths of fabric here and the Mistyfuse.  But there are also some fun little "add ins"  Somehow I missed photographing the pad of sticky notes that came in the package. But you can see Vicki's card, a bookmark AND this fun little door hanger. On one side it says "Happily Fusing, Come join me."  There other side has  "Do not disturb! Goddess inside...fusing!"  For those of  you who may not know, Mistyfuse makes a Goddess sheet for fusing as the fusible is not backed with paper. I love the little play on words.

I have bought fabric from Vicki previously and it is a delight to work with.  It doesn't bleed when you wash it.  The fabric is a good quality cotton that is perfect for quilt piecing, applique or fusible applique.
There are many choices in Vicki's Etsy shop - and I am "borrowing" some pictures to show you.
This one, Appalachian Sunset, is one I have in my stash.

This Southwest Gradient may also be in my stash....

But besides the gradients there are stash packs.  One that I love is this color wheel pack.

And just a reminder, Vicki's shop is on Etsy.  In case I whetted your appetite........

Do be aware that even Etsy shop owner's deserve a vacation break.  Here is the current announcement on Vicki's Shop.

vickiwelsh's Shop Announcement

****PLEASE NOTE MY JUNE SCHEDULE***
Custom orders (including Shades Packs) placed June 22 – July 7 will be shipped July 13.

Shipping schedule for all other orders (Gradients, Stash Packs, Shibori, Yards): Orders placed June 28 – July 5 will be shipped July 6.

You may remember my "Trip to the Beach" mini quilt.

 The background is Vicki's Anatola gradient.

Now,  I must say that Vicki did not ask or suggest that I say anything about her fabrics, her shop or even the prize.   However, when I am happy with a product or a shop, I believe in telling you all about it.  So if you are looking for some lovely hand dyed fabrics, take my advice and shop here first - and last.

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger" - I can not reply.

This, That and more

A friend of mine says I  chase squirrels.  If you have ever watched a dog chasing squirrels you may see some analogy.  I do switch projects quickly - if I have an idea why not run with it?  However, dogs chasing squirrels rarely catch them...and if they do it may come at a cost. (OUCH!)

My squirrels are often caught, even if I catch and release to catch again.

I have been chasing a few squirrels lately.

One recurring squirrel is the Arrowhead quilt.  I did some quilting on it a day or so ago, but there was a storm so I stopped.  I also had a couple of issues with the machine.   For some reason the thread cutter jammed and stopped the bobbin case from turning.  I whipped out my trusty screwdrivers and managed to fix it - and clean out the amazing amount of lint that had accumulated.

 Here is a small portion of the quilting. One the pieced blocks I am doing more simple designs.

Another  squirrel  in my kitchen is named "Kimchi" --- it is a Korean treat that I love to eat.  However, it is a taste you love or hate.  I made three jars of it yesterday.  Two are made with Napa cabbage as the main ingredient, the other is daikon radish.

It is in a rich red paste made with many ingredients, but the red is from the Korean red pepper.  Yes, it is hot and spicy but loaded with flavor.

I also finished another knitted dishcloth.  On this one, the yarn ran out. So I figured out how to change colors without too much angst.

The white corner was the ending section.

On my mini loom - an Ashford SampleIt rigid heddle - I am playing with a color and weave pattern called Log Cabin or in other places Basket Twill.  Won't you be shocked to find that I am not always following the pattern?  (no, I didn't think you would be shocked. ha ha)   Adding some other elements/ colors makes it more interesting, don't you think?

On the Saori loom, I am weaving some handspun yarn on a black wool warp. Notice the black pattern lines on the woven part that are created by threading the loom differently - or as a traditional weaver might say "You didn't thread it right!" But some of those -maybe all of them -were on purpose.

I have a small bin of yarn that I have spun to continue with this for a while.

 And let me close with this cute picture I found on the internet- if you saw the movie Up!  you will laugh even more.

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.

Another Food Post - Kimchi

It seems that food is suddenly a major thing in my life.  Of course we all know that it is essential for life.  I love a variety of foods from many cultures.  However, I am also a rather picky eater.  Yes, that is a paradox – as am I.

Today's adventure started a couple of days ago. Ideas were flowing and I had some email conversations with a friend.  I have ordered a tsukemono vegetable press (also called a pickle press.) Making  tsukemono is a salt pickling process although there are also rice bran and miso fermented recipes.

Meanwhile, there is a wonderful memory of kimchi in my mind.  Kimchi is a traditional  Korean fermented vegetable dish. It is most commonly made with Napa cabbage and daikon radish.  While the Napa cabbage is more available in Alabama, the daikon radish is more difficult to find.  So I was looking for options. A quick search on Google gave me lots of ideas.  I had a red cabbage in the refrigerator so I could use that.  I bought some simple red radishes and some zucchini. One of the local Asian food stores had the red pepper – gochugaru.  Surprise, I already had fish sauce in my pantry as I had bought it for some other recipe.

The recipe I used as a base recipe is  called "Emergency Kimchi" She used green cabbage but I had the red cabbage so I substituted it.  She called for carrots in her recipe, but I used all I had yesterday making carrot pickles much like the red onion pickles.  I did have the radishes and zucchini though.  So I added them (probably in greater quantity) in place of the carrots. I also had green onions and I used more than she said to use. (I like onions!)   The recipe did not call for ginger, but many kimchi recipes have it so I grabbed the ginger root from the freezer and finely grated some in the kimchi paste while the cabbage was still soaking. I also used all the minced garlic I had on hand (add that to the grocery list)  so I used some dried garlic with it.  Right now it it is two widemouth quart jars, loosely capped, in the laundry room (a dark cool place) fermenting.  I put the jars in an old loaf pan in case it overflows a bit.

I think it looks lovely and I can hardly wait to eat it.  I am happy about the red cabbage as it made it very colorful and also adds some nice antioxidants.

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.

In a Pickle

A few days ago,  Mom was watching her favorite television chef, Michael Smith.   The show is Chef at Home.  Frequently, he makes dishes that I wouldn't eat. But this time he was preparing a vegetarian meal.  He made (shock shock) vegetable stew.  I make a good stew on my own although I usually add some meat for protein such as sausage or meatballs. So, that wasn't the part that got my attention.
Chef Michael was looking for something to add a bit of punch to a salad.  He got out some pickled red onions that he said he have made a few days ago.  There was a flashback showing how to make them.  It seems he used red wine vinegar but said you could substitute any vinegar.   He also mentioned some spices that he added.   To be honest, I was planning to find the recipe online.  Thus, I didn't pay close attention.  I found a basic recipe from him, but the spices mentioned were NOT what I remembered.  My memory was that he used "sweet pie type" spices like cinnamon and cloves.  
Hmmm....okay then, IMPROVISE!

I replaced the red wine vinegar with apple cider vinegar,  and added dashes of ground cinnamon and cloves in the "brine" along with the other ingredients.  I made a pint jar with one red onion and cut the sugar in half to match as well as lowering the amount of vinegar.  I have to say it smells good.
While this goes in the refrigerator,  I only had a canning jar to use so I put the top on and left it to cool.  I just heard the jar seal!

Here is what it looks like:

I am hoping that they taste good.  At least it was a small amount of ingredients.  There is a wait period of 2 or 3 days to let it pickle properly.  I can hardly wait to try them though.

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 Little Free Motion Quilting

A question that was posed online (yesterday - the June "National Sewing Machine Day") prompted me to set a goal. It asked about summer sewing plans.  I answered that I had two quilts that are partly quilted that I would like to finish.  It has been more than a month since I even mentioned this quilt.   So this afternoon, I pulled out a section of it, added backing and batting and quilted that section.

This is an eighth of the quilt if I remember correctly.  So, now three eighths of it are now quilted. I hope that I am inspired to quilt the next eighth of it and join those sections into half of a finished quilt!
It has been over a month since I did any free motion quilting....and honestly, it shows.  However, I am still pretty happy with the results.    On one section I did a free form wavy design that I think looks nicely organic.

And on one other section, I did a triangular motif that worked out fairly well. Although I do have one or two non-triangular bits in it.  In the finished quilt, I don't think it will really matter.  This is a bed quilt to be used and snuggled under. (and not to  be judged for perfection!)

I hope you are creating and having fun with whatever you are working on.


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.

More

More cloth off my loom.  This piece is about 11 inches wide - I have not measured the length.  I used cotton and bamboo in the warp.  I used cotton, bamboo and rayon in the weft. (I added the rayon as I ran out of the gold bamboo.)

I put two photos together to show the entire length. 

This photo shows someone of the graphic elements that I wove into this piece using a clasped weft technique.
By maintaining a limited palette, this piece became very elegant.  I must confess that there were times I wanted to add in some bright colors of red, blue and a rich purple, but I managed to stick to the limited palette.

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.

Fabric makes me happy

My blogging has been sparse lately. Sigh! But I have not been totally unproductive. Here is some fabric that I wove. This fabric makes me happy.

I wonder what it may become.  I guess I will just have to wait to find out....and so will you.
Meanwhile, I have some brown alpaca and white alpaca silk that I am spinning into a variegated yarn on my spinning wheel.
I am off for a snack and then back to spinning.


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.