The play's the thing

Any of you who've seen the amazing quilts created by the Gee's Bend (AL.) collective -- stupendous colors, very modern-looking -- might feel the urge to see Taproot Theater's play about three key periods in Gee's Bend's history. Thinking about going to the February 18th production, when several of the women from the collective will be present after the play.

Turns out it's quilt mania in the local art scene right now. Greg Kucera Gallery in Pioneer Square is showing 10 Gee's Bend quilts (imagine -- up close and personal!) and the Bellevue Art Museum is showing "American Quilt Classics, 1800-1890 The Bresler Collection" through May 31.

If you'd like to make a night of it on the 18th, get in touch with me asap & I'll check on ticket availability. If the 18th is not available, after Wednesday performances there will be women from the Pacific Northwest African American Quilters available for post-play discussions. A few of their quilts will be on display & auction through the run of the play. - Jackie

Hello everybody, I have very much enjoyed reading the blog posts thus far. Last night I finished the merino linen stitch scarf from the kit I bought at the Mariner's game. It was a real time suck, but is shore is purty. Have to run now, will post a pic later. Jenny, I congratulate you on your stellar gussetage. Jackie, your chalice is gorgeous. Sandy, that sweater is will be yum yum on your man. Hugs all around.

I have no new projects finished and I forgot to take pictures of the table runners. Oh well . . . I have finally finished knitting the pieces to Glenn's sweater (the one I started in 2000) so now I just have to figure out how to put it together. I figure if I have too much trouble Miss Beth will come to my rescue. The yarn is just as yummy as when I bought it.

But speaking of felting, since I'm having trouble getting into creative quilting mode, I bought yarn to make a specialized, felted, custom bag for storing my Denise needles. This special bag will help me not lose the second set of needles. It's the "Carry Bag for your Denise Kit, courtesy of Cat Bordhi." You can download the pattern for free from Cat's site http://www.catbordhi.com/free_patterns.html. I'm making mine out of Marine.

Up Up With Felting

My extremely crafty co-worker turned me onto what sounds like a very cool thing: Space to Create in Ballard. Their whole raison detre is to be a space where children and adults can take classes in arts and crafts, and to also be a space for people to work on their own projects. 

Jen (the afore-mentioned ECC-W) just took a workshop Wednesday night from a woman named Leah Adams on creating hand-made felt cloth. I saw her finished products at work the morning after and they were stunning. Lots of potential for wall hangings, etc. Here's the link to the Space to Create website: http://www.spacetocreate.net/8422.html

I wish I had a photo of my ECC-W's felt fabrics, but the image above is from the Space to Create website. The workshops are really reasonable. Maybe we can get a posse to take one sometime.

Jackie is standing behind me right now, urging me to "exhort those seamsters to post already!" Really. No lie--she's making me type this. She's physically pushing each and every one of my phalanges to the keyboard. 

Meanwhile, I seem to have lost my sock pattern...the terribly un-intuitive sock pattern that I couldn't possibly resurrect by memory. I'm hoping I've left it at work, but it's killing me that I can't make progress on my sock. Oy!

Sockapalooza

Yes, I know technically this isn't quilting, but since it's needlework I figure it counts. Ever since I picked up needles, I swore my addi turbos would never--I repeat, never--be used to knit socks. Couldn't see the point of that. Self-flagellation.

However, I had "the piphany" [to quote a young Ashley H.] at the Eliot Institute last summer. I took a sock knitting workshop at Seabeck from my sock guru Joan and caught the fever. I knit four socks up to the heel turn, then got stuck. So I had a fallow period for several months with said socks parked on stitch holders. And then Beth K nursed me through picking the gusset, and hey presto!

I busted out a pair for Jackie just in time for Xmas, and have since completed my other socks. The yarn on the left was designed by Kaffe Fasset. Youse guys should check it out: http://www.yarnmarket.com/knitting/Regia_Yarn-707.html

Sandy, there's a colorway in purple that is just begging for your attention!

Can't remember what the right-hand sock is out of, I only know I bought it at Weaving Works.

Right now I'm heading a leetle outside my comfort zone and am attempting a bamboo weave pattern in Blue Moon yarn (the pic on the needles). It's not intuitive [k2, p1, sl1 wyib kwise, p4, sl1 wyib kwise, p1...] so I had to keep unknitting stitches during our Monday night meeting. This Blue Moon sock yarn is in the "grawk" colorway and is waaay yummy:  http://www.bluemoonfiberarts.com/newmoon/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=19

Jackie's horning in on my post to have me upload a picture of her socks, which I will confess are rawther swell.

Okay, off to Taco Del Mar now. Can't wait to see who else is going to post....hmmm, who could it be?

new work in progress

While looking at Rina's wedding quilt, which is residing at our house at the moment, I was struck by how nicely the centerpiece of the quilt "worked" for a pulpit hanging.

Suddenly I had the urge to recreate the montage of flame fabrics that Kathy B and I did back in 2002. I had the pattern pieces made back then for the chalice and the flame, so the rest was easy. The flame fabrics are mainly batiks with a few non-batiks and some dupioni silks. I used med-weight fusible interfacing as a stabilizer & Wonder Under to adhere the pieces to the background fabric & satin stitched them. The stitching's not the glorious work on the original chalice, as my Bernina doesn't hold a candle to Kathy's Pfaff for that kind of work. The border fabric, a hand-loomed cotton, I purchased in November from a delightful vendor in Jerusalem's old city . As you see it, the work still needs to be basted, quilted, trimmed in size & bound. I've toyed with the idea of doing some beading first -- what do you think? Since our basting pins are currently in Ballard (!) I have some time for your feedback. Jackie

Luddites, unite!

Well, after writing for a few minutes on this, my very first blog post ever, wouldn't you know I managed to hit some random assortment of keys and delete it? I will, however, not be deterred. I will be dragged into the 21st century.

After wondering off and on for years where the term "luddite" came from [who was Ludd and why was she/he so crabby, anyway?], it finally occurred to me to look it up. Turns out Luddites, appropriately enough, were "a social movement of British textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested--often by destroying mechanized looms--against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution." I heart Wikipedia. But oddly enough, though no evidence of Nedd Ludd's existence has ever been found, he is neverthless believed to have been from Anstey, outside Leicester. Hmmm.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this blog evolves and how we can all share our ruminations on all things fiber-related. 

And now that I've goofed around long enough, it's actually Jan. 20th, a.k.a. Inauguration Day. Yaaaaay!! Wish I could chuck a sickie and stay home from work to watch the festivities. But before I toddle off to bed here's a little diversion I've had no end of fun with: http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/, on which you can upload photos and create your own blue and red image a la the iconic Obama "hope" poster. I'll attempt to add a few here for your viewing pleasure (or disgust, as the case may be).