Shawl/wrap from handspun fibre.

No this is not a quilt .. but thought you might like to see my finished shawl/wrap.  It is so lovely and soft and I have crocheted it with a repeated fan stitch ... from fibre I have spun myself.  The ultimate in satisfaction!

January 2012 - a busy holiday time

 In December I signed up for an International Postcard Swap.   Of course I decided to combine fabric and drawing ... here are a few I have made a start on.   I have tea dyed some cotton fabric, then I ironed it onto freezer paper which stabilises the fabric enough to draw on with a Pigma pen.   Next I will do all the quilting stitches on the fabric and batting layer (remember to remove the freezer paper before putting the batting onto the back of the fabric).

 Over the holidays I did a bit of spinning ... here I am spinning a laceweight - fibre is Bond (sheep) which I purchased from The Thylacine here in Tasmania - she does some beautiful dying.

 This same fibre is now becoming a very long scarf/wrap ... still not sure how much longer I want it to be, currently about 2metres.  I just love how soft this is and how the colours blended in, all soft and greeny/greys.

 This is some of the fibre I have spun during January.
Top Left - from Fibrefanatic Designs  yellow/chartreause Merino
Top Right - from Ewe Give Me The Knits  this is Mandie's Licorice Allsorts fibre which I have plied with a black Merino to give it this more licorice look.
Middle Right is the Blackwood (Green) Bond from The Thylacine,
Very Bottom is my very own Merino/Silk/Cat Fur blend - some spun and some still in the Batt stage that I have carded together.  It is very nice too!

 That big lot of lemony/chartreause has become this gorgeous shawl, a nice weight for winter, and it is big so comes down past my elbows when I wear it.

 A close up.

 I made another little neck warmer scarf.   The first one I made of these went to one of my sisters ... I decided I still wanted one, so made another - it crochets up really fast - less than five hours I think.This one still needs to be blocked as the edges are curling up.

 Currently on the wheel,  this beautiful blue Falkland fibre ... I have spun this very fine - probably the finest I have spun a whole lot of top.   I get about 40 - 50 wraps per inch.   Can't you just see this in a very fine lacy wrap - the colour is beautiful.  This is also from The Thyalcine.

On my spinning wheel at the moment - the last 100g of this lovely fibre.

So you can see that I have been doing quite a bit of spinning and crocheting this month.   I am also trying to teach myself how to knit (continental style) - but am giving myself the whole year to do that because I want to knit socks - woolen socks are the best!

I have also been drawing more in my big Journal for 2012 and will post some of that next week perhaps.

Happy Tangling/Quilting for now ... Jane x

I know I have double posted this post on my other blog ... but wanted to share with you all over here too!   I have also done the binding on my brother's quilt and a couple of others that are destined for Quilters Companion in July this year. 

My felted crochet slippers are finished - I crocheted a little rose to go on instead of a button.

There is only one problem - they felted down too small for me ... I will have to gift them to my sister who has little feet - do you think she will like them?

The hexi rug is coming along - have to make about the same amount again to get a decent sized lap rug.  Love how my colour graduations worked out.

Can we mess it up - hahaha

And on the weekend my husband and I went to market ... DH found this lovely sad lonely Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel - some bits missing but nothing that can't be replaced - and look how beautiful it has come up with a bath and oiling.... My DH did a wonderful job of cleaning it up - I forgot to take before pictures - so you can't see the grime and paint and rusty bits anymore.

She needs a name - any suggestions?

And this is the bobbin bit - I'm not sure but I think it is a large bobbin - not the normal size.  And it is a single treadle but has a double groove in the wheel - so realy not quite sure ... need to do some research.  A very very very good buy at $35.00 - So I couldn't pass it up ... I've always wanted to try my hand at spinning - wool that is - lol!

Anyway - still madly quilting here ... have got the dreaded flu - so life is a bit hazy.  I will have to stay away from quilt group this week.

It is a real problem when you have an auto-immune disease - apparently you will get everything going because of the lowered immune system.  So I am feeling quite tired - hopefully it won't drag on too long.

And as an aside - I am having a lovely little giveaway over on my other blog - janemonkstudio - to celebrate my birthday month with everyone - so go on over and check it out!   Happy quilting for now ... Jane x