String Blocks

Each day of vacation I worked a couple of hours on string blocks for an upcoming class. The blocks aren't sewn together yet. They will be combined with other blocks and some of them will be further manipulated, but this is the fruit of my labor.

These blocks are 8 1/2" square...

These are 4" square...

My favorite yarn shop in Northampton, Mass. carries all kinds of yarn (including weaver's yarn on cones), books, tools, and accessories plus wool roving, which is what I bought there. The store is called Webs. For perspective, one of these balls is nearly the size of a basketball.

The center fabric in each of these four blocks is a lovely print that I found at Valley Fabrics in Northampton. I'm hoping that our quilt shop here in the Athens area has more of the same fabric because I only bought a few fat quarters of it.

Circle Quilt Beginnings, Yarn Fun

Today I sketched and then laid out the background for a blue, black and brown circle quilt. Using smallish pieces of fabric, I folded them as needed and pinned them to the design wall to check my colorways and layout.

I like the way it turned out. Now I'll cut these folded pieces into the correct sizes and sew them together as my background.

Today, Main Street Yarns in Watkinsville, GA had a grand opening for it's new yarn dyeing studio and offered demo's. The yarn was soaked in vinegar-water before dyeing, then we were able to dye a hank of yarn with acid dye and a sponge brush. It was then microwaved to set the color. After a good rinsing the yarn is hung out to dry. Beautiful!

These are some hunks of roving I purchased at the yarn shop today which I hope to used to make felted pin cushions. The dark ones are yummy merino wool, and I hope to dye the light one sometime in the near future.

My latest scarf is nearly finished. It's simple but the colors are beautiful and will go well with my winter coat. It's great to have a small project to work on in waiting rooms...my method of "recycling" otherwise wasted slots of time.