Maybe It Will....Maybe It Won't

  I was up and out early this morning.  We thought that snow was on the way....due to begin around noon, they thought. 
  I saw my first snowflake around 9 p.m..   It was all alone! 
 

    I have plenty to do to keep me occupied!  These are the mug rugs we wove during the Foothills show.  Carol finished up the warp, and I brought them home to hem.  So far, I have all of them cut apart and serged the edges.

I have started hemming them...my goal is to get this project completed so that Carol can tag them for sale in the shop.

  Our next challenge is the soup cozy for our Souper Tuesday on January 31.
  During the holidays, I ended up making a dozen cozys for gifts (and I hear they work very nicey!)  But, for the challenge, I will be using handwoven fabric!!! 
  I have reworked the pattern to take into account the heavier fabric.  And, after my conversation with Linda, I'm rethinking the what to use instead of batting. 
  We should have some beautiful bowl cozys when all is said and done!!!

  Oh my.....they are already closing schools for tomorrow!  I guess I'll plan on staying home tomorrow, too.  Sounds like a good day to work on my challenge project.
  Stay warm!
LouAnn

New Year

   Ms. Ila knew that the best way to start 2017 for the Tuesday Weavers would be COOKIES!!!  YUM!
  These were white chocolate macadamia cookies, and there wasn't even a crumb left on that plate at the end of the day!
  Elsewhere in the Studio we had a shawl warp going on the Leclerc, and bamboo being coned in preparation of winding warps for more shawls and scarves.  That cone winder is already getting a workout!!!





 



 

  For the last few years, we have all gone over to the Museum for lunch....and this year we continued that tradition.

  The Museum usually puts us in the back room....we can be a little loud!  But, there is always something on the menu that tempts your taste buds!

  We had our Share Time when we got back to the Studio.  These are Carl's towels that he wove using one of the 8 shaft patterns from Strickler.

Sharon has been busy, too.  This is her rayon scarf that she wove.  She also had several hats that she crocheted.  (I think she has enjoyed her holiday break!!!)













  Karin has been busy on her Inkle Loom!  She made these bookmarks using a pickup technique.

  Next week we'll be back to business as usual....more warps being wound, and lots of weaving!!!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Last of 2016

The last week of December certainly flew by!

I'd mentioned at weaving that I was going to come to the center on Thursday to pin my quilts and I had company! Ila came to weave for awhile. I think she wants to get the warp off quickly because we're getting an 8 shaft mighty wolf for her to weave on at the center. It should be coming sometime this week! 

Sharon, Frieda and one of her friends came too. Of course I didn't take pictures when they arrived but I did take one of how I use risers to raise the table and once all 3 layers are smoothed and taped with painters tape, I could start to pin the layers.

I use a little tool to help raise the pins as I close them. Saves the fingers. Now I've got both quilts ready to machine quilt when I have time.

At home, I finished the last warp of the year. Black, grey and red. It's the opposite of a warp I did a year ago where the main color was red. Now it's black and I did enjoy weaving it.

This month I have to weave curtains again. It's the last time I'll be doing it. I guess I've replaced all the curtains I wove 25 plus years ago! I shall be glad to be done with the project but it has been nice to have something important to weave each January and February. 

2016 was interesting with new people coming to weave with us on Tuesdays and friends we made in the fiber world. I'm excited to see what 2017 will bring!

Until next week, keep weaving!

Carol

New Year, New Tool

I got a text from my Daughter the other day.  While they were cleaning out her in-laws house she ran across a tool she thought I might like.

On the phone I could tell immediately that I did, but I really did not catch the relative size of this shuttle on that small screen.


It wasn't until I went to pick it up that I realized that this is a very special shuttle indeed!

Here it is beside my normal sized shuttles.  I haven't checked to see what size bobbins it might be able to carry, I have a feeling it will be the biggest ones I have and then some.

On closer inspection, I saw that there is not the normal slot to feed the yarn thru, though I saw signs of use.  I think I will bring it on Tuesday and see if Polly might be able to make that slot for me.  I can't wait to see how it feels to weave with this shuttle.

Happy New year to you all, Tina

Looking Forward to the New Year

Although we had several weavers out for Christmas vacation, we had a hardy crew show up in the Studio today.  We were just in time to see our brand new cone winder in action!

  We often buy large cones of bamboo and 8/2 for our projects, and this means we can wind it off into smaller cones.  What a time saver when you are winding a warp for a project or for dyeing!!! 

  The Ladies were all lined up in a row:  Sharon is on break, so she could be with us today.  She brought along her rigid heddle loom to work on her project.

  Ms. Ila was working upstairs in the shop today, so the back row was missing one of the Ladies!  But, work continues on the scarf projects.










  Lanny finished one scarf, and he'll be ready to start a new one "NEXT YEAR." 









  You can see the finished rug winding up on the cloth beam.  That's another blue jean rug that Carl is weaving.






  Even Carol got in on the weaving today!  She finished up the mug rug warp that we wound for the Foothills show.  There are 13 mug rugs to be hemmed and wet finished!!!









  Frieda finished up her scarf this afternoon and cut it off the loom.  She'll be getting it ready to go upstairs for the New Year, too!








  Jocelyn did finish threading her shawl warp today....she even worked through lunch!!!  Weaving will begin next week!!!

  The towel warp on Tina's loom was creeping slowly up from the back beam.

  It wasn't long until I heard that she was ready to cut off her warp, too!  There were 12 towels on that warp.











  I wandered upstairs to the shop to see how the dogwood throws were displayed...they are near the front, and within reach of fingers that need to touch!  You really don't see the dogwoods until you are closer.

  A new year and new projects await us........

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Tops Done!!

I didn't write last week. I didn't have any pictures to show you. With all the Christmas preparations, it just didn't happen. Today, now that things are calming down and DH is off today, I talked him into coming outside, standing on the landing at the back of the house and holding the Christmas quilt top. It's not very big, just 60 x 70 inches. I was supposed to add a border but I kind of like it the way it is, so that's how it's going to be.

Close up, it's a 30s Christmas theme. I fell in love with this fabric when I was up at Missouri Star Quilt Co in July on my trip north. It's called Storybook Christmas, I think, if you like it enough to want some. I have extra that may end up at my sister's place incase we want to sew a couple of throws for her family.

So DH decided that the other quilt was too long for him to just hold it, so he went in to get a step stool. Guess who decided to come to the door to check things out.

This is the best picture I could get and Meg moved. They are the cutest!!

Then they heard DH coming from around the house and Belle really got excited trying to see him. 

So he stood high on the stool and tried to hold the quilt. It's 80 x 80 so there was no way for him to hold it out completely. That's why I always like to take pictures up at my sister's home. There are always a couple of people that can hold it for me! So this is the 30s quilt I worked on forever! Quilt top done, I decided to make the center the focal point and have all the tiny squares circle around it. Each block has 22 pieces so it took awhile to cut, then sew before putting the blocks together. So here it is!

If you look carefully, you can see a box frame on the top deck. So we got a new bed for our spare room. My sister told me about using the box springs from a mattress as a trellis for morning glories or moo plants to train up so we're going to try that. We'll dismantle the frame and see if we can make it work in the garden.

It was fun to piece, once the little four patch pieces were done. Chain stitching sections made it easy to do. I do like how it turned out.

This morning I finished assembling the backing pieces for both quilts. Because they're so big, I don't have the tables to set up to layer them with the batting and pin. So when I get the chance I will press them really well, then take them to the center. I've got risers to bring  the tables to a good height and then use painters tape to get the backing nice and taut before putting the batting down and then the tops. Pinning them really well, I'll be able to bring them home to machine quilt as I have time. Should be fun.

Another thing I want to do is finish weaving the warp on the loom. I still haven't tied it to the front so that's the first job, then get going weaving.

For Christmas I got the Downton Abbey series so I shall watch it from the beginning. I have seen the first two seasons but that's all. It is good to see the whole series in order. I shall sink myself into the show, enjoy seeing the clothes, pausing for a break to stretch my back and looking at some of the clothes with the show on pause while weaving. Win, win! 

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Next weekend will be another one to celebrate. Tomorrow is weaving again. Yes, we meet during the break as well! Then just a few days to see how much I can get woven before the weekend! 

Until next week, keep weaving!!

Carol

I was sure I posted about our Museum day last Friday, but I didn't.   So today we will go back in time but just one week.  LouAnn and I were invited to demonstrate for one of the local elementary school trips.  A couple of weeks before we had found that the fireplace in the Peter's cabin never did warm the cabin sufficiently for our comfort, and since the temps would be even colder for this gig, LouAnn called  the day before to see if the school trip was still on and if there might be some adjustments we could make to our normal set up, and there were.

We set up in the Heritage Hall, a building we had never been in before, and we were pleasantly surprised with a beautiful set up.

 For us there was a nice warm fireplace in a space that was almost made for our type of demo.   While we waited for the kids to start arriving we toured the lower floor of the building.
The building itself is full of musical instruments from days gone by, including an extensive hand made banjo collection. (One made from a metal bedpan!)
There were also some modes of transportation, including a buggy and a hearse.  Then there were  the doctors and dentist offices all decked out for you to marvel at, and we did, I may have even shuddered at the thought!

I had brought my trusty Mayville spinning wheel, made by the Mayville Furniture company of Wisconsin.  I am currently spinning a Jacobs fleece into a very fine single for a fine 3ply yarn.  Now that the weather has turned colder, LouAnn brings one of her small portable looms to weave on, today she brought her Sample it loom warped with wool.

It was just one school this time and we were soon finished and packed up.  We lunched at the lunch counter again today and yes, we did eat pineapple upside-down cake again!  Then we headed home to our respective to do list.

We are ever closer to Christmas,  I hope that your celebrations bring you joy, Tina