Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Weaving Weekend

I just got back from a fabulous three day workshop at the most wonderful little weaving school -Vavstuga in Shelburne Falls, MA.  My sister introduced me to this idyllic little spot some years ago and she and I have had such fun spending time together taking various classes there. 

The workshop we just attended was a backstrap weaving class given by Laverne Waddington.  This particular class was on Andean pebble weave which is done by weavers in South America.  Laverne is a fabulous teacher and very talented weaver.   She has a wonderful blog that you really need to check out (www.backstrapweaving.wordpress.com).  Here are a few pictures of some of some pieces that she brought to share and inspire.....


Aren't they just wonderful?  I haven't made tons of progress on the bands that I started weaving in the class, but I did learn quite a lot.  I have to admit that most of my learning was done in the process of "reverse weaving" and re-weaving the bands that I was working on.   But I really love this type of weaving and am so excited to do some more.  Here are my first attempts....

Aren't they sweet?  

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Hugs and kisses

I spent last weekend working on a baby quilt for the music director of our church.  She shared the wonderful news a couple of weeks ago.  I'm just a little slow in sharing this cute little quilt with you.  I love making baby quilts....I had such a wonderful time picking out novelty prints.  I tried to find fabrics that would be special to the new mom and dad.  For instance, they have several furry family members so I found very cute dog and cat fabric and the cutest baby rock and roll fabric since mom loves music.  I have a bunch of fabric left over so I'm on the look out for another pattern to use them for in a 'worry not' quilt.

I came across a quilt pattern for a baby quilt in a magazine a while back.  The blocks were X's and O's to represent hugs and kisses.  Isn't that just perfect for a baby quilt?  I took that idea and added the notion of an I spy quilt. I have very fond memories of spending "quiet time" with my kiddos pointing to pictures in picture books.  So what could be better than a giant cuddly picture book.  And to take that idea one step further I used each of the novelty fabrics to construct one hug block and one kiss block.  So the quilt can be used to play a matching game too.


It's not quite finished yet...I still need to put the borders on.  Here's a couple of close ups so that you can see those cute fabrics....




 Aren't they fun?   My hope is that it gets thrown on the floor for play time or on the grass in the yard or at a park for picnics.   It is meant to be used and loved and for making memories.  Hopefully that goal will be achieved.