Life on the farm

I was going to wait and post this tomorrow but I am too excited to wait. This is what we woke up to this morning! Aren't they just the cutest things? These are Nigerian Dwarf goats. The very first to be born here. They are so tiny! Emma is a great first time mom. She doesn't mind at all if we pick up her kids. The kids, on the other hand, don't like to be picked up and cry out for their mama. They have the tinest cries!!

Linda
Just Kiddin' Farm

Works In Progress

This is a familiar sight for most of the readers of this blog.  Another project begins right here on the warping board..........

Of course you can't see the graph and all the figures that came before this.  I wanted to make a bamboo wrap for my sister in law, and I wanted something airy and delicate...just like she is!  Huck lace seemed a good choice, and I looked through several books and back issues of Handwoven until I found an 8-shaft lace pattern that I thought would look perfect with this natural bamboo.  This will be my first project on Mz. Emily.

The early morning light made some great shadows on the loom as I added in each 4 inch section from the warping board.  This wrap is 21" in the raddle, and I wound enough warp for two wraps.

The warp is ready to be wound on this afternoon when I get back from the Guild meeting.  I would like to get the threading done while I have lots of light in the living room.  That might be wishful thinking!

I have completed all but six of the afghan panels, and I hope I can get the last two cones I need at the meeting this morning. 

I had a little visitor Thursday in the Green Belt behind the house.  I caught some movement beyond the fence, and realized that it was a fawn that was getting ready to bed down for an afternoon nap.  I know her Mom told her to lie down and be still, but I wanted to try to get a picture.  Of course she heard me coming and stood up quickly....but I zoomed in for a shot before she bounded away.


I'm off to the Guild meeting...we're going to try our hand at Twining!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

At the beach!

I have to tell you all that this is almost my grandsons favorite part of the beach trip.  It is an outdoor shower!   Here is the inside of the shower.  He likes the shower at our beach house better than the one at his house across the street!

On those afternoons that we had had so much sun,  or maybe there were storms raging outside,we hung out and played old school Candy Land, and 20 questions.  Papa is the best at  those kinds of games.

One of GS favorite activities happened today.  His Dad and Uncle, took him out in the Kayaks.  They took him all the way across the sound and into the marshes where he saw lots of crabs, and jet skis too!  They went all the way to the Intracoastal water way and back.  Here are some pics of them as they made their way back.  What a helper!

We are having a blast here at the beach.  If you want to check out what me and GD are doing, check out my farmsteadstudio blog, it is in the blog list.

Until next week, Happy Weaving, Tina
ETA- logged 13.5 miles

SCRAMBLED

Scrambled is how my mind is right now. I have soooooo much going around in my head. I have finished with what I can on the afghan project. Here is the red and purple. I now have to wait to get more yarn from other people. I hope he sends or brings it to the guild meeting on Sat. So that is at a halt until then and I hope not longer. I know everybody will be so glad to not hear about this project. I know I will.

On to the next scrambled thought. My granddaughter, 9 almost 10, wants an Inkle belt. I have gotten the yarn. She wanted lime green, turquoise, and purple. She did not choose the fuchsia, I did because I think it needed something. I think the fuchsia made it pop. If you happen to look a kids clothes these days those are the colors all mixed together. Now I have been looking for an interesting  pattern. It can be only 1" wide so a very small pattern will be necessary or just a plain weave design.  

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Now for the next biggie scrambled project. We have to make scarves for the craft center Christmas exchange.  I have the yarn. I have my pattern.  Now to put it together. I have done that. My problem is not mixing colors. I can do that. I have a problem with mixing textures. This is very small string. What I want to put with it is really a different texture. In my mind I see it together looking great. But you know how our mind will sometimes play tricks on us.I can't tell you what I want to use because it will give it away. I have it laid out like it will be in the warp. Everybody saw the colors that I choose so I don't have a problem with showing this. I may have to ask the expert lady, Carol.

That is all I have for today. Until next time.

Have a good week.

Bonnie

Trip North part 4

This is my last post about my trip to Canada. Got home quite late Monday night and I'm still unpacking and recuperating!! I love going, enjoy listening to books on CD as I go and didn't get tired this time but, boy, Tuesday morning I was exhausted!! Sunday I drove 12 hours and Monday 14 hours. Knowing I was not going to have to find a hotel made me just relax and head on down the road to home!

Last Wednesday we spent visiting family in Winnipeg. Got to reconnect with a cousin I hadn't seen in over 30 years. Also my sister came with me to see a cousin she hadn't seen in about as many years altho I have met her a time or two inbetween. It's all good. Facebook has made it so much easier to find friends. While I was at my sister's, we were fooling around online and I found a high school friend I hadn't seen since we graduated in 1970! She now lives in Alberta and has a bunch of grandchildren, the newest being 5 month old triplets! Imagine that!

Thursday we headed south to Niverville where I grew up. In the last few years our house has disappeared. I don't know if they bulldozed it or moved it, but there's a store there now. We used to live on the main highway near town and that stretch is now businesses. That's sad. But it's the way life goes. Nothing stays quite the same!

From there we headed to Altona. My parents lived there for over 20 years after I graduated from high school. This trip was kind of a spur of the moment thing but Mom had called her good friend Helen and she had arranged for the old gang to get together for pot luck. Mom was so surprised and thrilled to see all her friends again. They do keep up on the phone but it's not the same as seeing each other.

Friday Mom had dialysis and my sister and I went shopping in Winkler. The best place to go is the MCC store. That's a store that sells used items. The sales people are all volunteer and all the money goes to help the Mennonite Central Committee projects around the world. I got a bunch of buttons at the one in Altona. Mom used to work at that one and the lady in charge was there and she let me go through the box of buttons she had just processed and hadn't taken out into the shop yet!

We both found a few things at the one in Winkler.

I used to teach first grade in Winkler back in the mid 70s. This building is the one I taught in. It's a maintenance shop now. They've closed off most of the windows. We had a wall of windows when I was there.  It was the original 4 room school and is quite old. My class the last year was in the front right side. The other years I'd been in the one behind it facing the playground in the back. The new school is on the right and is much bigger. Winkler is now a city. I don't think there's another elementary school there but I could be wrong. It has been a long time since I was there. We used to make the kids go out even if it was 20 below to just get their blood moving for a bit before getting them back to work!

 Something new since I lived here was this little, long, narrow park a few blocks from where I'd lived. In summer they fill it with flowers. The paths are nice and there's a fountain. Also a "gardener" and "chickens". Winkler is  a predominantly Mennonite community and Mennonite communities are known for their flowers. This garden is just an extension of it all. My Mom always had alot of flowers in her yard. They kept seeds from year to year and just bought some to fill in what they didn't have.

 Saturday morning we drove to Steinbach. My best friend Bettie lives there. She and her husband own Harv's air service. It's an air field and they teach flying. Their 3 sons are all involved in the business.  They teach people from around the world how to fly airplanes. Bettie and I have always kept up over the years. The internet has really helped that and we email each other every few weeks just to keep up.

 We got back to Winnipeg about 4pm on Saturday. Back to my sister in law's place. She is fixing up her basement so that she can rent it out this winter to a college student. Before we had left on Thursday, we'd found her some fabric for curtains down there. There are 4 windows, these kind of smaller above ground ones. She asked my sister and me to sew some of them so I pulled out my machine from the car and we very carefully measured and sewed 2 windows worth. The third window in that area is going to be a bit tricky and I'm not sure she had everything she needed for the window in the bedroom. It was amazing the difference that those curtains made down there. It just cheered up the space immensely. She has some finishing left to do in there but she'll be ready when her tenant comes this Friday.

 Sunday morning we left after 7am. Stopping on the way at Tim Hortons on St Mary's on the way to the Perimeter around Winnipeg. Got an apple fritter. They were out of dutchies, rats! Tim Hortons is so much better than Krispy Kreme. Alot more variety and choices. It is the place to go for a snack or meal. They sell doughnuts but also bagels and sandwiches and soup. My only problem is they only take mastercard, not visa and they have pepsi products. I don't drink coffee and in summer it's too hot for hot tea!
We drove along the Perimeter for a few miles, then I exited south onto Hwy 75 and my Mom and sister continued on the Perimeter til they got to Hwy #1 and headed west back to Moose Jaw.
This field is an example of what I saw driving. It's kind of hard to stop and take pictures along the interstate plus I had so many miles to go! The ditch, a fence, and road separate the highway from the corn field. This is in North Dakota just south of Fargo. The sky goes for miles and you see farms and trees in the distance. The corn is green and growing. The further south you drive, the topography changes. I didn't stop for a picture. However, the land is more rolling with small hills. The corn changes too. I noticed it as I got into Missouri. The corn was starting to dry up. By the time I hit Tennessee, some of the fields were totally dried up, some still had a few green leaves on the plants. None had been harvested yet. I was wondering how long it would take for that to happen. The grain fields were being harvested already back home and alot as I drove down the states. There'd been alot of rain recently so the fields were drying, waiting for the right conditions to harvest.

So that's the end of my trip. I have to get a warp on my loom, at least by tomorrow and I"ll be weaving again. Going home is wonderful. Being with family is the best! I'm just glad that I still have my Mom and family to go see. Next year I"ll do it all over again!
Carol

It's Tuesday Once Again!!!!

It was business as usual today for the Tuesday Weavers.  Sharen had to cut more strips for her placemats....Linda is working on her table loom, and Marta is getting ready to go on Safari, and getting placemats ready to go upstairs in the shop.  Joyce was getting her Inkle Loom warped for some mug rugs.

Carol is back from her trip to Canada, and she is just in time to tag Marta's placemats.   Pat is threading the Boundweave warp.  (That's going to be FUN!!!)     

TA-DA!!!!    Lanny was ready to cut his rug warp off today!  He was trying to remember how long he has been working on this warp.  This is the one time when it is OK to have scissors near the warp!!!!





The process is not complete until they have been rolled out on the floor....and rolled out, and rolled out!!!  Seven rugs came off that loom!  That's a lot of knotting still to do!!!!  Tina already has warps wound off to put back on the loom when Lanny gets ready.

Ann and Allan were hard at work on their warps and Bonnie is still plugging away at more looper rugs.


As for me....the floating selvedge on the scarf warp broke...and the tie-ups are still acting ugly.  I'll fight that battle next week!!!!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Light at the End of the Tunnel

This morning was a beautiful, rainy day, cool enough to open all the windows.  It's heated up drastically since then, but I enjoyed it while I wove.
  Yes, my friends, there was weaving at Chez Davidson this morning!  The afghan project warp was tied on, the knots were wiggled through reed and heddles, wound on and the last rectangle was woven.  It was pretty satisfying to get that last one done, and then, I had enough warp to make some quarter-sized rectangles to use in putting my own rectangles together.  They're 4 1/2 inches long, in the pattern I've used throughout the project.  Inspired by Theresa's comment last week about white on white patterns, and by Sue at Thrums, who weaves amazing white on white silk shawls, I decided to make the small rectangles as a border across the top and bottom, or maybe interspersed.  I think the afghan is going to be oddly shaped if I just stop at the 16 rectangles.  How would I arrange them?  4 by 4?  Won't a square-ish afghan be awkward to use?  I know we settled on 16 because there are eight of us, but I think it needs to be, well, less square.

I really like the way it looks.  I think it's going to set off the variegated blocks well, and be interesting to look at, too.
  But, as you've read if you follow this blog, I've been wallowing in white, and it's time to move on.

Here are my colors for my double weave sampler, a red I really like and a... dijon mustard? Not so crazy about the dijon, which is why I'm going to use it in the sampler.  I don't know what I bought it for, but I do like the way it goes with the red.  I've only just started winding, and probably will just work on it through the week whenever I have time.  Busy week ahead at work, so that I can have Saturday off for the Clinch Valley Guild meeting.

In the meantime, happy weaving!
Maggie