Beaded Snowflake

This snowflake was for a swap for beaded snowflakes. It could be made from anything, but it had to have beads. I made mine from collaged fabric as a base and beaded it with white bugle and seed beads, what I call my glass bubble beads, and one freshwater pearl for the center. It looks like a decorated sugar cookie!

Striped Scarf & Shadow Weave

Finally finished the second scarf on the striped warp. I did play a little with the pattern and it created diamonds down the center and zig-zags in the stripes. A lot more interesting. Warp- black #6 cotton, white Aunt Lydia's bamboo crochet thread, and various colors of unknown content- possibly acrylic/nylon- yarn. Weft- black #6 cotton.



I didn't put on a silk warp, but instead, I put on some 6/2 cotton for kitchen towels. The warp is alternating natural and lt. blue. Each towel will have a different weft color; the first one being leaf green. The pattern came from the NOV/DEC 2005 issue of Handwoven, the Two Shadow Weave Rugs. I did a test pattern and liked the way it looked with the warp as single thread and the weft doubled. Depending on my free time will determine how many family members get one as a Christmas present!

Fabric/Fiber Art ATCs

My favorite fabric technique is is confetti collage- layers of bits, snippets, and strings fused down with a top sheet of tulle stitched down to sandwich it all together. For an open ATC swap, I made a sheet and cut it up to make four cards. The best thing about this technique is the final fabric is so unique that every card comes out different. Here is a before and after.

Clothespin Doll

The last time I made clothespin dolls was 10 years ago when I made simple prairie ones out of calico and lace to sell at the farmer's market along with my vegetables. I had been tossing around the idea to start a swap, but someone beat me to it, so I joined their's. My partner likes purple and sparkly. This is what I came up with. She has crystals on her waist and on the lower edge of her stand. Her face was painted with a toothpick and her hair is handdyed mohair.

November & December QBOTM

November is nearly over and so is the QBOTM series. This month's block is the Lover's Knot and the theme was Citrine. A very easy block.



The final block in December will be the Waterwheel Variation, theme- Turquoise.

October QBOTM

Finished and sent out the quilt blocks for the October QBOTM swap. The fabric I chose was a little tricky to work with to make the colors flow nicely. So, there were a few extra scraps left over. Pattern- Pineapple Blossom. Color theme- Opal.

TDF10

More catch up.



In July, I was a spinning fool in the Tour de Fleece 2010 on Ravelry! In all, I had spun 11 yarns, 3315yds of yarn of which there was 7754yds worth of fiber singles, all weighing in at 44.7oz total. Most was fiber from The Sheep Shed Studio that I had handyed, and the rest was blends of Shetland and llama from my own animals.



Only this month did I finish the third color to go with the black and white Shetland and llama blend. The Tour really got me to push out the yarn!

August & September QBOTM

Doing a bit of catch up.



August block pattern- Aunt Dinah. Color theme- Peridot.



September block pattern- Auntique Tile. Color theme- Sapphire. For the blocks I sent out, I did use a darker fabric for a better contrast to the lighter blue.

June & July QBOTM, Dress Form

My blocks for June's swap are ready to go out the door. Pattern- Balkan Puzzle, color theme- Pearl



I really like how July's block turned out. Pattern- Swing in the Center, color pattern- Ruby

I am very disappointed in myself with the dress form challenge. The dressform itself is finished, but it's just that. No embelishment of any kind. My original idea evaporated as too many other ideas came flooding in. I was concentrating too much on an idea for the dress, when I should have finished the form first. So, the deadline has passed and my dress form sits on the side of my table. Waiting.

Fiber Swap & Weaving

The What Color is Your Sheep? swap ended last month. My color was green and my partner's was pink. This is what I sent- Two spinning batts, top, stitch markers, knitted sheep and extra "sweaters", and a tote. All handmade!


And this is what I received- Lots of BFL and blends batts, roving, an embroidered project bag and for the handmade, a knit toad bag! He opens up wide!


I was given an old Structo 600 table loom by my sister's MIL with the promise of me making something for her. So I wound off some black cotton along with some colors of what I suspect to be an acrylic/nylon blend, and a bit of Aunt Lydia's bamboo crochet thread, and put it all in a varied stripe with a single point twill, reversing midway.


I wound off enough warp to make two wide scarfs, so the first one will be plain and the second I will play with the pattern a bit. But, I might end up making something else with a more complicated pattern out of some silk I picked up.

April & May QBOTM

April's quilt blocks are already out the door. It was a very easy pattern. Probably will be the easiest one for the year. Pattern- Woven Ribbons, color theme- Diamond.



May, on the other hand is a paper pieced intermediate pattern, but the resulting block is worth the effort for a beginner. Pattern- Treasure Chest, color theme- Emerald

Metallic ATCs

Dang! I finished the two cards for the Metallic Fiber Art ATC swap and sent them out yesterday, but forgot to take a pic. The one rule was it had to have at least one piece of metal on each card. In the middle I sewed on a brass key with gold metallic thread and also used a few "liquid silver" beads mixed in with the glass beads, sequins, and a bit of free embroidery. I had also used a super shiny gold fabric, found on clearance after Christmas, to frame the keys.

No Sew ATC and a Clean Drum Carder

Just finished a couple ATCs for the No Sew swap in my group on Swap-bot. The idea was to use fabric and fibers to make cards, but the only rule is to not use any kind of stitching to make them. My other swaps have had a No Glue rule, so this was a challenge for me since my fabric cards never have any glue.



My old Patrick Greene drum carder has been working overtime carding up a large batch of a fiber blend. It definitely needed a thorough cleaning! The pile on the left is wool/fiber cleaned out from the teeth of both drums. And the nasty little pile on the right is what came out from around the washers on the sides of the drums! I couldn't believe how much fiber got caught and wound up on the drum axles. 8O Some of it is black with oil, but there are some pathces of color I recognise from years ago!

March QBOTM

Even before the swap has started, I finished the quilt blocks for the March QBOTM. Very easy, although the block I made for myself(not pictured) is in mirror. Oops! The grey squares are really a very light blue print. Pattern- Patience Corners, color theme- Aquamarine

Doll Group Challenge

The Cloth Doll Making Yahoo group is having a new challenge. This one is split between making a dress form and a dress to go on it. I usually will only join challenges and such if I have instant inspiration and I had to skip the last two because nothing popped into my head. An idea did indeed pop this time! Of course, I can't show any progress pics or anything until it is over, but I will say the dress form is looking really good! I wish I had a figure this nice! LOL!

February QBOTM & Sister Socks

The quilt blocks for the February QBOTM swap are done. The birthstone theme this month is Amethyst. A very simple pattern, but I finally got to use my favorite swirly purple fabric, a batik and two other simple cottons. Pattern- Double Z Block



And the socks are FINALLY finished! I got the small ball I needed in my January Sock Club shipment from Catherine at Knitting Notions. She's awesome! Pattern- Muscari by Suzi Anvin, Knitting Notions Classis Merino Sock yarn in Misty Mountain Hop colorway.

Garnet Glove and January QBOTM

The left glove is finished and, well... it fits like a glove! I like my gloves snug and the knotwork at the wrist makes it fit just right. Since my hands are long, I added more rows between the thumb and the fingers and knitted the pinky first so I could add 3 extra rows before knitting the rest of the fingers. The pattern is Knotty Gloves by Julia Mueller and the yarn is Knitting Notions Classic Merino Superwash Sock in Sock Club Edition "Garnet".


I also finished the January QBOTM squares for a group swap on swap-bot. The color theme is birthstones, January being garnet. The pattern is Amish Star.

No Frogging! and Gloves

I thought I would try one last chance before I committed to using a solid toe on the socks. I asked on the Knitting Notions group on Ravelry if anyone had any leftover/remnant yarn in the colorway I was using. Well, I have one more reason to love this yarn! The owner of Knitting Notions kindly offered me her leftover from a pair of her socks! Awesome! It will come in the next sock club shipment. Whoohoo!

In the meantime, I have started knitting up the "Garnet" sock club edition yarn in the Knotty Gloves pattern. A few more fingers and one glove will be finished.

Toe Frogging

I was right! I knew I would run out of yarn for the socks I am knitting for my sister. So, I wound off a small skein from my cone of undyed sock yarn and tried to dye it to match the more dominant color. It's not perfect, but it will do(and my sister will like it or else!) Now, it's just a matter of frogging the toe of the first sock down to the pattern, feeding it to the second, then finishing both toes in the home-dye.

Why not?

I've put off starting a blog long enough.