Attack of the Squirrels :-)

Hi and welcome! I have lots of artsy, stitchy things to do but I got a full attach of the squirrels 😁 I have a wonderful, comfortable pair of jeans with holes in them - on purpose. I don't mind the style but my whole knee is poking out...so the hole is a little too big. I've been wanting to do something but I know that a patch won't be comfortable, so I wove a band across the hole, over the knee.

Weaving a band

I used a small embroidery hoop and #8 perle cotton to weave the band between the two edges of the hole.

Band woven between the two edges of the hole in my jeans

This is how it started.

For the warp, I stitched a few strands of 4 different colours of #8 perle cotton at both end of the hole. They were pretty taut and I figured that if I had to, I could make adjustments to the tension once the band was finished.

Weaving within the embroidery frame

I had an audio book and it took about 6 hours to finish the woven band.

Finished woven band

At the beginning of the project, I took a picture and sent it to one of the weavers in our Fibre 15 group. She suggested that I stabilize the ends and possibly use interfacing to make sure that it stays put.

The next morning, I put a piece of heavy duty Steam-A-Seam at the ends of the band, overlapping the band and the jeans. I attached a scrap piece of cotton and then sewed over the edge of the jeans to about ¼" of the band. I think that it'll hold.

Finishing the back of the band

Here is the finished project....so far.

The woven band across the hole

Squirrel!!!

What I learned

• I haven't woven anything in years, but it did come right back. 😊
• It was so relaxing and perfect to do while listening to an audio book.
• I used the Weaver's knot to attach a new colour when my thread ran out.
• I googled it and used two different techniques. Every once in a while I was able to make the weaver's knot without following the instructions but then it just wouldn't work. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong but I kept at it until I it worked. 
• I'm linking up the two techniques that worked best for me....most of the time!
• I'm going to wash my jeans in a large garment bag so that the band doesn't get pulled off.
• I also figure that if the band does come off, that it's been secured enough that I'll be able to use it somewhere else.
• I feel like the jeans could use a little something more - maybe just embroidery around the hole? I'm not sure that I want to spend another 6 hours making a second band to go with it 😁

Related links

• The Weaver's Knot - Get knotted paracord
• How To Tie A Weaver’s Knot, Four Keys Book Arts

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You may want to check some out! Slow Sunday Stitching, 

Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Free Motion Mavericks, 

Table Topper and Playing with Weaving

Hi and welcome 😊 I'm late but finally here. I can't imagine anyone is waiting impatiently for me to click on Publish, but if you are, then please accept my apologies. I had a great day out with my girlfriend. We had an amazing Thai lunch to celebrate our October birthdays and then attended a preview at the National Gallery of Canada. What a lovely, carefree afternoon.

Making a Table Topper

The friends whose pool I took care of this summer are having a party on the weekend. He is retiring and I'm making him a special table topper/placemat. He is from Newfoundland and had painted his back fence in the style of the homes there. 

Here is the quilt, ready to be FMQ (free motion quilted).

Newfoundland Houses Table Topper ready to be quilted

Here is the backyard fence, painted in the style of houses found in Newfoundland. The picture is slightly fuzzy because I took it from inside the gazebo. 

Fence in the backyard

I didn't take process pictures. I drew the three houses on graph paper, cut and pieced the fabric for the houses. I then used Steam-a-Seam light to appliqué the windows and doors. On the fence, the white doors are outlined in black and the black doors are outlined in white so I used black and white zig-zag stitches around the windows and doors. I made two passes at them since some of the stitches were missed. It might have been a tension issue because there was no issue stitching on the thicker purple fabric.

I'll be finishing this piece before Saturday, so I'll try to write a post on the weekend.

Playing with Weaving

This afternoon was the preview of Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. What a great exhibition. The premise of the exhibition is that modern tapestry has influenced abstraction in modern art. A lot of the work was done in the sixties and was very ahead of its time. The majority was also made by women 😍

I'm just going to share a couple of pieces with you and hope that if you can, come see the exhibition (see Related links below). 

Liz Collins Heartbeat 2019

silk and linen textile, Jacquard woven and cut

Liz Collins' Heartbeat 2019

Here is Olga de Amaral's art piece, Cintas entrelazadas c. 1969 made of wool and cotton. The colours and the construction are so interesting.

Olga de Amaral, Cintas entrelazadas c. 1969
wool and cotton

Close-up of Olga de Amaral's, Cintas entrelazadas

After viewing the art, my friend and I stopped in at the creation area of the exhibit. There were materials and information on how to weave. Here are our creations!

Woven on cardboard with strips of printed paper and raffia. 

My woven piece after visiting the exhibit

Lise says she's not creative
but her piece begs to differ!

If you can't make it to Ottawa to view the exhibit, there are many articles in the Related links below. The exhibition, Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction will be at MOMA - The Museum of Modern Art, New York, April 20–September 13, 2025.

End Notes

Here are a couple of photos taken today.

Poppy and some street art in Ottawa's
Byward Market

Louise Bourgeois' outdoor sculpture, Maman,
outside of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

What I learned

• The table topper is coming along. My proportions are off compared to the fence. We'll call it artistic interpretation (aka accuracy challenged).
• The zig-zag stitch was a challenge. I changed my needle but I'm not sure that my machine likes to stitch over Steam-a-Seam. In the end, if I stitched very, very slowly, the zig-zag stitch was better. It also worked fine when I stitched over a section in reverse! Next time I need to appliqué, I'll try to do it when I'm fresher and more patient. That will surely help to trouble shoot.
• You probably noticed that the table topper is the mirror image of the fence. I must have sewn the fabric upside down, but didn't notice until it was too late. Oh well, another artistic interpretation 😁
• I have already cut out the backing and will sew it up using the pillow case method. This means that I won't have to deal with binding. Yay!
• It turns out that the Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction exhibit has been around for a while. This was great in finding the links below. I took quite a few pictures of the text since I'd like to research a few of the artists.
• I really wanted to include other art pieces here but sometimes textile art just doesn't photograph well, at least without great equipment. I'm going to change my phone soon and I can't wait to get a much better camera.

Related links

• Abstraction and Textile Through the Lens of Present Practice, article about the exhibit
• Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction - about the exhibition
• ArtSeen Dec/Jan 2023–24 article by Suzanne Hudson
• Liz Collins weaves a promised land with colorful textiles, (video) National Gallery of Art
• Liz Collin's work
• Who is Anni Albers? 8 Things to Know
• Louise Bourgeois' outdoor sculpture, Maman, article

Linking parties

I'll be linking to many fun linking parties. Why not check them out after linking up below? Monday Musings, Sew & Tell, Midweek Makers, Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Patchwork & Quilts,

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 506 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was another productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Gail of Quilting Gail made this cute Dresden Plate mini that is at the Hobb's Batting booth at the Houston Quilt Market! Very cool and colourful.

Gail's Dresden Plate mini

Deb the Scrappy Quilted quilted and bound three legacy quilts. Here is one of them.

Deb's quilted charity quilt

Did you see my finished scrappy placemat? This one is for my son. Now we all have one 😊

My scrappy brown placemat

It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Hi, I hope that Spring has finally shown up in your part of the world (on the top side of the equator). Otherwise, I hope that you're enjoying your Fall weather 😊

Making an Experimental Sketchbook

Before this year, I had no idea how many ways there were to bind and make a book, journal or sketchbook. What a fascinating world! This sketchbook was made following a workshop through TextileArtist.org, with Jennifer Collier, an amazing textile artist who does incredible things with paper. 

The cover of the sketchbook is made from the top of a SusyQ doughnut box. The donuts were awesome and their box was too cool for the recycling bin!

Front of the Experimental Sketchbook

I learned a lot through this workshop - including paying more attention to the instructions! 😁

For the signature pages, Jennifer encourages us to use all types of old papers, envelopes, etc. I did use one envelope to make a pocket. I also had some glossy magazine pages that I had tried to make photo transfers with. That project wasn't a success, but it was great to be adding them to the sketchbook. 

Two altered magazine pages glued and stitched together

I used some found music photocopies to create a page. Since the edges of the photocopies were black, I glued on some washi tape to cover them.

Recycling music sheets with washi tape

I also used scraps from other book making projects to decorate the pages. These are pieces of scrapbooking paper used as an accent and a book tab. I glued the book tab and then stitched it. I also used some pretty printing paper that I've been collecting for years.

I used a strip of bookbinding tape between the signatures. I recently bought a few bookbinding tools and love them!  

Using scraps of other projects to decorate the pages.

For the inside of the sketchbook, I glued a lovely piece of craft paper instead of gluing the first page to the book cover. I did this mostly because my cover was a bit larger than my pages. 

The inside of the cover

Of course I had to chase a squirrel within my squirrel! I made this page using a thick scrapbooking paper. You can see in the next picture that on the inside I glued a couple of pages from an old book. Since I didn't feel like taking out my paints, I added tule over a part of the page and stitched it down following the pattern of the scrapbooking paper. I really love the effect.

Stitching following the pattern on the page

The real squirrel is the circle in the middle of the page. On a scrap of hand-painted fabric I attached a piece of tule that is cut into strips at one end. This allowed me to weave tule, wool and rope. I then stitched around the piece to keep it together. 

Woven piece with tule

Finally, for something different, I glued tissue paper to one of the pages. I love the texture that it created.

Tissue paper glued onto a page

This is the sketchbook cover. The binding of the signatures is in the middle (for the middle signature) and then on each side for the other two signatures. This is very cool 😎.

Sketchbook cover with stitching for each signature

What I learned

• When I saw Jennifer Collier's first workshop in 2020 with TextileArtist.org, I didn't think that paper was for me. It's incredible how time and experience has changed my opinion and practice. Fabric may be me first love, but paper is pretty impressive!
• Using the altered magazine pages was a great idea, but they shouldn't be placed in the middle of a signature since that is where the pages are tied. These were too fragile for that.
• Old Washi tape tends to loose its stickiness. After learning this from making my washi tape journal, this time I glued the tape down.
• I also learned that spreading glue down with a brush seems to work better than using a glue stick. 
• It's great to use what you have to make books but I don't ever want to use a needle in a cork instead of an awl. What a difference using the real tools makes!
• I love to experiment. Gluing the tissue paper to the page is a great way to add texture. It could even be cool to write on it 😎
• I've also been experimenting with layering in my art. The pages with the text, tule and weaving is part of that effort.
• I should have re-listened to the video before I started making holes and stitching the book together. Other than extra holes everywhere, the damage was minimal...so I didn't have to buy more donuts...unless I make another book 😋

Related links

• SusyQ Doughnuts
• Jennifer Collier's website, Check out her video on the front page of her site. 
• Jennifer Collier: Paper & Stitch, article on TextileArtist.org

Linking parties

I'll be linking to many fun linking parties. Let's see what's going on out there! Put your foot down, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, Off The Wall Friday, Sew & Tell, Patchwork & Quilts, Slow Sunday Stitching, 

Week 5 of #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art)

Last week was the end of the #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art). It was a great finish, even if I was less organised as the month went on. I want to thank Frédérique of Quilting Patchwork Appliqué for a wonderful challenge. I really learned a lot and am so happy to have participated. Here's a look at the last week's post.

V is for Village

This project, Amalfi Coast Happy Village was one of my first art quilts, although I didn't realise it at the time. It was made during a workshop with the owner of a local quilt shop and based on Karen Eckmeier's book, Happy Villages. The image is loosely based on a postcard that I bought in the Amalfi Coast in Italy. 

Amalfi Coast Happy Village - my first art quilt

Putting Amalfi Coast Happy Village together 

Happy Villages by
Karen Eckmeier

W is for Weaving

This piece is called Ciboulette Stitches. It was created based on a workshop with Sue Stone through TextileArtist.org. Weaving was my first passion and it was great to incorporate it into my art. BTW ciboulette is chives in French. 

Ciboulette Stitches on a woven background

Lovely ciboulette flowers

The real thing in the garden

X is Xerothermic

Xerothermic is an adjective used to describe dry and hot climates. Isn't Google amazing? I actually learned a new word 😊! 

This piece is called South-West art quilt. It was begun at a workshop at my local quilt shop, Quilty Pleasures, in 2010. I had done what I could, but had no idea how to finish all of the grasses in the foreground. Finally it came to me – couching! So the piece was finished in 2015 as part of a UFO challenge. 

The quilt hangs in my daughter's room as a reminder of our wonderful vacations in the American South-West.

South-West Art Quilt

Couching was the solution that I
was looking for!

Lighting up the sky

Y is for Yellow

This piece is called “Keep Calm and Stitch”. I stitched and beaded the word “Calm” since it’s my word of the year - I didn't realise until then that my unconscious word of the year for 2020 was Frenzy. That's why I consciously chose Calm. 

This piece was made in January for the first challenge of the year of Project Quilting 2021. The theme was to use the Pantone colours of the year – Illuminating and Ultimate Gray. To avoid last year's Frenzy and to remain calm, this is the only one of the Project Quilting challenges that I did this year. I did enjoy it and hopefully it's something that I will continue to participate in, at least occasionally. 

“Keep Calm and Stitch” - for the Project Quilting 2021

Details: buttons, couching
and stitching

More slow stitching to remain calm 

Beading and various
embroidery stitches

Z is for Zigzag

This practice piece is zigzag crosses. It is a Sashiko stitch that I learned from Shannon & Jason Mullett-Bowlsby of Shibaguyz Designz in a virtual workshop. I also bought their book, Boro & Sashiko to keep on learning. Now that I know how to create the grids to stitch Sashiko, I really love it and hope to keep adding it to my art quilts. 

It's too bad that this last post wasn't an example of something in a real art quilt but the only other word that I might have used was zillion, as in a zillion beads in an art quilt. I am working on a project that feels like it has a zillion beads in it but when I looked at it, it didn't look like it even had tons of beads, let alone a zillion 😁.

Sashiko stitching zigzag crosses

What I learned

• 

  Although it required a lot of preparation, this was a great challenge.
• I think what I underestimated the most was the time to prepare the posts since I didn't want to just put in what I had said on Instagram.
• It was a great experience to see most of the art quilts that I have done over the years. Many of them have been created since belonging to the TextileArtist.org's Stitch Club, for which I am very thankful.
• I know that I've learned so much as an artist about colour, composition and techniques, but I'm pretty impressed with some of my earlier works. Most are pretty good!
• Now that this rush is over, I'm looking forward to reading some of the other participants' posts 😊
  

Related links

• Amalfi Coast Happy Village, May 26, 2014
• Ciboulette Stitches finished,  July 20, 2020
• Slow stitching with new projects, July 12, 2020
• South-West art quilt
• April Challenge Completed, April 25, 2015
• Project Quilting 2021 -  Grey and Yellow, January 10, 2021
• Sashiko samples
• Catching up on posting projects, February 8, 2021
• Sashiko stitching and visible mending, December 06, 2020

Linking parties

I will be linking up to many fun linking parties this week. You can still link up to Free Motion Mavericks until Tuesday evening. After that, make sure to visit Muv and link up there! Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Oh Scrap!, Patchwork & Quilts, 

Ciboulette Stitches finished

It's done! My project for Sue Stones' Stitch Club 2020 is finished. I really enjoy the time that I have to stitch.  

Ciboulette Stitches 

Here it is! I'm really happy with the finished project. I had planned to only have one flower but it really needed more, so now there are three.

Ciboulette Stitches finished!

Here is a close up of the flowers.

Close up of Ciboulette flowers 

My model for the chive flower comes from my front garden. It hasn't received much attention but I love  that the chives grow without my effort - my favourite kind of plant 😊

The Ciboulette model

This project was a lot of fun. It took me a while to come up with the woven background that I liked. 

These was my first choices of strips. I then exchanged the darker fabric for the batik. I also played around with the order of the strips and finally chose the one that I'm using.

My first choice was with
this dark fabric

I replaced the dark strip with a mauve batik

                     

I wasn't sure if I was going to just embroider the chives or appliqué them. I ended by cutting pieces and then drawing around them. 

I cut some chive pieces from fabric and then drew around them. 

What I learned

• Getting the strips organised for the background was fun but not as simple as I thought it would be. I just wanted to ensure that there was some light spaces where the chive flowers would be.
• I considered appliquéing the chives but since the exercise was in stitching, I ended up stitching everything. I'm glad that I did.
• I bound the piece like a traditional quilt but I was hoping to leave the front woven strips loose and then just bind the back and batting. I hope to try that out the next time!😊

Related links

• Ciboulette Stitches
• Slow stitching with new projects, July 12, 2020
• July is here, July 1, 2020
• Sue Stone's website 

Linking parties

I will be linking up to Free Motion Mavericks with Muv. The link is open until Wednesday, so pop in and link up! Oh Scarp!, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Friday Foto Fun, Put Your Foot Down, Peacock Party, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Colour & Inspiration Tuesday, Beauties Pageant, TGIFF, Slow Sunday Stitching, 

Project details

Ciboulette Stitches

7¾" x 10¼" 

Materials: cotton strips, perle cotton and embroidery floss.

Techniques: weaving and embroidery