Friday, August 30, 2013

Quick Post

In 2 weeks, I am going, once again to Africa, to help my daughter with her adoption.   I will be gone about one month, but before that, next week I am going camping with Dear One and a group of old friends.  That means that I am spending time today trying to get the bookkeeping done for the Tuesday Weavers, and get the cash box done for the fall shows and get my inventory ready for the shows too, just in case I don't make it back in time for the Museum of Appalachia's Homecoming.

I have gotten the bookkeeping caught up, and gone to the bank.  I have inventoried the stock I have that is finished, and made my inventory sheet.  Now I am trying to get the bread cloths hemmed washed and ironed.  Lou Ann shared with me something the other day about ironing in the hem before you go to the sewing machine.  I have to tell you that it cuts the sewing time down quite a bit when you don't have to slow down to remove pins!

 Thanks Lou Ann!  I have 7 more to hem, then it is into the washer they go!  I may have time to weave up another red one or two, but I can add that to the tub before I go if that is the case.  I want to deliver all this stuff next Tuesday so that I can concentrate on packing!

This is likely my last post until late October, wifi is sketchy where I am going.  I hope to be full of wonderful news when I get back!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Thanks Going Out.....


.....to my sister, Joyce.  While she was in town last week, she helped me get this warp on Ester.  This is the first warp for her in about 70 years....she was way past due!

  I don't think I could have done this without her......or, I would still be trying to get it wound on the warp beam!    This was also the first time Joyce has helped put a warp on a loom....so how appropriate that the loom belonged to our great-grandmother!

Joyce has claimed a rug from this warp as payment!





.....to Carl and Tina for being such wonderful weaving friends!
  There are always those projects that don't go exactly as planned, and this wool shawl is one of those!  Carl and I always talk all the way to the Center on Tuesdays, and he has wonderful weaving advice.
  Tina suggested using an alternative to a temple to keep the selvedge threads from breaking.  Right now I have a clip on it....she uses a bent paper clip.  I'll try both ways!


.....to Maggie for the great directions to the Birkenstock Outlet store.

YES, I found what I was looking for....and they also had some Keen shoes on sale.   Tina even found her a new pair of Keens....ON SALE!

  As we get ready for the Fall Homecoming at the Museum of Appalachia and the Foothills Guild Sale, it's very important to have some super comfortable shoes!

  I think I'm ready in that department, now.




......to my weaving friends (and those wonderful knitters) that bring me their bits and pieces of leftover yarn.  Sometimes I spin it into art yarn, and sometimes I just use it like it is. 







  And, they offer encouragement when I go off on a tangent with one of my crazy ideas. 

  It is so much fun to try out new projects!





  ......and, I would be remiss if I didn't thank all of our Followers for coming back time after time to our blog.  We often talk about the blogs we read, and we are so delighted to have folks join us for our weaving journey.




Again....thank you! 

And, now that summer has actually started here in our neck of the woods (temps in the 90's and humidity at 60% today) I think I'll spend some time outside.

Maybe just chillin'.........


Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

See Them Beady Eyes?

 Last week, I got a new laptop, to assist me in teaching pastry classes at UT in the culinary department.  Very exciting, no?  The classes will be, but the laptop is very disappointing.  I've had my iMac for seven years, and maybe I'm just spoiled, and maybe laptop was a bargain for a reason, but it just doesn't work very well.  I tried again to post the blog from it, and it can't download pictures that it says it has.
  It is very good, however, at using Microsoft Word, and I have been merrily writing stories with it, enjoying that aspect of it immensely.

I've started weaving, after many samples, on the hand painted warp on Jenny.  I tried beading with hand manipulated lace on the border, and like it very much.  Then,  I started beading in the center of the Bronson Lace diamonds.  You can't see it very well, can you?  Well, that's my problem with it, too.  I am going to have to move a lamp over it to be able to see which pick to put the beads in.  I will tell you, though, that the article I mentioned last week on how to insert beads into weaving has helped a lot!  I'm using black quilting thread, and picking up just enough beads for each space.  It's a lot easier to control them, and the quilting thread slips right into the black bamboo weft.  I think it will be subtle, but a teeny bit of sparkle.

Now, here's a guy who brings a sparkle to my eye!  Another Lee's Surrender is done, the eggplant one.  I was absolutely determined to finish it yesterday, and worked up quite a sweat doing it.  And now it's time to start the Colonial Blue, a greyed-down royal blue that's very traditional.  I'd like to also try one with two colors, maybe the red interspersed with the blue.
  Yesterday, Linda asked me if there was a brother-pattern to Lee's Surrender, Grant's Victory.  I've never heard of it, and maybe Grant should get equal time, but after all, he did win the war and become president.  Perhaps that should be enough, don't you think?
  Something to ponder, though, while you weave.  If you could name a weaving pattern, what would you choose?  Happy Weaving!

Maggie

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Welcome Back!!!

It's looking like we're getting back to normal around here!  Several of our regulars are back with us, again!  It got busy in a hurry this morning!




Carol hit the floor running on her first Tuesday back...a big TW welcome to Julia!
  Julia took the scarf class last winter, and she's ready to take Carol's Learn To Weave class.  We're glad to have her with us.








  We were all happy to see Eiko's smiling face this morning!  And, it was such good news that her husband is doing so well, and has gone back to work!  It must have been all that TLC she provided during his recovery!!!!






  Ann needed to finish up some place mats she's making for a wedding gift.....so she just brought her loom so she could weave with us today.  Sounds like a great plan!!!











Marie is all decked out in her Tennessee shirt....she's ready for the first game this weekend!  Go Big Orange!



Carl wove up all his blue jean strips, so it was time to cut more!  This will keep him busy for a little bit.

  Cindy has wound her warp on, and she's ready to start weaving.





And, sometimes we have to work in pairs:  Allan and Pat were on one side of the loom while I was on the backside of the loom.  We had tension problems with the loom, so it was decided to rewind onto the back beam!

    Oy Vey!!!!!




Betsy and Linda had catch up time.





  Maggie, Tina and Ann also took some time to catch up on their news.





  And, lunch time is always a favorite time to find out what's going on.







  Carol brought her finished king size quilt that she made while she was visiting her Mom and Sis. 


  And, Linda brought her newly finished rug that would be so perfect for a new baby girl!!!!






Ms. Ila made a chocolate, chocolate cake to welcome everyone back!
   YUM!





Shhhhhhhhh!
  Don't tell Allan that Tina is fixing his warp.  We noticed that he seemed to be ignoring the loom, and then realized that he had lost his cross!!!!!
  Tina got busy on the chain, and she's almost finished threading the reed.  Thank you, Tina!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Monday, August 26, 2013

Catching Up

 
I'm back in Knoxville!! Leaving very early last Wednesday, I drove for 3 days, never driving more than 12 hours per day and got home Friday evening just in time to unload and head over to Monterrey Restaurant for a fajita chicken quesadilla!! I did take a bag of smarties over there for the owner and his family to enjoy!!
So, I didn't take any pictures while I drove. It's pretty flat land most of the time and I enjoy looking out over it all but it doesn't always photograph well plus I would have had to stop and try to figure out how to get a good picture. What usually happens is that you get alot of the ditch, some of the fields and tons and tons of sky. So I didn't do that this time.
I had some trouble downloading the pictures onto the site while I was up north. Today I thought I'd try again and it worked much better.
So, we did go to Regina one nice Sunday for lunch. It's a major deal to take Mom places. She's doing well but we don't want to mess with that much so it's better not to travel far. Regina is about an hour from Moose Jaw. We went for lunch to Tony Roma's and then drove around the lake and to the Legislative Building where the provincial government is.
The lake is man made but quite large and on a pretty day people like to walk around it, enjoying the weather knowing that winter's just around the corner again. Some people walk around it in winter as well. There is a path all around it and it's a fairly safe place to go.
We had driven almost all the way around when we had to stop for these guys! Just a few of the ones that decided they had to cross the road right that minute!!
 Here's the Legislative Building. I didn't grow up in Saskatchewan. My province is Manitoba. Our building has the Golden Boy on top. This one just has a nice dome.
 Recently they commissioned a statue to be built in front of the building. I know there was a feature in one of the news broadcasts while we were there about this statue. I think the name on the base said Walter Scott but I forgot to research it.
 This is the cool thing about it. He's holding a banner that you can position so that the top of the building is in the open space.
 The flowers were gorgeous!! Even though summer is short up there, the flowers just sparkle those few short months.
 The lake. It's long and narrow. Behind us was the Legislative Building and in front of us you can see a few buildings from downtown.
 Just a few more Canadian Geese. These guys fly south for the winter. Ours here in Knoxville just stay year round. Up there the winter's cold, the water frozen, snow everywhere. Those geese fly south.
 Back to my quilt that I made. I sewed a bunch of the 8 inch blocks. In trying to keep things mixed up and not having too much of one color in one place, I set up the design wall and sort of planned each row. Design wall wasn't big enough so it had to sort of be jerry rigged because 14 squares didn't fit in the space of the 6 ft wall but it worked. I did 2 or 3 rows at a time, sewed them together and then put them up to figure out the next couple of rows. Using numbers pinned to  the beginning of each row really helped.
 My sister sews on the kitchen table so that's where I set up my machine. Mom was nearby working on a crossword puzzle.
 As the rows were added, the pile of fabric on the left just got bigger and heavier. I was glad I had a friend to quilt it on her long arm machine.
So that's the last of what we did. I'm glad to be home again with all the work waiting for me!
On a side note, today is our anniversary. DH and I have been married 35 years today. It's hard to believe it's been that many years and yet it's like we've always been together. We're not big into celebrating. We never had a honeymoon but we've made it all work. Tomorrow evening we'll go out to eat. It doesn't work for tonight. 
So here's to another year together and to work on the projects that are on my list!
Until next week, keep weaving. I'm heading to the studio now to wind a warp for an order that needs to be woven fairly quickly.
Carol

Friday, August 23, 2013

Blue to Red

I made the transition from the blue stripes to the red stripes on Monday.  In Bonnie's comment last week, she asked why there was so much waste when I went from green to blue.  I thought I would show you how the transition happens.

 First, here are the last of the green cloths (7) and all of the blue cloths (10) ready to be hemmed and then washed.   I hope to get 10 red ones too!
The first hint of the color change coming, is that you can see the red unveiling itself on the warp beam.








Then the first hint of color comes thru the heddles and the reed.



It gets a little dicey as the knots come through the heddles, you don't always get an easy shed.  Much fiddling with the yarn needed, but it is doable.







Luckily, I finished the last cloth inches from the first red thread!  You can see that there are about 18 inches before the red will have made it through the reed and into the weaving area.

At this point I have learned to just cut off the finished cloth, and pull the warp the rest of the way forward and re-tie for a fresh start.


Here we are well on our way!  I am getting ready to start the 3rd Bread Cloth of 10.  I will probably only get 2 or 3 done today, because I am weaving on a custom blanket order today too!

I haven't decided if the waste that I have using this method is less or as much as it would have been had I wound on 3 different warps.  It definitly saves time in dressing the loom!



Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Just a Wee Glimpse

  I didn't have anything pressing to do today.

  My weaving projects at home are coming along, but there's really not anything newsworthy.

I woke up thinking that it would be a good day to work in the Loom House.  It just seemed like the right thing to do today.






  This is where I left off threading the last time I was there.



  The heddles are threaded, and I got a couple of inches sleyed in the reed.

  But, I started losing the light.  It seemed like a good time to call it a day.

  I had a few visitors today.  There was a family of four from Romania....the mom told me that lots of folks still weave in her village.  Many of them still use "barn looms" but she had never seen a rocker loom.



  I'm sure you have guessed by now....I don't really go there to weave.

  There's a peace there.....
.....an easy, peaceful feeling.
  A sense of touching the past, but very grateful for the here and now.





  If you need me, you might want to look in the Loom House......I just might be right where I need to be.


Happy Weaving!
LouAnn