Happiness X 2

Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.  

~ G. K. Chesterton

Every year, this class brings amazing people into my life.

For this, I am truly thankful.  :)

Ragtime

It is never right to play ragtime fast.

~ Scott Joplin

Well, here are the first set of rag rugs - I have to admit that I'm not ecstatic with how they came out.  The width of each rug still wanders (wider for a little bit, then narrower for a little bit...)  And I just wove the full amount of recycled t-shirt yarn that I had of each color - so some rugs are a little bit longer than seems appropriate and pleasing to me...  

I started with my rug - here it is:  

I didn't take a picture of it spread out, but you can tell that it isn't a nice consistent width from one end to the other...  :(

Here is one with three stripes of pink:  

A red, white and black rug:  

Navy blue, light blue and beige:  

The last one on the loom - green, blue and brown:  

The only slightly positive thing I can say is that I do think my weaving improved the more rugs I made - this last one is the straightest yet (and I like the length):  

So, hopefully I'll keep getting better and the last seven will be even better...  And hopefully the recipients of the first four rugs will remember that it's the thought that counts and think of these rugs as special in a unique, quirky way...  ;)

The Holiday Frenzy

As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, 

compounded by December's bad weather, 

it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives 

who are worth this aggravation, 

and people to whom we are worth the same.  

~ Donald E. Westlake

No fun sewing or weaving for me over the weekend - I was knee-deep in php and html code, thankful that there wasn't a 2-year-old around, learning a whole lot of new "vocabulary"...  ;)

So, backing up a bit, I haven't been doing a good job of marketing The Original "How Much Fabric?" Reference Cards, but I was motivated by the looming holiday season to set up a couple of give-aways and offer our first ever discount.  But PayPal doesn't provide any easy way to offer a discount code - you know, because who would ever want to do anything like that, right?  It's so rare...  

Hence, the struggle with code...  I can report that I emerged bloodied, but semi-victorious!  ;)

You can find our first give-away at Tasia's website, Sewaholic (here).  We are offering two sets of cards - one to a US winner and one to an International winner.  

We are also part of a larger Thanksgiving give-away on Pattern Review (here) - you definitely want to check that one out because there will be 12 give-aways in total!  

Finally, in conjunction with these give-aways and the upcoming holidays, we are offering a discount on all of our card sets - this, in the face of strong opposition from PayPal!  Yes, just enter the code HOLLY (each time you add a set to your shopping cart - sorry, this is where the "semi" in "semi-victorious" comes in.  I could not find a work-around for that limitation) and you'll receive 15% off (here)!  

The card sets make the perfect small gift or stocking stuffer for your sewing friends - not to mention a really nice little treat for yourself!  And they pay for themselves quickly - because you don't overspend on fabric...  ;)

Okay, the promotion is over.  Now, back to your regularly scheduled content...  ;)

Tonight is our last ESL class of the semester and so I hope to have a picture or two for you tomorrow... 

Color Selections - Part 3

My two favorite colors of the rainbow are gold and leprechaun.  

~ Jarod Kintz

The last batch of color selections that I'm going to show you:  

Row #1 - ivory, apricot and light green

Row #2 - blue, grey and yellow

Row #3 - red, light yellow and dark brown

Now you've seen them all but two - one set I accidentally wove into a rug before I took a picture and the other isn't complete yet.  One person had her heart set on a particular color combination and only got two of the colors she wanted on color market day - so she is ordering the third color herself and it hasn't come in yet.  

Aren't all the combinations interesting?  I think they really show how diverse tastes can be...   

The color sets are different, but each person had the same look of satisfaction on her (or his) face when contemplating her (or his) set of colors.  :)

Gratuitous Kitten Photo

The reason cats climb is so that they can 

look down on almost every other animal - 

it's also the reason they hate birds.  

~ K. C. Buffington

Recently, Sophie has taken to heights...

It's making us "jumpy" too - worrying about how she's going to get down...  

Isn't it funny how much we worry about the most self-sufficient of all animals?  ;)

The First Set of Rugs Leave the Loom

It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice-cream sandwiches.  

~ Lemony Snicket

As I think I may have mentioned once or twice (or one million times) before, once the loom is set up, the weaving goes really quickly!  Look at this big roll on my front beam that contains FIVE completed rugs:  

I was so excited by my progress that I cut the rugs off the loom before getting to that part in my video lessons - and I quickly discovered that tying the fringe neatly is not so easy - the last row or two of t-shirt yarn wants to come apart and the warp threads don't necessarily stay distributed evenly across the rug:  

So, it's to the sewing machine I go!  I stitched down the outermost row on each side of each rug.  That big thick white stuff was my divider yarn - I put in five inches between each rug, hoping that 2.5 inches would be a good length for the fringe:  

This made all the difference - look how my outermost row of t-shirt yarn stays in place, with the warp threads evenly distributed:  

Everything is ready for the fringe knots - and the length turned out just perfect!  :)

I have A LOT more knots to tie - plus the wet finishing - before I can show off these five rugs...  But, I'm working on it!  ;)

So, my first five "babies" have left my loom - the only home they've ever known - and they won't be returning with ice-cream sandwiches...  

But don't feel sad for me, because there are seven more waiting to be born.  ;)

Color Selections - Part 2

Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment.  

~ Claude Monet

I have another set of color selections to show you today:  

Row #1: Dark purple, pink and turquoise

Row #2: Light grey, lilac and purple

Row #3: Black, rust and dark green

Each one of these sets will turn into one, three-striped rag rug - the order displayed above will be the order of the stripes (although only the middle color is really relevant, as there is no defined start point...)

Across all the combinations (not just these three), there are some that I love, some that I like and some that just don't appeal to me.  The cool thing is that, for each combination, there is someone who really, really likes it!  

It's going to be fun to see how the rugs turn out!  :)