Finished Goose-eye Twill Cotton Towels and Other News

Yesterday I wove the last inch of my goose-eye twill towels and then cut them off of my loom. Hurrah! Some of the joy of weaving comes from the ability to play with color so I wove each towel with differently colored wefts ranging from navy to red, yellow and dark orange.

This towel was woven using a navy 8/2 unmercerized cotton weft:

 

A red 8/2 cotton weft:

 

 

A soft yellow 8/2 cotton weft:

 

 

 

I wove a narrow band on my inkle loom for hanging loops (thanks for the idea Marion!) and in the evenings I will be hand hemming the towels and sewing on the loops.

 



 

Speaking of inkle looms, I just finished winding another warp on mine using a eclectic blend of 10/2 mercerized cotton yarns and Tencel to weave more, you guessed it, bookmarks. My husband, and I are thinking of opening an Etsy account together to sell some of our work. I know what I'll be selling-bookmarks! That way I can feed the addiction ;-)

 



Do you remember all of those grandmother's flower garden blocks that I decided not to use in my last living room quilt? Well, I've started sewing those together with a beige background for my living room. This is all hand sewn, so it will be a long term project, and I'm okay with that. It will be done eventually....

I'm just finishing up sewing three tumbling block baby quilts in bright colors to donate to the City of Light, a women's and children's shelter here in Boise. They were fun to piece and I used a soft polka dot flannel for the back of one of them. All that is needed is the binding sewn on and they will be ready to go.

Here's hoping that you have time for fabric/fiber today,
Judy

Wordless Wednesday

A Lovely Magic Dragon Scarf from Martina

Martina, who writes the creative blog BimbiPea, recently had a give away. Her husband, Ian, chose my name out of the bunch. Woohoo! The other day I received an envelope from England (such a neat postmark!) and I made myself wait a few days before opening it. Sweet anticipation.

She sent me a lovely hand knit Magic Dragon scarf that is in a great colorway of burgundy, deep purple and a dark gray. I'm already dreaming about what jacket I'll wear it with this winter :-)

 

Thank you so much, Martina! When I wear it this winter, I'll be thinking of you.

Wordless Wednesday

A Finished Quilt

Last night I finished sewing the binding on my neutral quilt for our living room. I washed it and now it's on the line in the backyard to dry. I think it's going to be a great comfort quilt as it's light and airy with the wool batting in it. A good book, a soft sofa, and a comfort quilt-what a nice combination.

I'm off to weave my colorful red, orange and yellow cotton kitchen towels.

Here's hoping that you have time for fiber/fabric today,
Judy

WIP and Gardening News

The weather here in Boise has been quite lovely, so I've been cycling and gardening. Yesterday I was thinking that it's time to get my fishing gear out to do some fishing to see if I can catch that elusive trout. My husband, Marshall, and I spent the better part of last weekend putting up supports for our raspberries, blackberries and loganberries. Then we tied the canes to the wires and now it's so much easier to fertilize and to care for that part of the yard. It will also be easier to see the berries when they come. Mmmmmm, fresh berries. I can hardly wait!

On my inkle loom, I finished the cool colored bookmarks and I like the shine that the Tencel added.

 

 

I wound a new warp on my inkle loom using some of the warm colors from Lunatic Fringe Yarns and these yarns are 10/2 mercerized cotton.

 

 

Weaving on an inkle loom is rather addictive, so be careful if you start, haha. You might end up with secret stashes of bookmarks all over the house ;-)

 

Yesterday I was in a cleaning mood, so I finally got around to moving my fabric stash. It had been sitting in a place where the morning sun was shining on it which is bad for fabric and I had meant to move it, but, well, you know, there's so many other fun things to do, right? So I moved that yesterday and relocated my drum carder so now the fabric is safely away from the sunlight. I sorted the fabric by color after moving the bookcase, so I feel brave enough to share a photo of my studio as it's actually organized and clean. At least for today....no guarantee about tomorrow, though.

 

I finally finished the quilt top in neutrals that I've been working on. I think of it has my mishmash quilt as it's an eclectic blend of different techniques that I've been reading about. I added bits of color to it, but I wanted the overall effect to be calm and understated. I put wool batting in the middle and I'll be machine quilting it today after cycling.







Here's hoping that you have time for fabric/fiber today,
Judy

Wordless Wednesday

New Weaving Yarn and Gardening News

I just received my first yarn order from Lunatic Fringe Yarns, which is rather ironic since they are located not far from where I live. I ordered their 10/2 Tubular Spectrum Color Gamp kit, which is 20 cones of deliciously dyed mercerized cotton. Wow, the colors are outstanding! I have them sitting on my dining table just so that I can look at them.

 

I thought it would be fun to weave colorful bookmarks, and I just finished the cool colored bookmarks on my loom so the timing is perfect.

 

I also bought some 10/2 sustainable unmercerized cotton yarn so that I can weave some Monk's Belt towels for my son, Seb, using natural for the background and various blues/greens for the pattern. I've wanted to try this threading for the longest time, and I'm finally getting around to it.

If you're interested, you can read more about the Sustainable Cotton Project here.

 



Yesterday I decided to do some work in our garden, and I stared unloading a load of topsoil that was waiting in our trailer. I filled the little garden cart that was a gift from Ryan-thanks Ryan!-with the topsoil to mix in the soil already in the raised bed boxes. The sun was shining, yet it was cool out, so it was a great morning to be digging in the warm dirt. I planted Fort Laramie strawberries, lettuces, spinach, herbs, tomatoes, and purple bunching onions. Mmmmm, I can almost taste the fresh marinara sauce. I have to cover some of the things in our garden with netting so that the squirrels and the birds don't decimate them. I learned that the hard way the first year when the sparrows ate all of my lettuce!

 

 

I'm off to work on my living room quilt and maybe put a new, colorful warp on my inkle loom.
Here's hoping that you have time for fiber/fabric today,
Judy