Art Quilt

I am pleased to say that I finally finished this art quilt -

I had lots of fun making it, and trying new techniques.

I painted a piece of wet fabric (with regular fabric paint) and then sprinkled salt on it.

This was how it looked when it was dry (the salt pulls the paint around into interesting patterns).

I quilted leaves and swirls in the painted area, and a 1/2" grid on the border.

I filled in the grid with different fillers. I also added beads, and a quilted leaf attached to a piece of heavy copper wire, that I hammered for texture. This piece is about 13" x 17".

This past week I dyed some wool fibre. I recently discovered a new blog - Pat's Knitting and Quilting, Pat makes the most incredible things!  I was so inspired, and I have a few ideas I want to try. I just need to finish a sweater before I get started spinning (then knitting).

I am working on the neck band, and then just the button bands left to go.

It looks like winter is here to stay!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Some Firsts!

I finished my first pair of socks that I made with my hand dyed, hand spun wool! When I first got my spinning wheel in March this was my dream (it's a simple life!).

These are toe-up socks, knit two at a time using the magic loop technique.
The wool started out as slightly felted merino/silk fibre that I had dyed. It was too hard to spin as is, so I carded it with some leftover bits of wool fibre and some nylon fibre, for added strength for socks.

These are the three bobbins before plying -

and the finished yarn -

For the heel I tried the "Toe-Up Gusseted Heel" from Maia Spins.

It worked really well. I also 'Knit 1, Slip 1' across the back of the heel, just because I like a tight heel on socks.

I have also been making jewelry, here are a few of the bracelets I have made recently -

These are wire work ones, I made the links and clasps.

The metal is coloured copper wire that I hammered - so fun!

This one is "Shaped Peyote" (from Craftsy Bead Stitching). I love beads and always wanted to try this technique. The class is wonderful, so well explained and easy to follow.

The beads are 11/0 and 15/0, round and cylinder.

a garden visitor

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!♥︎

October Pieces of Time Blocks

These are my Pieces of Time blocks for October -

Both of them are #12.

This past weekend we went to my parents, it was a beautiful fall day.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.♥

Art Quilts of the Month

I finally got caught up with my Art Quilts of the Month!

This is the August one. We went on a road trip to Alberta at the end of August, and crossed the prairies. This little quilt was inspired by the views from the car.

This is a photo from Saskatchewan.

For September I chose an appliqué of a Gloriosa Daisy - they were blooming beautifully in the garden. It is invisible machine appliqué because I taught a class on it in September.

For October I painted a piece of fabric in fall colours, added leaves with metallic paint, and then stitched falling leaves.

Here are all ten quilts so far - the year is flying by! These are 6" x 8" mini quilts.

I was lucky enough to Skype with a friend this weekend while we sewed, and I made another hexagon.

This is a design by Mickey Depre.

Only three so far. I have no plans for these, I just wanted to try making hexagons.

I finished spinning the skein of wool that I hand dyed. It is almost 200g of fingering weight 100% wool. It is a gift for my Mom.

This was the first ply along with the fibre for the second ply - I love seeing how the dyed fibre spins into yarn.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!♥

October Small Quilt

I haven't been making the small quilts of the month as part of Kathleen Tracy's (A Sentimental Quilter) Small Quilt Talk group on Yahoo!, but I just couldn't resist the October one.

Little tumbling maple leaves - these are 4.5" blocks, and the table runner is 11" x 23". The pattern can now be found here.

Perfect on my coffee table for fall. I quilted an allover oak leaf and double loop design because I wanted the runner to be flat.

I have also started spinning the red wool I dyed earlier in the week.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Dyeing Wool

 I dyed some wool yesterday for spinning.

I love this kind of dyeing - just pouring different colours on the wet fibre, and then steaming it in plastic wrap (I use Jacquard Acid dyes, with vinegar as the acid).

It is always exciting to see what comes out. For the fibre on the left I used a split complimentary colour scheme - with orange, green and purple. The one on the right is an analogous scheme - with reds and purples.

All dried and ready for spinning (400g total).

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Back from a Break

I took a "blogger break" for what I thought would be a month and it turned into two months. Thanks to those who wrote and asked me how I was doing. Everything is fine, I just felt that I was wasting too much time on the computer.

I had a wonderful summer and here are some things that I accomplished -

I made myself a robe/housecoat with fabric I bought in Hawaii (less than $20 for 4yards for beautiful cotton!) last Christmas -

I rarely make practical things, so I was thrilled with this. I also made my husband some pyjamas since I was on a roll (no pictures, and not in bright floral fabric, but maybe next time!).

I made some more runners for shelves in my sewing room -

This one is made with little thimbles (about 1") cut from some left over fabric from a quilt I made last year. It was a leader-ender project.

This one was just to practice free motion quilting. They are both about 8" x 26".

Here they are on the shelves -

Can you tell I am running out of ways to use quilts!

I taught a Invisible Machine Appliqué class this summer, and this is what I designed for the class -

It is about 10" x 16". Everyone did wonderfully, and it was lots of fun for me!

I needed to replace some worn cushion covers and I designed another appliqué block -

The fabric I used had a paisley design, so I incorporated that into the appliqué design and the free motion quilting.

I left the appliqué and the borders puffy to accentuate them (it was so tempting to quilt a feather border, although they are only 2" borders, but I wanted to see what it would look like un-quilted, and I am pleased with the results).

I made a coordinating pieced block for the second cushion. This 12" block is "Sea Breeze" from the book 'Knockout Blocks and Sampler Quilts' by Judy Martin.

They are 16" cushions.

I have also been knitting with yarn that I spun -

This one from a pattern - "Lazy Katy" by Brigit Freyer. The yarn is from Merino Silk fibre from SweetGeorgia Yarn, in the colour way 'Maple'.

This scarf is made with Merino (from a good friend) that I dyed (it is spun about a worsted weight, and came out so soft and squishy). The pattern is 'Undulating Scarf' from a 2010 Spin Off magazine, and it is also available free on Ravelry. It is a wonderful pattern because the scarf is reversible. I changed the centre double increase because I couldn't figure out how to make the one described in the pattern (I did 'K1, YO, K1' all in the same stitch).

The next two shawlettes are ones that I designed after taking a couple of Craftsy classes (Lace Shawl Design and Shawlscapes) -

This is a lace one made from Kid Mohair that I bought while on holiday this summer (we went to where we used to live in Alberta and I went back to my old local yarn store - it was so nice!).

It is the first time I have spun mohair and it was lovely to spin.

This one I wanted to be more free form, and I made it up as I knitted, which was fun (this is inspired by the Shawlscapes class). I also spun the yarn without much thought and just enjoyed the process, and it came out really nice too. This is BFL from SGY in the colour way 'Chai Spice'

I completed some Blocks of the Month -

 
The August block for the Ostrich BOM, a Dresden Plate (this is an 18" block),

 
and 9-Patches for September (4.5" blocks).

My Pieces of Time BOM blocks for September (we took August off).

Whew!!

Thank-you so much for stopping by and have a great day!!♥