5th Tuesday Potluck!

Several Years ago LouAnn came up with the idea that we should have our potlucks on the 5th Tuesday of the month. Before LouAnn thought of it, potluck lunches had to be scheduled and honestly they were few and far between. Now that we have LouAnn's plan in place we don't have to figure out a date, we just look at the calendar! This year we will have 4 planned potluck lunches at least, we also go across the street to the Museum of Appalachia for lunch on the first Tuesday of the year. We may schedule an extra one here and there, but it eases our minds a little to have the structure in place.

It is a Beautifully warm day today an while it may not be the first day that we opened the back door to the sunshine it is definitely one of the first days.

Liz was at the warping board this morning winding the second half of her project. Before we left this afternoon She and I had the warp wound on the back beam of her Macomber 12 harness jack loom and she is ready thread the warp through the heddles next time she is here.

Kris is threading her warp and is making good progress!

Susan #3 is threading the reed on her project.

Shirley is back from her travels and back at the loom!

Angie's colorful project is already through the heddles and is now going through the reed!

Betsy is ready to tie on her poncho fabric warp and may be weaving next week.

Sally called me over to trouble shoot her floating selvedge problem. She had found that the floating selvedge was staying level with the lower level of the shed so that she had to hand manipulate it everytime she threw the shuttle. We managed to raise the level of the floating selvedges so that they were placed right in the middle of her shed each and every time.

Dye day is coming up rapidly! Rhonda, Karin, Collen, and Patty have been winding warps and skeins for it!

Then all of a sudden it was time for lunch, and a brief business meeting.

Before we go back to the looms, it is time for Show and Tell! Susan #3 brought in some beautiful towels that I suppose could be classified as a mistake, but a beautiful mistake! The pattern didn't come out like she expected it to so she made this pattern up instead!

Alice has finished the first of a pair of shoestrings in almost classic Lady volunteer colors.

Jenny had some tension problems last week, so she cut off what she had and made a table runner, the pattern is called "Dogwood".

Patty spent last week sewing some small items with some fabric she had on hand. She also had some napkins using 8/2 cotton and a technique from Jane Stafford where you can change the color of stripes in your warp at will, cutting out the color you don't want and adding in a new color.

Dana wove a beautiful towel project at home, but she doesn't remember where she found the pattern!

What a beautiful breezy busy day we had today! We will be back next week with more warping and weaving to show you, come back and join us! Until then this is Tina, for all!

Field Trip!

This week 13 weavers took a field trip to Koxville, to see the textile exhibit at the McClung Museum which is on the Campus of the University of Tennessee. The textile exhibit will be at the musem until early December. Some of us met at a local church to carpool to the museum, others carpooled from their local area. Sally was my navigator as we took my van with 8 people on a short hop from the Church to the museum. Not too long ago Patty, Jenny and Rhonda did a demonstration at the museum with a spinning wheel, a floor loom and an inkle loom. We were then invited to tour the exhibit I think in hopes of more of us becoming involved in up coming demos! I of course didn't manage to take as many pictures as I thought I did, but I think you can get the general idea. I did get a picture of the crew from my van, Left to right here are Alice, Kris, Sally, Jenny, Susan #3 and Susan #2 (who actually met us at the museum).

As we were waiting for the others to arrive I took some pictures of a room that is used for hands on activites, for children of all ages.

It wasn't long before we were all there and entered the textile exhibit. The first section was about how our clothing reflects our status in society.

An ancient Chinese royal robe for example.

Shoes that were made to lift the wearer above the moisture of the bath house or the muddy path.

The next exhibit was clothing that shows where we come from.

A slavic head scarf or a guatamalen blouse.

A freshman beanie from by gone days from the University of Tennessee, headgear from the Phillippines and Bolivia.

The next section was on ceremonial clothing, a Japanese wedding kimono, a christening gown and off to the right there is a ceremonial mask you can just barely see. There was more but I didn't get pictures of the mourning bead necklaces which were so touching! When your loved one died you began with 365 necklaces and each day you took one of the necklaces off, so that little by little the weight of grief would lessen as did the weight of the neclaces, also at any time one could see where you were in the grief process. There was also a black Victorian mourning dress.

The next exhibit was items that we wear for protection. There was a straw hat that is worn in the rice fields, a dress dagger made from a bone, a warriors mouth piece made of bone leather and feathers as well as a pair of baby booties made of silk with embroidered tigers on them to ward off the evil spirits. Of course I only got a picture of the little booties!

There were a couple other exhibits, one on earthquakes and how the continents shifted over time, and other one was on the sacred mounds that can be found all over east Tennessee and even on the UT campus. I got some pictures of the weavers touring these exhibits, left to right here are, Judith, Pat, Susan #3, Sally, Alanna, Susan #2 and Alice.

Here are a few more of us, Sally, Betsy Jenny, Pat, our tour guide Courtney and Susan #3.

That is all I have this week, I'll be back next week with pitures of our 5th Tuesday potluck tradition! Until then this is Tina, for all

A Bit of Green!

There was a flurry of texts last Tuesday afternoon when Carol realized that today would be St Patricks day! The conversation went on for some time Tuesday evening and by the next day there was the beginning of a plan to throw a St Patricks day party. We are talking Irish stew, shepards pie, soda bread, oatmeal cookies and some iced tea and lemonade to wash it all down. Everyone wore a bit of green today and there were a few green head dresses bobbing about the place as well. Patty wore a green elf outfit that was a real treat especially when she had to take her car to the shop for repair!!!! Before lunch however there was some work to be done. Pearl was intently threading her newest project on the loom with a bit of tinsel on top!

Kris was also threading her project.

(Meanwhile Patty was getting lunch prepared in the kitchen.)

Rhonda got her next project wound onto her loom this morning.

Laura is needle weaving some misplaced threads on her never ending pile of towels.

Finally it was time to have some yummy lunch! Thank you Patty and Marie for organizing this lunch!

Liz brought in 2 batches of finished handtowels. The first batch was woven using some Fibonacci principles and the second batch was 8 harness twill blocks.

Laura showed off some of her finished towels. We call these Lawn Chair towels but they are from Stricklers 8 shaft book.

Dana as part of the "What are you waiting for?" challenge used her sewing machine to make 2 project bags.

Kris finished a quilted piece with applique, so beautiful!

That is all for this week, next week some of us will be going on a field trip! Come back and see where we go! Until then, this is Tina, for all!