Ready for spring ...

I LOVE DAFFODILS! They are so cheerful and forgiving of the weather. They pop their heads up around St. Patrick's Day in our area. Over the years of buying bulbs, I have acquired about 20 different ones with different blooming cycles (ok, so I'm not a botanist!) and they make me smile for about a month while they take their turns showing off.
I have been negligent in my postings. Hilary keeps commenting on the fact. She, on the other hand, posts regularly. What can I say, I've been preoccupied with other things.
What things? you might ask ...
My studio was selected to be featured in a newspaper article to be published this summer (more later). The interview and photo shoot were in March, but my husband and I had to open a WHOLE BUNCH of flower beds a lot earlier than we normally would so that the place would look better. He also decided we needed to paint the fence ... 17 sections, front and back. Bless his heart. My apprentice, Stephanie, got called in to help and it took 3 days (times 3 people) to complete the job. Daffodils were just starting to open and I finished my "plate wattle" in time. Technically, it's not a wattle, but it replaced two stick wattles beside the walk that had been there for two years and really wanted to return to the earth so I pulled them out and started adding plates, first from a potter friend who was cleaning her studio, then from my husband's forays at a couple thrift shops. I think he did an excellent job of picking the plates, don't you?

So, the interview went well and the gardens were opened and growing. We had a couple snow warnings, but not much came our way.
A few trays have been planted in the greenhouse and now it's time to water and wait.
I love spring!

I'm amazed ...

at how much time I seem to spend online. Writing emails, checking out websites and blogs, visiting Facebook (when did I start doing that?) and writing in this blog ... all seems to take hours out of the day. Filling orders from the emails at least gets me out of the house and into the studio for awhile.
Snow's melting here but groundhog saw his shadow. But, I saw robins yesterday ... so spring can't be too far off.
I've been finishing purses and tote bags and building a page for them on my website. I think handwoven totes are a great way to go green!

Making snowcones, weaving shawls

Making snowcones
When nature give you lemons, make lemonade. But what if she gives you snow?
I figured this would be a good time to try out that sour lemonade snow cone syrup I picked up for a dollar at Big Lots. Took my polar bear mug that a local potter made and went out to dig for a clean cup full. Not a problem ....
added the syrup, and voila! Delicious.
Now I need some coffee to warm up.
So, whatcha weaving?
I try to keep most of my looms contained in the studio. Especially the rug looms, because I'm a messy rug maker.
But I've moved a couple looms back to the house, and with it being a new year, I thought using up some stored yarn would be a good exercise for me. I selected two boxes of Jiffy (Lion Brand) that I had bought at Wal-Mart a decade ago ... it's aged enough by now. Put together some colors that worked and here's the first shawl off the warp.
This was done on my 8H Baby Wolf.
The next warp will be some "Homespun" seconds that I bought off eBay about 6 years ago ... pretty, but not what I'm into now. That warp will go on the 4H 30" Norwood and will also be shawls. So that's what I'm weaving, looking out the windows at the snow.

Stuck on the hill

It seems to be done snowing for now. We received 6 inches yesterday, then about a half inch of sleet and freezing rain, then another 6 inches on top of that. The path is cleared to the studio and the sun is trying to shine. Yesterday's list in completed and today will be a loom warping event.
I love living in the country. It's a good thing I don't get cabin fever very often.
There is some weaving getting done this winter. Although most of the rug weaving is done on the studio porch and is dependent upon temperatures above 40 degrees, we've had a few nice days. Here's a picture of a plastic bag rug I finished recently and I love the way it turned out.If anyone wants to try working with the bags, there are instructions on my website.
Off to the warping!

Snowed in, making lists and mentoring

The beginning of the snow ... how beautiful.

No rag rug weaving today.
So we had snow overnight here in the Heartland ... not a lot, by Wisconsin/Minnesota/New York standards, but enough to cause cancellations and travel problems. My hard-working husband drove the 20 miles to his job and I had the whole day to finish some projects. I made a list. Only about 7 or 8 items. I have a pad of paper from decades ago when I was a Mary Kay consultant. It says, "The Six Most Important Things I Must Do" ... so my list was simple, housework things ... copy tax forms, get mail ready, unload dishwasher, do laundry ... etc. Now it's almost dinner time and the list is only half finished. Do I expect too much? Or am I just easily distracted? Or both?
One of the items on the list was to update my blog. My last entry was in April. How embarrassing. Of course, it was about Obama ... and now that he's president, it looks pretty good in retrospect.
But I digress ...
My weaving friend, Hilary, paid me a compliment in her blog this week. We have been buddies for years, talking through emails, IMs and on the phone. But we've never met face-to-face. Someday we will, I'm sure of it.
Our relationship began when she bought a rug from me. She's a late-blooming weaver, but catching up quickly. She occasionally would call with questions about weaving ... which usually were preceded by, "Have you ever ...?" And I almost always had, so I offered suggestions to solve her dilemma. Among other things, she has the coolest studio name, "Crazy as a Loom" and she has more energy than people 20 years younger.
As she notes, we're technically competitors. But I've never felt that way. Hilary likes to weave fabric rugs and I prefer shaggy selvedge rugs. Besides, there are plenty of people needing rugs (especially now, when you want to put your money into things that are beautiful and will last). Sometimes we compare our customers and find that the same person has contacted (and even bought from) both of us.
We've shared other things through the years, but that's business. We've even talked about mounting a joint-venture rug weaving website, but that's still a ways off.
When she had knee replacement surgery last year and was having trouble getting back to the looms, I was there to kick her b**t and tell her she could do it.
We've joked that we're siblings raised separately because we're close in age and very close in the way we view things. I just know that I'm proud of her and what she's achieved in her short weaving experience.
I know she's shoveling through snowbanks to be at her studio, stoking her pellet stove, and I wish I could just sit there with her and dream up even more bizarre things to weave. You go, girl!

Politics and taxes

Yesterday dawned cool and cloudy and I awoke early. With Bob on the early shift at the newspaper, I'm trying to adjust my schedule to his, which is not easy for me ... a night person.
But with a ticket in my purse, I headed to Columbus to attend a speech by presidential candidate Barack Obama. A long walk from the parking lot through the gray cloudy day had me energized and there was lots of electricity in the gym where he was speaking. It was a full house of about 2,500. He's extremely well-spoken and I liked many of his ideas. It should be an interesting race this year.
Last week, Bill Clinton was in town to campaign for Hillary. I didn't attend his speech. Later this month, Hillary herself should be here. With the democratic nomination being so close, the primary in Indiana may be important this year.
Finally finished taxes and got them mailed on the 11th. I don't usually wait that long, but things didn't want to come together this year.

Spring in Brown County

Spring has come later than usual to our area (or so it seems). For me, that was good, because I was "snowed under" with computer work ... websites, taxes, copy editing. So now that most of that work is behind me, I am enjoying getting outside and uncovering the flower beds. The daffodils and narcissus (narcissi?) are up and beautiful ... we have about 20 different varieties. The other good thing is the deer don't eat them, like they do about everything else. The day lilies, tulips, hostas and hyacinths are eaten as soon as they pop up. We've tried various methods to deter the deer but nothing is foolproof. This year, I'm going to try adding some habenero hot sauce to their daylily salad and see how they like it. Today we're planting some trees that we got from the Arbor Day Foundation. I also want to start some seeds in our little greenhouse ... peppers, zinnias, maybe tomatoes. I'm ready for spring now!