Batik Quilt

My batik quilt is finished! I sewed it up last week and then hand quilted it over a period of three days. The batiks are ones I purchased at our local quilt shop.

Currently it is entered in our local fair.

I forgot to measure it before I took it in, so I am not sure as to what the measurements are. It is a wall hanging, not even big enough to be lap size.

I used a tea dyed muslin for the backing.


Each four patch unit is quilted with a circle.

It has a nice pattern to it. I really like the stars, they stand out very nicely.

Making this little quilt has put me in the quilting mood again. I am going to have to dig up another pattern out of our many quilting magazines and get going on another quilt. I do have a large full size quilt top done. But it is currently awaiting the batting, before it can be quilted.

Catching up....

I know I am drastically behind in blogging! I have been very remiss lately, and for that I apologize. There have been so many other things going on and I have not made it a priority. So consequently this all seems like old news to me, but most of you have not heard it so I'll post anyways.

This is my bulky yarn all twisted up into a skein. I can't remember off the top of my head how many yards are here, maybe about 55 or so. I didn't write it down, and am now regretting the fact!

I put it next to my spindle here for scale. My spindle shaft is twelve and a half inches long. As a reminder, I did ply it using the Navajo method.


I snapped a few pictures of this lovely rose growing in our flower bed. Roses are one of my favorite flowers to photograph. Not only is this one beautiful, but it has a scrumptious smell, which is the best type of rose to have.

This is our garden. It has since rained and everything is bigger, but here at least you can see the general idea. We have zucchini, acorn squash, two varieties of cucumbers, about 8 varieties of tomatoes, and several different hot peppers.

The little patch on the right side of the picture is the herb garden. It looks as if nothing is growing there but in actuality all four varieties of herbs are up and growing. The empty stretch of garden is where our bush beans were supposed to be.

Only one came up. And as you can see here, it is being attacked by bugs.

Right now we only have cages on our Sweet 100 tomatoes, they are getting huge, and are loaded with blossoms.

Look...... a tomato! Granted, it is a little green, but still....

And last, but not least, our cayenne peppers.

I have been spinning up my angora/merino roving. At first I was very frustrated with the roving because it wouldn't draft no matter which way you pulled it. But I discovered you just need to fluff it out and gently separate the fibers somewhat. I drastically pre-drafted some roving into all these little balls. Don't you love the colors?

Since then I have managed to spin without the pre-drafting. But I think I prefer the ease of using all these little balls.

I'll have to post a more recent picture of my spinning, my spindle is just about full now. Also some updates on my more recent projects will be forth coming.

July Is Here!!!

Happy July to everyone!
I haven't done a whole lot of knitting lately. This is the Rachel bag, waiting to have the lining sewn in. Mother found this beautiful batik at the Yarn Shop. I love the colours, it looks fabulous along side the colours of the yarn.

As of late, Batiks are on the top list of my most favorite fabrics. I like all the bright colors, and interesting combinations. It reminds me of watercolors, how the colours run and race hither and yon, making happy little accidents as they go.

I'll have to remember to post the finished product. My parents just surprised me with a new camera this week. When I took these pics I had no idea what I was even doing. But since then I have learned many new and exciting things about my camera and am looking forward to using it to take pictures for my blog.

That is all the knitting for now. But I will leave you with these few posies to cheer you up. Notice the little spider in the middle of the rose below? I never even saw him there until I transferred the pictures onto the computer.



This one had little droplets of water resting on the petals, just begging to be photographed.

That is it for now. More later today, Lord willing!

Yarn, Glorious Yarn

My first ever bulky yarn!!! It seems like I have many "first ever's" on my blog. But I seem to be learning and doing many new things of recent days. I love the way this yarn looks. We have not had the warmest of weather so I have had a hard time getting my yarn to dry. I would love to be able to just throw it in the dryer!

Some how I think that would be a bad idea though.

This is before I shocked the fibers together so it looks a little loose right now.

And I already have a project in mind. Well, this was short and sweet, but I really must run! Tata!

Posies To Brighten Your Day

My cousin came visiting on Friday and brought this lovely little bouquet of flowers for my sister's birthday. I have no idea what kind of roses they are but they were so sweet and pretty I couldn't resist snapping a picture. They were very full and ruffly in the middle, and quite small, about an inch and a quarter.

I filled up my bottom whorl spindle this week!

I am pretty satisfied with the consistency of the strand.

I wound it on to a bobbin when I was done. From here I will go on to ply it with the Navajo Method. Actually I already am in the process of doing just that.

Pretty neat isn't it?

That's all I have for now. My projects are still coming along pretty well. I just don't find them interesting enough to post. You have already seen them in several stages of progress.

I love sewing, spinning, and knitting!

My newest sewing project! I am making a little wall hanging out of batiks.

I love all these colors! They are very inspiring.

I like wall hangings because it doesn't take much time at all to whip one up. But I do quilt by hand so that is the time consuming part.

I've done a bit more spinning on my new Lacis bottom whorl spindle.

I've tried to stay consistent but it's been tricky.

More progress on my cabled sock! I could have had these done long ago but I am working on so many other things right now.

I like the way the cables travel into the foot.

And turning the heel was easy as pie. I always used to be worried about turning heels because I had read somethings that made it sound like it would be hard. But I have done many socks since and never had any difficulties.

That's it for now. I'll try and get some of my new stuff posted as soon as possible.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5,6

And just a wee bit more progress.....

I have about 28-30 rows left to do on the purse body. Then I'll do the handles and felt it. I probably won't get to the felting until tomorrow. I have a lot of other things on my plate today. But we'll see.....

My New Spindle! And a bit more on the Rachel Purse

I am so excited about my newest spindle. It is a Lacis bottom whorl drop spindle. Simply marvelous! I found it a bit difficult to use at first, just because I was so used to the top whorl. But now that I have been practising on it (as of yesterday) I find that I am liking it very much indeed.

I am spinning with 100% merino top. I find I have had to pre-draft it a bit because it pulls a little harder then I am used to.

But it is a gorgeous color, and I really am liking the way it looks spun up.

I have done some more work on the Rachel purse. It currently is about a third of the way done. Well, not in this picture, but as of this moment. I have a few pictures further down where it is progressed slightly farther then what is shown here.

Here we are a bit further along. Look at the subtle color stripes! I love this yarn. And it will look quite stunning felted , I have worked with this yarn before, only in a different colorway.

That's all for now. Check back later to see more progress. I have an eager individual haunting my blog to see just when this purse will be done! *wink*