Spinning, not passionate about it, still

It's been nice seeing and hearing the birds again. This morning we had wrens, chicadees, a bluejay, and small and large woodpeckers at the feeder. And it is sunny after a rainstorm on Friday and a damp, dreary wekend.
Since it is still too cold and windy for and outdoor BBQ , but hubby wanted ribs and bangers for Sunday, I made some in the oven, along with chicken for me. All, along with side dishes and green salads, more than enough for a few meals.































Spinning...
Last spring I set out to teach myself to spin. I made a spindle, bought a book and for a few minutes a day for nearly a month, I worked at it (the spindle on the left). I was able to get a couple of ounces of yarn spun, but was never comfortable with it. In September, I went to the wool and fibre festival, I took an empty spindle (on the right) and some of my roving and a kind expert gave me a brief lesson. She suggested I thin my roving, which did help (spindle on the right) and renewed my enthusiasm, but I‘m still not there yet.
I would still like to be proficient at it and would like having more lessons, though I’m not sure where or when. I know I don’t need to learn to spin; it’s just one of many of the ancient crafts in which I’ve always been interested . I will pick it up again, of that I’m certain. I welcome suggestions.















Also last spring and summer, hubby and I built a spinning wheel using instructions from a vintage booklet I found a long time ago. We improved on it by doing research online. It works, though some adjustments need to be made, and it needs a proper leather belt. But since I’ first need to be proficient in hand spinning, it will be a while before I’m ready to use it, though I have tried it out. I have to learn to better use the foot pedal. Barefoot seems work best.















It is time to sew more pillowcases. I bought a few yards of this fabric this weekend, and I have a few yards of other cloth I can use up.

It’s been an ongoing project for years now. We donate to an umbrella foundation for children, and they are in turn donated to a children’s hospitals. There are lots of other wonderful women involved in the project, and thousands of pillowcases and other items have been sewn and knitted. I’m also happily involved in other aspects of the foundation.
Here are a few cases I’ve made previously:

Visit Island Sweets shop at Etsy, her work is on my favourite's list .

I meant to upload this photo the day of Grand opening of the new shop. The package with the new circle punch arrived that afternoon, so I straight away made my first medalion for the bath salts on the right:

The size is right for several projects.

Talking of projects, I hope to upload somethings to the shop tomorrow.

I'm off to get a few projects, and laundry done.