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Category: Inspiration

by raheli November 12, 2020

Map No. 1 – The Swamp

by raheli September 30, 2020

Autumn in the woods

Rock Grid

by raheli March 1, 2020

Grids in the Woods

by raheli August 5, 2019

Art & Math

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Meanwhile, on Instagram…

raheliharper

I went to make some iced coffee this afternoon and

I went to make some iced coffee this afternoon and then I remembered that I had to process all the ice cubes of eggs and the mini cubes of condensed beef stock. I got them all bagged up and labeled, so I can freeze some coffee ice cubes in the green ones, and the white ones have another round of eggs. The chickens have been laying overtime - but in a few months they will slow waaaay down.

Getting my head and hands warmed up for a lot of s

Getting my head and hands warmed up for a lot of spinning! Sunday June 12th at Meadowburn Farm/Nonchalant Cheese, a day of sheep, fiber play, and learning how to spin on a spindle (a spindle made by @bigdipperwoodenspoons) DM me if you are interested in joining us! Also: lunch by @nonchalant_cheese (have you seen her photos?! That is going to be delicious.)

It’ll be $250 for the day with lunch, your handmade spindle, and fiber to take home I clouded. We’ll be learning how to process fiber together and then spend lots of time making yarn

#handspun #corespun #indiedyer #loopfiberstudio @loopfiberstudio #hudsonvalleylife #hudsonvalleyfiberarts #hudsonvalleyhappenings #warwickny

Quite the day! EarthFest by @wickhamworksmakerspac

Quite the day! EarthFest by @wickhamworksmakerspace was such fun! I spent the day with @sarahdiviart helping her with her giant puppet: the Refashion Queen made from 50 unwanted t-shirts.
😘😘 @_esme_clark_ @sighwilla

Portrait of the artist inside the art, trying to s

Portrait of the artist inside the art, trying to shore it up on a windy day.

EarthFest is up and running! @sarahdiviart @wickhamworksmakerspace @earthfestwarwick

Our one remaining tulip. I admire her grit.

Our one remaining tulip. I admire her grit.

Messing around with handspun yarn and basketry. Tr

Messing around with handspun yarn and basketry. Trying to find things to do with little bits of handspun so the folks in my fiber class will have a few ideas for what to do with their first yarns.

If you are interested in joining us at Meadowburn Farm on June 12th, DM me for details. A dreamy day in Warwick, NY with sheep, fleeces, and drop spindles. And a lunch by @nonchalant_cheese!

#corespun #handspun #handspunyarn #hudsonvalleyny #hudsonvalley #hudsonvalleyartist #hudsonvalleymakers #warwickny

It’s that time of year… fox is out, looking fo

It’s that time of year… fox is out, looking for food. As far as I can guess, the fox must have babies to feed, ones who aren’t ready to leave the den. Because 50 weeks a year, we don’t have a fox problem, and 2 weeks a year, the papa fox will try to grab as many chickens as he can. We lost the whole flock one year, but most years the chickens stay locked in the coop for 2 weeks until the fox kits can start hunting on their own, and then they are looking for mice, not chickens.

Swatch Time! I am trying to learn how to knit stra

Swatch Time! I am trying to learn how to knit stranded colorwork and I am finally getting somewhere! The tension is the main problem.

No 1. Is a swatch for the Carraig Fhada vest by Kate Davies Design. Baby’s first steek! 😳 #carraigfhadavest

No. 2 is the Simpler Sinister sweater, for my 10-year-old (he things they are creepy ghouls, thought the designer says they are cats). Sweater by @ancaitinbeag #simplersinistersweater

I was writing about my knitting projects (or rather, how lost I had been feeling without one) on my Substack acct - so you can sign up for my newsletter/bloggy-thing and hear more of my (occasional) thoughts about craft and creativity. 🔗 in bio

#fairisleknitting #handmadewardrobe #sweatervest #fredsaidsew #ancaitinbeag #katedaviesdesigns

We sheared the sheep on Saturday - after some dela

We sheared the sheep on Saturday - after some delays due to rain. The sheep are enjoying their spring haircuts (do you know how hard it is to scratch and itch when it’s buried under all that wool? And you don’t have hands to reach? They can reach all the itches now.

Yarn is happening! We are going to send the fleeces to a mill this year! Some will be available for sale - it’s not exactly planned out but it’s looking like we can sell ~10 lots of 8-10 skeins which will help us cover some of the milling costs. We will definitely be ordering worsted weight and maybe a lighter weight yarn as well. If you are interested let me know and I’ll keep you in the loop as we figure this out. Milling time is *at best* 4 months.

My front yard after all this rain. just kidding! B

My front yard after all this rain. just kidding! But it feels accurate. This is actually a swamp in our neighbor’s woods. And it so pretty. And I am glad my boots don’t have any holes.
Also, skunk cabbage is blooming!

Working on a quilt for a certain soon-to-be 8 year

Working on a quilt for a certain soon-to-be 8 year old. Entertaining myself with the arrangements, and I think this is where I am stopping. Is it bad energy to have the fox and hares watching each other? I like the directional balance.

Pretty amazing that i started this with no plan, and it has built into something that couldn’t have envisioned. Thank you @reginaw365 @beetleandfred and @jaccicoo for your help!

#mendmarch is passing me by! I did keep mending, j

#mendmarch is passing me by! I did keep mending, just never remembered to take photos in good lighting 😆🤪 but here are a few:
A giant darn on my son’s wool socks. They are the 4th darn on these because my older son also wore these and loved them. I evens did some mending in the wild.
Also - a bunch of boring patches on knees and butts - except the orange corduroys.
And I mended the Velcro cuff strap on my husband’s jacket a few weeks ago, but one just broke off yesterday, so I need to go re-examine that one. Mending and re-mending. If I expect to be complexly done mending a garment, then I will be routinely disappointed, because there is always more tending to do. But they take on a life and a character of their own - it stops being possession and opens into a relationship.

#mendmarch Non-sewing repairs! My kids and I repla

#mendmarch Non-sewing repairs! My kids and I replaced the auglets on a pair of boots with heat-shrink tubing (documend! Day 17!) and that reminded me that I needed to fix a charging cable. So my Advice (day 19) is to get some heat shrink tubing in a few sizes to use for simple fixes. First you cover the area with a piece of heat shrink tubing, then you heat it! We tried the hair dryer and kids were losing patience (I have heard of people using straightening irons and heat guns for this too) and then we opted for a candle. You hold it ABOVE the flame until it shrinks (very quickly, maybe 20 seconds?) Charging cable is fine - I reminded my 10-year-old to keep it out of the flame and he did great - he used a clothespin as a holder which helped a lot. One shoelace end did burn a wee bit, but it’s not going to fray anymore, so that’s fine with me (7 year old needed a few reminders about keeping it above the flame, but he did great). #repairrevolution #homeschoolrepairshop #visiblemending

Repair cafe round up! And #mendmarch catch up. E

Repair cafe round up! And #mendmarch catch up.

Ease: using Zipper Ease I treated my own boots which have a sticky zipper.

Speed: a sewing machine that wouldn’t wind a bobbin. It needed some oil and some dust removal - I was helping on this fix, getting some lessons on machine maintenance. @jaccicoo this machine came in right after you left! I figured I should pay more attention to machine tending 😉
We saw 4 machines today - same as the last repair cafe. Pre-pandemic it was rare to have even one sewing machine brought in. I am happy to see people dusting off their sewing machines after many years sitting in the closet.

Investmend: this was the most unexpected mend of the day. A man brought in a 100+ year old lamp shade - the cord had gotten so brittle that it was snapping. After sorting through everyone’s supplies, the best option was my brown embroidery thread, and I used that to lace these panels back on to the frame (one panel was completely off, and a second was hanging on by literal threads. The panels seemed to be made out of mica! The man told me it was one of his prized possessions and the light it gives off is beautiful.
#repaircafe

Repair cafe!! 10 to 2 at the Warwick Senior Center

Repair cafe!! 10 to 2 at the Warwick Senior Center!

#mendmarch - I am still mending, just forgetting to post. What day is it even?? 😬🤪 Let’s call this one speed (day mid-teens?? 😂)

We spent the afternoon improvising baskets and wre

We spent the afternoon improvising baskets and wreaths, using willow branches and baling twine. Later I bought out some purchased basket making reeds, and we kept going.

#mendmarch DEEP FREEZE so, I took my kids skiing o

#mendmarch DEEP FREEZE so, I took my kids skiing on Wednesday (we homeschool and Wednesday is ski day) and we arrive and my 7 year old FORGOT to pack his ski pants! Too far from home to go back, this is what I worry about every week - that we arrive without something essential. And so far, we have been ok. But Wednesday, we were stuck. He could ski a little before he got cold and soaked… not ideal. I ran inside to the lost and found to see if there was something we could made do with, and the only snow pants there weee exactly his size! I thanked my lucky stars and then noticed a giant rip in the back. These weren’t lost - these were left behind because they were torn and considered useless. Well, my son was thrilled and not fazed by the rip. I searched the car and realized we don’t have any duct tape, so I asked around and found someone with a roll. Success and we hit the slopes with some improvised mends.

I have been using Tenacious Tape for these kind of mends (technical fabrics that will be compromised if they are sewn) - but I am all out. Are there any other options I should look at?

#mendmarch day 12: Weak Knees These pants are on t

#mendmarch day 12: Weak Knees
These pants are on their 3rd round of mending. I let the stars lead the way. These were the mends that taught me that cotton embroidery thread is no match for a 6-year-old’s knees (it wore out before the fabric did). I am using some button hole thread right now that I got from @beetleandfred

#mendmarch day 11: TOES! Alright, this is a heel d

#mendmarch day 11: TOES! Alright, this is a heel darn, but it’s really close to the toes. What is my favorite darning tool? A whiffle ball! It keeps the sock from moving around while I work, and it’s no stress if I scratch it while I am stitching.

#mendmarch continues! Day 7 is bottoms. I always b

#mendmarch continues! Day 7 is bottoms. I always baste my patches in place so I don’t poke myself a million times with pins, and the patches don’t shift while in progress. 1st photo is after I am done stitching, but before I took out the basting threads. The second photo is the I side of the leg, after basting, before stitching started.

Botany: I don’t have much for this, so how about my hat which has some tiny flowers embroidered on it, just for fun (design mending!), and here it is filled with eggs from the chicken coop.

Buttony- fixing up a stretched out button hole for my youngest.

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