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.