February Round Up

February was a good month for me to finish a few big projects.

At the beginning of the month I finished a Pineapple Quilt (only took 4 years!).

I started this handspun tunic early last year by cleaning and preparing the wool. Spun the yarn over the summer, and started knitting it at the beginning of September.

I also finished knitting a hat out of some handspun yarn that I had dyed with indigo (this one had been my take-along/car knitting project).

I was really pleased to have started and finished weaving some fabric for my Mom in the month (especially since we were away for a week). 7 yards of fabric! 

I used up five of my orphan blocks (not the orphan block quilt I want to eventually make, but nice to use up some of the blocks) to make a table mat for my cousin (we stayed with her in Quebec). I am counting this one towards my WOOFA challenge too.

I had a couple of little finishes this month too-

 a tiny needle felted mouse

and a Valentine pincushion. 

This month I completed all my monthly goals for OMG, worked on two of my WOOFA Challenge projects, and finished 7 projects - 4 counting towards OPAM.

All the best!♥︎

Woven Fabric

I finished weaving fabric for my Mom.

I ended up with over 6.5 yards of fabric, that is 18" wide. It should be plenty to make 6 chair cushions.

I didn't have too much loom waste.

Fresh off the loom it was about 7 yards and 19" wide.

This is the fabric fresh off the loom. I was so surprised how different the two sides looked when I took the fabric off the loom - the side I saw while weaving was the plainer side (it didn't seem that plain when I was weaving it). I don't really know too much about weaving, but everything else I have woven has been just about the same on both sides. This fabric definitely has a right side.

To finish the fabric I sent it through the washer and dryer (it was too big to wash by hand), followed by a steam press. The side I saw while weaving really lost the pattern after finishing.

The fabric came out really nice, the yarn 'bloomed' and became so soft. It should make nice cushions.

Edited to add - Someone asked how long it took to weave. It took me about 2 weeks total. I kept track of how much I wove in a day, and I wove about 20-30" in a day (usually a few hours here and there). Weaving is pretty fast compared to knitting or crochet.

I was away last week (in Quebec with my Mom, visiting relatives), so the fabric didn't end up taking too long to weave. The pattern was a type of twill that was really enjoyable to weave (more details here).

After being away I was pleased to have caught up on the mystery gnome today - 7 clues so far.

Another surprise after being away for a week was coming home to much less snow - amazing what a bit of warmth does. In Quebec there was so much snow. I lived in Quebec as a child and I remember how much I loved to play in the snow, as an adult I don't think I could cope!

All the best!♥︎

Some New Knitting

I started a couple of new knitting projects last week.

The first one is another mystery gnome - Gnome is Where You Hang Your Hat by Sarah Schira. We have had 3 clues so far. I am using handspun from a local raw fleece.

This one is Twice as Nice by JumperCables.

I am using some handspun linen and silk along with some silk gima (ribbon) that I dyed with the fibre.

The fabric weaving is coming along nicely.

I think I am about half way done.

All the best!♥︎

Pincushions

I belong to Kathleen Tracy's (from A Sentimental Quilter) online group called Small Quilt Talk. For Valentine's Day there was a pincushion challenge. I made a little crazy quilt heart out of some leftover French General fabric, and an old key with a heart shaped opening.

I used a piece of wire so that the pincushion could hang up - let's be honest it is more of an ornament than a practical pincushion.

It is an addition to my other pincushions I have made over the years. The oldest one is the felt one with my initials that I made in primary school in England when I was about 10. I only use a couple of them, but they make nice decorations. It seems to be popular now to have bowls of decorative, matching pincushions, maybe that is something to try next.

Photos from around -

 Today was incredibly windy.

 All the blowing snow was something to see.

 I thought the colours were so pretty.

All the best!♥︎

Weaving for Fabric

I starting weaving a new project today.

My Mom thought it would be nice to have handwoven fabric to make new cushions for her dining room chairs. I put 8 yards of warp on the loom. 

I am using some Harrisville Designs Shetland wool to weave. In the colours Cornflower (warp) and Suede (weft).

This is the underside. The pattern is "Derivation of the Twill - Warp Chevron" by Oscar Bériau, published in 1939. I found it in the Jan/Feb 2015 issue of Hand Woven magazine (the Oscar Tote by Beth Mullins). It is a really nice pattern to weave - thank goodness because there is lots to weave.

Sunset

-40ºC with the windchill this morning.

It was much nicer when we went for our evening walk.

All the best!♥︎

Handspun Pullover

I finished knitting a sweater - well really a tunic.

I starting knitting this at the beginning of last September (I was surprised by that when I was updating the Ravelry project page).

It came out longer than I expected (I guess it stretched during blocking), but I am really happy with the length. I had lots of yarn leftover. The sweater weighs 378g.

That's one of my OMG projects finished this month, and an OPAM finish.

The yarn for the sweater started like this-

 It was a whole fleece from a local farmer, that I cleaned, combed and dyed.

I then drum carded the fibre to blend the colours. The two different colours are for the two different plies of the finished yarn.

I ended up with 553g and 2010 yards of yarn.

A close up of the sweater.

I have another little finish.

A very little needle felted mouse - it is under 2" tall. I got side tracked while making something else for later in the week.

Photos from around -

 Sparkly frost on the ground yesterday morning.

 

 Molly and her favourite tug toy.

 Such sparkly snow.

Sunset.

All the best!♥︎

Orphan Block Table Mat

I made a table mat from some orphaned blocks. This was one of my OMG projects for this month.

These blocks were from the Temecula Quilt Company blog - 1880 Sample Sew Along, from 2018. They are 4" finished blocks.

Here is what I did-

I added  triangles, sashing and corner blocks to the 5 blocks:- sashing - cut 12 - 1+1/2"x4+1/2" rectangles; corner blocks - 4 - 1+1/2" squares; triangles 2 - 4+7/8" squares cut once on the diagonal (4 triangles).

All stitched together.

For the border I cut 3" strips.

Sewed them on opposite sides first, and trimmed them.

Then added more strips to the other sides. Trimmed across the corners with the ruler parallel to the triangle edge.

I chose a wide border because I wanted space for quilting.

Before quilting the border I added the binding so that I would be able to fill the space in the border with quilting. I marked the spine of the feather border with a Hera marker.

For the free motion quilting I used Invisafil by Wonderfil, a 100 weight thread, in the above colours. It amazes me how well this thread blends with so many different colours of fabric. I used the darkest thread for the walking foot quilting, sashing, corner blocks and triangles. The middle one for all the blocks, and the lightest for the border.
I wanted the table mat to be very flat so I used one layer of cotton batting.

The finished piece is 19". I made it for my cousin who was a round dining room table.

In the bobbin I used a beige Aurifil 50 weight thread. I used a walking foot to stitch around the blocks and border before free motion quilting. The free motion quilting designs I used were hooked feathers in the border, orange peel for the blocks, swirls in the sashing, and pebbles in the triangles.

Sewing on the binding before quilting means I can fill in the border nicely.

My son and his dog.

-30º this morning, cold but sunny.

Molly's jacket barely fits her anymore.

All the best!♥︎