What A Beautiful Day For A Dye

July 16, 2019July 16, 2019Leave a comment

I taught a workshop!

A few people I know have been asking me to show them how to do some dyeing, so I finally picked a day and did it. There were six of us in all (me included) and we did it in my backyard on what couldn’t have been a nicer day. I decided to do a shibori and indigo dye class, which was so easy because I already had all of the supplies from my own dyeing experiments ready to go.

We went from about 10:30 am to 3:30 pm with a lunch break in the middle, although once people got in the groove it was hard to get them to stop and eat!

I taught everyone four different techniques and then left them to it, being there to help along the way. It was so cool to see what everyone did and the final results were all fantastic. The general feedback is that they are all hooked and can’t wait to do it again and I feel exactly the same way!

There have been a few occasions in the past couple years when I have been asked to come teach a class or workshop, either it be dyeing or hand stitching and quilting, but things never seem to work out timing-wise. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and start running some workshops on my own, getting some practice in so I can be ready for the next request. These lovely people were great guinea pigs and I am so excited to get out there and do it again!

Stitching in the Small

May 25, 2019Leave a comment

I have been interested in embroidery for a few years now but was finding that even with all of the books I was reading, I just wasn’t sitting down and doing it. I have found that when it comes to trying new artistic pursuits, an in-person guiding hand is what I need!

I took this class through Fern’s School of Craft (www.fernsschoolofcraft.com), taught by Alex from Florals and Floss Embroidery (www.instagram.com/floralsandflossembroidery). In one afternoon we learnt 6 different stitches and I was enamoured by the hands-on quality, beautiful colours, and texture of the embroidered floss threads. Plus, embroidery instantly gets me relaxed and in a quiet state of mind. I love the immediacy of embroidery and how a project can be finished quite quickly.

In this class I made a cute little floral hoop with my niece’s name on it for her upcoming 2^nd birthday and it turned out so pretty and great. I can’t wait to start coming up with my own designs and playing with some new stitches!

Learning the Ropes

June 12, 20183 Comments

A few weeks ago I mentioned an upcoming punch needle rug hooking class with Fern’s School of Craft and I just had to share some pictures with you. I highly recommend checking out this technique if you get a chance!

I love the hands-on quality and portability for a project like this, and for someone like me who quilts by hand, it’s a pretty quick turn around (at least for something this size).

Fern showed us a bit about rug hooking the traditional way with a rug hook needle, but I really enjoyed using the punch needle. We used The Oxford Punch Needle #10 and I think it’s the perfect instrument for this.

With our monk’s cloth stretched on a wood frame we got to it. Fern had a variety of designs to choose from or we could draw something ourselves and after much deliberation I drew out this quilt square. I don’t know it’s name but my guess is it may be a variation of a shoofly? I would love to know if anyone has seen this before!

Table full of yarn, plus check out the cutest watermelon slice ever!

I’m definitely going to have to work on cleaning up my stitches and getting the density just right (they’re a bit close) but I look forward to getting more practice in on the next one. I finished up the background when I got home and voila!

Finished Punch Needle Rug Hooking Back & Front

The image on the left is traditionally the “back”, with the image on the right looking more rug-like. I like how clean the left version is though, so will probably make that my “front”. 🙂

I’m currently in the process of moving so have been busy packing up the apartment. The new house will have a dedicated office/studio space just for me, so I’m trying to decide if I want to turn this into a pillow or keep it as a piece to hang on the wall in my new studio. Either way I will probably turn the edges in and make a yarn stitched binding. Yay!

Adventures on the Loom

May 25, 2018May 31, 20184 Comments

This weekend I’m so excited to be taking a beginner rug hooking class through Fern’s School of Craft (check it out at www.fernsschoolofcraft.com). This will be my second class with Fern, the first being about a month ago when I learned how to weave on a floor loom. It was such a fun experience and I can’t wait to see what this weekend brings.

Fern’s weaving class included a mix of theory (project prep, loom set up, etc.) interspersed with actually sitting down at the loom to create. The goal for the class was to weave a length of cloth, which we then turned into a pillow. This is the reason why I wanted to take the class; I can’t imagine what to do with a piece of weaved cloth. What do I use it for? I don’t need another scarf and am not the table runner type…for now at least. Being able to make something I would use or make more of in the future is what in the end made me think that this was the class for me. This is going to sound crazy but I didn’t even know you could sew a woven cloth…don’t judge me!

Getting comfortable on the loom.

Fern has been weaving for over 10 years and is finishing up her second year, of five, of the Master Weaver program at Old’s College – it sounds intense! She is an enthusiastic artist, both in textiles and photography, and is great at making everyone feel welcome and at ease, which made her class really fun and relaxed. The class size was small, with five students in total, and we each got our own loom for the day. There was no waiting and plenty of materials for everyone, allowing us to really get into a flow.

In the way that Fern teaches, we were able to have complete control over how we wanted our experience with weaving to be. I wanted to experiment and see what would happen by changing the treadle order multiple times throughout the project and got some pretty weird, but cool, designs, while others were more comfortable using the same motif and experimenting solely with colour. Either way the result was a really beautifully patterned finished product. It was so interesting to see everyone’s finished pillows, especially all of the different colour palettes!

Playing around with different treadle combinations to see what would happen…

Apart from colour, Fern had many different types and weights of yarn to choose from and you can see in my orange stripe how a textured yarn looks when woven. It’s amazing to think about all of the many decisions that go into a final woven piece.

My pillow on the new living room chair.

I ended the class really excited about the process of weaving and am inspired to try more of it in the future. In the meantime, onward to rug hooking!