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

Spinning has commenced.....

 I started spinning the Inglenook Fibers 12 Days of Christmas spin-a-long fiber. Day 1 is very black with bit of color...….

 …..Day 2 has the same bits of color but is a charcoal gray...…

…...Day 3 is moving into the greens...….

Day 4 spinning will have to wait until tomorrow as I can't/shouldn't open up that packet before day 4 is actually here......well, I could as no fiber police are going to come and lock me up but I'll keep with the program and open and spin only one packet a day. 

Inglenook Day 3

Here's Day 3 of the Inglenook Fibers Spin-a-long. I may start spinning today as I've come up with a plan.  I'll take a little bit of each piece of roving and mix it with the next days to make a smoother transition although the transition is looking pretty smooth right now.

Inglenook Day 2

Day 2 of Inglenook Fibers Spin-a-long......still going to wait for a few more days to see what the color progression looks like to decide how I want to spin this.

Inglenook Day 1

This was the inspiration for Inglenook Fibers 12 Days of Christmas Spin-a-long for this year.

And here is Day 1 - today, Christmas Day.  I'm not going to start spinning it yet as I want to see a few of the packages and the progression of the colors so I can come up with a spinning plan. This will be great fun.

Happy Holidays

Happy  Holidays from my home to yours

Festive.....

Festive wear for dog walking. I knit the rolled brim hat a couple years ago but never wore it because I wasn't sure if I'd gift it or keep it. I decided I needed some mittens to match so I found some red wools in my that matched pretty good. I'll wear this set on morning walks when I'm in a red mood as opposed to the purple mood. Tomorrow morning will definitely be red as it seems very festive.

Nesting

Today was a much needed day of nesting here at home. The only time I left the house was when we took Bailey for a walk this morning. Have I said how much I love this neighborhood for walking? It's the best. There are some hills but they're good for us.......

I sewed up some valances for my studio spaces. Here in the weaving room I made a short little valance from cute llama fabric from my stash. The fabric makes me smile. Yes, that's a ladder in front of 'Rose Lane' on the side yard..........we've got to find a place for it so I don't have to see it out my window.

Here's the sewing room valance - it's hard to see in the picture but the fabric is a print of thread spools, also from my stash. Really tough to see but there is a cow out the window.

And I couldn't stop sewing so I made covers for my 3 sewing machines (the ones that stay out). For the back machine, the serger, I used the same spool fabric as the valance. The front two machines are in a graphic lettering fabric, also from my stash. The left machine is the little Brother embroidery machine - when I need the Bernina serger I just change places with it. The machine on the right is my Bernina regular machine. I did hang a couple of things........maybe tomorrow I can hang the rest of the 'stuff' for the weaving and sewing rooms and gradually move into the rest of the house. It's about time to get artwork on the walls instead of them leaning against the walls.

Mittens

I decided I needed a pair of mittens for when walking Bailey. I have a knit rolled edge cap I wear that's in shades of purple so I checked my stash for a matching wool - yep, that huge stash had exactly the right color. Instructions were a bit of a challenge but then what is one to expect from a free pattern - in the end I figured them out.  Next up is to make a pair in reds to go with a red handknit cap I've got - those will have a bit longer ribbed section and maybe a stripe or two.

Holiday Cheer

 I wasn't sure if I'd sign up for the Inglenook Fibers 12 Days of Christmas spin-a-long again but I did. My box arrived a bit over a week ago filled with these fun paper packages of fiber numbered with each day. Spinning commences on Christmas Day. The inspiration for this years fiber is the cat graphic so it's looking like some beautiful neutrals. What I can't decide is if I should spin them in order like I have the past 2 years, spin them as mini skeins, or just open one each day and after I see the entire grouping decide if they get spun in order or if I mix them up. I still have plenty of time to decide. It is tough not to sneak a look but I'll wait until Christmas morning along with everyone else.

I know I've posted my inkling tree in the past but thought I'd post it again. It all started with an article in Handwoven many years ago with directions showing a handful of ideas.  Well, I took off and had so much fun over the years with this. They have been gifted to family and a handful of friends over the years. I took a couple breaks, haven't made any since 2015.......but I've got an idea, if I can pull it off there will be 2 new inklings for the 2019 holiday season.  Here's a list of what I've made so far, many years I made 2 of them.

1996 - Santa and Angel

1998 - Native American and Mexican Cha Cha

1999 - Flower Child and Mother Earth

2000 - Flying Nun and Briggatine Monk (nun one of my favs)

2001 - Clown and 2001 A Weaving Odyssey (based on our nw conference of that name)

2002 - Uncle Sam and Knitter

2003 - Geisha and Samurai (2 of my all time favorites)

2004 - Wendy Weaver and  Spinster Sue

2005 - Merlin the Wizard and Eskimo Pie

2006 - Pumpkin Pie Me Oh My and Frosty

2012 - She Sells Sea Shells

2013 - Bee Happy Honey

2014 - Amish Amy the Quilter

2015 - Lahela (Sheep's Friend) Mele Kalikimaka

Hanging in there.........

I am still here although I haven't been posting.  There has been so much going on and so much of my time consumed with things that are not creative at all. Hopefully I will soon be spending time in the studio again.

We actually decorated this year, we haven't done anything for 10 years other than put a swag down on our gate at the old house. This year, in the new house, we actually have outdoor lights - that's a first, ever. The porch still needs something other than my wreath......maybe next year.  There are 6 trees up in the house - the big one, 3 small northwoods style trees that have all sheep/fiber related ornaments on them, a table top tree with my inklings and a tiny miniature tree. Stockings are hung by the chimney with care. It's looking very festive for the holidays.......for a change. 

The dolls above were made by my grandmother. I must have been in the 3rd or 4th grade so they're around 55 years old. I remember sitting at her dining room table watching her hand sew the clothing. The women's outfits are complete with petticoats and lace bloomers, cameos at their necks and not in view from this angle are gem baubles on their hats. That left muff is real mink. The man's outfit is all wool. I treasure these dolls and hopefully one day when I'm gone someone else in the family will treasure them. There were several sets made for my mother and aunts so there are others floating around the family - mine were my grandmother's set.

We did sell our old house - closed escrow on Nov 30th. What a sigh of relief not to go into the winter worrying about that house. We hadn't expected to own it for so long after buying this one but the fires this summer put a damper on houses moving in the area. I hope the new owners love living there, it is a beautiful house and piece of property. Now that we've sold it we can start thinking about some remodeling here at the new house....sometime after the holidays A new kitchen is in order, appliances are newer so those are fine but new cabinets, countertops, sink, backsplash are on the to-do list. Then a new gas fireplace which entails removal of marble tile and new tile and a different mantle. Some new lighting......which I've been looking for already but just haven't found exactly what I want. There are more things we want to do here but these are the first on the list.

Another issue taking up time was health related. An area of my breast with radial scarring found during a routine mammogram, followed by a core needle biopsy (yuck) and then a lumpectomy just 2 weeks ago. In the end all is fine, no cancer found, but still un-nerving. I can't say how impressed I was with my nurse navigator and my surgeon, not to mention how caring everyone was at the hospital. They all made, what for me, was a stressful situation so much easier. Man, am I glad that's over. Once those steri-strips fall off the incision I'll really consider it over.

Now I'm working like a mad person trying to play catch up with getting gifts together. I am so behind this year. This entire year has been consumed by not so fun or creative things - I'm determined next year will be better and I'll be spending much of my time in the studio. 

Off to Santa's workshop to finish up some small gifts.........

Say it isn't so.......

Say it isn't so.....I love Cooking Light magazine but this is what arrived in my mailbox the other day - the last issue!  I'm in mourning. I've had a subscription to the magazine from the first issue. Many of my all time favorite recipes that I make year after year are from this magazine. They will substitute Eating Well magazine for the rest of subscriptions, it's just not the same, I've read it before. They will have the occasional special issue on the newsstand but the chance of me remembering to make the effort to check out the newsstand all the time just won't happen.  So for the immediate future I have many recipes marked to try so I'll be ok for a while.......

On another note - anyone out there watch the Macy's Day Parade? I will be watching, or at least dvr'ing it to watch later in the day - the Grants Pass High School Band is in it once again. It's a huge honor to be selected but this is the second time. They went to Macy's back in 2010 - there were only 18 bands in the parade, only 8 of them from high schools and our band was the only high school from the west coast. It was announced 1 1/2 years ago that they were invited to the parade again, since that time huge fund raising events have been going on. It takes a lot of money to get 230 students plus many parents, chaperones, supporting staff, uniforms and instruments to NYC - a total of 444 folks. Each band member had to raise $2000 plus spending money for themselves but then there was all the extra monies needed for getting everything else to NYC. Everyone left here on Sunday being bused to big airports to the north for red-eyes landing in 3 different NYC airports. While there they will also get to see the sights and attend a broadway show. This year I know 2 kids that will be there, a friend's granddaughter who I've been giving bags of cans/bottles to for her fundraising efforts and a neighbor's son. This is very exciting for our small town. I'm not sure when the uniforms and instruments left aboard trucks bound for NYC - hopefully no storms will affect the cross country trip. So, if you watch the parade be sure to watch for the Grants Pass High School band.

A note of what's going on - too little fibery stuff, too much other stuff....nothing exciting to write about but hopefully life will get back to normal in 2019.

Yard art......

Now that I have a small yard where yard art won't be lost like on acreage in the woods I'm picking up fun pieces. These two pieces are from Rusty Birds in Vancouver, WA - the co-owner is down here for a holiday market this weekend.
 

 I bought this cute chickadee yard stake. I've got it against the fence so I can see it from the loom room window - it's along what I'm now calling rose bush lane as all the rose bushes are along this fence

And this is a armillary - it has circles that will spin around in a breeze/wind. It's hard to see here but it sits on the edge of my future garden beds, it's really tall, much taller than I am. We got it in the ground this morning - of course there's no breeze so it's not moving right now. And yes, those raised beds are in need of soil - that will come. I'm thinking of planting strawberries in the little cubbies in the blocks, then veggies inside the beds.

MIA

Yes, missing in action once again - sometimes there is just too much going on in my life and sometimes, like now, it's nothing I think would be of interest of anyone out there. Hopefully life will get back to normal in the not too distant future and I will have more creative 'stuff' to share.

I have been doing some sewing but it's for gift giving so I can't show it until after the holidays.

This morning we had freezing fog. I forgot to bring the hummingbird feeder in overnight but it wasn't frozen solid so the pair that visit were able to drink from it.

We have hummingbirds that stay here all year long which means I need to get back into the habit of bringing the feeder in at night so it's not frozen come morning.

It's hard to see in this photo but this hummie's beak is open - guess it's smacking it's lips and saying "yum, good sugar water"

And here just two hours later the sun has broken through and the feeder has thawed. These pix were taken through the window (with screen) right by my computer.

Parallel.......

This past weekend my weaving guild hosted Robyn Spady for a workshop on parallel weaves. Robyn is a top notch instructor, the most well prepared, easy to understand instructor and has the best handouts ever.

Of course, I didn't take but a couple pictures as I was weaving my samples. I wove a total of just under 3 yards of samples, all different treadlings, one shuttle, two shuttles on my M's & W's parallel threading. My warp was a light sage green and very dark navy blue.

My first two samples started out using the same colors as the warp - then I experimented with color for the remainder of the samples, some very successful, some not like this deep red. There were some incredible color combinations but I was too busy to think about pulling out my phone all the time to take photos. A very fun learning process playing with color while learning about all the treadling possibilities with the threading.  

I can see many warps in my future based on what I learned in this workshop......now if I could just mark some more things off my very long to-do list so I can try something new.........

Southwest Sunset Shawl

I finally decided to sell this shawl. It's handspun and handwoven. I kept thinking I'd keep it for myself but I haven't worn it so it's time to see if someone else would love this lovely piece. It's handspun merino wool, tussah silk, mohair, bamboo, tencel, ribbon, rayon with a bamboo weft. Lovely autumnal colors. It's listed in my Etsy shop HERE.

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!

Towels in progress......

These towels came off the loom the other day, there are 12 of them. This is before washing. I did get them washed but they sit on the ironing board awaiting hemming. Time seems to escape me these days with other things going on in life. Hopefully I'll get to them soon but first I need to double check my threading on the table loom for an upcoming Robyn Spady workshop on parallel threading. At the end of threading heddles there were 4 extra ends. I was not real focused on Monday when winding the warp and threading. I think I just wound 4 extra ends but will check the threading just in case. So, more time spent on that then on getting these towels hemmed today.........

Leather Journals

I've finally taken some time to do the photography work so I could list some of my handmade leather journals in my etsy shop. I got these 6 listed today, more to come when I have time to do more photography work, which I so struggle with. These have high quality watercolor paper pages which are great for painting on but work just as well for writing or drawing. The inside cover pages vary from my hand stenciled designs to my handpainted paste paper to Japanese paper. They are $50, shipping included. Check them out HERE.

More towels

 Been weaving away on the towel warp during snippets of free time - here a tan weft......

 .....here a teal weft......

here a peach weft......two of each color.....will have 2 more to weave on this warp, haven't decided on color yet.

I'm thrilled that I can weave and I also successfully spun on Tuesday with no issues.  I don't think I mentioned here I was having an issue with my hand/thumb area on my right hand. The pain was a turn my stomach pain, it was hard to do even the simplest things, I iced it on and off, I wore a brace most of the day and always while I slept, am still wearing it while sleeping. I'm sure it was from overuse when I was spinning at the fair all day long for days in mid-August, I had also been spinning every evening for a couple weeks before the fair. I was able to sew first but only because I used a rotary cutter, I could not work scissors. I still haven't tried knitting, not going to push it as that can bother my hands on a good day. I'm still babying it, not doing one activity for very long as not to inflame it again, it's still a bit sore but not bad. So, I am far behind on holiday gifts, this may be the holiday season of no handmade gifts from me.