A new dog sweater for Jaic

On Instagram, a woman was making these great sweaters for dogs. I messaged her and got the name of the pattern. From Google search, I take it this is a very popular set of patterns. I LOVE cables so I did the Joe coat in cables. This is washable wool. The Patterns are called Knits and Pieces and be found here. I made Joe and instead of striped, I did solid cables.

The thing that looks like a mistake was a buttonhole I added to the pattern to allow the metal ring on the harness to pass through.

Jean's indigo dyed project

Remember Jean from Indigo Dyeing Days?? One of the things she dyed were old crocheted doilies from her mother-in-law. She intended to put them together in a quilt. Well, she did and here it is in her own words.

Here is the wall hanging I made featuring my mother-in-law's doilies--many of which I dyed in your indigo vat.  Some are the natural color of the perle cotton, so I went for the layered look.  There are also bits of vintage lace and trims and some mother of pearl buttons.  In the background patchwork are bits and pieces of "hand-dyes by Beth".  Over all I'm pleased.  The quilting looks very unprofessional.  It was hard to keep it steady and smooth over all those bumpy layers.

What a beauty!!

some more 2

This is the one I like the best so far

some more 1

So this is where I might lose you....

I REALLY love surface design: playing with dys, all kinds, shibori, indigo, deconstructed silk screens, and straight silk screening. I also love sketching, watercolor and mixed media work.

A month ago I signed up for a three month long art workshop. It isn't designed to really teach you how to paint or make whatever you art practice is but rather to see larger concept and see your work with an eye to improvement. I am really enjoying it. So for the foreseeable future I will be showing you my work. There is no fiber or fabric in any of it. This is the "losing you" part. 

I do hope I don't lose you and you enjoy see what I am up to in my painting and mixed media work. Here they are in no particular order. These are all "play" although some came out really well.

More on the sister quilt

Not too much to say about these

Just realized that I only had three blocks. Mine look so pathetic compared to my sister. She is certainly the master of precision!!!!

Susan has definitely outdone me. Hum!! Can I think of a good excuse??

New scissors

The General Purposes Scissors are a decades-old pattern, cut from a batch of recovered blanks in 2020 by Ernest Wright. This is a blurb from Ernest Wright, the master scissor makers.


Here's some more back-story on our 6.5” general household scissors.
These particular scissors have been made from a treasure trove of discarded blanks, which was found at our workshop.
It turns out the blanks came from Lilleyman's, the last traditional forger of scissors and shears in Sheffield. The Kutrite and Ernest Wright works had a batch of around 8,000 pairs forged in the late 1980s – and the 300 blanks we found had remained here, untouched, since then.
The quality of the blanks is very high, so we decided to turn them into a limited edition general-purpose scissor, now available at our website.
These scissors have Sheffield running right through them, from being forged at Lilleyman's in the 1980s to their completion at the Ernest Wright workshop in the present day. Even the metal they're made from chimes with this city: hot drop forged Sheffield stainless steel.

I am so thrilled with these and as they say in Maine, "they are shap".