This blog records my experiments and successes with fabric and fibers, surface design, stitching, weaving, photography and whatever else strikes my fancy. Enjoy ...
I've been wanting to do this for a while now. My biggest challenge was enlarging the pattern to the right size. When I finally did that, and copied it onto the quilting paper that I could sew through, I was finally ready to begin stitching.
I used a lovely blue dyed fabric, with a piece of an old quilted mattress pad. The fitted part (the part that keeps it on your mattress) often wears out before the padded part on top, and they make great battings for projects like this, or a wall hanging because they don't sag like cotton or natural fibers might. And they give a lovely puff / loft to the quilting. That's the waste-not/want not recycler in me determined to use it up before throwing something out.
Here it is from the back side / batting side.
The design is Circle Wreath by Susan Mallet from 2008.
My Pinterest feed has been littered with naturally dyed easter eggs. And this year, people are getting some very nice blues ... I was intrigued and wanted to try it with red cabbage. My first thought was "No way!" Who knew you could get gorgeous blue-green eggs from rad cabbage? Really? Yes-- It's true!
The color changes from blue to green, depending on the light and time of day. It's pretty neat!
Red Cabbage (Technique explained here.)
I chopped up half a red cabbage and boiled it for about 90 minutes. I could clearly see the purple color leach out of the cabbage and into the water. I strained out the plant fiber, reserving the dye water. Added about 2/3 cup of white vinegar. and plopped my boiled eggs. And let them sit overnight in the fridge. I know from experience that the blues are the last color to strike when it comes to food coloring. And the extra vinegar helps. What a delight to find this lovely blue in the morning!
And because they are temporary (meaning: we're going to eat them), I feel the need to document the the colors and textures on these lovely blue eggs, so here are the individual portraits of my Red Cabbage dyed Ostara eggs. So here they are:
I always have to look this up when I'm finishing a quilt binding. How long to cut the tails -- How to lay them out -- Which direction to sew the seam.
I have instructions and there are special rulers, but you have to watch the accompanying video because the ruler is not intuitive. There are other videos with printed instructions, but there's a page missing when you print it ... and a key step is missing, making it impossible to carry out.
This one takes the math out of the equation, and makes it so simple, I might even remember what to do next time. Just in case, I'm saving the video here for safe-keeping!
Here's the written version of this method. The beauty is that you don't have to measure or think about any math. You just use the width of the binding strip you're already using. That makes it so simple!
I thought it was time to make a video demonstrating how the bead system works to track treadle sequences on the floor loom. This topic comes up regularly on the 4-shaft weaving groups. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be golden, right?
This particular overshot / shadow weave pattern* has 72 [Yikes!] treadlings per each pattern repeat. I would not have been able to keep track of it on paper with paperclips or post-it notes, or even the Treadle Tracker in iWeaveIt on the iPad. This one is far too complicated for my little brain to memorize.
Because the bead system is so much more akin to the motion / movement of weaving, it lets me stay in stride with the dance of weaving. I'm not having to stop the flow and find my place on a paper pattern, or move a marker up the page. I know that works for some weavers -- More power to you!
Each bead has a number corresponding to a treadle / foot pedal on my 4-shaft floor loom.
Treadles from left to right:
Treadles 1+3 For plain weave / tabby - correspond to shafts 1 and 3 raised together
Treadle 1 - corresponds to Shaft 1
Treadle 2 - corresponds to Shaft 2
Treadle 3 - Corresponds to Shaft 3
Treadle 4 - Corresponds to Shaft 4
Treadles 2+4 For plain weave / tabby - correspond to shafts 2 and 4 raised together.
I keep the plain weave pedals on the outsides to "walk" the plain weave.
In this configuration, I know that the throw with the black yarn is the plain weave, and it always follows after the red shot (the pattern weave).
See the separate post on "programming" the string of beads to track the treadles.
I start out reading the beads on the LEFT side. The numbered bead tells me what treadle to push for the red lines. When I've thrown the shot for the red line, I move the corresponding to the left, leaving an opening to mark my place.
Next, I throw a line for the black yarn. It always follows behind the read, and is always a tabby / plain weave shot. although I programmed it with beads to tell me to go left or right, it was easier to just think of it as following behind the read line. For this particular pattern, I am always throwing the black shuttle towards the treadle that is down. In other words, if the red is already on the right side, and the black starts on the left, I know to press the 6th treadle (2+4) to open the correct tabby shed. Then I throw the black shuttle to be on the same side as the read. When I pull the beater forward, I also push the corresponding bead to the left. This goes on until I've gone through the entire sequence of 72 picks. By then, ALL the beads have been pushed to the left side with an opening on the right. Then it's time to push them all back over to the right side and start again.
It really is a brilliant don't-make-me-think system. Ok--you DO have to think hard about setting everything up, but after that, you can go on autopilot and the weaving becomes a nice meditation, without too much trying to focus middle-aged eyes on tiny print in the paper pattern.
* The pattern is the Circles Scarf kit from Yarn Barn of Kansas. Rodrigo Monteiro, a fellow weaver in some of my weaving FB Groups, identified it as the pattern called 'Old Linen Weave' is from MP Davison's green book page 137 (not sure which edition).
Finished this little wall hanging of winter trees. I cut out the trees last fall at Quilt Camp, and am just now getting around to stitching it all down, quilting it and binding it. Just in time for Spring!
The pattern is by Laundry Basket Quilts.
The fabrics came in a kit purchased at the quilt shop in Antigo, WI -- back when they had a quilt shop. It came with some wonderful fabric suitable for the trees. I'll be keeping the scraps for future trees in other projects. ;-)
I finished the experimental pair of socks on the 1/4-inch 56-peg CinDWood loom, using Paton's sock yarn, size #1. It's a really nice color -- Cadet. It's a thinner yarn than I was accustomed to using.
By the end, I just wanted to be done with them. Some people swear by Paton's sock yarn -- I don't quite see what all the fuss is about. The colors are nice -- and yes, it's real wool. But it has a roughness / coarseness that I did not feel in alpaca or in the merino Marly Bird Chic Sheep yarn (which is my preference). I am hoping it was just some stabilizer that would wash out once it was wet finished. [They do seem a little softer and fluffier after wet-finishing.] And they are definitely snugger than my previous socks made from thicker yarns--That was the point of this little experiment, to make some socks I might actually be able to wear to work in regular shoes.
Since it is a #1 size yarn, I had to make some slight adjustments in my usual sock pattern--mostly more rounds for the length of the foot. I had just a small ball of yarn left for each sock. I could have done several more rounds on the leg and cuffs, but, like I said, I just wanted it to be over sooner that later. It's a slightly snugger fit than the Marly Bird socks.
Toes - 9 in and 9 out
Foot - 75 - 80 rounds?
Heel - 9 in and 9 out
Leg - 45 rounds
Cuff - 25 rounds K2 P2
Super stretchy bind off.
