Off To See The Wizard!

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
  It all started for me back in 1999.
  I kept seeing these kids coming into the school library begging my friend Amelia for a copy of Harry Potter.  The first two books had already gone into paperback, and Amelia had lots of copies of both books.  These were kids that "hated" to read....yet they were pleading for their opportunity to have the book for the weekend.
  I had to find out what was so special about this young wizard, so I snagged the first book for the weekend......and the rest is history. 
  When the first movie came out in 2001, the librarians in our county arranged for a special Saturday morning showing at a local theater.  There were so many teachers and librarians signed up to go that they had to use all the screens for this early morning showing.  It was magical!!!!

  I'll never forget when the Order of the Phoenix came out in 2003.....I wasn't going to stand in line until midnight to buy the book....I would just wait until the next day.  My hubby had to run to the store for something that afternoon (I stayed home) and came back grinning like crazy.  Since WHEN did you get so excited about a trip to the grocery store????  He could barely wait for me to ask what was going on...he just handed me the bag....it was heavy!  Inside was the book!  "HOW did you get this????"  It seems that they were unpacking the boxes behind the counter and putting the price stickers on them...he just asked if he could go ahead and get a copy for his wife!  Ah....life in a small town!  Needless to say, I called my kids and taunted them with the opening lines from the book....I just couldn't help myself!!!!
  The seventh (and last) book was due to go on sale on my birthday in 2007.  I prepaid for the book, and actually stood in line at midnight to get my copy.  I read the first chapter sitting up in bed, and then conked out! 
  I had lunch with my daughter yesterday, and she was so tired.....she and her hubby had gone to the midnight showing of the final movie.  And, yes....it was magical!!!!  I'm excited about seeing this movie....yet, I'm also a little sad.  It's over.  Finished.
  I do have the movies on DVD, and I have all the books.   Thanks to J.K. Rowling, millions of children (and adults) realized that they love to read.  I had a lot of parents that started reading a chapter a night at bedtime, and confessed that they were reading ahead after the kids went to sleep.  Then, those same kids wanted to read the book on their own when the book was finished.  And, these were kids that were struggling with reading! 
  It's been fun watching Harry, Ron and Hermione mature.  I'm looking forward to seeing them on the big screen in this last movie.....I'll slip over to the theater soon and sit in the dark and watch these characters that I've come to love bring the story to an end.
  Yes....I know how the story ENDS, but it will be so magical...........

"Mischief managed!"
LouAnn

Fun Friday!

The last 4 Fridays in a row, our church has been hosting a "Fun Friday" for the kids in our church.  Each week has a theme, and todays theme was "Noah's Ark".  They asked me to bring some animals so that the kids could touch them.

I packed up a couple of the goat kids and got some collars and leashes, and hoped for the best.  At first they were not sure they wanted to leave the safety of the carrier at all.

Tap Dancer was really not appreciating the new leash!

I felt as apprehensive as she did, I have to admit!

And Acrobat figured it was best to keep a low profile!






I thought that it might try picking them up and have them with me on a bench for the "kids with kids visits".  As soon as I did that, and sat down they got really quiet, and as each group came thru, they began to relax and even snooze.  The elementary girls group came first, followed by the elementary boys and then the 3-5 age group, (pictured below), and finally the little 2 year olds came out to pet the baby goats.

Everything went much smoother than expected!

I have been helping out each week with Fun Friday, so that is another thing that is cutting into my M-W-F weaving time.   I have been able to post a few pieces on my Etsy site, but not as much as I would like to.  Will life ever get back to normal?  Probably not, so we make the best of it, and enjoy the stuff that is put in front of us to do. 

By next week I will have a few pictures of some recent weaving, same old patterns but some new colors.

Until next week, Happy Weaving, Tina

Is Finished Better Than Perfect?

The Echinacea in my front flower beds are almost finished, and they are perfect, but that's not the reason for this entry.
  For twenty-five years, I was a quilter.  It took years to make each quilt, even once I taught myself to machine quilt, and I struggled to make each seam, point, color selection and binding perfect.  An article was printed in Quilters' Newsletter during my quilt making phase with the title I've used today.
  A woman wrote that she was at a quilt show with her daughter admiring all the quilts hanging, and they were talking about how perfect each prize winner was.  Her daughter said to her that they were nice, but as far as she was concerned, finished is better than perfect.
  That article caused a flurry of letters, admonishing the woman to not succumb to the mediocrity of the rest of the world, that no one cares about quality anymore and that the least quilters could do was uphold standards.
  I thought long and hard about that article, as well as all the comments it caused.  Can we really make a perfect thing?  The Amish would always make a mistake in their quilts to show that only God can make a perfect thing, but I always found that presumptuous.  Did they really think that if they didn't purposely make a mistake, their quilt would be perfect?  Doesn't a stitch occasionally run astray?  Doesn't a knot sometimes refuse to be hidden?  Does that pinwheel of fabric really look like a rose?
  Sometimes, I just want something finished.  Sometimes, I don't want to unweave the last two inches to fix that missed throw.  I'm probably the only one who will notice it, and maybe we at the Center are right:  It's not a mistake; it's a design element.

  But other times, that mistake is the only thing I see when I look at a finished object I've decided to forge ahead with and not unweave or unknit or unquilt.  (Why does blogger think unweave and unknit are spelled correctly but not unquilt?  Is that a secret blogger prejudice?)
  And why am I dwelling on this today?  Observe the star pattern in the Sun, Moon & Stars.  I missed a throw in the second half of the pattern, but didn't notice until I got the next set of Moon done.  That's not just unweaving; that's cutting threads vertically and pulling out three inches.  Will anyone really notice?  Can you even see what I'm talking about?
  I'm cleaning house today, kind of a mid-summer "spring" cleaning, with the dog in the kennel and the cats banished from the wooden floors until they dry.  I'm avoiding my loom, even though I want to weave some more on that shawl, because I can't decide if I should go ahead or go backwards.  I know you, my dear friends, will offer advice, but it's really a decision I have to make on my own.  Because if it isn't perfect, I will always know.  My eyes will always go directly to that error.
  I'm happy to report that a mistake I didn't make was not replanting the median garden after the sewer guys dug up my first effort.  Here it is, in halves:

I love looking at it out my front windows.  I have great plans for it for next year!  As soon as these guys have been beaten down by October, I'll rip them all out, saving seeds as I go, and I'm going to plant a hundred tulip and daffodil bulbs.  They'll be followed by more zinnias and cosmos and LOTS more sunflowers.  I like the absurd way the one that made it looks towering over everything else.  Something just out of the picture is the pink flowering succulent my new neighbors planted at the end of the garden as a thank you gift for letting them use my phone the day of the wicked storm.  I'm going to like being their neighbor!


My parting shot is what I left at the Center yesterday.  The "New Mexican Sunset" warp is lovely, and I really like the way the peach fabric sets it off.  It's a 20-yard warp, so B and I will be working on it for a while.

Have a lovely summery day, stay cool and hope for rain!
Maggie

So Happy To Be Here!!!!

Welcome!

Welcome!!

Welcome!!!!!

  We had lots of groups visit us at the Center today.  They had a lot of interesting questions, and even a few wished they lived closer so they could learn to weave!  It was a good day to visit....they had they opportunity to see some of the steps involved in the weaving process.

  Now.....don't get the wrong idea!  Allan is really happy to back with us at the Center!  (This picture just interrupted his train of thought!)

  This is one of the warps that Tina & I wound on the loom a couple of weeks ago.  Allan is getting it threaded.

  Maggie started weaving on the southwestern warp today.....that peach fabric makes lovely weft.  These will be fantastic placemats!

  Bonnie got the first part of the tote woven today, and threw the handles.  That weft looks great in that warp.  This is going to be a beautiful tote!

  LaDonna bought one of Tina's baby throws, and we all got to see it today.  That's one lucky baby!!!

  Pat came to the end of her table runner today, and she is going to re-sley the reed for placemats.

   And now....for the mystery.......WHAT IS IT?  Allan brought the pieces he repaired, and no one remembers WHO asked him to do it OR what the pieces are!!!!!

  Any ideas?????

We hope Carol and Linda are having a grand time in Nashville!!!


As always, lots going on at the Center!!!

Happy Weaving!

LouAnn

Inspirations

First of all, I finally got my scarf finished with the fringe twisted and the whole thing thrown into my washing machine to wash!

The color's not the greatest here but the real colors are rich and vibrant. I like how one is able to change layers to bring the other color up and the top color down. With the 2 squares next to each other you had to change the shed each time you wanted another color to appear. That takes time and concentration but so worth the effort.
I plan to wear this scarf this Saturday evening at a function. I don't like to wear black but I will this time just to show off the color of the scarf. I really wish I had more time to weave because there are so many possibilities for scarves done in 2 warps like this. I did pick up the perle cotton color card from Yarn Barn at Midwest!! With the colors I already got, just adding a few would bring the possibilities for warp combinations pretty endless! Then deciding on what pattern to develop as you weave, hmmmm.....

The other class that I took as a full day class was making a scissor sheath using birch bark as the base and decorating it with porcupine quills and attaching sea grass to the edge. That was beyond fun and I did buy enough birch bark to make another scissor sheath. I have some porcupine quills already and found them a few days ago. There are more than I remembered there and some already dyed so I can make an interesting sheath for another pair of scissors. This one is fairly small and my little scissors are too fat for it so I will just have to buy another pair of scissors to store in it!

So, the inspiration. Well, this past weekend Knoxville hosted the Wing Ding convention. That's the convention for owners of Honda Gold Wing motorcycles. We had about 15,000 of them all over town. I think that Friday evening they closed Kingston Pike and some other roads for their parade through town over to Chilhowee Park. I wish I could have been on the side of the road watching them go by. As it was, I did have to drive around some just in my regular errands and I made some observations.
First of all, these are pretty incredible machines. I don't ride on a motorcycle. Growing up in Canada, we didn't have alot of summer and something like that would have been a bit frivolous. These were often 3 wheel machines. Most of the time the double wheels were in the back, kind of like a tricycle, but also I saw several that had the double wheels in front. I"m sure there's a term for that but I have no idea! When you would pull up next to them, every one of them was driven by someone our age. These people aren't letting their age keep them from doing what they love, riding with their face in the wind! Usually they were couples. Many of them had little trailers behind them. It was just so cool to see.
I pulled up to a stop light and saw a motorcycle with a little trailer about to go on their light. I'd noticed the driver did not have his feet on the ground. Then saw that he had a little side car on there as well. There were 3 people riding that motorcycle!! Nothing was stopping them from all going!! I just made me smile to see them.
Yesterday while driving by a motorcycle I saw that the lady was driving and her guy was behind her. Normally it's the other way but, hey, let us have fun too. Didn't seem to bother him any!
The best tho, was as we were driving down Alcoa Hwy and the motorcycle had a small trailer behind them. What was on the trailer was the kicker. They had a motorized wheel chair on it!!!
People like that inspire me. They're not going to let age get them down.
We're all crazy about weaving and I like to think of us kind of like those guys on the motorcycles. We're going to weave as long as we possibly can. We're collecting enough yarn and looms to keep us busy for many years.  We'll just keep on going, doing what we love. Take classes, bug each other and just learn as much as we can about the weave structures to weave neat things and just watch the fabric develop as we change sheds and throw shuttles.
Now, how cool is that!!
Carol

Bug-Eyed

  The songs of the cicada are part of warm Southern nights.  At times, it can get rather loud, in fact!  I lucked up on this one emerging from its exoskeleton on the steps.

  Just look at those eyes!

  They actually have 3 more small eyes on the top of their head, although they aren't as noticeable in this picture.

  I'm feeling a little bug eyed this week.....it might be time to get my eyes checked again.  Or, it could just be that I'm doing a lot of close work these days!

  It's time to do quarterly sales tax, and inventory for the first half of the year.  I've spent some quality time with the spread sheets and bank statements the last few days.

  I break up that activity with twisting the fringes on the scarves I wove at the Center.  I'm adding in yarn on the variegated scarves since the warp was natural.  That little crochet hook comes in very handy!!!

  I've serged the edges of four more of Carl's small totes, and have started working on finishing the button loop.  This has got to be done before they can be washed and dried. 

 

    This does NOT require close work...thank goodness!!!  I've got the small tote warp ready to throw the handle strips, and I'm ready to throw the 4th strip on the large tote warp.  I like to turn the raw edges in before I throw them since it makes braiding so much easier. 

  I've been listening to the CD of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.....just getting ready for the final movie.  The special effects in this movie will be unbelievable, and I want to savor every moment.  I read the book when it came out, but that was how long ago???  Weaving on these totes and listening to the story has been a great combination.

  And, this is really easy on my eyes!  The other four buds on the other Asian lilies were bitten off by something.....but I have really enjoyed seeing this one in the side garden.  My black eyed Susans are getting ready to bloom, along with the tube roses.  The cone flowers and glads are already in full bloom.

  So, I'll give my eyes a little rest this morning, and look forward to the song of the "jar flies" (which is what we called them when I was little.)  That night music takes me back to sitting on the porch swing with my Grandmother on hot, summer Southern nights!

Enjoy your summer evenings!
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Summer!

There is something about this time of year that precludes my regular fiber like activities, weaving and spinning and knitting. (already a vast field!)  It can take several forms, like putting the garden in, or traveling to see family, or fun fridays for the kids at church, or new goats being born and needing that extra watchful eye that the adults don't need.  It can also take the form of what I like to call tangents like that tatted cap I posted about last week, on Farmstead Studio.  It is too hot to knit, you know and the tatting just slips right in my purse!  No extra bag to carry!

This week however there has been a new bud on the rose bush.  Some friends of ours are up at the Elkmont Camping Ground, in the Smokey Mountains, for the week and they invited us to come up for the day on Wednesday.  It was a perfect day, we sat and chatted by the campfire, we took a walk, we ate a great campfire meal, and before you know it, we are hunting a tent to join them for a Saturday overnight!  I totally did not expect that!

My family camped all the time, husbands did not!  I had mentioned it a couple of times but it never went anywhere.  I have great memories of a western USA camping tour that ended up at the family reunion in Texas, and  Summers spent camping on the bluff above a beach in California with cousins.  If all goes well, I think I might be able to start building some new memories of camping with kids and grandkids in the Great Smokey Mountains.  It is about as far away from my house now as the beach was from my family home then.

Here are the local grandkids enjoying a "swimming lesson" with Papa.   Grandson is really progressing, taking breaths as he swims, and he loves to glide, and scare his mama half to death.  Granddaughter is trying hard on her freestyle form.  This is their version of a Super Huge Cannonball at the end of the lesson.

It has captured their personalities so perfectly!  I wish all the grandkids were local, though I might have to get in the water myself if they were, right now I am an extra pair of eyes!

Until next time, be a Happy Camper, Tina