A photo posted by Alanna Nelson (@tactiletravels) on
That doesn’t mean my stitch and glow lifestyle stops. I just don’t take time to blog about it. After all, there’s only so many hours in a day!
There was no sailing for me over the last weekend. All other activities were structured around relocating my studio space from the attic to better digs. There was definitely chaos before catharsis.
A photo posted by Alanna Nelson (@tactiletravels) on
A few other unexpected movements in the house mean I won’t move into my new space until after our summer cruise, which is right after we head up to Montreal for the weekend.
AAAH! No wonder it seems incredible that it’s already August. The last three months have flown by, one great thing after another. Never fear, I decided that blogging is a good way to document all of the fibery goodness that speeds through my life.
Writing a Studio Art Quilt Associates member profile about myself sent me scampering for quilt images. Turning to the CDs, flash drives and cloud storage nooks where my art quilt photos lurk, I found some nice memories.
Detail from “The Road to School,” 1999.
Detail “Road to School,” 1999
It took forever to sew these pinky nail sized leaves onto the Road to School. At that point, I would machine quilt for the bed, but art quilts were always hand quilted. Now I use a longarm or hand quilt, depending on the statement and effect desired.
Bright Sky II, 2013
I couldn’t easily find CDs of some professionally photographed quilts. Ack. There are quilts that I never photographed, some of which I’ll probably never see again.
Gioia’s Rainbows, 2003
This little journey down quilt memory lane shows how pursuing the Master Hand Knitter program has reduced my quilting since 2013. That will soon be out of my life so I can focus on quilting more.
I hereby declare:
to photograph all completed quilts from this day forth, establishing a data storage policy which shall make future retrieval of digital images more efficient.
It hit me on Friday, shopping cart piled high with cedar mulch. My grandmothers, while no longer on this earth, accompany me to the garden center each spring. Achingly, tears well up. Grief, joy and thankfulness spill down my cheeks for the gratitude I feel for these women who loved me.
Gramma Bee tip toeing through the tulips, 1990
Mom is just a phone call away. My parents plot their springtime planting throughout the winter. Undoubtedly their garden is better prepared than mine at this point in the growing season. They are inspiring and encouraging.
On Mother’s Day, I am thankful for all my mom, my grandmothers and Helen Timm gave to me. Am I giving as much to future generations? I’ll try.
I promised to update you on the nuno felting results. This quilter just adores the water color, layered effect that nuno felt gives to my tops.
Equipped with roving in greys, natural off whites and blues, I actually completed one quilt with nuno felting yardage in April. Attempting to represent moving water while still honoring the wooly origins of my materials, I placed needle felted “rocks” underneath a portion of the quilt top and then needle felted it to a suiting weight wool border.
Feline fiberista approved.
With several nuno felt pieces in hand, I headed over to Laurena’s Longarm Quilting and experimented with different battings and threads. Hand quilting is imperative for certain portions of the quilt… it “moved” in just the right way.
Here’s a detail of Rapids….
And now back to the next episode of watery themed quilts. Time to dye some wool.
Is it just me, or does the knitting world gravitate toward stripes these days? Stripes give you options to use up stash remnants, but there are plenty of ways to stripe your knits without heading down the nautical or circus themes. The modern knit scarf has plenty of contemporary options, as I admire in these five knit patterns.
Stephen West’s Striped Esjan
Stephen West’s Esjan originally was published in 2011. Last year, he released a striped version, which gives knitters a fun opportunity to mix textures (shimmery yarns, anyone?.
Want to knit a larger striped scarf? Julia Farwell-Clay’s Metronome uses intarsia to accomplish a contemporary striped style. Both of these scarves would look great in those gradient packs that you forgot you bought….
Edison by Lynn Di Cristina
Edison by Lynn Di Cristina has the advantage of no short rows, no make 1 (I answer questions about this every week). I haven’t knit it yet, but it looks like an enjoyable evening knitting project…. rhythmic, gratifying and similar to Color Affection by Veera Valimaki.
Iceberg Folly 7/2014 is a free form knit
Free form knitting inspired by landscape Iceberg Folly is striped, beautiful and guided by one knitter’s experience. How modern is that? Having just checked out Lea Redmond’s Knitting the Sky, I think this finished object is a wonderful expression of just how modern and personal stripes can be.
Will you be knitting striped scarves this summer? With gradient packs in the stash and Josh Bennet’s Hell’s Kitchen on the needles, it looks like stripes are in my queue. Oh, and don’t forget my Zick Zack, which popped out of hibernation last weekend.
With several nuno felt pieces in hand, I headed over to 
