Weaving Detour

It seems that I haven't posted any creative hand work in a while.  But on March 3rd, I ordered a frame loom with a heddle bar to try a different type of weaving. This was shipped from Belgium and arrived on March 12th. (pretty fast I think.)   

(picture borrowed from Funem Studio)

 Honestly it just sat in the box for a day.  Then I assembled the loom (fairly easy assembly) and added a warp to it.  For those of you who weave on various looms, this is probably the easiest warping I have ever done. 

Next I took the materials that I had chosen to start with and started weaving.  I must say that the shed (space where you pass the thread through to weave) is rather tight. But certainly functional.  I didn't like the stick shuttles that came with it.  So I pulled out one that I had for my rigid heddle loom.  And started using it. 

Today I have the piece woven and it is ready to be removed from the loom. 

What will I do with it?  I haven't decided, but I think it would look great

pieced with some fabric for a throw pillow cover. 

For now I am just enjoying the process of creation. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Catching Up

***Sorry for some strange reason the photo part of Blogger is not working for me. Hopefully now you will see photos as I did some 'internet magic'***

It has been a week since I posted - mostly because I didn't have much to post. I did some stabilizing stitches on my November challenge quilt. (Yikes it is already November and I am not ready!) But that is not something that is exciting to show since it is "in the ditch" quilting - and I am not ready to show the quilt top.

One thing that I also do is weaving. And as this week has been spent more with Mom and medical appointments, I am using this 15 inch Schacht rigid heddle loom as it travels well.

This loom comes with a stick shuttle that you wind by hand. But I prefer to use a boat shuttle that has bobbins that you can wind on a bobbin winder - or  for portability,  a cordless drill.

Stick shuttle

Boat shuttle and Bobbins

For bulkier yarns, I do use the stick shuttle. But for this project I am using thread-like yarns that come on cones.

Yarn Cones on Left

I am doing one of my favorite techniques that is called clasped weft or "two color interlock."  We made a video on this technique that you can find here .

I love to unroll the cloth beam and look at my work.

Blogger is being quirky today and not allowing me to upload the photos in the usual way, so if this post looks a bit "odd" I apologise, but I am not in control of it.

I must tell you that until Mom is back to normal,  my posts may be sporadic. Feel free to email me 

photo to deter spammers. 

I must tell you about an upcoming blog hop!  The Island Batik Ambassadors who were not in the earlier blog hop this year are getting their turn in November.
So I am going to send you to the Island Batik Blog for full details AND a giveaway.
Island Batik Blog Post
The prize is this precut bundle of the new Little Sir Little Miss line

There are many delightful prints in this Batik line from Island Batik

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

One Off, One More On -And a Repair

Lately, my "craftiness" has slowed a bit.  I am doing some studying and trying to get more exercise. Of course, the study involves the creative process and new and/or different methods to do some of the same things I have been doing.   I am also doing some handwork or "slow stitching."

First up is this piece that I took off the loom a couple of days ago. It was washed (wet-finished), ironed while damp, and I hung it to dry.

There is an odd thread/fiber hanging there, but that is not a problem.

Once that was off, the loom was empty - but I had a warp already threaded and waiting to hang on the loom. Within 15 minutes, the loom was ready for more weaving.
I wove a bit to check it out and see that it was going to work well.

It is weaving up beautifully.

This is a narrow warp that was created  to play with matching the color repeats in the variegated yarn.  Only moderate success was achieved on this one - but I like the way it looks.  It is about 7 inches wide and will certainly shrink a bit when it is wet finished - but less than an inch.

The slow stitching I played with was loosely based on some of the study I have been doing.  I hope to tell you more about the study later.
At least two pair of my blue jeans developed holes in the knees.  This is probably because since retirement, I live in jeans.   To me, the denim is extremely comfortable.  
In each pair the hole showed up in the left knee.   Clearly, I kneel on that knee much more frequently.  A few days ago, I needed to kneel down to check something outside,  and "OUCH!"  there was a rock under the left knee - right where the hole was.
While cleaning and doing some reorganization of fabrics and craft materials (still a mess though)  I found pieces of jeans I had cut up to recycle/reuse.   One of those pieces became the backing patch for one knee.   I hand stitched around it behind the hole. Then I found a variegated thicker thread that I used to stitch from the front to reinforce the knee.  What I thought was a rust color in the variegation was actually a bit on the pink side.  C'est la vie!   I also used a blue pen to "blend" the patch just a bit.

Maybe not a pair of jeans I will wear to an event, but they are absolutely fine for day to day wear.   That patch is most likely one of the strongest places on those jeans now.
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.

Trash to Treasure

Hi folks, sorry for the absence but that is life.  Or at least, my life has moments, days, stretches of time that are like that.

I had been away from my loom for a bit so I sat down to play.  There were several bobbins that had been wound for the demo back in April.  I was trying to use them up.
Here is some of the cloth on the loom.

There are several layers wrapped around the cloth beam.  There is more than it appears in this photo.

Then I got to a bobbin that just looked too "precious" to me.   I decided to see what I could add in as I was weaving to make it more interesting.  I grabbed the trash bin from my sewing area - because it was in arm's reach.  You may remember that I have been working on some class samples like this one:

There is handwoven fabric sewn in with the quilting fabrics.  In the process bits were trimmed off and tossed in the bin.
There I found treasures to add into the weaving.

You may not be able to recognize them there, but the trimmings from my handwoven fabric were woven right back in.  I have marked them in the next photo.

There are also some thin strips of solid color and hand dyed fabrics added - but I save them automatically so they were not in the bin.

It is no wonder that I have so many craft supplies in my house.  It is difficult to toss out those bits that will be useful a day, a week, or a month down the road.

(please do not send me your trash - I have enough. Thanks!)

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.

Another Class Sample -and a Plan

It is so much fun making the samples for my upcoming class.  One more top for a pillow is pieced and trimmed.  I am debating whether I should go ahead and make it into a pillow cover or save it to show the process.  I will need at least one top ready to show how to layer, pin and sew it into a pillow cover.
Here it is as it is right now.

This one has two pieces of hand woven fabric in addition to several scrappy pieces of quilting fabric.  Three of those are hand dyed fabrics.  The other four are commercial prints.

As I was cleaning and organizing,  I saw the box that my Electric Quilt 7 software came in. When I picked it up, it was HEAVY.  So I looked inside.   There is a book that comes with EQ7 - and it is 272 pages!  I started looking at it and decided I needed to make real use of it.
The information is fantastic.  It even says "learn here" on the cover. Sigh, and I relegated it to the shelf.

My goal is to go through it doing everything. When I find something that I deem "cool" I plan to post about it. I hope I am not learning so much I forget to blog. 

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.

Start Me Up

The play with the fusible applique cat has sparked an idea.  A while back, I read a book Simply Stunning Woven Quilts by Anna Faustino. I kept thinking that I would try the techniques in the book -but I never did. 
Since the play sparked my "why not just try it" mode, I took some batik fabric and tried it my way.  I did not reference the book at all since, although I own it, it wasn't close at hand. 
I put fusible on two pieces of fabric, then did the cutting and weaving. Then I fused it all to a piece of cotton batting. 
Wanna see?  Of course you do. 

Woven Batik Background

This will be the start of a fun applique piece. I plan to redo the Silly Play Saturday cat design.  However, I will make it a bit more fun and whimsical.  Several people thought the yellow cloud was blonde hair - those comments inspired me. Thank you! Your comments mean more than you know at times.  And you never know, I might do a giveaway based on comments made in the past!
Did you do anything fun this weekend?  Oh, and what do you think of the woven background?


If you don't hear from me for a couple of days - fear not - something fun is going to be going on.  (((grin))) I will tell you later!