and the winner is....

                   ELS of fiberrainbow is the winner.

Els, I have sent you an e-mail requesting your address so I can put it in the mail. Hope you will enjoy it. Thank you all for participating and there will be giveaways in the future. Wishing you all a great weekend.
deanna7trees

mixed and picked with my eyes closed

a sweater transformation...

this all started with a lovely pair of knitted leg warmers i saw on Facebook. Lyn suggested making them from the sleeves of an old sweater which i had in my stash. it was purchased long ago from the thrift store and felted. each sleeve was long enough to make a leg warmer and a wrist warmer. i crocheted edges with some yarn that belonged to my grandmother. the body of the sweater was big enough, with some patching, to cover one of those inexpensive cardboard buckets that are sold in the craft stores. i lined it with some of my hand dyed silk and even make a plush inner base by adding some batting under the silk cloth. another bucket for some much needed organization around here.

click on the images for close-ups.

sweater bucket, wrist warmers and leg warmers

wrist warmers crocheted on upper edge and leg warmers crocheted on both edges

leg warmers

hand dyed silk base and lining...some dyed velvet peeking out from the open collar

AND A BLOG GIVEAWAY....
a friend shared this DVD with me. some of you might know about it. it came out in 2011 and is quite interesting. i've seen lots of the quilts in person, that are talked about here, at the Houston quilt show in 2009. you can read more about this DVD here. i have watched it and thought i'd pass it on to you.
if you leave a comment, you will be included in the drawing. if you'd rather not be included, just say so in your comment. i know some of you might have already seen it.
i'll do the drawing early Thursday morning, November 29th.

have a great week and thanks for stopping by.

back into baskets...

this time i'm making some fabric coiled baskets. i've never done them by hand before. i've made some by machine in the past. i'm getting better at controlling the stitch with each one i make. they will be gifts.
Click on the images for close-ups.

fabric coiled baskets

the lace shawl is finally finished. i learned so much but i don't think i'll ever make one with lace weight yarn again. it's really not something that will keep me warm. it's too light weight. it's really shades of brown, not orange as it appears here.

the pattern is 'Skywalker' by Nelkin Designs

this would probably dress up my dark brown velour dress. it's not really orange as it looks here but shades of brown.

 and i'll leave you with this cute idea for a little thread bowl. it would be perfect for tatters or if you are working on a project where you're just using one type thread. you can hook it onto your belt or purse. i had to make one immediately.

a thread bowl

WISHING YOU ALL A GREAT WEEK AND A HAPPY THANKSGIVING FOR THOSE WHO CELEBRATE.

loving the light...

that comes through the kitchen shutters this time of year during the afternoon.

did a bit more embroidery on this blue scrim-like shawl and am feeling much more comfortable creating bullion knots.

bullion and french knots on lace

in my quest to find better ways to organize, i uncovered some of these hanging pockets that i've had for years. it might work to catch all the bits and pieces lying around from projects being worked on. we'll see if this works. i'm willing to try anything to get rid of the chaos on my cutting table.

all these little things just get lost on the cutting table

and finally...the shawl. it's almost finished. the scalloped edge is worked perpendicular to the shawl and each scallop is 24 different rows. it takes me about 30 minutes to do each scallop and there are 25 in total. if i lose my place in the pattern, i'm in trouble.

5 scallops completed. that blue thread is a lifeline that i told you about in the last post

this week i learned a new way to join a new ball of yarn. it's called a russian join and works like a charm. here is how it's done.

Click on the images for close-ups.

Wishing you all a great week and hopefully some calm weather.

another experiment---partial success

in a post a couple of weeks ago, i had stitched some scraps of cloth and lace to used color-catcher sheets. well i did some dyeing with eucalyptus leaves and rusty things. the color-catcher sheets picked up the leaf images really well but the bits and pieces of cloth...not so much...so i removed most of them. i know now what i'll be doing with all the used color catcher sheets i've collected.

bundle just opened...the white circle is where a can cover was clamped

top square was the only one where attached cloth had some imprinting

i mentioned, in my last post, that i've purchased some new knitting needles that are specifically for lace knitting. they are really wonderful to work with.

the tips are a bit pointier than normal

the cable and the joining sections are perfect

here's the lace shawl so far. will not look like much until blocked...maybe by the next post.

i was so glad to learn about knitting lifelines in my craftsy class. it saved me from having to start from scratch quite a few times already. this yarn is so fine that it is hard to remove mistakes stitch by stitch. i have really learned a lot about lace knitting and am feeling much more confident.
CLICK ON IMAGES FOR CLOSE-UPS...

I KNOW THERE ARE MANY OF YOU OUT THERE WHO STILL DO NOT HAVE POWER. YOU ARE IN MY THOUGHTS AND AM SENDING GOOD WISHES. STAY SAFE.