Once Upon A Time....

.....in a kingdom far, far away, a loving King had all of the spinning wheels banished in order to protect his precious daughter Aurora from a terrible curse.
  Of course, we all know that she DID prick her finger on a spindle, and fell into a deep sleep.  But, she was awakened by true love's kiss from her very own Prince Charming.
  Now...where are all of those spinning wheels???
One such cache has been found right here in the hills of East Tennessee!!!

  Last summer, Tina and I got to see the spinning wheels that were stored in the attic at Arrowmont.  We could see great wheels, Saxony wheels, and many more in-between!  There was even a pendulum wheel, which I had read about, but never seen.  And, there were boxes and boxes of pieces of wheels and spindles.  It was a treasure trove of wheels!
  We were itching to get a hold of  those wheels and bring them back to life!
.........but, we had to wait until just the right time!

  The right time arrived yesterday!
  Nick had brought most of the wheels down from the attic, as well as the boxes of miscellaneous wheel pieces.  I set to work with the Howard's Feed and Wax while Tina started working on getting the wheels functional and noting any repairs that would be needed.

  As we would finish up with a wheel, Tina would give it a test drive with a little bit of fleece to see how it would spin.  This little Saxony style wheel had a wrought iron treadle.  There were several of these wheels in the collection.

  I have to say that my favorite part of the day was this little wheel.  It was a pile of pieces when we arrived.  I noticed it because it was oak.  Tina was intrigued because she could see that it looked like all the pieces were there.  And, guess what?   They were!!!  We called her Lizzy, and she cleaned up like a dream.  I sure wish she could talk.....what stories would she tell us about the people who sat down to spin in the past?  (This is Lizzy after she was put together but before she got her spa treatment with Howard!)

  We got a few wheels cleaned and functional.  Tina talked to Heather Ashworth, who is an Artist-In-Residence at Arrowmont, about repairing some of the wheels.  Heather does beautiful woodworking and had some ideas about the repairs of a few wheels.
  This might just be our winter project....it will take a few more visits before we get to all the wheels!  But, it is so rewarding to see them brought to life again.  Some well deserved TLC....isn't that what we all would like?
  As for Aurora and her Prince.....I'm sure they are spinning happily ever after!

Happy Weaving and Spinning!
LouAnn