Quilting and Sewing and Weaving, Oh My!

My parents are asleep in preparation for their flight, so I think I can safely show off my finished "shawl" and some other works in progress.



This is an overshot weave called "Mexican Blooming Flower." I'm still not well-versed enough in the weaving lingo to give any more details, other than to say that the loom is a 4 shaft jack loom. I could look up the pattern if anyone is interested.



I wanted it to be a shawl, but as usual it is too short and a little too wide. The overshot pattern means that there are two strands going across the loom at once, one that is doing simply over-under-over to hold everything in place, and one that is a contrasting color doing the pattern. The pattern strands are just a bit too loose and I would be worried that they would catch on things if it was actually worn as a shawl. So I think it's more of a wall-hanging or something. But it looks pretty cool and it's really graphic, which I didn't actually expect.



NEXT!



This is the log cabin quilt that I've been working on for about two or three years now. It's my first full length quilt (it will be 6x6 feet) and I'm doing all the sewing by hand.



Log cabin squares can be rotated to create lots of patterns within patterns. Mine is going to be several large diamonds created by the blue-green and red-orange colors. And if all goes right, it will go from dark on the outside to light on the inside, as well as the same gradient within each square. If that doesn't make sense, don't worry, I'm going to try to lay it all out someday and take pictures.



I think the squares below are working out the best. The other ones need to be rotated and re-evaluated, I just threw them together to give you the general gist of the thing.



NEXT!

On the fourth of July a few friends and I decided to make sundresses. The only fabric I had that was big enough for any of the patterns was this ridiculous one. I got all the pieces cut out, but I haven't started to sew any of them together yet. It was over a hundred degrees on that day and I reached a serious breaking point sometime around 6 pm when I was kneeling on the floor trying to pin my pieces together and sweat was just dripping from my head. Intense. So hopefully it will eventually get finished, I'll keep my fingers crossed.



There you go, that's pretty much all of my crafting activity for the past few months!

Sauerkraut and baseball, a match made in heaven

Well, I've discovered my new favorite breakfast; scrambled eggs with Parmesan cheese, diced tomatoes, and sauerkraut. The combination of salty, sour, acidic, and creamy was exactly what I was looking for this morning. It's not that pretty, but the sauerkraut itself is a nice yellow/green color now. I took it out of the crock and put it in the fridge in a tupperware, so the fermentation is finally over. And I think I can promise that this is the last post with sauerkraut pictures (for now, mwahahahaha!).



I went to a minor league baseball game in Sacramento the other day, my first time. We were rooting for the Sacramento Rivercats, who are the minor league team for the Oakland A's. They lost, oh well. It was at Raley field, where they have lawn seats for $6 in back of the outfield, and it was a great way to spend a Thursday night. The stadium was surprisingly professional looking, with the regular vendors and everything, but it was all on a smaller scale. I'm going to see the Giants in San Francisco next weekend, so I'll be able to compare. Not counting Raley field, I've been to 5 baseball stadiums, which is quite a lot for someone who isn't really a big baseball fan. Shea Stadium (New York Mets), Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox), Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals), Three Rivers Stadium (Pittsburgh Pirates), and Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies). Now I get to add AT&T Park to the list. What a terrible name. I don't know which is worse, AT&T Park, or Citizens Bank Park, ick.



Here's a sneak peek of the weaving project. No details until it's done, sorry.

Breathing

Aaaaah. I've finished the midterm, the quizzes, the grant, and the display. Therefor, this week will be all about relaxing (though of course I have another midterm on Fri). The grant was probably the most stressful part of the whole thing. I've never written one before and I basically had to do the whole literature review and figure out exactly what I was going to do for my entire research project before I could write it, which was the truly time consuming part.



I finally had a chance to catch up on some laundry and dishes, and to eat lunch outside this week. The weather has been beautiful/ghastly. It gets up to 90 in the afternoon, but the mornings are just amazing. I had a little visitor for lunch on Monday; he was very interested in my burrito, and he wasn't shy about it.



I also got to eat dinner with my friend Sarah W last night. She's an amazing cook and she made pizza for us! I helped by eating all of the ingredients from the little bowls before she put them on the pizza. We had tomato sauce, cooked onions, salami, kalamata olives, fresh basil from her garden, artichokes (!), and mozzarella and parmesan cheese.



This weekend I'm flying home to attend my sister's graduation from college. I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and my friend Chip, it's been too long and I think they will help center me after the craziness of the last few weeks. And there will be champagne, what's not to look forward to?



Finally, here's a sneak peek of the next thing that I'm putting on the loom. I won't elaborate, only to say that it's a gift, and it's the most complicated thing I've tried yet. It's about 40 inches wide and involves overdrafting. Oh boy.

A new scarf

I finished this last week before leaving for the east coast, but I didn't get a chance to post about it. It's a Finnish Bird's Eye pattern, using cotton yarn in camel and pink. The pink yarn was originally the camel color, but I dyed it. The camel yarn is what's available in the weaving lab for free so I've been dying it all different colors, though I'm starting to like the original color as well. I might try something with all camel soon, who knows.





I've been wearing it as a scarf, but it has some potential for a shawl. Of course it's a leeeeeetle bit too short and a tad too narrow for a shawl.



I also finished these enamelled pins, but I'm really not pleased with them. I put some clear enamel in to keep the papaya seeds in place and it really messed up the look of the seeds. I had to grind them down, which I didn't want to do because I thought it would be cool in 3D with the black seeds popping up. And the pink of the tea pot reacted with the silver wire and gave a yellow tint to the enamel. Well, now I know, enamel is fun, but not for everybody.

Projects: Finished and Un-, Good and Bad

Well I've been a busy little bumblebee. I made some more pins at the craft center out of fabric and origami paper (already folded, you can see the creases).

I also made the Lemon-Scented Quinoa salad recipe that's been in my "Projects" sidebar (I'm taking it off because I did it, and the link will be in this post instead). It was not very lemon-scented. It was actually pretty bad. Maybe I did something wrong, but I don't think so. I'm now on the look-out for more quinoa recipes to try. Also, I bought tahini for the recipe but I don't know what to do with it. Do I store it in the fridge or the pantry?

I'm taking an enameling class at the craft center and one of my projects is nearing completion. Here is a photo of it in-progress. It's going to be a little papaya pin, complete with tiny black seeds and everything. Stay posted for pics of the finished product. Enameling is basically a method of covering metal with glass. You apply the glass as a wet sand-type substance, then fire it in a special kiln. It's incredibly satisfying because there are a bunch of little steps to it and after every step the piece looks different. A very different process from knitting or something like that which slowly takes form.


I'm also in the process of weaving another scarf/table-runner. The first two I made with a Finnish Bird's Eye pattern which I'm doing again this time. I know very little about patterns, so if there's interest I can go look up the pattern but I don't know it off of the top of my head. But it's basically a series of diamond shapes with smaller diamonds inside them. Very pretty. More pictures when there is actually something to show.



Finally, I made a wonderful batch of snickerdoodles this afternoon, substituting a cup of whole wheat flour for some of the white flour. It actually gives it a slight crunch, a little bit more texture and it's a nice complement to the massive amounts of sugar in the recipe.