It Could Happen To Me

  It has happened to me!  There have been lots of times when I have been weaving overshot and lost my place....I guess that's one reason why I'm so proficient at unweaving!!!  So, you can imagine how easy it would be to make a mistake when you are weaving at the Studio with all the excitement in the air!

  This throw was woven in the Studio recently and it was brought down from the shop because one of the corners had gotten some dirt on it.  Carol needed someone to take it home for a good spa treatment, and I volunteered.  It was when I started giving it a good steam press that I kept thinking that something just wasn't right.  That's when I noticed the wider stripes.....Oh NO!!!!
  Stuff happens...but, it does make me more aware of checking my items before they go to the sales.  I have placemats that are ready to be hemmed, and two shawls that need an eagle eye to check them out.  This has been a reminder to check carefully.  I wouldn't want a customer to get home and see a mistake in my work.
  So, I'm getting back to the items I need to finish.

Happy Weaving (and checking!!!)
LouAnn

  

We've Become A Sweatshop!!! Oh, No!!!

 

  Sweatshop or Workshop?  Either way, that's what the Studio looked like today!  We were on a roll making ornaments from left over pieces of our weaving. 

Betsy staked out a spot to work on her gingerbread man garland. 

  Frieda and friends had buttons, sequins and shiny threads to decorate the different ornament shapes.

  And, believe it or not, some folks were even doing a little weaving while all of that was going on!!!

  Now.....way back in the kitchen, you can barely see Carol, Marie and Tina.  We were working on the booth design for next week.  It's funny, but we change it up a little from year to year.  And, it will change again when we start to set it up next Thursday.

    Pat got busy cutting the strips for Carl's newest rug.  He sews the pieces all the long edge and creates a large circle....then you just run it through the cutter in one long strip!

  You can see Anna and Sharen in the background....Anna finished that rug this afternoon.











  Those loopers make a really cushy rug!




Carl got started on his rug after Pat finished the strips.  Isn't it fun how different fabrics work together to make a great rug!!!!










  Yes....it's the Ladies....on their phones!!!!  I'm sure they were looking up weaving information!

  Jocelyn kept busy on her sparkly blue placemats today.  We found out that the ones she finished early in October have already sold upstairs!  Weave on!!!!












  A special shout out to our favorite Marine on the 240th birthday of the United States Marines.
  Lanny....we are so honored to have you as a Tuesday Weaver!!!!

Next week will be a whirlwind....batten down the hatches, folks!  And, in the meantime,
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Getting Close

We're getting close! Just over a week until we set up for out show in Knoxville. Tuesday Weavers are finishing up projects at home to fill the shelves of the booth. My booth will be right next to theirs. I have to fill mine, too. So, I'm busy weaving as well.

I love to have a mixed warp and then weave with a variegated yarn.  It was a long warp but it's done now and I'm doing all the finishing.

Next up....those painted warps.

The warp is shades of black.  The first piece is warp and weft, shades of black.

The second, I added eggplant to the selection of dye to choose from in painting the warp. I do like how it came out.

There's more on the loom, more to go on the loom yet this week. It's crunch time in the studio. 

Outside it's a very dreary rainy day. Perfect for weaving. It's also chilly out there so weaving will keep us warm! 

Heading down to the studio right now!

Until next week, keep weaving!!

Carol

Not My Regular Schedule

I wore the same clothes 4 days in a row this week.  (No my washing machine is working just fine.)  What I was wearing for those 4 days in a row, was my painting clothes, a pair of really old overalls, and a  long sleeve henley shirt that has seen better days.  The time had come to paint the new porch, and we had to hurry if we wanted to beat the rain and cooler temps!

I started on Monday afternoon and worked steadily thru every day until yesterday afternoon.  Finally, we decided that we had done all we could do, and I painted the floor.

The leaves have already begun to reclaim their territory.  We will wait until tomorrow afternoon to put the furniture back on the porch.  I was so glad to be done!  (Well, technically I am not really done.  There are a few spots I will need to take care of the next time we have a warm dry spell, but I am not sure when that will be!)







I was glad to be going back to the Museum of Appalachia with Lou Ann today.  We pretty much have it down to a science.   Now that she is in the same room I am, we have a little back and forth going for our presentation.

Many of you have seen the pictures of the porch that I spin on, and of the loom house where Lou Ann spends her time in the summer months.  However, I realized today that I had never posted pictures of the rest of the cabin!

 Well, I guess you may have seen pictures of the keeping room.  There is plenty of room here for school kiddos to come crowding around our station, just waiting for our pearls of wisdom.

Today there was a fire in the fireplace though we really didn't need one.  Which is why we set up way on the other side of the room!

 Here is a really good picture of the trundle bed that is in that same room.

 Back outside there are stairs that lead to the bedrooms upstairs, though we know that these stairs were not original to the cabin.  There was a ladder that the children used to get up to bed, possible from the inside of the house.

 Here is the "girls room"

 There is also a room for the boys.  With 9 children in the family there was a  lot of beds to take care of!

Back downstairs, this is the kitchen with it's own fireplace.  Lou Ann and I have been thinking about setting up in the kitchen the next time we have a museum day, and maybe taking something to cook on the fire!

We have tossed around some ideas, but we haven't made up our minds yet.

The weekend before I had to paint the porch, we had to take down a couple of dead trees on our property, and that took 2 whole days.  Needless to say, I got no weaving related/ show related projects worked on, let alone done!  I may see what I can get done today now that I am back home from the museum, and before I need to get some sort of dinner on.  I should at least be able to serge the first dozen place mats I finished 2 weeks ago!

Until next time, Happy Crafting, Tina

Back Again

No....this isn't the same picture as last week!  I took this picture this morning as I walked up the path at the Museum of Appalachia.  That's the Loom House on the right....only, I wasn't in there today!  I had finished weaving the last four placemats last week, and got the Rocker Loom all ready for the winter season.  My plan today was to be at the Peter's Cabin.
  It was such a nice day (76 degrees!) that I sat on the porch.  I took my little Inkle Loom with me and I was ready for the kids to arrive.  There were six or seven big yellow buses with lively 4th Graders that unloaded out front!  We'll finish up the Anderson County Days tomorrow.

  The Tuesday Weavers have come up with some great ideas for ornaments to make for the Foothills Show.  The tree ornaments using half circles needed to be blanket stitched on the edge to give it just the right look.  My machine does a great job with metallic thread, and I got my "homework" finished last night!  I'll let the ladies fold and embellish them!
  I need to get the huck placemats finished before the show....we want those shelves to look good, right?  I'll see what I can get done in the next few days.


Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

And The Word Went Out.....

  The Center is having a "brush cleaning" day later this week, and since we are here on Tuesdays, some of our Weavers brought their nippers and gloves and cut down the brush growing around the Annex.  It was Marie's turn to "crack the whip!"  Bonnie drove her truck to weaving today, and hauled off all the clippings.  Thank you, Ladies....great job!

The second call to action was for ornament ideas....and the weavers jumped right on the band wagon.  Margi came in with this great tree ornament using a folded half circle. 
  And, we had shape ornaments that needed to be embellished, and we had lots of volunteers for that job, too.










This was a good day to welcome our newest weaver, Connie.  She got to see all the action!!!
Her husband is planning on building her a loom.

  Carl finished up the rug he had been working on today, and will start a new one next week. 

Betsy cut off four of the wool rugs from her loom....that cloth beam was getting really full.

Shirley's cloth beam was getting full, too!  These scarves were cut off and will be ready for the Foothills show.
  Jocelyn and Carol found time to get to their looms today, too.

Frieda shared her newest project after lunch:  coin purses!!!  In the Studio she's weaving scarves on a painted warp.

  Sharon brought her kumihimo loom and wove a bracelet.  There are so many ideas bouncing around!!!!

  Ms. Ila knew we'd need to keep up our strength, so she baked us a Pina Colada Cake!  Needless to say, there wasn't even a crumb left after lunch!!!!!  Thank you, Ms. Ila!

We answered the call.....and we'll come back next week with even more ideas!!!!  Just too much fun!!!!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Quite the Week!

A week of color is what I had!! Last Sunday afternoon and then Monday, I spent at the center dyeing warps and skeins. Christy came with her projects as well so we had a nice time painting with our brushes. A lot of time this week I spent rinsing. You rinse, drain, fill, rinse....and every so often I'd put it into my centrifuge or laundry spinner I got from The Laundry Alternatives. They don't make the brand I have anymore but they have some nice options. I guess if I did a lot of dyeing, I'd buy an old washing machine to use to spin out the water, but for my purposes, this works fine. Every few hours I'd go check, drain and assess each skein and warp. They're about dry now but I'll let them hang awhile longer.

A bright spot in my week was on Friday when I headed back to the center to pick up Christy, Harriet and Sharon. We drove to Asheville to attend SAFF. Just the vendors. This isn't all of them. There were others in another building....but see what I mean....guess I should have taken a picture but, honestly, I forgot. Just imagine all the booths filled with colorful yarns, rovings...like a candy store for fiber people. 

What saved me is that I choose not to spin, knit, weave much with wool or felt a lot! I still found good things to being home with me. 

Next year: caravan of several cars filled with us. You need to have space to bring home goodies. I saw a picture on facebook this morning of someone who had to rent a Uhaul to bring all her goodies home. I'll bet she bought that cherry baby wolf at The Woolery. What's your guess!

It's still nice here in East Tennessee but frost is coming. Every year it's a mad dash in the dark to haul the plants in before the frost that night. So this year we decided to change that. We brought them in yesterday. Our greenhouse isn't big so there were plants that got left but we got all 4 monster ferns In plus the 3 smaller monster ferns. Plus the 2 hanging ferns and 4 or 5 ferns that we tucked here and there. A couple of tall hibiscus came in, too. We have cactuses and the pine that stay inside so it's plush looking in there now. My job this winter is to water all of them and keep them alive. Once outside in spring, they will do great.

It's hard to take pictures of the greenhouse from the doorway. 

This week I have to weave as much as possible for the next show.

Last week was a lot of fun. Now it's getting serious! Here's hoping I'll get it done!

Til next week, keep weaving!

Carol