Hiking also means gear maintenance

Hello, everyone.  To day I will talk over with y'all the latest gear maintenance project, a part of preparation for walking the Camino again.

This shirt encountered an accident. I contacted the maker, VOORMI, and sought advice. They were super supportive and recommended me to use a whip stitch, fine needle, and very fine thread. About in the 80 to 100 weight thread, actually, in polyester. 

I had some 80 weight Aurifil cotton in the house but I don't think mixing cotton and the wool will be a super good plan. I do know that the spiffy fine cotton thread, with the right (wrong) encouragement, will break. So I ordered new thread spools from Red Rock Threads and Ripstop By The Roll. 

I'm about to set up my embroidery hoop for floating the shirt on top of a light water soluble stabilizer. Probably the heavier one of my 2 Sulky wash away ones. (The lighter one, Solky Solvy, probably can't handle being the support layer on the bottom.)

I'm thinking the DMC size 28 tapestry needle will be the way to go. 2nd choice, the Bohin size 26, a tiny bit thicker, and with that amazing Bohin polished surface. Third, a new packet of needles I found at Walmart, branded Singer a mix of sizes 24 and 26, also tapestry tips. The tapestry tip needle is the hand sewing version of the "stretch" needles sold for machine sewing. It will work it's way between the strands instead of piercing them. And gently does it is the theme for this extra fine Merino wool shirt.

I will use tacking stitches to hold the knit steady while I work on the tiny, tiny whip stitches. That is why I called this floating,  it's the equivalent to floating projects on the embroidery machine.

We got rain!

Hello, everyone. It's surprising how busy we can be with nothing on the calendar. I'm hip-deep on a big quilt right now, and the on ramp has several more projects incoming.

But it was very exciting recently when we got a slug of rain. Probably we got around 8 inches over a couple of days.

This street was temporarily blocked due to urban street flooding. They say it was 30 inches deep for a little while. It all drained nicely, it just fell too fast for the pipes and built up for a little while. 

We're grateful for the rain. Everything was dried out to crispy brown at some parks, and our yard was also. 

More color play with the parrot

Hello, everyone.  In between working on the cowboy quilt, I have been working on the parrot wall hanging. This is the photo that turned sideways in the last post. (Bad Blogger!) I'm thinking about the binding now.

And this time it's right side up.

Both the purple batik and the assorted oranges speak to me. There is some question whether there is enough of the oranges. I estimate needing 10 feet plus miters for the length of this binding. 

I do think that a little flange of orange would look nice with the purple batik binding. The orange in the eye, the gold in the wattle, and the golden spirals in the wing would play with it, and the varied shades in the batik would work with the perch and the greens.

New project, and color play

Hello,  everyone.  I went to a class at a quilt shop down the highway a ways (RGV Quilt and Sew) and have gotten the face of the class project put together.  But, before putting parts together,  we all took turns working out a fabric palette, different for each student, and did practice layouts of our chosen prints. 

This was mine. Of the pieces here, two were already in my collection.  (The yellow and purple grunge fat quarters) The greens, the Kaffe Fassett fungus, and the brown speckles were pulled from the shop shelves. Likewise the peach-colored marbled print which will be the background. 

Here is the assembled face of the wall hanging:

Sadly, the Blogger app turns this photo on it's side. The parrot is having a little  nap, I guess.

 I have the fabric clipped onto the cabinets in my sewing room, using some photographer's clips, because that's what I have for a try-out wall. And the old chip clips just didn't grip the melamine doors like these ones do.

I do like the way the cabinet doors hold up the pieced fabric. As long as the quilt is not bigger than a short twin-sized, this system works fine.

Happy Cactus

Hello, everyone.  One of the potted cacti is blooming. I usually keep it on an east windowsill but the flowers are too pretty not to enjoy in the kitchen. 

When the blooms fade, it will go back to the window sill where it is a happy plant.

The Christmas cactus is a shade plant, so I can't plant it outside. The bright sun would kill it.

Color play: baby edition

Hello, everyone.  Today's post is looking at colors for a baby quilt. 

The little paper square in the middle is the concept. I'm thinking of the pinks as background and the teals as main color, with a central block of the turtle print.

I tried putting it into black and white: 

Some of the prints are interested in being the star of the show. That daffodils and Easter eggs print isn't sure if it's a pink or a teals!

A closer look at the idea. It's from the Moda Chains quilt, making only one quadrant and adding a couple top and bottom borders to get the blanket into a more oblong shape.

Trying out new things:pillow edition

Hello, everyone.  It's been chilly and the days just get consumed by this and that. 

I have a set of embroidery designs that calls itself Damask. They're all monochrome florals. 

This incorporates 2 of them. I did it in 3 colors but the 2 whites are pretty much the same color. Base fabric was not from stash. (!) I got some brown upholstery fake suede for this. It's a 12 inch pillow, very usable size. 

It did take over 70 minutes to stitch out. And the fabric required a size 14 needle.

It was fun hunting down something to put on a 12 inch pillow. Designs stash for the win!