Kelly

Finished twill towels

Hooray, the towels are finished!

All on the same warp but each one a little different.

I’m quite taken with twill as a weave structure, I had the idea that it might be a little stiff, but it’s beautifully soft and supple.

The range of variations is amazing!

You can read more about the making of the towels in my previous post.

Linking up with Ginny’s Yarn along.

Weaving twill towels and a fluffy “assistant”

by Kelly 4 Comments

I’ve been having a bit of fun with some towels this week. I warped with a natural cotton and threaded for twill. This is just one twill variation.

Once you’ve threaded in twill, there are a lot of variations to try. This one is extended twill with a black weft.

Straight up twill with a blue weft.

And here we have extended twill with red weft.

This is what I came across this morning. Note the chewed thread in the mouth. I posted this on a weaving group on Facebook and set off a whole series of naughty kitty photos, it was very amusing. It seems that looms are a magnet for cats! Thankfully the cloth was not damaged, I just had to cut the affected thread and start a new one. Could have been a lot worse!

Bite your tongue Mum.

by Kelly 3 Comments

“You are such a naughty child!”

“Sometimes I wonder whether you will ever learn anything!”

“Are you kidding me, you tipped it over again?!”

“What is wrong with you?!”

“You have ruined my day!”

“Why can’t you be like your brother/sister?”

“You make me so angry!”

Gosh, aren’t they nasty statements?

Well, I’ve thought of all of these, quite regularly in fact. The worst part is I’ve even said some of them to my children.

It’s really hard to not verbalise these thoughts sometimes. But I look upon it like this. I’m storing up treasures. These treasures are especially for my children. Each time I bite my tongue is a little victory. Yes, for me, but so much for them.

They may not know about your interior struggle but they will remember your words. 5, 10, 20, how ever many years down the track, they will remember your words and how you made them feel.
I know this. You know this.

Is it time for you to start storing some treasure too?

Madam Tickleberry’s tea party

by Kelly 6 Comments

The little one and I had some special time alone recently – a rare occasion. I decided we needed to do something really fun.

I can’t tell you how much she loved this. The letter in the cubby house mailbox, dressing up, the character changes, the secret preparations and then the fun of decorating and eating!

There were no rules, I just gave her the biscuits, different colours of icing and some lollies. No, the biscuits aren’t home baked but it was way too hot for baking.

Perfect to enjoy with a milk shake at the end.

We polished off our special time with a very long Enid Blyton reading session with no interruptions from other children, she had all my attention. She loved it.

It’s not an easy task, particularly if you have a large family, to allow one on one time, but I feel it’s something really worthwhile. You get to spend time with one child, they get your full attention (a real novelty in this house!) and you enjoy each other’s company in a way that feels really special, it’s like a mini retreat!

Clasped weft table runner

by Kelly 8 Comments

More of a table centre piece, it doesn’t quite have the length of a runner. This is the piece I wove for my recent rigid heddle clasped weft video tutorial.

I dyed the cottons specifically for this project. I wanted a good contrast between the variegated rainbow and the blues.

I love the clasped weft technique, the finished product and the process of randomly incorporating lengths of colour.

I hemstitched whilst on the loom so that the piece would sit flat on the table.

If you like this piece as much as I do it is available to purchase in my Etsy shop. And if you want to give the technique a go yourself please take the time to watch my video, it’s not as scary as it looks!

Clasped Weft weaving on a rigid heddle loom

by Kelly 1 Comment

My latest video is now available to view, I hope you enjoy it!

Knitted kitty

by Kelly 4 Comments

Isn’t it funny how you can put a project aside for a while and it becomes difficult to pick it up again? I started this kitty last year, got the head and body finished and then just didn’t feel like picking it up again.

Over Christmas the weather was very warm and I was very tired. The whole family was tired. So we spent quite a bit of time watching movies and documentaries together and keeping things quiet. I get restless hands if I just sit and watch something, so it was the perfect time to pick up a bit of knitting.

It didn’t take me long to power through the rest of the pieces, and when she was finished I felt she needed a dress, so got straight onto the sewing machine, no pattern, no fussing around (no excuses!) and whipped up the dress in no time.

She’s pretty cute without the dress too 🙂

She was promptly gifted to my 8 year old because she is the only one who doesn’t have a knitted toy from me yet. They now share the same bed and kitty is never far away, yes, she loves her!

Now for the pattern details – Girl Cat by Little Cotton Rabbits. If you are not too confident with knitting, these patterns are really great, step by step, lots of photos, very well written. Most of the patterns come with instructions for knitted clothes and the designer has plenty of other gorgeous little animals to choose from.

So, what’s happening next year?

by Kelly 5 Comments

I don’t know, I really don’t. Of course I have hopes, dreams, aims, goals, but I have learned (and it’s taken a really long time) that life is easier when you let God do the planning and you do the following.

At the moment, I would love to further my business. I’d like to wake up, have a shower, some breakfast, maybe walk the dog and then sit down to my loom and weave. And just keep weaving until I wanted to do something else – probably some dyeing. I’ve tried to work more on being a “real” artist for years and failed over and over. But I don’t feel too sad about it anymore. Because I’ve come to a realisation.

Being a real artist is not my real job. Being a wife is. Being a mother is. Being a servant of God is. These are the things that God is calling me to first. Everything else has to wait, and this fact is good and right. He gives me time here and there to work on the things I love, but only after my other duties for the day are fulfilled.

Maybe one day I will get to work full time on creative stuff. Or maybe God has other plans for me – whatever the case all He asks is for me to listen and obey, and with His grace, this is what I intend to do.