Welcome to my new site. Time for a quick catch-up.
My fall show at Best of Missouri Market went well. Since then, I've been concentrating on tea towels and knitting - Christmas gifts, you know. Right now, however, both looms are naked! The travesty of it all! And I am taking a couple months off weaving to help with a new grandson. My mind, though, is not on vacation. I brought along thread samples of all my cotton and cottolin in sizes from 8/2 to 20/2 and have done a bit of designing while here. I have several warps ready to go in my head. I also have a couple rug warps wound and hanging at home. All projects will wait until early February, when I hope to get back to Missouri, cold weather, and work. In the meantime, I'm enjoying helping out and keeping my eyes peeled for different color combinations in a totally different climate.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Where did the past month go?
My ideals of posting at least every week have again washed away, with the spring rains this time.
I've been weaving rugs, not at the rate which I would like, but they are coming along. Working fulltime really puts the crunch on weaving stock for a show. I do not want to drop this show, though. I've worked too hard to build a clientele.
I have been weaving 12 yard warps, using up various colors of warp thread I had on hand. I have another 12 yard warp ready to tie on today? tomorrow? After I get all the large rugs I need, I'll put on a 50 yard section warp for small rugs. I just got a warp thread order in from Great Northern Weaving last week, so am flush with warp thread again. It's a good feeling!
On the Newcomb, the skirt fabric is coming along. The nice thing about having a fabric project going is even if I have only 30 minute, I can throw a few bobbins worth of weft and accomplish another couple feet on the project. The weft cone for this piece is going down, down, down pretty quickly. I'm hoping I will indeed have enough fabric when it comes down to it.
Besides my new warp thread, I got an order of mill ends in last week. Just a few cones, but some very nice cotton/linen in about a 10/2 slub and a couple acrylic boucles. And, the most exciting new purchase for Hay Creek Handwovens is a Dritz dressform which I just ordered from JoAnn Fabric. It is deeply discounted - nearly 50%. The Singers were on sale the last month but they had very poor reviews, so I waited, hoping the Dritz would go on sale, and it did! This should make sewing for other people much easier.
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment eARThworks art show is on line. Check it out. I am so honored to be allowed in this show.
Other happenings in the past month: 1. the Spring membership drive at the NPR station where I work was a success. Lots of extra hours, lots of extra work before and after, but we met our goal. 2. I spent a week in Pasadena with children and grandchild and went to the Huntington Gardens this time. Amazing. The desert gardens completely took me by surprise. The variations of plant size, color, texture, growth pattern - I just gaped. Very interesting color combinations, too. Ninny that I am, I didn't take my camera. But I saw turquoise flowers on one cactus, lots of extremely bright tufty-looking flowers on others. The flowers on cacti aren't huge, and that's a good lesson for designing. I hope to get a cactus-inspired fabric going after this skirt fabric comes off.
I've been weaving rugs, not at the rate which I would like, but they are coming along. Working fulltime really puts the crunch on weaving stock for a show. I do not want to drop this show, though. I've worked too hard to build a clientele.
I have been weaving 12 yard warps, using up various colors of warp thread I had on hand. I have another 12 yard warp ready to tie on today? tomorrow? After I get all the large rugs I need, I'll put on a 50 yard section warp for small rugs. I just got a warp thread order in from Great Northern Weaving last week, so am flush with warp thread again. It's a good feeling!
On the Newcomb, the skirt fabric is coming along. The nice thing about having a fabric project going is even if I have only 30 minute, I can throw a few bobbins worth of weft and accomplish another couple feet on the project. The weft cone for this piece is going down, down, down pretty quickly. I'm hoping I will indeed have enough fabric when it comes down to it.
Besides my new warp thread, I got an order of mill ends in last week. Just a few cones, but some very nice cotton/linen in about a 10/2 slub and a couple acrylic boucles. And, the most exciting new purchase for Hay Creek Handwovens is a Dritz dressform which I just ordered from JoAnn Fabric. It is deeply discounted - nearly 50%. The Singers were on sale the last month but they had very poor reviews, so I waited, hoping the Dritz would go on sale, and it did! This should make sewing for other people much easier.
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment eARThworks art show is on line. Check it out. I am so honored to be allowed in this show.
Other happenings in the past month: 1. the Spring membership drive at the NPR station where I work was a success. Lots of extra hours, lots of extra work before and after, but we met our goal. 2. I spent a week in Pasadena with children and grandchild and went to the Huntington Gardens this time. Amazing. The desert gardens completely took me by surprise. The variations of plant size, color, texture, growth pattern - I just gaped. Very interesting color combinations, too. Ninny that I am, I didn't take my camera. But I saw turquoise flowers on one cactus, lots of extremely bright tufty-looking flowers on others. The flowers on cacti aren't huge, and that's a good lesson for designing. I hope to get a cactus-inspired fabric going after this skirt fabric comes off.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Equinox plans
After weeks...weeks, I tell you...of weekend travel or having company, I am finally getting back to weaving. I managed to sew up 5 or 6 rugs worth of blue jean strip/Pendleton worm mixes. I have 3 woven as of now, and my goal is to get this small (12 yd) warp woven off this weekend, a new warp on, and a clear direction for next week's weaving. Weaving is such a sweet Zen place for me. And the rugs are turning out great, too.
When I started sewing these wefts, I was happy to rediscover a big plastic sack of strips already cut from many pairs of old blue jeans. The blue jean collection is growing again, and I'll have another cutting weekend ahead. I also have quite a lot of futon factory scraps to strip. And, I got more Pendleton in this week. I had a happy couple hours sorting worm yesterday. Hope to finish the box up today. These worms are REALLY pretty and are going to make gorgeous rugs. I can't wait to see them come rolling off the loom.
On the Newcomb, I have 10/2 cotton threaded in a broken twill. This will be fabric for a skirt for my daughter. I wove off a full size sample with three different color/size wefts, wet finished it and sent it to her. She's made her choice, I have the warp tied back up to the apron and spread, and will start on it this weekend, too.
Last week I was struggling with the time change, but this week I'm loving it. I just don't like the switching back and forth. The extra daylight hours after work allowed me to haul more manure and mulch for my garden beds, and get my strawberry plants in the ground. Now it's a damp, overcast day. Perfect for weaving.
When I started sewing these wefts, I was happy to rediscover a big plastic sack of strips already cut from many pairs of old blue jeans. The blue jean collection is growing again, and I'll have another cutting weekend ahead. I also have quite a lot of futon factory scraps to strip. And, I got more Pendleton in this week. I had a happy couple hours sorting worm yesterday. Hope to finish the box up today. These worms are REALLY pretty and are going to make gorgeous rugs. I can't wait to see them come rolling off the loom.
On the Newcomb, I have 10/2 cotton threaded in a broken twill. This will be fabric for a skirt for my daughter. I wove off a full size sample with three different color/size wefts, wet finished it and sent it to her. She's made her choice, I have the warp tied back up to the apron and spread, and will start on it this weekend, too.
Last week I was struggling with the time change, but this week I'm loving it. I just don't like the switching back and forth. The extra daylight hours after work allowed me to haul more manure and mulch for my garden beds, and get my strawberry plants in the ground. Now it's a damp, overcast day. Perfect for weaving.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
The rest of the story and photos of tea towels
The rest of the story first, and in a nutshell, I did get the plastic bag rug done, but it is UGLY. I mean, majorly ugly. I get to relearn again that if I use ugly materials, I get ugly product. The bags are orange with some forest green in the design. Ugly.
This was last weekend, and I was running out of time. I used the leftover section warp I still had on the loom, rethreaded it for my size, and made another piece, this time using recycled fabric. All the fabric I use in my rugs is recycled. This is some fabric from a local futon factory cutting floor. The piece turned out nicely, all papers, photos, etc. are in, and I'm done with that! When the website is up for the show, I'll post a link here.
As promised last month, here is a photo of the rose path tea towels.
Now that I have my art show entry done, I am warping the Hammett up for some more, you guessed it! Rag Rugs! I have some nice colors to work with, and it will be fun to make some spring-y combinations. Rugs will be my main focus for the next 6 months.
This was last weekend, and I was running out of time. I used the leftover section warp I still had on the loom, rethreaded it for my size, and made another piece, this time using recycled fabric. All the fabric I use in my rugs is recycled. This is some fabric from a local futon factory cutting floor. The piece turned out nicely, all papers, photos, etc. are in, and I'm done with that! When the website is up for the show, I'll post a link here.
As promised last month, here is a photo of the rose path tea towels.
Now that I have my art show entry done, I am warping the Hammett up for some more, you guessed it! Rag Rugs! I have some nice colors to work with, and it will be fun to make some spring-y combinations. Rugs will be my main focus for the next 6 months.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Know when to start over
That would be at the beginning, or near it. I ordered twine to use for warp on this art project, which is going to be a plastic bag rug. The tying twine looked big when I got it in, but I waited to make a decision when I actually got to the stage of warping. Guess what? I'm there. I wound some of it last night, and it's way too big. I don't want these rugs to be at all warp-faced. I just went to the lumber store and got nylon twine - bigger than 8/4, but not nearly as big as the tying twine. So, I have a whole box of tying twine. I should be good for: garden twine, twine to make trellises for climbing flowers, etc. Who knows, maybe I'll find a weaving related use for it! I could make several hundred macrame flower hangers!
I did get the 35 yards of warp off - or near enough. As does sometimes happen with section warps, when I got down to the end, I found one section that was short. It's on the outside of the beam, though. That's a little plus. So I cut that section off. I'll tie this twine warp onto the remaining sections, and after the art project is finished, I'll probably go ahead and weave the last rug, runner, or whatever decides to come out of the loom. Right now I'm under a deadline for the art project, so that's first priority.
I got 22 rugs out of that warp so far. Since I'm in a time crunch, I've just stacked them up and will hem them all later. I must say, they are just gorgeous, and somehow the fact that they are all stacked up makes them more attractive. There's something of a harvest feel to it.
I ran through a lot of my Pendleton selvedge doing "the stack." I have more ordered and look forward to seeing what Santa brought - after this art project is done.
I did get the 35 yards of warp off - or near enough. As does sometimes happen with section warps, when I got down to the end, I found one section that was short. It's on the outside of the beam, though. That's a little plus. So I cut that section off. I'll tie this twine warp onto the remaining sections, and after the art project is finished, I'll probably go ahead and weave the last rug, runner, or whatever decides to come out of the loom. Right now I'm under a deadline for the art project, so that's first priority.
I got 22 rugs out of that warp so far. Since I'm in a time crunch, I've just stacked them up and will hem them all later. I must say, they are just gorgeous, and somehow the fact that they are all stacked up makes them more attractive. There's something of a harvest feel to it.
I ran through a lot of my Pendleton selvedge doing "the stack." I have more ordered and look forward to seeing what Santa brought - after this art project is done.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Time-crunch!
I haven't been able to get into my blog for a bit, plus have been SO busy weaving rugs. I will still try to post a pic of the rose path tea towels. I have been invited to eARThworks art show, put on by the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. I've been in this show before, and I really appreciate the organization's work. The art is to be made from recycled or found objects, ideally. The show is in May, so I thought I had plenty of lead time, but... got an email a couple weeks ago that they want a digital photo by mid Feb. I did have my rug loom warped with 35 yds for rugs, and my piece for the show will be a different warp. Needless to say, I'm glad I was able to spend spare hours over the Holiday preparing rug weft. I'm been weaving rugs like a mad woman the last couple weeks. I'm nearing the end of the warp. I'm still hopeful that I can completely finish this warp before putting on warp for the art show piece. Stay tuned. If I have to quit and tie on warp in order to make the deadline, I will. I'd just rather not. Working a full time job does encumbrance one's cottage industry efforts!
Other impending projects include more rugs, after the art piece is done. I've been invited back to Best of Missouri Market, an event sponsored and on the grounds of the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
That means lots of rugs between now and October. Also, my weaving study group is getting a Friendship Coverlet project going, and I'll participate in that. I may have to have help from my quilter sister to put the blocks together, but I'll worry about that later. Right now, I'm having fun dithering over Jaggerspun colors.
Other impending projects include more rugs, after the art piece is done. I've been invited back to Best of Missouri Market, an event sponsored and on the grounds of the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
That means lots of rugs between now and October. Also, my weaving study group is getting a Friendship Coverlet project going, and I'll participate in that. I may have to have help from my quilter sister to put the blocks together, but I'll worry about that later. Right now, I'm having fun dithering over Jaggerspun colors.
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