Quilt Blocks and Socks

A couple of quilt along blocks this week -

The first is one is the Antebellum Album, Quaker Pride block from Civil War Quilts (12" block).

For the 1880 Sampler Sew Along block there is a 4" Crazy Quilt block - from the Temecula Quilt Company.

I finished a pair of socks - hand spun yarn from fibre that I dyed. I also started another pair of socks (I always have a pair on the go).

I dyed the fibre-

and spun the yarn this week -

The start of the socks -

Both pair of socks are made with a Superwash Blue Faced Leicester/Nylon (80/20) Sock Blend from The Fibre Garden.

All the best!♥︎

Granny Stripes Blanket

I am so pleased that I have finished the Granny Stripes Blanket!

Lots of firsts for me with this project (major project from raw fleece, blanket, major crochet project...).

I started this project at the beginning of the year, and I thought it would take me all year to finish. Cleaning and combing the fibre became faster with practice, so did crocheting (at first it would take me about an hour to complete a stripe, but by the end they took about a half hour). I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process of this blanket, and not once wished that it was finished.
It is about 130cm x 180cm (50"x70") and weighs 1225g (2 lbs 11 oz).

I have about 300g of yarn leftover.

I have been combing another fleece to spin, just one bag left to fill ;-)

Here is my 1880 Sampler Sew Along block for this week (from Temecula Quilt Company).

All the best!♥︎

Appliqué Block and Yarn

This week I made a block for my 'orphan/leftover/abandoned projects' quilt. It is invisible machine appliquéd, and 16".

It is an Oak Leaf and Orange Peel block from Barbara Brackmans' book Encyclopedia of Appliqué.
I decided to make this block because I didn't want to make last month's block for the Antebellum Album Quilt Along on Barbara Brackmans blog Civil War Quilts - the block involved templates and Y seams, which although lovely just aren't for me.

Here are all the blocks I have so far as part of this 'leftover block' quilt project I am working on for the year.

This is the latest block from the 1880 Sample Sew Along from Temecula Quilt Company, to add to the other blocks (a 4" block).

Last Manitoba Fibre Festival I bought a little bag of sari silk (bottom in the above photo), and thought it was about time I try it out. I blended it with silk, kid mohair locks, merino wool (50/25/25 percent) and a small amount of gold Angelina (for sparkle).

The finished skein is 90g and just over 400 yards of fingering weight yarn.

The sari silk threads add nice pops of colour, and some of the kid mohair locks are still visible. It is so soft with a bit of a halo.

The next big spinning project that I will be working on will be spinning during Tour de Fleece (an online spinning event held during the Tour de France), July 7th-29th 2018. In anticipation, this week I skirted another raw fleece and started washing and combing it. This one is quite clean and amazingly soft. I'll wait and see how much spin-able fibre I get before I decide what kind of yarn to spin.

The Granny Stripes blanket is progressing nicely - it is now a square (50"x50") - I am hoping to have enough yarn so that it reaches 70". Thanks Sally - it really is a blanket now!

All the best!♥︎

Handwoven Tunic

This week I finished sewing a tunic with a piece of fabric that I wove a few weeks ago -

The warp is all yarn that I had spun and the weft is mainly commercial yarn with some handspun, woven in a Soari style.

It is a very simple pattern,

from a Japanese sewing magazine (Amazon link). The tunic is so nice to wear! Sewing something with handspun, handwoven fabric is very rewarding.

~1967 England

I had a similar outfit when I was little (red shoes too),

so did my twin brother (our Mother made these - how she found the time to sew with 5 young children I have no idea!).

I made a couple of coasters with some leftover fabric.

A tip that I have about sewing thick fabric is to use a piece of wood when pressing the seams to really flatten them.

I know that there are fancy tailors clappers, but I just use a piece of 2x4 with a steam iron. After a burst of steam the piece of wood is pressed on the seam for a few seconds.

I also use a piece of 2x4 in front of the pedal for my sewing machine. I find it easier to control the speed of the machine when just my toes are on the pedal (really important when free motion machine quilting).

This is last weeks 1880 Sampler Sew Along block from the Temecula Quilt Co.

My Granny Stripes Blanket has reached the half way point! Just over 36" and about 650g of yarn used, so I should have plenty of yarn.

All the best!♥︎

Sewing Clothes

This weekend I made a "dress" (well really something to wear over my nightie - I love lounge wear).

I used batik fabric from Connecting Threads (this one is 'Delicate Branches' in Indigo).

The pattern is from a Japanese sewing magazine I bought when I went to Japan in November (the dress is shown in the top right corner, under 'vol.9').

I paid about $10 for this magazine, it has so many different types of sewing patterns (clothes, bags, decorations...), and you don't need to be able to read Japanese because there are great step by step illustrations. Link to Amazon in Japan for the magazine.

I made this dress because I needed a little warm up to sewing to have the courage to sew something with my hand woven fabric, and to check the size of the patterns (I am planning on making a long vest from the magazine).

The first cut of hand woven fabric is always the hardest!

My other sewing this past week is the 1880 Sampler Sew Along block from Temecula Quilt Company.

Nine 4" blocks so far.

I finished spinning and dyeing the last six skeins of yarn for the Granny Stripes Blanket. I ended up with 1534g (4820m/5272yds) of yarn.

I have crocheted about a third of the blanket and have used just over 400g of yarn, so hopefully I will have plenty of yarn.

All the best!♥︎