Late Christmas Gifts, Dyeing and Jam Making

A few more photos of late Christmas gifts to share with you. Gift making is very contagious! After making something a new and better idea comes to mind that I have to try as well. Does that happen to you too? When I make gifts for the first time I always make one for me to keep.

I put a batch of dye on for the first time in 2014. The bundle I opened was very successful, so it's time to blog about. A jam making recipe here too. I was given some grapefruit at the beginning of the year and I have lemons and oranges enough to make a batch of marmalade. A few people asked for the recipe so I thought I will leave it here if anyone would like to make three fruit marmalade. Enjoy!

After making a few of these oversized tote-bags I thought it would be a great idea making one from my Shibori fabric. I have a perfect piece of Shibori big enough to make this bag and an inside pocket. I have used it a couple of times already and it's a perfect bag to hold everything! 

This year I made a lot of mug rugs for everybody. I cut up a piece of rag weaving into 8"x10", the size of mug rug. I bind them with vintage indigo fabric and some eco-dyed silk. I didn't get a chance to take photo of all the rugs together because I keep sending them off as they came out of production line!

I have to mentioned that this mug rug is not for mugs, but for a little Japanese tea cup that I found at Ziguzagu. Each gift set included a rug, a little Japanese tea cup and a star ornament. These last two rugs didn't have cups with them, but instead I created eco-jewellery using keys, eco-dyed fabric, beads, copper wire with lots of stitching. They are for faraway friends who are also dyers. 

Another eco-Jewellery piece is a one-off bolo tie made from a large vintage button. I covered the button with dyed silk pieces and stitched all over it. I then embellished it with beads and more stitching around the edges. I attached a lovely charm in the centre and used the same charm for the end of the cords too.  

I love making brooches from found objects. I stopped doing that for a while, but seeing that I have got yards of eco-dyed fabric to play with I thought I would start that up again. I found this piece of copper with six legs? I don't know where it came from. Anyway, I played around with it and it ended up looking like that! The copper wire my DIL gave me when she left at Christmas. Don't ask me what it is!

I steamed a few dye bundles last week using eucalyptus leaves and other leaves I had on hand. I only left them just over a week and I could see through the silk that this bundle is going to turn out great. I opened it on Sunday morning and sure enough, the result is as you see in the photos above!

I love jam making. I love making jam from the fruit from the trees in our back yard. I haven't made marmalade for a long time. Last week I was given 3 grapefruit, and with the lemons from our tree and a few bought oranges I thought I would make three fruit marmalade. Here is the basic recipe I have been using for a long time:

3 kgs of grapefruit, lemons and oranges.

3 kgs of sugar

Enough water to cover the fruit.

Wash the fruit and place them in a heavy base saucepan. Cover with water and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the fruit soft. I put the lid on the saucepan when I simmer. It takes about an hour on low heat. 

Turn the heat off and leave the fruit to cool in saucepan. Save the liquid to use later. Cut the fruit into strips as thin or as thick as you wish. Put the cut fruit back in the saucepan with the liquid from boiling the fruit. Bring the fruit to boil, turn the heat down and check if the fruit pieces are soft and pulpy when squeezed between your fingers. Add more water if needed. Next add sugar all at once. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to boil, stirring all the time to prevent burning. You can turn the heat down at this point, but not to simmer. Boil for 20-30 minutes until the setting point. To check if the jam is set put a teaspoon of mixture on a cold plate. Leave it to cool, push it to one side and if you get the wrinkles on the surface, the jam is ready. If not, boil a little longer and do the test again. 

Mr Notjustnat's cousin Mary told me this testing trick many years ago and I've used it to test all my jam making ever since. Mary also told me that good marmalade has to be clear and almost translucent. I think I achieved that goal!

Until next time

Nat

Krokbragd Weaving and Books to Treasure

These past weeks I have been busy cutting strips of fabric to use in Krokbragd weaving that I mentioned on my previous post. Cutting proved to take longer than I thought! Krokbragd weaving needs a tight weave. In weaving terms it is called "beating hard", so hard that you hardly see the warp threads. The result is amazing! I'm loving it! The basket full of rag balls looks great in the mean time. Unfortunately they will be used up in the weaving. 

I also have a few books I bought in the last few months to share with you. You never have too many books right? I'm surrounded by books both at work and at home! Books to treasure! 

My melon basket is full of rag balls. Those balls are packed solid. I love to tear the strips, but not all fabric is tear-able. It can be either too thick or too heavy, so I ended up cutting it by hand with scissors.  

This Krokbragd rug is about 1m long and 50cm wide. I think I've woven about half of that now. The red velvet fabric was an old curtain that my supervisor gave me years ago. He bought a motor camper recently and I thought I would give him this rug for his camper!

A close up of the weaving. I'm pleased with the colour placement and the textures of it. I made the warp long enough for two rugs so I thought for the next one I will weave a plain tabby to get it finished quickly. My next set of 4 workshops is starting at the beginning of November and I hope to free the loom by then!

I have bought a few books recently. The first one is the Chintz Quilts from the Poos Collection authored by Kay & Lori Lee Triplett and Xenia Cord, Quiltmania Editions. 

Linda at Quilts in the barn wrote an excellent review of it here. I was lucky to get a copy of it when I visited Quilts in the barn exhibition a few weeks ago. 

I went to Euro Quilt Expo in Barcelona years ago. There I bought myself pre-cut squares of Dutch fabric that I haven't used yet. A lot of antique quilts in this book might inspire me to use these pieces.

The Chintz fabric I bought at the Quilts in the barn exhibition might go well here somewhere. The colour and designs are perfectly suited to the era!

A self published book by Roderick Kiracofe I saw over at Cabbage Quilts  that I have to have! I wasn't disappointed at all.  

A few more books I came across at a local fete last weekend. It was an impulse buy, but 3 books for $5 and the money goes to a good cause, it was money well spent! 

Another book to treasure is this one from Gwen Marston. I love her books, I love her too! I missed meeting her by less than a week both here in Australia, and in New Zealand. The Liberated Medallion book was one of Gwen's retreat at Beaver Island Quilting Retreat. I've included the link to Gwen's talk about hand quilting here for those who may be interested.

Another book I got this year is the Kakishibu, the traditional persimmon dye of Japan by Chris Conrad. Together with the book I also got a bottle of Kakishibu liquid dye. Chris Conrad went to Japan to study about Kakishibu dyeing. After she returned to the US she wrote this valuable book about Kakishibu which is the only book on the subject in English. I can't wait to try dyeing with it. I need very strong sunlight and heat to dye with Kakishibu.

Here is an update on the exhibition "Connecting with Nature". I sent out the invitations for the opening this week. I still have to type out all the descriptions of the display items. I have put a weekend aside to organize all my exhibits. The others exhibitors finished their pieces and will bring to me to set up. 

Until next time

Nat

Dye, Weave and Exhibition

Where has the week gone? It seems like yesterday when I blogged about Quilts in the barn! Daylight savings started on Sunday and we lose one hour's sleep to summer. I have been busy organizing the exhibition my craft group and I put together for November. Also my weaving workshop is just finished so I was madly weaving the hounds-tooth scarf and got it off the loom in time to start a new project. 

First up I would like to invite you to the exhibition my craft group and I are holding in November this year. Below is an invitation for the opening. Hope you can join us...

click to enlarge

I put on another batch of dyeing with some wind swept leaves I collected. It has been very windy lately and my favorite Eucalyptus trees are shredding their leaves. I have found two Eucalyptus trees at my work that give magic colours in dyeing. One is the Red ironbark, Eucalyptus sideroxylon, and the other is Silver dollar gum, Eucalyptus Cinerea. I am fortunate enough to have both of these trees at my finger tips so I can't help but keep dyeing with them.

I bundled up 3 bundles and steam in the double steamer. I didn't brew them because the silk and wool mixed fabric was already off-white with age. I also wanted to see the clear leaf imprints on the fabric. You get a clearer edges when you use steaming method. 

I used double layers of fabric in this bundle so the leaf imprints are in mirror image. The old string gave lovely dark lines on the outside. 

For one of the other bundles I used prunus leaves. The silk polyester fabric didn't turn out that great, but I'm pleased to get subtle pink colours to play with, instead of just greys and oranges!

Sorry the photos are jumbled up a bit here. This is when I first unwrapped the bundle. I had a good feeling about this one. Leaves from both trees were placed over a rusty tin can. This was only 2 days old since steaming. 

Do you remember the hounds-tooth scarf I worked on and posted here? I went on overdrive and got it finished late last Friday so I could free the loom and start a new project. The set of 8 workshops finished last Saturday. We will start again in November for another 4 workshops. 

I'm more than happy with the scarf. It's what I imagine it will look and feel like. I wore it once already and it feels so warm and soft! Something about a woven garment is like magic! 

My skill from basket weaving comes in handy with fringing. I was asked if I did them by machine. I said my finger machine works just as well!

Onto the next weaving project Krokberagd (rag rug). Krokbragd is a traditional Scandinavian weave my teacher recommended for the next project. Above is the loom all dressed up with natural dyed cotton warps. Ignore the pink header that will be removed afterward. 

I was given two pairs of old red velvet curtains that I will use for the main colour in the rug. One of my classmates, Pauline, was weaving one of these and I keep having a picture of her cutting the strips of fabric. I'm doing a lot of that myself at the moment! I haven't actually started weaving yet. Wish me luck guys! I will need a lot of these strips for the rug! 

As my weaving classmates were telling me, weaving keeps dementia at bay! My brain hurts when I have to put all my concentration on keeping track of where I'm on the draft! So far I'm loving it though! 

Until next time

Nat

Needles, Shuttles and Dye

It finally hit me. What do needles, shuttles and dye have in common? You dye, you stitch and then weave! Weaving has completed the process of my love of textile and dyeing! Not that I don't like quilting anymore, but I know there are other textile crafts that I love to explore. For as long as I remember, I love all kind of yarns. I use yarns in my basket weaving, in knitting, and now weaving.

Once upon a time the only image of weaving I knew was of old lady hunched over an old loom. I had no idea that those old ladies who weave are clever, smart, creative and talented. You have to have all of the above to be able to weave. I'm nowhere near as smart as the ladies I met in my weaving workshop including my teacher Ilka White. All the skills I acquired from spinning, sewing, stitching, quilting, dyeing and designing come in handy in weaving. I'm glad I started learning how to weave! 

Remember this images of  weaving "Rose-path" I showed a few times here, on FB and Instagram? It's now finished and off the loom! I finally cut the warp and removed it from the loom in the workshop last Saturday. I wove like crazy to get it finished in order to start a new project. 

Here it is, still hairy, in need of fringing, trimming and washing. Everyone was so supportive of me because from a simple Rose-path pattern I have included the variation of patterns into the piece. It was a lot of fun!  

Crazy colour I know, but I love it! The result is so pleasing indeed. I will do it again in blues yes, I think indigo blue with just a small amount of white and that same grey warp will look great!

No time to waste!  So here is the next project I prepared the warp ready to go on the loom as soon as the other one came off. This is a simple design of Hounds-tooth pattern with only three colours. The pink cloth is a header to be removed at the end. 

I'm so happy I can get to use the blue woolen indigo dyed yarns and the cream hand spun yarns I have had for ages. I added a tint of red throughout the piece. I thought it needs red, don't you? It's coming along quite fast. I'm working overtime to get this one finished by next Saturday!

When I feel the need for stitching between weaving, I go back to this slow-cloth again. I really need to finish it by November for our exhibition. I have put the last outer row on last night. The outer edge needed turning. 

I posted about this cloth here almost a year ago . Slow-cloth is a good name for it. I wanted to use the piece of dyed moon for the center. I added thin strips around the moon. The strips got bigger and bigger as I went around the moon. Some of the fabric for the outer strips I only dyed recently, so it was really a slow-cloth! 

So much stitching so few hearts! I must have started stitching these hearts after last Christmas. Most of these hearts were stitched on the road trips. I think I will put them in the exhibition too. 

I gathered some oak leaves in the park in Canberra and it's now soaking ready for dyeing. I bundled these up the other night and they are now soaking in the oak bath. Will steam them this weekend. 

Quilts in the Barn is happening this weekend. Quilts in the Barn is only less than an hour's drive from where we live. I visited a few years ago, but this year is a must for anyone who can go. The exhibition showcases Chintz Dutch quilts. I love both Chintz fabric and Dutch quilts. So thanks Linda for bringing the show to us! 

Until next time

Nat

Birthday, Weaving and Stuff

My birthday came and went. Yes, another year went by in a flash! Having such a busy year and didn't notice how fast time flies by. Something special happened on my birthday this year. You know those Google Doodles? When I signed in to Google that morning to my surprise the darling Mr Google made me a birthday doodle. How cool was that? It was only for me, and it stayed until midnight that day woo hoo!

I managed to capture the Google doodle here to share with you. Thanks Mr Google, you made my day!

My weaving workshop is in progress. I'm really enjoying it. I can tell you that it's not easy and very challenging. My first piece was double weave. It didn't do anything for me, but I did it as part of the lesson. My second piece is going to be a scarf. I have a big roll of fine woolen yarn I got from Ziguzagu, so I'm using it for the warp thread for all my projects. I got my loom threaded and weaved a few rows with waste rage (pink yarns) ready for my lesson.

I'm weaving Rosepath variation patterns. At the beginning I did 1/2" of tabby rows. I did the hemming stitches on the first edge and I'm now ready to weave the pattern. 

The pattern started to appear after a few rows of weaving. I wasn't sure what colour I should use so I decided to just throw it all the colour. I quite like it actually. It gives me that "old time" look.

Can't have a post without dyeing, no I can't! I opened all those bundles I talked about in the last couple of posts. This one was the one I did last Friday evening. The weather was nice so I bundled up a few bundles and steamed them while there was no wind. 

  

I left the bundles to sit for only two days. Sunday was Father's Day and I was home doing housework. I tried with all my strength not to get distracted from the housework, but it didn't work of course. I gave up, and I thought let's just open one bundle and then go back to finish the housework!

The result of the dye was great. It gave me the colour I was hoping for. The colour and texture was so striking. It made me very happy, so I went back to finish the housework!

Spring is well and truly here this week. At the weekend the temperature was up to 25C. Today I think it is around the same again. I walk past this plum tree all year round, but today I think the blossoms are fully open. What a spectacular sight it is! I had to stop for a photo to share with you. Enjoy!

Until next time

Nat

Almost Finished!

Oh wow! I actually can show you something I finished on this post. But first let me tell you about my almost finished quilt that I have been piecing most evenings after I come home from work. I started this quilt a couple of months ago and I posted it here. I have never made a simple or quick quilt. Even though I would love to, my quilts always end up complicated and seem to take for ever to finish! This one is no different. The blocks are just simple 6.5" x 6.5" squares so what is complicated about that? Those star cornerstones are taking me forever to piece. If you look carefully the star points are different sizes. Why did I decide to do that? I don't know. I just thought stars are not the same size. I'm glad I decided to do that because it makes the quilt look a lot nicer! 

If you have read how I started this quilt you would know that most of the fabric came from Sally Cutting, a lovely lady I met on Instragram. Sally used to be a rep for a quilting fabric company and a terrific quilter herself. Because the star cornerstones take a lot more red fabric than I expected, Sally sent me more of them. They are such gorgeous red prints that I found it hard to cut them into small pieces. Thanks again Sally, you are so generous. 

I have finished piecing the quilt top and only have the border to go on next. A lot of the fabric in this quilt has water themes printed on it so I am calling the quilt "Star Fish". I have a reason to get this quilt top finished before the end of June because we are going to New Zealand for a couple of weeks. I need to take this quilt top with me to get it machine quilted by Donna Ward, the fantastic machine quilter that has been quilting all my quilts for over 10 years. 

Here is another water theme printed on this piece. It's a Tsunami wave (great wave). It is a replica of a painting  'The Great Wave' by Hokusai . You will be hearing more about this quilt when I finally get the border on. In order to complete the star cornerstones I need to piece the border with only stars on one end of the sashings. I'm excited because I'm almost done!

Now I can show you a FINISHED project, yeah! I started this in October last year. We went through summer and it was not the weather for weaving, so it sat and sat on the loom until a couple of weeks ago when I found a buyer for my floor loom. So that was a push for me to get my scarf off the loom! 

I hemp stitched the last row and contemplated for a little while before I cut the warp threads off the loom. Not having anybody to ask I felt a bit lost. It had to be done so I took the scissors to it.   

I spun the weft yarns for the scarf and I used commercial yarns I found at an op-shop for the warp threads. To my surprise it didn't need as much weft thread as I thought to complete the scarf. 

It was a great feeling wearing my woven scarf for the first time knowing that I wove every row of this scarf from the beginning to the end. It's magic! I signed up for the next-step weaving workshop starting June 29th. The workshop runs for 16 weeks - one workshop every fortnight. My friend Jeannette in West Wyalong gave me a table loom to take to class. It's not as small as I thought but it will be fine in the back of my car. I am looking forward to this new set of workshops. Weaving is a life-long lesson and you have to keep doing it to remember all the steps. 

Until next time

Nat