High Fiber--Happy Memorial Day!

We had Vintage Stitchers at my house on Thursday. Barbara finished sewing the binding on this quilt while she was here.

Carol has been working on this "moment of insanity" quilt. (I've had several like that.) The reason it's a moment of insanity quilt is because she had no idea how many blocks she was going to have to make, and then she lost track and made too many.

The extras ended up on the back:

Janet makes a lot of charity quilts. Here's her latest:

She has an eye for color. They are comfort quilts. She backs them with flannel or Minky.

I worked on my appliqué for the Delectable Pathways quilt. I'm almost done with the first of the three panels.

I finished my first woven rug. It was a little wonky, but I thought I would fix some of that with wet finishing (blocking). Here's how I blocked it: I sewed some overcast sts along each selvedge to hold the blocking wires.

Then I soaked the rug in Kookaburra Wool Wash for half an hour, turning it over halfway through. Here's the rug blocking:

When it was dry, I was pleased with the rug. It wasn't perfect, but most of the distortion was gone. Here's the rug in powder room:

I've started the second rug. I've decided to stick with stripes until I take the rug class in November.

The yarn is Wool of the Andes Bulky in various colors for weft and Maysville 8/4 Cotton Carpet Warp in natural for warp.

I've been reading about rug making, and read in The Craft of the Weaver by Ann Sutton, Peter Collingwood and Geraldine St. Aubyn Hubbard. One of the things I read was when weaving a weft-faced rug (one where the warp is covered up more or less completely) you should beat with the shed still open, beat again with the shed closed and beat a third time with the next shed open. I've been doing this, and the warp threads disappear completely.

Here's a closeup, showing how the warp threads are completely covered up:

Speaking of the class in November, Karan, Margareth and I ordered our yarn for the class:

The four cones in front are mine: Brick, Mushroom, Dune and Chocolate. Karan's are upper right and Margareth's are upper left. The yarn is Collingwood Rug Yarn. WEBS was having a sale for all of May, and this was included in the sale yarns, so we bought it, even though we don't need it until November.

I finally finished the first of my Fiji Socks. I started these in Wisconsin before Zachary was born, so that was more than a year ago. The second one will probably go faster. For me, "second-sock syndrome" means I can't put down the second sock until it's done. Although I have a lot of pots on the stove right now....

The yarn is Stroll Glimmer in "Fiji." (Hence the name.) Too bad the angelina doesn't show up well. It's very sparkly. I'll try to post a photo taken in daylight closeup. Maybe it will show up then.

Saturday was a very nice day, so we took the pups and went for a late-afternoon hike. some of the wildflowers are blooming already, especially the Balsam Root, shown here with Rocky and Sunny.

They look as if they just had a tiff and aren't speaking, but they really are best pals, and this was the only one with the sun on Rocky's face. (Black poodles are so hard to photograph!)

For a gratuitous baby photo, I thought you would enjoy seeing Soren in his new bike helmet, getting ready for his first bike ride:

May we remember those who have worn our uniform and be worthy of their sacrifice.

What's on my needles: Daphne's Bunny Suit, front and back done. Ready to start the sleeves, and Fiji Socks.

What's on my loom: The second and bigger rug. It's going better than the first.

What's on my iPad: Listening to another Audible audiobook, D. E. Stevenson's The Musgraves, and various podcasts, including Seyne Mitchell's Weavecast and Benjamin Levisay's Fiber Hooligan podcast, new episode available today.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Espresso." Finished the first bobbin.

What's on my Featherweight: Delectable Pathways, blocks finished, and making progress on the appliqué.

What's in my wine glass: Scheid's Gewurtztramiemer 1999. We didn't expect a white this old to still be good after all these years, but it was wonderful!

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.