Sunday April 27

Sunday April 27-
Finished the leather moulding workshop.
Laid out and felted a new piece of felt for pins.
Sewed experimental cloth which was felt on a woven structure that didn't felt together quite as much as I would have liked it. It was originally a left over bit of warp that I just had to weave off rather than waste all of that yarn. Then I had the idea of felting on it and making a new cover for my foot stool. Unfortunately, it shrunk (as felt tends to do) just a little too much and is now about 2 inches too small to use as a cover. It will become something else.

And here are my tapestries that I have finally finish weaving. The first two have been finished for about 8 months. The last gathered dust on the loom for about the same length of time. I worked on it sporadically in the fall and then my interest level dropped as I found myself weaving scarves for sale. Then the January slump. Which turned into the February slump. And March was just as bad as, if not worst than February because Although the calendar changed, the brutal February weather did not.
But I am finished weaving it now and only need a long car trip to get the ends of the last one knotted and darned in.

Tapestries that I have FINALLY finished weaving.

I am still playing with placement. 

I will post more pictures as I get back into the habit of actually taking pictures while I am doing things.

craft update

Friday April 25- spinning 45 minutes
Saturday April 26- Leather moulding workshop. Felted fleece that I laid out last week. This felt will be destined for heart pins. Heart pins are one of those wonderful driving projects (so long as I am a passenger). I can embellish them with stitches or buttons or whatever and because most of the stitching is simply attaching the pins to the back, my dexterity doesn't need to be all that great. Or my eyesight. Which, because I am a woman of a certain age, is starting to be less sharp and focused.

7 day craft challenge

I was in my office at lunch the other day when my buddy Rachel stopped by and brought some fleece and a spinning wheel. We chatted and he spun and she told me about her 60 day craft challenge. The basic idea is to do something craft oriented every day. The only other rule is that even 5 minutes counts. She said that it was a great way to get some ideas that were in her head out in to the real world. And she said that it had ben working well.
I have decided to join her. I have started small with a 7 day craft challenge and so far it has been successful.
Friday April 18- Finished brown warp that seemed to last forever. It was put on in February. Started to warp the Leclerc 8 harness loom with red hand dyed Hiro warp.
Saturday April 19- Worked on third of three tapestries that has also been on the 4 harness Dorset loom for around 8 months. Wound red Hiro onto Leclerc.
Sunday April 20- Wove on tapestry on Dorset. Rewound Hiro onto Leclerc as my ends were very uneven and the Hiro is VERY stretchy and I was concerned about tension issues.
Monday April 21- Finished tapestry on Dorset! Wahoo! Threaded red Hiro on Leclerc and wove a sample. Dressed Dorset with blue and green Hiro. This was two warps that were dyed differently and combined. I usually warp back to front, but for this warp, I combined the two warps in the reed and dressed the loom front to back.
Tuesday April 22- Finished threading blue green Hiro warp. Wound it on
Wednesday April 23- Tied the blue green Hiro warp on and started to weave.
Thursday April 24- Wove on blue green Hiro warp. It is very slow going as it is a mainly warp faced fabric and I have to place the weft very gently or it will get beaten down too much. I also laid out some fleece approximately 14X20 inches to felt later. The purpose of this felt is to cut up to make pins.
So far so good! I will extend this to a 2 week challenge!