Projects Everywhere!

There is a lot going on in the Studio this week, projects coming off of the looms and projects going onto looms, then of course there is the preparation that goes along with rug weaving. I have always heard that rag rug weaving is a slow process that goes fast! Pat, who weaves on our huge barn frame loom is the proof of that saying. If you have followed us for awhile you will see that I post often of her taking rugs off of the loom and another warp going right back on the loom. Today was no exception, this time she has taken several shades of green and wound them together in random fashion to make blue jean rugs.

Paul is also in the rug making business, he has taken some time this morning to get more weft ready for his rug in progress.

Betsy is threading her new project, a color and weave gamp. We discovered last week how easy it was to open up the front of the loom so that she can get right inside the loom to thread!

Joanna is so close to finishing this placemat project! In fact before the day was over she had finished the last one and cut the project off of the loom! I guess next week she will have a new project in the works.

The cloth beam on Ruth's towel project is filling up, it won't be long before this project is also done.

Time for show and tell! We have a lot of creative people in our midst, not only when it comes to weaving! Paul made a new piece for one of my great wheels!

Dana made 4 shirts with zippers for a medical port for the son of one of her friends. Dear readers, she put zippers in knit shirts, when she had never put a zipper in anything before! I guess she didn't know that it was a hard thing to do! We were all impressed.

Pat brought in the latest batch of bowl cozies that she has been making from some fabric that Carol wove last year. She also brought in the pattern and directions for said cozies just in case anyone was interested in making some.

Jenny made a bag using some handwove fabric for a front pocket!

Linda came across a great deal at the local thrift store and she has already turned some of it into a lovely scarf.

Mark wove a placemat last week and saw that there was an error in the threading. He pulled the placemat off of the loom and he thought it might be an opportunity for all of Carols students to find the error in the woven cloth! I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but you can sure try!

That is all for this week, stay tuned for more projects to come. Tina, for all

New Rug Warp and New Plans

Here they are again, the new Weavers, and it looks to me like they are getting along well! I really must get name tags on them so that I can learn their names!

Pat is in the middle of getting a new rug warp on the ole Barn Loom. She chose a variety of greens in this warp, she had wound it at home and brought it in early this morning and by the time I got there she was almost ready to thread.

Jenny was already on her second Tshirt rug, and Marilyn showed me her latest Inkle sample.

Liz is planning a new Baby Blanket, and Karin worked on a form for us to fill out and have at each loom so that if someone had to take over a project all of the information would be on hand, this is the first draft.

Now for Show and Tell, there has been a lot of conversation recently about what we need to be weaving in the coming months. Berea College shop had taken enough of our inventory that we need to replenish it, and then some! They are particularly interested in Placemats and Napkins, so Pat brought in several napkins that she has woven over the years, and Carol brought in the sweetest antique finger towel to show us.

Pat also brought in a blanket that she had woven and a stack of bowl cozies that she had sewn from fabric that Carol had woven last spring!

A couple of weeks ago Bonnie finished the fabric she was weaving on the Leclerc on the back row. She spent some time fashioning the top, but she wasn't very pleased with it. Little did she know that the top she had made matched the outfit that Carol had worn today. It ended up that Carol is going to take it home and do the finishing work to make it fit her to a tee!

Patty brought in her next class sample, she will be teaching at the Townsend Fiber Festival this spring. Mark and Judith bought a Serger this week, and he thought that the spools of thread were a lot easier to bring in than the Serger would have been!

That is all I have for you today, see you next week, Tina for all

Souper Bowl Tuesday!

Every year, we hold a potluck after Super bowl Sunday and we call it Souper bowl Tuesaday! I will be posting pictures of the massive amount of soup and other goodies that we had for lunch today in a minute. First I will post pictures from this morning, once again Carol is surrounded by students!

After that I found that Linda was putting on a new warp, this one is hand dyed fine bamboo. It didn't take long to get it wound and ready to thread.

Once that was done, Carol anounced that it was lunchtime!!! I lost count of all the soups there were, it must have been 9 or 10!

After lunch I found Carol making a list of items that we were sending to Berea Kentucky. The shop on the campus of Berea College wants to have our items in their inventory!!!

Finally it is time for Show and Tell! Jenny brought in a skein of tweed yarn that she had finished this week, and Alice brought in some placemats that came off of her loom this week as well.

Susan brought in her "Fishy" towels and Mark brought in some towels that he had finshed this week.

That is all I have for you today, let me know in the comments if there is anything you would like to see in the coming months. Tina, for all

Spotlight on Ellen's Pattern

There was a lot going on in the Studio this morning! We had the students working away under Carol's direction.

Pat was cutting rugs off of the barn frame loom. I picked out a couple of my favorites!

Before we get to Show and Tell, I wanted to highlight our favorite go to pattern for table runners and placemats. They were named after one of the founders of the Appalachian Arts Craft Center and the head of the weaving department for years. From what I understand Ellen was a force to be reckoned with, and ran a tight ship. One of the patterns that she was fond of using was what we call Ellen's Pattern. It is a "crammed and spaced" project that has proved very versatile. We usuall have a loom with a white warp and a loom with a dark warp, usually black but we loaded a navy warp this last time. You can weave with 5 strands of 8/4 or cloth strips, whatever floats your boat! Right now we have 3 looms with Ellens pattern, Mark is weaving on the white warp, Dana is weaving on the navy warp and Joanne is weaving on the natural warp.

Now for Show and Tell! Linda brought in the warp she cut off with all the different textures happening. We thought it might act like Waffle Weave, but it didn't really. However we like it nearly as much! She had some issues with the green yarn losing color onto the white, but all in all it was a good towel project.

Liz did a beautiful scarf with some eyelash yarn as an accent. I managed an up close picture of that one.

Phyllis finished a scarf, isn't it a beauty! Liz made 2 more baby blankets, she is going to have a very fun year with new grandbabies! Joanne finished her very first start to finish all by herself project! Yay!

As all of that was going on we also had sign ups for next weeks potluck and I had the jar for everyones goals for the year.

That is all I have for you today, we will see you next week with lots of food and fun as we celebrate "Souper Tuesday", you wouldn't believe the spread we are going to have!!!! See you then, Tina, for all