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The finish-what-you've-started mojo continues. T-shirts stitched! Two begun last November toward the end of my Tshirt modifying (upgrading?) bender of summer '25. They were intended as holiday gifts last December

 

 I'd stalled deciding what to do after the neckline--I stitched the heart and didn't want to distract from the perfect message by being too decorative. This month I saw that running stitch around the letters was the solution. Boom: xmas in July for my sister and bro-in-law. Shirts from Mahogany Mommies.

KNITTING:  I randomly picked up this started project. (I just struggled and failed to find a clever way to desccribe the areas of my office that have bags or baskets of wips, suggestions welcome.) Chosen by virtue of portability and if I'm being honest, the  first thing my hand fell on. It's a Sophie Scarf*. I know, I know, many deride them . I  am a fan and this is my 4th or 5th.  Love the mindless pattern, love using up a luxurious skein or two and  I find them super wearable especially in lightweight cashmere like this one. I love a cashmere scarf and a flannel shirt in winter. This one  started in 2022 as a gift for a model I used to work with a lot , she chose the  ballerina pink. We fell out of touch and so did the knit.  * I use the darker piece of yarn to keep track of my increases or decreases, I flop it across the row where they occur and yank it out when the scarf is done. 

 

READING: Whistler by Ann Patchett. You all are right. So good !

 

PLANNING!!: Ghost Ranch in Abiqui New Mexico Oct 4-10th , co-teaching a class on POWERFUL STORYTELLING: Words & Pictures with Beverly Army-Williams.  Our dream come true teaching gig: if you're not familiar with it, this artful retreat ranch is Georiga O'Keefe's former hang-- the landscape is one you'll recognize from her desert painitngs. 

 Beverly and I met on her porch (with handsome husky Oskar supervising) to finetune our workshop--it is going to be truly wonderful. Our dream-come-true class would be filled with our virtual maker/knitter/blogger/creative friends (aka YOU) joining  us. There's ample free time each day to enjoy the ranch and the stunning northern New Mexico environment . All the details here, there is still room in it. Wouldn,t an early October adventure in New Mexico amongst friends be just right?

 

Summer is summering! I'm looking forward to hopping on Kat's Unraveling links to see what others are making and reading! 

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what's going on: itchin' to be stitchin'

aka WIP Wednesday Three knitting projects come to mind as well underway/ high on my enjoyment list. But today? We shall not look at them . We shall look at these:

50/50 silk /cotton, hand dyed in the jar technique and some Perle cotton. It's like embroidery thread, but better.  I never knew it existed till July. That's another WIP story.

The utmost in impulse project. I was in the best new little fabric/maker/handmade supplies shop ever- Clementine in Rockland Maine, with a group of Fiber College teacher friends. Someone said she wanted to play with dyeing this fabric. We egged each other on.  The next thing you know boom boom boom, each of us is out the door with yardage to  dye/ overydye. 

As expected, the silk took the dye but the cotton barely did, and the technique allows you to intentionally create splotches and color shifts--at least that's what I was aiming for. The fabric started as greyish/taupe. I wanted to stay on just this side of tie-dye, if you know what I mean

I was thrilled with how they turned out. Each will be a scarf,  splitting it in half lengthwise, hand sewing a nice felled seam in the middle. So do-able, so simple. Then I thought... sashiko! The running stitch rows I've been Pinning like crazy.  Crazy because I do not need to make this a bigger project. Plus,  I am not known for straight lines, I am a naturally veer-off-course kinda gal. But I can just see it,  I can't resist, and this summer I realized how much I enjoy the handstitching. (that;s another WIP story). I couldn't settle on one color for each scarf, I had to go with two and three...and then I returned home to reality and limited time.  Happily, taking this out to shoot and show you made me realize, it's not that big a deal, and I can't wait to get my hands going on them agan. This may be a FO Friday sooner than I thought. 

A couple more impulse items that came home with me from Maine that week. Can.not.resist. little smooth stones. 

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Are you showing WIP Wednesday? Leave a link in my comments!

 

fiber college: amen!

Loved all the blogreading suggestions and feedback. Thanks!

how they mend the screens at Fiber College

While I haven't settled what will be my new blog routine I do know this: if there's something you want to blog about, don't wait too long. It  evaporates like so much steam from the dyepot.

Which means I'd better tell you about Fiber College 2014. It is always quirkily wonderful-- maybe it's the stunning location on Penobscot Bay, at a campground with award winning gardens, making for a magical setting. Many classes take place under tents, or outdoors, so there's a festival feel, and a groovy vibe, as Beverly said in her post today.
added: and she blogged about quilting there, too

This year the special artists were Gees Bend Quilters, just the kind of mind bending cultural exchange you'd think.  I wandered into their sewing tent classroom when I wasn't teaching, to get a taste. How do you convey a form of quilting that's heritage, cultural tradition, intuition, oral history and faith in a higher power ? Not by making diagrams, setting down rules or talking about the principles of design. The Gees Bend Quilters are deeply religious and believe the spirit creates the art. Who can argue? Each class started with some serious praying and singing, like Prayer Meeting style, inviting Jesus to enter the quilters' hearts and minds and hands as they created, stitching by hand and by machine.

You'll want to google around to see more from people who quilted for real with the ladies. 
edited to add: here's Jan Cooper's wonderful Fiber College report. .Pretty amazing. I'll share with more of what I was teaching & making soon. If you posted about Fiber College, please leave a link in the comments !  And I'll  leave you with this:

 Fiber College blog here.
Tomorrow: I am on the Spinzilla Blog Tour. C'mon by.