Quilting Fun

Veronika is my quilter.

She went with me this week to Davidene's to each a class in hand quilting. I sat her in her little chair and asked the students to tell me what she needed. We got: pillow, footstool, water bottle, quilt, hoop, needle, thread, thimble (that fits—not easy for her tiny fingers), scissors and some entertainment, like music or a good audiobook. I used her quilt to show how to handle quilting over and along seams, but otherwise, my life-size demo was done with the whole cloth quilt I'm working on, because it was easier for students to see on a solid, light-colored background.

We thought the class went well, and the students said they were very excited about doing some hand-quilting now. My handout is here.

Davidene had this quilt to show.

The fabric manufacturer had a pattern to use with these fabrics, but Davidene and her staff designed their own, using some ideas they liked from the pattern.

Another student showed us this appliqué project. It's all wool, except for some of the leaves and the embroidery.

There's an ant to the right of the vase, but it doesn't show up very well in the photo. Very cute!

It was past Veronika's bedtime when we got home. She slept late, but she needed a very big mug of coffee when she got up.

Thursday morning I went to Common Threads at Karan's. She had placed her appliqué quilt on the wall over the fireplace.

Karan has been working on come cutwork and had this to show.

She had finished working on this wool flannel appliqué...

...and these snack bags.

Kathleen was knitting, but she had brought this beaded hummingbird to restring. It's supposed to hang from fishing line from the ceiling at a window, and the line had broken.

In the meantime, I had finished the Russian dress I was trying to reverse-engineer a pattern for (make up a pattern by looking at the finished project).

The resulting pattern is here. 

I wanted it a little snugger at the waist, so I'm working on improvements while knitting another one.

In the meantime, I left Lotte sitting on the windowsill by the back door too long, and she discovered how to make the garage door go up and down. 

We gave our piano to a family with several children who are learning to play. They picked it up on Saturday.

The new rail went in on Friday. It's a big drop down the stairs from that spot. All that kept the grandkids from diving off before was the piano. 

What's on my needles: Still the Coastal Skies, a little more progress made, and the second Russian Dress.

What's on my Featherweight: More miscellaneous things to sort through.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, but a lot of progress made this week.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is in hibernation. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Now listening to A Higher Loyalty by James Comey. Interesting so far.

What's in my wine glass: Charles Shaw (Two-buck Chuck) Merlot. Good value.

What's my tip of the week: When you knit a cardigan with built-in button/buttonhole bands, make the buttonholes at both ends. This is easy enough to do, and the ones you don’t need to use can be used for button placement. The added advantage is, if anyone ever wants to change the buttons to the other side (to hand the cardigan down to a younger sibling of the opposite sex, for instance), the buttonholes are there. Or if you’re making a baby cardigan and you don’t know the baby’s gender yet. 

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

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Fun with Friends

Common Threads met out in Midway on Thursday.


Ginny is making progress on the hand-quilting of her pillow shams, and Lynda modeled her latest chapeau (another project for a friend).


Janalee, our host, was crocheting a chemo hat, and Georgette had a small needlepoint project to work on.


DGD1 brought her garter stitch scarf to work on.


Julie's working on this sweater for her DGD1:


She had already finished this BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket) for her DGD2.


For something a little different, Angie shows off the Dream Catcher she finished at Common Threads.


Angie is the author of the novel Copper Descent, which I just picked up from Kindle.

Ginny showed us how to make an apron from a pair of old jeans. She cut the front off, leaving the waist band and the seat down to where it starts to curve for the crotch. You use the front closure to fasten in the back.


Here Ginny shows the finished apron, which she presented to me.


I've been collecting fabrics mostly in these colors.


I'm planning on using them in the Pine Burr quilt from McCall's Quilting magazine, May/June 2012.

I think I've learned enough about paper piecing that I'm ready to start on it. However I have a class at Davidene's on Wednesday from 11-1, so I'll be starting that first, although I may try just one block, just to see. The class at Davidene's is based on Tales of First Ladies by Eleanor Burns. They're making a stack of fat quarters in Civil War fabrics available at a great price, so I plan on using those.

We've been walking the dogs on the street, because it's too muddy on the trails and there's very little snow. I think the northeast got all of our snow this year. The local resorts have snow, though. (They can make it.) We try to get out and walk on the days we don't have an exercise class.

DGD1 brought home a new friend to knit with. While DGD worked on this scarf with some new (to her) stitches, I taught the friend how to use two circular needles to knit in the round. She did some stash diving in Grandma's little yarn store and came up with some yarn for a hat. During the times when they didn't need my help, I organized my fabrics for the Pine Burr quilt, so it will be ready to go. I also tidied up my studio a bit and put away a bunch of interchangeable needles I had just lying around.

What's on my needles: Brick Cardigan, second sleeve coming along well. (It looks the same as in last week's blog post, except that there are now two sleeves.)

What's on my Featherweight: Mending, but I'm ready to start a new quilt on Wednesday. I have a class at Davidene's at 11:00 AM, so will have to pack up my baby and include some supplies and equipment.

What's on my loom: Still some warp for another scarf, but still folded up.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished In the Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotsen. Now listening to The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen from Audible. Just started Angie's book, Copper Descent, on the Kindle app.

What's my app of the week: Virtuoso Piano from this website (there are several other piano apps), for figuring out what notes I'm supposed to sing in a piece were singing Sunday at church.

What's in my wine glass: Woodbridge Zinfandel 2013. Always nice.

What's my tip of the week: This tip came from someone in the Just Us Quilters group on Facebook. She cuts up her larger leftovers into squares and triangles, and keeps them near her sewing machine. When she's piecing a quilt and needs to start or finish sewing by using a small scrap of cloth, she sews together two squares or triangles instead. When she has enough of them, she uses them in a quilt.


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

Classy Clasps and Shifty Shafts

Last weekend was the rug weaving class with Jason Collingwood, "Four-end Blockweaves." 

We met at the Officer's Club at Ft. Douglas in Salt Lake City. The class was sponsored by the Mary Meigs Atwater Weavers Guild.

Jason Collingwood is a world-renowned rug weaver and teacher located in Colchester in Essex, England. For a month or two every year, he travels the world and teaches rug weaving. He also sells his rugs and will weave them to order. He's the son of another famous rug weaver, Peter Collingwood, who authored and coauthored a number of books on weaving. Have a look at his gallery!

The class started on Saturday, November 9th, and ended on Monday, November 11th, Veterans' Day. I was afraid that much of it would be way over my head, but the hardest parts were just barely over my head, which made it possible to just about get everything. Jason is not only a wonderful weaver; he's also a fantastic teacher. 

Here are a few of the things we learned:

Jason showed us how to start a rug with twining, and we got to practice at the beginning of our own rugs. 

Here he demonstrates starting a new yarn:

And here, weaving in ends:

We learned the correct way for placing a temple:

These rugs are double thickness, with the upper layer thrown through the shed alternately with the lower level. Block weaves create a pattern on both sides, with the pattern on the back appearing in the opposite colors from those on the front. With my rug, the brown will be the background on the back, and the beige will be the pattern. Here's what I had at the end of the first day.

It doesn't look like much progress, but some time was spent with lecture, questions and demonstrations. Of course, the fact that I had to pick out a lot might have something to do with my lack of progress. At least I wasn't the only one who had to do that. 

Here are the students ready for day two.

There's lots to learn. Jason wrote out the "formulas" for various patterns on the board and drew diagrams to illustrate what he was talking about. 

We learned how to clasp two yarns in a pick to get three colors in our pattern without adding another layer. Here he shows us how to get enough weft in the shed using the clasp. I had actually tried this before, after reading about it in one of Joanie's magazines, so I caught on to this technique quickly. 

What I didn't remember (although I could have read it, but didn't understand it because I had no idea that you could weave with two layers) was how to hide the connection where the two yarns clasp. If you place it where the background is, it doesn't show. 

Here's my progress at the end of day two. I used the clasping technique to get the orange color into the rug.

On the last day, we learned some more sophisticated techniques. Jason showed us how to set up the loom for shaft-switching:

This allows for more flexibility in patterns with the same warp by allowing you to move individual warp threads from one shaft to another one simply by pulling the thread closer either to one heddle or an adjacent one. (Jason has levers for this on his own looms.)

Using a pick-up stick can accomplish the same thing as shaft-switching, but takes longer.

Here Jason uses this nifty tool to demonstrate how to create a number of different finishes for a rug.

Margareth finished her rug with twining similar to the twining she began with.

Here Jason is taking Margareth's rug off the loom to demonstrate how it's done:

Here's my three-days' work: 12" using a variety of different techniques. The embossed technique is called "Summer and Winter," because it makes it thinner but denser in some areas. The thinner parts are reversed on the back.

I'm continuing to work on my little rug at home, so I can solidify what I've learned. The most challenging part? Using the technique for being able to weave a greater variety of patterns and still alternate colors, which gives you a better selvedge. That was a real brain-twister!

Vintage Stitchers met on Thursday. Rebecca brought out the scarf I wove for her with her Koigu yarn. She was very happy with it. 

Here's Rebecca's baby quilt. She had been invited to a baby birthday party. Julie said she would make her a photo-transfer label for the back, based on the invitation to the party, which featured photos of the one-year-old little girl, whom her family refers to as "Monkey." 

She based this quilt on this one of Julie's, which has a turtle in the lower left-hand corner. Turtle is what they call Julie's granddaughter. (You may have seen this quilt in one of my previous blogs.)

Rebecca's finished her wall quilt, and here it is, installed above her bedroom door. She needed a ladder and help to put it up. 

This week's cuteness: Daphne needed to have an unpleasant invasive procedure at the hospital, but she was a trooper. Her reward was a lolly, something she doesn't get often.

We had several days of snow this week, but I'll spare you the photos. I'm already dreaming of taking the trailer to Southern Utah for a holiday!

What's on my needles: Green Pastures cardigan for Daphne, first sleeve done. Dogwood Blossoms, Christmas Waffle sweater and Green Tea socks with the heel almost done. 

What's on my loom: Little progress on the Christmas present scarves. The smaller loom is the one I took to the class with Jason Collingwood. Finishing up the warp, so I can return the loom.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Wolf". First bobbin finished. No progress this week. 

What's on my Sewing needles, Featherweight: Delectable Pathways, piecing the Delectable Mountain block panels. Appliqué panel #3, No progress this week.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: I was listening to The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore on the Overdrive app, but got busy because of the class, and it expired. Someone else has it, so I've reserved it again. In the meantime, I'm listening to Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer. Still reading Cry of the Peacock by V. R. Christensen on the Kindle App, purchased through BookBub. Intriguing story. Listening to the Fiber Hooligan podcast and the Knit Picks podcast.

What's my app of the week: Turner Classic Movies has an app that allows you to watch right on the app. It's called "Watch TCM."

What's in my wine glass: Crane Lake Malbec 2011. One of our favorites. 

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

Warped in Mind, Body and Looms

The first Waffle Scarf is coming along. I warped the loom for three, if things work out.

Of course, if I run out of weft (not likely) I can switch to a different yarn, but there should be enough warp for three. It's a waffle pattern normally used for dish towels. I found it on the Internet. I thought it might be warm and fun to do. So far, I've confirmed the fun part. I also warped the small rented table loom for the rug class with Jason Collingwood, which started Saturday and continues through today. I should have a full report next week. 

Common Threads met at Lynda's last week. Julie brought Margareth's quilted blanket, which will be finished just in time for winter. 

Margareth did the weaving, and Julie quilted it with Minky on the back. The quilting pattern is snowflakes. It doesn't show up very well in the photo, because Minky is so shiny. 

Lynda showed us her "evening hat." It's an evening hat because it took an evening to knit it, and she can wear it when she goes out for evening. 

Georgette had finished this scarf. 

And Karan had made a poncho from the same pattern Joanie used for her purple poncho several months ago. 

Chablis paid us a visit. She's very sweet, and she gets along well with Lynda's dog and two cats. 

I started a cardigan for Daphne during the meeting. It's a priority, because it would be nice if I can finish it in time for Christmas. 

I'm calling it "Green Pastures," and I'm using Swish Worsted in Dublin, White and Black. The pattern is "Welcome to the Flock" from Moth Heaven. 

The pattern is designed for babies, but I'm making it with thicker yarn and bigger needles, and I'm pretty sure it will come out big enough for Daphne. Wherever the pattern refers to inches, I convert the inches to rows or sts based on gauge for the original pattern, and then convert the rows or sts to the gauge I'm getting with the Swish and larger needles. The pattern is thicker around the waist to allow for a diaper, (not needed for Daphne) so I just started out with the number of sts needed around the chest and eliminated the decreases. It's going fast. I think I have enough yarn to make a smaller one for Soren. Zachary will get to wear this one when Daphne grows out of it. 

It has been a week dedicated mostly to weaving adventures. I was feeling bad about having nothing to show quilters this week, so I went through some of my old photos and scanned in this one of my "Stars of Yesterday" quilt. 

It's made up of Ohio Star blocks on point with a border of flying geese. I used 19th Century reproduction fabrics and heavily quilted it with feather wreaths in the plain blocks. Getting the border to fit was tricky with all those seams. Any other quilters ever have that problem?

Just for fun, I thought I'd share this photo Susan the Blue Lake Knitter brought to my attention on Facebook: a new breed of fiber animal, perhaps? Let's call it a Sheepoodle. 

You can read the true story of this amazing creature here.

I thought you needed a dose of cuteness, too, so here's a shot of Daphne in her dance class. She seems to be a natural, like her mother.

What's on my needles: Dogwood Blossoms, Christmas Waffle sweater, and Green Tea socks with the heel almost done. First Green Pastures cardigan started and a few inches done.

What's on my loom: Oh, no! I have two looms with warp on each! Making progress on the Christmas present scarves. The smaller loom from the guild is being used for the class. Photos next week. 

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Wolf". First bobbin finished. No progress this week. 

What's on my Sewing needles, Featherweight: Delectable Pathways, piecing the Delectable Mountain block panels. Appliqué panel #3, No progress this week.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore on the Overdrive app. Reading Cry of the Peacock by V. R. Christensen on the Kindle App, purchased through BookBub. Listening to the Fiber Hooligan podcast and the Knit Picks podcast.

What's my app of the week: iWeaveIt, the weaving app for iPad. I used it for e first time to make a draft for the class project. I'm finding it easy to use, and it was useful for warping the table loom for my class. Maybe the best part is, it's much, much cheaper than the desktop version, and it does everything I need to be able to do.

What's in my wine glass: Sutter Home Cabernet Sauvignon 2011. Lovely. 

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