Category: Dyes

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Knitting

Since we aren’t gifting the OCD quilt, I’ve put it on the procrastination pile (which is huge) to wait out the holidays.  In this case, that pile means the couch.  
Notice the safety pins all over
The blanket is being used to keep us warm already even though it has no edging and isn’t full quilted yet.  That’s probably a bad idea, I know, but I get such a kick out of seeing somebody wrapped up in it.
So instead of working on the quilt, I’ve been knitting and knitting.  
Up until this year, knitting the same thing twice was unthinkable to me.  
It’s so boring and repetitive.  That’s why my socks have all been fraternal twins.
This is an old pair.  You can tell I got bored on the feet because they are totally different.
I think this year, because I’ve been making time to create more kinds of stuff – quilts, jewelry and stuffed animals – repetitive knitting is just fine.  
I’ve been making the same scarf with different yarns and have really been enjoying myself.  It helps that the stitch pattern is a no brainer and I can think about other things while knocking them out.  
 
It’s also helped my with my embarrassingly large yarn stash.  I now know what to do with it and even have a project for those small leftover balls of yarn that I just can’t get rid of.  
This morning
Last night
I’d love to make crazy randomly colored scarves – using the same pattern – but that will wait till after Christmas too.  Not everybody appreciates random messiness.
We helped Santa out and bought a new camera on Sunday.  
Look for the Etsy shop to start growing!
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Always learning…

 Two big lessons learned today.
Lesson 1.  What looks like this before being washed…

…looks like this after.  Not at all quite what I had in mind but after about 10 seconds of mourning it’s perfect tidiness, I decided that I love it.  It helped that Matt really likes it, too.  The only big difference to our lives is that instead of gifting it, we’re keeping it.  It’s too messy for the person we had in mind. 
Lesson 2.  Repeatedly poking a needle through three layers of fabric (Denim – sometimes 2 layers of that –  batting and then upholstery canvas) hurts like hell.  I finally started using a thimble even though it makes me feel like a Grandma.  I’m actually taking a couple of days off to let my thumbs and index fingers heal. 
I got about 1/4 of it done before wimping out.  
I picked an orange quilting thread.  

It don’t think it’s a perfect choice but matches the little orange dots on the backing fabric.  Maybe I’ll be learning a lesson from this, too.

I’m bummed that my tidy OCD rectangles will get so messy but, on the other hand, I’m sure I’ll learn to love it. That’s just the way I’m made.
In the meantime, I’m knitting scarves like Christmas is coming.
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Way Back Machine

During October I participated in the Habitat for Humanity Restore Art Auction.

I donated 3 stuffed animals,  and, at the last second, I included bio’s for them.
The auction went pretty well.  It was fun to have my work in an art opening and it felt good to support the Habitat for Humanity.   The only bummer was that they forgot to include the bio’s.  Two of the three Woollies were sold.  I was a little disappointed that the bio’s weren’t included because I think they would have helped to sell them for a little more.
So I thought I’d post them here because it was so much fun to put together and there really isn’t anywhere else to share them:
This set includes one (1) Super Hero Wannabe who is just figuring out how to use his sleeve/wings for good.  Our hero is constructed out of wool jackets.  His muzzle is the flap of a pocket.  His mask is the lapel from another jacket.  His nose is made of Casein – milk protein that was more widely in use before plastic became popular.  He doesn’t sport a label but won’t let that hold him back.

One (1) Sidekick who could probably run the show but she’s too nice to let our Super Hero feel bad.  She too was once a Herringbone coat and also has a pocket mouth.  Her eyes and nose are a mix of vintage and thrifted buttons.  Her label identifies her as “Stafford Executive” but her ric rac keeps her from getting too snooty about it.
One (1) Patchwork Villain who turned to crime for the thrill of it.  His patchwork is from some very old and some not so old jackets and skirts.  He’s a bit of a mixed up kid with buttons from all over the place as well.  He has yet to live up to his label, which promises ‘Satisfaction Always’.  His deep secret?  His label came from the main fabric of our Super Hero – they have more in common than they could possibly imagine.
Salvaged for these little dudes:
10 Wool Coats
2 Wool skirts
8 Vintage buttons (From school assignments circa 1941 & 1959)
Each Woollie is stuffed with 100% wool stuffing to keep away dust mites (They hate wool).
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You’re welcome

Here’s a test swatch for the OCD quilt.  I tried hand quilting it.  I think if I do the whole blanket this way, I’ll make the stitches further apart so that I can finish in this decade.  The backing is a  heavy cotton from IKEA.  I was going to use it for chair covers since but I haven’t even begun to consider working on that project, this one wins.  I do have the chairs, though.  But I am NOT a hoarder (spoken like a true hoarder)!
My big worry is that the rectangles will fall off or fray in the wash so I’m going to throw this one through a cycle and see what happens.  If they fall off I may go through and zig zag them on with a blue thread.  That promises to be a colossal pain because I’ve already sewn all the squares together.

 I used jean top stitching thread because I like the weight of it for this but I don’t like the color so I’ll be using a different thread if I hand stitch it.
Getting there…

Oh.  I found this pair of acid washed, pleated front Bill Blass jeans at Dig N Save and cut them up for a border.  They will never grace anyone’s ass again.                                                                                                        You’re Welcome.

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Puzzle Pieces

My daughter dropped the camera on the floor last night and now it works – kinda.  It’s still held together by a rubber band from a bunch of asparagus and it thinks it needs a new battery all the time BUT I was able to get a picture of the OCD quilt.  It’s all denim from jeans.  I put it together like a puzzle and now I have to sew it so that we regain the use of our dining room table.  This means I’m still procrastinating on my couch but at least I’m using some denim, right?

 I realize that this isn’t really like a Japanese Boro Quilt – mine aren’t really random enough – but those quilts are so amazing that I am going to add some links to some pictures.  They just blow me away.  I’ve heard that what collectors tend to show are the back sides of the quilt.  I can see why.

Fibercopia 
Harvey Antiques – Check out those prices.
Reference Library – Shows the front and back.


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Camera

My camera is a family camera.  It’s also several years old.  
I mention this because it is in the process of dieing an inconvenient death.  
Just look at the difference in the quality of the pictures. 
Before
After
With that in mind, I am not really going to have any good, new photos until after Christmas.  Santa is bringing us a new camera.  I’ll see what I can do with old pictures in the meantime:
Older picture, obviously.
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Etsy?

A few years ago I opened an Etsy store.  I listed only my jewelry.  No bites.

I truly think that you have to have an established customer base already to sell things on Etsy.  I let the shop go having learned that Etsy is a dead end for me.

So, somebody please explain to me why I just opened another one.

It means I have to have an inventory that’s just for Etsy, I have to keep up with the site, I have to deal with shipping and taxes.  Yet, there it is.

I only have one item on there right now.  I plan to list a wider variety of items:  stuffed animals, jewelry and maybe even some vintage stuff.  Maybe that will justify my many trips to Dig N Save.

If I mention my Etsy store on the tags that are on things I sell locally, maybe someone will check it out, right? 

I used Marilyn Monroe logic:
“Ever notice how ‘What the hell’ is always the right answer?”
— Marilyn Monroe

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Apparently

 When I have a cold, I usually play Sudoku.  Something about completing the patterns while sitting under a quilt on the couch is comforting when I don’t really have the energy to do anything. 
 
But this time, I got into sewing little rectangles onto jeans instead.  
It’s weird, I know but it’s fun.  
After a while my husband asked if I was making a quilt.
 Apparently, I am. 
I honestly had no idea.  I was just keeping myself busy.

Now that they are becoming a quilt, though, it brings to mind (vaguely) Japanese boro quilts. 

I didn’t stay too focused though.  I made this little dude, too.
I gave him to my son.  
I think I’ll make some more.  
I didn’t know denim would be so much fun to sew.
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Friday in November

It’s Finished!  Here’s the quilt on our messy bed.  It’s exceedingly warm due to the wool backing.
Here it is, backing side up.  I had to cut the wool piece up and rearrange it just a little bit to make it more bed shaped.  It weighs a ton.
The green velvet pants didn’t quite have enough fabric so I used a little bit of a lighter green jacket for the edging.  Here are the two colors together.  I got a kick out of using the button placket from the jacket and some pockets from the pants.  All in all, I’m very pleased with the quilt.
 Then I spent my yesterday coming down with a cold and making a new batch of critters.
It looks a little creepy to stick an eye ball in a flower.
Add a little linen….
He’s one of my latest owls.  Here he is in progress.  Very colorful for a dreary winter’s day cheering up.
He and several other of his buddies are finished now and will be at the Confectionique Market on November 26th. 
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Back in Business

One of the latest and longest lasting projects is my log cabin crazy quilt.  It’s inspired by the amazing quilts by the women of Gee’s Bend.  I was really taken with their corduroy quilts.  Here are some close ups of my attempt. 
It has pockets!  Everything except for the red and gold came from pants.  That really caused some issues because the pants have been worn and have a lot of bias to them.  I really had to embrace the chaos.
I’m not thrilled with how I hand quilted them together but I just really couldn’t wait to finish.  I worked on it in the spring until it was too hot and then put it away.  It’s been waiting for me for a long time.  I didn’t use any batting so the distance between the sewn bits ‘should’ be OK.  If it moves around I guess I can always add more.
The itch keeps you warm, you know.
The backing is a wool remnant that I bought at Gayfeather Fabrics.  It’s very warm but pretty itchy.  So I decided to edge it with velvet to off set the itch factor, at least around the edges.  I’m hoping that one pair of velvet pants will do the job.

Here are the pants cut up and waiting.  This is the only part of this quilt left to do.  I’ll sew them into a large strip and then edge the quilt.  I can sew one side with the machine (I hope) and the other will be hand stitched.


But, not today.  We are having a group of pre-teen girls over to make duct tape crafts with us today.  They won’t want me around though I’ll need to stay close so I’ll be sitting in the kitchen, burning cookies and working with this:
Keep your eye on this space to see what I plan to do with all this vintage bark cloth.