Where've I Been?

Ara knows I've been spending the last few weeks chained to the kitchen table while I worked on the swap item for Sans. I had to stay away from the blog to prevent any temptation of blogging about the project. Unfortunately mum is still the word until the big unveiling on Halloween.

On top of that our washing machine decided to die the day before my birthday. We went and looked at some and ended up getting one I wasn't overly fond of in favor of the high energy efficiency idea. In short, the new machine sucks rotten eggs. I hate it. The only thing good about it is it looks cool. We have since gone back to the store and told them they are going to take it back from whence it came and trade it in on a new washer dryer set that is more like what I wanted in the first place. Not sure when this drama will officially be over, but I believe it will be sometime after the hE washer is gone and the new set is delivered and installed. Here is what my hallway looks like right now and it will only get worse as the days pass.
Even Confetti is afraid to go down there. The piles of laundry are scary!

My workroom (glorified craft closet) is also terrifying.
But I have no intentions of dealing with it for at least a few weeks.

I also have been stealing time to work on the lighthouse cross stitch. Luckily one of the special interest groups for our Stitcher's Guild is "Counted Threads" so I was able to stitch at our meeting last week. As of this moment I just need to finish the rock at the bottom with one color and complete the remaining back-stitching. I have to have this finished, blocked, and framed by Friday.
Somehow I found the time to work on more of the layette I showed you all a few weeks ago. Here's the bonnet. I still need to make the ties, do the trim, and do the decorative motifs. The recipient was born Thursday morning, but this won't fit her until Easter so I don't have to rush.

Yesterday was the Annual Spin In for the Bishop Hill Fiber Guild. It was an extremely productive day. I met other people on Ravelry, did the work on the bonnet, learned how to use my spinning wheel, bought a fleece, picked up a nice skein of Merino, played with Angora bunnies, and took a class in microwave dying.This fleece is from a sweet little ewe lamb named Beyonce. If you click here you can hop to the website with her picture. She is a Romney crossed with a Border Leicester-Wensleydale cross.I am going to enjoy this once the new washer gets here.

The dying class was a lot of fun. We learned how to use acid dyes, Kool Aid, and Wilton Cake dyes for fibers. These two pictures show fiber I dyed with acid dyes.This one shows fiber I painted with Wilton Cake dye.
Once the color is on, you wrap the fiber in saran wrap and put it in the microwave. I took these pictures after the fiber was cooled and rinsed. I plan in spinning the actual roving at some point. I'm not sure what I will do with the mixed yarns from the first photo.

Tuesday our Guild's quilters are meeting to discuss what types of techniques we want to learn and see who wants to teach them. If I can get to it, I may take the purple and blue quilt to get basted...maybe.

I do have some minis that need to be made before Christmas. And an ornament for the Stitcher's Guild ornament exchange... and gifts for family, etc to be working on for the next several weeks.

That's pretty much everything worth mentioning. Here's hoping the washer issue gets resolved quickly so I can quit making phone calls and dealing with it. I know I have some new followers to welcome and a couple of awards to accept. I will try to get to that Monday. There's just so much to do and so much to catch up on.

Back From A Pioneer Day

I'm going to make this post fast. There is a family issue happening and as much as I would love to sit here and play all day, I don't think I have the leisure.

First for the fiber enthusiasts: Pictures of my friend, Donna's, work. (Donna is Baby Anna's grandmother.)

Donna at her wheel.

Shetland waiting to be spun up.
Homespun: The grey skein is from the grey roving above.

This skein is plied from the green above with silk.Her favorite shawl.

Close up of the color change.Goregeous lacework that I want to say was her daughter-in-law's wedding shawl.

The artist modeling another shawl. Love these colors.Spindle, plied, and original roving.
Anna watching her mother make butter.
Anna with me.
FH carving a Celtic design onto a piece of leather that will become the sheath for my camp kitchen knife. If you biggify the picture, the knife in question if sitting on teh bench next to him. For the record, I made the knife, not him. The bag I made him is on the ground next tothe bench. He's using it for his larger leather tools.
That's all for now. I have to scramble to do some laundry and possibly pack. Not sure yet.

Idle hands. What are those?

I've been working on new Christmas ornaments for the last couple of days. In theory I will have them finished by the end of the week. I've put together quite a variety of styles and media choices. Currently the majority are unfinished ceramic pieces that I picked up at Hobby Lobby. There are two that are cross stitched, which are finished. I will get pictures up when they are all finished.

The project from the mini mixer that I went to on the 25th is almost complete. It's a view of a front door/stoop decorated for Christmas. Part of the original kit included a mailbox with our last name on it. The gentleman who put the kits together took the time to make them with everyone's name on them as a special feature. That was so very nice of him...but it doesn't match the color scheme that I decided on. so now I'm trying to decide what to do about it. I will hopefully get that sorted out soon.

So once the ornaments are painted, glued sealed, or whatever and the miniature scene has a mailbox and is decorated with garland, ribbons, and various other bits... I will post the pictures for all to see.

I will be starting the baby sampler for friends of ours soon. I also need to block the wedding piece and get it framed. Still waiting for an address to send it to though. That's slightly frustrating.

Also in the line up are Christmas gifts for the family. Fortunately they are small, fun things for everyone. On Saturday I will be learning how to use my new wheel. I can't wait.

Stalking the postperson

The new belt for my spinning wheel shipped today from Solvang, CA. For the new few days I will be stalking the mail deliveries. I know our carrier will get a kick out of me acting like a five year old when it arrives.

I have never owned a wheel before, so you can imagine I'm more than hot to try it out. Don't get me wrong, I adore my drop spindle. I learned how to spin on it from a friend who probably doesn't know how dear she is to me. The memories in that spindle will carry me through a lifetime. But I really wanna play with my new toy.

Fiber: A necessary part of a daily diet.

For any other fiber folks out there, I thought you might be interested in the goodies I picked up at the Bishop Hill Fiber Guild's Spin In about a week ago.

Here is a 4 oz. braid of Merino that I purchased from Snokist Farm.







This is a 2 oz bag of blended Corriedale, Dorset, and firestar dyed by the same person. She calls the colorway "Picaroon." Kathy has an etsy store called "snokistfarmgirl."

I ended up purchasing a Louet S15 from a friend and decided I absolutely needed this threader, made by Dave "DK" Kolars.
When I saw it I fell in lust with it.
He has a shop in Dekalb, IL if folks are interested.

DK also makes drop spindles that are gorgeous!


The spin in was a great time. This was the first fiber event I had been to since I left the Missouri Ozarks.

The same friend who sold me the wheel took two ribbons in the Viewer's Choice awards. One for her spinning and one for her silk knitting.

Maybe next year I will remember to stop gabbing long enough to attend some of the demonstrations and classes.