Secret Project - a Book!!!

Over the past couple of years the secret project that I've been working on is a quilting book that is being published by Martingale!!! The package that came is the manuscript that is in my court for editing. A few close friends and family were the ony ones who knew for the longest time, and I wanted to let the rest of you know the wonderful news! I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say about it yet, but it will have 10 patterns and all the instruction to make them, and is scheduled to come out around the end of the year.

Sorry no pictures for this post, but I'll make it up to you once I find out when and what I can post to my blog.

I've made progress

and some of my projects are nearly completed...


My Mr. Greenjeans cardigan is almost finished! Just a few loose ends to weave in, because I weave as many as possible in while knitting, and then it needs to be blocked and a button.


My Astrological Shawl is off the loom, waiting to be finished, and I love it! I was supposed to wind a 4 yard warp, but have been winding most of my warps 4-1/2 yards long, and wound it that long as well. Luckily, I had purchased the small remainder of a cone of the black just earlier that day, because I ran out as I was winding the second border.

I've learned a few more things while making the shawl. First, I decided to tie the warp on, instead of knotting and lacing it on, because I wanted fringe. Well, I ended up starting over without ripping, and so wasted some of the warp (time is money too), but still ended up with the shawl and more than a yard and a half of yardage. (I'll have to remember to measure before and after finishing this time.)

One warp comes off the loom, another goes on. When a friend and I were in Bellingham, WA several weeks ago, we both purchased some balls of Jaggerspun Wool-Silk for scarves. I've been wanting to try a scarf similar to the ones that I saw over on The Weaving Studio, and chose apricot and black to try a small scarf. Depending on the light in the room, the apricot is looking more orange than I want, but in daylight it looks great, so I'm moving forward with the warping process.

Hopefully, I'll sit and finish threading the heddles and start weaving soon, although yesterday I picked up a package that needs my attention. It's for the secret project that I've mentioned here and there over the past year, and almost time for an announcement.

While the Cat's away

the mice will play, or work... Does basketmaking count???

Yes, I've taken another detour into basketmaking, mostly because I need a better way to transport and store some of my stuff. You see, the new studio is just one big empty room, devoid of any storage whatsoever! While I have storage at home, and my last vacation studio had built in storage (it had previously been an office) my new studio won't have much in the way of furniture (until we get to move there - wish it could be as soon as it is finished), other than my old cutting table, past desk / sewing table and eventually, my new loom. I will be ordering some office furniture eventually (you know, some assembly required), because that is something that has always been built in, but I need immediate storage for things like yarn, fabric, loom accessories, etc. that I want to keep available for constant use. Well, I don't really have a workspace that is large enough for baskets, I cover and use the dining room table, and since my husband was going on a business trip, I took the opportunity to pull out the basketmaking supplies and make a few more.

This first one is really supposed to be a purse, although I think I'll probably use it as a small tote. I love the twill design, but I found it much more difficult to weave. It was supposed to have one longer strap, but since I didn't have one, I decided to use this pair of leather handles because they really go with the colors of the reed. The pattern is called "Flowing Twill Purse", by Wendy L. Reary, and can be found in the book "A Basketmaker's Odyssey", Over, Under, Around & Through" by Lyn Syler.




"Sasha's Christmas Basket" by Dianne Stanton. Now this basket was a joy to make, and will hold quite a bit of yarn or fabric. I love the way the pattern came out with the walnut and smoked reed!




"Rosie's Tote" by Gina Kieft. Several of my friends have a tote similar to this one, so of course I needed to weave one of my own. It will come in handy toting things to class, because it will hold lots of fabric and other supplies!

"Recycling Basket" by Brianne Feldpausch. Now this one is a bit different, and much larger, as a matter of fact it's huge compared to the others! I had planned to use all green reed, but the narro reed arrived in a different shade, so I decided to use a varigated blue instead, and maybe I shouldn't have, but it's ok. I love the size and shape of this basket, and even the patterning, however, the rim is an issue - it's beautiful, but much weaker than any of my other baskets. Since I've never done a braided rim before, and the instructions were for a single braided rim, it's wimpy, squishy, and basically leaves the rim very flimsy. It's quite possible that I should have kept the reed tight, or maybe it really should have been woven thicker? The only one I have seen online was a double braided rim that Basketmaster Nancy used on her Mini Muffin Basket, and that was a tiny basket compared to this one, but would be stronger than the one in the directions I was following. I'm thinking maybe I could just add a 1/2 round rim that would be on both sides, leaving the decorative loops below the twining and the top of the braid as a rim filler, but with the curved top it might not work out very well. Anyway, I'm not going to put a finish on it, and will set it aside until my friend Cathy is here again, so I can get an expert opinion on what I should do.

Sometime I will learn to work on one project

at a time. In the meantime, I've made progress on several.....

The quilting on my self portrait is more than halfway finished, as I just need to finish the background. I think it needs to have some embellishments added, but I'll need to dig through my studio and see what I have that will work.


I've also started cutting into these fabrics to make a bed quilt, working with block ideas from Karla Alexander's new book Color Shuffle. I'm not sure if it will end up being king or queen sized, but I'm in need of one king and two queen sized quilts at the moment, so it will depend how it works out.



I really like her "Shaken, not Stirred" quilt, so I tried out some blocks. I'm not very keen on the way they look with these fabrics, so I flipped through the book for another design.

I like these blocks from "The Square Within" project, and plan to make more, although I'm thinking I might like to change the setting, to take advantage of some of the prints in my collection, as well as including the solid. Only time will tell how this quilt will turn out.

Another thing I have done is pull out threads for more of my hand stamped art quilts, as I need to get these quilted!

If you think I've forgotten about my loom, I haven't. I'm currently working on an astrological shawl based on my personal horoscope, designed by Bonnie Tarsus, and I really like the way it's coming out!

Quilting and Weaving

Yes, I know it's been a while since my last post. Thing is, I'm spread a bit thin these days, and the creative projects get done in between everything else. Right now we've got the house construction, which luckily is nearing done, although the little details keep dragging on.... I've also been working on and off on my secret project, which I really should devulge soon, as it's been slowly leaking out to those close to me. Between these is a project with one of the quilt guilds that I'm a member of, time on the road, and of course all the regular day to day stuff. Oh, and how could I forget but trying to get the tax paperwork done with help. Anyway, I keep hoping to get back to the time when everyone left for work or school early enough that I could have a nice stretch of time to work on projects or get things done that I need to do, like quilting and other projects!!!



Since I don't quilt every day, I thought I'd quilt up some of the little hand stamped quilts before I quilt the bird and portrait, so here's a little heart quilt, all machine quilted, and waiting for some hand quilting and beading.



I finished weaving the hand towels, although I was only able to get three towels out of the warp instead of four, because the beginner weaver in me didn't think about the fact that the towels called for a set of 24epi, and I decided to do them at 20 epi, and to keep the design square, it also grew longer. They're not perfect, and as I was weaving them I did consider the fact that I probably should not have chosen a design that required 4 shuttles quite so soon, but managed to finish them anyways.



The close-up shows the pattern a bit better, and I'm happy to say that they have been washed and pressed and are waiting to be hemmed!

bag and quilt progress

I think this is my favorite little art quilt right now. I only hope I can quilt and finish it in a way that will enhance, and not take away from it.




I wasn't sure what I was going to do with some of the leaf and flower stamps that I carved last year, and many were just stamped on fabric to be fussy cut, or collaged. However, I did two little panels with these flower and leaf combinations, and am thinking that brighter quilting threads and embellishments will spice them up.

The other thing I did was to finish covering the clothesline cording, and sewing it into bags. These two are smaller than the one in my last post (probably half the size, because that one was HUGE). They're almost finished, with handles tucked inside that need to be sewn on by hand (I've found that I prefer to use buttonhole thread and hand stitch them on, because they have holes that are pre-punched). Still need to make a couple flaps, and find some embellishments, or cute buttons to decorate the flaps, but they're almost done, and will soon be filled with class supplies and projects!

UFOs, and time in the studio

The Stray Threads Quilt Guild is having a quilt show, and with the deadline coming up soon, I decided I had better look at some of my UFOs, and finish at least one to enter. I had started this project amost a year ago, when I was taking Pam Allen's online class, called "Think Like and Artist". When the class ended, this first picture is how the quilt looked, and although I liked the color and partial face in the upper right, it didn't seem to be working with the rest of the quilt.

As I was going through the layers on my design wall (it's small, and I tend to "store" things there so I don't loose them), I found this black bird and pinned it to the portrait. I think I like it, but should it be black? I think it's a bit too dark for the rest of the quilt, but am thinking on it for now, and will need to make a decision soon, so that I can start quilting.

Another thing taking up space in my studio are some clothesline and in-project bags. I had made one a while ago, that I had loaned to the local quilt shop, and decided to make another, so I'd have one to use. I should have called the shop and asked them to measure the starter strip in the bottom, but did I? Of course not, I remembered 12 or 13" from somewhere, and began from that, but before long I had sewn all the covered clothesline into it, but it had a huge base, and I didn't have another Bali Pops package with more strips, and no more clothesline, so it was set aside until I could purchase more - which I did, but by then I was working on another project, so it waited. Finally, more covered cord was prepared, and also two more bags started for a demonstration, but when I came home, the secret project took over and they were set aside again. Well, finally I'm back working in the studio, and trying to finish up some of the things that have piled up there, so here's the jumbo bag, with the cording all sewn on, and paired up with fabric that I think I'll use for handles and a flap closure (maybe some interior pockets too).

I thought a picture with my machine for a size comparision would help you get an idea just how large it really is....

I also pin basted a few smaller art quilts, but of course, my camera battery decided it would not cooperate, and ran out of power before I had finished taking the pictures, so more will follow.