Spinning & A Book Review

Lately I have been doing quite a bit of spinning. It has been wonderful to be able to be back to spinning and able to work on my projects every day, even if it is only for a few minutes. 
The above yarn is one of the 1 ounce samplers that I dyed up. This one is currently on the back burner as I work on the following project. I should just hurry and finish it up. It takes hardly any time to spin and ply 1 ounce. But my interest has wandered to a different project (*blushes*) and there my sample sits, neglected in the bowl on the bookcase....

This is the project that is currently consuming my spinning moments. I have a special plan for it and I can not wait to reveal my idea to you! Right now I am spinning the darker tones in this roving. It is Merino wool, and so very bouncy! I am doing a little better getting it the weight I want it. 

I finished spinning and plying this yarn. I just realized that I did not show you any in-progress photos. It is such a unique mix of colors, I have no idea what I will do with it yet. For now it has joined the other three on display on the piano.

Several weeks ago I collected my holds from the library. I stumbled across this book, Hand-Stitched Felt, somewhere in blogland and saved a picture of it to my phone to order. I was so delighted with it that I have decided to do a quick review for you before I send it back to the library. Which it is probably overdue now.... ehem.

First off, the cover! Aren't these finger puppets the sweetest things! I love the different expressions on their faces. They all have such individuality and character.

The book has lots of pictures, many adorable hand-drawn diagrams & patterns, and all instructions seem to be clear and concise.

Look at this sweet little rabbit! I think it would make a nice addition to a little boy's room. There is also a girl rabbit version. But the overalls on this little gentleman were just too cute, I had to share this picture.

Patchwork Potholder

I am an avid letter writer and this Stationery Pouch would be just the thing for traveling, or simply going outdoors to write a letter. I know plenty of other letter writers who would also appreciate this pouch.

A Fetching Portfolio is on my list of things to make, as soon as I have that much felt on hand! I would do different colors, but the overall idea is brilliant. There is even a hard mat board sandwiched inside to keep papers from bending. This would be perfect for letters, writings, stories, drawings, paintings.... the possibilities are practically endless.
Personally I would probably use it for my watercolour paintings. I've wanted a portfolio ever since I saw the one in the movie, Miss Potter. 

Everyday Journals are sweet little notebooks perfect for chronicling memories, sketching a photo, writing down notes...

Patchwork Potholder I like the rustic look of these, the scrappy pieces, big stitches. A set of these would make lovely Christmas gifts for all the cooks in the family. 

The Stuffed Animal Family is a lovely gathering of mice, dogs, and rabbits. Their little outfits can be changed in a multitude of ways, depending on color and what stitches and embellishments are used. I think the little dresses would look so sweet with embroidered flowers on the bottom. At 11 inches high they are a good sized stuffed animal, I was surprised by how big they are! From the picture I was imagining they would be much smaller.


These are just a few of the 25 projects withing this charming book! I hope this little glimpse of Kate Golda's Hand-Stitched Felt book will inspire you to pick up the felt & embroidery floss and start sewing! I know it inspired me. Now I just need to find a good source for nice wool felt. 


Happy Sewing, my friends! 

Just A Bit Of Birthday Sewing

This past week my sister and I puled out the scraps and did a little bit of birthday sewing for a friend. At first we were contemplate a small quilted table scarf but then we hit upon the idea of these coasters. Everyone needs and uses coasters, right? Of course! It was the perfect idea. We brainstormed colours, then patterns. We decided upon Courthouse Steps, Log Cabin, Vertical Stripes, and  Crazy Quilt block.
Once colours and patterns were decided we set to work cutting, tracing, and sewing.
The coasters went fast, and were fun little projects to make up.

Court House Steps Coaster

Now I RARELY machine quilt anything, (in fact I believe in all my years sewing I have only ever machine quilted one thing and that was my quilted knitting bag) but we decided to quilt the coaster as they will be seeing a lot of use and also tossed in the washer quite a bit. Machine quilting will give them more durability and they should hold together for years to come. 

Log Cabin Coaster

Crazy Coaster

The Crazy Coaster was my personal favourite. I just love how the colours, shapes and quilting came together for such an interesting textured look.

Diagonal Stripes Coaster

We made them approximately 4 1/2 inches square. Not too big, but just perfect for holding a large mug of cocoa! 

 Hello there my friends! It's lovely to be back with you again. This week I washed up some of the fiber I purchased recently. It was a grubby fleece from a ram, but it washed up SO beautifully! Above is the dirty locks going into the mesh bag. 

 And here are the washed locks. Aren't they lovely? I was washing fiber with a friend so we each took a mesh bag, picked the fiber, laid the locks in neatly and took them in to the spare kitchen sinks. We did three 20 minute, hot water washes and 2-3 hot water rinses.

I couldn't believe the dirt that was rolling out of these locks! I'm not sure how many ounces we washed, but I made a good sized dent in my pound and a half.

 When I was @ the festival I was looking for a dark brown because I have a Christmas present planned that requires a dark color. So yesterday I took some of my cleaned locks and carded it up, adding angora as I carded. In the above photo you can see the Merino/Dorset/Corriedale washed locks on the left. The angora fiber is above right. And the combined, carded rolags are at the bottom. I've just started spinning it. I'm so pleased with how it is turning out!

 Between fiber washing/rinsing my friend and I sat outside and worked on carding and spinning. There's nothing like good company while working on fiber. :)

 I do have a few other things to show you. I just finished navajo plying my Corriedale in the Tuscany color way. It's 4 ounces total between the two skeins, but I don't have my total yardage yet. And no, I have no idea what I will do with this yarn yet!

 My Romney is waiting to be plied. This is the fiber that I showed you in the previous post. I have quite a few rolags left, not to mention more fiber to card, but my spindle was full so I wound it off as a center-pull and am plying it up. It is such a silvery, oatmeal colour. I'm quite impressed with this fiber!

I'm working on appliqued leaves for my bed quilt. I have four left to baste and then I can applique the vine and leaves onto my quilt. After I do that I will be ready to quilt! I'm quilting by hand, so the sooner I start, the better. I can not wait to show you my quilt once I figure out what quilting patterns I am doing and once I finally get started on the quilting. I sewed it up three summers ago and

 I am getting most anxious to finish it and put it on my bed. Lord willing I'll get it finished in time to use yet this winter.

Projects Galore!

I'm sharing a few projects, both old and new, with you today. By old I mean that it has been finished for awhile. It's been awhile since I had the chance to post so I am trying to catch up on a few things whilst I have the opportunity.

This is the "Reading In Bed Shrug" designed by Pam Allen.

I knit it out of some handspun I had around. This is one of my earlier skeins of handspun so it was quite lumpy and rather over plied in some spots, and under plied in others. But it is a nice cheerful green and I thought it would look great with this pattern.

I did change the pattern a little, in that I did a moss stitch cuff on both sides.
I haven't had a chance to wear it yet as the weather has been far too warm! This is another on of those knits that I can look forward to wearing when the cool days of fall arrive.

When I was taking these pictures and weaving in tails, Sadie had to come see what was going on. She didn't find it very interesting because I wouldn't let her lay on my shrug. So she cleaned her paws instead.

I haven't showed you much in the way of sewing these last few months. Over the summer I have had several different quilting projects going on, most are small wall hangings. The flying geese units pictured above are part of a quilt that I designed and am now piecing by hand. I find I prefer hand piecing, it is so precise and relaxing. I also am working on a flannel crazy quilt with all the little flannel pieces we have leftover from other projects.

I went to the quilt shoppe a month or so ago and got 3 sandwich baggies full of flannel scraps for only $1 a bag! My friend and I dug through the scrap tub and found all sorts of treasures. I'll have to go back in to the shoppe soon and see what they have available now. It helps to have a few other options to work from besides just my own stash of flannel scraps. I tend to only have certain particular colors and I want it to be an interesting throw quilt, so supplementing from the quilt shoppe scraps is quite handy.

Up-close on some of the quilting detail my green and red triangles wall hanging.

It is finished, I just don't have a photo of it yet.

I started this quilted center piece around the 4th of July. I made it up in two days but was undecided as to how I was going to quilt it, My Mother suggested stippling the middle which I thought was a wonderful idea. It looks nice and isn't overpowering to the overall design of the quilt in any way. I stippled most of it over a couple days, not I just need to finish a small section and move on to the outside wedges. Right now though I am helping take care of my Grandma who is recently out of a month stay in rehab. I did bring this quilt with me, but so far have not pulled it out to work on it.

This yarn I blogged about here. It is merino top that I purchased at the most recent fiber festival I was at. I was a little disappointed in how it spun up, the outside layer of fiber was slightly felted and I had to really work with it at times. But I am happy with the finished yarn.

I cast on for the Helix scarf the other day. Originally I thought I would try designing a cowl with this yarn. But my sister is knitting up the Helix right now, and I really like the way it looks. Plus with where the color repeats fall in this yarn I feel like the beauty of the fiber will be lost if I do a circular design. The back and forth rows of the Helix Scarf showcases the yarn perfectly. It is striping somewhat, but that is fine with me.

Ah! Knitting on the deck in the cool morning air with a cup of coffee.

I spun up less then 2 ounces of the 4 I had, so I have more to spin up soon. Usually I wait to start a project until I am done with all the yarn, but I was so enthused about trying this yarn with the Helix that I started right away.

I'll post finished pics of my Chocolate Mint Helix soon, Lordwilling!

For now, have a great week my friends!

Quilting Projects

When we went on our mini-trip about a month ago, I saw a little quilt that I loved. I didn't have $54 dollars to spend on a tiny wall hanging ,so I studied it carefully and determined to make one myself. This is my rendition.

I cut out the triangles over a week or so, with scraps from our fabric stash. Yesterday I sat down to sew them up. It only took a few hours to sew, from start to finish.

I'm quilting circles in each of the squares composed of four triangles. In the corners of the quilt I'm probably going to do a feather stitch.

Here is the first quilted circle. I have a thing for quilting circles, I'm not sure why. :) I find them quite appealing. The batik quilt that I made two summers ago is also quilted in circles.

Oh! I don't know if I ever showed you a picture of this quilt! It is my almost-queen-size bed quilt. I sewed it up late summer 2008, but haven't quilted it yet. I was waiting on the batting and then it got put on the back burner as other projects were started. The batting I use is the all natural, cotton batting which tends to be expensive. It was half off at the fabric store a month ago so I finally was able to get my batting. I still have to applique a vine all around border #3. I thought I was supposed to do it after I quilted it, but when I glanced over the intsructions recently I realized I read it wrong and need to do the vine and leaves before I start quilting.

I didn't have any fabric that I liked for the applique so I stopped at my LYS yesterday and picked out a few options. There was a sale going on, which was lovely. I was able to pick up the fabric for my binding as well. Now I have everything I need to complete my quilt! I'm pretty excited about it. I was helping a friend work on her quilt a few weeks ago and it put me in the mood to pull out my quilt and finish it. Now everything is falling into place and, Lord willing, I can soon have it ready to quilt! I am planning on hand quilting it, which will take awhile, but I'm looking forward to it.

Well, I'm off to drink a cup of tea and quilt some more circles.

Have a lovely evening my friends!

Introducing......Brown-Eyed Susan Columbine!!!!

Isn't she sweet? Such a little lady and sitting so prim and proper in the tree. I made Susan for my sister's birthday. She is made with the same pattern that I made Edith Iris with last year. I don't know where my sister's come up with these creative names but they certainly keep life interesting! Susan is the shortened version of her lovely name.

As a note: she is made out of muslin, cotton fabric, cotton stuffing, embroidery floss, and alpaca yarn.

Up-close detail of her skirt and lace. I didn't have a pattern for the dress. The magazine that the doll came out of had a dress with un-hemmed edges that wasn't meant to come off at all. So I designed this fun dress that comes off and has lots of ruffles making it full and gorgeous. My sisters have pointed out to me that despite the fact that their dolls dresses can come off, there is no need at present because they have nothing to change in to. This was a very broad hint that the poor dolls need a wardrobe. So we'll see what can be done about that in the future

Susan has learned to sit quietly in the grass without staining her ruffles.

But the steps are by far the safest place out of doors for a little lady.

She is already a well read doll, and enjoys the Bobbsey Twin Series very much.

And I couldn't resist this shot to show you how Susan managed to climb in to her prim and proper pose earlier pictured. :) Good thing she has long arms and legs, it makes tree climbing SO much easier!