Love Those Rugs!

I've been collecting old jeans for quite awhile now. Not only the blue ones, but black ones, too. Knew they'd come in handy sometime. So I cut them apart and used my cutter to make strips. I know. Carl cuts them in big sections, sews them together end on end and then cuts the strips. I like to just cut the strips using the whole section of jeans, no waste. So some strips are just 5 inches long. Makes for a fun conglomeration of strips.

Then it's time to sew the strips together. I chain sew them in long strips. My only rule is that I try not to have 2 of the identical strips next to each other. That doesn't always work but it adds variety to the rug.

After weaving them, you can see from the rugs rolling onto my cloth beam that they are interesting.

I ended up with 5 rugs. Friday they went to a shop, along with several other rugs. Here's hoping they will find a good home!

So what's next? Time for my regular production. A warp is on the loom, ready for me to weave. 

The weather here is gorgeous. Fall is around the corner. Leaves are starting to fall and there's a crispness in the air. I know. We'll have more hot weather this week, but it's nice to know that we should be able to turn offs he air conditioning soon!

Until next week, keep weaving!!

Carol

Mostly Pictures!

Too tired to say much tonight!  We had a great "Days of the Pioneers" at the Museum of Appalachia, in Norris TN.  Lou Ann manned the Rocker Beater Loom in the loom house, and I sat and spun wool and flax on the porch of the Peter's Cabin.

 This is the first time I have used the little red Mayville wheel for flax.  I realized last weekend that unlike a lot of my old wheels this one loves to spin in the counter clockwise direction, which is wonderful for spinning flax!  I brought the freestanding distaff for it's Museum debut, it performed wonderfully!

There were many antique dealers on hand plying their wares.  There was furniture and all sorts of tools, and old wooden bowls in all sorts of sizes.  But I was looking for textile goodies, and I found some!


Flax

Hackles galore!

two sizes on this one

this one has a cover

Then there were the coverlets!

Old clothes, take a peek at those baby socks! 

linen shift

baby socks

skein winder

Finally a sampling of the fiber tools I saw.

broken down table loom

bobbin winder

There was a really old bobbin winder and super old sitting great wheel.  Plus I saw a couple of tow distaffs earlier in the day that I did not get pictures of.

I am tired as tired can be, but I wanted to share the fun!

The next big event at the Museum is the Homecoming in early mid October.  Ya'll Come!

Until next time, happy crafting, Tina

Stay Tuned

Stay tuned for pictures and commentary tomorrow evening.
Tina

Rainy Day Sewing

  This is my project today.  It's an apron to wear when I demonstrate at the Museum. 
  Yes....those are flour sack panels! 

Way back in the late '80's, these panels were used in a jumper I made.  I loved that jumper!!!  Needless to say, I could not get into that jumper now, but I wasn't ready to give it up, either.  It's getting a new life as an apron!
***FYI--the sewing basket was a Christmas gift to me when I was 10 years old.  I still use it!

 
  Tomorrow and Saturday, Tina and I will be at the Museum of Appalachia for Days of the Pioneer Antique Show.  She will be spinning on the porch at the Peter's Homestead Cabin while I weave in the Loom House on the old Rocker Beater Loom.
  We'll get to meet a lot of new folks, and greet friends that we made last year.

In fact, it was last year that sent us on the "Great Apron Search!"  We kept seeing these ladies with these great linen aprons.  I was sure I could make one.

  What I found out was that this style apron works great on less curvy ladies!!!! 
  But, I do like having the straps cross in the back....no ties to worry about!
  So, I've done some adjustments over the last 12 months, and I have an apron I like to wear over my denim dress.   I'll be adding my flour sack apron to the line-up this weekend.

 Panda Update:
  Here's the latest picture I captured when I took a wee peek last night!!!  I am amazed at how much more distinct the black markings are now!  And, Mama stays gone longer now when she goes to feed....it gives all of us more time to marvel at this wee creature.

  I haven't had any close up times today, and I need to get back to my project.  Here's the link if you'd like to go take a look:  Panda Cam

Rainy days are great for sewing projects, don't you think?

Happy Weaving (and sewing!)
LouAnn

"It's Too Quiet In Here!"

Roz announced this, and then offered to sing!!!!  Why, you ask?  

Everyone was busy...just doing what weavers do every Tuesday.  

  Now...don't get me wrong...there was chatter.  Just not too much chatter.

  Carol had pulled out the serger that is kept at the Studio...Jocelyn's placemats were ready to be cut apart.  They made quite the team!!!

  I was surprised to hear some folks say they had never used a serger.  Is that possible????  I guess we all have different tools in our toolbox.

 
  Tina is on the homestretch with the coverlet repair.  (It would be too easy on a noisy Tuesday to mis-treadle the tabby!!!!)  


 







  Bonnie is making great progress with her shawl warp, and those purples are amazing on Shirley's scarf!  It is a feast for the eyes!


 



  Sharon has really taken to kumihimo weaving!  She has finished two bracelets, and she's working on another design now.  Just another way to play with fiber and color!  Frieda's scarf is looking great on the rigid heddle loom.

   Now that Carl's rug are finished and upstairs in the shop, it's time to put another warp on the old barn loom!  Today he worked on sleying the reed.  That means that next week he'll be threading.  (Carl warps front to back.)

  I heard Darlene say that she is getting near the end of the throw on Big Bertha.  I wonder how much warp is left on that loom????


 








   There were lots of ooohhhs and ahhhhhs when Charlotte dropped by with her finished placemats.   She's been working on them on her loom at home, and we were all thrilled with the finished product.

Too quiet?  Sometimes....but, usually when we're eating!!!!  
......or, when we're weaving!!!!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

 

Progress!

We scheduled a dye weekend about 2 months ago for this past Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Well, this is a holiday weekend. Plus, Ila hurt her back and is out of commission for at least a month or two. So that left me in charge and no one else could dye this time. I had to work Thursday at The Art Market. Then a family crisis kept me out of town Friday and Saturday. Since I needed to get my dye projects done, it left Sunday afternoon. I have the best DH in the world. He brought some work along and then helped me with putting Saran Wrap on the table for the 2 warps I needed to paint. Getting the Saran Wrap to lay right all the length of the double table is a miracle with 2 people, let alone just by myself. It saved not only time, but a lot of Saran Wrap for him to help me. 

I forgot to take a picture of the first warp. But, it's hard to do with the iPad. So I got it in the pail. It's boring anyway. I used 4 shades of black. The wrapped up bamboo will sit in the pail til probably Wednesday when I start rinsing everything to remove excess dye and then hang to dry.

See what I mean about hard to get a good picture of the warp? This is the second one, done in greens and blue. Saran Wrap is on the table, on top of the plastic tablecloth.

I had a bunch of skeins for weft. I always first use the leftover dyes from the warp. So it's pretty boring but once rinsed, these will be nice darker colors.

I couldn't stand it! I mixed up some brighter greens and blues!

So that's done. I thought I was doing great. Working less than 5 hours, pulling out things, setting up, painting all the pieces, loading up and heading out. Wasn't sore at all.....til I got out of my car!! Boy, we're getting old. Had to take a couple of Advil!! 

This morning I'm fine and ready to weave a couple of blue jean rugs. It's going to be a weaving week here! 

Back to the swing of things!!

Until next week, keep weaving.

Carol

Agenda

  This has been on my agenda for awhile, but today is the day I have chosen to tackle this project.  Actually, I HAVE to do this!  My yarn collection is out of control....I found a bag of yarn in my closet last weekend that I had forgotten about buying.  It's really lovely....and I think I have bought that yarn before!!!!  I wonder if other fiber addicts have this problem?

  That being said, I bought one of those storage units so I could sort the yarn by types and colors.  Now, I need to get it put together.........
  Today is the day.......



And, then this little cutie can be placed on top for more storage of beautiful fiber....or, at least it can after IT is put together.

  Then comes the sorting!  (Also, reacquainting myself with all that lovely yarn I squirreled away!)



 





  I finished up making the straw loom kits with the yarn that the Tuesday Weavers donated so far.  I made 18 kits!  They still need the straw looms, but the yarn is wound and the bags are ready.  We are running low upstairs in the shop, and we'll need some to take to Homecoming at the Museum in October.    





And, now for my guilty pleasure:  The Panda Cam at the National Zoo.
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/WebCams/giant-panda.cfm

Mei Xiang gave birth to this little boy on 22 August, and I have been a big fan ever since.  You can even see where he is starting the get the black panda markings.  This picture is from 1:03 p.m. today.  Just too precious!  It is so rare to get a clear picture of the baby since she's such a good mom, so I consider myself lucky to have gotten this one. 
  OK....I've got to get back to the agenda and get that cubby put together.  No excuses!

Happy Weaving!  (and building and watching!!)
LouAnn