Decisions, decisions........

I'm starting to think about the first quilt top for the beach cottage. It's so hard, maybe it would be easier if I were following an exact pattern and trying to copy something close to that pattern. But I know how to make a log cabin square so that's what I'm going to do, no pattern to tell me how much fabric to buy so I over-bought but I would have probably done that anyhow and I don't want to have rules that I feel compeled to follow. This is just a fraction of the fabric I've bought. I'm auditioning these for the log cabin squares, my  6 lights, my 6 darks and my center square in coral. I'm thinking of pulling randomly from a pile of light strips and dark strips to create the squares rather than having them all look identical. I do have many other darks but no other lights so I'm not sure if I should try to find more and add them to the mix or what. I have many medium colors that won't work for log cabin but will show up in one of the other quilts. Still not sure on the coral center square, I suppose I might end up having to make up a block to see how I like it. Any advice is welcome. So, these fabrics will sit and marinate for a bit because in the next week I've got to take my Bernina in for it's yearly maintenance - I don't want to miss getting it in on time because if I do it every year on time it's only  $39.95 plus I get 15% off in the shop for the entire year.

Hemming Tulip Table Runners

I thought I'd share how I hem towels, runners, etc. I learned this technique from Marcy Tilton during a weaving guild presentation, Marcy also lives here in Southern Oregon, just a few miles down the road from our previous home, in this home I'm around 40 miles north of her. It makes for a beautiful hem.

I made myself some file folder 'rulers' per Marcy's instruction, cutting them the length of the file folder in numerous widths. I then mark on each one how wide it is, punch a hole in it and hang them all in the sewing room on a metal ring. Over the years I've only replaced these once, they last a long time. Excuse the stained ironing board cover - it's fairly new but it doesn't take long for it to become stained....and we have really good water coming from our well.

For this runner I decided I wanted a 1 3/4" plain weave border on the end of the runners so I turned the runner over, laid the 'ruler' at the bottom of the tulips, folded over the hem once and steam ironed

Next I turned under the raw edge and steam ironed that too

Then add the pins and it's ready to hand hem

Here is the stack of table runners waiting to be hemmed

For lack of anything else to show......

For lack of anything else to show for my day here are the two table runners I managed to get woven, just like the ones from yesterday only different colors. Somehow I managed to let 'life' get in the way of weaving, need to go back and revisit my goals for the year....... On a positive note, I love the soft pink with pink tulips.

All in a day's work..........

In-between other chores today I finally got to sit at the loom for a bit. Remember that warp I put on a week ago Monday? Well, finally I tied on and started weaving the tulip table runners, am hoping to get more time to work on other color combos tomorrow, maybe some pink tulips, maybe some yellow.

Here are those socks now that they're finished and off the needles - they'll be packed up and mailed off to my Aunt Ilene in Michigan, my father's brother's wife. Her feet are freezing up there. Will be working on some more for her after I knit up the Poems yarn (below) for a knit hat and fingerless gloves for myself to leave at the beach cottage so I'm prepared for chilly walks. Think I'll start these this evening.

Beach Cottage is coming along......

The beach cottage is coming along....thought I'd post a few pix from this past weekend. More decorating to be done, much furniture to be painted, many pictures/prints need framing so they can be hung on the walls, and hopefully I will get sheer curtains with seashells & starfish ordered this week. We're furnishing it on a shoestring, most furniture was found at antique shops at good prices, only a few new pieces.

 Guest room bookcase - a small, not so subtle hint as to what guests should be doing at the beach cottage

Found this fun shelf and what are actually Christmas ornaments at a new shop in town

 Shells on a little table in our bedroom

 and more shells and seaglass on the lower shelf of the little table

 Found two of these shelves for the bathrooms - they will eventually be painted

 Great large glass dish that will eventually have some sand & shells displayed in it. Right now some glass ornaments I found are residing in it - they will hang in our bedroom window after I get the sheers up. Not sure where the cute little beaded copper otter ornament will reside - just loved him.....and all ornaments were on sale.

 Living room - really wanted the white couch but decided with Bailey the golden retriever it was best not to go with white, well, since the khaki couch is now covered with a quilt for Bailey I guess I could have gone with white......oh well. Love the Kathy Ireland area rugs we found.

 Here's another larger Kathy Ireland area rug. You can barely see the ugly chandelier because it's hung so high it doesn't show. Eventually we'll find the perfect chandelier and fix that problem at the same time. Both of these rooms will look much more comfy once the sheers are hung.

Tea cup collection that belonged to my Aunt Fran, a couple of my teapots on top and my miniature teapots mixed in with the teacups. These teacups were actually belonged to Fran's husband Dave's mother. His family didn't want them back after Fran passed away so my cousin Jim asked me if I'd like them - they're perfect at the beach for tea parties. Eventually this piece of furniture will be painted - maybe one color inside, another on the outside.

And one outside shot. We haven't brought our extra outdoor furniture to the beach cottage for the deck yet so Bailey and I were outside laying on the deck in the sun Saturday and spotted this little nest up high in the tree. It's really tiny, only a few inches across, up way too high for me to get a really good look. Can't wait to see what bird will be laying it's eggs in it this spring.....that is if I can see once the leaves are out. It was a beautiful weekend on the coast - fog and cold weather here at home, sunny and mild at the coast.

More fabric added to the stash

Theresa and I met up in Ashland on Wednesday for some fabric shopping and lunch. Both fabric stores in town were having their annual January sales. We also found some great clothing finds at Kixx which we both found out was a favorite clothing store of both of ours.

Some fun fabrics to add to the quilts for the beach cottage. More lights and darks plus a couple more for the first quilt which will be log cabin....which means more fabric to wash and iron before getting started. These are from Quiltz, great fabric store full of quilting fabrics and a number of surface design supplies.

And here are some fun cottons from Fabric of Vision that are planned for this Marcy Tilton Vogue Pattern. Of course I have some other fabrics, indigo patterns, that have been slated to use with this pattern and they're still sitting in a basket waiting to be sewn. Think I'll sew that jacket first to make sure I want to use these more expensive fabrics for the same pattern, if not I've got a couple other really great simple jacket patterns waiting in the wings. I love the way owner, Sandy, folds the fabric cuts - makes me smile.

So the big problem is now how do I fit sewing in my busy schedule in-between all the other fiber arts that I really want/need to do!!!

Spring on my mind......

Spring is on my mind, not that I mind the winter rains but I love the spring flowers. Daffodils come up here, the ones the ground squirrels haven't eaten, since the deer leave them alone but I love tulips and miss them in my yard.....there are actually 6 of them planted by the former owner that as soon as they appear the deer snatch off their tasty tops. Yesterday I put on a 5/2 perle cotton warp to make some tulip table runners for a holiday table runner exchange. I'm calling them Easter runners since I always think of tulips at Easter but being a spring flower the runner could be used all spring long, not just for a holiday. This picture is from one I happen to have, new warp is on the loom but not tied on the front beam yet, weaving will commence soon. This draft comes from the mongraph by Nellie Burnham called Handwoven Overshot Figures on Eight Harnesses. I love this monograph, such fun designs but many of them would take many more pedals than I have on my loom so I use Tim's Treadle Reducer to quickly figure out the easiest way to treadle, usually pressing down on two treadles at a time in a few spots.

Local Bounty......west side

Following Theresa's lead I'm chiming in with some of my favorite local businesses. I'm located not too far to the west of Theresa, on the western most front of the Rogue Valley.

I have to agree with Theresa, Rogue Creamery has the best cheeses. They used to be located here in Grants Pass but are now in Central Point, they do have a booth at our local grower's market which runs from March-December. All the cheeses are yummy but the award winning blues are my favorites.

Taylor's Sausage is actually located 30 miles south of Grants Pass in Cave Junction where we lived for 11 years before moving to our current home on the north side of GP. They raise the pigs for their own sausage and it's wonderful. The country store also has other varieties of meats and groceries. I get a lamb processed by them every fall, they do a great job.

Now onto sweets. Cary's Toffee is incredible - the best toffee I've ever tasted. They have a storefront full of the most yummy chocolate covered toffee's with windows into the factory so you can watch the toffee being made. When my neice Charlotte sent me 'Flat Stanley' her school project (many of you I'm sure are familiar with Flat Stanley) we went to Cary's - they let me bring Flat Stanley into the production area and we took a picture of him with one of the workers, FS was wearing his hairnet.

Marshmallow Heaven is my newest find. They are located in Rogue River, I found my supply of them at Sandi's Candies in Grants Pass. One of these gourmet marshmallows atop hot cocoa can't be beat.

Tussie Mussies of Williams makes one of my favorite hand lotions, I love the delicate smell of it. I've had a hard time finding it locally lately other than online but I understand that another wonderful shop in the area may be carrying it in the future - Unique Lee Yours. Lee of Unique Lee Yours has a wonderful cross-stitch shop on the north side of the city of Grants Pass. Nice stock, can order anything you'd like, and Lee is the friendliest and most helpful shop owner not to mention a real sweetheart. I only wish I had more time for cross-stitch so I could shop there more often, right now the projects are piled up, need more hours in my day!

And finally another animal organization. Theresa mentioned Dogs for the Deaf in her post. I can't let this post go without mentioning Canine Angels. Sandy and her puppy raisers and trainers train dogs to be placed with children as assistance dogs/companions. There aren't many organizations that provide assistance dogs to children, most are for adults. This is one of the causes I donate to personally and our local spinning group collects cans & bottles that go to a local elementary school to add to what the kids collect to donate the proceeds to Canine Angels.

So, this is a bit  of the local bounty on my end of the valley........hope you enjoy looking at the sites, and hope you decide to try some of the local goodies.

Scarves.....

I'm not quite sure why these pictures don't look great but that's life, after trying several times over a period of hours to post them I'm just happy they're up here. Blogger kept saying 'picture rejected' - that's a first of that type of snafu with blogger I've experienced. Anyhow, was taking pix of a few scarves this afternoon and thought I'd share.

Above is painted warp tencel scarf. It's hard to tell but it's a dornick twill. I love the colors in it so much that I kept a variation of this scarf for myself (there were two on the warp). I hemmed the ends and hand beaded the fringe.

This scarf in the crazy crayon colors is from a painted warp that hung in the studio for a couple years because I couldn't believe I dyed these colors together, they were so ugly. Finally one day I decided to go ahead and weave the two scarves off, this one with a purple weft, the other a blue weft. Surprise, surprise - I loved it so much I kept one and wear it all the time. The one I kept has a totally different beaded fringe on it. They look great with blue jeans or blue slacks, striking with a red top, also looks great with a white or purple top. This scarf is a cotton/rayon blend warp and a tencel weft. At this exact moment I can't remember the name of the twill - I'm guessing Wall of Troy but could be wrong. I'll have to try and remember to check that.

Future beach quilt

I've decided it's time to start thinking about the quilts for the beach cottage. Originally I had planned on quilts for all 4 beds (queen, full and 2 twins) but I picked up a couple of antique quilts for the twins in the one bedroom that don't match at all but everytime I walk by that room I smile when I look at them. That tells me don't replace them, leave them on the beds and enjoy them. So here's what I have planned for the full size bed - a log cabin quilt in these colors. The dark teal the center square, the lights and the darks the log cabin pieces. I have no clue if I have enough fabric but you'd think so - there's a total of 18 yards. I just bought on speculation not knowing which beds or what pattern I'd use. And I'm not using an actual 'recipe' other than how to do a log cabin block (which I've done before) so there's no book telling me how much I needed of each color. If I do run out when it comes to the outside border I can find something that will go with. I've chosen the full size to get the purples & lavendars because Sam has said for the almost 28 years we've been married that purple makes his head hurt - at least he won't have to sleep in a room with purple. Not sure what our beds color scheme or pattern will be but it will include shades of teal and maybe a bit of coral.....will figure that out after this one is done. So, not sure when I'll actually start sewing but today I'm washing fabric so it's ready when the mood strikes. And I won't be hand quilting or doing the machine quilting myself - much easier to drop it off for a long arm quilter to do! Need to get something on the loom soon..........

One beat me, the other didn't.....totally.......

Today I decided to try and work on my serger (no pic of that) - I bought this inexpensive Brother serger from Costco in either 1989 or 1990. I never got it serviced or cleaned professionally until a couple years ago, never had a problem with it until I got it professionally serviced - argh! I'm not sure why I took it in, maybe I was feeling guilty because I hadn't. Oh well.....deed is done. So, today I decided to work on it and get it running perfectly again.....well, the machine won the battle. I've followed the book on how to adjust tension and no luck.....and the worst part is that the book has pictures of what bad stitches look like and how to fix them, and there are many of them, what mine looks like is nothing like any of the pictures. So I gave up....I hate giving up but....

So on to the Bernina. No issues with my beloved Bernina that I bought 4 years ago - I love it. I bought a new foot recently, #69, for sewing a rolled hem. Karen, co-owner with hubby Jonathan of our local Bernina shop, took it out of the package at the store and demonstrated it for me back before the holidays. She started the rolled hem a bit differently than Bernina's instructions. Today on scrap fabric I did lots (and I mean lots) of practicing and have finally mastered getting it started perfectly. My problem is, and I hope someone else out there has an answer, is that when I get to the end of a side of my napkin that was already hemmed it doesn't come out even, the top turned over edge is a bit longer. In the Bernina foot book it says to pull the fabric on a bias to remedy this, but after many, many tries this only made that corner look worse. Does anyone else have experience with this? I'm sure other machines have similiar feet so having a Bernina wouldn't matter. If I can't figure it out I will stop by to ask Karen about it next time I'm in Medford, if they were located 10 minutes away I would have been there this afternoon. I'm anxious to make napkins for the beach, we only use cloth napkins here at home and want to do the same over there. And since my serger isn't cooperating I can't do a rolled hem on it! 

On the needles......

Since there's no weaving going on here this week thought I'd show what's new on the needles. Some simple sox in Opal sock yarn - love the patterning that Opal yarn comes up with. I knit a rolled top at the top of the cuff followed by some ribbing to hold the sox up and then stockinette. Will be ready to work on the heel this evening.

Today was the turning point for the dreaded winter cold, the worst has passed and I'm starting to feel better......not good enough to give up my Dayquil and Nyquil quite yet. I did hem up the sleeves on 8 long sleeve t's to make them 3/4 sleeves so at least something was accomplished today.

Lost days.......

Well, I've lost the past 5 days to the dreaded winter cold, nothing truly horrible like the flu but just enough to make me miserable and not have any energy to get much done. I did make it to the weaving guild meeting on Saturday but on the 45 minute drive home I wondered was I really driving safely? my head was filled with snot (to put it delicately) and impairing my judgement. So, I missed Sewing Sunday (so sad) and missed my other guild meeting yesterday. Dayquil, Nyquil and nose spray do wonders for many symptoms but don't help with the lack of energy or lung function. And today I only had 1/3 dose of Dayquil left - panic set in as I watched the last drip of orange hitting the 'plastic' shooter cup so I added some water to the bottle and shook it up to make sure I didn't miss one tiny bit of that nasty tasting liquor. Hopefully Sam will not forget to pick me up more today on his way home from work.

But I did accomplish a little today, very little, but it was something. I weighed out a big box of Ashland Bay roving that arrived here well over a month ago, I had been ignoring it since there were more important tasks to take care of. That pretty much did me in, I then turned on the mattress pad warmer and laid in bed watching the new Oprah Winfrey network for an hour, then a bubble bath and then a mug of hot cocoa. Boy, have I got the art of milking a cold down!

Obviously nothing happening on the weaving front but I do have a table runner project waiting in the wings for a multi-guild exchange and a pile of pink fibers including pink metallic for a guild challenge, more to come on that later.

So tomorrow I'll be happy if I get a little bit of sewing done. I have, I think, 8 long sleeve t's that have been hanging or piled on the floor in the sewing room for a few months waiting for me to hem up the sleeves, I hate long sleeves but love 3/4 length ones. Hmm, maybe I'll get to wear these before spring comes and it gets warm again. Oh, almost forgot one of the black t's gets to be decorated with shiva paintstiks - fun!

Off to nurse (milk) my cold again sitting by the fire knitting........or playing with my ipad......

What's going on........

What a great New Year's long weekend we had. While the valleys had snow, then heavy fog and cold weather we were sitting just on the other side of the mountain range on the coast in sunny, bright blue sky, no wind upper 50's temps. Great for walking down the hill to the wharf & Old Town every morning and for driftwood searching on the beach. We hated to come back home to the chilly weather. So, pretty much nothing fiber related happened over the long holiday weekend, just played and relaxed.

I started some new spinning yesterday at my spinning group get together - it's some Falkland that I had dyed starting at one of the roving with yellow and working my way to black at the other end - you can see the first change of color on the bobbin above. I split the roving in half and am spinning half on this bobbin, will spin the other half on another bobbin and then ply them. Don't ask what my plans are for this - it will sit on the shelf and marinate for a while until a project pops into my head.

Today was to be spent in Ashland with Theresa but she's still got a cold hanging on and we thought better of it, will be rescheduled for another day. Since I was home unexpectedly I decided it was time to organize and put everything away in the studio; the loom room and the sewing/craft room both looked like a tornado had come through the rooms. It's looking much better now, I feel like I can now think about the next warps to go on the loom and sewing I want to do.

As the new year looms.....

As the New Year approaches one begins to think about resolutions……well, some other ‘one’ begins to think about resolutions. Me, for one, always breaks resolutions which leads to a feeling of failure. So, better not to have any and feel good about myself.

Last year I vowed to clean out and organize all drawers, cabinets & closets, one item a week even if it were the smallest drawer. Started out gang-busters, then I’d think about it and not do the weeks drawer, then I just stopped thinking about it at all. Well, isn’t playing with fiber more fun I ask?

But I always have goals to reach for, if I don’t get there, it’s ok because I’ve worked toward those goals…..that’s an accomplishment in itself. I need to keep repeating that to myself, over and over again.

So one of my goals this year is to give myself a break. I tend to be hard on myself if I’m not producing to sell, I feel like I’m frittering my time. So, what does it matter if I sell a few less scarves, or a bit less roving? The world won’t come to an end nor we will starve….we especially won’t starve as I’m not sure how much I really contribute to the household, I’m probably a liability when it comes to spending money. So my friends, if I start obsessing over having to get things done to sell or show rather than taking time to relish in every moment of the day even if it’s just sitting on the deck watching the hummingbirds please take me by the shoulders, shake me and ask me what in the world am I doing.

So, with that goal in mind spring the other goals of the year – to do more artistically that benefits myself, my family or friends. I have a desire to spend more time at the sewing machine, I’ve got quilts planned for the beach cottage, linen sitting waiting to be sewn into jacket & pants, more fabric for tops that’s been sitting patiently for a few years now. I’d like to spend more time spinning and creating from my handspun. Something I’ve talked about for a number of years is creating clothing from my handwoven fabric, I’ve only touched on that goal, would like to spend more time working toward it. I’ve also got a beach cottage with furniture waiting to be painted and seaside décor waiting to be made.

So now we come to the mental health part of my goals – I do cherish and am grateful for everyone and everything around me but I don’t spend enough time thinking about it, life just gets in the way sometimes. A few quiet moments each day spent thinking about all I’m grateful for will be good for my mental health, it will force me to slow down and take in all around me. So my word for the year is ‘Gratitude’. If you follow Bonnie Tarses’ blog you’ll understand where that came from – if not, check it out sometime, she had post on December 28th on picking her word for the year.
Lastly, this year I’ll be trying to work on the art of saying NO – I’ve gotten better at it but still end up saying yes when I should say no and then beat myself up later for it. So, those of you who hear a NO come from my lips don’t take it personally, it’s just me taking care of me.

Finally I just want to say that I’m grateful for all of my friends out there, those I’ve met personally, those I haven’t. I wish you all a peaceful year to come. Thank you for visiting.....and if you’ve made it all the way to the end of the post thank you for sticking with it, if you didn’t that’s ok.

Finally......

......I finished spinning and plying this yarn - I made a career out of it or at least 6 months of my life. It's not that I'm an especially slow spinner, it's just that I haven't been spinning much, been dyeing, weaving, knitting and sewing instead. And I've missed spinning, the hypnotic rhythm of the wheel, the feel of the fiber slipping between my hands...very zen. What is this fiber, you ask? It's a merino/tussah silk blend from Ashland Bay Fibers, colorway is called Lilac. I spun it to go with another merino/tussah (already spun, thank goodness) in the Concord colorway. I plan on weaving these two yarns, maybe in a twill, maybe a shadow weave, undecided right now.....also undecided what the project will be, depends on how far it will go. Oh yeah, there's 808 yards of this, it's a bit smaller than a fingering yarn size.

I have some thoughts on the year to come, those will come in another post.......

Finally done..........

These socks out of Zauberball sock yarn are finally finished - they've been on the needles for months but then I would only work on them here and there while at a meeting or sitting and waiting somewhere. I love the color changes - have a couple more balls in different colorways sitting on the shelf.

As soon as I finish the towel warp (up until yesterday hadn't touched it in over a week) I will start thinking about new projects for the year. I have a guild challenge I want to start planning (more on that later), a holiday table runner project to plan - it's for a multi-guild exchange, and I've got tons of $$$ sitting in a huge bag from Fabric Depot (since September) for making 3 quilt tops for the beach....will probably have them long arm quilted once done. And then there's the usual weaving & dyeing projects for selling.

I did get back to spinning last night, the merino/tussah in the lilac colorway that's been on the wheel for months - even started to ply the two bobbins last night, hoping to finish that up in a couple evenings. Plying is so danged boring, especially when spinning so thin that the bobbins never seem to empty. 

Now off to the loom........

Sisters, sisters..........

No, I have no sisters but if you've ever watched the movie White Christmas you know the song. This movie is a must for me every year. I grew up loving musicals, used to watch them on the old black & white tv in the basement while sewing or crafting. The holidays just aren't the same without White Christmas. Sam got tired of watching me search for it to come on tv every year so a few years back I found it in my Christmas stocking - I can watch it whenever I want and multiple times if I'd like.....although Sam would prefer not to see it again after sitting through it once with me. So, today seemed like the perfect day to get it out to watch it while weaving. And a cup of perfect hot chocolate complete with a gourmet marshmallow was the icing on the cake, or as my friend Yvonne said, it's food porn. I recently discovered these from Marshmallow Heaven, they're made nearby in Rogue River. Today's marshmallow of choice was called Cinnamon Joe - yum! In searching for their website I found that they have many more flavors I didn't find in the local candy shop, Sandi's Candies - I think I need to try them all.........over a long period of time........

I'm trying to finish up some gifts - this is a very simple towel pattern from Handwoven magazine, one of my favorites. I started out with very elegant tan on tan towels since I need neutral colors but just couldn't stand it so out came a variegated pink - love it! I've pulled out a variegated blue jean color to use next. Nothing like working right down to the wire on gifts, not a usual trait of mine and it stresses me........

Holiday Decor

Oh I am so bad......this is the 3rd year in a row I haven't put out holiday decor. I've got one big tall skinny tree and 3 country smaller trees along with boxes and boxes of ornaments and holiday decor. My big tree is normally covered with my own handmade ornaments, handmade ornaments friends have made and other ornaments that were gifted, a wonderful memory tree. Two of the small trees have fiber related ornaments and the final tree all my handmade japanese temari balls and origami cranes. But alas, this year these 3 ornaments are all I have out, I never even got to buying a wreath or swag to put on the gate. Where does my time go - no time for decorating! The little mouse and sheep ornaments were made by my friend Karen of Liongate Farm - she's got a website, blog and etsy shop. If you love sheep as much as I do you must check out what she has for sale - they are soooo cute. The snowman was made by Karen's neighbor Amy, I got it in an ornament exchange on Sunday.

Now that I've shown off my holiday decor, or lack of it, I'm off to thread the heddles & reed with a warp destined to become towels for holiday gifts - yikes am I ever cutting it close!

Almost forgot.....

Almost forgot that Bailey wanted to share his picture on the blog today, this was taken a couple weeks ago on the beach. We were working on our Christmas cards (this is a little part of it) in the pouring horizontal rain.....wasn't raining when we walked down onto the beach....... Anyhow, this is my starfish snatcher pooch, and that is not one of the many thousands of native starfishes found on the rocks, that is one I bought for $4.99 that he was  running around the beach with!

No, I didn't fall into the deep abyss known as the holidays.........

......I'm still here, just too busy to post. Last week I was working busily getting ready for my booth at the Pacifica Winter Arts Festival. This event has always been good to me financially, even last year when the economy was off I did well. But this year someone new was organizing and thought very little of advertising/promoting.........so the usual crowds didn't show, even those that just came for the musical entertainment and never spent any money. I suppose I sold enough to make it worth driving out there for 3 days but just barely, it was a lot of hours lost driving and sitting. Very sad for the event......it takes a lot of time to put something like this together, all for not if no one knows or is reminded it's there.

So, in the midst of trying to finish up gifts and get them shipped I got two new toys. Actually the iPad is a toy for both Sam and I, been playing and learning (circle in left lower side is not part of it, it's the reflection of the chandelier). Also got a new phone this week, all I've done so far with that is record my voicemail message, figure out how to make a call and retrieve messages, more play time to come picking my ringtone.

This morning all gifts (and some orders) to be mailed were dropped at the post office, 3 trips worth, thank goodness I print my postage online so I don't have to wait in that long line - just drop them at the counter and run.

Still have a few small gifts to finish up and a long warp to get on the loom and woven in the next week - yikes! Whatever happened to the days when I started gifts during the summer and had them finished by fall. Need to put it in my calendar to do that next year....or just make donations to worthy causes in everyone's names and not make a thing!

Eventually more pix will come but since I'm working on gifts I can't post them, never know who is reading my blog........

Chenille Scarf

One of the latest chenille scarves to come off the loom and get the fringes twisted

Pacifica Winter Arts Festival

For those of you within driving distance of Southern Oregon be sure to put the 12th Annual Pacifica Winter Arts Festival on your calendar. It's this coming weekend, Dec 4th & 5th from 10-5pm each day.  Pacifica's 500 acres are on what used to be the old Steve Miller Band Ranch (14615 Watergap Rd., Williams, OR). We, artists, will have our booths set up in the old recording studio. There is live music, lots of beautiful items from local artists for sale and food and refreshments available. I will be there with my handwovens, hand-dyed sock yarns and felted goodies. I don't generally bring roving for sale to this event but will if someone requests something in particular. Hope to see a big crowd as usual, it's a very fun festival.

CYBER MONDAY SALE

Whoo-Hoo - I'm having a CYBER MONDAY Sale in my two etsy shops. Check them out and enter 'CyberMonday' is the coupon code when you check out. Everything is 15% off. The sale starts now and in theory would run through midnight Monday but since I won't be awake at midnight to take the shops off sale folks could sneak purchases in at the 15% discount until early Tuesday morning.

eweniquely ewe - hand-dyed rovings, handwovens, felted items, jewelry
eweniquely ewe fibers - Ashland Bay Trading Co roving for spinning and felting

Happy Day

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I have so much to be thankful for this and every year from family to dear friends to being able to do what I love every day of the year - play with fiber!

Today is a another celebration for me - pumpkin pie will stand in for a birthday cake. I can't believe it but I'm 55 today! How did I get that old?! Yeah, I know it's not really old but I'm now heading toward 60. No monumental birthdays have ever bothered me, nothing to turning 30, 40 or 50.......and today nothing to turning 55. Check back with me in 5 years though to see how I handle 60.....might be so grateful just to have made it I'll be thrilled.

Of course, the downside to all this aging is that I'm seeing a few gray hairs now - I'm not happy about that - I love the auburn color of my hair, I don't want any grays mixed in. I've had one gray hair since I was 20 that I pull out as it grows but now there must be at least 10 of them, at least 10 that I can see when the light is just right. And what's with them sticking straight up in the air - they're just begging to be pulled! And to make matters worse I have 2 gray eyebrow hairs - what's with that?!

So how I'm spending my Thanksgiving morning is watching the Macy's Day Parade. Our little town's band is in it, estimated time to show up is around 10:45 PST. They had to raise tons of money, and I mean tons, to get there....and yes, we did our part to help in that endeavor. So far I'm not impressed with the tv coverage - will our band go by during a commercial, or will they have some singing group being shown as they pass by....

Silk Shawls/Scarves.....

Here are a few of the dyed silk/rayon shawls/scarves from the other day.......

New chenille scarves

I wove three chenille scarves yesterday, washed last night, hung to dry and this morning fluffed them in the dryer. These are the two ends of one scarf, it's really very subtle and lovely seeing the color changes. I'm really loving this idea that popped in my head with the last chenille scarf warp so I continue to weave. Today another warp is going on for a natural/gold colorway, and then the next warp will be a blue/green colorway. Then I really need to get a different warp on the loom for gifts, cutting it close this year.

Silk shawl

Here's a pic of one of the silk shawls I dyed on Sunday. The shawls & scarves I dyed are commercially made, bought from Dharma Trading Co. and then I dye them using fiber reactive dyes. Very fun project but a pain to keep rinsing, soaking and rinsing out the dyes. This is one of the eight I dyed. It's always nice to have shawls & scarves that are priced a bit lower than my handwovens. Last year at the Pacifica Winter Arts Festival (coming up Dec 4th & 5th) I sold many more of these than ever. My thought is folks still wanted something handmade for gifts but with the economy these were a better alternative to the handwovens. I still sell alot of handwovens but last year many more of these than usual.

Need a place to find gifts this holiday season?

Ok, so a shamless plug - shop ETSY this holiday season......and all year round for that fact. Ok, so I'm not just plugging my shops, I want to encourage everyone to browse through etsy shops for their gift giving. There are so many incredible handmade items out there - everyday I see treasuries filled with the most beautiful pieces. I have already done some of my holiday shopping on etsy the past couple of weeks. If you click on the link in the first line of this post you'll get to the Etsy home page where you can search items to your hearts delight......if you want to go directly to one of my shops click on the links in the column to the right.

Treasury Scarf Sold!

Well, the cinnamon scarf in the latest etsy treasury sold yesterday along with a new 'fresh off the loom' lavendar/seafoam chenille scarf. Whoo-Hoo. Another scarf in my etsy shop sold on Saturday. Folks must be thinking gift giving.........me, I'm just struggling to create the gifts for others to buy. Still have no ideas for our Holiday cards, could this be the second time in 25 years that I don't hand make our cards - yikes! Last time I heard about it!

Am already in the process of rinsing dye out of the silk scarves dyed yesterday - lengthy process, that's the downside to the fiber reactive dyes. First two scarves have been rinsed, now they're soaking with hopes that with another rinsing or two all the excess dye will be removed.

Silk Scarf Dyeing.......

This morning was devoted to dyeing some silk scarves. Sure hope they turn out nice - usually they do. I buy the blanks from Dharma Trading Co. and dye them using fiber reactive dyes - I have both Procion brand dyes and Dharma brand. To the left is a silk/rayon velvet scarf - no telling what it will look like when washed out tomorrow - am hoping for a nice chartreuse. Kind of looks like camo in the photo but it's really not. So, dyed several silk/rayon velvet scarves and then some silk/rayon devore shawls - have more to do but already the thought of washing all these out tomorrow is almost more than I can bear.

In another Etsy Treasury

My handwoven cinnamon tencel scarf is in a new etsy treasury - take a look. Don't worry, I won't post each time items of mine are listed in treasuries but the one earlier this week and this one are so beautiful - wonderful choice for the themes picked. Not sure how long it will be up so check it out soon. I see some earrings in it I need to investigate........

More follies......

Me: Hello? I say as I pick up the phone from my deep sleep on the couch from my stressful fireplace adventures this afternoon

Mr: Can you tell me what kind of toilet we have?

Me: Huh???

Mr: Go read the brand on the toilet so I can buy the replacement handle and inner workings from when you flushed it yesterday and broke it

Me: It's Western

Mr: Huh???

Me: The brand of the toilet is Western

Mr: I've never heard of Western, are you sure?

Me: Nose 3" from the stamp on the porcelain, yes, I'm sure, there's a little cowboy hat over the "W"

Mr: Ok, I'll just take a chance and buy a replacement.

Me: Ok, see you soon.

Me: Hello as I run for the phone again

Mr: Is the hole where the handle fits through round, square or a hexagon

Me: It's square, as the handle comes off in my hand

Mr: Ok, see you shortly, I've never heard of Western

I should be weaving..........

    Ok, so I wound a chenille warp this afternoon with plans on getting at least the first scarf of three woven, if not the second. Oh, how plans can change.

    Since it's chilly out I decided to get a fire going before starting to weave. Got the fire going, put some big logs on and all of a sudden a big metal deflector of some sort fell from inside the top of the stove onto the fire - yikes! So then the flames are shooting up where the deflector should have been and I was concerned (panicked, heart palpitating!) about it all getting too hot and starting a fire inside the chimney. Me, being deathly afraid of fire, calls Sam at work wondering how to get this fire out - closing down the fireplace insert wasn't doing any good. Phone call ended - called 911 for help. Luckily they didn't come streaming with sirens blaring since I told them there wasn't a fire......yet. Just one little whoo-hoo of the siren when they got to the gate down the drive and had to call back to dispatch to get the gate code........hmm, they have that on file, plus I had just given it to the dispatcher. So the solution these two nice fireman decided on was to drench the fire by pouring water on it and quickly close the glass door to keep the smoke to a minimum (sure, right). They were still concerned about the big logs so one fireman put his fireproof (but not heatproof as he found out) gloves on and started carrying the big logs out the front door........with sparks flying on my carpet and couch -yikes again! Then he carried out the big piece of metal that fell.....all sits out on the front drive smoldering now. Was a bit concerned (panicked, heart palpitating again) about those sparks flying - all I could think was that the nice fireman was going to start a fire! So, other than the smoke smell in here I think (hope, hope) all is well, will feel better after a number of hours go by. I certainly couldn't go downstairs to weave and not keep watch in the living room. What an afternoon.....so now I sit and watch Oprah's favorite things gift show and worry about fire....yeah, yeah, I could be doing something productive but this makes me smile!

Pumpkin - YUM

I love pumpkin! Pumpkin in any form - baked, roasted, soup, cakes, pies, Trader Joe's pancake mix, DQ Blizzards, milkshakes, smoothies, lattes......hmm, what did I miss? Whatever it is I know I love it. Unfortunately I will not be eating a piece of this pumpkin struesel cake unless I want to bake another one (not likely since I don't really enjoy baking). Sam needs something to contribute to tomorrow's turkey day luncheon at work so I baked this morning. It's an easy recipe so I've put it below for any other pumpkin lovers. And it doesn't have to be made in a bundt pan, I've also made it in the past in loaf pans to use as gifts, I think it makes 2 loaves.

Pumpkin Streusel Spice Cake

Cake:

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup canned pumpkin

3/4 cup brown sugar, light or dark

1/2 cupe vegetable oil

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

4 eggs

Streusel Glaze:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar, light or dark

1/2 to 3/4 cups chopped pecans

Combine cake mix, pumpkin, brown sugar, oil, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Beat for 1 minute, add eggs. Beat 2 minutes more. Pour into greased bundt pan. For topping, melt butter with brown sugar, add nuts. Pour half of the mixture on top of the cake batter. Bake cake at 350 for approximately 1 hour. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto plate.

When completely cool, drizzle remaining topping on cake.

Etsy Treasury

I had hoped to post a picture of the newest Etsy Treasury one of my chenille scarves has been included in but I can't seem to link or copy it. There are buttons to push to share it with everything else other than a blog (twitter, facebook, etc). Can't seem to copy as is either - I'm usually pretty good at that stuff. I'm also not sure how long this treasury will be up, it used to be posted but Etsy has changed the format so a time/date is not listed so go look at it right away before the link is no longer good.

A Treasury is a collection of items up for sale on Etsy that fall within a theme picked by the Etsian putting it together. Items from my shops are included all the time, this one I thought was so beautiful I had to share.

Sooo, please go look at it - it is a stunning treasury - the more clicks each item gets the better chance it has of making the front page of etsy. "For those who love Red-Violet.....and Purple!!!" (click on this title)

First fire of the season........

First fire of the season.......warm & cozy tonight!

Fiber Mania - the aftermath.......

Ok, so no pictures, I guess I could have taken a picture of the aftermath sitting down in the garage - bins, rubbermaid storage boxes, bags and bags of roving - all needing to be put away today. Roving needs to be inventoried so I can update my etsy shops and get them open again. Yikers - what a day I have in store for me - good thing there's a stereo and tv down in the garage.

Final thoughts on Fiber Mania - I did quite well selling my roving and other items for this being the first year of the event, I'm pleased. I would love to see the event grow to include even more vendors from out of the area, it really has to grow for it to be worth it to them to pay for travel & lodging. All in all I had a great time, met lots of new fiber folks that I hope I'll see again, and I'm totally exhausted. I met so many brand new spinners - it's very exciting that spinning is getting a bit more mainstream, I think it's the next step all those new knitters are taking from the boom in knitters in recent years - I love it! And there are quite a few new knitters and spinners moving on to weaving. One downside to running a booth by yourself is no time to go see all the other vendors and animals. When friends would come by I'd have them stay with my booth so I could take a potty break before I had to do the potty dance - that's a new one to me not having kids - family was in yesterday and the father asked where the bathroom was because his toddler was doing the potty dance - very cute, hope he made it.....