What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Well, that month went by in a screaming hurry! I ended up spending most all of August with my daughter in Oklahoma. Waiting for her to have her baby and then helping out afterward. So thankful to have the time and opportunity to make it all work out.

The sweet new grandbaby

I am not a parent or a grandparent, but who doesn’t love tiny baby clothing? So – when a local crafts school asked for items to sell at their Holiday Craft Fair, I decided to play with shibori dyeing.

I haven’t dyed clothing and I discovered that the results are quite different using knit fabric, rather than a tightly woven quilting fabric. There was a lot more bleeding than I am used to and I had to tie the dental floss or cord very tightly!

Ice dyeing is unpredictable, but such a great fun. As the ice melted, this ...

If you’re a weaver, you probably know that this isn’t an ideal end to a weaving project! I have been avoiding finishing up my looper rug project because I knew I was running out of warp. Silly, right? Like the warp fairy would come in the middle of the night and add 12″…. In all the years that I have been using the loopers, I never remember to add enough “take up” for the warp. (That means that the loopers are fat and take up a lot of room and thus warp.) The result is that I have ...

Well, it's been 10 years of quilty blogging! Funny how the very first post still holds true. Probably still be trying to talk to myself if it wasn't for all my blogging friends! Here's one of the first quilts that actually made it onto a post. I was super selective back in the early days, terrified of posting too many pics. It's an American Patchwork pattern that seemed pretty intimidating at the time. You know what that means, right? Yep. I was thrilled and feeling proud. Still hangs in my living room today!

My concentration is still iffy but I have managed to get a few things done and a lot started!

One fun, little project I have been doing is making pillowcases. Knitters love making socks, weavers love making hand towels and quilters love making pillowcases. We have always used bolster pillows on our bed and when we were first married, I embroidered our initials on them. When I got over stitching our initials, I bought unusual cases. But it was the wonderful quiltmaker, Jane Sassaman who really inspired me. Scroll to the bottom of this blog to see the delightful cases ...

When I am feeling stressed, I have trouble concentrating. Normally I am full of ideas for projects that I want to try, but not in times like these. I need something soothing, dull, repetitive. Something I can work on, using my ear buds, listening to music that I can hum to.

When I lived in Japan, my mother became ill and a two week Home Leave turned into two months. Peter went back to work in Tokyo, and I stayed in Mom’s apartment (with my sister (ugh)). Luckily I had brought hand stitching with me; I was working on ...

I am a member of ATHA – which stands for Association of Traditional Hooking Artists! Quite a mouthful and funny to many, I know. In case you don’t, I’m writing about hooking as in Rug Hooking. Every two years ATHA has a biennial show, and recently it was held in Denver, Colorado. This was the perfect chance to head back there (we lived in Colorado for many years) to see relatives and friends and to drive, drive, drive.

Rug hooking shows are few and far between. I have no idea how many hookers there are, but not many in ...

Handwoven Hand Painted Silk Shawl

Here is the completed shawl!

In case you didn’t read the post before this one, here is one of the painted warps that I made with Neal Howard at the Southeast Fiber Forum.

After consulting my notes and emailing Neal a few times for added support, I got the warp on the loom. It was pretty exciting to see it all spread out and admire the colors!

I wove several tests to check the sett (how close the warp threads are) and then unwoven them. The warp was not long enough to weave a ...