I have been asked to teach two different craft classes for another library. One is a bead weaving craft class. I made a lovely piece with size 8 beads out of blue with a red heart and diamond. To ensure that I have some pieces in different sizes I used size 11/0 seed beads to create the moon wall hanging, the random forest colors are out of 8/0 and the various plus signs is out of 6/0 beads. I love how these turned out, they were so much fun to put together, I am very exciting to teach this class. It is fun to purchase the supplies knowing that people are going to love learning this skill. Apparently there were enough people that signed up so another class was requested. Unfortunately Saturday’s are very busy for me so I cannot teach another Saturday class (other than the 2 scheduled) until September. The second class is going to be weaving a tapestry pouch using cardboard and worsted weight yarn. Both of these are going to be a ton of fun, and easy to learn.
This is only part of what is going on in my life right now, this is the fun part really. I have some dental problems that I am getting treatment for, which is very expensive and anxiety inducing. Fortunately I have enough money to cover my bills and basic expenses.
At present I am working on making an Edwardian Gown using a Folkwear Pattern. There is a contest where Threads and Folkwear have teamed up to offer a prize, I hope to enter with this gown. I am making it out of Muslin cloth, dyed red with some trim. Hopefully this will turn out good enough that I can wear it to my cousin’s wedding.
Life is amazing, I am so lucky for everything that I have and can do. The weather is warming up so I hope to be able to work on my garden/yard soon.
I wrote this post several weeks ago, so the information is accurate, but a little out of date. I am going to post this today, and follow up early next week with updates to this post and what I was up to the last weekend in March. Until then, remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!
On the mend and on the go once more. I was able to visit my cousin, though I managed to forget all of my medications at home. It was a good way for me to better notice how much of an effect the anti-depressant is having on me (a lot of good effect!). I only cut my trip short by a few hours, so things went very well. I took my pills Sunday night and by work on Monday I could already tell the difference. When I spoke to my Psychologist he mentioned that I was likely going through some form of withdrawal as well.
I was feeling better, though not at 100%, last week so I took it easy until I felt that I was mostly regulated. While I was giving myself the grace and rest I needed some organizing and cleaning up did occur. Since we are heading into winter I am going to keep up with the oregano and garlic oil supplements until they run out, though I might cut back to twice a week.
This week I have found myself diving headfirst into crafting again, though some of them seem a little more like procrastinating crafts, I have gotten quite a bit accomplished! I had a large piece of faux fur left over from when I tried to make a sensory quilt, it was just the right size to be a cushion for my weaving bench. It is about 5 foot long and very puffy so I hope it will work. My house is a little too messy for me to take a picture of the enormous pillow. I have decided that this winter I wanted to weave a ‘bog jacket’. This is a lovely piece of clothing made from whole cloth with minimal cutting and seams. It is my plan to weave about 9 yards of cloth on my rigid heddle loom that can make 31 inch pieces. I am going to use Knitpicks dishie cotton for the warp and likely the weft as well since I have a 7.5 dent reed. I already have 2 inches of warp wound off, when I have a little extra in pay I will buy the rest of the yarn I need. Fortunately Dishie is very standard and I don’t need to worry about dye lots. I am currently debating about whether I want to buy all white to dye myself or buy some colored yarn.
In the middle of November I am going to be a part of a murder mystery show and I need to make progress on the dress I wanted to sew for it. One of the items that I have started is the tulle petticoat, photo below. Honestly I’m not sure it’s going to work out but this is so much fun. I pinned the tulle in and did a rough basting stitch for the first batch. I plan on pinning and sewing in the elastic today, followed by sewing down the waist band and then putting in a hem for my pull on elastic petticoat. the library had a lot of tulle left over from other projects and I am supposed to be a flamboyant medium so I chose my favorite color purple.
There was an amazing sale on cotton muslin so I have 10 yards of natural cotton muslin that I need to cut apart to dye for a dress. I need to make the first try with the pieces I cut out of a tablecloth I purchased at good will. I did wash the muslin however it is going to need a good iron before I do anything else.
My library was getting rid of a ton of receipt tape while we were doing construction and no longer have the right machines to use this tape. I have been wanting to try spinning paper for some time and I did spin a large piece of this paper tape, it turned out amazing but it is such a pain to create with my wheel. When I am feeling creative and bored again I will try a spindle to see if that is any easier. If that is not possible I can use it for some sewing projects or coloring projects. Maybe even just writing lists out.
The last project is working with watercolors on fabric. My library purchased a circuit maker 4 and one of my co workers found a great price on a light board so I bought one for myself. I was then inspired by a picture of a shape painted onto a linen cross stitch fabric then stitched over with sequins and beads as accent. That picture was of a dragon, amazing, and I decided to do the same with a crow outline I had. I taped down the paper to the light board and then taped the fabric over top. I started with blue, then red, the black over all of it in an attempt to add some depth. I took the fabric off of the light board after I had the outline completed to avoid any bleedthrough onto the board, it is a good thing I did so. I hope to do some stitching over top of this then add embellishments like sequins and beads. I have not painted over the crow with fabric medium yet since I am afraid I will blur the image and I love how it turned out. I plan on getting my guts up and putting the fabric medium on today before I start stitching.
I am making strides to keep my productivity up this weekend, here’s hoping I can keep it up. Until next time remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract!
A Little More Abstract 