Productive vacation

A few weeks back, I took a few days off work and started working on a new project; an afghan on the loom.

I graduated to the big loom. Here, the ladies are loading it up.

Fifteen threads per section.

Here are the sections, each containing the 15 threads. It is a cream colored thread so we can choose any colors for our afghans.

The counter to make sure the threads in each sections are the same length. Can you image the problems if they weren't?

The very high-end 21st Century technology gadget that assures the threads aren't tangled; a comb. :^D  Hey, it works like a charm. You can see the sections better in this picture.

Now I can't remember how many sections were used to make it to 50 inches wide. Afghans are usually made 75 inches long. To me, that sounded like a time-consuming project, like 3-4 days long. So that's why I took a few days off work.  Before starting on the project, one has to fill up the big wooden shuttles with the wool (which I forgot to take a picture of). There's many shuttles to be fill to make an afghan. The motion of rolling the yarn around the shuttles tired my arms pretty quickly. I thought this project would never get finished if my arms were already tired and it hasn't even started yet. :^(
So we sat, my teacher and I, and started to weave at around 10 am.

And we weaved and talked and weaved and ... then we were done!! Yes, we were done. It was 1:25 pm. It went by so fast that I forgot to take pictures of the process. (Sorry!) My teacher was laughing, saying: What are you going to do with the rest of your vacation?  "Don't worry, I'm sure I can brew more troubles before the day is done, ha!"

So, here's my afghan, all weaved, wrapped on the back of the loom.

For the final touch, a fringe needs to be added at both ends. Each little length of yarn needs a knot at each end otherwise, it will look like a woolly mess in a few months. After, I use a regular crochet to pull the yarn through, then I slip the ends through the loop. It's a slow process but a much needed one as it hides the not-so-pretty beginning and ending of the cream colored threads. You can see it in the previous photo.

Click on pictures to enlarge.



Joining Kathy today for a Slow Sunday Stitching.

Until next time...

;^)

Just Add Pink

Hot Pink Barn Door

It's the last of this black Pink Ribbon fabric :^(

Gotta love Pink horseshoes in flannel :^)

We have wonderful sunshine today and I am enjoying it. Teaming up with Angela for Rainbow Scrap Challenge. See you there.

Joining Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!


Until next time...

;^)

It's Flannel Season

One of the glorious mornings we had this week. (No, it's not snow on the ground, just frost.) In real life, the sky was more orange but it's still a beautiful picture.

Same morning, same time, front yard. Amazing! Two minutes later the clouds completely shut the sun off and the colors faded. Awwwwhhhh! :^(

We had frost on the ground, you know what that means, right?  It is the beginning of Flannel Season. Yay!

I started a project two years ago and now it is time to give it some TLC.

Crumb blocks. I have 30 square crumb blocks made...

and 32 star crumb blocks. They are called crumb blocks because the middles are made of little bits of fabric. The block finishes at 8 inches.

The basket has star units already made and corners already cut for the square block. I need to make more centers and for that I need this box...

where all the little bits are stored. Oh the fun I will have this week end, playing with flannel.

Hope you have a great one too.

Joining Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.
Joining Cynthia at Quilting if more fun than housework. 


Until next time ...

;^)

I finished something. Yay!

Fiona from BubzRugz, has been whipping up these beautiful baskets for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I been wanting some too so ... since she was so kind to write a tutorial on how she makes hers, (thank you Fiona) this has  happened in my sewing room.

I started with a big orange mess and proceeded to have some fun.

This was the longest part to do. First because I didn't sit at the sewing machine for any amount of time and second, because I wasn't sure where I was going with this. Finding orange fabrics I really love was easy. Plaids too of course. A lonely Flying Geese was found in the triangle's box. The quilting was boring until I decided to go DI-A-gonal! :^D

Then I folded the quilted piece in two and sew the sides. At this point, you need to cut the corners in order to have a boxed basket, as per Fiona's instruction. But I didn't want to cut the Flying Geese. What am I going to do with that? Darn! I should have watched where I placed the pieces. All of a sudden who walks into my sewing room? Why, it's Rebel!

She flattened the sides so the seams are face-to-face.

Picked up the tip of the bottom orange triangle and folded it. A few stitches with the machine and voilà!

I'll be able to pull the basket from the shelf with this little fold. Neat!

But you know what? I didn't like that look. I thought it needed a liner. We went back to the self to have a look at the possibilities.

Tiny little flower fabric was chosen and received the same treatment as the basket.

Hunted high and low to find some special little buttons to decorate the not-so-pretty little folded triangle. Ahhh! That's so much better wouldn't you say? I used the liner to bind the top of the basket. Easy-peasy, thank you very much.

Who has a cute little orange basket on her shelf? It's me! It's me! lol. I think I need a blue one too. Will I follow Fiona's instruction next time? 👀

Until next time ... I'll be weaving.

;^)


Joining Rainbow Scrap Challenge. (I know I'm a month behind and it's now Pink Month. I'll try to catch up with Angela next week.) :^D

Joining Oh Scrap! on Sunday.

Where's my orange?

Heck! Where's me??!!

Where have I been all of September?  Well, first and foremost, I am still alive and kicking. That's always a good thing, right? :^D

Second, did a few things but not much in the sewing room.

Let's see what's story the pictures are telling.

Remember this poor old quilt?

 It is done and delivered.

 It even has its own label now with the name of the original quilter. No, I didn't add my name on there. I thought it wouldn't be appropriate.

It got a couple of good soaks and trips in the washing machine. I got it back to almost its original color. 

You can probably see the quilting of hearts forming a circle in this picture. Love it. 
He was very happy to have his quilt back. So much so that I almost got a hug!!  :^D


Back in July, we helped my friend Pink to move. Her very pregnant cat held it all in for that day. Six days later she had 5 adorable little kittens. Of course I had to go back (3 hours drive to and fro) just to see the little balls of fur. I was so not disappointed. Moving forward another 5 weeks and I was back down there to play with the bigger little balls of fur.

It was pure heaven ... for me anyway.

Most of the pictures are blurry because ... well they're very active kittens and Pink and I just kept laughing. (These pictures were also taken with a phone.)

There were two kittens missing as they had found a good home already. I had a lot of fun with the remaining three. 

 I have this face on a lot of the blurry pictures because ...

this little one kept biting my leg or foot. I came back home with lots of scratches on both arms and a very light heart. All was worth it.

I also had a dark episode but that's behind me now so let's leave it there. And I had fun with the loom again but that's for another post. So what's left? Quilting. Or at least some sewing. And it was the month of Orange for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Yay!

Then two of my colleagues at work asked for kittens. Drove back to Pink's place, picked up two gorgeous kittens, put them in a box and drove back home. Was too tired to take each one to their new home that night, so we had some cat food and a "homemade" litter box. Again, the fun I had with little balls of paper and kitties. 

By 11 p.m. they were almost ready to go to bed. I wasn't.

It's the last time these brothers slept together. Both are now happily living in their new homes ... and thriving. :^D  And I miss them so much.

So now can I sew? September has been beautiful weather-wise, so much so that it was hard to stay inside and sew. Now that the cooler weather is here I can finally sit and sew a bit. I am playing with orange because I missed the Orange Month. :^(

I am enjoying this ...  :^)

More to come. But for now, I am tired and will take a break. I have the week off  so more sewing tomorrow. (Can you Hashtag big grind here or what?)

Until next time...

;^)