We have a Man Down

Several of you may have been missing my posts for the last week or so. 

Puzzling the Past

 So here is the scoop. Besides being busy and not overly productive - I got a nasty little stomach bug that laid me low.  The first day I just wasn't hungry - not like me at all!  I woke up in the middle of the night and did my "Linda Blair in the Exorcist" impersonation.  (I won't get graphic and explain that description)   Then I ran a fever and that was difficult to bring down.  I wasn't sure if this was the flu or a case of "stomach flu" (properly called gastroenteritis.)   However, the treatment for both is rest and lots of fluids to avoid dehydration. 

For now, I am still resting but I did want to post a little something for those who were wondering.  I hope you are all well and happy. 

Now back to my resting state. 

Okay, so no hammock, no lake but still resting.
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Random Acts of Dyeing

Here is some fabric that I randomly dyed this week.
Of course as soon as I went out to take photos, the wind kicked up.

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Weekend Playtime

This past weekend, I went to visit  friends and fellow weavers in Georgia.  We had a day of weaving on Saturday.  It was a lovely day and we sat in the studio patio weaving in the fresh air.  I pulled the fabric off of my loom yesterday and wet finished it this morning.

What you are seeing is both ends of this piece at the bottom.  This warp had been pulled from the loom partially woven (easy to do with a Saori loom) and stored for probably a year.  I had not looked at the beginning (left side of photo) before I worked on the newer part.  I have greens near either end that are similar and play well together.  I think when you "weave your heart" that it just works out.

I love this cloth!  

Here is a photo of some of us in the patio area weaving.

I am approximately center of the photo weaving away. The two guys in the corner are working on a computer aided design program for wood working while their spouses are weaving.

The next day we dyed warps for our looms in a small class. I dyed two of mine.  As I had to bring them home wet, I hung them out in the sun today to finish drying.

We used creative resist methods to preserve the colors of the original warps in some areas.  One of my warps was dyed in a pot of purple dye and the other in a pot of red dye. The variations in color should make for a lovely weaving when it goes on the loom.   

I hope you had as much fun this past weekend as I did. 

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Sweaty Creatives - the You-est You

This is a little "side-step." I think it is needed from time to time.  While we spend hours working -and sweating - over our creations,  how often do we listen to the critics who say "you can't do that." and believe them? 
For years I wouldn't sing in front of people because a critic told me "you can't sing."  Are you terrified to get up in front of a crowd to perform? Most performers -the good ones - do too.  I now sing in public and even have recorded myself and posted it online.  Yes that is a scary thing.

I read and watch a lot of things about creativity.  The following video is a speech that was made to a group of creatives.  There is so much good information here...but I loved this line: "These are the creatives. These are the people no one sat with in high school and then everybody wants to be when they grow up."  Those words bring up a lot of memories for me.  While it wasn't "no one" that sat with me, it was the other "weird kids" and "brains" at my table.  But you know, that which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger.




Get out in the arena, be courageous. Get out in the arena, create from the "you"-est  you there is.

Once I get some photos taken, I will show the denim quilt finish and a couple of other little projects.  Meanwhile, I will see you in the arena.
Go Create!
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Getting there!

The denim and twill quilt is coming right along.  Did you forget about this one? 

At this point all the rows are sewn together and sewn to the backing.  Each row was joined into a long strip then I sewed the rows together onto the backing in a Quilt As You Go manner.  You may notice that the points don't match up every time.   There are a few lessons I learned making this quilt.

Lessons Learned:
1. Denim is bulky!  So seams should be offset or pressed open. Personally I hate pressing seams open. I pressed these to one side thinking that would allow me to nest seams. 
2.  Denim stretches a bit.  I realized that one reason jeans are so comfy is that the weave structure adds a bit of give along with the added strength it gives.  This  makes it harder to ease in the extra and make the points match.
3.  It is even more difficult to match points when you are also manipulating layers of fabric.
4.  It gets heavy fast!  this also causes drag to add to the other issues.

Next time:  cut a few of the blocks in half and offset the rows.

Here is another photo of it across the bed.

The scattered embroideries make me happy. 
I am binding this with the backing fabric to make life easier (I hope.)

You can see the binding that I did after sewing down the first two rows.  I am sure that was the easy part.  Now I have to do the other three sides while managing the weight of the entire quilt.

Wish me luck!
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in posts may be affiliate links for which I am compensated if you click through and purchase.