Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Wonderful Weekend!!



I had such a wonderful weekend! Pictured above is the quilt exhibit at the local museum. I was lucky enough to be able to go to the exhibit opening. Wow!! To be that close to all these wonderful antique quilts was absolutely breathtaking!! And so incredibly humbling. The quilts were simple yet so incredibly eloquent. The hand stitching was so beautiful to see. It reminded me that quilts don't have to be heavily quilted on a long arm machine in order to be beautiful. "Less is more"......that's what I kept thinking with each quilt I looked at. Even the crazy quilts were stunning beautiful, yet so incredibly simple. The embellishments weren't piled on in layers (like you see in some of today's crazy quilts). It was so incredibly simplistic that you were able to enjoy the beauty of the stitches and the embroidery floss used. Not to mention it really allowed the silk background to be seen as well. Yes, there were some lovely applique quilts....and lone star quilts.....and utilitarian quilts that had such tiny pieces in them. There was a lovely variety of antique quilts to enjoy.....including a silk crazy patch kimono. The quilt made out of the cigarette silks was quite intriquing. Some of the photos on the silks were rather risque. My hubby sure enjoyed looking at them though. :.) He also enjoy looked at the quilt made from cigar silks. Wow! Quite a bit of collecting went on for both of the quilts. All in all, a very lovely exhibit. One that I will definitely be going back to enjoy while it's here.
Here are pictures of the Shetland I've been slowly spinning up. Just not enough hours in the day to do all that I would love to do. The two skeins I have done so far are about 350 yards each (one is a bit less). While I haven't figured out the wpi yet, I'm guessing it to be about a sock weight yarn. Which is good since I really want to knit up a pair of cabled socks for myself with it. I have another bobbin filled....a second bobbin partially filled.....and six batts all ready for spinning. All from the same fleece the skeins pictured above came from. It's such lovely, lovely fiber to spin up. :.)
This is the alpaca/merino/silk blend that I purchased a couple of months ago. I have it all spun up and one skein completely done (pictured above). Love the way it turned out. So incredibly soft! And the color is definitely different. I still need to get the other skein plyed.....and then decide what I want to do with it. Maybe a lace scarf or something. There is about 200 yards in the skein pictured so it wil have to be a fairly small project. I don't plan on purchasing anymore of this roving. It was a bit on the spendy side. Plus I've been having way too much fun playing with my Shetland lately. :.)
I have been doing some knitting. Christmas knitting actually. You'd think I would have started earlier and not have waited so long.....but with all the batts I've been carding up lately for my etsy site I just haven't had any time to spend on any of my own projects. I think it's time things slowed down for the etsy site and I spent some time getting a few of my own things done. I have four projects that should really be done for Christmas. I know that I can get at least three of them done in time. The fourth.....well, I honestly don't think that will happen. My loving hubby asked for a pair of socks for Christmas made from the wool from one of our sheep. I haven't even brought in a fleece for it....although I do have one in mind. So it looks like that may have to wait until after the holidays. .....or at least until the drum carder is opened up.





5 comments:

  1. Hey, that exhibit looks wonderful. I Googled "Quiltscapes exhibition" to see if it shared any quilts with the exhibit that inspired me to look into quilting about ten years ago, but no--looks like yours are from your local museum's permanent collection, and the one I saw was from the American Craft Museum (now re-named, I think). Either way, a display of traditional quilts is a wonderful thing. So humbling, I agree, to be in the presence of such great art from a domestic context. I look at how beautiful they are, such an amazing combination of sturdy and fragile, too, and think of how the women who made them were just ordinary people like you and me. That in particular is very moving.

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  2. Beautiful yarn, definately worth the wait.

    When see antique quilts I think of long winter afternoons with no tv or radio, the quiet. Settles me when things are really frantic.

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  3. Laughingrat, beautifully said! It simply amazes me every time I see an antique quilt. To think, that they were made to be loved and used....and that they survived the test of time. Amazing.....truly amazing.

    Jen, I can't agree with you more. I love working on a quilt when it is snowing outside. Or snuggling in one in front of the woodstove while I'm knitting something with my hand-spun. Both are wonderful ways to pass a cold snowy afternoon. :.)

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  4. Beautiful, beautiful yarn. Your picture makes me want to reach out and touch it!

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