Moving right along in my weaving! I am now working on project #3. This is most definitely a Learning Piece! Particularly since I have already messed up the warp (my teachers had to undo the heddle--that interweave of kite string that I use to lift/separate the threads in order to weave), didn't plan correctly for how much thread I would need (hence the dark and light sides) and now have messed up the decorative part you see below.
So, it was my intention to weave a new piece of cloth using the purple and burgundy threads, but those skeins don't go quite as far as I thought they would. It looks like there is so much thread on the tube, but oops, it finished far quicker than expected. So yellow tones it is to complement the darker colors.
I did, however, manage to separate the two different colors/tones so that when switching the threads (opening and closing the shed) one color falls to the back and the other is pulled up and open.
And my teachers are showing me how to create those decorative lacy bits. The weft (the thread you are weaving with) is woven over and under three threads. It's not really hard, just a matter of transposing the normal threads you weave through, but I goofed on one of the rows and I have not managed to space the rows out evenly. Oh well, it's all good. Considering I have only been doing this for part of one summer and then not on a daily basis, I am still pleased with my progress. Maybe with my next project I will try something a little more planned and thought out. For now I am just happy to be weaving and trying something new. I think you learn more by making mistakes anyway. Normally in weaving most mistakes can actually be fixed, though fixing mistakes is a skill in itself. I wish I could weave more during the week than only on Saturday afternoons, but eventually I hope to set something up at home. I still do not have my own loom pieces and am just borrowing the sticks, but I'm working on obtaining them!
I'm still pottering away at my needlework, too. I have actually been making progress on my Quaker heart and I hope to have the motifs finished by the end of this coming week. You can see the first one I made using a variegated red thread with beading on the outer edge. Curiously the pattern calls this the back, but it seems more like the main side to me.
I stitched this first one all the way back in 2010. Since then my initials have changed. I like the nice warm colors of this second Quaker heart. Orange and pink with a dash of red.
Here it is in all its glory! I hope I will have enough thread (I have no idea where I bought it. I found it in one of my stash bins) to finish the back stitching and stitch words I plan on putting on the sides. I will finish it as a "mattress cushion" and I am still contemplating which words I will use on that outer edge. As my initials and the year will already be on one side, I can put something else on the outer edge.
Do you remember this? Spring feels so far back now. I sort of fizzled a bit on it, but I do plan on finishing it at some point. Winter was finished and is waiting for its three companion pieces.
I sort of started the Summer sampler, but now I am going to re-purpose that piece of linen (I need to order more to have enough for all three samplers). Autumn is my favorite season, so I think I will pick out the few stitches that went into Summer and jump right into Autumn. I love the crows and the little squirrel and Mr. Scarecrow (who apparently is not really doing his job . . .). The weather finally seems to have started cooperating after several rainy days, yesterday was cool at last. It may be safe to pull out long sleeves and sweatshirts at last. And I think I need to work on my Autumn sampler as a nice celebration!