Produce

 I'm on my way out the door, have to be at work in less than an hour, to feed breakfast pastries to the poor, over-worked staff running the meeting that's at the farm this week!  I wanted to show your the fruits, literally of my labors in my veggie garden that you've been watching developing since October.  I've very, very excited to see my first tomato!




And so many bean flowers, it's kind of making me nervous--I'm a single person!  I can't eat all those beans!

 It's a good thing I love chilies, too!  Lots of banana peppers, lots of Anaheims, mmmmmm!

 And the silly okra, growing aplentiful!

Remind me to wash the pasta bowl before I use it next time.  I had no idea it was a napping place.  Eew!

Happy weaving!
Maggie

She's Back.........

YEAH!!!!

  We were starting to think we would never get to spend time with her again.....but Bonnie blessed us with a visit this morning.   She was able to stay until lunch time, and then left to go home and ice down that foot.  It might be awhile before she's ready to sit at the loom, but maybe she could manage an Inkle???

  Meanwhile, at the other side of the room, Tina was trying to get her tension box on the loom.  It didn't want to attach to the back beam!!!  Thank heavens that there is a tension box at the Center, and it worked very nicely.

  The 20 yard warp went on smoothly, and we're calling it the "Southwest" warp.

Love all those colors together!!!!

  (By the way....if you're reading this Maggie, we will be putting another sectional warp on the Herald Loom next week.  We got the thread tree loaded, and the sectional beam ready today.  We can get going on it as soon as we arrive.)

  Sometimes you just need a chance to catch up with good friends!  Before Dye Day got into action, there was lots of conversation, too!

.

  Mix up the dye.

Let the warp dyeing begin!!!!  Carl and Lanny are good supervisors!!!!

  There's always something going on....what a wonderful group of weavers!
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

It's working!

I've been weaving for a long time and over the years I've gone to quite a few fiber conferences. Back in the 80s when Midwest Weavers Conference was every year, we'd go. We didn't go to the pre conference but we'd usually have a couple of cars full of our local weavers heading to wherever the conference would be. It was a highlight of our year. We learnt alot, met weavers from everywhere and always looked forward to it. Then the dates changed and it wasn't as easy to go so for quite a few years none of us went.

I discovered the pre conference the year it was up in Wisconsin and I had to fly up there. Didn't think I could drive. A friend who'd moved to Washington State met me there and we both took the whole week worth of classes. That's when I learnt how to remove dye from the handwovens and have done that for years on the clothes that I sell.

This year I'm heading up to Hancock, MI on Friday. I'm taking Linda with me and dropping her off just north of Green Bay at Karen in the Wood's. I think they've got a huge week planned!!

I signed up for the pre conference class with Sheila O'Hara. My 8 shaft baby wolf wouldn't work for the project so I just "had" to order an ashford table loom. That's another thing. Going to these conferences you see lots of people's looms and find ones that you really like. No one down here had one but I wove on a couple last time at Midwest when I took Robyn Spady's pre conference class. I absolutely loved how it wove, great shed and that beater!! To die for!! So I ordered one. Finally got it together recently and put on a very short warp just to be sure I'd put it all together correctly and wove a set of mug rugs using all 8 shafts.

 It's time to get my project on the loom. This project has given me nightmares! You wind 2 warps. Both the same width and 24 epi using 10/2 cotton. Then you put them both on the loom using 2 sets of lease sticks. I have the ashford raddle as well which has nails every half inch so  I just skipped a slot and divided the reds and then attached the blue warp using the alternating slots and wound it on. Had to use 2 sticks to lash onto the warp beam. So it looks stripped but it isn't.

 I've got it 1/3 threaded. You take one thread from one warp, thread it and then a thread from the other warp. So you're alternating following the pattern we're using. We were to use 2 different colors in our warps and make them interesting. I went from burgundy to gold and back on one and the ohter goes from blue to green. We're going to experiment and then have enough on there for a scarf. One side will be one color and the other side will be the other color. I have wanted to do something like this for awhile. Oh yeah, threading the reed. You're threading 48 epi!!! You're actually weaving 2 layers so it's not as bad as it sounds.

 Going to a class like this forces you to do things you haven't done before and I love it! Last Midwest we wove velvet and it was beyond fun!!

These pictures are for my Mom. Mom lives in Canada and can't get down here like she used to and I know she loves to see our plants.
We hadn't taken out plants out of the greenhouse yet because DH was in the middle of pressure washing and then staining the deck. We're kind of busy so it got postponed a bit longer than it should have. Early spring was cold and then it went hot but he did it! Yesterday we pulled out the plants that come out. Things like the Christmas cactus and the hibiscus stay in the greenhouse because the squirrels chew on them and destroy them otherwise.

 I think the deck looks great! He wants to stan the railing yet too. He did that upstairs but hasn't down here yet. The plant above was given to us in fall a couple of years ago. Our friend Sherrie'd been given it and they didn't want to fool with it when fall came so we put it in our greenhouse. They didn't want it back so it's on our deck. It's pretty big and maybe I should trim it a bit but it is pretty.

We don't have as many ferns as we often have this year. I decided not to winter over as many this time. All of these look good so they'll probably go back in again. I have ferns, geraniums and coleus by my studio door as well. They are always new plants. I winter those and then they come back out here the next spring. I like my little greenhouse. I don't start plants in there like I probably should, just keep them going.
This week I"ll just keep working in the studio as I can. It is going to be a busy one with distractions again but one gets done as much as one can!! Then Friday afternoon we'll be heading north. I'm not looking forward to going via Chicago which is why we're leaving Friday instead of Saturday. I want to give us plenty of time to get through there!!!
I'll take my laptop along and they say there's wifi in the common areas of the dorm so I hope to be able to send an update next week on the trip north. I think it's going to be cooler up there too! Might have to dig out socks if it's as cool as it has been!!!
Carol

Roots

Yes.....roots!
  My sister and I spent yesterday up in the Great Smoky Mountains and Townsend.  I couldn't resist this picture.....it is a great reminder of OUR roots which run deep here in the mountains of East Tennessee.  I also think that it represents the hard struggle of the people who used to live in these mountains....they clung to the land and thrived despite the conditions.
  Besides wanting to spend the day in our beloved Smokies, I was looking for the book, Heirlooms & Artifacts of the Smokies, which was published by the Park Service.  It catalogs all the stuff warehoused by the Park Service from the farms that were bought out when they created the National Park.  .

  Since we didn't have an agenda, we pulled over where ever we wanted, and I took lots of pictures.  The rhododendron and star gazer lilies were in bloom.....and there were lots of people enjoying the icy waters of the river.  I have played in that water before, and I can attest that it COLD!


I finished up the black warp, and gave Joyce the honor of cutting it off the loom.

There were 4 pairs of mug rugs and 2 pod pockets.  I also had an extra orange mug rug and one yellow "let's play with the pattern" mug rug.  (Yes...those are blind slats used as spacers between the pod pockets!)

  Here are three of Carl's totes that are getting the button loops hemmed before they are washed.  I knew I would need to tackle them in small bites, so I serged the edges of the first 3 and I work on the loops while I watch TV.  One is done, I'm half way through the second one, and I'm planning on finishing the third one this morning when I return from the post office.  Then they can be washed and dried and sewn together.  I think that doing three a week is a manageable plan.


  That will give me time to get my warps on the two Pups and get those warps going, too.  Heaven knows that I'm never bored with so many projects going at once.


  My sister asked me if I could do a large tote for a friend of hers this weekend......maybe if she sews the strips together that could be arranged!  Team work has its advantages!  It could be that our ROOTS are showing......that mountain "can-do" attitude.  You gotta love it!
  Congrats to Tina on the birth of her twin "kids."  Go over to Farmstead and take look!!!
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Blackberries!

I was watering the Blackberries yesterday.  It has been very hot and dry this Spring!  As I was going down the line  I noticed that we had a great crop of berries this year.  It got me thinking of the gallons of berries I have in the freezer.  You see I haven't done preserves or even jam before, so last year, I was so intimidated by it all I just stuck them in the freezer.


Hmmm, I better do something about those before the new crop comes in!

We love Blackberry Preserves, so I did a search and came up with a recipe that looks pretty easy.  I pulled out a gallon bag of berries and let them thaw a bit while I started on the rest.

Combine and bring to boil:
5 cups sugar
1 cup water 

Boil 1 minute, then add the berries and boil again for 1 minute.  Remove from the heat and cover to let cool overnight.

In the morning, wash 7 pint jars and lids, then sterilize in boiling water for 10 minutes.  As the jars are getting the steam treatment, heat the berries once more to boiling, and boil 3 minutes.  Fill jars, add lids and put aside to cool.

I added an extra cup of sugar to the recipe, mostly because some of the berries were not exactly ripe when they were picked.  The mixture also did not seem very thick as I ladled it into the jars, so if it doesn't thicken up as it cools, I will go get some surejell and redo them.  I will let you know how it is once we try some.

 Since I posted last week about all the finishing I had piled up, I have hemmed the 3 Baby Blankets on the treadle machine, and started on the Linen Towels for the Foothills Craft Guilds Show this fall.  It will be part of my contribution to the Tuesday Weavers booth.  I am using a hand hemming technique I found in an old book about "Danish Pulled Thread"  It is really a good compliment to the Leno Lace accent I wove in.

I have dusted off  and oiled the Ashford Traditional this week and have started spinning a little of the Silver Romney that I have been slowly working thru.  It feels good to have her up and running once again.



I have been spinning Linen most days, a few minutes here and there.  I tried to spin it from within a towel but was not very successfull, plus it is just too hot to have something else on my lap!  I then watched a youtube video series by the guys from the Hermitage.  They took you from the cutting of the Flax to the spinning of it.  I tried their suggestion of just tying the a portion of the fluffed strick of flax to the top of the distaff and not adding ribbon all the way down.  It looked odd to me, that hank of flax just blowing softly in the breeze of my box fan.  However, it was really much easier to spin that way, and it didn't ball up in a tangled mess.  Hurray!  It isn't beautiful yet, but we are making progress.

Last night I had a good friend of mine stop by to look at the Great Wheel to see if he would be able to fix it for me.  It has a couple of loose spokes, so I haven't been able to take it out to demonstrate, and teach.  I do love to teach people to spin on it.  I can usually have them spinning fairly well in about 4 hours.  He is going to let me know when he is ready for it.

Lest you thing that the looms are being neglected, I am weaving almost everyday!  I have made good progress on the "Kings Flower in Old Rose"  Baby Blanket, and I plan to finish it today.  I am also going to do a couple of mug rugs on the Glimakra in the family room.  I may call Lou Ann to get some instructions for making an Ipod carrier or two, since I am doing a different Overshot pattern than she is doing.  It will be good to have a lot of variety in our booth this fall.  I plan to have several of my blankets, mug rugs, ipod carriers, and who knows what all else.  It is going to be a busy summer getting ready, but when you can do something you really like to do, and be creative at the same time, what can be better!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

Packing for two

Two trips, that is. Tomorrow I go back in time. I will be heading to Martin's Station at Wilderness Road State Park. As you already know I love reenacting the 18th century. Not so much in this heat, though and it is going to be really hot. Thankfully there is a dog trot we can sit in. It is always cooler in there.

Preparing for this trip takes lots of thought. It isn't only packing the right clothes but everything else, too. I will need the right pots, cooking utensils and food. Here is a picture of what I have gotten together so far. I am taking wool to card and the tape loom so I can weave.

Just in case you are wondering about the cooler. We are allowed to take them but they must stay in the car.


Even our food must be accurate. Here is a picture of an apple pie and a pork roast in the oven. I am trying to limit my time over an open fire. It is just too hot! The pork roast will be put in an appropriate dish to serve.

I am also packing for a possible trip to Wisconsin. I am really hoping to visit a long time weaving friend. I think it is has been two years since we have seen each other!


Lastly I will leave you with a picture of some money plant that I cut this morning. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it were real money?

Linda

By the Yard

 When you look at the front of my house, you see the porch to the right side, and at the back of that porch are two big windows.  Behind those windows sit three sad, neglected, dust-bunnied looms.  But leading up to the front door, you see why those looms are neglected.
  For me, this is the summer of the yard!  I have been toiling in the rain, cold, heat, sun, blazing sun, hot sun--you get the idea--since last October to bring my yards into order.  I still have a long way to go, but there are parts I love and want to share with you.
  These amazing flowers to the right are Cleomes.  They bloom like crazy, and are currently the stars of the front flower beds, only because there are so many of them.  The hot pink Echinacea are about to show them up, but these guys aren't deterred.

  On the other side are some gift flowers, Gladioli that my piano teacher gave me last year, mixed with some that I bought in Rugby, an amazing little village in east Tennessee, during their Rugby Days festival two years ago.  These guys spread like crazy, and I'm hoping they have a good summer, spreading their corms all through that corner of the garden.
 

Here is the best section of my poor little median garden.  It's trying so hard!  First, the sewer guys dug it all up and filled it back in with hard, nasty red clay.  Then, the fill dirt I used had weed and grass seeds in it.  I caught a Roller Blader using it for a braking area when the hill got too steep for him.  The sun bakes it all day; people use it instead of the sidewalk.  The zinnias have taken hold, though, and I'm going to go buy them some little friends this afternoon to fill the rest of the garden in.  I'm hoping it keeps people from walking in it anymore.

 I apologize for the fuzziness of this photo, but I'm still having downloading issues with my real camera, and this is from my phone.  Here is my vegetable garden, bursting forth and having a good time.  The beans are just today starting to flower, and the tomatoes are trying hard, too.  The herbs are thriving (why did I plant so much basil?) and the cucumbers and cantaloupe are dreaming big.
  I planted one row of okra and one row of eggplant, didn't remember which was which and only one came up.  It has now been revealed to me that it's the okra that won.  You might laugh at my planting okra, but you should see the beets!  I guess I just didn't get enough of either last year.



 I'm not sure if you can see this photo closely enough to help me, but I can't figure out what this is.  It's a volunteer, in the lettuce row.  It looks like a cucumber, but it's on the opposite side of the garden from where I planted them, and it looks much more vicious!  It has very, very sharp thorns, long and plentiful.  And no sign of fruit, yet.  I'll keep an eye on this guy.

 Today's chore is to weed the back flower bed and put down the mulch.  It's such a daunting task that I actually bought the mulch two weeks ago, and still hadn't started the weeding.  So, of course, the weeds carried on, and had a good time.  To the left is my first half hour of work, but it's the back of the bed, the widest part that is the worst.
  To the right is the "before" picture of the back of the bed.  There are Japanese Anemones somewhere in that mess, as well as false indigo, foxglove and shasta daisies.  Most of it is now weeded, but not all.  I ran out of gas!  I didn't want to be found face down in the clover, crab grass rooting around me, becoming fertilizer.

 As I cool down and rehydrate, I will leave with parting shots of plants that don't ask as much from me.  I planted this Knock Out rose the first fall I lived in my house, and it blooms and blooms, no matter how bad the weeds get around it, no matter how little I pay attention to it.
  The day lilies were in bloom when I bought the house, and have surrounded the long-lamented black walnut tree with blooms every May and June.
  This Queen Anne's lace is a beautiful weed, gracing the unweeded back corner of the yard.  As long as it makes itself beautiful, I'll give it a reprieve.
  And now it's time to weave.  I'll spend the afternoon working on the shawl on the Artisat, gazing out the window at my flowers.
  Happy weaving, all!  Maggie