Whew, January has been quite a journey (well, it did include a road trip from Vashon, WA to Wimberley, TX!), and though I did not finish everything on my UFO challenge for this month, I did most of it!
(yes, that's the palm desert, and a giant Saguaro, and a giant tumbleweed waiting at a stop sign, and snow in New Mexico, and mixed snow and dust storms in west Texas)
January finishes and flubs:
#1 - UFO finished - The 7 yard color gamp warp on my new loom is done and off the loom! (that's the very end of the warp, just before I cut it off)
This project mostly stalled because I was sick off and on all summer and fall in 2012, and then it was the holidays.
Then I signed up for a February weaving class and needed an empty loom, so had to put on the speed.
I built up my weaving stamina slowly, but when I got up to more than 4 hours a day, the bottoms of my feet started to hurt (treadling barefoot helps me keep track of a pattern since my feet feel where I am on the 10 treadles). So I had to use my sneakers, which helped my feet, but slowed me down (I had to look down to see where I was) and created mistakes when my shoes accidentally caught the edge of a neighboring treadle. Changing to a different treadle tie up using fewer treadles and with space in between pairs of treadles helped enormously and I was able to crank it all out before the big road trip.
And here they all are (wrinkled and folded from being stuffed in a basket for a few weeks while I traveled and then came home and took my class) . The color gamp warp actually made 9 napkins instead of 8! The bottom right frame show #9 waffle weave (after washing) on top of #8 waffle weave (unwashed) to show how much it shrinks when washed! The plain weave and twills will not shrink as much. Later this week I'll write up another post with more weaver tech for those who are interested.
#2 - WIP - FMQ Challenge - finished (blog post with all the details here)! Not only finished in time to link up To SewCalGal, but I won a prize and will be getting my own Kaleidoscope maker program so I can play and play!
#3 - WIP - Granddaughter dress revision - didn't happen. Well, if I hadn't gone on a last-minute-ish 10 day road trip, this would have gotten finished. But the sewing machine doesn't travel like the knitting does! So this goes to the February list.
#4 - WIP - Rigid Heddle scarf - didn't happen. Turns out I actually had 10 inches left to weave, and pinwheel pick-up is slow, slow, slow. On to the February list.
#5 - NW - American Girl Doll mitts - almost done! Thought I would get these done when it was my turn to be passenger on the long drive, but it turns out that I can't knit in the car at night (when dear husband does the driving) unless I bring a headlamp!
Plus, my stepdaughter requested a pair for herself, and I worked a bit on those!
So, 5 finishes may be a bit ambitious for one month, but some success all the same!
February challenges - in order of priority:
1. WIP - finish revising the 2year old granddaughter's dress before she outgrows it!
*Needs to be revised
and have a tie or button and loop put on at the back of neck - she's a
wee little thing, but she has a big active brain and needs a neckline
that is small enough for her little shoulders, but big enough for her
head to go through comfortably.
2. WIP - finish the little American Doll mitts for other granddaughter!
(see #5 above for photo) - a quick evening's knitting and finishing.
3. WIP - finish second fingerless mitt for stepdaughter before she runs out of Texas winter (if it ever was winter at all - seems like it was in the 70's almost the whole time we were there)! Second mitt is cast on and beads are loaded onto the yarn (see #5 above for photo) - good project for car trips (passenger only!), ferry lines, and meetings.
4. UFO - This is the big one - the challenge quilt that's due at quilt guild on March 19! The challenge rules and the fabric were both given to us back in early summer, and I've made some lists, and done some design sketches, but have not really started construction yet! So the plan for this month is first to simplify and finalize the design and make any pattern pieces I need (this week), then to select fabric and cut and piece or fuse the quilt top (next week), and finally to layer the quilt sandwich and do the basic outline and stabilizing quilting (last week of month). The rest will go on next month's UFO plan (I'll have 3 weeks in March to finish).
Sorry, no photos till it's done - just in case a guild member happens to see my blog! So you'll have to trust me on this one!
5. UFO - Pinwheel Scarf on Rigid Heddle loom - abandoned in November - not as finished as I thought it was.
So it need 10 more inches woven, plus hemstitching and fringe twisting. Can probably get this one done at the Rigid Heddle Study Group meeting!
And that's the plan!
For the final Free Motion Quilting Challenge from SewCalGal, Teri Lucas gave us a bonus tutorial on using Kaleidoscope Kreator software to create beautiful patterns on inkjet printed fabric. I
decided not to invest in the software at this time, though some of the
patterns that people created were quite gorgeous. Instead, I used that
sample pattern that was given to us for this tutorial.
(the fabric copy is on the left, and a paper copy is on the right)
After printing my fabric, I stitched it up and did a row of echo quilting.
The white (and blue) lines are for placing a background pattern - which was next. I sketched several ideas on a tracing of the star, and chose my favorite.
At this point, I decided to go a little wild and try a novelty thread (Glitter Hologram by Superior). A few notes for you if you want to use this thread:
1. Set up so the thread will pull off the side of the spool (instead of off the top)
2. When threading your machine, skip that last little guide hook right next to the needle
OK, it's probably hard to see that I skipped that last hook, but trust me on this - if you don't, then thread breakage is in your future.
Thanks to Cindy Needham for the hints on using this thread - I took her "Open Thread Bar" class at MQX back in October - fun class, lovely teacher, great handouts, lots of info on threads (OK, the focus is on Superior Threads, but a lot of the info is applicable to other brands), and plenty of time to try out lots of different threads and use some really sweet machines (Janome) in the lab.
(this is my class sample - I tried to make some patterns really small like Cindy does)
Back to the tutorial - once I made those thread set-up adjustments, it sewed up easily.
(this is before I washed out the guide lines)
It doesn't show in the photo, but this thread sparkles like tinsel and changes color with a different viewing angle. It's very flash and fun!
Stitching Tech:
I
used Dritz Sew-On Printed Treasures for this - a washable (washed twice
in cold water with no bleeding and no change in quality), Inkjet
printable, 200 thread count Pima Cotton. The pattern printed
excellently, and was fine to sew on, but the fabric does have a bit
of a stiff "hand". I think it's worth trying out some other brands for
comparison before I use inkjet fabric in a project.
90/14 topstitch needle
Feathered Star outlined with Superior Magnifico, 40 wt. 4-ply high sheen trilobal poly, color 2096 "Zesty Lime"
Background feathers are Superior Glitter Hologram, metallized poly, color 108 "Atlantis"
Bobbin thread is Superior The Bottom Line 60wt. poly, color 650 "Champagne"
What a great year of FMQ this has been! And I've still got 1 lesson and 2 bonus lessons to try out!
Like you, I have UFOs. (that's unfinished objects - this is not a sci-fi post, though the UFOs do seem to propagate in a mysterious way). It's OK, really, and nothing to be embarrassed about. It is, in fact, the sign of a healthy, questing brain combining with rampant creativity. And that's a good thing!
That said, there comes a time when it may actually be too much of a good thing.
Last year, I set myself a goal of finishing one UFO before I started anything new. This wouldn't reduce my UFO load, but it would stop its growth. It didn't work. Oh, I did finish a few things, which was good, but I started, well, more than a few.
In fact, when I started this post, I went back to a list lists I made last year to document the extent of my problem,
and I thought, no, it's too much, let me summarize. So while doing my morning walk, I thought through what that summarizing blog post would look like and I thought, no, it's still too much.
Let's just say that the long list includes many projects of knitting, multi-shaft weaving, rigid heddle weaving, quilting - piecing and applique, free-motion quilting, sewing, and spinning in the following categories:
UFOs - (unfinished objects) - projects that have not been touched for 6 months to 6 years
WIPs - (works in progress) - projects that have seen some action in the last 6 months
NWs - (new works - sometimes optimistically referred to as NewFOs) - projects for which I have most of the yarn/fabric/fiber, the instructions/design/pattern, and the enthusiasm to start now, right now.
ITBs (in the brain/in the book) - projects that I have been thinking about, designing in my head or in my design book, and want to start, though I don't have a finished plan or all the supplies needed.
Classes signed up for already (including Craftsy) - and classes, as you know, always create more UFOs/WIPs/ITBs/Stash!
SABLE (stash accumulation beyond life expectancy) - fiber, fabric, yarn - and it's all beautiful and high quality and needs my attention.
On my sidebar, you will find buttons with links to several blogs that are hosting UFO finishing challenges this year. I like a good challenge, so will participate in these to the best of my ability, and hopefully, will finish some of the really great projects I've started!
You may note that I also posted one that challenges you to start at least one new project each month without having to finish any first. There's nothing wrong with that (waves hand in a Jedi manner, "these are not the contradictions you seek") and will hopefully free my mind to not feel too locked in to old projects.
That said, I also posted the "blogging without obligation" button. To me, this means that if life gets in the way/I'd rather create than blog about creating/blogging starts to feel like a chore, then there may be a blogless gap, for which I will not apologize. I'd rather wait and give you a post when I'm excited about something and have some useful info to share!
So here are my year of the finished project goals for this month:
1. UFO - The 7 yard color gamp warp on my new Baby Wolf that has languished since I warped the loom and wove off the first of 8 towels back in June.
*Needs 7 towels woven, each with a different tie-up or color sequence in the weft.
2. WIP - The FMQ December Bonus challenge from Teri Lucas - have already printed off the Kaleidoscope pattern (paper copy on right) onto the Inkjet printable fabric (fabric copy on left).
*Needs to be layered into a quilt sandwich and free motion quilted!
3. WIP - Dress for 2 year old granddaughter - dress is actually finished, as per the published pattern.
*Needs to be revised and have a tie or button and loop put on at the back of neck - she's a wee little thing, but she has a big active brain and needs a neckline that is small enough for her little shoulders, but big enough for her head to go through comfortably.
4. WIP - Pinwheel Scarf on Rigid Heddle loom - abandoned in November, though weaving is finished (this is an older photo).
*Needs to be hemstitched, taken off the loom, and fringe twisted.
5. NW - fingerless mitts for an American Girls doll, to match the fingerless mitts I made for my 11 year old granddaughter (the owner of the doll).
(sorry, no photo - forget to take one when I gave the mitts to her!)
*Needs me to find the right little beads, estimate a stitch count, cast on, and knit (that seems like a lot, but they're going to be really small).
That's enough for now.
