Week 17 of 2025

This week I sewed a pair of slippers -

The pattern is the Wayfarer Shoes by Twig and Tale. This is the third pair I have made. It is such a great pattern - well drafted, with well explained, easy to follow instructions (there are videos too). For this pair I used some linen, that I think was once curtains, for the outside, moose hide for the sole, leftover quilting cotton for the lining and a piece of thick wool, from an old coat, for the insole.

I also finished weaving a set of towels. This is another one of my year of experimenting with weaving projects - this is a different weave structure - Turned Taqueté for the first time.

The pattern is Mission Style Dish Towels from Handwoven magazine, issue Sept/Oct 2015. Warp and weft in 2/8 cotton from Maurice Brassard, and one towel with cotton bouclé warp, also from Maurice Brassard. More details can be found on my Ravelry project page.

Works in Progress - 

Another 'new to me' weave structure on the loom.

Over 260 5" Broken Dishes quilt blocks so far - I need 400.

Year long cross stitch.

Handspun socks have heels now.

Spinning more yarn for socks, almost finished.

Photos from Around - 

With the nice weather, the chickens are back to wandering in the yard.

We didn't know how Molly would be with them after the winter, but she is still good.

GingerSnap! waiting inside for a snack.

Miss Maggie out hunting for snacks.

All the best!♥︎

Week 16 of 2025

This week I finished weaving a buffet runner -

It is to coordinate with the table runner I finished last week.

It is 20" x 47". Woven with 2/8 cotton for the warp and 2/8 tencel for the weft. 

This is part of my 2025 year of experimenting with weaving - the third matt/shiny project. The last one wasn't successful (the orange runner shown here), so for this one I only changed one variable - colour, from the first one (the gold runner shown here). I am happy with how it turned out - I think this weaving pattern is just more visible than the one I used for the orange runner.

This is the Earl's Canvas, a fancy twill pattern - it is a very nice pattern to weave.

More details can be found on my Ravelry page.

Photos from Around -

Down the road

Miss Maggie

Molly checking up on a sleeping GingerSnap!

All the best!♥︎

Week 15 of 2025

This week's weaving project is another table runner - 

The pattern is the Royal Holiday Runner from Handwoven magazine, issue Nov/Dec 2016.

This is part of my year of weaving experiments - for this project I used readily available 4/8 cotton for overshot for the first time, and wanted to see the sett that works for me (ended up being 15 ends per inch).

I wove it using 2/8 unmercerized cotton in white, black and honey for warp and tabby weft, and 4/8 unmercerized cotton in honey for the overshot pattern weft, all from Maurice Brassard.

It is 23.5" x 36". More details can be found on my Ravelry project page.

I also finished a little sample quilt for a recent free motion quilting class I taught (today the class was all about feathers, and everyone did so well!). The mini quilt is 27" x 25".

Using so many different quilting designs isn't something I normally do on one quilt, so it was lots of fun to stitch.

For the final photo - the big hunter stalking some birds (no luck and he came in for supper shortly after).

All the best!♥︎

Week 14 of 2025

This week I finished another set of tea towels -

I revisited the Heavy Meta Towels pattern that I wove last year. 

When I modified the pattern to make the horizontal and vertical stripes the same width and wove a table runner, I knew I would try some more towels (the runner was a short warp to see if the modification would work before trying a long warp for towels).

This time I modified the pattern to make a one over one "weaving" pattern.

The warp in 2/16 unmercerized cotton in beige, and the pattern weft is 2/8 unmercerized cotton in various colours (the tabby weft is the same 2/16 beige cotton as the warp).

A varied the treadling patterns a bit, and also which side I chose as the "right" side when I hemmed the towels.

I finished knitting a hat this week too. 

The pattern is the Beeswax Hat by Any van de Laar. I knit it with a commercial merino/cashmere yarn that I had dyed.

Photos from Around - 

This week we had more snow (pretty, large snow flakes), the chickens were a bit leery to come outside for their treats (the temperature was around freezing, which they have no problem with).

They did all come out.

The fresh snow was so pretty (mostly melted later in the day).

Miss Maggie is always happy outside - as a feral cat it took a while for her to be comfortable outside.

GingerSnap! was definitely an indoor cat when he showed up, but he loves it outside now the weather is warmer (I worry about him not being cautious enough outside like Maggie).

All the best!♥︎