Hardanger, applique, fast food, and tea

While I was pawing through materials in search of the Tunisian crochet hook, about which more later, I found this sample of hardanger I stitched yea these many years ago.

I dyed it with tea to knock down the whiteness and age it a bit.

And here's where we are with the stitching

Some sashiko got in there. One more block and that's the first of three columns completed.

Meanwhile upstairs the rug is coming along. 

I'm seeing the end of the supply of roving now, which, as much as the warp length, may dictate the size. The wire needle is okay, but a bit flexible, so today I'm going to use one of my long Tunisian crochet hooks to draw weft through, and we'll see.

Handsome son visited yesterday for tea, card, present and plum crumble on the patio, lovely afternoon. When I mentioned the rug, he instantly said how will you make it nonskid, joining the chorus who are convinced I'm going to crash out and break something as soon as I step on it. I think I'll stitch some of that nonskid shelf lining to it.

Later Gary presented me with a bunch of fresh cut celery, the stems of which are a bit bitter, but they're now in the stock bag in the freezer, while the leaves are also bagged and frozen for future cream of celery soup.

Caro, this one's for you, fast food for lunch, sharp cheddar and foraged tomatoes on toast, romaine side. 

With the hand hemmed napkin formerly lost under the old fridge.

A couple of people were unfamiliar with the honesty plant whose seedpods I showed you yesterday, so here's more

It's a pretty flower in spring, then lovely seedpods later.

Happy day, everyone, and when a recipe says cups, tablespoons, etc, they're statutory measurements, not just whatever spoon or cup you have lying about! This has come up in rl and online. It's the English language getting everyone all confused again. 

Enjoy your Sunday,  well, Monday for some and go Spain!! First time winners of the World Cup.  What a day for them. Close, tense match. Class play.

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Rugs, mysterious night noises, freecycle, Suits, stitching, otherwise nothing happening

 This is the Rug's Progress

I don't know about abs of steel, I think steel shoulders are needed! But it grows fast.

And at the other end of the spectrum, stitching is happening

The color is a much warmer pink than here. The. camera evidently picked up the blue tones. Anyway it's blanket stitching reverse applique. Which is one of the mountain range of many hills I will die on.

Blanket stitch edges blankets with a smooth turn of the thread at the fabric edge. Buttonhole stitching is worked in the opposite direction, with a half knot at the edge.  They are different, because different functions. 

Blanket allows for a comfortable edge which doesn't irritate the sleeper. Buttonhole creates a tight row of knots to withstand the wear and tear of buttoning and unbuttoning. Another hill I will die on is whipping and the difference from whipstitching. But I'll climb that hill another day.

Meanwhile, Gary and freecycling continues. This was claimed almost before I'd finished posting it, pickup this morning.

And here's the latest from Josie George, a writer  I follow on social media and via her substack newsletters

She's well worth your attention.

As is Suits. I may need a long break after the two seasons I have in DVD from the library. It's intense. 

Speaking of which, suddenly late last night, my wall began to vibrate and emit a loud noise, including a slomo dinging noise. It also felt warm. Enter Gary, at an urgent call from me, after I established it wasn't smoke alarm, water, appliances.

One look and he said it's a short in the doorbell. Took off the wall-mounted  cover and disconnected a couple of wires. The noise and vibration stopped and he's going to do the next step today.

I'm guessing I need a new doorbell, gah.

Happy day everyone, free of things that go bzzzz in the night

Weaving, Textiles and Tea,leaves, Freecycle, fish and shakshuka

Packed day yesterday. 

Textiles and Tea was a really outstanding basket maker, who has been involved in African art and has great respect  for African basketry skills. He's wildly inventive, as you see!

And I'd been thinking shakshuka this week, so here it is. The recipe uses peppers, I used spinach and scallions

with whole wheat pita, to make sure of all the sauce.

I was weaving and stitching, with interruptions, more like irruptions, from Gary, who's laying new floors, I know, I hear the tappity-tap at all hours, and winnowing as he goes. He just shows up, knowing I'll help rehome stuff. He tends to shop aspirationally, very good items, then somehow doesn't use them.

Such as

Nearly all of them I put on freecycle, got fast takers and a waiting list, and they're now on my step ready for their new owners.

Amidst this, I've been stitching, and here's where I am, 

with this in progress

Just in case you wondered, these blocks are all going to be mounted on a base fabric, yet to be decided on, grid style and with space between and around them ( yes,  this does remind me of a hot Elizabethan sonnet) for more stitching and probably beading. What you're seeing up to now is just the start.

Weaving is happening every morning (except today, eye checkup, dilation, all that, this morning) and yesterday there wasn't anything to show you, because I'd spent my weaving time tightening warp threads and pawing through roving, nothing pictorial happening. I think I'll use only wool roving, for the warmth,"not the cotton. It's already feeling very good, though my skills are still a bit wobbly with the big heddle.

With back strap, if you use a rigid heddle, it's suspended in mid air in the warp threads, no resting place, so you lift and hold with one hand, feed weft with the other. I don't have a big enough shuttle for this width, so I've been handfeeding the weft. I may create one, though, a bit dodgy hand feeding.

 Here you see my somewhat artisanal results to now, and here I thought you'd like to see the back strap loom setup.

Very simple, the bathrobe belt goes round my back, I sit on the stool, the white bar is in front of me, the dowel holding the warp threads up close to it. That's it. To maintain tension, you lean back, and the warp threads respond. It's very physically cooperative. To advance the warp as the work progresses, I turn over both dowel and bar, keeping the backstrap under tension between them, and it won't unroll. It's a real partnership, which is why I like it.

Yesterday I was talking languages elsewhere, mainly fluency, or the lack, and I included British and American English. They are very different in use. I mainly write American style, but with occasional nods to my birth language. 

It reminded me of a Russian home health aide, helping with Handsome Partner, who said, well here at work I speak American, and at home Russian. You and A. speak American to me, but in the evening,  when everyone's gone, do you switch to English?  We explained that they're very similar, but pronounced and emphasized differently, not quite different languages.

In a way, yes. When we relaxed into our natural speech, it was different. It's hard for people who hear me and think that's soooo Brit,  to realize that it's far from my comfortable range, which would be close to unintelligible to friends here. They don't notice the thousands of daily adjustments I make for their benefit, just notice the places where it's physically not possible. Not complaining, just observing. 

In other gripping news, a police report, this from a few miles west of here

evidently, a large fish hurtled down, bang onto a transformer, knocking it out, power out for thousands of residents.

Happy day, everyone, watching out for falling pianos and fish.

New artwork, yogurt, warping and a dad riddle

I was looking for pieces of fabric for the upcoming applique idea, and found this stack of samples I'd forgotten  I had, no idea where they came from. Not sure what fiber, either, probably a cotton mix.

After playing with them and making color groups of three, I carried them to the table to see them better and realized

this can be a wall hanging. The color groups allow for a direct applique in top of a reverse one, on a background. 

So, now for threads

Winnowed down to these choices

And some cutting, using a small rotary,of morning glory shapes. This why I picked leaves of different sizes, to work together

I think some sashiko stitching will come after the whole thing is appliqued, to harmonize it, but I'll do some on individual blocks.

Meanwhile I finished threading for the rug

and today I need to sort roving and maybe make a start in weaving, though sorting roving is a start, part of designing.

And there's a yogurt reveal. The hot water containers and emergency blanket seems to work

it's a bit grainy, but after straining a bit, worked fine with wild honey. The texture is not from the fermenting method, but probably age, since this is third generation. Time to order more yogurt, to use the last of it as the next starter.

And, since it's Monday, here's a Dad riddle from my childhood.

Can a man marry his widow's sister?

Funny answers only please!

Happy day everyone, may all our life riddles be funny.

Late summer and the snails are racin'

 Misfits came yesterday, different carrier but still on time

The oat milk was a free bonus,  I cashed in points for it. They've changed the format for redeeming points where it seems that now you can't get a cash refund. But if you can get some equivalent in food, I think it's okay.

And while I was out, I caught a heart pounding snail race on the path. Apparent winner in the foreground.

The late summer patio is the best in years. All this is in containers. The coleus will come indoors in the fall. I'm definitely planning on doing seeds in containers again next year.

And the bears are guarding the roving I'll be using in the rug

Still quite a bit of threading to go yet, but as a wise weaver said, warping up is not what you do in order to weave, it's the first part of weaving. Once I calm down and stop trying to hurry, it's very happy work, a quiet flow.

Happy day, everyone. Oh, Gary gave the plum crumble a good review. I hope your output gets good reviews!