Posted in quilting, sewing

Springtime and Sorting

Posted on by Laura Kate

It’s been heart-breakingly beautiful outside over the past several days. The weather forecast for today predicts extreme thunderstorms. So I thought I would memorialize some of the garden’s spring perennials. They are so lovely, and their day in the sun is so short every year. Here are a select few.

  • Columbines
  • Peonies in front of Lorapetelum
  • Solomon’s Seal

Yesterday I finished sewing the last of three quilted buckets. This project is meant to yield a system for organizing and storing fabrics. While my stash is not large, it is somewhat unweildy for its size.

Three buckets holding fat quarter to one yard sized pieces.

That leaves the scraps. After a year of working with fiber, I have a much better idea of how I tend to use fabric in my projects. I particularly like using scraps in little strips to make small art quilts. Consequently I have become very reluctant to throw any of them away. Resulting in this:

Sorted by color family, they are even more beautiful and precious to me. Like the colorful spring growth only more enduring.

So I still don’t have a useable system for keeping this hoard in order, under control, and yet easily accessible. Reluctantly, I will be putting these gems back into the shoeboxes. Suggestions are encouraged. How do you keep your stash sorted?

Posted in knitting

My Favorite Thing I’ve Made

Posted on by Laura Kate

Yesterday, fellow blogger Karen of Nothing But Knit, put out a challenge. “Write a post about the favorite thing you have made. “

https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/32787/posts/2676816067

This post is my response.

Tailored Sweater

Those of you who follow me may be a bit surprised at my choice. It looks nothing like the color-filled fiber objects I usually post on my site. This color is a subdued neutral and the style rather conservative. What makes me happy about this sweater is that I chose every aspect of the design. I worked out the pattern details on graph paper and knitted it up.

It turned out exactly as I imagined and fits like a glove.

Schematic and specifications of my design

I can’t say enough about the quality of the Patons DK Superwash yarn. It is soft, but not a merino. Therefore the sweater has not pilled. The yarn has a heathery tone and a beautiful hand when knit. I used a twisted stockinette for the main body which makes a tighter fabric and plays up the variations in tone.

Back view showing pleat and waist shaping

The hem, cuffs and collar feature a cable-style stitch called Repeated Circles from 750 Knitting Stitches – The Ultimate Knit Stitch Bible. The vintage buttons, which I found on Etsy, mirror the oval centers of the cable. Love it!

Another detail that worked out well is the skinny cable at the shoulder edges. The few stitches worked on the outside edge of the cable made a perfect road map for setting in the sleeves.

Well, that’s about all I have to say about this project. Every time I see it in my closet I long for cooler weather, so that I can wear it again.

Posted in hand embroidery, quilting

Finished Object: Sunset Abstract

Posted on by Laura Kate
Oklahoma Sunset

It took only a few days to determine and apply the surface decoration on this piece. And I have stretched the truth a little in calling this one finished. I have sewn on a wide border that still needs machine quilting, and the whole thing needs to be mounted to an artist’s canvas. Since I can’t purchase that item until pandemic restrictions are lifted, I am content to call this object finished.

This is a detail I altered from the original image. In my photograph there was a road in the foreground. I changed it to a stream and depicted it with sunlight glinting off its waters. I achieved this with metallic yarn sewn on with couching.

Here is my trick to get my running stitch straight. By using painter’s tape to mark my fabric, I could hand stitch while watching TV. Also I don’t have to remove marks.

Close up of lower right section showing sun. Clouds and stream are reflecting the sunset. The triangles were stamped onto the fabric using metallic paint.

I feel pretty good about this fiber object. It communicates well the idea of sunset and its color range. I like the balance between the elements and the level of detail. And it allowed me to practice my piecing and embroidery skills.

Posted in painting

Celebrating Earth Day Turtle Style

Posted on by Laura Kate

Dear Friends,

Today I am offering two watercolor sketches of baby sea turtles. Everyone loves babies. And what better symbol of the earth’s prolific life than these little guys?

Their moms swim up to 1,500 miles to return to that one special beach. Thousands will converge on the spot where they were born some years before, each female toiling up the beach until she finds that sweet spot to lay her eggs. And lay she does – dozens are dropped into the nest, which she slowly buries and then toils back to the water, never to lay eyes on her own progeny.

The hatchlings dig out and sprint towards the light of the sea. Those that survive predators on the beach face a most uncertain future.

So let’s all cheer on the baby turtles, for their own success, and as a symbol of our own future selves on this precarious planet, third one from the sun.

Posted in quilting

Abstract Sunset Progress

Posted on by Laura Kate

By the end of Monday’s work, I had finished the piecing the fabric to my abstract. Rummaging through my spools of trim, I found some bronze colored satin cording. I couched it into the location of the sun, making this round object disrupt my perfectly angular image.

The next step is to decorate the surface. I always have to take a long pause at this stage. There are just too many options available to me – paint or embroider, hand or machine quilt, add more trims?

And how about all those embroidery stitches on my Bernina?

While I ponder my options, I will just enjoy the wonderful geometry and colors of my work in progress.