In the Studio

It's good to be back in the studio again after the storms last week! A good customer had mentioned in passing that she wanted something that was pink and yellow. Since she's a very good customer, I thought about it and came up with this combination using white as a divider color. It was so light and airy to weave, I got it done very quickly!

 I got a call yesterday from Allanstand at the Folk Art Center asking for more tops and vests to be shipped this week before the fashion show next weekend. Too bad these pieces aren't finished. The last few warps aren't quite done either but I did send them some nice whites, yellows, etc to lighten up what they have of my things.
In between I've been weaving on Thelma, my other Leclerc. I do have to start using the nylon fabric strips we have rolls of! These are placemats. I wove 4 pink and now 4 blue. I'll alternate colors til the warp is done. I do need to get this warp off. There's a wedding in 2 weeks that I won't have a gift for yet because I need to wind a natural warp and weave white on it for placemats. That's the traditional gift I give to friends getting married. A set of 4 placemats in neutral colors goes with everything and seem to be a hit! These, on the other hand, I'll sell at a shop. Something like these bright colors needs to be picked by someone that likes color!

 Thursday morning I had decided to start weaving a by weaving a couple of placemats before going to finish the pink warp. Well, I'd only woven about 10 minutes when I heard a big pop and a bolt and nut was falling on the floor. Thelma was built in 1973. She's been around awhile. We hadn't really checked the brake system when I got her a year ago. So, how was it to be put back together? I figured I knew how but couldn't get the parts to stay where I needed them to in order to get that bolt back through the parts. That evening DH helped me. He kind of didn't believe me when I said how it was to go so he researched on line typing in 1973 Nilus LeClerc. Well, he got our blog! I guess I'd written about Thelma before. I found the LeClerc book that was to have info on it but it was all vague. My Nilus was built in 1980 and by then they'd refined the brake system. It's not the same as 1973.  However, I told him again how it was to go together so he helped hold that spring and I got the bolt right and screwed on the nut.

 Taking a picture of it will remind us how to get it back together if and when that nut gets loose again. I'll have to keep checking it to be sure it's on right!! The poor loom does shake when I'm weaving these placemats but does a good job of it!

So, Saturday afternoon DH walked to the bottom part of our property. We have over 3 acres here on top of our hill. He did see that a couple of big trees from our neighbor's property fell onto our land down there in the storm the other Monday. I don't know if they'll end up cutting it up or not. It'd be hard to get the wood out of there!
The big thing, however, was that he found a photo. People in our area have been finding things like pictures, canceled checks, etc in their yards. They were blown in from the storms on Wednesday when Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee got blasted. There are no markings on this one, but it could be from Alabama or maybe Georgia. Ringgold got hit pretty badly... I think there's a website that one can post pictures they found in hopes of someone recognizing the person and us getting the picture back to the owner. I'd love to be able to mail this one back.

This week I'll be weaving black. I just got a black warp on the loom for an order for a dress. It's a bit wider than normal so I decided to just weave it alone with some extra for putting into a jacket. The next warp will also be black. Kind of a somber couple of projects but I sell alot of black. Having other looms warped for scarves and placemats will help break that up!!
It's also warming up here and should be in the 80s this week. With all the storms and cold weather earlier I really haven't gotten my deck filled with plants yet. We haven't brought out the ones we wintered over in the greenhouse. I hope to be able to do that this week. Summer's here all of a sudden! Hopefully we  will be done with the storms!!!
Carol