Spring towels

New spring towel warp on the loom........first two in teal (underneath), next two this coral......thinking about a cherry yellow, aqua and lavender for the remainder of the warp.

Auditioning wefts......

I've got the first warp on the AVL since moving.......which means since taking it apart piece by piece, all 40 harnesses off, all 80 cables off, all 80 springs off in addition to all the wooden and steel parts. I had run it through a straight draw without anything on it just to make sure it still worked but hadn't woven on it yet. Although I'm not in the mood to weave scarves it seemed like a good time to do some to make sure all is well with the AVL. In threading heddles harness 18 stuck the first time it was raised, spring went flying off leaving the harness cock-eyed.....then harness 31 stuck.  I ran it through it's paces a few more times and continued to thread, all seemed ok. I had a bit of time this afternoon to tie on and really give it a test - all looks ok as I was auditioning wefts in this sample. I'm thinking I'll go with the lavender, 2nd color from the bottom, then the teal, 4th from the bottom and the rust right above the teal. Three scarves, three different colorways. Of course, I may change my mind before I start weaving.........

For those who may ask - this draft was originally horizontal ribbons by Amy Norris published in the Complex Weavers Compilation book, I think it was 20 shaft but I could be remembering wrong so don't hold me to that - I took the draft and turned it so I have vertical ribbons, it's now 32 shaft.

I'm going to get a towel warp on the Macomber this week too. But alas, I think my last statement is in the mail today so taxes loom on the horizon. Somehow I let myself get talked into buying Turbo Tax Home & Business once again.......all along I was thinking dropping them off at a local accountant's office was sounding much more 'fun' but I guess since we dropped $79 on TT at Costco I need to use it.......

Table runners ready for new homes......

Handwoven rag table runners for sale in my etsy shop - look for these in the table runner section of my shop. Calling these 'rag' runners is a bit misleading as they are made from high quality cotton quilt fabric cut 1" wide for the weft.

New towels in the shop

I needed to stitch up a special order towel so decided to stitch a few more - love this lavender wreath......

.....and I decided to stitch up the country sheep on a seafoam green towel - love this for spring or easter.......also stitched up some more bunny towels.  All are in my etsy shop ready to find new homes.

Rag weaving fini

 This is the last of the rag weaving for quite a while...........

 .......it's been really fun........

.........now to hem them all and wait for a brighter day for good photo taking......

More rag runners.....

 More rag runners came off the loom yesterday. They sure are quick to warp and weave......

.....next warp up will have corals, rust, tans - 3 runners each in a different fabric......then I put the rag weaving aside, it's been fun. I'll probably put on a towel warp next. I also have some sewing I'd like to do - I need to design and sew/quilt a quilted wall hanging for over our couch.  Our last house didn't have as much wall space as this one, I need something fairly big for the wall the couch is on. I've been looking at some commercial patterns - one is very intriguing - not sure if I'll end up using that or pull ideas from it and go off on my own.......which is what I'm thinking......

Rag weaving

This type of weaving is usually called rag weaving, as in rag rugs.....in this case rag table runners. This comes from times when true rags were used for rugs rather than throwing those old clothes and sheets out, we'd call it up-cycling today. But can these runners really be called rag weaving - this fabric was never rags, it's good quality quilting cottons straight from the store..........after a lengthy stay marinating in my fabric cupboard.  I need to come up with another name so those who may be interested in purchasing a table runner know it was not made of rags.

The other day I was getting ready to warp up the Macomber with another towel warp. Then I opened that cupboard and saw stacks and stacks of fabric and thought maybe some table runners were in order instead.

I pulled out enough fabric for 9 table runners, that 2 yards each, that's 18 yards.  Did it make a dent in the fabric cupboard - heck no.....but I'm giving it my best.

There is still so much fabric in that cupboard. Actually it outgrew that cupboard and has taken over some shelves in another cupboard.

But I'm making a small dent in it. After 9 table runners are woven I'll set aside this idea again and move on to that towel warp. 4 runners down, 5 to go........

Pillowcases for Paradise

Last week our neighborhood chapter of ASG (American Sewing Guild) got a request for pillowcases for those who lost so much in the fire in Paradise, CA this past November. I picked up some fabric at the meeting and whipped these 12 pillowcases up today. Someone from our region will be going down to Paradise to deliver them.

We have many new transplants in our region from Paradise. I mean, what do you do when practically an entire town burns down. Not only does one lose their home but they may have also lost a job. The new owners of our Grocery Outlet are from Paradise, they owned a Grocery Outlet down there, it burned. The formers owners of the one here were looking to sell so it worked out for them to move to our area.

This morning I got a lesson in pruning fruit trees and a side lesson on my grapes and roses. Many thanks to two friends who came over in the freezing fog to teach. I learned so much and am ready to get out there and work..........as soon as I won't freeze while doing it. There were places around here that had sun by afternoon but my house was not one of them, it was socked in all day. But I'll take it any day over what's going on in the Midwest and back east......

Making progress......

It feels good to get to spend some time in the studio again. There will be disruptions throughout the year with some house renovations but for the most part I'm getting back to spending more time being creative........hope I didn't jinx it by making that statement........

Today I did some photography work - here are the latest towels to come off the loom, they are now listed in my etsy shop for sale. I hope buyers like them because I sure do, so much so I may end up keeping a few for myself.

I also took photos of these scarves, they've been waiting in the wings since spring but when we started packing up the other house getting it ready to put on the market they got packed away. Now they are up for sale in my etsy shop. Making headway here and there in the studio and it feels great.....

Next up is to pull out some 6/2 cottons for towels, I don't often weave with this thicker cotton but it does make a nice thick and thirsty towel. Would love to use it all up and empty that section of the shelf to make room for the cones of chenille I brought back home from the beach cottage. So, new project planning coming up next.

Last February I joined in on a quilt project from Sew Cute quilt shop in Dillard, it's between here and the coast. Each month for 9 months I religiously picked up my packet, the first month also included the booklet and some templates. Did I start any of these, heck no, I didn't have time..........I was getting a house ready to put on the market and packing up much of my studio so it showed better. So, a year late I will be starting it - whoo hoo.  I'm not going to get obsessed with working on it all the time, will just do it here and there because I want to have plenty of time to weave, spin, knit, sew, etc.

Stitching along..........

 Since I sold out of a few embroidered towels this past week I decided to do some stitching yesterday. These heart towels are back up in the shop again in addition to two other heart towel designs. Yes, I'm thinking of Valentine's Day.....and ahead to St. Patrick's Day......

This shamrock towel is for sale but I need to do the photography work for my etsy shop as I stitched it on a different towel than last time. Some other shamrock designs to be stitched today. Hopefully this week with the torrential rains coming to an end early in the week I'll have some good light for photos. Mind you, I am not complaining about the rain - we really need it but it could be spread out a bit more, there's widespread flooding at the moment. As my friend JoAnn says it's raining pitchforks and shovels.

Paradise lost.......

I got an email from my local ASG (American Sewing Guild) about making quilt blocks for quilters who lost homes in Paradise, CA (just down I5 from us here in Southern Oregon) in the raging fire late last year. It's being coordinated by a quilt shop that I understand was in Paradise but is now in a different town. There was a pattern included although one could make up their own house block designs as long as they were a 10 1/2" square. We were to write somewhere on them with fabric ink inspiration, our names and town. Here's what I came up with using fabrics from my stash - 4 blocks. Now I need to get my blocks to someone so they can be mailed with all the others from our area.

I was wondering why all of a sudden the birdseed in the round feeder was disappearing quickly. A squirrel has found us - I hadn't seen any in the yard until this last week. Bailey hates squirrels so this new development should be interesting once he figures out those squirrels he thought he left at the other house have sent their relatives here.

He got tired of me watching him so turned his back on me. He better watch that tail because this feeder is low enough that Bailey could reach it.

Inglenook Fibers almost finished......

Here is my Inglenook Fibers 12 Days of Christmas fiber all spun up. I plyed it with solid colors from my stash. I wish it could have all fit on one of my big Hansen bobbins but it didn't so two skeins it is. You can see where the gold picks up on the upper skein from the first skein on the bottom. I don't know what the yardage is yet, will figure that out after I block it.  I say it's almost finished because it won't be finished until I come up with a project and knit, crochet or weave it. I'm pleased with my decision to spin solid colors to ply it with. Interesting color progression from spinning one packet after another.......don't know if I like it or not, only time will tell...........

A bit of fibery fun.....

Got started weaving on the towel warp - only two towels woven though as we had to take advantage of beautiful afternoon weather to prune the small area of grapevines we have. Perfect cheery colors for winter weaving.


Day started out below freezing with freezing fog but by early afternoon it was warm and sunny, warm enough for no jackets. Grapevines hadn't been pruned in who knows how many years.....one of them supported with posts and wire as it should have been....the other had grown into the deck railing and fencing, never had any kind of traditional vine supports. We fixed that putting in posts and wires and after trimming winding remaining vines on the new wire - hopefully it will do well. Fruit tree trimming will be coming up soon, most probably next month. That will be another huge job as those 2 apple & 2 plum trees probably haven't been pruned in many years. Already seeing new buds on the rose bushes and trees - it's only January!

I finished plying the lime/purple spinning. I haven't blocked the skein yet, nor measured how many yards I've got yet. Not sure what it will grow up to be, will go on the shelf until an idea pops into my mind.

Tweet......

 My feeders pull in lots of little birds like chickadees, pine siskins, finches and the occasional big stellar jay, but the other day I saw a bird I didn't know on the suet feeder. I asked my friend and big time birder Yvonne what it was as looking through the bird book is overwhelming to me and even then I'm most often wrong.

It's a starling. I see starlings in flight but have never seen one close up, I didn't realize all the colors and spots in their feathers.  I am loving having feeders at this house - at our previous house the bear could get the feeders no matter how high we hung them on cables between trees.

Finally heading back to the loom

 Yesterday I spent part of the day winding a 12 yard towel warp. It really pushes my lower back to wind this much on the warping board so I took frequent breaks. It feels good to finally be getting back to the loom. I may also warp the AVL in the next week.

 It's now wound on the back beam awaiting threading of heddles and sleying of the reed - but I'm so busy the rest of the week I'm not sure when that will get done. This warp was originally going to be white, black and blue but then I decided it needed to have a lot of color for foggy winter weaving. It will be a basketweave and twill design.

I went through my stash and found colors, blended other colors, to spin to ply with the Inglenook 12 Days of Christmas fiber. Should be interesting to see how it ends up looking when plied - hopefully it will be a success.

Inglenook Day 12

 I'm behind again - here is what the day 12 fiber looked like......

…...here it is spun

Inglenook Day 11

 I forgot to post this yesterday after I spun it 

Only 1 more day, today, left. My plan after that is to spin solids from my stash to go with all these to ply with. I've already got the majority of them together, just waiting to see today's package to finish them up. In the meantime I'll keep working on the lime/purple roving.

Inglenook Day 10

 Here is day 10 - I'm loving this 'soft' colorway

 Love it spun up too

Sunrise this morning was spectacular although this photo doesn't do it justice

Inglenook Day 9

 Here is day 9 of the Inglenook Fibers 12 Days of Christmas spin-a-long

 I really love this color with all the bits of color in it

Here's what else I'm spinning since the 12 days spinning is only a half ounce a day and I'm in the mood to spin. I spun a bunch of this yesterday at my spinning group and will work on it in the evenings. My plan is to ply it on itself but now I wonder if I should ply it with a solid color, like the purple......still have another 4 oz to spin so I have plenty of time to give it thought.



Inglenook Day 8

Inglenook Day 7

Inglenook Day 6

 I'm halfway done spinning......

 ....here's what day 6 looks like spun

Yesterday Bailey was getting tired of me taking pictures of fiber and the wheel and not him, he was happy finally getting all the attention. He's got a new Buster in his mouth.....a stuffed golden retriever that's almost as big as he is.......old Buster is in the mortuary. Bailey doesn't kill his babies but does constantly have them in his mouth so a favorite such as Buster eventually is pretty thread bare.

Inglenook Day 5

 Day 5 spinning done early this morning...…..

….turning towards a golden brown...….so far the colors are not what

 I envisioned from the graphic the fibers are based on...….but they're still lovely.

Inglenook Day 4

Day 4 of the spin-a-long

Here it is spun up on my electric wheel