Powerful Motivation
Need motivation to make a few wall hangings? Simply agree to show them in a quilt exhibit or two, scheduled for a few months away. Be sure to note how large you said they would be, so you can make them accordingly.
That’s what I did. The result? I’ve been working diligently, consistently, and pretty much exclusively on wall-hangings for the last six months. Tuesday, November 3rd, was the deadline for the last of the quilts. I did it! I met the deadlines!
The quilts in the photo are at the Cross Timbers Fine Arts Council River North Gallery, Stephenville, TX, until December 12. If you’re near Stephenville, please drop by and see them plus dozens more quilts made by members of the Town & Country Quilt Guild.
The other result of intense wall-hanging activity? I suffered from “wall-hanging eyes.” That’s when you have been sewing for so long, your eyes are focused at sewing machine distance or hand-sewing distance, and it takes a while to refocus them to see the real world.
And when I refocused last Tuesday afternoon, I saw that my house needed cleaning, papers needed filing, and blogs needed updating. That’s the plan for the next two weeks, before I start the next round of wall hangings. They’re not committed to an exhibit. Yet.
On the Map at IQF 2015
“I’m here with my sister, who quilts, but I knit!” exclaimed a smiling lady. She had wandered into my TextileFusion exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last week. All thirteen pieces in the exhibit were knitted and quilted, then embellished with crochet, embroidery, buttons, and beads.
Thanks to the exhibit’s sponsor, Lion Brand Yarns, knitters and crocheters felt they had found a home at the Festival.
I was able to be with my exhibit and talk to people all through the show (with a couple of breaks for shopping). As we talked, I worked on a new wall hanging, which was a great example to illustrate my spiel about knitted quilts. It was undoubtedly the only quilt in the enormous exhibit hall that people were allowed to touch.
To help me visualize the flower arrangement on the new wall hanging, I photographed it with my phone. The only way to get an adequate photo was to put the quilt on the floor.
A quilter walked by, and I’m afraid she may have suffered heart palpitations when she saw me place a quilt on the floor. Clueless at first, I just told her what I was doing, explaining that I can get a much better perspective on the wall hanging from a photo than I can by looking at it straight-on with my own eyeballs.
When she realized it was my own quilt, the relief on her face was obvious. Oh, I get it! I’m sorry, dear concerned lady.
In another exciting development at the Festival, I sold a wall hanging! Mama Lion will be going home with a family that is active in the effort of conserving our world heritage of lions and other wild animals. I am extremely happy about the situation.
Here’s a detail of Mama Lion. See the whole wall hanging at TextileFusion Works. Scroll down to 2015.
It’s great to be finally on the map! Literally.
TextileFusion in Portland, Oregon
Finally, finally, finally the Quilt! Knit! Stitch! show, with its workshops and markets and exhibits came to Portland, Oregon, last week. The quilts and fiber arts were stunningly beautiful, as usual. And this time someone was exhibiting knitted, embellished quilts. Me!
Next chance to see the TextileFusion exhibit is at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, October 29 through November 1, 2105. Come and talk to me there!
For more information, please visit www.quilts.com.
Recycling and Yarn and a Fairy Tale
You never know how things come around and go around, until you can look back. Recycling is totally about things coming around and going around, and here’s what I can tell you about that.
My family has been into recycling since I was a kid. We started by collecting aluminum cans and selling them for 10 cents a pound. My brothers and I got to split the money.
For a long time, I despaired about old, worn, torn clothing and household textiles. I hated to throw them away, but at some point I had to, because what else could I do? Then my brother Van and his wife Kathy discovered American Textile Recycling Services at a green building event. They told me about it and solved one of my life’s dilemmas.
Since then we’ve recycled lots of textiles with ATRS, including shoes, pillows, old toys, and even fabric scraps and trimmings from my knitting, crochet, and art-making.
And then, yarn made from recycled textiles came to my attention. You can read more about these yarns in the Autumn 2015 issue of Crochet! magazine. The article is “How Recycled Textiles Become New Yarn,” on pages 10-12.
To write the article, I spoke to Debra, a very friendly and informative person at ATRS. She mentioned the ATRS blog, Our Greener Tomorrow. Maybe I could write a post for the blog at at some point, she said.
I did, and here it is: Suzann Thompson Retells Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Flax” Since this blog post was published, ATRS discontinued their blog. You can find the rewritten HCAndersen tale on this blog.
The flowers are the Rounded Petals version of “Millefiori” from Crochet Bouquet: Easy Designs for Dozens of Flowers, crocheted with Berroco’s Remix® which is made from recycled post-industrial textiles.
The Time Has Come!
Finally, finally, finally the Quilt! Knit! Stitch! show, with its workshops and markets and exhibits came to Portland, Oregon last week. The quilts and fiber arts were stunningly beautiful, as usual. And this time someone was exhibiting knitted, embellished quilts. Me!
Next chance to see the TextileFusion exhibit is at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, October 29 through November 1, 2015.
Mama Lion
This wooly mammal quilt is in honor of my exhibit’s sponsor for the 2015 Quilt! Knit! Stitch! Show in Portland, Oregon in August. Lion Brand Yarn Company supports textile arts through sponsorships of knitting and crochet events, as well as supporting projects of individual textile artists.
When I began designing knitting and crochet projects professionally in the 1990s, Lion Brand bought several of my designs. Since then, I’ve used Lion Brand yarns in many designs for magazines, for my crochet books, and for personal projects. At the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in New York, I’ve been privileged to sign books and present programs about crochet, writing, and designing.
For Mama Lion, I knitted with Lion Brand Yarn Company’s Amazing, Cotton-Ease, Fishermen’s Wool, Vanna’s Sequins, Wool-Ease, LB Collection Superwash Merino and Angora Merino. Find the full story about Mama Lion at World Lion Day (A Descriptive Process) | Lion Brand Notebook.
Lion Brand has lent support to my design and artistic career. I hope I have brought some business their way, too. Thank you, Lion Brand.
Crochet a Book for Book Lover’s Day!
Book lovers, this is your special day! Holiday Insights, my go-to site for information on interesting holidays, doesn’t list a founder or group which sponsors Book Lover’s Day. In fact, some controversy exists about the true date of Book Lover’s Day–August 9th or first Saturday of November?
The answer doesn’t matter, because to me, every day is Book Lover’s Day. But I’m glad to have a reason to post a photo-tutorial for the “Little Square Book” on pages 120-121 of Cute Crochet World.
These photos and notes are to supplement the printed instructions.
The pages and covers of the Little Square Book are made with two rounds. In the second round, the corners have a lot of stitches in them. Working between the corners in Rnd 2, you hdc or dc in the next three sts. To do this, you must pull back the corner stitches to reveal the first of the three stitches in which you must place a hdc or dc.
When the pages are finished and blocked, stack them as follows: back cover wrong side up, 3 pages, right side up, front cover right side up.
To bind the pages and covers together, place a slip knot on you hook, and insert hook into ch-2 sp at corner of front cover, 3 pages, and back cover, yo (see Photo 2). Draw the yo through all the pages and through the loop on the hook.
Photo 3 shows the hook inserted into each cover and page, ready for the next stitch: insert hook in next dc of front cover, next hdc of each page, and next dc of back cover. Yo and complete a sl st, drawing the yarn far enough up to allow the pages to assume their natural thickness.
When you are finished with the binding, the book will look like the one in Photo 4.
Now it’s time to crochet the book’s spine. Place the first st into the ch2-sp of the front cover, shown by the yellow arrow at right. Sk the next sl st. Sc into each of the next 7 sl sts shown by the yellow lines. Finally, sc into the ch2-sp at the other end of the front cover. This row is worked only the stitches of the front cover, and the sl sts made when you bound the book.
Here is the first row of the book’s spine, finished.
The spine is 3 rows of crochet. Bend the spine around the end of the book, then sew in place to the back cover. Weave in ends.
This book is the perfect journal for the tiny writer. Decorate with beads or embroidery, write on tiny scraps of fabric and sew them to the pages. Enjoy Book Lover’s Day.
The Little Square Book, with its heart on its cover, visits with books by some of my favorite authors: Barbara G. Walker, Carl Jung, Terry Pratchett, and Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of Perry Mason.
Throwback Thursday—Old Crochet Cotton
On the first day of the Campbell-Neumann sale, we would already be in line with dozens of like-minded shoppers, waiting for the doors to open. Mr. Campbell and Mr. Neumann liquidated estates about four times a year, and any sale included items from three or more families.
Campbell-Neumann was where I found Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns for the first time. And it was where I bought a bag of cream-colored vintage Bucilla crochet thread and an old receipt.
Mrs. W. H. Yarbrough bought two “cro cot” from Mayer & Schmidt (Tyler, Texas) for 70 cents on April 2, 1941. I can’t tell from the receipt if the cotton she bought was the cotton in the bag, because there were at least ten 800 yard hanks. Maybe she bought two more, because she was following instructions to “Purchase sufficient of this color at one time to complete your article, making sure that it is all of one dye lot number as the next dye lot of this color may differ slightly in shade.”
Some things don’t change.
Nearly 45 years after Mrs. Yarbrough bought the cotton, I used a double strand to knit a lampshade (pattern from Barbara Walker). Now, another 30 years later, we still use this lamp and lampshade in our house.
I also knitted a 3/4 sleeve, v-shaped neck in the back top, using the “Oriel” pattern from Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. My dad took this picture of me wearing it in 1985.
I’ve changed since then, but the sweater is as cute as ever, so my daughter Eva wears it.
When is a Wall Hanging Really Finished?
“The painting isn’t finished until you label the slides,” said Gay Fay Kelly, a painter and my former business partner about 20 years ago. Artists sent slides when they entered their work in juried shows or contacted potential buyers or galleries.
In this digital age, we don’t send slides much anymore, thank goodness! So after the last decorative stitch of a wall hanging is embroidered and the last button sewn in place, when is it REALLY finished?
First, at the back of the work, I attach a 4-inch hanging sleeve. To hang the quilt, you slide a rod through the sleeve, which puts a layer of fabric between the rod and the quilt itself. At home, I attach wire or monofilament to the ends of the rod and hang the whole assembly from a nail.
Sometimes I machine-stitch the title of the work, a copyright date, and a by-line into the quilt’s backing fabric. But if not, I attach a label with this information. Some of my quilting friends make beautiful labels. So far, mine are plain.
Some time ago, my brother Van told me about American Textile Recycling (atrscorp.com), so now I save all fabric scraps and trimmed yarn ends for recycling. Part of my personal finishing routine is gathering the scraps, yarn bands, and empty plastic thread spools and other containers, and delivering them to their respective recycling sites.
Finally, it’s picture time. The west side of the house usually has bright shade that is perfect for photography. At the moment, this is my photo studio. I’m working on a better way to hang the quilts. A ladder isn’t really the best. Someday…
Today’s equivalent of labeling the slides is cropping the digital photos and saving them in various formats and resolutions for print and web-sharing. When that is done, the wall hanging is truly finished.
Christmas in July: Make an Ornament from Crochet Garden’s Poinsettia
The native poinsettias have been blooming this month, here in north central Texas, inspiring me to make a little Christmas in July!
Along with a few hints for crocheting the showier, everlasting Poinsettia in Crochet Garden: Bunches of Flowers, Leaves, and Other Delights, I’ll show you how I turned a crocheted poinsettia into a Christmas ornament.
For a very thorough Poinsettia photo-tutorial, please visit http://cache.lionbrand.com/faq/590.html
To make an ornament, you will need:
- Crochet Garden: Bunches of Flowers, Leaves, and Other Delights, pages 91-93
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Aunt Lydia’s No. 10 crochet cotton in your favorite red and green
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US 4 (steel) (2mm) hook
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4″ square of felted wool, 1 each of green and red
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Beads for flower center
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Sewing needle, pins, sewing thread in green and red
I designed the Poinsettia to be realistic, so it isn’t symmetrical. That means we have to follow the instructions very carefully and avoid making assumptions. (Yes, me, I’m talking to myself.)
When Rnd 2 is finished, you’ll see three small petals (marked with ‘s’ in photo 1). These are like the small petals in the hothouse poinsettias we can buy around Christmas time. The small petals are worked into the hdc sts. The other petals are worked into the ch-spaces. They are supposed to look like red sticks.
Rnd 3 is worked around the red sticks of the previous round. First work up the side, placing stitches in the ch-2 space (yellow arrow at right), then the free loops of the chain (yellow dots on the right). Several stitches go into the ch-3 loop at the tip of the petal (pink arrow). Work down the other side of the petal into the stitches (yellow dots at left) and into the ch2-space (other yellow arrow).
Photo 3 shows a completed Rnd 3. Every two leaves have a ch-1 space between them. You will crochet into this in the next rnd.
For Rnd 4, fold the petals out of the way to the front. Sometimes you will ch 3 behind a petal (yellow arrow in Photo 4). Then you’ll anchor the next petal in the ch-1 space between petals.
Rnd 5 finishes the petals in the outer round. For the ornament, you don’t need to leave a long sewing length of red thread. The leaf is crocheted separately and sewn on.
To block the cotton poinsettia, I held it under the running tap, then stretched and pinned each petal to the ironing board, and let dry (photo 5).
To make the ornament, pin the poinsettia to green felt, leaving at least a 1/4-inch overlap around the flower.
The yellow marks in Photo 7 show how to sew the flower to the felt: sew invisibly (matching sewing thread helps) around the outside first. Gently sew down the sides of the top petals. Take one stitch in the tip of each small petal.
Add beads or other decoration to the center of the flower.
Cut excess felt away, leaving about 1/4 inch showing around the edges of the flower. Start by leaving too much felt showing. Cut away tiny slivers of felt until the border around the flower looks good.
This is how the ornament looks from the back. Ew, messy! But don’t worry. Use this piece as a pattern to cut a piece red felt. Now, go to “How to Make an Ornament Hanging Loop from Embroidery Floss or Crochet Cotton,” and follow directions for making a hanging loop.
Determine the top of your ornament and sew the hanging loop to the wrong side, with the loop emerging beyond the top edge.
Pin or hold green and red felt together, with red in back to hide all those stitches and the end of the hanging loop. With No. 10 crochet cotton, sew the layers together with a whip stitch or a buttonhole stitch (my favorite).
The oak trees around here look like they’re celebrating Christmas in July, too. See their bright, round ornaments? Oh. Never mind. They are oak galls.