Catching Up and a Goodie Report

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted. Life has been persistently intervening, in a good way. Besides travel and a very busy social schedule, here's the main culprit (read: sucks time out of my day):

It's a new-to-me Leclerc Artistat 4 shaft 6 treadle loom which came with several shuttles, a bench, a warping board and a mini library of weaving books. I purchased it used (in pretty good condition) and spent a few days with some Murphy's Oil Soap and other cleaners, spiffing it up. I replaced all of the corded lashings and made a new polkadot cloth beam apron for it so it looks cute in my sewing studio.

Next I set about teaching myself the basics of using it, and have been enjoying the process. My goal is to be able to weave some of my own fabrics for jackets, dresses, pants and tops. So far I've woven a set of 9 placemats and a little sampler (shown in the second photo above). Placemat weaving is sort of boring, at least the style I chose, but it was essential to my learning curve. I'm enjoying learning about the interplay of color as a fabric is created.

You may recall that I purchased an interest in a more basic loom last July and 'blogged about it here.

I've got a zillion new weaving projects floating around in my brain. Of course that takes time from my sewing projects. I feel like the Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe, having so many (hobby) children that I don't know what to do. I tear myself away from weaving to knit a bit, then tear myself away from weaving and knitting to sew, then tear myself away from weaving, knitting, and sewing to cook, and then tear myself away from all of them to read. (Notice that housework does not figure in this scenario.)

Now for some other goodies. My talented stepdaughter gifted me with three sewing-themed shadowboxes for Christmas which I promptly ensconced in my sewing studio:

She enjoys devising visual plays on words, so each shadowbox is a play on a sewing term:

Here are closeups.

Clicking on the pictures will bring up enlargements.

The fat quarter is a puffed-out representation of the coin, very cleverly done by printing the image onto tissue paper and gluing it to a rounded PVC cap used by plumbers. It's very chubby-looking!

Aren't they just the cutest additions to my sewing studio? I've always loved my stepdaughter to bits and now I love her even more for her generosity of time in making these gifts especially for me.

And speaking of additions to my sewing studio, I recently placed an order with Susan Khalje for some couture sewing supplies. I am at the muslin stage of making my DD's wedding gown and my own MOB dress (October wedding), and am busy hunting and gathering the supplies. About a year ago a friend (Patti, are you reading this?) encouraged me to try the Bohin wrist pincushion that Susan offers on her site. I love wrist pincushions and have three other styles of pincushions already, purchased solely for their cuteness factor. They meet the cuteness criterion, but they shed pins like a Siberian Husky sheds hair. I use a magnetic push "broom" to pick up pins from my carpeted studio floor.

Enter the Bohin Wrist Pincushion. It's pricey at $25, but man oh man does it ever hang on to my superfine sewing pins. Here's an action shot of the pincushion holding the pins in place:

Now back to sewing, weaving, knitting, reading, experimenting with a new dish in the kitchen...