A loss like no other.......

Bailey

1/27/07 - 4/12/19

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.

Pottery storage

At our last house we had an alcove with built in shelving for pottery storage - since moving pottery has been sitting in boxes where I needed a piece of furniture for it. Finally we found one and I love it. I love the color, I love the wire instead of glass in the doors and I love that I can now use my pottery again. Everything fit except for a few pieces and they're ones I never use anyhow that should really find new homes. I'm so excited that we now have our soup and stew bowls unpacked and a couple of my favorite mugs. And in the stacks of wall art propped up against the walls was this framed fruit label - it was as if we bought them to go together, the teapots too. It's the only piece up on the walls so far in this house and we've been here for 4 months.........I think I'm going to have to step it up and start hanging some art.

Bailey insisted I take his photo too - boy, look how white that face has gotten!

Leather journals.......

In spite of being out of the studio too many days this week I did make some time for journal making. 

Here I'm auditioning a button - the final step in the making of a journal

Here they are - sorry no pictures of the insides with the lovely/creative end papers. I've got watercolor paper cut to make 6 more, then I've got leather cut for 12 more but I made a math error when ordering paper and don't have enough so more is on the way from Dick Blick. Many of these will end up for sale in my etsy shop in the not too distant future.

"Who you looking at?"  Bailey's bed behind me when I sit at the computer - he can sleep like he was doing here, before I rudely woke him up, or he can lay his head on the window sill and watch the forest critters.

More chenille.........

I wove off the other chenille scarf warp on the beach cottage loom and put this citron chenille warp on. I love, love, love this color........added some fun novelty yarn in one section, would have added more but this was all I had left of that ball. It was a valued ball having used it several times in other projects but now it's gone and most probably not available any longer. Hmm, I might have to keep one of these scarves for myself.

And Bailey was doing what he does best while on the coast - when not walking the beach he's planted on the couch with his Buster........and Buster is looking worse all the time and is a bit smelly now. I might throw him in the washer and see how he comes out. If he doesn't make it that's ok, I have a brand new back up Buster hidden away.......

A bit of weaving...........

 Today I was able to get a little time at the loom so wove off the second scarf on the painted tencel warp. Both are washed and hanging to dry.

Friend Theresa gifted me a very fun cookie cutter with Bailey's name - whoops, meant to take a photo of the cookie cutter, just realized I didn't......oh well.  Anyhow I made some 'cookies' for Bailey. What Theresa doesn't know is that I'm cookie cutter challenged. This is the best one out of the bunch - Bailey doesn't mind that the others have crazy compound fractured legs or giraffe necks - they still taste very yummy.

Earthquake, weaving and the beach......

This morning shortly after Sam left for work I felt a jolt, it was 6:50am. I jumped out of bed because I was worried that someone kicked in the garage door, that's what it felt like. I turned on the outside lights and bravely, with Bailey standing behind me (that coward), we walked down the deck steps to look at that door. Once I could see all was secure I assumed one of the big firs fell somewhere on the property. But then on the news I heard of a 6.5 magnitude earthquake 100 miles out in the ocean west of Eureka, CA at exactly the time I felt that jolt - I'm taking a wild guess the location is around 200 miles SW of us. So, that's the exciting news of the morning - no tsunami reported along the coast.


Back in 1989 on our way to our acreage in SW Oregon we spent 2 1/2 years in the San Fran Bay area - we arrived from the east coast 3 months before the Loma Prieta quake which was centered 20 miles south of us - rude awakening to California. We were fine as the house we bought was newer and built to earthquake standards..........devastation elsewhere.

We spent 4 days on the coast over the past weekend. I got back to the towel warp I put on the loom over there a couple months ago. I didn't weave much as I was busy with other activities but I enjoyed throwing the shuttle a bit.

........come on Mom & Dad, the beach is waiting...........

.........wait a minute, did I see Dad putting his shoes on..........

........big stick in the scary ocean.........better keep an eye on it, would love to grab it but I'm a water dog that doesn't go in the water above my knees........

........it's close, maybe I can grab it before a wave comes and gets me........

.........there it is for the taking but wait, there's a good smell here............

.........success, got that stick............

..........oh but wait, Dad had a better stick I could steal...........ah, life is good..........

Life is good..........

A bit of weaving on the coast - I finished up the false damask towel warp (now awaiting washing and hemming) and put on another cottolin warp in a 2 block twill pattern.......off white warp, oatmeal weft. If my oatmeal cottolin lasts all towels will be woven using it, if not I'll choose another color to finish up the warp. I love neutral elegant but kitchen worthy towels and have nothing neutral for sale at the moment. Will get back to weaving on this warp next time on the coast.

Bailey sure enjoyed the temps in the 60's & low 70's on the coast - what a relief from the weather here in the valley which will be back up in the triple digits in a day or so - ack. I keep telling myself "at least there's no humidity" but it really doesn't help when it gets up over 100.

Life is good

A bit of weaving.......

We spent the past 6 days on the coast - absolutely lovely weather, sunny, cool and windy.....could have been a bit less wind but I'm not complaining because it's so much hotter here in the valley. I did some reading, some relaxing, some spinning , some weaving and some of lots of other fun things.  This morning before we headed home we went to a blueberry farm south of our beach town and picked over 18 pounds of blueberries........not sure how many we ate while picking.  Blueberry jam is on the schedule for tomorrow, I think I've got enough sugar for at least 2 batches. Will freeze blueberries but since I have a couple lemons I might have to make some blueberry lemon bread.

 I got back to weaving on the false damask warp I had started weaving last time over, just love this weave structure for towels......

......here they are in a cheery yellow

Since I finished up that warp and am still on a kick to use up my cottolin stash I put on another towel warp in the same draft but this time I was using up odds and ends of spools that were getting low. I've got 4 different colors I'll use for wefts on these 10 towels. These look pretty orange in the photo but there's no orange in them at all - mauves, pinks and a little lavender. I think after this there's enough cottolin left for another mixed color towel warp.....not sure what weave structure yet. After that I'll move on to something new on that loom.

Bailey is exhausted after his time on the coast. The neighborhood was hopping so he sat out on the front porch watching and never got his naps. He was especially interested in watching the kids play baseball across the street, and then later the kids next door shooting off fireworks. But the highlight of his time on the coast was getting this new football at the parade on the 4th. We sat on the curb and he watched the parade, watched all the kids running out into the street to get the candy and toys being thrown. But then a bus from Bandon Dunes golf resort went by and threw out this little football - no kid had a chance, it was coming right at Bailey and he jumped up and grabbed it. Go figure why a one of the top golf resorts in the world threw out a handful of footballs but Bailey was happy they did.

Table runners ready to cut off the Gilmore Gem loom - I really cut it close - back bar all the way to the back of the heddles trying to eak out those last couple of inches.


I got many emails asking for more details on the Gem loom. As I've said - it's a well made, high quality, sturdy, compact, easily transported little loom.......it's just not the loom for me. I don't want to discourage anyone else from considering one until they give it a try - it might be perfect for someone else, just not perfect for me. Threading heddles gave my back fits and weaving gave my feet, ankles and legs fits.........I think I'm just a Macomber gal that loves a front beam that folds down, beater that comes out and treadles that push straight down with little effort.

 Latest handspun washed and out on the blocker.  This pvc pipe yarn blocker design came out of a very old issue of Spin-Off........I made a few changes but it's pretty much like the one in the magazine. I'm sorry I don't know which issue it was in - it was before I subscribed and a friend made me a copy of that page (no page number or issue on it)

 My little herb fairy garden is doing well so early in the spring

Mom, I'm here - did you say you needed some help???

ACK!!!

ACK!!! Re-entry sucks. We spent the last week on the coast getting back late yesterday afternoon - on the drive home I was already getting stressed over my upcoming week and how much I have on my to-do list. If we lived over there full time would the craziness and stress migrate over there?  Or would it stay relaxing and idyllic?  To make matters worse I opened the big freezer this morning to get something out only to find the door not tight and the entire inside full of frost.......ack, I didn't shut the door completely before we left for the week. With all the frost I couldn't get the door closed back up so I chipped off all the frost from the edges of the shelves and quickly closed the door to deal with it another day. We did need to defrost it but I was hoping to eat everything out of it first, not have to take it all to the landfill..........


Anyhow, we had a great week getting lots done on the cottage (well, Sam got lots of remodel work done on the cottage), many walks on the beach, some reading, knitting, weaving and twisting of fringe of scarves and shawls. The weather was perfect - sunny and just warm enough to have windows and doors open.
 

I have some newly woven scarves up for sale in my etsy shop - another few of my original ginkgo draft. They all have a ginkgo charm on one end.

Here's the process of twisting the fringe, adding little silver glass beads along the way. I've shown my handy dandy hair twister in the past - makes such fast work of twisting fringes.

Here's that scarf finished. I can't begin to describe the sheen in these tencel scarves.

Here's another scarf - twisting fringe underway.

And here it is finished.

Rather than weave another ginkgo scarf on that warp I wove my vines & leaves draft, this one has tiny little gold beads in the fringe.

And here's one of the silver rayon slub shawls - it feels like 'butta'.  This would make for a great wedding shawl with a white gown with lots of bling.........it would make for a great shawl for any time, summer or winter.  I have another one that I used white for the weft but I haven't finished twisting the fringe on that one.

I spent time weaving while over on the coast too - this batch of towels came off the loom and were washed - they're now awaiting pinning and hemming.  I'm doing great with weaving up all my cottolin stash.

I also wove this warp while over there of checked twill towels in brown, some in red and some in a charcoal gray/green. These are now in the queue to be hemmed......it's a big pile now.......

I started another shawlette using some of my handspun - this is merino and soy silk.

Bailey wanted his pic up today to show what a great time he had on the coast last week - today he's totally exhausted sleeping the day away.........all that running and playing on the beach wore him out.

 

This and that.......

We spent the past 4 days on the coast. While those to the east are stuck in frigid temps we had mild weather although the second 2 days were drippy and foggy.......but nothing that kept us from walking the beach.  Friend Teresa and I met for coffee and then went to a meet & greet with knit/crochet author Susan Bates at The Wool Company. I bought one of her books and a couple single patterns, also bought some yarn to knit a gingko shawl which I already have the pattern for.........more to come on that once I get it started......after I do a bit more gift knitting.

While Sam was removing some tile and getting a final coat of paint on closet doors I wound a warp for more cottolin towels. Beach colors that will be woven in a broken twill design. I also finished knitting another shawlette - now there are 4 in the queue to be blocked.  Next time over I'll tie on the front beam and start weaving.

And what did Bailey do?  What he does best when not walking the beach or people/dog watching off the front porch...........

........yep, can't pass up that comfy couch.......

It was a good holiday..........

Santa was good to Bailey this year......hmm, what's this?

 .....oh, it was a rawhide granola bar........but wait, what's up there????

 ......it's a new Buster!!!!

 

 Bailey said he's not sure why he got a new Buster because his old one was broken in just right......he just couldn't see that old Buster was threadbare and had a stink about him that no one in the house could stand any longer.......and he wouldn't have made it through another trip in the washer........

......ah, life is good.........Bailey hopes you all had just as wonderful a holiday as he did...........