Unboxing new craft goodies

Hi crafty friends,

This Designer Crafts Connection blog hop we are sharing our favorite products, techniques and crafts.  Which one to choose?  I love so many crafty things.

I just got a new box of craft goodies from Plaid as a result of a fortuitous meeting in their booth at AFCI in January (Thank you, Julie and Shauna!).  So, I thought I'd show you their quite generous shipment.

Wow, right!  Plaid has been generous to designers ever since I've been in the industry - and they continue to be.  New brushes, several different brands of paint and plenty of Mod Podge!

But, the item that I was most excited about was a product from their Bucilla line.  I love yarn and thread, fiber and fabric.  It's where I started crafting - stamped embroidery, sewing and needlepoint.  Now, I can add weaving to the mix with the Weaving Loom.

I have strung the loom with the warp threads (vertical threads) with some Hemptique twine.  Then I took a length of yarn and started weaving.  I found a lot of blue shades in my stash.  I started with a yarn that has a lot of tails to give it some texture.  I did have to go back and pull the tails to the front.

I continued with a few different kinds of yarn ends - sari yarn, t-shirt yarn and novelty yarn.  Then, I finished it with some rya knots on the bottom.  I tied all the warp threads on the bottom and the top, and then overcast the top edge.

I decided to add a hanging bar.  I used a piece of grapevine for a rustic look.

I really enjoyed this project and learned so much (like leave more length to tie off the warp threads!).  I can't wait to try another weaving with different stitches besides the plain weave and some thick bulky yarns or strips of fabric.  And, there must be a way to add beads!  The only problem I had was reading the instructions - the print and the background were too close in color to be easily read.  And, although I used the wooden needle in the set to weave, I used a tapestry needle to weave in the ends because it was smaller and easier to use for that.

I found a nice weaving site to help a beginner like me:  The Weaving Loom  She has a lot of good tips.

Ready to see more fun projects?  See the Designer Crafts Connection blog.  We've got lots of ideas!