1st Annual Ingram Arts and Crafts

I have mentioned the 1st Annual Ingram Arts and Crafts Show to be held in Tupelo, OK on September 22, 2012 on my other blog Fabric Follies Two.  I'm a little late getting it up over here and I apologize for that.  It's been a busy month.

I love to weave.  Whether it's with my own hand spun or not, there's just something soothing about the rhythm and the immediate gratification that comes with something that comes together so beautifully and quickly.  This is the beginning of an envelope purse that I put together a couple of weeks ago.

This is how it turned out.. ;o)

These beaded stilettos are an exceptional tool when doing hand sewing.  It was very useful when making the coin purse below.

This fabric for this coin purse was at one time a sheet on our bed.. ;o)  I tore the 1/2 inch strips and then wove them onto a pocket weaving board (see photo in header), embroidered the ribbon rose grouping, sewed the back onto it and then cut and mounted it into the coin purse frame.

 These are hand spun embroidery threads.. most of them hand dyed using kool aid as the dye agent.

 Hand spun yarns, hand felted fabric.  All hand dyed or natural fiber.

 This needle book is made using hand spun.. on a spindle.. yarn, hand woven, hand spun and dyed embroidery yarn, hand felted fabric inside.  The only part not hand made is the cotton lining and sewing machine thread used to sew it in.

 Yarn, yarn and more yarn.. ;o)

These hand spun yarns were Rit dyed.  This was my first foray into the acid dyes.

There will be much more at the Show..  My Uncle Bobby is the most amazing "whittler" you have ever seen... He will be showing his planes and guns..  My Aunt Betty is a wonderful artist.  There will be other art projects shown also.. If you are near .. we would love to have you!

Of Knits and Beads

About 3 years ago I found this at JoAnn's for $10. Since I was doing a lot of ribbon embroidery and crazy quilt embroidery at the time, it was a steal. I haven't been doing very much of that for a while... until a couple of days ago....

Did I tell you that my two Elizabeth Zimmerman Knitting books finally got here? Well, they did. And in following her pattern for knitting a hat I found that I needed knitting markers.. soooo.. voila '. I dug out the beads, made several wrong purchases at Hobby Lobby...followed by one right purchase at Hobby Lobby...and finally got it right. It took several days of trying one thing then another, but I finally have a wrist abacus I can use that really works and several sets of knitting markers. I love it... And it's good to finally have a good use for all those beads!

This is the cap that I am knitting for one of our sons. And these are the knitting markers that are my absolute favorites... ;o)

Pumpkin Bread....

When the kids were small I would make pumpkin bread and it never lasted out the day...lol Last week I made some and without them around, it still would not have lasted out the day if I hadn't finally just made myself stuff it in the freezer... Do love that stuff... However, this is a rare occurence since DH has diabetes.

The weather is warming up and that's good. It's off to McKinney this morning to the allergist and I'm hoping we can stop off at the Londoner for lunch...but not holding my breath.

I've been working on this take-off of the basketweave stitch scarf for a couple of days. It is 100% Merino/Romney X handspun. It's turning out well. I found a site that talks about an abacus you wear on your wrist... so, I had to try to make one...

And what does this have to do with the basketweave scarf...

I am forever having to stop and count rows.. and then I miss every now and then and wind up with uneven basketweaves. Believe it or not, this really works. I must work on this some more and come up with a better one or find someone who makes them. This is great. And it would be wonderful for card/tabletweaving also to count the turning of the cards.

How to Make a Beaded Wrist Distaff

Yesterday was laundry day. While I had 20 or 30 minutes between loads, that's not very much when it comes to weaving..so... instead of weaving I made the wrist distaff that I have been wanting to make forever... but just kept putting off.

It consists of about 20 pieces of yarn that are about 30 inches long. (Notice all the "abouts"... I seldom measure anything..If it looks "about right", then it's fine with me.) These are all held together and folded in the middle to find the center. Keep your finger in between the fold or you will find that you will be 10 minutes sorting out the yarn and have to start over... (guess how we know this!) Working out from the center, the yarn is "measured" to about twice the amount needed to circle the wrist and then tied of with a string at that spot on one end. With the string tie hooked on something substantial ( in this instance it was my big toe...lol A sight to behold if ever there was one!), you divide the yarn into 3 equal groups and begin to braid the center. When it reaches the desired circumference of your wrist..making sure it will fit over your hand also... the braiding is then tied off on this end.

There should now be fairly equal lengths of loose yarn on each end. I trimmed 2 or 3 on each to be shorter and did some random cuts to put some of the beads at different levels.. This helps to hold the wool. And here comes the picky part. The beads can be any kind you want. Any color you want. The only stickler is that they must have a hole big enough for the yarn and the eye of the needle you will be using. Each length of yarn hanging from the braid is beaded. I used a single good sized bead with a knot tied at the end to hold it. You can use as many beads on each piece of yarn as you like, but each piece of yarn should have at least one. After the beading is finished on both ends, the braided wrist area is joined by putting the ends of the braid together, then wrapping a length of yarn around them.. joining both sides into one. Tie it off with a knot. I then applied super glue to all the knots. While I don't plan to be throwing it around much, I figure a little extra oomph on those knots couldn't be a really bad thing.

And... you don't absolutely have to bead your distaff. The beading gives some weight to the lengths of yarn and helps to allow the wool to fall off the distaff easier as you can twirl the weighted lengths of the distaff as you spin.
However, the first distaff I made was not weighted and I found it nearly indispensable for holding plenty of yarn on hand as I was spinning and also for keeping the wool away from the spinning yarn. (Hate that when the wool becomes tangled in the spinning yarn...)

I should add here that you can make a wrist distaff of almost anything... from crochet cotton thread to strips of rags... but the use of a woolen or semi-woolen yarn will give something for your wool to "hold" to and be less likely to just slip up and down on the distaff.

This is really a post that should be on Fabric Follies Two.. hmm May just copy and paste it over there..lol

Fabric Post Cards

I have joined a fabric postcard group and enrolled in 2 swaps. This comes to 10 fpc's that need to be mailed by the 15th of July. So, today is the day.

This is the first postcard I ever made. I really wanted to use the flowers on it, so it would have had to be mailed in an envelope since the cards cannot be over 1/4" in depth. But I still have it and will not be mailing it anyway...grin

Personal Library of Stitches

I have received the list of supplies needed for Sharon B's online class "Personal Library of Stitches"! The class is offered through Joggles.com. I can't say how much I have looked forward to this class.

In looking back to see when I first came across Sharon's blog and decided to take part in the "Bags of Fun" challenge, I have to laugh... that challenge was the beginning of this blog...lol That was in August of 2005. I've learned a lot since that first blog entry...but must say that I am still a lurker...grin