finishing up things...

I'm getting better at finishing up projects and not putting them aside when I start something new. I did finish up this travel sewing pillow that has a place for all the tools and the project I'm working on.

click on the images for close-ups...

the front and back of the travel sewing pillow

the silk ribbons on the left hold thread cards and the wool stitched onto the pocket holds pins and needles. there is a little scissors case within the pocket and it's big enough to hold a small project.

Here are the results of the dyeing I talked about last time on the linen/silk cloth.

rose leaves, lots of frozen flowers, turmeric, steel wool bits over a copper pipe

the yellow from the turmeric is quite strong in spots

if you click on the image, you can see the beautiful weave of the cloth

...and I managed to do another bundle this week...

rose leaves, eucalyptus leaves, curry, turmeric, copper pipe and wire, steel wool

in a eucalyptus bath

results on habotai silk

I've also started a sweet potato to put in a hanging basket. It took this one a long time to get started but it already has some leaves since I took this picture.

Update on the Downton Abbey coat...the left side is finished on schedule, however, I realized that I did something wrong when knitting the right side, so I have to undo some of it to make it right...not a whole lot, so it shouldn't take long and then I can start on the sleeves.

The weather has been beautiful this week....very cool mornings and afternoons in the 70s...my kind of weather.

Have a great weekend.

I'd say it was a success....

that is, the dyeing in a jar with a copper pipe. Here are the results.
click on the images for close-ups...

the white trailing lines in the center are from the copper wire I used to wrap the bundle.

those fine lines throughout are from the slivers of steel wool spread over the cloth.

love this area

I used the same liquid that is now totally black from all the iron in the steel wool and prepared a bundle with rose petals, and rose leaves and  lilies and amaryllis flowers and coleus from the freezer. I used a linen/silk cloth this time. I added the turmeric and steel wool bits once again. I'll show you the results next time.

I did some more stitching on the blue gingham travel/sewing pillow and hope to have it finished by next week.

close-up of some of the stitching

this section has a strip of hand dyed wool for needles and pins.

I've been enjoying being out in the backyard during the early morning hours. Some of the garden seeds are coming up but are not doing as well as I expected. I fear it will soon be too hot out there. We went from some very cold mornings to very hot days. Spring seems to get shorter each year.

just a small 4x4 garden area. It's the only spot where I get 6-8 hours of sun.

Wishing you all a good weekend wherever you may be.

back to a bit of dyeing....

Planned on doing a bit more dyeing this week but just made a small start.

click on the images for close-ups...

some oak and chinese tallow leaves, tumeric and steel wool bits on habotai silk

all wrapped around a copper pipe with copper wire

and in a jar with an oak leaf bath and some acorns for good measure

it's been in the garage for about a week and i just removed the bundles today....there are 2 of them.... so they can dry out before I open them up. will show you that next week.

I played a bit more with those hexagons made from circles that I showed you last time. I acquired some old fabric samples that someone was ready to throw out. I cut some circles and  embroidered a couple before stitching them up. I hope to use these in my daily stitching cloth that has kind of fallen by the wayside...but I will get back to it.

hexagons made from circles

Karen's Pillows and Pages class ended this week but I'm still working on a third pillow and have just begun to work on the Pages aspect of the class. It was a great class and lots of fun. Karen is now offering it as a 'work on your own' class, so if you're interested, check out all the info here. and here's a peek at some sections of the third pillow.

worked on the reverse side of the hexagons with stitch and added a chenille hexagon in the middle that's stuffed with fiberfill to use as a pin cushion.

a little pocket with stitching around the edge to hold some scissors

and a bit of weaving with cloth holding a circle with cording and a covered button using bakery twine.

Lots more stitching to do on this blue piece. It will be a sewing pillow and will have 2 or 3 layers so it will take me awhile to do all the stitching and planning.

I'm making good headway on my knitting projects and hope to finish the right side of the Downton Abbey coat by the end of this month.

The garden is taking shape and it's wonderful working out there early in the morning when the sun is just coming up along the fence line, It is so peaceful and quiet. All the seeds are starting to come up and we actually got about an inch of rain in the past few days.

Hope you all enjoy your holiday, if you celebrate. Have a great week.