My Happy Place: Weaving at the Loom

My Happy Place at the Loom!

I woke up at 6 am this morning, overjoyed that I would be able to weave today.  

I can't do it on a work day.

 

I started on the green wandering vine towel, using up the leftover warp from the red wandering vine coverlet.  I love how these are turning out so far with the Brassard cotton made for towels. 

You can see the blue one underneath.

Wondering what I'll do in retirement?  More of what I did in my working life to attain balance -- quilting and weaving.    That and some kayaks.    And Scotland!

Thanks to my Dear Husband who takes these pictures until there are good ones to share!  He makes me smile, too!

Color Journeys: From Graphite Gray to Deep Blue

Alpaca Wristers from Peru

A quick little dye job on some alpaca woolen wristers.  The natural color was a graphite gray.  I decided to dye them blue for my oldest friend, Janna.  The 2nd pair is for her husband, a musician who can play through the winter with these!

 

I used the crock pot to warm up a pot of water plus 1/4 cup vinegar with the wristers submerged, as the water warmed on low for a pre-soak.

Once the water was hot (after about 1 hour), I removed the wet wristers, squeezed out the vinegar water, and set them aside for a moment.  Then I mixed 1/2 tsp of Wilton's icing (food grade) dye) in a cup of hot water from the pot.  Stir that long enough to completely melt the dye.  Add 2 T. vinegar and pour into the crockpot of hot water.  Stir.  Add the woolens and let simmer until the water turns clear.  It took about 6 hours.  Then I unplugged the crockpot and let the water cool to room temperature overnight.  Then I rinsed the excess blue dye out over a few days.

The amount of wool was so minimal in the wristers, I might have been ok to use just 1/4 tsp of Wilton's blue dye.  They came out very dark -- such a rich and deep blue. Almost black.  I love the richness in that blue -- layers of color add complexity!

I still have to add some beading for her -- Glass Czech Beads, not the cheap painted ones where the color rubs off after a while.  She will be pleased!

Laundry Basket Crumb Quilt-as-You-Go is Complete

The Laundry Basket Crumb QAYG made with 30 fat quarters.   I'm calling it The Laundry Basket Quilt because that is the coordinating fat quarter set I purchased for it.  The beauty of this one gets lost at this scale.  It's prettier close-up.  Here it looks pretty random -- The phhoto really does not do it justice.  From a distance, it kind of looks like a QR code.

 

Here it is in the washing machine while wet-fnishing.

This came together remarkably fast!  I just started it at Quilt Camp back in October, and it's already finished!  I am so pleased with it, that I am already planning to make another one, or 2. 

The blocks are 16 in x 20 in. -- a very manageable size before you put them together.  You have the quilt sandwiches ready to go, and you add the strip "toppings" by going around and around the starter block in the center.  Essentially like a wonky log cabin.  It's quite satisfying, and addicting!  It comes out looking like you spent a lot of time piecing little squares.

 

I didn't try to fussy cut this bird, but he showed up perfectly on his own! 

There is enough left over to make more ...  Maybe some some place matts or table runners?

Previous Posts about this project:

Crumb Cake Quilt as You Go: Planning a New Project for Quilt Camp in October (Feb. 2024)

     * This one includes a link to the video from the Sewing Channel explaining how to make it.  I bought the pattern, too.

 

Missives from Quilt Camp at Lake Lucerne - October 2024

Watermelon Quilt Top is Complete

 

The Watermelon Quilt Top

While I was on vacation this past week for Thanksgiving, I added the final borders to this quilt top.  I always thought of it as a picnic quilt with a watermelon theme, hence the picnic tablecloth check for the borders.

I sewed the center blocks at Quilt Camp in October.  I'd gotten a jelly roll called seedless watermelon for the center blocks.  I added some black to put the seeds back in [Wink!].    The light accent is really a light green to simulate the rind part of the watermelon.

Nic to have it done this far, though I can't say when the rest will be finished ...

Progress on the Wandering Vine Coverlet

I wove the last pattern repeat on Panel #2 of the red wandering vine coverlet.  Sigh!  There not much to show just yet, since the woven cloth is still currently wound on the cloth beam.  

According to my measurements, I think the 2nd panel may be slightly longer than Panel #1.  I guess 90 minutes on a Sunday wasn't enough to keep a steady beat -- Apparently, I need the full 3 hours as I did on the Mountain Cucumber coverlet in 4 panels.  I am hoping the panels will match up well enough to  make the pattern work.  We shall see ...

I still have several yards of warp on the loom, so I thought I would finish it off in the same wandering vine pattern for towels.  Here I've started on a sky blue Brassard cotton.  In order for the pattern weft to be thick enough for overshot, I am doubling the threads.   

I think it will be 5 pattern repeats of the sequence per towel.  The phot above shows 1 pattern repeat -- along with the treadle beads atop the beater bar.

It's the perfect time to use my Jim Hockett 2-spool bubinga shuttle.

There is a mistake in the bit woven above.  Can you see it?  I may have to pull that thread -- Then again, it's just towels!

I purchased some other colors:  cherry red - emerald green - navy blue - sky blue - and a lighter green.  It's very difficult to know the true colors when you see them online, so it was kind of a crap shoot until you can see them in real life.

Time to study and get ready for a new project!

Silk Scraps for a Crazy Quilt

Speaking of crazy quilts ...  I thought I would try working up one of my own!  This photo shows a pack of scraps from the trim off of silk saris.  Lots of glitz here!

On Etsy, I purchased some silk sari scraps from a seller in India.  Silk ties are hard to come by at the thrift stores these days, so I thought this was the most reliable way to get silk bits.

 Blues

 Burgundies

 

Grays

 

 And a 1-Kilo bag of silk scaps to add a pop of color here and there.

 

On top of that, my old friend Deb K. sent me some Italian silk remnants she had on hand.

I thought I'd use Pin Tangle's block patterns, as she mapped them out a few years ago ...  This should give me some good hand work to do at the monthly Charmers Meeting!

Karla's Silk Crazy Quilt: A Great Find at St Vinny's

 

 Karla's Crazy Quilt

 

Karla, my dear friend, eclectic antique collector and bargain hunter found this amazingly beautiful silk crazy quilt at St Vinny's in Appleton for just $6.49!  

There are a few spots where the silk is shredding, but over all it's in pretty good shape.  I would not have put it in the "cutter" category yet.  It looks like the red satin (?) backing may have been added at a later time?

It's one thing to see photos in a book or online of crazy quilts, but it's quite another to see one of these magnificent quilts -- whole in real life!  The silk and the hand stitching is really something to behold!

Now that I can see it up close, it sort of makes me want to collect silk ties for the purpose of making one of these beauties!  Or maybe ordering some silk sari scraps from India ...  Then I'd have something to do on Charmer nights!

Crazy Quilts were not meant for warmth, but for show.  These quilts typically do not have a batting, although this one seems to have a thin batting.

Here are some detail shots of some of the squares and hand stitching:

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

Missives from Quilt Camp at Lake Lucerne - October 2024

Although I didn't finish anything at Quilt Camp this year, I did make good progress on 2 big projects.

Quilt-as-You-Go Crumb Quilt from The Sewing Channel

Laundry Basket Quilts fat quarter set, plus a few extra fat quarters

 

I cut these into the strips of the recommended widths, and then reconstituted them into fat quarter strip sets, which need to be cut up again into the recommended widths. 

First Block QAYG

I only cut up enough reconstituted fat quarters to try putting together one of the actual QAYG blocks--Just to see how it would work: Proof of concept.  That process proved to be enormously satisfying, and I look forward to working on the other blocks at home.   

The method: Basically, you choose a suitable center block from your strips (in this case, the red flowers with red wheat t the center), then cut off the rest of the strip.  Turn the quilt block sandwich 90 degrees, and add another segment along that side and cut off the rest to use later ...  You just keep working around that center block, building the rows (sort of potato chip fashion) until you've filled up the rectangle.  Just make sure that the patches and seams in the latest row don't match / clash with the previous row.

The quilting seems almost invisible -- or maybe more like quilt-in-the-ditch.  You don't see that layer of top stitching as you do in other quilts.  It is melded with sewing the patches together.   You can see it on the back (sort of).  It's not pretty -- pretty "blocky" and functional.  But then, how much time do you spend looking at the back of a quilt?   I am using an old sheet for the backing because I liked the pattern.

The great part about QAYG is that the bulk of the quilting is done in bite-sized pieces. Once you get the blocks together, you're almost done!

The other project I worked on ...

The Watermelon Quilt

These blocks have been done for a while.   I just haven't wanted to do the next step of squaring them up, pressing them (yet again), laying them out on a design wall and sewing them together--until now.

At camp this year, I brought a cheap flannel-backed table cloth for a design wall.  Laura helped me tape it over the fireplace, where I could lay out the blocks and re-arrange them until I was happy with the layout.  Mostly distributing the pinks and the black watermelon seeds.  You can't really go wrong with a jelly roll, though I did add a few other colors to round it out (reds and greens).

Yes -- watermelons do have this much variety in their red to pink flesh, and the green rinds too.  Some are even yellow and orange flesh but I did not want to introduce those colors too.  In the lighter borders around each block, you can see the lighter melon rind. And of course the black seeds.  I am old enough to remember when watermelons had many more seeds than you see today.

There was some wind on Saturday evening, and it caused the fireplace to "breathe" in and out, so my design wall had some life to it.  I had to pin most of the blocks on it or they would fall off as the fireplace took a breath in and out. 

Sewing them together went faster than it does at home where I am up and down to pull and press each pair of blocks individually.  At camp, I pinned a row together so they would stay in order, and I sewed them all together at the machine, pressed the seams, put it back up on the design wall and went on to the next row.  This seemed to go faster, and I will try this workflow at home for the next quilt top that needs to come together. 

This one still needs the borders -- so there is still some work to be done before I can call it a finished quilt top.

 

Laura's Tea Cozy

At one point, Laura pulled out a box of 1-1/2 in squares cut from scraps.  I was aghast and told her to throw those away!  They were too small to work with.  Ugh!  Too small for ME to work with.  She does just fine with them.  Last year, she gifted me a postage stamp tea cozy made from such bits and scraps, for which I am very grateful to have some of Laura's handywork at home.  ;-) It is on display in the dining room, awaiting pots of tea to keep warm.

 

Sheila, Laura and Me - October 2024

Sheila learned several new skills this year: 

1. How to put on a binding by machine, and 
2. How to pin-baste a quilt sandwich and then tie a quilt with a thicker batting.
   

One of the great things about Quilt Camp is that there are veteran quilters there who will be able to help you with anything you don't know how to do yourself.  She was able to finish several quilts that have been in the works for the past few years.  She says she only quilts at this retreat, and doesn't get around to it the rest of the year.  Too busy with work and kids. 

Speaking of kids:  There was a cub scout (actually he was a Webelo, the group BEFORE cub scouts) there who asked Sheila for help in sewing his patches onto his shirt.  The iron-on method wasn't working.  He looked a lot like one of Sheila's own kids, so he must have felt comfortable asking her initially.  She pointed him to Laura who actually did the work of stitching down his patches as he watched.  That was delightful!  There was a lot of grandmother goodwill energy in that room--and we all knew how to sew.  He'd come to the right place!

Pat Schneider and her daughter Trish even came for a few hours to do handwork on Saturday, though they did not stay for the whole weekend.  It was nice to catch up with them.

Lake View from the lodge where we were working.  No Fall color yet -- not with the California weather we had in September.  I did see some of the Sumac turning red on the way home on Sunday, so it is starting ...  Also saw multiple dust devils swirling, as it has been very dry.

Ribbon on jeans - Fall Flair

 

I'd better get this posted.  Laura has been wondering if she missed it!

Navajo (Chain) Plying

Chain (Navajo) Plied Yarn 

This is my first try, so it looks a little rough -- but certainly better than the layers underneath when I first started!  It's definitely something I'll get better at with practice. 

I wanted to give this a try.  Previously when I saw it demonstrated, I was just too confused to figure it out.  But it is essentially sort of hand-crocheting.  You can ply a single strand of yarn into a 3-ply with this method.

With this method, you can chain ply an art bat and match the colors without creating a barber pole effect. And you work with what you have, so there's no running out of one bobbin. 

 

 

Here is the single strand of yarn I started with.  This was one of the bobbins that came with the Matchless Spinning Wheel.  Because it wasn't mine (ie I wasn't attached to it), I felt I could use it to practice chain plying.   It looks similar to the yarn from the art batt I spun up last week.  Hopefully, I will get better at it so that my own yarn will look good enough to be used for a future project.  

A few notes:

• Turn up the tension on your wheel, and use a larger whorl.  You want the yarn to pull onto the bobbin.
• Spin counter-clockwise for plying. 
• You may want to treadle a little slower than usual for plying.
  
• Start with a slip knot as the first loop.
  
• Think of chain plying as making giant hand crochet loops.
• Use right hand to make the loops.
• Left hand holds the top and will slide up and down, and push the plied yarn onto the bobbin.
• Watch the tension as you ply: All 3 strands should be under even tension as you ply.
  

 

For reference:

Classy Squid Fiber Co's excellent video on chain plying.