Rainy Day Blues??? Not Here!

  Just look at all that color!  They even match their warps!

  Yes, the Ladies were spot on at their looms today!


***Get well wishes go out to Ms. Ila...you are missed in the line-up!

 There's another warp going on Jocelyn's loom.   Marie manned the crank while Harriet and Jocelyn kept the threads in line.

After lunch, Marie got the chance to weave on the napkin warp.  She brought her end feed shuttle to see if that helped to keep the selvedge nice and smooth.
  Carl cut his blue jean strips and got busy on a new rug.  You can see those fabrics behind him that will be rugs before too long!

  Roz helped me work on straw looms this morning.  We should have enough made to get us through Homecoming next week!



  Betsy is working on another wool rug. 

Sharon wanted to finish up the special order for the "Ellen's Pattern" placemats.

In fact, she was able to cut off more than she needed that were finished and ready to be hemmed.  The extras can go upstairs.













  By the way.....Harriet went with the pink bamboo for her scarf warp.  It looks great with the painted warp!

  Carol is just taking care of business:  tagging the placemats for upstairs (and Homecoming!)  Somebody has to do it!!!!





  Tina thinks she has three more rows to finish on the coverlet.  It is so easy to hit the wrong treadle!!!

We did something new today after lunch:  we went around and told about what is on our looms at home!  It was a lively discussion!
  What do you do with a troublesome warp????

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Changing colors

Some weeks are just busy. Weaving happens but other things take up time. Each year on this weekend, when we can, we drive up to Muhlenberg County to the International Home of the Legends Hall of Fame for their Thumbpicking Championship. DH is a judge in the contest. It's like a mini conference of great music, sort of like the convention we host in Nashville each summer. Last year the contest was won by a 14 year old (who's even better this year) named Parker. This year the traditional contest was won by another 14 year old, Evan. They have to wait 5 years before they can enter again but you know they will (although Evan can compete next year in the contemporary section, and he will). Competing against adults and winning is quite the feat! 

 It's just such a good atmosphere of friendship and music. No one wants to leave. 

But we did and got home last night. It was rainy most of the weekend but the clouds parted enough to see the lunar eclipse, just enough to take a picture with my iPad.

Weaving and finishing happened this past week. I had a warp painted for 4 vests. This warp was a bear because somehow when I was rinsing out the excess dye, I put it into my centrifuge and it got tangled. DH and I spent several hours a couple of months ago untangling it. It still had some issues as I wound it onto the loom but in the end, I lost only about 5 inches which was a huge relief.

You can see again how changing the color of weft just changes the whole fabric.  Another thing, the color in the warp that looks kind of gray is nutmeg dye color. I don't know if they had issues with producing the dye or what, but it painted on a lovely color but all washed out to this sort of gray. It's pretty but not what I wanted. I did mark  the container. I'll use the rest of the dye but adding it to a warp where I want that color.

More blue in the weft or less blue? I like how both vests look.

The last one I wove with a bit of blacks. There are at least 4 different blacks in the weft. It tones down the rusts and makes them pop. 

So that warp is down, washed, serged and sewn. I took some of them along this weekend to work on while I was listening to guys and girls pouring their hearts out though their guitars in the contest. For awhile we thought that the contest might have a girl winner but not this year. There's always next year, though.

We met some new people and renewed old friendships. The best part....I didn't have any responsibilities.

Now it's time to get back to my loom. Guild Fair is in just a couple of weeks and a lot of weaving has to happen first.

So until next week, weave on!!

Carol 

Another Empty Loom

It is true!  I emptied the last project on the floor looms for the fall shows!

Here is the bit of warp that was left as I inched out the last of 12 placemats. I was so pleased, I thought, I will be bringing in my placemats for the challenge, even though I never officially signed up for it.

Everything has the edges serged and they are ready for hemming.  I counted them as I was adding them to the "time to hem things" stack.  4 hand towels, 8 red placemats, and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,,,,,,,, wait what!?  11 blue jean placemats!  I looked high and low, and have not found the 12th placemat that I was sure was there!  Rats,  it is a good thing I didn't sign up for the challenge now isn't it!


This week in the studio I will hem what is in the stack, wash and iron it all and add it to my inventory.  Then I will look around to see if there are any quick projects I can throw on the looms.  This is usually when I crank out scarves and shawls on the rigid heddle.

Until next week, Happy Crafting, Tina

Deadlines

I've been on "Pope Watch" for the last two days.  But, while I watch, I'm turning up hems on my placemats, never fear.
  Just remind me next year that fringes will be OK, too. 

That's all for now...........
Happy Hemming!
LouAnn

You Just Had To Be There.....

  People never believe me when I tell them that looms sometimes just show up.  I always tell new weavers to let people know that they are now weaving...tell their friends how much they love weaving...and guess what....a loom just might magically appear!!!
  Look what rolled into the studio this afternoon!
  Yes....that's a Leclerc loom.  It used to be in one of the local church's basement....now it's in our studio!  And, it's in great condition!

Since it is in much better shape than the Cambridge Reed loom, the decision was made to store that one, and put the "new" Leclerc in that place.
  Go grab the toolbox!!!!!

***It should be noted that while we took that one apart, Karin was busy out in the Annex organizing and making room for the pieces.




We were all so glad to see Ms. Ila this morning.  She's doing much better (a little sore) but she came back ready to take over her loom.




Lanny dropped by long enough to use the fringe twister on his newest scarf.  He had a lot of errands on his to-do list for today!!!!







  Jocelyn needed to wind a new warp for her loom since she finished her placemats.  You can see them on the right on the table.  She had an unexpected surprise when she washed them...a little dye leakage....but it works for these placemats!!!!

   Earlier today, Margi and I helped Carl wind on the new warp for the old Barn Loom.  Carl got that tied on and he'll be ready to weave next week.









 
 There's always time to catch up with friends!  I don't have a clue what Linda and Betsy were chatting about, but they were having a lively conversation!

Ah, yes.....the LADIES!  What a happy group!  Note the fabric stacked on the table...while Karin was organizing out in the Annex, she and Tina came across some lovely flannel and wool pieces that will look great in Carl's rug warp.  Stay tuned..........

Charlotte got the rag cutter set up this afternoon to cut up the sheet from dye day.  (Carol uses a sheet to mop up left over dye, and then we can use it in rag weaving!  Win-win!!!!)








  I bet you think we just eat a lot at weaving, and you might be right!!!!  Sharon brought in some homemade pumpkin spice cupcakes today....YUM!!!!!








And, Tina had some leftover pastries from her women's group that she shared with us!  Sharon H. brought candy corn, too.

No diets today!!!!




I guess you just had to be there..........
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Back to Weaving

I'm back into the swing of production although I did take a break and head down to Chattanooga for a couple of days to the quilt show... You have to do things like that with friends when you can. AQS puts on a wonderful display of quilts plus the vendors have booths full of neat things to check out. I like to see how people use color for inspiration for new warps. Plus, I like to make quilts when I can, especially when I visit my sister and I don't have a loom.

But, back to weaving. Remember when I was painting warps and skeins a couple of weeks ago? They're still hanging on the rack and the colors are nice. I'm looking forward to getting the warps on the loom.

On the loom now is a mostly cotton warp. The picture doesn't do it justice. The brown is a rich chocolate with accent colors of purple, orange, gold and purple.

It's a dream to weave. It'll get off the loom today and another warp goes on this afternoon.

The next warp will be a painted warp I dyed a few months ago. My show is in less than a month.

Crunch time after a family summer....

Until next week, keep weaving.

Carol

Is That You Mojo?

It all started with the decision to pass along a Leclerc floor loom that  I had been given several years ago.  I had recently attached 50 yards of warp to the project that was remaining on the loom, but it really did not have to go on that loom at all.  I wove to a convenient stopping spot and cut off the 6 plain weave variegated napkins that were done.  The napkins were put aside on a different loom, the Burchard loom, as I put in the lease sticks and pulled the warp back through the reed and heddles, it will hang from the trapeze I have mounted on the wall until I am ready to load it onto the 8 harness Binder loom.  I dusted the Leclerc and got it ready to move on, probably next week.

With one project off the looms, I turned to the 6 harness Sears Hearthside loom, (yep another one!!  I only have one more loom to sell before I will be at my goal of only 2 floor looms in the studio!)  I had beamed a short run of textured placemats several months ago, hoping to use up all of my red 8/4 that loses a lot of dye in the first wash.  I used 2 different reds, one in the warp and the other in the weft.  My hope is that these will be reversible!  I had not woven even one of these, as I was tinkering with the loom a little bit, but, with one loom empty, I was all of a sudden ready to tackle another loaded loom!

It is amazing how much weaving I can get done if I will just get started!  You can see the 8 placemats on top of the 6 napkins, to the right.

At the same time, I began weaving on my blue jean placemats once again.  Wednesday, I cut 6 placemats off of the Binder loom, and I had to then, re-beam the warp from the warp weighted system I had been trying out, back to the looms warp beam.  The weighted warp was a good idea in theory, but in actuality  there seemed to be some pressure on odd parts of the loom that made me uneasy to continue with it.  I also had to stop and cut more blue jean strips before I could weave the 6 placemats, that I am confident are left on this warp.

 Once while, when I was taking a break, I  pulled out one of the "Weave it" looms that I have in my possession.  (While I was at the store the other day, I found a really long needle that I lacked in order to use these little beauties.)  I  grabbed some variegated lace weight yarn that has been bouncing around the studio, looking for the right project, and I read the instructions.  Before I knew it, I had finished 2 of them!

I think we may have finally hit the right yarn with the right project!

The fall shows are coming fast, and I need to cut some more blue jean strips.  My goal is to have the weaving done on these last 6 placemats by next week.  Then I will do the finishing on all the above items and do a quick inventory, to get an idea of what else I may be able to add in a very short time.

Until next time, Happy Crafting, Tina

Fall Is In The Air

  It's one of those beautiful pre-Fall days with warming temps and lots of sunshine.  The sky is that amazing shade of blue that you only get at this time of year.  The hummingbirds must have started their migration because they are going through the food in the feeder at lightning speed!  I have to keep a close eye on it to keep it from going dry!
  We had lovely weather for the antique show at the Museum of Appalachia.  As you saw in Tina's pictures, there were many interesting items in the booths.  Lots of folks came through the Loom House, and I had a great time chatting with them.
  I did get my apron finished, except for the pockets.  They are lying on the ironing board waiting to get completed.  I really enjoyed wearing this, and I was especially glad that the panels have a new life.






  I wove four placemats on the Rocker Beater Loom this weekend.  If there had been a dozen finished ones, I could have sold them on the spot to a lady from Georgia!!!!  She told me that she has had trouble finding a set of 12 for her family dinners.
  The center of these mats weave in basketweave, which gives them a little texture for interest.  It just goes to prove that you can do a lot with a two harness loom!  You could even weave a version of our Ellen's Pattern on a two harness loom!!!!  I might have to try that next year.
  I cut these four off the loom rather than leaving them wound on the cloth beam.   I can go ahead and get them washed and hemmed.

  I'm not the only one enjoying this wonderful morning....Biscuit has been busy keeping an eye on the chipmunks and squirrels out in the yard.  I just wish I could keep the squirrels from "planting" so many walnuts in my flower beds!!!!  They had better be grateful that this is a screened in porch!

  I've got to get to work and earn some fiber money this morning.  I hope your day is as beautiful where you are!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Hello And Happy Birthday!

The Tuesday Weavers want to send a big ole HAPPY BIRTHDAY greeting out to our weaving friend, Bonnie M.  Although she is way up in Kentucky, we still think about her often, and want her to have a fantastic day!
  And, we send a big HELLO out to Ms. Ila!  We miss you, and can't wait for you to be able to join us again!!!!

Meanwhile, back in the Studio, Sharon brought her mom, Deborah, to weaving with her today.  Now her mom knows what she does every Tuesday!










  Today was a day of working with machines that are not looms!  Jocelyn got her placemats wet finished and the hems were turned up....all ready for sewing.

  Carol got to use the little Featherweight Singer for the hems.




   Molly brought her serger in for some help....we took turns on this!!!!  This was truly the serger from H E double hockey sticks!!!!  But, she finally got it working.







  Carol and Lanny were so intent on their looms today! 





Darlene was getting close to the end of the throw on Big Bertha.



She got it cut off after lunch! 

Isn't that great?






Betsy found some more wool thread in the Annex  for the next rug.


She also brought her gamp she wove using the different twills in the Davison book.

 Carl was sitting at the back of the loom threading today.  He even got most of this tied on the bar by the end of the day.  We should get it wound on next Tuesday.








  Karin is weaving a leash for her new puppy...LOVE the colors!









  The Ladies keep the back row rockin'!



Christy brought her skein of hand dyed yarn to wind off.....just don't ask her about the big tangle!



And, speaking of hand dyed yarn....which one would be best for this scarf warp????
  You might have to sample......
  Stay tuned to next week when we find out which one she will use.


That's it for this week....another great day with the Tuesday Weavers!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn