What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

LOL --- communal sleeping, as in at a retreat, is not for everyone. I have very few issues, although I like it when my roommates are quiet! Even sleeping in my own bed doesn't preclude me from getting a good night's sleep. The night before, I slept like a log. Last night? I was tired at 8 PM, but by the time I got into bed, I was wide awake and couldn't fall asleep. Sigh......

Now that I'm back home and have access to a sewing machine, the big question is where to start? I decided to ...

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OH - I love the fact that puzzles helped calm someone down. I can see that. I find it extremely relaxing to sit and work on a jigsaw puzzle. I am going to try to always have one on the go since I have learned how to tackle my addiction to them. 

MOVE OVER MOM!!!! 

Hello everyone, this is Murphy and Lexi, and we have something to say. 

It's the girls -- Murphy and Lexi!!!

We love our Mom, and she is very good to us, although we do NOT get nearly as many treats as we need. We are starving ...

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I fell into bed last night, totally exhausted. After the heavy upper body workout with Brooke in the morning, working with the embroidery machine and the giant quilt, plus a walk to the dollar store and the grocery store, I was done! But that's OK -- it was a productive day! Plus, I finished listening to a book, which I have to share the details with you. 

Let's start with the giant quilt! It is 109 by 109 inches. It is done, almost trimmed, and ready to be dropped off later today. 

Customer quilt - DONE

I am leery of ...

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And the busiest weekend for February is over! I survived it, and all the work got done on time, so my new time management is working out. By time management, I mean I have reduced the number of classes, which made time management so much easier. I didn't juggle my time better - I just had less to do. There's a huge difference, and I feel so much better!

I will always have things to do, but I will always ensure there is time for me!

If you remember, I talked about doing a couple of Zoom sessions on ...

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For the record, I do NOT give my dogs people food. Currently, three adults live in this house, and TWO of them think it's OK to slip them the occasional tidbit of food, including veggies. I'm OK with the veggies, though some are not safe for dogs. And for this reason, those two dogs hang around those two people waiting for the tidbits. Trust me, I have repeatedly said, DO NOT FEED the dogs people food, and it falls on deaf ears. Thankfully, it's not a lot of food, but I keep repeating the message. 

Since this ...

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As a crafter, have you ever gotten an idea and been unable to let go of it? No matter how hard you tried? Well, this needle felting adventure is one of those ideas. I don't know why, but I had the idea to make some wool dryer balls. Can I buy wool dryer balls? Absolutely (link at the bottom of the post). But where is the fun in that?
Because I wanted to make dryer balls, I grabbed a box of roving. I estimated I could make several with this box.
I wanted some colors so I added in ...

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I have this collection of blue yarn perfect for felting. 
I used the LK150 and a video tutorial to make some more slippers
I finished them what seems like ages ago but I didn't wash them to felt them up until recently. Here is how they compare to my earlier experiments. Felting is not very precise and more of an experiment each time I do it. 
They came out great! I still have yarn that will felt so expect to see more of these. 

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After the last pair of felted slippers turned out too small I decided to give it another try. I modified my notes to make the slipper wider and longer. 
I knit up the pair on the LK150. 
And sewed them up. I so enjoy the color blocking on this design. It's something you can't do easily while knitting in the round. 
Here is what that unfelted (top) slipper looks like next to the felted slipper I made (bottom). 
Here is how it felted up. Sadly, it is still too small for me. I figure the size is around ...

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I decided to give felted slippers another chance. This was my second attempt. I make major changes to the design I was using and I'm much happier with this style. Yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes. It felts up so nicely. 
These are knit flat on the LK150 knitting machine and then the sides are seamed by hand. The color changes are partially a style choice and partially to assist with lining up that hand seaming. 
This time the felting was just awesome! Unfortunately, I didn't knit them big enough so these are really a child ...

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 I'm sharing this group of red, aqua and teal felted vessels with one of my Olympic quilts that didn't make the deadline.

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To get the ombre color effect on these two large vessels I changed colors of the yarn ever so often as I knit.

I shrink these in my washing machine, After they have shrunk the desired amount I find some bowl or something to stretch them over and let them dry. These are two of my favorites. You will be seeing more of items as days go by. I have found special places to display some of them in our house. 

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It has been a while since I knitted quite a few knitted containers to be felted. 

This week I spent two days felting all of them. I was very pleased with the results.

In this picture you see the brown bowl in a vignette.

This is a closeup of the bowl. Each yarn felts slightly differently so it is always a surprise.

I will be sharing more of my results.

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After posting Part 3 of the Toxic Medicine series, I posted some of the scarves I’ve been working on, but forgot to post the yarn I spun! So we’ll call this “Part 3.5”. I love spinning yarn, but holy heck is it time consuming. I did not know that when I started spinning, but it is rather easy to start and stop, so I can always walk away and come back to it later. Perhaps later this week, I’ll post some of the art roving I have waiting in the wings for future felting or spinning ...

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I finally posted Part 3 of the Toxic Medicine series, so I thought I would show you guys what I have been working on. My strength is coming back, but I get worn out so easily. I’m used to carrying people, not because it is part of my job description, but for funsies. Now I get tired carrying a couple 50 lb. boxes yarn around the building at work. So, no large exhausting projects for me, but nuno felting scarves is my new passion. I can finish one in a day, and I only work up a mild sweat ...

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Nuno Felting!

Yes, Nuno Felting is so much fun! I started working on them when I got really sick from my negligent doctors, but now I am up and running with them! (My white blood cell count is now within normal range!!!!) They were so much fun to make, and it was nice, because when I was sick, it allowed me the chance to make something in stages, instead of all at once. I could felt it over 2 or 3 days, and it was a great experience! It’s not exactly the fastest thing in the world, but it ...

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Then sewn up into a foot-like shape. These are made to be mirror images.
This is the basic shape once sewn up. I hope those lines show up nicely after felting. I wanted to show the size before and after felting. These are made with Sheep's Pride and felt up nicely, even if they do need a couple trips through the wash cycle to get down to a slipper size. I'm going to make some using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes next. I ...

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I pulled out some Lamb's Pride and knit up another pair. I also knit up a test square using a different yarn. If you have the pattern, this little square is how you make your felt swatch so you can calculate how many stitches you need for your slippers. It's brilliant, really. They look terribly large before they get felted.  
One trip thought the wash in a zippered bag and the test square is perfect but the slippers need another trip through the wash. Felting is ...

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I’ve been having a blast creating new fabrics and projects using my felting foot on my Amara. The Handi Felting Foot Kit transforms your HQ longarm into a felting machine with infinite possibilities! It creates new fun you can have with your Handi Quilter machine. I must give you the Sewing Surgeon General’s warning: felting is addictive.

 

What is Felting?

The Handi Felting Foot Kit puts a modern twist on an old way of creating embellished fabric by meshing fibers together so they interlock and become one. The kit includes a needle body that holds 5 barbed needles ...

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I’ve been having a blast creating new fabrics and projects using my felting foot on my Amara. The Handi Felting Foot Kit transforms your HQ longarm into a felting machine with infinite possibilities! It creates new fun you can have with your Handi Quilter machine. I must give you the Sewing Surgeon General’s warning: felting is addictive.

 

What is Felting?

The Handi Felting Foot Kit puts a modern twist on an old way of creating embellished fabric by meshing fibers together so they interlock and become one. The kit includes a needle body that holds 5 barbed needles ...

read more