Recycled gift bags.....again......

Yesterday I worked on creating gift bags for the holidays.  I'm recycling Trader Joe's grocery bags, and one Bob's Red Mill bag. Yes, I know I shouldn't even have these in my possession - I have many, many reusable bags for my groceries but unfortunately they don't always end up back in my car or I'm at the check-out and realize I've left them in the car. So, what do I do with them but make gift bags for the holidays and other times of the year.  I made many yesterday and still have more to go that will end up being used throughout the year for other gift giving.  This year I took my Sharpie markers to them to put the recipient's name and a little holly design.

These bags have a little pleat on the bottom. I put up a post 2 years ago on how they're made, well, a so-so post. You can find it here if you have paper grocery bags to recycle. 

The only issue with these bags is that they're only so big - when I need a bigger bag I make a trip to the Dollar Store where they have an incredible selection of bags for $1 each.  I did make a few of these bags smaller this year to match the gift size.

Baby blankets woven

This afternoon I got some time at the loom and got the 3 baby blankets woven, now they need to be washed and hemmed. I like them, very cheery looking to me. It's always a stretch to weave almost the full width of the loom - back and shoulders are sore this evening..........

ACK!!!!

Nobody reading this blog including me noticed this error for the baby blanket warp in my blog post of last week.  I accidently flipped over that warp bout when putting it on the lease sticks. The blue shouldn't be right next to the yellow - there should be white, then green, then white, then blue. This is a first in 28 years of weaving - I've never done that.

I found it when I was threading the heddles yesterday afternoon, I got to that point and thought "what the heck???" I kept threading in the correct color order but I knew I had to do a better fix because the tension would be wacky. So, I got a bit of time earlier this evening to pull the entire warp to the front, fix the problem on the back beam bar and wind it back on. Now I'm ready to sley the reed, tie on and start weaving.......just need some time back in the studio.........

This and that.......

The day after Thanksgiving we decided to head over to the coast for a long weekend. We love to walk on the beach looking for treasures which usually amount to seaglass and small sea snail shells but occasionally we find other treasures like this huge float. It may not look big in this photo but it is and it's heavy.......and I made Sam carry it all down the beach and back, and then back up the hill to our cottage. Not sure what boat this would have come off of - way bigger than used on the local fishing boats. Fun find to put in the front yard as coastal yard art.......and hope no one snatches it while we're gone.......

I put up a tiny little tree at the beach cottage. I found this little white lit tree at Michaels. Then I took some shells and glittered them. It needs more but that's all I've got for it at the moment. I used some leftover cones from yarn to make the cone trees covering them with scrapbook paper.

Bandon and the surrounding area has many cranberry bogs. Most of the cranberries are sold to Ocean Spray for juice and are water harvested which doesn't make them good for fresh eating but at the grower's market there's usually a booth in the fall that has some handpicked cranberries. Friend Nadine sent me the recipe for the Bandon Boatworks Cranberry bread so I made a couple loaves - yum. Bandon Boatworks was a nice restaurant across the inlet from the light house, it was there for years, then closed - they served this bread on their salad bar. The building was recently bought and worked on but up for lease now - hopefully another restaurant will eventually move in - one of the best locations in town for an ocean view........we even watched otters floating on their backs eating clams from our table when dining there. Here's the super simple recipe for Bandon Boatworks Cranberry Bread.

2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 TBs butter, softened
1 egg
3/4 cup orange juice
1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped (I didn't read the chopped part so mine were whole)

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and soda. With fingers, rub butter into dry ingredients. Mix together egg and orange juice. Add to dry mixture. Fold in cranberries. Turned into greased loaf pan. Bake at 325 for 70-75 minutes.

Bailey had to say hi - he had a grand time on the coast.

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from one of the lucky turkeys on our acreage who

knows we won't be 'inviting' him to dinner this year or any year in the future.

 

 

 

Baby blankets in the works......

Yesterday afternoon I eeked out a little time to wind the warp for the baby blankets. All wound on the back beam, sitting in the raddle awaiting heddles & reed to be threaded........not sure when that will happen as I have a busy couple of weeks ahead of me but hoping to sneak time at the loom here and there. Weave structure will be a very simple basket weave and twill that I've used for a couple towels warps in the past.

Tea Party

Today I went to a brand new tea place in Gold Hill for lunch with two friends. It was delightful, the owner delightful, the décor fun and food yummy. I can't wait to go back again and hope to frequent it often since it's not but 30 minutes from my house and anyone that knows me knows I love a good tea luncheon.

Ok, so not sure what's happening here but some of my pictures are sideways - that's now how they look on my computer but blogger did something crazy with them.......this is a new issue for me. So, you'll just have to turn your head sideways to see them.....as I don't have the energy to figure out what the issue is. The name of the new tea place is The Teapot on Wheels - they have a regular English style menu and what I think of as high tea luncheons. They also do weddings and other events, cater, and they sit right on the Rogue River - great location.

Here's the tea side of the restaurant - the other side is for those ordering from the regular breakfast/lunch menu.

I love all these teacups and old dresser.

Here's a view of the room we were in - what you can't see is on the wall from where I was standing there are hooks with vintage hats on them - so, of course, we had to put on hats for our tea party.

I had a tisane infused with many berries as I wanted to avoid caffeine - I don't do caffeine......isn't the color of this tisane lovely - it tasted as 'pretty' as it looked.

And here's some yummies.  Not sure if the curtains show enough behind the food - they were pieced together from the owners family heirlooms fabrics/laces.

So, if you live in Southern Oregon or are driving along I5 The Teapot on Wheels is located off exit 45A of I5 - stop by for breakfast or lunch, you won't be disappointed.

Books for sale.  I just put these books up for sale in my fiber etsy shop.  They're all great books but just ones I never used. If a person loves to spin art yarn the spinning books are very fun. They're in the Sales/Specials section of my shop or right on the front page.

Baby blanket........

Even though I don't have much time for weaving right now I did eek out some time to plan a baby blanket warp this afternoon. I need one for a gift in January, will have two to sell. This warp will be woven out of 3/2 perle cotton.  Years ago I used to weave a lot of baby blankets for sale and used softball cotton because I loved the soft squishy feel. Even though I have some left I don't know as if I have enough for this project...........and I have tons of 3/2 perle cotton I rarely use so this seemed like a good project to empty some of those cones. Can't wait to get it on the loom and start weaving..........much going on the next few weeks but hoping to find some free time to get the warp wound and on the loom so I can start weaving. I usually hem baby blankets but am considering putting a satin blanket binding on since it will be so soft next to a baby's neck. Any other weavers or mother's out there have thoughts on that?

Felting fibers

Yesterday I needed to go into the walk-in closet in the hallway outside my studio to get a few things......only I couldn't get more than 1 foot into the closet.  No time for a complete re-organization but there was time for a mini clean-up. In doing that I found the bag, well that's multiple, bags of roving bits from when I weigh out the rovings for my etsy shop. I often use them for my own felting projects but those are few and far between so I decided to put together some fun colorful grab bags which are now up for sale in my etsy shop in the Specials/Sales section of the shop. These will be great for needlefelters wanting small bits of many colors - also great for nuno/wet felters and really fun for adding to art batts or colorful batts on a drum carder, blending board or hand carders. In the past when I've done this they've sold quickly - we'll see what happens this time - at least I can now walk into the closet and reach anything I need to get at.

Nothing else to show as I'm finishing up on holiday gifts which I can't post here......still have some knitting to finish up, a little wood burning too.

Scarves

I've been selling so many scarves in my etsy shop and locally it was time to work on a little more photography so more can be listed......one of my dreaded jobs.  It's done, 7 more scarves listed in the shop for sale.......now back to work on gifts......then I need to get back to the loom......

Definitely not beauty shots

Today we went to pick up my (our) new Subaru Outback - I'm so excited......excited to have an Outback and not worry about snowy road conditions and excited to trade in the van.....I didn't look back once at it.

Ok, so I missed getting the beauty shots of the Outback sitting posed so perfectly in front of the dealership so next best thing before the sun went down was to get shots in the Costco parking lot......so they're not so good but it still looks pretty. At first I wanted the pearly white model but then I saw this tungsten color and had to have it.....plus it won't show the dust as much that abounds here all summer long.

And no, we did not park where anyone would hit their car door into it - we're against an island at the far reaches of the parking lot, we always park from away from everyone else, no matter what age our vehicles. Of course after the short Costco stop we came out to find it covered with beautiful red leaves from the tree right next to it.

So the sad part to buying a new vehicle is that I'm going to sell my Mustang, a 2006 Mustang with the Pony Package, garage kept, 34,000 miles on it, not a mark on it. I love that car but it's time to downsize from 3 vehicles to 2 (Sam has a truck). I drive the mustang 95% of the time only driving the van when I needed the cargo space. Believe me a tear or two will flow when the mustang finds a new home (and this is from someone who doesn't get attached to cars).

So, come on snow - I'm ready for you now.........although my first choice is to stay inside with a cup of cocoa by the fire......but the Outback will be great in case I get caught out in the snow........

Life gets in the way..........

Where does the time go?  Life seems to get in the way of the things I want to do.....not to mention things I need to do. I'm a great list maker but have reached stumbling block this year in not knowing how to prioritize as there are too many things that need to be done 'now', as in immediately, but I can't get to them all......how to choose which will get done first is a problem and which will go on tomorrow's (or later) to-do list. Seems to be the story of my life these days.

The past couple of weeks there are thousands, maybe millions, of tiny mushrooms popping up all over the property - this morning as Bailey and I were walking I spotted these tinies on a big stump - they're itty bitty little shrooms (one in the middle, a little colony toward the back).

I know much of the country is suffering with frigid cold and snow but here in SW Oregon we're mild - that polar vortex has stayed to the east of us.  So it may sound strange to those of you experiencing it but I'd love to have some winter weather so I can hibernate..........and weave............

Progress......

I'm making some progress on my very long to-do list in spite of being out of the house too much lately.......of course this is the list that only covers things that need to be done within the next few weeks, the other list has been set aside and continues to grow in length.

Today I worked on our holiday cards, they're all put together, the weaving is a name draft using the words 'happy holidays'. I still need to print the insert and return address labels which will both have a picture of the weaving on them. Unfortunately the blue cardstock didn't photograph well, it's really not that blue, it matches the blue in the weaving fairly well.

And some crocheting yesterday evening, more this evening.........a project I've been wanting to try but can't reveal at the moment since the first ones will be for a friend......then I'll make more for myself. Will reveal it in a few weeks.........

Hoping later this week to spend some time at the embroidery machine and sewing machine - then most of the holiday gift making will be finished.  I need to plan a baby blanket soon for a gift - I haven't made any in years......used to sell a tremendous number of them but grew bored with weaving them so gave it up......will be fun to plan and work on that project - not needed until mid-January but better to get it done now, I'm not a good last minute worker.  Oh yes, almost forgot I've got a huge Ashland Bay roving order to deal with........been good with ignoring those gigantic boxes so far........need to deal with it before I place the next order.....

Not much to show........

My absence from blogging is due to nothing much to show. It's sad, isn't it?  Been on the go with little time in the studio. What little time I have had was spent on gift making which I can't show on the blog.

But got home from town earlier than expected today so embroidered 2 of each of these frog towels for a customer. They're to go with her R-Pod travel trailer which has a frog logo - I've been seeing them in RV dealerships lots since she told me about hers - really cute trailers. Anyhow, I think these cotton towels will look grand in her trailer.

I can't remember if I posted these roving colors or not. I came up with an idea for our spinning group's display at next year's county fair since very few in the group actually bring items to display so Linda and I are pulling from our stuff.

I picked a number of colorway groups out of Ashland Bay merino and brought them to spinning in September where everyone voted on which group we wanted to use. This grouping won hands down - Kiwi, Berry and Hyacinth. I gave everyone who wanted to participate 4oz of each color - they can do anything they want for the fair display as long as they use these three colors. They can spin (for knitting, crocheting, weaving, felting), felt, locker hook, rug hook, whatever. They can blend these, mix other fibers with them. The only rule is that they must have something to display at the fair. Some spinners wanted more than 4oz of each so they bought extra. We're already starting to see some of the spinning show up for show & share. Next year's fair display will have a sign telling about the challenge showing the 3 original rovings - should be fun to see how different each person's project turns out.

After I get caught up with holiday stuff I'll start thinking about mine - I'm definitely carding it with other fibers and colors......no clue what the end project will be.........will decide that once I've got it all spun up into yarn and see how many yards I've got from my 8oz of each color plus whatever else I add to it.

Towels

Towels everywhere

This past weekend I finally got that towel warp off the loom, I forgot to take pictures of the red ones, the last two towels I decided to use a variegated denim for the weft, just something different. The towels will be up for sale in my etsy shop...........as soon as they're washed and hemmed........

I moved on to embroidering towels Sunday afternoon.  These are the redwork ones done on the simple flour sack towels that have red twill stripes down each side.  I hadn't done the snowmen yet and they're so cute so I couldn't resist. Hopefully someone else will love them as much as I do. They'll all be up in the etsy shop for sale after I get them photographed. Here's one with a shovel.......

.....snowman with birdhouse and birds.......

.....then a snowman with a broom. I took this picture right after it came off the machine - you can see there are threads going from one area of stitching to another that still need to be clipped off. What you can't see is the tearaway stabilizer on the backside that needs to be removed - time consuming, good in front of the tv chore.

Then I moved on to a fun star design I've never stitched - it's so sweet - fun to use for the holidays but good for all year long.

This one is expanding the redwork theme to a rainbow of colors - fruits & veggies - I love it, going to embroider some of these for myself too.

And finally the chickens which I've embroidered many times and they sell fairly quickly. They are pretty darned cute. These are up for sale in the etsy shop in the 'embroidered towel' section of my shop as of this morning.

Finally back to the loom

Somehow weaving has gotten pushed way down the list, too many things interfering with life, makes for a grumpy weaver in this house. I haven't figure out how to remedy what's keeping me away from the loom so much these past few years but it's not going to continue.....it can't continue as it affects my mental health.

Today I made sure I got time at the loom weaving on the towel warp that's been on the Macomber for weeks. I still had a few phone calls to answer and running up and down the stairs doing laundry to deal with but it felt so good to be weaving.......I mean this is what I do, this is what fuels my soul.

I'm hoping to spend more time at the loom in the next few days, I do have some things to do out of the house one day but hopefully the rest of the time I'll be weaving, planning projects to weave, washing and hemming towels that I've woven.

Fire season finally ended last Thursday after 1/2" of rain - still warm, dry and brown after that but people were out burning piles of debris that very day - so silly not to wait for more rain to fall. We had some good rain the past two days.....hoping for a rainy snowy winter to make a dent in this drought so next year is just the normal scary fire season not the super scary one like this year.

Beach art

We've been looking for a piece of art glass to hang in the opening we cut between the living room and kitchen at the beach cottage.  We've admired these recycled windows by a gal on the coast many times but they were all too big for the space we had. We went in our favorite antique/salvage/upcycled shop up in Coos Bay and found that she had made some small ones. This was our anniversary gift from last May, we knew we'd eventually find something.

This is looking from the kitchen into the living room - it's the perfect size - we didn't want something that would be in our line of sight.

Here's looking from the living room into the kitchen. You can see the first painted cabinet to the right of the window......this one will get a shelf underneath it to display from pretties. I'll eventually get to the rest of the painting.

And here's a close-up - see all the pretty shells, seaglass and even little crab bodies in it? It's perfect for our space. Other than finding this treasure we pretty much did nothing the past 5 days on the coast - we did go look at tiles for the kitchen counter but no decision made on color yet, getting close.......we gave up on having someone install a countertop as the contractors on the coast are notorious for not getting back to folks - we've given up on them. We've installed floor tile so we know we can do a countertop.

Silk Scarves

The silk scarves and shawls all had their photos taken yesterday and are now listed in my etsy shop in the silk scarf/shawl section. Phew, what a job to get a handful of somewhat decent photos of each scarf/shawl.....not my strong suit. Kept a couple out for myself so numerous less photos to deal with.

Ice Dyeing

Here are the 4 scarves ice-dyed yesterday. Carol's are on top - they're stunning.  Mine are on the bottom. My red/orange one dried much lighter and is a coral color now. Lesson learned on that one - if you use a primary color dye, like red, it's going to dominate the scarf where as with other color dyes they are really mixtures of colors so when they ice dye they separate - much more interesting. What doesn't show up in this photo is what the scarves look like close-up - reminds me of marbled paper. We're hoping for snow this winter to try snow dyeing.

One of the chores on the to-do list now is photography of all the scarves dyed this past week - what a time sucker that will be....but first back to working on gifts.......