Week 13 of 2025

This week I finished a small quilt -

It is 11" x 27".

I recently had the privilege of teaching a free motion quilting class and was reminded how much I love machine quilting - it is like doodling with thread and fabric, so I had to make something.

I started with a small " quilt" (well a 2.25" nine patch made from squares cut 1.25"), and added a large border.

I used a hera marker to mark out the spines of the feathers, 

and stitched them first.

Once the feathers were stitched I filled in the background (used two different designs), marked on a 45º angle, 3/4's of an inch grid (like the nine patch) for half of the background.

The quilting was stitched with a 100 weight Invisifil by Wonderfil thread for the top, and regular thread for the bobbin (I finished off a few bobbins) - all on a domestic sewing machine. The batting was one layer of cotton and a half layer of wool for the puff.

It is a little runner for an old washstand.

Of course I have to have a pet photo - that hen had lots to say!

All the best!♥︎

Week 12 of 2025

This week I finished spinning a skein of yarn -

This is a 3 ply, BFL/Nylon blend for socks (the little skein is the leftover).

The fibre started like this (I dyed it last December).

I started another spinning project. This time something I saw on Ravelry about spinning a braid of fibre two ways for striped socks. I divided the fibre into two (about 60/40), one part will be spun in a way to create a long colour changing yarn (chain plied), and the other a traditional 3ply creating blended colours.

I dyed the fibre with bright colours I don't usually use, just to see how it works. This is another BFL/Nylon blend, dyed this week.

I finished knitting the Bubbly Shawl, it was fun to knit and the pattern well done, but I just didn't think the final product would work for me (the points along the edge stuck out of my coat in an odd way), so the yarn is back in a ball (it is handspun - merino/tencel blend that I dyed too).

The Pets - 

Miss Maggie was trying to hide from GingerSnap! with no luck.

A walk in fresh snow this morning (lots of new coyote/fox tracks too)

The chickens took a bit of coaxing with treats to come outside in the fresh snow (not too cold).

All the best!♥︎🇨🇦

Week 11 of 2025

This week I wove another table runner -

This one came out to about 21" x 40" (47" including fringe).

As part of my year of experimenting with weaving this is another matt/shiny project (with 2/8 cotton and 2/8 tencel in the colour Orange Brulé from Maurice Brassard), but for this one I chose a closer sett (24 ends per inch instead of 20 epi like the Earl's Canvas table runner from January), 24 epi is the recommend sett for a twill weave.

I used another fancy twill pattern, which was visible on the loom under tension (cotton warp, tencel weft).

The closer sett also made the square design weave to slight diamonds.

Once the fabric was washed and pressed the pattern isn't as visible as the last experiment. I don't know if it is because it is a darker colour, if there are longer floats (loose threads) in the pattern, or the closer sett. I was dissapointed with the finished result (also there were many problems with weaving which didn't help my opinion of the project), but it was a successful experiment for me to determine sett when weaving 2/8 cotton and tencel - I prefer 20 ends per inch. 

Pets -

Miss Maggie

GingerSnap!'s daily ritual before Molly's walk.

So many chickens standing on one leg.

All the best!♥︎

Week 10 of 2025

This week I finished weaving a set of tea towels -

This is a new-to-me type of weaving structure - M's and O's.

When they were on the loom the threads were straight,

After washing the threads moved around, and created curves.

I wanted a new set of kitchen towels for spring, so put a long warp on the loom and ended up with nine towels and a couple of little cloths. I tried different colours, pattern, and threads for this project - more details can be found on my Ravelry page.

Photos from Around -

The chickens are really enjoying getting out now the weather is warmer.

All their beautiful eggs are so different (and so different from store bought ones).

Delicious hydroponic tomatoes from the basement this week.

The snow is really melting and everything looks so dirty, but it's still fun for Molly to dig in.

So tolerant when they are waiting for supper time.

GingerSnap! surprised me by making it up and down the tree with his large cone.

All the best!♥︎

Week 9 of 2025

This week I finished weaving another table runner -

For this one I tried a new-to-me weaving technique - Echo and Iris. It looks like an oil slick.

The warp is made up of repeating threads in green, blue, red and yellow, and for the weft I used purple (half as thin as the warp threads). Warp 2/8 cotton and weft 2/16 cotton all from Maurice Brassard.

It was interesting to weave. Somehow it looks better in photos than in real life, I think that is why I was impressed when I saw other examples online.

When I first started weaving I tried out different weft colours, and different thicknesses of thread. Took a bit to work out the tie-up and treadling sequence too.

The warp draft pattern comes from Handwoven Magazine, issue March/April 2022. The tie-up and treadling pattern is from handwaving.net #74128 (from Marion Stubensky's book Weaving with Echo and Iris) - the circle pattern. I varied the number of treadling repeats so the circles wouldn't all be the same, and look more organic. The runner is about 11" x 30" (not including the fringe).

Photos from Around -

All these pets sleeping this afternoon.

Meanwhile these pets were hard at work providing food for us!

More food - hydroponic cucumbers growing in the basement.

All the best!♥︎♥︎

Week 8 of 2025

This week I finished a woven table runner -

Last year I wove some Heavy Meta towels. I loved the pattern, but because I substituted yarn that was readily available to me the horizontal and vertical stripes didn't weave to the same width. I knew I would revisit the pattern to see what I could do to change that.

Using Fiberworks (a computer software program) I modified the pattern so the vertical stripes would be wider (also changed the pattern in a few other ways to make it work as a table runner). 

The difference in the mock up is exaggerated because it only shows one weft thread, and there are two (pattern and tabby).

I wove it with 2/16 unmercerized cotton (MB Old Gold) for the warp and the tabby weft, and 2/8 tencel (MB Natural) for the pattern weft.

I am super happy with how it turned out. The stripes are the same width. Next I will modify the pattern again to try more towels.

The table runner is about 13"x59" (not including fringe). More details can be found on my Ravelry page.

Works in Progress - 

Handspun scarf.

New handspun socks.

Half way through an English paper piecing project.

On track with this year's cross stitch.

 

All the best!♥︎