A Braiding Week

During all my free time this week, I obsessively worked on my braided rag rug. I can't tell you what a delight it has been to work on this.

This is where I was after last Friday night's workshop.

A couple days later, it looked like this. All the blue/yellow/white light-colored fabric is torn strips of a damask tablecloth. Yes, it is fraying. When I introduced a couple prints into the braid - note that red-orange dot from my quilting fabric stash - a design began to emerge. At this point I had increased from four braids, to six braids, to eight braids. 

This spiral affect appeared when I deliberately positioned light and dark braids in the weave. By now I was braiding with ten weaves, and the rug is about 25" in diameter. 

I'm up to 12 braids now, and want to start gradating into darker aquas. 

Oh how I'm lovin' this! It's been so hard to put down! I'm already anticipating making another rug which means more shopping at Goodwill for used home goods or clothing. It's too expensive to keep using quilting cotton. I think the next rug will be oval-shaped. 

Tonight's 8:30 PM "Braided Rag Rug" workshop with Ilka White of Castlemaine, New South Wales, Australia, is part two of two sessions. I'm looking forward to seeing what other students have done!

Two pieces of happy news...

First, I learned I won an Instagram giveaway sponsored by Brewer Sewing @brewersewing. All I know is that I'm one of five people who won a box of goodies!

And... in September, I sewed clothes that I blogged about here. One of the pieces I made was a Sienna Shift dress, using embroidered fabric yardage found on the sale table at JoAnn's. In the month of November, on Instagram I entered a Sienna Shift competition #siennashiftdresscomp sponsored by @sewthispattern.

So, my second piece of news is that three judges chose first, second, and third-place winners, and added a fourth place that was awarded to me! I'll be getting a $50 voucher to the online fabric store Mood Fabrics, and a free PDF clothing pattern. I'm sure pleased! See first, second, and third-place Sienna Shift dress winners here. 

Hours spent braiding gave me an opportunity to get back into an audiobook groove, listening to a completely trite and happy-ending Christmas-time story It Happened in Scotland, by Patience Griffin. This is my 60th audiobook this year!

American widow Rachel, wanting her five year-old daughter Hannah to meet her gran-da, takes her to Scotland for Christmas. They go to the small seaside village of Gandiegow, where her deceased husband, Joe, grew up. Though an outsider, Rachel captures the attention of several townswomen because she's a quiltmaker. Rachel begins teaching at Quilting Central, a quilter's retreat cottage (lots of recognizeable quiltmaking terms are used - and used accurately!) while finding herself once again attracted to Brodie, Joe's cousin. If you like Hallmark-type romances, you'll like this book.

Linda's score: 3.5/5.0

Shared on Instagram by a friend - it's funny because it's true!

Jamie Lynn on Instagram @purejoycreative is an artist who shares and sells Christian artwork, including free coloring book pages. Last week she offered this picture, which I made my cell phone home screen. It's such a nice reminder of the season. 

These days, every uplifting moments is appreciated. Linda