Hexagon Coasters

Saw it, was inspired by it, made it! That is the story of these hexie coasters and I love them!

As I shared in my April sewing plans post I used this tutorial using a small pack of fabric I have had in my stash for at least three years called “Sleeping Porch” by Heather Ross. The only modification I made was to print the hexagon template at 50% so that it would fit on my pre-cut squares of fabric and would be mug or soda-can sized rather than trivet or Chemex-sized (although I love that and will totally do a larger one later!) and otherwise followed the tutorial as written. I did find it helpful to sew with my needle beginning and ending in the “down” position so that I could make clean turns while quilting each side of the hexagon and while sewing all of the layers together. I also used a chopstick to turn all of the corners out once the layers had been flipped right side out to get those cleaner points.

Highly recommend this for anyone who is looking for a easy, cute, and quick sewing project. Hooray for one project crossed off the list!

Friday, Friday 4.10.20

What a week!

I said my goals out loud and started a daily blog habit that I am loving.

I made a large batch of French onion soup and loved eating it all week.

I watched the pink shadows outside my frosted bathroom window become vibrantly pink with the giant azalea blooms outside.

I didn’t do a great job of getting up and moving my body, but I got a lot of work done.

I finished a big project for a tiny human.

I made two cakes, including a wedding cake.

We mulched our front yard and welcomed spring weather.

I cooked a delicious hash for breakfast.

I got ready to love on some dear friends who will host a private ceremony today for their wedding in lieu of the party they had planned.

I ripped out a few inches on my Wool & Honey sweater when I saw a mistake I knew I’d never be able to let go of, and felt good about it.

I hung out with my husband and cats a lot.

It feels as though we have been living in our home in self-quarantine forever, but really it’s only been about a month. It’s weird thinking of all of the things I used to take for granted as so normal that now I miss so much. Going to the library. Getting a coffee downtown. Eating at a restaurant. Popping into my local yarn store. Not wondering whether a business is going to be open this weekend that I randomly need to visit. Going for a swim at the Y. Not wearing a mask outside. I know we’re getting through this, and in some ways have settled into a routine, but in others it just continues to be hard and I want to acknowledge and be OK in that space too. Happy weekend friends. May it be full of health and goodness and love for you!

The world spins madly on

On Christmas day, my family gave me the most generous Christmas gift ever and I've been spinning like the world is going to end tomorrow ever since, I can't say enough good things about this wheel. Over the 10 days surrounding Christmas & New Years, we travelled from Charlotte, to Orlando, to Atlanta and back, and the Sidekick went everywhere with us, and was ready to spin in easily anywhere we took it. I can't get over how fast I'm moving through my fiber compared to the drop spindle, and I can't wait to put up new inventory in the shop for you so soon. 

In the meantime, though, I've been having a lot of fun with these beautiful, psychedelic braids I received as gifts this Christmas. My first finished project off the wheel (seen above) is this beautiful BFL from Three Waters Farm, about 135 yards of aran weight, in the Cafe Diem colorway. I love spinning BFL! It's so bouncy and elastic, and is a great spinning fiber for practicing drafting (if you're new, and need the practice!). I have another braid of this as well, and I'm debating whether to double my yardage for a more substantial project or do the second braid as a Navajo ply and preserve the beautiful color repeats. 

The second crazy colors I've been working through are in Hedgehog Fibre's 50/50 Merino & Silk top in colorway E. I'm hoping it'll come out to be a fingering weight 2 ply. It's incredibly soft and shiny, and the most silk I've worked with spinning. It's a bit slippery, but I like it. 

Overall, Melo is adjusting to his new position, and leaving plenty of cat hair behind in protest. ;)

If you're wondering, the new wheel is the Schacht Sidekick. After all of my research, watching hours of YouTube videos and finally trying a few wheels in person, I chose it because it had a lot of the features that I was excited about (lots of ratios, extra large bobbins compared to other models, Scotch tension), while still being a compact spinning wheel, made from high quality wood materials (not MDF) and made domestically in Boulder, CO. It's a sturdy little wheel that sits well on the floor, which I know is a complaint for other models of compact wheels, and I've heard, though I have not tried it, spins a lot like Schacht's high-end model, the Matchless. I just love it. If you have any other questions about how to choose a spinning wheel, please send me a message or comment below, or check out the blog post I put together with articles to help potential spinning wheel shoppers a few months ago, here. 

My vision for 2016 is to really take my fiber practice from sheep to skein, and to that end I've been ordering and perusing high quality American-grown fleeces to prepare into handspun yarns. If you know of any farms that I should check out, I'd love to hear about them!

Here's to resisting all of the leftover Christmas candy, and to keeping all of our resolutions!

organizing anew

They have a really specific walk about them when they're doing something they shouldn't. The kittens, that is. They have an extra spring in their step, a bouncy sort of mischievous way about them when they're carrying a toy, an ice cube, a ham sandwich they've pulled off the counter (ugh), but my least favorite of all was when they skipped lightly away with my yarn. And they do it a lot.

At our previous home my stash was all stored in our closet of our guest bedroom, which was almost always closed. But in our new space we began storing it in a set of stacking bins that were open-top, and this led to many trots away and ravaged skeins. 

This hopefully is a new and better solution. An old and beautiful filing cabinet we lined and cleaned and brought home. It's a little rusty and we'd still love to do some work on the exterior, but I love how it sits in the corner of our guest bedroom/office. Karen Templer recently talked about her new yarn storage solution in her studio and it's evolving state, and I think it's so fun to think of how everyone does it. Right now each of my drawers are divided up by weight (fingering and DK, sport in one drawer, worsted in another), by type of project (spinning and dyeing materials in one drawer) and tools (in the last drawer). I am pretty proud that it all fits in this one cabinet (except current projects in my rice basket and special yarns, hanging above). Felicia of the Craft Sessions really inspired me last year to think about my yarn purchases and about a move towards having less of a stash. So now I'm trying really hard not to buy any fiber without a project specifically in mind that I'm ready to do or that I know I'm going to be tackling in the near future. With a few exceptions of course! I'm not superwoman :)

What are your favorite ways to store your crafts in a way that is safe (and pretty!)?

P.S. - I think they're going to get over their disappointment just fine.