Design Wall Monday

  City Streets is still on the design wall.  I never got back to making the borders over the weekend but soon.

 

 

I did get a whole lot of weaving done yesterday! Weaving could become very addictive.   The project I warped on the loom is now  almost off the loom — almost because I need to untie the knots at the beginning and take out the scrap header and then just trim up the fringe on that side.  Here’s the photos.

 

I haven’t measured it yet but I think it’s got to be about 75″ long without the fringe and it turned out really nice (if I do say so myself).  There’s one place on the back side where I missed one warp thread but I had to really look to find that so I’m very pleased.

Project 3 on the Cricket Loom

I kept walking by the loom and the yarn for my next project and finally could resist no longer.  So this afternoon got it warped and ready to go.   I started out weaving with the yellow gold color ( Fleece Artist “Straw”) and then switched to the main yarn (Fleece Artist “Beach House”).   These were Limited Release Dye Artist Series yarns that I actually recently got on sale — I just loved the colors (which are a little washed out in the photo below but not much).  The light aqua short of shade matches the color of my bedroom set so this may end up as a dresser scarf unless I decide I must wear it.   My hem stitching (which is the stitching around the lower fringe that keeps things from unraveling) is much improved on this piece. So I’m off to a good start.

City Streets progress

Well I’ve got it hanging crookedly on the design wall but here’s City Streets so far.

 

I got all the blocks sewn into rows and all the rows sewn together.  Now it will be on to the checkerboard borders to finish this one off.  I know I saw the strips that I cut for them as I was cleaning yesterday so they couldn’t have gone too far.

State of the Stash – A finish to report

Finally – a finish — well except for that 2 feet of binding I still need to stitch down.  I simply couldn’t stitch on it any more last night so will finish it off today.

Here is a not so great photo  of it.

But here’s what the full design looks like in EQ.

 

So between quilt top, backing and binding, about 13 yards used according to EQ.

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But a bit more playing in EQ this morning.  I came across a bunch of HSTs yesterday as I was doing some cleaning up in the sewing room.  There’s still a whole lot of cleaning left to do but the stacks of fabrics and scraps I had piled on the table or floor are now put away.  Anyway, hiding among them were the “bonus” HSTs from City Streets.     The sort of pinwheel flying geese looking blocks (yellow quilt) might be a good way to use those up.  Or any other scraps for that matter.

The EQ quilt drawing after the yellow one is another version of the one I showed yesterday — with blocks just turned differently – it reminds me of ribbon candy.

And then there’s a couple more designs that I’ll put in the “hold” folder to maybe do more with one of these days.

Today’s agenda – more cleaning in the sewing room, laundry, finish the binding on that quilt, and then maybe get the City Streets blocks that are on the design wall sewn together.  And maybe even get the loom ready to do on the next scarf.  Hmm… I’d better get busy.

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When you can’t decide what to do first….

play with EQ!   I ran to the grocery store this morning and got that errand done  and then was trying to decide – clean, bake, knit, weave, quilt – what to start with first.  I wandered into EQ after checking emails.  Just a couple designs I came up with today – haven’t decided if they are keepers yet but it’s a start.  But time to find a sandwich, make some raisin bran muffins, and then get back to a bit of cleaning.  Spring just might have finally arrived here — maybe, just maybe I can wash up at least the heaviest winter sweaters and pack them away.

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That ugly green and purple scarf

 

Remember the ugly green and purple scarf – my first weaving project?  It definitely has issues — floats where I caught some strands wrong, edges not even — but it was a first project and I expected that.  But the yarn — ugh – it was the free stuff and it’s just an ugly color combination.  So what to do with it.  I had taken it off the loom and it still had that red yarn that you see – the header  that IF I were going to keep it, that part would need to be taken out and the fringed knotted on that side.  But seriously that was too much work for something this ugly.   Then a thought……

 

I STILL think it’s ugly but with 10 minutes at the sewing machine I have at least made it into something useful.

  Here it is hanging on the side of the loom – sort of crookedly and lop sided looking which adds of course to its ugly appeal.   I made it into a little pouch to hold the extra heddle and shuttles.  I just laid the heddle on it to figure the length I needed.  Stitched with a very small stitch length across it where I wanted to cut off the excess.  Cut it off, turned under a hem and topstitched, then lined the hem I made up with where the green meets the purple in the upper photo, so that I could fold the green part over as a flap, stitched both long edges together, making a little gusset in the bottom to accommodate the 1″ or so width of the heddle.

Then folded the green over as the flap, stitched a line about 1/2″ from where the green folded over to make a spot to put a drawstring through so I could hang it up on the knob on the side of the loom when I store them, and then you’ll see a bit of black sticking out about half way down the right side of the green area.  That’s the end of my threading hook.  I stitched another line through both layers of the flap to make another “channel” in the flap to tuck the hook into so I don’t lose it.  Or I can take the whole thing off the side of the loom and hang it on a hanger in the sewing room closet, hiding its ugliness but having everything all in one place.

On the Needles Friday – April 26, 2013

  The second sock for the pooling socks is still in the works. Finally past the heel and onto the foot.   Hopefully this pair will be finished by the end of the weekend.

 

Here’s the next yarn I plan to put on the loom to weave a scarf with.  Love the colors.

When I got home I was trying to decide — knit, weave or sew.  But looked around me at the impending disaster of clutter and decided I had to clean first.  So I have been straightening things up getting the kitchen and living room put back in order (much of which means I took all the things that belong in the sewing room and just dumped them in on the table).  But one room at a time – I can always just close the sewing room door or a while. LOL  But a quick break to make dinner and then finish off the living room.

I did have one lightbulb moment tho as I was thinking before weaving the scarf.  I was thinking that first I’ll need to wind that yarn into balls just so that I can unwind it to warp the loom.  AHA! just put it on the yarn swift and warp the loom directly from it.  Duh!  such a simple plan.  Don’t know that I’ll get it done tonight tho.

The weather finally feels spring like and it’s time for a little spring cleaning — I’m feeling a bit of cabin fever and too much “stuff” about here.  I ordered two new shelving units for the stash and other storage but will have to see if they are really sturdy enough when they arrive – some reviews say yes and some no.  But when they arrive next week the sewing room is going to get a major overhaul and cleaning out.  I’m going to go through all the UFO storage tubs, tubs of tops, etc., and decide what I really think I might finish — or more importantly, what I no longer want to hang on to that I know I’ll never complete – either cause my tastes have just changed or I simply don’t care for it.  I’ll still have way more quilt tops to quilt than any sane person should have, but I know there are things I simply don’t care for anymore which will hit the donation pile, along with clothes that never get worn, winter coats I no longer wear, etc.  Someone else in town can make use of all those things and I can hopefully reclaim a little more storage space which is at a premium here.

Whew – the thought of all that has made me tired! But I’ll finish picking up the living room after dinner, and then reward myself with some knitting time and see what the rest of the weekend brings.

Just a little EQ eye candy

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updated — okay – there was text with this original post but nothing truly exciting so I’m not goin to retype it. 🙂  So this is truly just a little “eye candy”.

Mug Rugs

  Five Mug Rugs finished.  They are now disbursed at the office  – all the gals in my area of the office now have one for their coffee mugs.  They loved them.

Here they are all connected after I cut them loose from the back of the loom.  The loom stand came last night and things were much easier once I got the stand put together and the loom attached to it.     My edges are getting better and the hem stitching improved as I went along.

And here they are all finished off with their fringed ends.  They are not all the same size but I was just gestimating as I went along and not measuring them..  The  first four from the left are all woven with the same weft yarn (yarn used to weave in an out) and the last one on the right is woven with the same yarn as the warp (yarn the loom is strung with).

My favorite, the one in the middle — it’s the same yarn as the other three but was in a spot in the yarn ball that didn’t have as much of the darker shade that makes the others look speckled.  It goes from bright red to a darker shade across it like ombre shading.

I’ve got the yarn all picked out for my next project – a scarf in worsted weight – I need more practice on the side edges  and the tension so a long scarf will be good – although depending on how it looks woven – the colors would be so perfect for a nice long dresser scarf for the top of my dresser and maybe a matching mat for the top of the bedside table which I managed to get an evil water ring on (which I have tried every removal trick known to man on and yet it persists and shows so badly on the light wood).  Time will tell what that yarn ends up as, but scarf to wear or dresser scarf – not a lot of difference. 😉

Scruffy is nearly done

  I  did put the loom aside and I did head into the sewing room and cleared the fabric off the table —  perhaps not all of it, but enough that I had room to do a little quilting.

I’ll have to contemplate and plan my real cleaning attack on that room.  I’ve been thinking about  different types of  shelving units for the stash so will have to decide if I’m  to get something different or not  first.  There’s a lot of weeding out  of things that needs to happen in there and although I doubt I will take photos of all my UFOs for Judy’s UFO parade, I may make of list of the projects to be finished and tops to be quilted as I’m going through and culling out the stuff I don’t want to keep.  But that is NOT going to happen today. 🙂

But I’ve cooked, done laundry, did some weaving, did some quilting, did some cleaning – think I’ll go work on my socks until dinner is done.  I’m just a few rows away from starting the heel flap of the second pooling socks.

 

As for today’s quilting — got Scruffy layered – just spray basted since it’s not a very large project – and he’s now all quilted, the binding is attached and pinned, so I just need to hand stitch the binding on the back.

And during a break to fill a bobbin, mixed up a meatloaf and stuck that in the oven.  It’s got a while to go but it is smelling delicious.  Whew! it’s been a busy weekend.