UFO Weekend

Let's start with a finished project. Here is the first hat for my mother in law (I'm going to make the same hat in a cobalt blue):

Now, for the UFOs (that's UnFinished Objects, folks). A year ago in the summer, I cut out the fabric for three blouses from the same pattern. For various reasons at the time, I only finished one of the blouses. Today, I pulled out the other two and made the following observations:

Hospital gown!! (Also known as new additions to the blue fabric shelf!)

Yep! That fabric is awfully sheer! (a.k.a. new additions to the yellow fabric shelf!)

Cool! In about 10 minutes, I cleared two long-term UFOs! With that done, I opened another box of UFOs, and pulled out some fabric and a skirt pattern. I had only half the amount of each fabric for the skirt pattern in question. On the other hand, I liked the way they looked together, so I laid them on the table and started pulling coordinating fabrics. I started with the bright green-leaved fabric and the white fabric with bright red and bright yellow splotches.

I don't know what this will be, but I really like these fabrics together. In looking at this photo, I will need to add in a really dark fabric, and when I return to the sewing room, I'll be looking through my reds. So, this is a brand-new UFO, but a fun one.

Speaking of new UFOs, I went to the Fiber Expo at the Washtenaw County fairgrounds on Saturday. I really debated with myself about whether or not to go. Quite frankly, I've got a pretty deep queue. It is now deeper. Let me show you.

This was my first purchase - please: pink and yellow - me resist? The people in the Via Verde Farm booth were really nice, and they answered my questions about how to spin this. Their advice led me to the Sistermaide booth where I got this tiny lightweight spindle.

That booth was right next to the Cormo24-7 booth where this batt just called my name:

 Way out in the farthest building of the expo, I wandered into the (RuLe OuT): fIBer AdDicTiOn, NOS booth where Emily was very charming and gave me some encouragement. Of course, she encouraged me into buying some of her luscious roving.

I have been really stuck in the spinning area for months because I've been trying to learn the spinning wheel by spinning the same uninteresting fiber over and over, and Emily said, "At some point, you'll realize that even if you get the fiber spun up, you won't like it, so why are you doing this." Hmmm.

Speaking of fiber I need to spin, I stopped in the booth run by my wool dyeing teacher from last January, feeling guilty because I haven't yet spun that fiber. So, I bought some yarn from her.

That skein has 435 yards, so we might be looking at a hat and mittens set. My goal is to turn all of these new purchases into projects before next year's Fiber Expo. We'll see.

No cute kitty photo this time, sorry.

Work in Progress & What I'm Reading Wednesday - #7!

This is WIPW/WIR#7 - thanks, Tami! (For more great blog posts on these topics, see the links at the bottom of Tami's post.)

Last week I mentioned that I had some cotton yarn on order for a sweater for my great nephew. Here it is all dyed up:

(It's for a baby, but these are seriously his parents' favorite colors.) Here it is "cooking" in the hot sun on top of the garbage can:

I've done enough dyeing to know that heat is my friend. Finally, here is the tangled mess I pulled out of the dryer last evening that I'm winding into a ball. There'll be a few knots in this yarn as I work through it. It was a good evening project after a frustrating day at work.

Now, for Peppermint Candy! Hubby Dearest looked at this and said he thinks the top is done. It's smaller than I want it (by a few inches in each direction), but it does feel done to me. I still think, though, I'm going to swap out those strips of odd fabric (the gray green fabrics that leap out of the quilt).

Next, I wanted to show you that I had helpers when I was setting up the yarn outside:

I also had a guard kitty in the sewing room:

This is the creature who woke me up at 2a this morning by sprawling on my shoulder (I was sleeping on my side) and purring loudly and then grandly accepting petting before leaning over and licking my face - this is why she still has a home despite her bad moods!

In terms of what I'm reading, a couple of weeks ago I mentioned here that I've got a real hole in my knowledge regarding the history of China - of Asia, really. At the big booksale that weekend, I looked for books on the topic and lucked into John King Fairbanks' The Great Chinese Revolution 1800-1985 (published in 1987). I say "lucked into" because it turns out that this man is one of the great American scholars about China. The book is readable, engaging, thought-provoking, and causing my little brain to whir. Here's a tidbit from page 10:

Something over a billion people live in Europe and North and South America.

These billion-odd Europeans and Americans live in about fifty sovereign and independent states,

while the billion-odd people of China live in only one single state.

Okay. In two sentences in the introduction, I was hooked.

I'll be selling raffle tickets for the quilt guild at the American Sewing Expo in Novi, Michigan, this coming Saturday afternoon. If you're at the expo, stop by the booth!

What I'm Reading Wednesday

I have recently read two books that I would very much like to recommend. One has been out for a couple of years and the other is newer. Both are stories of immigrant experiences, and both expanded my consciousness. I grew up in a small town in the northern part of Michigan's lower peninsula. Because of the nearby airbase, we had folks from all over the country in our midst, but they were seen as "other." Moving to a college town in southeastern Michigan exposed me to people from all over the world and from many cultures in this country. Over the years, I have tried to consciously seek out experiences and books that would help me to see the world in these ways that are different than my own experience. These books are good continuing education.

First up is Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, stories of Bengali-Americans dealing with issues of modern life. As with most immigrant groups, there is a tension between the culture of origin and the culture around them. The story that I liked best, "Hell-Heaven" was, happily, done as a featured piece on Selected Shorts - a podcast that features contemporary short stories read by actors before a live studio audience. (I listen to a variety of podcasts ranging from "Sticks and String" to the geekfest "Tech Stuff / How Stuff Works" and including the "New Yorker Fiction" podcasts.) Back to the book: The stories are intense, tightly written, and the characters are fully fleshed out. I can't say that "this is a joy to read," because there are some pretty sobering tales here. I will say that by the time I was done, I felt as though I'd been admitted entrance into some very special lives.

Next is the book I practically bullied my book club into reading. A Country Called Amreeka tells the story of the last century of American history through the eyes of Arab-Americans. We see the civil rights movement, the Six-Days' War in 1967, the gay rights movement, the 2000 presidential campaign, and so much else through the lived experiences of real people who were witnesses to or part of the events. The book is well written and reminiscent of Studs Terkel's books. I LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. Drop what you're doing and go get it. Read it. Trust me. You'll start grabbing random friends and shoving this book at them, just I've been doing for the past two weeks.

Finally, just to demonstrate what a dilettante I am, I had a half hour to myself in downtown Ann Arbor yesterday, so I stopped in Busy Hands, with a gift certificate I'd gotten for my birthday. I wandered around, petting yarns, until I got stopped by this little beauty:

50% silk, 50% merino, sock-weight, yummy bright pink - need I say more? Ooohhh!! la la!!

Tomorrow, Thursday, I'm driving to Columbus, Ohio, with a couple of friends, and we're going to the National Quilting Association show. I promise I'll take pictures!