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Saturday, March 25, 2023

A Towel and A Pillow

I wove a handspun linen towel!

It is an Atwater-Bronson lace weave.
It is based on the Pure Delight towels from Handwoven magazine, issue Jan/Feb 2015 (I changed the sett, number of repeats, ends per inch, and a bit of the treadling).
I spun the flax - that took a month! And I only had enough for one towel (lots of white left though).
It is a four shaft weaving pattern, and very easy to weave. I couldn't have fit in another pattern repeat, and used up all the warp and just about all the yarn for the weft.
The above photo is the loom waste, and the small amount of linen I had left,
I used some for the hemstitching.
Fresh off the loom the towel was 'crispy', but after washing, rolling, pressing and drying it is quite supple, and has a nice shine.
I am not quite ready to use it all the time, but soon (I am trying to use what I have and not keep things as 'precious').

The other thing I tried recently was ruler work quilting, and made a pillow-

This is with a quilt block I pieced years ago (the pattern was from Kathleen Tracy).
My son cut some rulers out of acrylic for me to try out.
The clam shell one worked well for the borders too and created a nice semi circle on the corner.
It was lots of fun to try out, but I can't imagine quilting a large quilt this way (it isn't as fast for me as free motion quilting, but maybe I just need more practice).

This week I cut out pieces for a Drunkard's Path quilt (enough for a ~90" square quilt).
This is with a GO! cutter, using the 3+1/2" and 7" DP dies, along with some 4" plain squares.
This is a long term project that fits in a tin, just to have something to sew without making a big mess.

I also made a little pincushion for my Mom like the one I made with a canning jar lid.
She had a little pottery paté dish with a spot for a knife that she wasn't using, it made a nice pincushion with a spot for little scissors (the pincushion - stuffed with crushed walnut shells, is just friction fit in the dish so no harm done). Miss Maggie had to check it out - she had a cold last week and her eyes didn't look the best, but she is all good now.
She never lost her appetite, and was eager to lick out the dog food bag.
Still lots of snow.

All the best!♥︎