Sewing Bag Full of Memories

After my mother died, my sister and I sorted through a lifetime of my parents' "things about them" (If you love the John Wayne-Maureen O'Hara movie of the "The Quiet Man" you might remember this quote, if you haven't seen the movie you should check it out!).  My father was a basket maker in his later years and made beautiful, traditional baskets in the Shaker style. 

My mother needlepointed, sewed clothes for me and my sister, knitted, and in her later years she learned to quilt.  Among her things, I found a piece of needle point that looked quite modern. 

 I put it among my things and let it sit for a few years knowing that somehow something would come along sometime.  After carting around my knitting and embroidery in handbags to piano lessons and ballet and soccer for the last couple of years, I finally decided what I really needed was a sewing bag that had the pockets and accoutrements that would make my travels and sewing/knitting on the road easier .  I thought of the needlepoint, took it out and went to the fabric store in search of the right combination of fabrics.  Amy Butler had just the thing, that piece along with some beautiful cream jean fabric looked just right.  I had seen a lovely bag in a knitting store that I admired and had that in mind as I started my bag. I spent three days cutting out fabric and sewing this bag together. 

I made sure I had lots of storage space for my yarn, and lots of pockets for scissors, knitting needles, thread, and whatever else I might need.  I even included a pin cushion.

I have enjoyed using it, and think of my mother when I carry it with me.

Enchanted Pathways

I finally finished my entry for the Enchanted Pathways exhibit at the American Tapestry Alliance meeting in Albuquerque, called Wind Blown.  I was in such a rush to mail it that I did not take such a good photo.  I took the photo from an angle and it looks really skewed.  It is pretty square, thanks to K. Spoeirng's directions on blocking a tapestry.    I have to admit, it is not totally square, I was experimenting with skipping warps on some sections, and weaving over and under on all warps on others.  As a result, the tapestry really pulled in toward the top.  Oh well, it was a learning experience, and it is a very different subject matter than I have used before.  On to other subjects now....I am thinking about weaving a series of small tapestries called Lines.  More about that later.

Spring fashion projects for the younger set

I have been wanting to make something for the baby of some friends of ours.  The baby is now over a year old and I finally got around to making and finishing the project.  The turquoise is from a recycled t-shirt and the lining t-shirt fabric was in my stash leftover from other projects.  The rabbit is from Alabama Stitches, and the dress is an easy jumper pattern that I have used for my daughter for years.  This time I experimented with a bleach pen to write the word starfish all over the fabric and then used reverse applique to have the starfish swimming on the jumper.  I thought it was a fun little play dress.

I also worked on a couple of things for my daughter for spring and summer.  Here is a jacket that I made.  I bought the book Sewing Clothes Kids Love.  I love this book, and I had such fun sewing this jacket, now I think I am going to have to make myself one.  I am trying to use up the stash of fabric that I have for the sewing projects that I have bought for and not gotten around to starting/finishing.  This jacket was just so much fun to make! 

Detail of the back of the jacket.

Signs of Spring?

After all of this snow, I think most of us are a little cabin fevered.  I am ever hopeful for warm weather and no more snow.  I thought I would post some of the hopeful little signs we have been seeing here.   I found our first egg this morning.  We have one aged hen left, whom I thought was beyond laying eggs, but there it lay this morning in the nesting box.  I profusely thanked Aphrodite for her gift and then my daughter and I proceeded to cook it and eat it.  What a great spring gift!

While out feeding the horses, I saw the beginnings of the daffodils, a bit worse for wear from the cold, but up and a sign of spring no less.  I will post some of my projects later this week, mostly sewing clothes for my daughter for spring.

Alabama Studio

As you can tell by previous posts, I love the clothing of Nathalie Chanin.  She also speaks to my heart, since I was also born in Alabama and spent several years of my childhood there.  Her books remind me of my childhood spent eating biscuits (but not that often since my mother didn't like them, but boy, my father and I sure did), sugar cookies, and other southern delights, as well as the sewing circles with my mother and her friends, and the coffee klatches with their yummy treats.  Anyway,  I digress, Burda Style is having a contest for those who want to enter their Alabama Stitches inspired wear.  I entered several pieces, but thought I would show one new one that I sewed for my daughter and a better photo of the black skirt and camisole top that I made.

  Now it is back to work weaving my piece for the American Tapestry Alliance's Enchanted Pathways show.  And, there are always the taxes to start, and the New Year's letters to finally send out....

Sun Spots

Here is my latest piece, finally finished.  This piece will go in a show with my fiber arts group, Fiber Transformed (FT).  I have been working on this piece since Christmas.  The FT show is called "Starting Point" and must feature at least one black dot somewhere.  I mounted the piece on a 12x12" hand-painted canvas.

It is embroidered/thread painted with DMC thread on cotton fabric and measures 5 3/4" x 5 3/4". I beaded the sunflower center.

Yet Another Snowy Day....

After 10 years of no real appreciable amounts of snow, Mother Nature is making up for it this winter.  Before Christmas we received approximately 27 inches.  I stopped measuring at 21", but then it continued to snow for another 20+ hours, albeit at a slower rate.  This snow was followed by another 9 inches a few weeks later, to be followed by 4 more inches last weekend.  The predictions for this snow are ranging from 12-30 inches.  I haven't been measuring, but is has been snowing at a pretty good rate since 6 am, and it is supposed to snow through tomorrow evening.  Here is a view out our kitchen window.

You would think with a nice snow, I could get a lot of weaving or other projects done.  However, now I have three horses in the barn with water and hay to be given, stalls to be cleaned, manure dragged out to the manure pile.  Soon, I will have to shovel a path to the barn and the manure pile.  We had to stockpile wood, and start a fire to keep the fireplace clear of snow.    The last big snow when the power went out I couldn't start a fire because the chimneys were completely covered in snow. My husband was stuck at a friend's house for two days because he couldn't get up our unplowed road.  He is home today and busy outside doing most of the heavy duty work on stockpiling the wood.  We have a fire started, but my son just came in to tell me that I need to get it going again.  I have to finish this entry soon!

Of course it is not all work.  My kids and I have had some fun with my husband's surf board.  My childhood sled is only good on ice.  With this much powder, we took out his surfboard, he took off the fins, and snow surfers we became.  Here are my son and I trying to look cool as we surf down the hill into a pasture.

I think my son Scott has got me beat on the cool factor!


As for what I have been busy doing this week instead of weaving, my kids have only been in school 4 hours in the last week.  However, that four hours was a nice break.  It gave me time to run to the thread store and get some colors that I was running out of to finish my 10x10 inch tapestry, to run to the grocery store to get a few more items in case of power outage, and to go to my fiber arts meeting with a fiber group that recently asked me to join called Fiber Transformed.  We have one show mounted right now at Artworks in Richmond if anyone gets a chance to see it.  I was not able to finish a piece for this show, called Starting Point.  There is another show right now at Radford University called Wish You Were Here, based on photos from members' vacations.  Because I just recently joined the group, again, I don't have a piece for that show.  I am finishing one for the next Starting Point show which will be at Blue Ridge Community College at the end of February.  The Starting Point pieces must have at least one black dot in them somewhere, and it can be any size.

Today, I am trying to get a little weaving done.  Here is a view into the studio, you can get a glimpse of my companions.

Here is a shot of my progress on my ATA Enchanted Pathways weaving.