A Celebration of a Table

Recent history

 The table top is done!!! Once the grout has dried a bit, we'll mount it to the table base... I'll need to seal the grout next week as well but I'm counting it as done.

I'm very pleased with the finished product; it looks better in person that in the photo.  HOWEVER... If I didn't critique my work, then how would I become a better artistan?

I originally wanted a ring of poppies in a field of graduating color, but one I got the poppies ready to go the rest of the concept didn't work. The project went on timeout. Then one day I thought it would be awesome to do a bay laurel (a native species) leaf border, like you see on quilts; I guessed where to put it and was relatively pleased with it. That took awhile as I got tired of cutting leaves, and wasn't sure of the spacing. (More timeout.) Once I completed the leaves, I couldn't figure out what to put in the middled (Again more timeout). Somewhere in the middle of this, the garage bay that I affectionately call "Studio B" was used for storage for a variety of fiber things, sapping my gumption. Finally, I decided to put radiating leaves in the center, and almost put the table again figuring out out what to use as background; this time, I just went for it. The thin gap between the leaves and the outer border was problematic.  But I finished the table. And grouted it today.

Better in person than in the photo... Table is 2' in 
diameter (60 cm?)

So the biggest issue was the design. Had I gone into the project with a design that worked,  we'd have been using this table 5 years ago and I could have moved onto other projects that didn't make me feel bad about my decisions.

Other issues?

• I don't love the leaves in the center. But I don't hate them, and I don't know what I could have done otherwise. 
• For background areas, I need to pay attention to piece size; pieces should be fairly uniform in size, even with crazy piecing.  Also, the grout gaps should be more uniform. The ones around and between the leaves are particularly oversized, which made it hard to grout.
• The leaves are higher in some spots; I think I used more thinset under them. DH will not be happy about this! But really, neither am I.
• I don't care for the dark tiles in the outermost border; they would stand out less if they were closer to a uniform value. I almost pried them off but then decided to finish the table instead.
• The pieces between the outer border and the leaf wreath were super fussy to cut, and are a bit wonky. They only work because they're close to the color of the grout, which hides a multitude of issues. I'm happy with the result but the implementation is in response to bad design choices.
• If probably could have mixed the background color (going from light to dark) a little better.
• The background should have ended in an uninterrupted grout against the wreath. It's not bad, but it's not right.

And what pleases me about the piece?

• I really love the flowers, more so than before they were grouted. The dark grout ("Espresso") really makes them pop.  They're happy, they read to me as my beloved poppies.
• The wreath makes me happy. It gives motion to the piece, and frames the flowers nicely. 
• The dark brown border looks nice while not competing with the anything else. Instead of being a lame attempt to fill an awkward space, I think it's a nice finish.
• It's a lovely counterpart to the other table in the vicinity; different size and style but much of the same glass, and the same grout. 

The other poppy table

Postcards, knitting class teaser and mosaic table teaser!

Postcards!

 I finally got around to the next run of post cards. I recarved a block I'd already carved to fit the size constraint, and also for practice. I did a better job on the circles, but had a couple of spots where I carved too far (and one spot that I took out a chunk by mistake) but I touched up all of the mistakes... I printed these in a hurry before I left for Ashland and sent them just after I got back. The cards printed easily and were dry after 4 days. Here they are all together. Now they're all in the mail!

The motif is from a 6000 year old pot found in West Central Persia that is currently in the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. 

Postcard inspiration

I don't know what they represent; I just liked their energy and rhythm. Plus it's from the Chalcolithic period (copper age) and I had to go look the word up, which was kind of cool. I take a lot of inspirational photos when I travel, and set myself a goal to use one of them this year.

What about Ashland? I was there for a knitting class. The class sample was a baby sweater; I'm almost done with it, and will talk about the trip when I blog about the sweater. 

I also finished the tiling on the mosaic table top, should be able to clean it up tomorrow and grout later this week. I'm super excited about this.

Also, new in the freezer... I made it with Lamb merguez and it's super tasty. 

https://www.thehungrybites.com/spanish-white-bean-stew-with-chorizo-sausage/#recipe

Q3'25 FInished list (7/23)

Probably my last gnome

It feels like I haven't done much this quarter! But according to my list, I've done finished a few larger projects and some smaller ones. Here's the list:

Lily (photo in prev post).

The scarf from the Alabama Chanin class, and I've yet to photograph it.

Two Monksbelt towels in 10/2 cotton from Unspun and leftover 10/2 cottons (photo in previous post). Three more are woven but not yet wet-finished or hemmed; I'm saving them in loom state to show at the October Weave In. 

Art basket

Another knitted Gnome. 

Two baskets from a class I took with Barbara Shapiro; one is quite small and the other is here. It's clear to me that I need some technique practice. But when you make one basket every 3 years, you don't get good at it.

I have a few things that I wanted to or tried to finish. They're almost done.

• The next block is carved and ready to print the next run of postcards.
• The blue sweater is still missing it's button.
• The table is almost done; it lacks a 1.5" border (which is going to be super hard to make look right) and grout.
• The 3 additional towels can be completed (hemmed) after the weave in.

Things I'm definitely going to work on in Q4:

• The baby blanket warp from the hand painted warp ready to go on the loom; baby due in December.
• Hosting a Weave In in October, so there will be napkins for that. 
• Structures group is working on woven Sashiko, so I might try that.
• I'm heading to Oregon next week for a class with Julie Weisenberger (Cocoknits) and the sample project is a baby blanket, so that's coming. 
• DH is agitating for a new bistro table top for the pool deck. 

Note I'm also playing piano, working out a lot, and spending about 2 hours a day learning German. With the two trips I have planned and the whole holiday thing this is going to be a busy three months!!!

Almost done!!!

And f I have extra time:

• 2-3 more prints, hopefully a 2 color print in the batch. I'm thinking a monarch butterfly. Maybe some fish. Probably worthwhile thinking about the rest of the year
• Another rice bag, then I can get rid of the box of parts. The pieces are quilted and waiting for embellishment.
• Another little gnome, then I can get rid of the rest of the class yarn and get rid of the box all the bits and pieces are stored in.
• Doubleweave pillows; pattern is drafted, yarn is on the shelf waiting.
• Quilt the pink hawaiian baby quilt
• Finish one of the unfinished quilts. (niemeyer)
• Stepping stones.

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I'll continue to include the UFO LIST from way back just to keep me honest... Not shorter this quarter but.... it will be.

Knitting: 

1. Anna Zilboorg Sweater- I need to fish it out and make a plan 
2. A Capella- frog and return the yarn to the yarn pool 
3. Sunset and Sand- needs a decision frog or finish! 
4. The jacket with the embroidery that needs rework. If I recall correctly there's an issue with the collar, and the sleeves, and I'm not sure what else...

Weaving:

1. This is super easy, since it's either on the loom or not...  
2. There are have three ikat warps (two from Indonesia, and one from a friend) that need weaving. 
3. There are a number of warps I pulled for a dyeing class then got a sick and missed it.

Quilting (Can the list really still be this long?):

1. Fan blocks: I've been dithering about what to do with them for 25 years or so.
2. The first Judy Niemeyer quilt (straighter pieces): I may need to figure out setting strips but otherwise I think I photoed a layout and I should be ready to finish the top.
3. The second Judy Niemeyer class (curved pieces): I stopped while piecing the top together but I did photo the layout; so I need to remember what I was doing and do it.
4. Judy Niemeyer place mat kit: it's in the bookshelf, waiting to be made.
5. Chili pepper quilt: Ick. Maybe donate?
6. Around the Twist quilt: It's done except I think a couple of the corners need sewing? This'll probably go to donation
7. One or two Hawaiians? (small) that need quilting One blue, one pink Where is the blue hawaiian?
8. A cute but fussy quilt that I started in pinks and blues but I'm not sure I'm precise enough to finish
9. I thought of another but can't lay my hands on it or remember now what it was so...

• Sewing:

• Spinning:
• Ugh. I need to eval

Mosaic:

1. A table: Unsure of how I want the background to be
2. Stepping stones: there's an area I made that needs rework.

Meager update....

We've been travelling a bit... which has made it hard for me to keep up any sense of daily rhythm... Plus between learning German and practicing piano and working out and fighting off those summer colds, I haven't had much time for other things.  

I'm working on a stranded round yoked sweater... I'm partway through the stranded part, heading for the body.

I now have 2 naked looms again; I wove 5 towels on the warp I did for napkins; will post pics of those shortly. I have plans for the real napkins, plus two baby blankets and will start on that shortly.

Hoping to finish 3 of the towels, one gnome, and the table before the end of the month.... We'll see. 

I found a recipe for chipotle shrimp on corncakes with salsa fresca in a Santa Fe School of Cooking cookbook. Excellent! No photos. If I make it again I'll try to reduce the butter and figure out another way to infuse the shrimp with the smokey chipotle goodness...

Speaking of the southwest, I'll put the restaurant list from our last trip in here:

Lunches:

• Atrisco's  
• Kakawa (okay, we had ice cream for lunch)
• Canyon Cafe (new to us, very tasty lunch spot high up on Canyon)
• La Choza (ALWAYS a good idea)
• The restaurant at the top of the tramway in ABQ (go for the view, not the food)
• Duran Central Pharmacy in ABQ (go to Anita's instead)

Dinners:

• The Shed
• Pink Adobe
• Joseph's Culinary Pub
• Sazon
• Paper Dosa 
• Mesa Provisions in ABQ (used to be Zinc, super tasty)

I finished something!

Lily’s first night out. Wow! I’m looking old

Lily is complete. I need new knitting!! I'm waffling between another gnome, a shawl/poncho thing in cotton (with sequins!) or a sweater using the gnome yarn, cause let's be real, I'm never going to make that many gnomes.

Plus I could use a new warm sweater for my fall trip.

I just signed up for a jacket class with Threads...  They'd sent an email this morning with a broken link; I notified them about the link et Voila! I got a 35% discount. I have some fabric from Japan, hoping I can use that.

I’m mostly done with the Alabama Chanin scarf with the embroidered ends, more on that in a later post. I really enjoy the techniques and am looking forward to further experimentation.

I wound 5 100g ish hanks of that 10/2 cotton and dyed it using procion dyes in these colors: Avocado, Green Lantern, Indigo, and Grecian Sea. A couple spots are lighter than expected but otherwise I declare them glorious.  Photos when I start weaving with them. I was debating how to get them from the hanks onto the loom (yarn handling is always entertaining as it will tie itself in knots if not properly supervised), so I ordered a cone winder from Dreaming Robots. It arrives on Friday.

Still working on the table...

The little loom is finally warped. I had issues…  I cataloged them in an email to K, but I’m going to skip it here. Let’s just say I’m up and weaving. I’m going to play with some weft choices and wet finish a sample  to see what folks want to do for the weave it. The goal will be to weave a couple of towels to take to the folks at Unspun when we tour there in September.  The big loom will get baby blankets in the newly dyed yarn. 

I’ve also finally been working on the table top, on Monday mornings while the house is being cleaned. Apparently I can make a lot of progress in an couple hours per week. The wreath is complete except for one leaf, which I need to recut. I'm pleased that nothing feels off center to me. The background will be in tans, grout will be black. 

One last photo… I’m taking German again from the Goethe institute, and in our last unit we read a recipe for Zwiebelkuchen. So I baked one. What was interesting to me was that the dough for the crust is yeasted; next time I'll make it thinner. Also, one recipe said to mix the onions in with the filling, and one said to pour the filling over the onions; if I make it again, I'll mix them (there was too much separation). It was especially delicious with this most excellent Austrian Riesling.

Hausgemachter Zwiebelkuchen mit einem österreichischen Riesling

Q2'25 (4/16)

Not a lot done...

• 
• Another rice bag (there's a separate post on this).
• Two Gnomes (pictured along with the first one). I did dye 9 different colors of yarn for the gnomes, so that's something, right? And I have a lot of yarn that'll be leftover. Thinking of a sweater.
• Alabama Channin class sample (no photo). This is an intriguing combo of cotton jersey, stenciling and hand embroidery; I've completed the sample and am ready to start on the scarf kit. Thinking of doing some more of her projects (and in fact, just ordered some fabric!)

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I had a lot on the list from last quarter that I didn't do. I came back from the CNCH/Scotland/Portland triple header with some sort of non-Covid ick, and so far haven't been motivated to do anything much in the studio, or really anything much at all.

There's a CNCH class sample: I have a bobbin full of singles from the CNCH class, not sure what to do with these.

I do have the following that I'm working on:

• Lily Sweater, designed by Dan Doh. It's an oversize lacy pullover in linen; I've got it all done except for one sleeve. 
• The April cardigan still just needs button and the ends woven in...
• I cut the rest of the leaves for the mosaic table, now I need to make some design decisions and get to work on finishing it.
• I'm pretty sure I plied up a bunch of the singles I had sitting around but I can't remember? I'm sure they're here somewhere.
• I've started warping a loom but it's slow going.

In the past few quarterly recaps, I've added the list of unfinished projects and things I want to work on. I'm going to omit that this time and see if it changes how I feel about getting things done.

Dal and not a lot else....

I've been travelling a lot; three weeks in Northern England/Scotland, and then a 4 day girls trip to Portland... And I came home with that chest cold that's going around Europe. And I've been actively avoiding my studio. Not sure why? But it feels a little like an existential crisis. At some point I'll get to the bottom of it.

We did some shopping in Portland... I would have to recommend Northwest Wools and For Yarn's Sake! Ritual Dyes was also awesome; they do a lot of their own dyeing (not exclusively) and I came home with enough of their house-dyed linen for a goregous summer top.

What exactly have I been working on?

• I spent this morning cleaning out the mosaic studio and am working towards the next step towards finishing it. That was especially good because I may be looking at glass tomorrow on an expedition to see my sister.
• I finished the front and back of the Dan Doh Lily sweater; I'll need to blocks those before I can sew them together and pick up and knit the sleeves on.
• As "idiot knitting", I've cast on another gnome. A nearly finished gnome that I started in Portland just needs stuffing.
• I took an Alabama Channin class (with P.!) in embellishing with embroidery... I've worked through the class sampler. It's quite a bit of fun. I'll be starting on a scarf where the ends are embelllished (adding beads). Right now trying to figure that out. 
• I started warping the loom for another Weave In, but only have 2 other people who can come... I think we're going to cancel and move to November or January. Meanwhile, I need to figure out what to do with my warp... 

I did make this dal recipe and promptly forgot the tadka. It was awesome anyways. I made a double recipe using all red lentils. I'm now looking for something else to fill up the freezer...

I do hate a post without a photo; then the Thumbnail is so boring. Here's my boy enjoying a warm June day, right before he rolls in the dirt and becomes a disgusting ball of dirt.

Currently clean, not for long