Amazing!

Vintage Stitchers met on Thursday at Barbara's. She was trying to get some advice about her new batik quilt.

The pattern is a "block of the month" (BOM) from Kreative Threads. The pattern name is “Bits and Pieces.”

Barbara put the quilt on the piano so we could stand back and look at it to help her make decisions about borders. What it came down to is, what do you like? Rebecca and I liked the dark inner border with the medium batik for the outer border. Some of the others preferred a more complicated border, such as the one in the pattern. 

I’ll let you know what she does.

Barbara was also working on this tessellation quilt:

Rebecca was sewing the binding on her 1600 quilt. 

This is an easy, easy quilt, but the fabric selections can make it spectacular!

Janet made some charity stockings. A local quilt shop owner let her have the panels from the sale section. She often does that for charity projects. 

She's also binding a mostly batik quilt:

Saturday was the weavers' guild meeting (Mary Meigs Atwater Weavers Guild).

We met at the home of one of the members. The place was fantastic, even without the sheep, goats and dogs.

Sage is a boy sheep who has become a pet because of all the difficulties he had at birth and growing up. (I say, "boy sheep," because he's still pretty young. Also, he's been neutered.)

He wandered through the area where we were having our meeting. I think the dogs think he’s just a different breed of dog.

One of the guild members taught us how to make wet-felted bowls, vases and purses from wool roving. She had some lovely examples of what you could do with the finished items. Some were embellished with needle-felted motifs or embroidered or crocheted flowers, leaves and in one case, ants.

Balloons were used to give the projects a hollow shape. The roving was smoothed over the balloons. 

Then they put panty hose over everything and washed them in soap and water with lots of whacking on the cement. (I heard at least one balloon pop!)

The finished projects were very pretty, and no two were alike. 

We shared a potluck lunch, and then had a tour of the log home, which our hostess and her husband had built mostly by themselves.

The antique furnishings gave it a museum-like feeling. It was also relaxed, though, if you can image a relaxed museum!

She had craft areas all over the house, including two floor looms, but here's where she does her sewing: 

There were sheep, goats and dogs everywhere. They were very entertaining!

We had a great time! I found out that I'm all signed up for the guild's rug class with Jason Collingwood in November. I can hardly wait! The guild rents table looms for members’ use, and I’m signed up for one, since I can’t haul my lovely floor loom to class.

In the meantime, the Warm Colorway Placemats are coming along. The third one is finished:

The white stripe at the upper edge (the last part woven) is waste yarn. I'm putting 2" of waste yarn between the placemats instead of sticking in a lease stick. I think it will make it easier to finish off the fringe, because it will stay put until I get the last pick sewn down.

This is my second set of pretty much the same placemats with a change in colorway. I decided that, to make the work more interesting, I would rotate the color order, so each placemat would be different, but still with all the same colors.

The Waffle sweater is almost to the armholes. The second panel of the Delectable Pathways quilt is almost done; just finishing up the embroidery. Some spinning to do yet on the Caramel roving. It’s getting chilly, so I think it’s time to finish my Dogwood Blossoms Cardigan. And we’re starting to practice for the Park City Singers' holiday concert.

Finally, happy 48th anniversary to my often-loveable DH, Charlie, since September 15, 1965. If we don’t kill each other, we’ll stay married a few more years. (If that isn't amazing, I don't know what is!) And happy birthday to him as well, on Thursday!

What's on my needles: Waffle sweater, Dogwood Blossoms

What's on my loom: Warm Colorway Placemats, one more to go.

What's on my Featherweight: Still the Delectable Pathways quilt.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving “Caramel,” second bobbin almost done.

What's on my iPad: Just finished Debbie Macomber’s Starting Now. Now reading Pittacus Lore’s I am Four. Both of these are audiobooks from the library by way of the OverDrive app. Also reading the eBook, Imperfect Pairings by Jackie Townsend from BookBub on the Kindle app.

What's my app of the week: Instagram. I haven't used it much yet, but it’s pretty easy. I got it so I could participate in KnitPicks' Instagram contest, "Yarn With A View." I also downloaded The Recipe Box from the app store. It’s an app that allows you to input your own recipes. I’ll let you know in a future blog

What's in my wine glass: Big House Red 2011 vintage. Very nice!

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