Tape trims, masking tape and sweet endings...

 The shelf is almost finished.  It's taken two coats of each colour, with drying time in between.  The edge between the yellow and blue shows that even with masking tape, I'm only adequate at painting straight lines.  Not bad, but not perfect.  Now, to get brave enough to sand it down and apply the glaze.  I took the leftover ivory paint from the livingroom walls and mixed it with the leftover very pale yellow paint from the bathroom.  It's not quite as yellow as the photo shows.  I didn't want the back of my shelf to blend in too much with the wall, but didn't want a large slab of blue on the wall either.

I'm teaching a couple of friends to tablet weave later this week.  I'm using a 10 card, simple backwards and forwards design, which accommodates the continuous warping or fast warping method.  I thought I should brush up on some skills and make sure my pattern draft was accurate.  There are 2 metres of the green and white trim here.  I used an inkle loom and it really isn't worth spending the time warping it up for a small sample.  It doesn't take all that long to weave off the whole length.  I could have done another 1/2 metre or so but broke a warp thread and it wasn't worth tying on a new one for that short extra bit.  I mean, it really is just a sample.

 The inkle loom is made of Walnut and is  quite heavy.  That means that it doesn't move at all when in use.  It's beautifully finished and works like a charm.  I've been playing with the two shuttles to see which I prefer.  I've a couple of other styles as well, which I'm hoping to have tested by the end of this length.  I didn't put as much warp on the loom, so the tape should be a tad shorter than the green one.  It's pretty though.    I'm also playing with arborite cards which Maureen's handy husband made.  They have a slight curve in there, but it's a non-issue.  They work beautifully.  I only have a few though, so I'll have to see if there are leftovers after the fact.  I'd hate to see them languishing in some drawer someplace, when they'd be awesome for wider project experiments.

Peach jam, with sadly floating fruit.   Since I've still not managed to replace my food processor, I chopped these peaches by hand.  I think the pieces were still larger than they should have been.  In hindsight, I'd have run the peaches through the grinder.  The good thing is that the jam tastes just fine.  It just looks a bit ugly.  For family use though, it will be fine.  If I go to make more jam this year though, stop me.  There is plenty in the pantry: apricot jam, peach jam, raspberry jelly, strawberry jam.  Plus, there is almost a kilo of currants in the freezer.  I really don't think I need more jam this year.