Didn't wait!

 I looked at the scarves in the jar and thought about a post I had done in the past, mentioning that some of the flowers had rotted and marked the fabric. So I only waited till today, not three weeks! 

They looked quite purple before rinsing. Breath held before rinsing. 

I rinsed the scarves and hung them up to dry. Then it rained! So I brought them in and noticed that the velvet scarf felt a bit gritty, maybe I hadn't rinsed it properly. I even used detergent this time. They are now hanging up under cover. Still purple although I am wondering if the velvet one has turned a little greyer - but that could be the darker light, due to the clouds. Wait and see. 

Now that I see the photo, I see a dog's face, of course.  On the lefthand side. 

Is that an angel I see? 

Three weeks into the new year!

 Well, it is 23/1/23!! How time flies, whether you are having a great time or not. 

I have been dealing with the summer holidays, post Christmas and New Year and feeling a bit tired. But nature doesn't take much notice. The hollyhocks are blooming and dropping flowers. 

So I have been collecting them. Today I put them in a jar with some fabric that I had soaked overnight with alum.(I used one of my past posts, which doesn't have all that much information.)  One is silk and polyester, so I am not sure how well that will go. The other is a chiffon silk. Both are scarves. I put then in a jar with the flowers and left them in the sun. Not sure what will happen, hope I don't waste the two scarves!! 

The water had taken some colour, not so sure about the fabric. But I will leave it for a week or so, the weather is going to be quite warm/hot, so that might help. 

On another note, I have been doing a free online course with Textile.org. It was called Stitch Camp and was about colouring some fabric and then doing some stitch on it. I am way behind - it was a 5 day thing, so it doesn't matter that I am behind! I will try to do some more stitching. It is just a random sort of thing - for me, at least. 

I will try to do 30 minutes a day (which it was advertised as needing) and see what develops. It is not my usual colours (if I have usual colours) but I was away and didn't have much choice. Not to worry, it is relaxing, when I get myself to give myself time to do it. Not sure what I will do with it, will try to just enjoy the process.  

Decisions, decisions!

 I cut the tapestry off the loom today and braided the warp ends. I have yet to put some fabric on the back, might not do that, depending on how I decide to mount it/finish if off. 

The yellow warp has meant that the warp doesn't show as much as a white one would - I tend to have it showing a little at the finish, not so obvious this time. 

I also have to decide which way up I prefer. I took photos of the 4 orientations, will give it some thought. 

Pretty sure I don't like this one. 

This is the orientation it was woven in.

Almost finished.

I hid in the house with the cooling on this afternoon and worked on finishing off the small tapestry. I have finished the weaving and the hitching off, now it is loosened on the loom so that it can 'rest' and be ready to cut off. 

I'll cut it off tomorrow and see if one of my ideas will work. I have done some areas that might be able to be pulled down and loosened, to give a bit of texture. But I have also experimented with doing a cotton sewing thread hitching off and I am not sure if that will grip too well for this technique to work. Time will tell - as long as I don't botch it up and have it half-textured!

My ruler tells me the piece is straight but my eye disagrees. Another thing to check once it is off the loom and tidied up. There will be a couple more hours of work to go - it isn't finished when you stop working on the loom!

It doesn't have any relation to what I thought I would come up with - probably because I didn't really have a good idea of what I was trying to achieve! I enjoyed the process though, so that is a bonus. 

Back to the tapestry

I have gone away for a couple of days. I brought my loom with me - fortunately it is not very big and is fairly easily transported (works best with a car!).

My back has been sore, so I have not woven for a few days. I am still a bit stiff but I have taken breaks (and put on some Deep Heat creme!!). I didn't do much but it is approaching the top. Great excitement. 

I am still making up my story. Some colours keep tying to dominate but others keep intruding. I'll have to decide what to do about the top part - it's the next part!!! Worry, worry. 

It is soooo not what I had envisaged - if I actually did envisage anything. I am not a very visual person, which I find surprising as I like textile art. But I don't see what I am thinking about, I have to see an image and then adapt it, usually. It is usually from a photo I have taken, sometimes from a drawing (but I don't draw much either). 

This time I only had a vague idea and drew some lines on a piece of paper. It was going to be a shaped tapestry but, as I went along, I couldn't see the point, so now it will be a square (as much as I am able to make it regular).

I have tried a coloured warp and had thoughts of allowing it to show but that hasn't eventuated. Fortunately (?) I have plenty more of the yellow warp so can experiment some more. 

I didn't bring much stuff with me, so will have to make do with the colours I brought. It is freeing, in a way, I don't have to stress too much about what to use. 

Moving right along

 I finished the quilt. I have done the quilting - basic stitch in the ditch, which showed me that not all the ditches matched up! Then I put on the border. I had considered doing orange, as with the interior border, but decided to use the main fabric.

I sewed it on and then hand sewed the back. I am always amazed about how long hand sewing can take! 

It is not quite square but is approximately 1 metre.  A good size for a baby - I hope. 

Now to move on to another project - even if it is just coming up with ideas. I still have to finish my tapestry and it is occurring to me that I might like to do a small series related to the current piece. Time will tell if that is a good idea or not. 

Not sure I'll do this technique again

 I have made the quilt top, based on the Ricky Timms book. It took some thinking, which is hard to do in this hot weather, in the post Christmas, New Year and summer holiday time. 

I did manage to put the pieces together in the correct order. Most of the seams matched. But it only made a small piece, about 50cm square. I have added a border, using the same fabric. There were other examples in the book but I didn't have that much other suitable fabric, so just went with the obvious. And it would have taken too much thinking!

It is now about a metre square (very approximately). I think I'll give it to my god-daughter who is pregnant. Hope the baby likes bright colours!!

When I look at the photo, I think all the work in the centre is lost in the brightness but I am not going to change it now, Maybe, if I ever do another one, I'll do something more subtle. 

I've got random bits of leftover fabric, might use it on the back. That is tomorrow's decision, or even the day after. 

Distraction from tapestry

 Well, I thought I'd try something simpler, that requires less sitting still than the tapestry does. 

I have had a book by Ricky Timms for ages and got it out recently, thinking to have a play.

 I am not quite sure how big it will be or what I will do with it. I am hoping for a baby quilt size as there is a baby due in March that I could give it to. If it works out. 

I went out and bought some fabric a week or so before Christmas but haven't really looked at it. Today I did - decided that I don't think it will work, especially not for my first attempt. 

I found a couple of metres of dyed fabric that I must have bought a while ago, totally forgot that I have it. 

I read the instructions, had to read them two or three times, to get my head around them. I have cut the pieces for the first lot of sewing. 

I started sewing, then realised that I had done the first one right, the second one wrong! Aargh!! It is now pulled out and awaiting my return to the sewing machine. Seeing I haven't used it in quite a while, I will leave it for tomorrow, hope to get a good night's sleep and start afresh tomorrow. 

I shouldn't be surprised, I do have an issue, occasionally, with orientation of shapes. I remember one of the first quilts I made, going to regular classes, I  turned the shapes around and got them in the wrong orientations. I often have trouble with that sort of thing. So I'll try to be patient and start again tomorrow. 

Some progress made

 I have done a bit more of my tapestry. It is really getting to be a pick a colour as you go thing. I am telling myself a story about the deeper yellow on the left, and the lighter one on the right, trying to be the dominant colours but others keep getting in the way. Sometimes they just block them, other times they join together and battle it out. 

My back is really giving me grief at the moment though, so I didn't do any weaving today and probably won't for a couple of days. 

Maybe I'll be able to get half an hour done soon - but that half hour just disappears and, suddenly, I realise I have been there for an hour or an hour and a half. 

Maybe a new project will distract me - one that has less sitting down.

Note to self

 Just a brief reminder to myself - if you use mohair yarn in your weaving, don't try to pull it out!! It sticks to the warp.

I put in a bit - because I had it and it was in the colour-range I seem to be using - and then decided that I didn't like it there. But there it is staying as I had so much trouble pulling it out. 

Small progress

Despite the heat, I did manage to do an hour or so of my small tapestry. I have been keeping the blinds down in the room as it faces east and gets the morning sun. Once the sun (or the earth, I suppose) has moved enough, I open the blinds and try to do a little. 

Progress pics from the last few days. 

It is really rather unplanned, I am just playing around and making it up as I go, sort of. Not having had any colour on the cartoon, the outcome is nothing like I had imagined - if I bothered to imagine at all.

It is rather relaxing not even having a proper cartoon to work from! 

And ... I have just noticed that I see a cow's face emerging on the right. Definitely not planned. It may disappear as I progress, I suppose. I think this tendency is called face pareidolia - not that always see human faces!

Happy New Year

Well, it is 2023. I still remember all the angst about the turn of the century and how computers might stop working, planes might fall out of the sky, etc. Doesn't seem that long ago - but that was 23 years ago!! How time flies. Covid hasn't helped, time has changed, it seems to pass at a different rate these days.

Anyway, I hope 2023 is a good year for us all - despite the depressing news that indicates otherwise. Live each day as it comes, enjoy what we have.

Last night we went down the street to observe the fireworks over the city. It was warm and there was a small, happy crowd. It was hard to get photos and, really, I wasn't that bothered. But here is one that I took.

 Happy New Year, I hope you have an interesting, in a good way, year.