Things that aren't working out

I brought a quilt top out of timeout; it's been sidelined for 15-ish years, and it's time to do something with it. If I recall correctly, I was in a class or a club, and there was a monthly assignment that we were all supposed to do to make individual medallion style quilts. We started with a center block; one month had us add something with curves; another add triangles, another add fans. I took it as an opportunity to exercise my creativity and chose to interpret the directions in a quirky way. After a few month of this, I ended up with a quilt that I could no longer figure out how to add to.

It's important for me to look at my work, and frankly others work as well, and analyze what works and what doesn't; that's the only way I'll learn how to create an effective design. I spread this roughly 45" square piece on the floor and came up with the two following observations.

• There is no cohesion of design, the various elements don't make sense. The fans and the appliqued triangles are particular problematic.
• The yellow draws the eye in a haphazard way. If you're going to highlight something, it should become clear why you've highlighted it.

Is it salvageable? I suppose I could do one or all of these:

• Set it on point again and draw the green out to repeat that element.
• Add more fans or triangles in a way that didn't look like they were randomly tossed onto the quilt.
• Add an interlaced border similar to the center motif. 

I promise to update with a useful picture later, but meanwhile,
here's the cat being helpful as always

But I don't love it enough to spend the time to try to make it right, or I wold have done so already. So my current plan is to add a yellow and red border to finish it off, quilt it, then donate it to someone who will hopefully love it despite all it's flaws!

While I'm admitting to things not working out, I finished the Pebble Beach Shawl. I like the shawl pattern, and I like the yarn, but not the combo. I think I'm going to frog it and combine the yarn a solid; currently looking for a pattern.

I also dropped my Canada College class; I was too busy working through some family stuff and house stuff to give it the attention Tailoring requires. I'll be looking for a sewing tutor to get some individual help on specific projects going forward.

Power mitts and lots of projects in progress!

I've been busy with house and yard, so have been neglecting my fiber life and this blog...  I haven't been completely idle though. Some of the house tasks have taken place in my studio; I recently got an adjustable height work table which is wonderful and very motivating. It motivated me to start going through the shelves and drawers where I just put things last year when I moved in. My knitting yarn is now sorted by weight (gauge) except for where I have full sweater quantities of yarn. And I destashed some yarn that Mom had bought at a garage sale years ago to a charity that knits for the homeless. I freed up enough room to allocate a shelf to works in progress, so I can reduce the number of cluttery work bags here and there. So far it's been a satisfying endeavor.

C and I have also started the weaving class for her 4H group. She warped 6 inkle looms and I warped 5 rigid heddle looms for the class... Whew! What a lot of prep work. Half the class is working on straps, and half on bag fabric.  I think some of the kids will finish in the December meeting, so we'll have more to warp up for January.

Power Mitts!

These are the fingerless gloves I mentioned in a previous post... they're  from the Power issues of Ply magazine. The rectangle on the top is pin woven, then the sides of the rectangle are picked up and knitted.

I finished the mosaic design for my patio two tables, and bought the glass for it on a shopping trip with my sister.  I confess that I plagiarized the design from a photo I found on the Internet, but it's a good organic design and I think just the right thing for the deck. I'll start cutting and gluing when when it's dry outside!

I finished knitting the Modular Color vest, but it still needs buttons. It scratch but cute.

I'm nearly finished with  with 3 of the 4 towels on the loom; it's possible 5 1/2 yards of warp is still too much for me, as I am bored to tears. Also, the same darn warp thread keeps breaking and I think I've threaded it back in improperly. I'm starting to think of card woven hanging tabs for them, and will start those shortly; I want to get two in the mail before the middle of the month.

Mid Month Summary

I'll just post a summary of what I'm working on right now, no in process pictures today!

I attended Camp Stitches at the Coeur d'Alene Resort in Idaho.  What a lovely resort, right on the lake. My room faced south so I got to see lovely sunrises and sunsets, and the mist on the lake in the morning was amazing. Even more amazing was my teacher, Anna Zilboorg; I took Anna's Panels class, which covers her design as you go and knit in panels methodology. I've taken it before, years ago, the first time she taught it, and the class has gotten a lot better. She does teach the Austrian traveling twisted stitch, which takes a whole day to figure out, as far as I can tell.. but I think people get stuck on the idea that you have to do panels of that for a sweater, and it's not true. Anna had garments with regular cables, lace stitches, and textured knit/purl stitches. I started a couple of bands of Twisted Stitch, and looking forward to exploring this modular technique more!  And what a treat to be in a small class with Anna, equally lovely to share a sunset glass of wine with her after class.

Speaking of modular, I started a modular vest in garter stitch with some yarn from a friend's destash. I'm about 1/3 of the way done, so far not bored of garter stitch.

I combined some half width pin woven squares (so rectangles) and garter stitch into a cute pair of fingerless mitts to go with my pin woven shawl.

And I'm starting to work on my school projects; I'm about half done with a short sleeved yoked/princess seamed shirt in fabric I ordered from Spoonflower.com; it's my lab project.

I also warped up the loom at Deer Hollow Farm, which is a demonstration farm at Rancho San Antonio Park.  The room housing the loom is used to talk to children about how cloth is made; I've done spinning demos there.  Now instead of telling the kids they can make cloth on that loom, there's a warp and tshirt yarn weft on it. It didn't take long,  I really enjoyed it, and the docents are thrilled; so a triple win!  Weft is carpet weft from my rug, warp is cram dyed tshirts cut in 1/4 inch strips. The LeClerc loom is lovely to weave on.

The table top is done!

I grouted the poppy table top today!!!  DH put pieces of wood on the back to hold it in place on the wrought iron aquarium stand which we'll use as a side table next to the BBQ. It still needs sealer, but I'm much too excited not to declare it done. I learned a lot about color placement, and keeping pieces level. And what a difference the grout makes!

 I'm playing with choices for the two tables on the sky deck... Hoping to start those in a couple of weeks and complete them quickly.

I also made this cute little purse with a super short handle as a demo item for the 4H group I'll be helping teach to weave. The body uses T shirt yarn weft, and the handle is thrums from the rug I made. I have no idea what it'll be useful for, but it's darn cute.

I'm nearly done with the knitted shawl I was working on; I bound off early without the picot bindoff, but I think I'd like the picots better, so am debating ripping out the last two rows and redoing it.

I also started a baby sweater... I need it for a class I'm taking in October on how to make sleeves. I might as well finish it after the class is over, as it'll be roughly 1/2 done...

It's about 68"x24"

The pin woven shawl is complete as well!  Here it is blocking...  I thought perhaps that I didn't care for it but it's cute on and easy to wear. I'm knitting up a couple of fingerless mitts with the leftover yarn.

I'm stalled on my two school projects, and the loom is naked... On Tuesday, I'll be warping up a loom at a local demonstration farm with a colorful but basic plain weave, and Thursday I'm leaving for an Anna Zilboorg class in Idaho! So it's unlikely that I'll get anything else done for awhile.

Q3 '18 completed things! (10)

In mid-August, I started to feel like I was doing nothing. Going back to the purpose of this blog, to remind me of all the things I'm accomplishing, I updated the list and realized lots is getting done.

Here's the final list for the quarter!

Bamboo scarf

Tool bag for sewi

1. I wove a scarf for DH (here it is on the loom), in 1/3 3/1 twill blocks using hand dyed bamboo warp and tencel weft. I love the way the serendipitous stripes interact with the blocks. It's got a lovely drape and sheen, and he likes it.
2. I wove a boundweave sampler (not pictured) in a class that is about 7" square, with different finishing techniques on the ends. I'm confident that I could make a rug with this technique.
3. I wove part of an inkle band, and the rest was woven by a volunteer at a Guild demo booth.  I don't care for the band, and wasn't going to mention it, other than I'd been wanting to warp up the inkle loom and try it; from that point of view, it was a great success! Also not pictured.
4. The tiles for these two trivits were completed a very long time ago, but I just this quarter mounted them and readied them for use. Very exciting!

   

   Trivits from tiles I mosaiced
   a long time ago

5. I sewed the "Sew Together Bag" to carry my sewing supplies for school. It's got 3 zippered pockets, and is made entirely out of fabrics I dyed for the Textile Design class I took a couple of years ago. I forgot to interface the inside pockets, so they're a bit saggy, and I tried to sew down the binding instead of hand whipping it, which I've never been successful at. I'd like to make another for my mosaic tools; if so, I'll make the pockets a little deeper and make sure to interface it appropriately.
6. I spun more than 800 yards of yarn in the Tour de Fleece!

   

   Tour de Fleece

7. Scott's boot laces are complete and are deployed to his boots. I started them at the August weaving guild meeting, which was a handwork circle; the idea of shoelaces intrigued and delighted a number of members. I also worked on them at the Portola Valley knitting group, they were fascinated.
8. The rep rug is complete and in use in the studio.
9. I took a class in a new technique and made a small mosaic sculpture which I've named "A Seed Dreams of Spring".
10. I finished the pinwoven Ligeia shawl.

A seed dreams of spring...

A Seed Dreams of Spring

I took another mosaic class from Wilma Wyss this weekend, in mosaic on a 3D substrate. She offered a class last week in how to make the substrate, but sadly I was unable to attend... Each of us was supposed to write down the theme of what we were going to make. I chose a substrate that looks like an acorn, or a bullet, with an indentation in the top; it reminded me of a seed, and I wondered if seeds dream about growing before they sprout? So, A seed dreams of spring. This piece is about 5 inches high. Turn it over and you see the inside...

A surprise inside...

On the fiber front, I got angry the other night and ordered two yards of customer cotton fabric from Spoonflower. Shortly after, they emailed to note they were in the path of Hurricane Florence and unsure if they could meet their deadline... but I got notification it shipped today. Can't wait to see it!!! I'm going to sew my lab project for school with it.

I'm also working mostly on two projects; the pin woven shawl and the poppies mosaic. I will try to finish the mosaic in the next few days; I need to clear off my bench for the two table tops I need to go with the new deck furniture. I'm about 1/2 way through the border on the pinwoven shawl, and have set a deadline that I need to have it done by the spinning conference in October. This is aside from the school work I need to complete.

While I'm dreaming, I'd love to sew up the denim fabric I have into a Delavan jacket to go with my new shawl... I'd have to get the sleeves to fit correctly. Adding it to the list...

He likes his boot laces!!!

New laces on boots on rocks!

I finally finished the 2nd bootlace for DH's boots... They're adorable on the boots, and he loves them; they don't hurt his hands when he tightens them like the synthetic laces do.  I told him that if they get filthy dirty and wear out I'll be pleased to make him another pair. Plus they're washable.  I think they really dress up his crufty old boots.

I used 3mm shrink tubing for the aglets; it was a bit tight to get on; I passed a thread through the end of the lace with a sewing needle and used that thread to pull the lace into the aglet while trying to push the tubing onto the aglet. They're not as firm as regular shoelace aglets, but go easily through all the grommets and give a nice finish to the laces.

Awesome zipper pouch for sewing class!

I've made a bag for my school supplies out of fabric I hand dyed/printed in the textile design class I took a couple of years ago. It's got 3 zipper pouches on the inside and I think it's super cool.  I'll post the name of the pattern when I get around to walking downstairs to retrieve it. I put more details about in in my Q3 finished list which will be out later this month... but here's a photo of inside and out.

I started working on muslins for my tailoring class. I like the kimono type '50's style jacket muslin, but the shirt I'm working on is a little baggy through the back, and the sleeve may be a little tight; I certainly will lengthen the sleeve.  I'm getting fitting help on it on Monday.  I bought a yummy wool blend boucle from Hart's in Santa Cruz for the jacket; I ordered some silk charmeuse from Dharma Trading for the lining and the shirt. I'm planning on doing a low immersion dye party on the lining, a well planned shibori with a single color on the shirt.

First Rep Rug! 

I also finished my rep rug today, and hemmed it! I'm very pleased. Here it is deployed to the studio floor.

There's also been some progress in the two steps forward one step back format on my knitting.

Last but not least, K and her husband were here for dinner last weekend... Apparently they like basil, so I made the basil ice cream from  The Perfect Scoop, then made them try to guess the flavor.  I used my home grown basil which has a better flavor that the grocery store stuff;  I would make this again, it's really really good!

I'm starting to feel productive!