To my great delight, I have finished the Box Top sweater by Cheryl Oberle. I added a placket for my button GEMS. 
I am really loving my little GEMS. It has been quite obsessive some might say!
I was dinging around with felt, fiber and yarn and came up with these little buttons! Little Art to Wear Gems I’m thinking!
The Kromski Harp Rigid Heddle Loom is here! I had a helper putting it together…
It was pretty easy to assemble and here it is! It is 32” wide and pretty wide, but I am glad about that because I then have lots of choice about the fabric width. I am hoping to get comfortable enough with it to make fabric that I can make a jacket with ultimately. Let’s just start with a scarf though! I am taking a class to learn how to warp it and get started in February. The spinning wheel won’t be here until March and I am excited to spin yarn that will become the woven fabric!
The Box sweater is coming right along. I need to put on the collar yet.
I have been working on this Feather and Fan lace pattern scarf for a while, but the second skein of yarn is not quite the right color, I knew it when I bought it , but didn’t think it would be that bad, but now that I have it in progress, it know it will make me crazy. So, I am going to rip it and knit it with both yarns at the same time alternating rows with each.
I have to admit, I am pretty excited! I ordered both a loom and a spinning wheel today…woo-hoo - Kromski Fantasia spinning wheel and Kromski Harp Rigid Heddle Loom. Seems like a Polish wheel and loom for a polish girl was the right thing to do. I have wanted a spinning wheel for a long time, but was unwilling to spring for it thinking that I wouldn’t know what to do with the small amounts of yarn I spun. Spinning is very therapeutic, and relaxing. That's when I thought I would get a loom. I had a loom when I was a kid and thought I had kept it, but I can’t find it anywhere, so what the heck. I decided to go for it! The loom will be here on Tuesday and I have signed up for some classes at the Weavers Guild to really learn how to warp it and get it set up properly. I am looking forward to using some of the left over yarns in a new way.
The spinning wheel won’t be here until March, because it is a brand new model and hasn’t come off the boat yet I guess. That’s ok, I thing will have plenty to do to keep me occupied until it gets here. I think it is awfully pretty!
This morning it is MINUS 15 degrees! Brrr. Looks like I should just stay in and get cozy in the studio. I have been in the studio every minute possible for the last two weeks. It has been a great. I go back to work tomorrow, drag!
I never get all the things done that I want, but I am very relaxed and that is kind of the point. I have been getting up at about 5:00 am, making a cup of coffee and going down to my room pretty much every morning.
I am pretty happy that I got the two quilts made, although now I have to have someone to finish them. It was a nice change, since my arm has been pretty sore from knitting. But now I can get back to finishing a sweater that I have been working on. I have been working on Box Top from the book Knitted Jackets.
Using the left over fabric from the first quilt top I made, I finished a second one, this one was way easier, less piecing and since it was squares, easier to do than matching triangles. I probably have to have this one quilted too, since it is bigger than I can manage on my sewing machine. I did all the seaming with my serger, which was pretty simple. It is easier to make straight seams with the serger and everything is much tidier.
Hmmm.. what will I do next?
I have never made a bed size quilt before, I have used piecing techniques to make clothing, but I have never made a big flat thing like this before. Believe me, I thought about turning it into a jacket, I got a little intimidated. But now that it is done, I am pretty happy with it! The fabrics is all Kaffe Fasset prints so it is pretty crazy. I do love it. Unfortunately I have to have it quilted by someone because it is way to big for me to quilt on my machine. 84” x 61”
Just because I had such fun, I decided to make another! Here is one panel – there will be three. I had so much fabric left from the first one, and thought it would be fun to keep piecing.
I have been wanting to make this little guy for such a long time and I finally got the pattern and was able to make him up. The pattern has been hard to find since it was published in England a few years ago. but now it was easy to get right off Alan Dart’s website.
Finally, Thanksgiving, decorating, shopping, cooking, getting the budgets done, re-writing the grant program plan, getting worked up about stupid work stuff, celebrating Christmas, the big snow storm,too much butter and sugar…it is all over and now I can do what I want to do! And my response to all the political conversations throughout the holiday gatherings is from Margaret Mead -
“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
The big news is about a chair…
Each Christmas T and I decide on something we want for the house. Well, since Buster really likes using the burgundy wingback chair in the living room as his personal scratching post, the thing has seen better days. I draw the line when I start to see white stuffing showing through the fabric. Lovely chair, but poor choice for our house.
We decided to replace this chair for our Christmas gift this year. We found just about the most comfortable chair possible and I fell in love with it. It however was totally wrong for a replacement in the living room. So –voila – I becomes my new studio chair! Yippee, I may never leave the studio now. It is the giant brown thing in the picture and of course required moving things around to get the right fung shui.
The chair for the studio that I agonized over just a couple of years ago:
now happily lives in the living room.
This little guy is the extent of the creativity over the last few weeks. He is the Tiny Tomte from Alan Dart. The bigger version is in progress.
One of the highlights of Christmas is this character:
The arrow shows how high she likes to climb – It is a 14 foot tree!
She is entertaining – I will give her that!
I thought I would get away from the beige crocheted jacket and work on something else for a change. After seeing Londa Rohlfing at the Original Sewing Show last month, I took a couple of vests that no longer fit, but have great fabric and re-designed a sweatshirt and made a jacket. One of the vests had the front border and the black brocade on the upper and the other vest had the red tapestry that I used on the bottom and the back. It is really pretty and I am very happy to have used the fabric which is quite gorgeous and was just sitting in the closet. It was a bit of a pain, because sweatshirts are not straight and even, but eventually it all worked out.
I have come to the point of a project when you have to step away. I have been working on this jacket for so damn long, I have completely lost perspective.
I used a beige shirt that I had as a template and started attaching my motifs, primarily leaves and flowers. I came to a couple of conclusions; I didn’t what to have the crocheted motifs all the way down my back, since I sit so much of the time. Secondly, since I wasn’t going all the way down the back, I thought I would do kind of a sweeping thing across the front.
Now that I have all these things attached, I just feel like it looks like a bunch of stuff attached and doesn’t look like a complete piece. STEP AWAY FROM THE JACKET!
I spent the last three days at the Original Sewing and Quilt Show at the convention center in Minneapolis. It was a pretty good experience, I learned a good deal, saw lots of new techniques and products, found ways to part with my money and generally came away creatively exhausted!
I took a couple of classes on Free-form quilting. One with Frieda Anderson and another with Nelly Vileikis I learned a few tips , but mainly learned that I need to practice a lot more!
I also took a class using Shiva Paintstiks with Laura Murray. I have been wanting to learn more about these for a long time, since I really like the results. I also have to practice a bit more, but found out I like the look of stenciling the paints rather than the rubbings. Maybe that is just because I need to learn to be a bit less heavy handed. I think I will get better results altogether since the paintstiks in class were pretty nasty. So, of course, I parted with cash and now have some of my own!
Then I took a class with Debbie Martinez from TSC Designs using inks to dye fabric and lace. We used many types of fabrics and experimented with a number of techniques. Good skills to add to my arsenal of techniques I think!
Lastly, I took only two project classes, and they were just silly and fun. Both were with Barb Callahan. The first class was “Painted Ladies” painting rubber stamped images on dominos with ink markers. The second class was doing a small weaving with unique fibers. I used one of my “ladies” as embellishment on the weaving for a pin or necklace. Fun stuff!
All in all – a good time! the highlight for me was Londa’s Sweatshirt Jackets! Beautiful jackets made by embellishing sweatshirts! One of her fabulous designs…
I found the need to leave some cash with her and can’t wait to make the time to start one of my own!
Well, I finally did it and I have the incriminating evidence to prove it! We made a duct tape dress form! I have wanted to make one for a long time, particularly since the purchased dress forms really don’t do us big girls justice and they are expensive. Plus it is an exercise in true love when my husband willingly covers my whole body in duct tape! It kind of looks like a Halloween costume… YIKES….
I am thinking I must look like this…..
Only to realize this is closer to reality……
The taping is not the hard part – it is getting it back together, stuffing it and getting it to stand up straight that is the pain in the ass. When you cut it off, it is pretty flimsy and getting it taped back together is interesting and then finding a stand that will keep it straight, is another endeavor. But after several tries, having the thing fall over and fall apart, Dolly is up and ready for service!
I am pleased, if for no other reason, than I can dress her with what I am working on and get a pretty close approximation to size. Plus, it is easier to work on something in 3 dimension rather than just two dimension - flat all the time.
Dolly is currently wearing the free-form jacket that I am working on…
I have been working on a free form jacket for a while and finally decide to start placing the pieces and realized 2 things, I was sick of working on the little pieces and secondly I really didn't want a fully crocheted jacket. So staring in the back I laid out the pieces in a cascading pattern and started sewing them down. When I went to bed last night I laid there wondering what I was thinking – I didn’t want crocheted pieces all the way down the back- just to sit on them. So I took off all the pieces that I had not sew down yet and repositioned them on the front. I think is much better
The original design all the way down the back:
The new design down the front:
The back with the sewn on pieces:
My design assistant who insisted on moving the pieces to a new location!
I also realized when I was thinking about this laying in bed the I had some great fabric stashed away that I could use as the lining and along with some beads and these novelty yearns as embellishment, I am pretty excited about getting this all to come together! 
It is pretty much fun to assemble the pieces of a free-form design. There are a million different ways to arrange the pieces.
I have always loved taking classes! Ever since I took classes to learn how to paint, I have looked for opportunities to learn techniques from others and to have the communal experience of creating with like spirits. I particularly love it when I can find them locally. It is not often. Since I am interested in so many things, I probably could be somewhere every couple of months. Lets get serious-Who could afford that. Then when I take a bunch of classes at the same time, I get overwhelmed and don’t have time to work on the techniques that I just learned. But that doesn’t stop me!
This year I have found classes on on Free Motion Quilting and Paintstiks at Sewing and Quilt Expo that is coming to Minneapolis. I am very excited to go. It is right around the corner!
I have been working in a new freeform project. It is mainly flowers and leaves with a couple of paisley and circles thrown in now and again. It is not even close to the colors that I usually work in, so sometimes it is a challenge for me to keep at it. But, I like the colors and will be happy to have a garment that is not as loud as freeform can sometimes get. The color choice is all Margaret Hubert’s fault, since I won a door price in her class of a bunch of yarns in these colors, I then added the darker green. I am hoping to make a jacket. I found a beige cotton jacket in the closet that is as boring as it gets, and I have been hanging on to it because I wanted to find something to embellish it with. Well, I guess this is it!
