Homesteadweaver - Looms with a View

So nice to be able to help ...

2011-07-31T23:23:00.002-04:00

So, I had an email from a woman in Michigan last month with an unusual story. She had a friend who was going to move last fall and had a yard sale where she sold a Cranbrook loom. When she finished packing, she found that she had a couple of pieces left (specifically the cloth beam and the stand for a warping mill). She posted it on C****'s list but didn't get any response so she moved and left her friend, Sandra, with the pieces and the mission to find the rightful owners.

Sandra did her best, but to no avail, and finally wrote me with the story. I composed the following message and posted it on my used equipment page, not expecting too much, because that would be a slim chance for them to read it:

Missing loom parts? Did you buy a Bexell Cranbrook loom, model J-45-7912-573 from a woman named Jane in Michigan last September? If so, you might be missing a couple pieces of the equipment which Jane found when she moved. The pieces are a cloth beam and a stand for a warping reel. If you are the original buyer of this loom, you can contact s******@**** and make arrangements to pick them up in Troy, MI, or pay for shipping. 6-27

Yesterday I received an email from Sandra with the following good news:

Your Classified Ad worked like a charm.

I just turned over my orphan loom parts to the current owners of the Cranbrook Weaving Loom Model J-45-7912-573 who found the information on your website's Used Equipment Ads just last night.

The current owners got the loom off e-Bay last September from the people who bought it from the Moving Sale.

Thank you again for your help in finding the owners; it was a long shot that paid off.

It just made my day.

2011-07-21T09:26:00.003-04:00

With temperatures hovering above 90 degrees and the humidity feeling about the same, Chris has decided it's a good time to clean out the studio's back storeroom.

All sorts of lost treasures have been found in this process, and, feeling a little overwhelmed, she has decided to part with some of these goodies, many of which she stuck away long ago for future use. Among the items she'll be listing for sale on homesteadweaver.com/usedequipment.htm in the next few days are:

2 lamm sets from a Baby Wolf loom. Not sure where these came from, but they appear to be functional. $25 each/$50 for the pair.

a homemade tension box with one reed, $25:

a funny little knitting board for making bags, $5 with current project.

A specially made device we think is used to increase tension during sectional warping:
Oak wood with aluminum pegs, $15.

Leclerc tension box, with instructions, almost new condition, $125.

Meanwhile, the Indiana summer goes on, with the sunflowers which survived deer snacktime opening up to soak in some of the rays, and a hibiscus we had all but forgotten about bursting into bloom.

On the looms are rugs, loopy mohair for shawls, mixed cotton/rayon in cool blues and purples for clothing, and a jeweltone scarf warp.

On the CD player is an obscure little classic album by Terence Martin called “Even Trade” and a new release called “Wilderness Songs and Badman Ballads” from Tim Grimm, an excellent singer-songwriter who lives in Columbus, Ind.

The thought of the moment is from poet William Carlos Williams:

"So much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens."

Ah well, back to the storeroom and a favorite loom. Oh, yeah, if you're interested in any of this equipment before it goes up on the used equipment page, leave a comment ... or leave a comment anyway just to say hi!

After the tour

2011-07-04T16:56:00.009-04:00

We're recovering from the 2011 Studio and Garden Tour, which was last weekend, and we enjoyed visiting with about 200 people who came to the studio over the three-day event and during the week since then. The numbers were down from previous years, but we had some nice conversations and met some good folks.

Some of the visitors came all the way from Fort Wayne to catch a live painting demonstration by Douglas Runyan, who lives in that area but was a guest artist at Homestead Weaving Studio this year.

Doug specializes in pastels and oils, and we're fortunate to have a nice sampling of his paintings on display and sale at the studio through October.

We are hoping we can convince him to come back during the fall tour for a weekend pastel workshop. He finished a couple of landscapes while demonstrating during the tour.

Fiber artist Marla Dawson also had a guest artist spot at the studio for the second year

and provided weaving demonstrations throughout the weekend. Marla is a superb weaver, knitter and teacher.

Among the tour guests were a half dozen who arrived in a pair of snazzy Model A Fords.

We spent much of the time weaving "peace flags," a variation of Tibetan prayer flags.

Visitors wrote their thoughts and prayers on strips of fabric which were then woven into a small flag. Here's a sample of those. The gardens were in bloom

with a special attraction being this stand of hollyhocks which graces the side of our house.With the studio tour completed, we're able to take things a little easier until the fall tour comes around. But in the meantime, we're thinking about our next show, which is Chautauqua of the Arts in Madison, Ind., in September. If you've never been there, give it some thought. Madison is a quaint little town on the Ohio River, and each year hundreds of artists and food vendors set up shop along the streets. It's a pleasant vibe, and a good way to spend a weekend. The town itself is dotted with historic buildings and artsy little shops, so there's something for everyone.

On the looms at this point are placemats and runners, rugs and clothing. We're about half done with a big six-foot wide rug being woven on the two-person loom, a shaggy black and white piece with accents of brown. It will end up being about 6' x 10' long.

Chris is about to finish up special orders from the tour (hopefully by the end of the week).

The newest addition to our family of looms is a 50-year-old Norwood 22-inch four-harness loom, made of cherry wood in Baldwin, Mich. Does anybody know when Norwood moved from Baldwin to Fremont, Mich.? This would help us date the loom with a little more precision. It was purchased from a weaving friend in Nashville, Ind., but the loom saw a former life at the University of Wisconsin's weaving classrooms. This becomes Loom No. 24 for Chris, with about half of them in use for current projects.

Speaking of cherry Norwood looms, our daughter Erin, a child psychologist living in Minneapolis, has decided to give up her four-harness workshop loom, a great little loom with artistic lines and great portability. It's listed for sale on our used equipment page on

homesteadweaver.com.

Check it out: You can't buy these anymore, and there are few available in this nice condition.

Chris has also been busy handing out free advice to new loom owners who like the idea of weaving and buy a loom but don't have much of an idea how to do it. She calls it the Weaving Crisis Hotline, and it's open on an as-needed basis. It goes hand-in-hand with her used equipment page, where individuals wanting to sell a loom can list it free of charge and make a donation when it sells.

Stay tuned, and remember that we wouldn't have naught to wear if it wasn't for the work of the weavers. Or something like that.

People visiting at the studio during the tour ...

A common sight ... Chris weaving and talking~!

Too busy to blog?

2011-06-22T13:10:00.014-04:00

It's been months, faithful followers, and we apologize. Did I say "we"? Yes!

I (Chris) now have a RETIRED husband and he has jumped in to help with the studio. I'm thrilled. He's also agreed (since he was a newspaper editor in his pre-retirement life) to help with this blog so you'll be hearing from the Homesteadweavers more often.

We're almost ready for the 13th annual Brown County Studio and Garden tour, which we'll be a part of for the 11th straight year.

The forecast is calling for cool afternoons and only a small chance of rain (YEAH!) for the tour which goes from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. this Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

We'll have a full selection of rugs, placemats, clothing and all things woven, including the Mobius shawl, named after the famous Mobius curve, which is a two-dimensional plane with a twist in it, meaning it has no beginning, no end, no inside and no outside. The shawls are finely woven pieces made of carefully selected cotton, rayon, bamboo, silk, and polyester yarns. Stealing a line from The Who, this year we're encouraging people to "touch them, feel them" and enjoy them.

We'll have two guest artists again this year: Painter Doug Runyan from the Fort Wayne area, who will be demonstrating his plein aire style during the tour, and weaver Marla Dawson from Ellettsville, who specializes in clothing items, including hats, scarves and gloves. Doug, who recently had work accepted into the prestigious IHA show, has an impressive assortment of his paintings on display, while Marla will have a full contingent of her work available.

We'll be demonstrating weaving for anyone who's interested, and we're making peace flags, our own version of Tibetan prayer flags, as a special feature this year. These are weavings with messages. All who are interested can write their thoughts on a strip of cloth and weave it into the flag. We hope this is a meaningful work of positive energy to wave in the peaceful breezes of Brown County.As usual, we'll have the "community rug" set up on a loom where all who are interested can take a shot or two at weaving. When completed, the rug will be donated to a charitable cause and auctioned off, with all proceeds going to the charity. In the past, the rugs have been given to auctions for Habitat for Humanity, UMC missions, and the annual soup bowl benefit, which funds Brown County's "Mother's Cupboard" soup kitchen for those who otherwise would not have nutritious meals on a daily basis. Most years we end up with two or three rugs to donate.

As usual, our gardens are in bloom, with red, orange and gold day lilies, multicolored zinnias and hostas, and a few surprises thrown in. Look for a new shade of zinnia in the front yard, and some new additions to our plate garden, with the border collected from garage sales and thrift stores.

A whole wall of hollyhocks is attracting the bees and butterflies ...

Free goodies include chocolate chip cookies, healthy turkey and ham wraps around lunchtime, iced tea, chips, trail mix, and as always, freeze pops for the young and young at heart. If the weatherman is wrong and it turns hot, we'll have the misting fan going to cool you off. And we're offering a 10 percent discount for cash purchases, plus a free mug rug for each $50 spent on rugs.

We're one of 12 studios on the tour this year with 27 artists to meet. It's a free, self-guided tour and the drive is gorgeous this time of year through the gently rolling hills.

We hope to see you out here sometime this weekend. Visit the website for the tour and print off a map or pick up a brochure at one of the map pickup sites listed on the website. Don't be intimidated by our steep driveway. It seems to be a little easier to navigate this year than in some other years (less gravel on it!), so just put your car in low gear and come on up.

See ya here!

Out from under the blankets!

2011-02-08T18:02:00.004-05:00

Are you sick of snow/ice/winter pictures yet???

The dreaded baby blanket warp is finished. The shawl above is my favorite piece off the warp.

These two are adult-length shawls ... peach is cottolin and rainbow is acrylic.

These five are the actual baby blankets and there were two more that were woven at the beginning. These are cotton, cottolin, or acrylic. I'm very pleased to be able to move on with my next, very belated project which should have been started in November.

I hope we all have safe, happy, productive days this week because I know spring can't be far off now.

Chris

Lament of a production weaver ...

2011-02-04T09:59:00.006-05:00

The trouble with being a production weaver is, well, sometimes you get tired of some of the projects. I'm there right now.
I haven't made baby blankets in years and, after getting some requests, put on a thin cotton flake warp last summer. About 20 yards. About 12 baby blankets. What was I thinking?
I am SO SICK of this warp. I'm not having any problems with the warp, I'm just over it. Pastels. Who would have thought it? I actually have changed my focus on this warp and I'm making shawls on it instead of baby blankets ... that's helping some, but it's still slow going.

I'm not allowing myself to cut the finished pieces off because I know if I do, I won't want to go back to it. As it stands, with 7 or 8 pieces already woven, I'm *slightly* motivated to keep going. I really want to use this loom for my next clothing warp. I love this loom. It's in the living room with all the family pictures and a nice little TV for entertainment or music. Only 6 yards to go ... give me strength. Or maybe just another cup of coffee ...
Weatherwise, I'm still stuck on the hill, or at the top of the luge run, however you choose to look at it. Perhaps just a touch of cabin fever ... I haven't left here for over a week. My sweet hubby brought home a pair of Yaktrax for me yesterday so I will be able to walk on the ice now. What a guy!
There is hope of an early spring, if you believe groundhog prognostication. Here's the view from my back deck this morning.

The studio is closed for business for the time being ... no rugs being woven on the porch this week for sure. I think the cow needs a scarf.

Ok, back to the loom. At least I'm inside.

Cairns and giving thanks

2011-01-30T21:10:00.007-05:00

Cairns

Two years ago, we had to pull a tree down because it was leaning and almost fell on the studio. My husband worked on cutting the base and then put a tow strap around it so we could pull it down. Once it was on the ground, he cut it into chunks, which he placed around the meadow by the studio.
Around here we have many wonderful rocks. A heavy rain a year ago broke a whole bunch of them loose from the creek bed so my husband brought them up the hill and built cairns. I had just been waiting for a nice snow to take a photograph. So these are Bob's cairns ... don't they look like statues? Pike likes them.

While weaving today, I found myself ruminating about things for which I'm thankful. Yes, I did that in November, but I'm doing it again.
So as not to belabor the point, I'll just name a few, in case you're interested.
I'm thankful for my family (my long-suffering husband, my doctor-daughter and brainy son), for my weaving business and the good health to continue to pursue it, for the wonderful piece of heaven where we live, both house and land.
I'm thankful for my friends, especially the ones that don't sound peeved when I call them on the phone.
I'm thankful that although I could draw Social Security, I don't need to so I'm not. And I'm thankful that I am able to ask for senior discounts and not be doubted.
What are YOU most thankful for? Does it change as we age?

So, here is the rug that was woven yesterday ... blues for an early spring. With just a hint of snowflakes ...

Chris

A brief breath of spring

2011-01-29T23:06:00.007-05:00

It was a nice winter day. Some sunshine, warmer temperatures ... enough to thaw some more snow. I had projects at the studio, and one of them was on the porch.
Since I weave A LOT of rugs, I try to keep the mess outside the studio ... as in outside-on-the-porch. It's easier to clean up when I'm done weaving, and often I just get out the green leaf blower and round it up that way.
But today the porch panels were shut tight and the only heat you get is that which you make yourself. In my case, it's an old heating pad on the loom bench.
The rug I wanted to weave was shades of blues, greens and lavenders; just what I needed for this time of winter. I was determined to finish it and I did. I had on three pair of wrist warmers and a pair of those tiny stretchy gloves. I must have looked pretty funny, but it got the job done.
Never mind the cold feet.
The cats wanted to see what was happening at the big bird feeder ... here's Smitty having a conversation with the birds ...Perhaps tomorrow a picture of the rugs that came off the loom today?

Chris

Thoughts for a snowy day

2011-01-13T10:55:00.009-05:00

"Weaving is a handcraft which, with a comparatively small expenditure of money, can give almost limitless outlet to a person's creative urges, and, at the same time, the creation is thoroughly practical since every throw of the shuttle helps produce something both beautiful and useful. It has the advantage over many crafts of appealing to almost countless types of personality and interest. The current enthusiasm for the craft almost proves the lightly made statement that handweaving is a highly contagious disease for which there is no known cure." ~ Harriet C. Douglas, Handweaver's Instruction Manual, 1949

Amen, Harriet!

While many months have elapsed since I last posted, I have been keeping busy. We have had an unusual winter, with snow coming earlier, after months of drought late last summer. The birds have been prolific and here is one of my favorite, the Pileated Woodpecker, although he's usually hard to catch with the camera.
If you have never seen one, these guys are BIG!

I have been doing some weaving, too. My plan was to retire my plastic bag rugs in 2010 and the last of the old bags were woven last week. After working with the bags for 12 years, I've noticed a difference in how they "hold up" and while I'm glad that steps are being taken to help the bags biodegrade more quickly, I don't want them to do that in a rug. If you want to know more about why I even bothered to weave plastic bags, here's the scoop.
The last batch of rugs were very colorful, here are two of them:

These will be kept as examples of plastic bag rugs along with a wallhanging which has not been completed yet (but I will post pictures when it is).
On another note, my work and mission has been turning up in numerous blogs recently ... here is an example. This is thanks to the blogging of Delia Montgomery of ChicEco so thanks, Delia!

It would be very easy for me to keep going today, posting pictures, bringing this blog up to date, but my office calls ... come do your filing! Come clean off the desk! Come sew (yes, my sewing machine is in the office)! So, hopefully it won't be another six months before I return ...

Chris

Ahhhh, summer

2010-06-29T19:12:00.007-04:00

After all my preparations, complaining, weaving, gardening, and brow beating, the Studio and Garden Tour is OVER! A big sigh of relief and on to summer.
We had about 280 visitors over three days of miserable heat. What troopers they were.I had a guest artist, Norene Mara, that paints and makes jewelry:
I also had a guest artist, Rose Poe, that makes beautifully colored baskets and also weaves.
The gardens could have used more work, but at 90+ degrees, not that many people were taking time to look at them ... out of their cars and into the air-conditioned studio!
The "weaver's garden" had a new umbrella for shade and some cute purse pots (an idea I stole from a friend) hanging on the shepherd's crooks. The purses got a LOT of comments.

The loom room was a demonstration and display area:The plate garden needed washing ... too bad. Pike was watching for cars ...Too hot to sell clothing ...

The positive comments make all the preparation work worthwhile. But I'm ready for pool time and to get back to weaving for the fall shows.

Studio Tour preparations

2010-06-17T08:47:00.010-04:00

Every year, for the last 10, we have taken part in a county-wide tour of artists' studios. It's called the Brown County Studio and Garden Tour. Originally the tour included spectacular gardens in addition to the studios and then morphed into gardens AT the studios. Many of the artists (32 this year) already had gardens at their studios but we pretty much started from scratch. ... and kept going. The gardens now are a big part of the preparation for the tour and take about 4 months of my husband's and my time.
Meanwhile, we have been having odd weather ... high temperatures and lots of thunderstorms, tornado warnings, high winds. Just keep the good thoughts for those of us living here in the tornado belt of Indiana.
The studio is being cleaned and rearranged to make room for my two guest artists on the tour: Rose Poe, who does baskets and weaving, and Norene Mara who is a painter and jewelry artist.We usually have about 400 people through the studio during the 3-day tour. Lots of fun and meeting and greeting.
On another note, our primary phone line, which also includes our Internet service, has been down for one week. As I write this, it still isn't repaired and AT&T has missed three chances to fix it by their "estimated" deadline. I will be briefly borrowing a family member's dialup number to upload this, which I have written offline.
I guess the bright side, if there is one, is I've spent less time online in the last week than any other week since we went on vacation last year. I have been using this extra time to organize and make room in the studio for the guest artists.

As a final note, I received an email this morning from an overseas company who was wanting to sell me rugs. I was particularly intrigued with their salutation:
Hope you are leaving life with great pleaseure.

Well, I hope so, too.

More gardening and meditating

2010-05-31T13:20:00.009-04:00

When we bought this house in 1999, the landscaping was pretty minimal, although there was a nice picket fence along the front.After me moved here, a local woman befriended me and gifted me with an enormous amount of perennial plants: hostas, Siberian iris, miniature Japanese iris, day lilies and other items she was thinning from her beds. Every June, when the day lilies bloom, I thank her for her generosity. She was also very helpful with getting beds started all along the inside of the picket fence ... about 150 feet of flower beds ... and that's just one of the 16 gardens or beds on the property. Another friend has given us many varieties of day lilies which she and her husband collect and grow.
Here's what it looks like now.
Getting back to the meditating ... as I've been thinning the beds, it's given me time to reflect on lots of things ... getting older, taking control, and how tangled parts of our life can become. It has been a very cathartic exercise because there really IS no plan ... for the gardens, for life, for the future. It is whatever we make it, good or bad. Do we control our own destiny, or was it decided for us before we were born? What do you think?

Gardening and meditating

2010-05-29T23:27:00.003-04:00

I've been working in the dirt. Nightly. Daily. Whenever the heat was bearable.

We have had a lot of rain this spring and weeds are everywhere. But so are flowers ... so many that I'm thinning out the beds. If you want to stop by, there's iris, day lillies and hostas to the first comers.

The pictures are the newly reworked plate garden. I've doubled the plates so that it's pretty from both sides now (sounds like a Joni Mitchell song!) ... the gate is a wrought iron creation of cattails and iris from an Indiana blacksmith, Dean Howard.

More pictures later. Back to the weeding.

Apologies to my followers ... both of them!

2010-05-28T08:07:00.000-04:00

I had the most wonderful surprise visit this week from Ingrid and Richard from Wisconsin. We had emailed a couple times and I knew they were coming to the area for a vacation and wanted to see the studio, but they really just "dropped in" Tuesday around lunch time. She was "technically" here to buy some rug warp, but we had a great time discussing looms and jobs and travels and anything else that came to mind.
Ingrid is a fairly new weaver and hasn't found other like-minded fiber folk in her area of western Wisconsin so relies on the Internet for support. Including my blog ... who would have thought that? I didn't think anyone was reading this! So, Ingrid, this post is for you!
And Ingrid's visit really made me realize why I have the open weaving studio. I want to be a place where people can come and ask questions and get advice about problems they are having with their looms and weaving. I don't know all the answers, but I definitely have opinions on a lot of topics and do my best to help.

Enough of the snow already!

2010-02-19T10:02:00.000-05:00

This is my meditation circle. It's an area in the woods across from the house and studio that has paths through the trees and a few places to sit and think. There has been plenty of time for that this winter, but it's not been happening out in the snow.

Dear Saint Francis looks like he has his work cut out for him.
Everyone has probably seen their fill of snow pictures this winter. So that's it from me.
I've been weaving in the house for the last month because I have an art show in Indianapolis tomorrow and Sunday. Hoping for good weather and to see some friendly faces ...

Hungry for color

2010-01-27T00:19:00.001-05:00

I have a new toy. It's a walnut scarf loom. I don't usually warp without a sectional beam, but this one doesn't have one so I wound a "spool-cleaning" warp where I get rid of odds and ends of yarn left from other projects. This is a rather southwestern colorway, and it feels warm. It helps that the loom is right in front of the wall heater, too. Pike, the studio cat, loves the loom.

The snow was coming down in big puffy flakes when I spotted this gray squirrel hunting for missed acorns. He'd walk a bit, dig, walk some more ... all the while dragging his tail behind him. It just kept collecting snow on top of it. When he got some distance from the oak trees, he flicked the snow off his tail and scampered away.

Winter respite

2010-01-19T23:57:00.000-05:00

We've been having a mid-winter thaw here in Indiana. Always welcome this time of year. Our driveway was snow-packed, then ice-packed, and is now just muddy.
I've been exploring more uses for these organic dyed T-shirt scraps ... quite small pieces and odd sizes, like maybe they were neck opening cutouts? Not sure. But very time consuming. I had been through the box once and what was left was up for grabs to anyone who wanted them. Until Hilary asked if I had ever made a rag rya rug. Which got me thinking ... with a little bit of effort (like just a few more hours) these remaining scraps would work for that. So, here is the end result, front and back:
There is a dark blue ground weft that is constant throughout the rug and the cotton scraps provide the alternate rows. If my blue weft had been thinner, I might have included the short pieces in each row. As it was, I only put them every other row, overlapping by a few threads and leaving the ends to stick out.
A fun project for a winter day. My husband says it looks like a flower garden ... I think he's thinking spring, too!
You could also use quilting scraps or pieces of clothing for the rya.
If you try it, send me a picture!

No time to weave?

2010-01-11T17:05:00.000-05:00

January is not a productive weaving month for me ... all the chores I've put off in the fall finally get shoveled through like the snow on the sidewalk. Filing, put off for more than six months, must be dealt with before taxes can be started. Seemingly small projects of sewing seem to pile up in their corner of the office and are some of the biggest time-suckers I ever deal with. Do you have any idea how many seams there are in a 25 pound box of organic cotton t-shirt scrap when cut into one-inch strips for rugs? It would boggle your mind. Suffice it to say that these rugs are going to be EXPENSIVE.Long ago, I began pricing my rugs based on the amount of preparation time needed. Thus, rugs from jeans, corduroy pants, and small pieces of whatever that require sewing are at the top of my price chain. Does that seem fair?
Then, there are the "ideas" that get piled in the office. If they are still in the office and not relegated to the garage, they must be great ideas, right? Well ... eventually, even the good ideas have been moved out there, and now there isn't room to park a car. My poor husband!

Another issue I've been pondering is whether or not to continue weaving rugs from plastic bags. In an effort to make an environmental statement, I devised a method about 10 years ago that allowed grocery store bags to be chained together so that they could be woven on a floor loom ... taking used plastic bags out of the waste stream and creating long-wearing rugs in the process. I've shared my system with many other weavers and am glad to see others making the rugs.The reason I'm going to stop making them is simple ... in the last 10 years, there's been much debate on the plastic bag issue. Some states have banned them, some stores charge for them, but most importantly (to me) the bags aren't as long lasting as they used to be! On a bag that someone dropped off at my studio recently, from Canada by the way, I found the following info:
"Oxo-BiodegradableTM Bag - The plastic used in this bag will convert to water, carbon dioxide and biomass in the presence of soil, moisture and oxygen. Like a fallen leaf, it will disappear over time."
Hallelujah!

Five days of sunshine

2010-01-05T17:41:00.000-05:00

Today marked the fifth day in a row of sunny (but frigid) weather here in Indiana. I feel recharged. Something about January and February ... even if we have storms, I feel optimistic because we have crossed the threshold of December and are headed downhill into spring. I know that's not necessarily true, but that's HOW I FEEL.
I spent some time warping a little loom and weaving in my new sunroom. I love it. You can't see it in this picture, but the loom is in front of the chair on the right. The large windows face south west and the room warms up nicely on a sunny day. The cats love it, too. However, they have their own area on the screened portion of the porch when the weather is warmer. They spend most of their day there.
Smitty, the sweet Siamese, joined me in the sunroom today.
This porch project was born of necessity. We had water damage to the back of the house and had to replace the doors to the deck. We also needed to replace the decking so my husband and I settled on a plan. We turned our 9' x 32' deck into an 8' x 11' deck, a 16' x 11' screened porch, and an 8' x 11' sunroom. We repurposed the doors and sidelights from the house and turned them into the windows of the sunroom. We used composite decking instead of wood and installed a rubber roof because the slope is minimal. Once the sunroom was finished, we closed the floor gaps by putting down a large sheet of vinyl and filling part of the gaps underneath with insulation. Today, for instance, the temp outside was 23 degrees but the sunroom was about 65. Since I often work on the porch of the studio, even in the winter, 65 degrees in balmy to me.
Happy New Year to everyone. Stay safe.

Bird-brained thoughts

2009-12-15T16:43:00.000-05:00

Driving home from a meeting this afternoon, I saw a flock of wild turkeys along side the road. They are a lot like families at Christmastime ... huddled together, pecking through the dried grass for seeds. I love seeing them in the sunlight when their feathers glisten, but it was cloudy today.
I read Hilary's post a couple days ago about photographing the red-tailed hawk and was drawn to the symbolism ...
I'm probably giving myself too much credit, but I really feel like I'm doing my best to help Mother Earth with my recycling.
When I rescued the young hawk after the storm in August, I wondered what it meant ... why the hawk was trying to get my attention ... and now I am glad I didn't just ignore his cries. As it turned out, he was able to be released in October to migrate with other Broad-Winged Hawks. So he's probably down on the beach in Florida by now ...
The runner I was working on is finished and ready to be a Christmas present. It's 15 feet long. Here's a bad picture of how it turned out:
It's a gift for a man ... think he'll like it?

The busiest month

2009-12-07T18:23:00.000-05:00

For lots of people ... not so much for me. By the time early December comes around, most of my work is done for the year. Earlier in 2009, I've experienced two studio tours (one a month long), a vacation by car to visit our daughter in Minnesota, an assortment of first-time weaving students, a magazine interview, a television interview. I've sold rugs and clothing through my studio, the craft gallery, and to my wholesale accounts, done a handful of art shows, and taken some "special" orders for people needing certain sizes or colors that I didn't have available.

So today, one week into December, I'm trying to finish up these specials. I'm finally closing in on them ... an extra long shaggy runner in autumn colors:
A red rayon chenille wrap:(this is NOT the special order, but it plays one on this blog)
There are a few others small jobs that don't have to be done for Christmas so I'm feeling rather relaxed because these two should be done this week.

So, now, I can start Christmas shopping!

Shorter days, but more to do

2009-11-10T08:57:00.000-05:00

I thought when we turned the clocks back last week that I would have some more time to get caught up on stuff ... didn't happen.
I make myself crazy in October and November anyway. The month-long studio tour sounds like a great idea ... it forces me to be at the studio every day, supposedly creating rugs and clothing. But this year I had about 400 visitors for the month and that's a lot of talking, demonstrating, and, yes, selling. Mind you, I'm not complaining, but I did get a little behind in the weaving.
About mid-October, I got a call from a reporter for the local PBS station ... would I like to be on TV, talking about my Recycled Rugs? That was a hard one, seriously. It meant extra effort to make the studio look nice (thanks, Stephanie!), thought about what I should say for the interview (how can you plan ahead for that?), and just having to finally admit that I am now a senior citizen and look the part. But, of course, I ended up saying yes, and here's how it turned out:

You'll love the scene at the end with Pike, the studio cat.
More later ...

Critters

2009-09-08T23:14:00.000-04:00

Nature fascinates me. Birds, cats, deer, even insects.
My latest encounter was with some praying mantises (manti?). I went to fetch something from the pole barn and noticed one inside the building. I held out my hand and she climbed on and I took her up to the garden. I put her down in what's left of the day lillies and she stuck around ... and then I noticed another one, larger and darker. They must be getting ready to make their egg cases before the weather turns cold.
Driving to town last week I noticed something that made me smile ...
a flock of gold finches were gathered beside the road. I've never seen so many in one place. They took flight as I drove past and their gold and black feathers caught the morning sun.
Take some time today to notice the little things. You might smile, too.

Still creative at 106 - my inspiration!

2009-08-27T11:25:00.000-04:00

A couple months ago, I received an order for some rug warp from a woman in Illinois. She said it was for her mother, Ethel Christian, who made braided chair pads. She needed the strong string to lace the braiding together. Not too unusual ... until she told me her mother was 106 years old. I sent her the warp, free of charge, but asked for a chair pad in return ... they graciously sent two, along with the picture of Mom and her nice work.
Are you inspired, too?

Stormy, the broad-winged hawk

2009-08-11T21:51:00.000-04:00

Last Tuesday, we had a horrible storm here in parts of Indiana. At our place, it rained about 5 inches in 6 hours. Our driveway washed out, our water went out, tree limbs blew down across the drive, and then the power went out. And we had it better than a lot of people. In the town of Nashville, power was out for a day or more, restaurants and shops stayed closed, the main grocery store lost a lot of their inventory and on and on ...
But I was going to talk about a bird ...
So, I was sitting on the front porch, trying to finish up a custom spinning job while the power was out, and I kept hearing a bird squawking in the trees in front of the house. I couldn't see him, but I thought it sounded like a hawk's call. After a couple hours, I finally spotted him and grabbed the camera. I wasn't sure what kind of bird he was, but he was larger than I expected.
The next morning, I heard him again, out in front of the house. I took a walk into the woods and he was on the ground ... back for the camera and here are some pictures of this beautiful creature ...

Stormy is showing Pike, the studio cat, what you can do with WINGS!

I have no experience in caring for raptors, but there's a wonderful rescue organization here in Brown County called Return to the Wild and Patti graciously came and picked up Stormy and took him to be cared for until he's mature enough to live on his own (he's about 6 weeks old now) ... and then they will bring him back to be released here.

Three new rug weavers~

2009-08-11T21:19:00.000-04:00

Three women came to the studio today for a "day weaving" class to make a rug. None of them had ever woven before but they all caught on very quickly.
Above is Emiko and Miho. Miho will start college in the fall and she and her roommate are doing their dorm room in pinks so she wanted her own special rug.
I was very pleased with their rugs and they were thrilled ... here's a picture of the finished projects:
Konomi, left, is Miho's mom.

Some pictures from the weaving studio ...

2009-07-21T11:43:00.000-04:00

This is my weaver's garden ... a small terraced patch off the front deck of the studio. It includes flax and cotton plants, dye plants, herbs and plants with scents like lavendar and scented geraniums.
It is a joy and butterflies and moths love it.
There's a wonderful ceramic garden totem with frogs and dragonflies that was made by my friend Cheri Platter. It's spectacular.
The St. Francis statue holds a small bowl for water.

Working on the porch to design my rugs, I get inspiration from the beauty I behold before me.

Here is a shot inside the studio during the tour last month:

The tours have been a great way to get people to visit the studio and see what we do here.

This rug rack was acquired from a gallery that closed last fall ... it holds more than 50 rugs!

It's a rainy day and probably a good opportunity to do some weaving inside where it's dry and warm. Even WeatherBug is confused today ... it's reporting 33.8 degrees at Columbus, Indiana at 10: 49 on July 22. I don't think so ...

so far behind ...

2009-07-21T11:11:00.001-04:00

When you get this far behind in posting to your blog, what can you do to catch up? Just ignore the three-plus months since the last post where I was waiting for spring? It's now mid-summer (although the weather for the last week has been divinely spring-like) and I don't know where to start.

Much of the intervening time was consumed with preparations for the Brown County Studio and Garden Tour which took place the last weekend of June. Gardens had to be designed, flowers planted, weeded, watered (not much) and deer-proofed. There have been years where the local deer population wandered in the week before the tour and ate most of the daylily buds, the roses and the hostas. This year, they were considerate and only ate beans off the fence of the vegetable garden ... I was very grateful. I suspect that they remembered the taste/smell of the home-made concoction I sprayed on plants last year.

In addition to the gardens, I was busy weaving rugs and clothing for the tour and for stores I sell to ... business is still solid, if not brisk.

During the tour, we had more than 350 visitors over the three days.

Ready for spring ...

2009-04-13T16:56:00.001-04:00

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 ...

2009-02-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-30T12:51:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-28T12:14:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-27T11:37:00.000-05:00

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

2008-04-12T09:22:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-06T10:28:00.000-04:00

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!