Sunday, March 17, 2024

Week 11 of 2024

One of my favourite things is dyeing fibre for spinning - playing with colour. 
I am not scientific, I just mix different colours, and pour them on the fibre. It is always exciting to see how it turns out.
I love spinning the fibre up (for a 3 ply yarn),
and seeing how the yarn turns out (this is from the bundle on the left in the above photo).
In 2022 I dyed and spun yarn for 12 pairs of socks, and since then I haven't made handspun socks, so I bought some fibre for socks. I find that I can be very experimental with colours for socks, I use about 120g of fibre. This one is a BFL/Nylon sock blend from Nikki Slipp on Etsy.
A birthday stripe on the temperature blanket this week.

Photos from Around-

Miss Maggie had a trip to the vet, and Molly was quite concerned (luckily Maggie has a white triangle on her neck so we can see her when it is dark). She always burrows into the quilt and stays quiet in her carrier.
Lots of signs of spring now - so many flocks of geese (swans too).
Jack Rabbits are starting to show signs of brown on their backs.
The snow is really melted on the surrounding fields.
Dirty looking snow in the yard.
Beautiful sunrise!

All the best!♥︎

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Week 10 of 2024

This past week I started a quilted jacket -

This was a medallion quilt top that I made over 6 years ago. I wasn't really happy with it and I knew that it probably needed more, but I didn't think I would like it any better. I would pull it out occasionally to try to think what to do with it, then put it away. It was the only quilt top that I have made that didn't get quilted as soon as it was finished. After seeing so many quilted jackets recently I thought this would be perfect to try. I used a Lutterloh pattern - the same jacket I made a few weeks ago, but removed the shawl collar.

I roughly cut out all the pieces and layered them with a very thin batting and a backing.
Then machine quilted it. I enjoy quilting Clam Shells because there are a few options for quilt designs.
Once all the pieces were quilted, I serged the edges and washed them. Then they were ready for the final cutting. I don't know if I will like the jacket any better than the quilt top, but at least something will have been done with it.
Quilt Group today so some more blocks added to the pile for the Broken Dishes quilt.
Another week for the temperature blanket.

Photos from Around-

A Jack Rabbit (white with black ear tips standing close to the pole) and a Crow having some kind of get together.
A couple of snow storms this week, so we have snow again.
7:30am Friday.
So sparkly.
Annual memorial hockey tournament this weekend - my three nephews participated this year so it made it extra fun.
Sunrise this morning - 7:30am (first day of daylight savings time).

All the best!♥︎

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Week 9 of 2024

Not much crafting this week, it was more about cooking and baking (my quest to be more self sufficient means there is more food preparation which I enjoy too).

The only thing I finished was a little pincushion for my sister out of an old Christmas light reflector from our sister-in-law (I think they might have come from one of her grandparents). I have made a few pincushions like this and find them a great size. It is stuffed with crushed walnut shells (lizard litter), with a little piece of textured rubber on the bottom so it stays in place.

I did find time for knitting this week.
Another week on the temperature blanket - we had a bit of a cold snap early in the week.
The over-the-knee-socks are growing nicely. I add 2 stitches about every inch and it is interesting to see how the colour pooling changes. This has become my new take along project.
I am also working on a modular vest (I am sort of following the Tetris Pullover pattern). This is some leftover handspun yarn - hopefully I will have enough. All my knitting seems to be blue now.
Part of my cooking this week was some canning - usually a summer/fall thing for me.
This is some marmalade for my Dad.
He bought a kit that just needed the sugar. The marmalade turned out really good - lots of peel and a great flavour (it made five 500ml/1 pint/half quart/2 cups jars, only canned 4)
We had a snow storm early in the week - even Miss Molly seemed surprised (she is barely visible looking out the window by all the plants on the right side of the photo)
The next morning the skies had cleared.

All the best!♥︎

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Week 8 of 2024

This week I sewed a little jacket out of leftover French Terry from a project I had made years ago.
The pattern is from Lutterloh - a vintage reproduction #77 from supplement 320 Spring 2021. I modified it by making it out of a knit (when sewing a Lutterloh pattern designed for woven out of a knit we are told to go down a few sizes - I could have made mine smaller), I added length to the body and the sleeves, made the collar a bit smaller, the sleeves a bit narrower towards the wrists, placed the back on the fold to eliminate the seam, and added pockets in the side seams. I am really happy with how it turned out. The shawl collar was drafted so well and it went together so easily! 
I was inspired by one I saw online - I would never have thought to use this pattern before.
Today was a quilt group get together so progress is being made on my grab-and-go project (a Broken Dishes quilt).
Temperature blanket.

Photos from Around-

Miss Maggie surveying her land.
A painted sky one morning.
Miss Molly sitting on her "spot" waiting for a treat.
Sunrise with a full moon this morning. The snow is just about all melted on the surrounding fields.

All the best!♥︎

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Week 7 of 2024

I sewed another pair of pants this week.
 It is the second pair of black pants (both from stretch denim), but this pair is out of better fabric (the other pair has white lines over them). Still $1 a pound fabric. Lutterloh pattern.
Usually socks end up so worn out that I don't mend them, but this fairly new pair always had a bit of a thin spot on one heel (handspun yarn isn't perfect), so I mended a pair of socks for the first time this week (luckily my Mom had given me her darning mushroom and it worked great).
I recovered a couple cushions for a friend of my Mom's.
Some of the ladies at my quilt/crafty group had given me scraps of flannel, and I sewed more little blankets for a local hospital (the ends just need to be woven in).
We had a bit of cold snap this week for the temperature blanket.

Photos from Around-

The hydroponic tomatoes are really starting to come in.
Best friends watching for my son to come home.
Molly trying to share her ball with Maggie - I am sure she wonders why she doesn't play.
Molly has become really concerned about the cat recently - here she is watching Maggie intently.

All the best!♥︎

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Week 6 of 2024

This week I finished up a quilt -
This was a stash buster quilt that I cut almost a year ago, and was my grab-and-go project to sew at quilt group. Made from batik fabric, it is 90" square. The fabric was all cut with the GO! cutter using two sizes of drunkard's path dies, along with some 4" square. There was no planning to the piecing and I am really happy with how it turned out.
The batting is Hobb's Tuscany 80% cotton and 20% wool. Quilted on my domestic sewing machine in an all over meander (my favourite to sew - so I now piece quilts that suit that design), using Connecting Threads Essential Pro thread top and bobbin.
It is now on my son's bed.
While I was trying to hand stitch the binding Miss Maggie felt that it was her bed, so I made her a new quilt too.
A friend gave me some fabric with black cats on it, so I made a black and white to match Maggie.
The pattern is 'Nine Patch Nostalgia' from the book 'Fat Quarter Quilting' by Lori Smith. The quilt is 16"x20", with wool batting.
A new quilt for her little basket.
Another week on the temperature blanket. Today I have to add a special stripe for our 35th wedding anniversary.

Photos from Around-
Miss Molly - she hasn't been feeling well and is hopefully on the mend.
Miss Maggie, the big hunter, stalking partridges (spoiler alert - birds can fly, and all got away safely).
Sunrise this morning - last week most of the snow melted, but the past couple of days brought a bit more snow.

All the best!♥︎

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