Spring-like projects!

It feels like anything going on the studios has slowed to a crawl... I do have a lot going on but I think the political situation is causing a lot of stress, making me feel like I'm swimming through Jello. Anyways, I have been doing some studio work.

The carrot towels are done; the towels are plain except for the carrot border.  The one with yellow is supposed to be corn (?); I think I did something wrong. That one will go into my towel drawer, and the other three will go to a charity auction. I'll put the photo into the finishing list.

I'm making a tote/shopping bag for the auction as well; it's changing too fast for a photo. I currently have one side of the bag quilted and trimmed, and am most of the way through the 2nd side. I'm practicing some of the machine quilting skills I'd like to be better at. Then it's just sewing it all together; should be able to finish next week and put it in the mail to the charity with the towels!

An early photo of the tote side...

In searching for quilt batting, I found an pink Hawaiian quilt top (baby sized) with backing and batting; if I recall correctly, I bought it, partially complete, at a guild auction 20+ years ago?  I'm looking forward to quilting that outside on the deck this summer. There's a blue one somewhere in the studio as well... Hoping I can find and quilt it too! 

The April sweater is almost done, just in time for April. I followed the instructions for the bind off, to discover that it was too loose and it rippled along the front.  I know better.... I ripped it out and started the button band again, picking up 2 for every 3 rows (pattern said pick up one in every row). Let's see if that helps.

I also found a completed shawl I made 7 years ago that I hated at the time; so I threw it in a bag and planned on ripping it out and reusing the wool. I actually like it now. So it's blocked and in the closet.  I'll add a photo later.

Coming up? I need a new knitting project, a new weaving project, and an old quilting project to resurrect. 

Quail! and everything else...

For my 2nd print of the year, I wanted to work through some of the issues from January, and experiment with texture. I looked at a lot of bird prints by Molly Hashimoto and others, and then picked a photo of a quail in motion to work from. I did a run of 21 and will probably discard 3 of them. Just some notes:

Not my dinner

• Looking at the feather markings on the neck made me realize I needed some narrow small cuts; on the breast, I need some chunky cuts. I practiced these on scrap linoleum, traced the photo, then carved the block.
• I mixed too much ink extender to make the ink more fluid, which made my prints too light. Once I worked with plain black ink, I had more luck.
• I used a brand new Ritualis printing press and enjoyed it so much more than using a baren. The press is pretty basic but the prints were good once I solved the ink issue.
• I had some pretty small cuts, like around the quail's eye; at one point I overinked the block and lost some of that detail. I stopped, cleaned the block, and restarted and it was fine.
• I cleaned the block afterwards with vegetable oil instead of water and the block didn't warp. This is a win.
• I used a different card stock, not a watercolor card; I hoping this takes less time to dry. I'll move the cards out into a sunny spot when they're less tacky.
• What's next? I'd like to do a quick card for April, then start working on a two color card to send in May before we leave on vacation. I'd like to find an image from our holiday after that.

Foodwise, I'm not doing anything that interesting. Friday night we grilled some salmon and opened a 2017 Azienda Agricola Valentini Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo which was wonderful. Tonight we'll have Shakshuka from a NYT recipe.

Other than that, I've prioritized some other things in January; between German classes, piano, and walking as much as possible (but still not enough), I've had to give up a lot of my art time. I'm not complaining, it's just a shift in priority. 

• I finished the 2nd Pennywise runner... Part of the apron strings on my loom broke while weaving and some of the weaving is noticeably skewed. And it's short because I miscalculated the warp length. Not sure what I'll do with it but thinking of slicing it up for parts.
• The Modular vest is done and quite wearable. I've worn it around the house on cooler days and now I want more vests.
• I'm still working on the blue cashmere sweater, knitting the 2nd sleeve now. I haven't checked the fit.
• There are 3 towels done on the loom, I'm working on the final one.