Starting again.

My first weaving weekend/bootcamp this year.   I was a little nervous, since the last one I did last year was made extremely difficult with a slamming headache.

But the stars were lined up, or something.  My head cooperated the whole weekend, and it was such a huge relief.

 I hosted two ladies from Massachusetts.

 

 It is always amazing to watch a student working through  the warping process, threading then sleying, beaming  on the warp.   Working hard, and concentrating, to get it just right.

And suddenly, it is done.  The loom is ready.  Time to weave.
I always love the looks of disbelief and amazement.

They both did a marvelous job.
Time flew by, as it always does on these weekends.

But of course, there was good food.
Weaving can make you hungry.

 It was a lovely weekend, and I was glad to be back at it.  It felt good.

Two happy weavers.  Lots accomplished.  Being hopeful is huge.

Thanks Barb and Pat, I had a wonderful time, and I hope you did, too.

Next weaving bootcamp June 21-23.  Email me at crazyasaloom@aol.com  or go to my website, www.crazyasaloom.com and click on Weaving Weekends.

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Layer Cake Sampler QAL

I've had so much fun quilting along with Amanda at Material Girl Quilts! I used Daydream by Kate Spain, a bright and colorful line, a bit of a departure from my usual colors.

Amazing that so many block designs can be created from half-square triangles...

I cut my layer cake squares down to 8" and made my half-sqaure triangle units 3 1/2", which resulted in a 12" finished block. With the leftover strips from the layer cakes, I made 4-patch sashing cornerstones for setting the blocks together.

Just need to get a backing and quilt it!

All the block patterns are available here at Material Girl Quilts. Thank you Amanda for a great QAL!!!

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WIP Wednesday

I feel like I've lost my blogging mojo lately! {actually I think Instagram has stolen it} I'm here today to reclaim it! And it's Wednesday so why not a WIP?

Hope you all had a nice Mother's Day. I filled mine with some of my favorite things! I added another block to my Gathering Flowers Quilt. Even better I got all the pieces cut out, which is a big accomplishment!

I love the pinwheel effect they create when the blocks are set together...

This time of year is prime garden time, and I love playing around in the dirt...

I even washed my bike this weekend - ready for Summer! Gotta love a bike sporting Liberty of London!

I started a Farmer's Wife...ish quilt last Fall and finally had some fun adding new 6" blocks. I'm not using the official book, but pulling blocks from several of my block design sources.

And here are two books I want to share with you. When I shared the Ira Glass video, one of you mentioned the book "Steal Like An Artist". I've enjoyed reading it and found it very applicable to quilters. It's a wonderful guide to creativity wrapped around this theme quoted from the inside flap: "Nothing is original, so embrace influence, school yourself through the work of others, remix and reimagine to discover your own path".

My awesome daughter sent me "365 A Daily Creativity Journal" for Mother's Day. {She always finds the best stuff!} Every day there's a prompt for a creative activity. The book suggest you choose a theme and after thinking about it for a couple of days, I'm going with pattern. Not necessarily quilt patterns ~ we'll see what happens!

And here's my day one. Make something that fits in the palm of your hand using only materials in your immediate environment... {you may have noticed I had these little clothespins out for the block photo above}

Linking up to Lee today at Freshly Pieced.

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Full steam ahead.

Thanks Karen over at This Old House
 for telling us all about the phone app called Waterlogue.
It is my go to for treating boredom, you know the kind, waiting in a doctor's office, or whatever.  I try to take shots that I leave on my camera, just to have them to play with later.

This is an old dead flower out in the garden.

And this is the Waterlogue I made from it.

 After getting a lot of stuff done this past weekend, Lois and I finally got to tie up the Cranbrook.
For any of you who have struggled with a countermarche loom, do not despair. 
We hate that part of it.  H.A.T.E.
But we love weaving on the Cranbrook, once we finally get it operational.
So under the loom we go.  
Not an easy feat, like I told L, we aren't spring chickens anymore.
She just grumbled.

Anyway, we had the paper with the draft on it.  We tied the treadles to the botton lamms  where all the x's were, and we tied the treadles to all the upper lamms where the blank spaces were.

And glory be to the HEAVENS, with only one mistake, which we quickly fixed, it was UP and RUNNING.


L is playing with the first rug.....which is hard to see the pattern in  when you are sitting at the loom, but from just a little distance, you can see the rosepath design working.
I can't wait to try it.
And we put 30 yards on the loom, enough for a couple of our fave weaving friends to try it out, too.

 I am getting ready for a weaving weekend/bootcamp, so it's time to get the house in order.  We have a brand new Miele vacuum, which we have sorely needed.

And outside, it truly is spring.  Today I rototilled the garden at the studio, and it is just intoxicating to see fresh earth, and no snow in sight.

 I love the feeling of things getting done.  And while I can't do all the things I want in my "new normal",  as long as I can figure out ways to get them done,  I'm ok.
 I have given up trying to maintain the acre or so of lawn at the studio.  I hired my neighbor to take care of it, and what a freaking relief.   I resisted that for way too long.
I hired someone on Craigslist, someone who has actually worked for me before, to help me move all the construction debris off the porch.  A wise decision.

I still do what I can, and sometimes, I do too much.  But I learn, and I adjust, and then I can  spend more time doing what I am able to do.
And isn't that all we can do, anyway?

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A free loom and giveaway results.

I warned DH that the bird was making a nest in the gazebo again.  His assignment was to deter it from doing so, otherwise sitting in the gazebo is impossible, because momma bird won't feed her babies if you are there.  That happens just about the time you want to open the pool.
He informed me the other day that he did in fact go out there, and was going to take down the nest that was already completed, until he saw the little blue eggs in it.
So once again this year,  we will be banned until the babies fly the coop, so to speak.

As of today, there are hungry babies in the next.


I will admit that it has been the week from hell.  To be honest, I don't think anyone who has had surgery for Chiari Malformation, ever wants a head cold, complete with violent coughing spasms.
It is just not pleasant.  Whether it is the hole in my skull, (sorry to be so blunt), or the rods in my neck, coughing makes my head hurt in a way that I find difficult to even explain.  It is more severe and disabling that a headache.  So all week, I have done what I could early on in the day, and ended up on the couch with Roy.  I slept a lot.
This is the first cold I have had since my first surgery in August 2012.  Pretty impressive.  I hope it is at least that long or longer before my next one.  I know next week will be better.  Just goes to show,  when you think your life is hard, hold on, something will come along to prove to you that maybe it could be worse.

In my weaving endeavors, I would like to share my troubled warp with you weavers. (otherwise, skip this paragraph, it will bore you to tears)
  I put on 30 yards of 8/2 cotton for a baby wrap for my granddaughter.  768 threads.  I wanted to do 24 ends per inch.  I didn't have a 12 dent reed for my AVL, so I used a 6, which meant putting 4 threads per dent.
As soon as I got it all threaded, and started weaving, I knew I had a problem.  The threads were sticking together so badly, I couldn't throw the shuttle through.  If I cleared the shed with my hand, or pulled the threads tighter across the sticky beam, the shed was great.   But as soon as I changed sheds, the threads stuck together again.   I am not positive, but I think it is threading them 4 to a dent.  The threads are too close, too many, too close.
I have woven with 8/2 cotton on this loom for a year, and never had this issue before.  So I ordered a 12 dent reed from AVL, and weaving is at a stand still until I get it.  I just don't know what else could be the problem.

FREE LOOM

Yes, I am serious.   A while back, I was gifted with a loom.  While it was beautiful, I just did not have room among the 13 or so other looms I already owned, so I re-gifted it to a friend of mine.
Fast forward, she bought a smaller loom that she is smitten with, and she wants to re-gift this loom again.  So.......
It is a 16 harness loom....only 12 on it...........60 inches wide, a jack loom.  Please email me for more information.  I will give you her phone number.  It needs to be picked up in Hudson Falls, NY.

Here it is:

Today was a lovely day with all my daughters, son in laws, and grands here for lunch.
I love them all.   They keep me young.

Without further ado, after subtracting duplicate posts, there were 44 posts in all.

Using random.org, I came up with 36, so the winner is "thotlady".   
Congrats!!   Email me with your mailing information.  My email is on my web page crazyasaloom.com 


Happy Mother's Day everyone.

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Quilter's Home Tour

I belong to a small local guild called Bound Together and almost every year we have a quilter's home tour. It's a fun way to see members' homes, how they use quilts to decorate and of course a glimpse into their sewing space. For those participating it's a great motivation to clean your house!

This year, I was one of the hostesses and I thought you might want a little peek! You've already seen my sewing room here.

It was a nice enough day to hang some quilts on the front porch!

If you're looking for program ideas for your guild - the tour is always one of our favorites. We try to get 2-3 homes that are situated fairly close and caravan from one to the next. Very fun!

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Book Review and a Giveaway.

A while back, I was asked to do a book review by Stackpole Books.

The book, by Tom Knisely, is Weaving Rag Rugs.  Right up my alley, wouldn't you say???

Tom Knisely has been weaving for more than 30 years, and is the manager of The Mannings Handweaving School in East Berlin, Pennsylvania.

I got the book in the mail, and was pleasantly surprised.  It is colorful, and fun, and reading it doesn't feel like reading a textbook at all.
The funny part about it, while I was reading, I remembered learning all the things he talked about.  Years back, when I started my weaving career, I took a somewhat pathetic basic weaving course.  I bought a second hand loom, and spent every bit of spare time I could find, learning my craft.
There were no weavers around.  There was no where to go to find out what I needed to know.  Because it wasn't just about learning to weave, it was a niche all its own, weaving rag rugs.
I read everything I could get my hands on, and searched online for all the information that was out there.

I found a couple of weavers online, that I became friends with.  I badgered them with phone calls and emails, with questions and rants.  I made so many mistakes, and learned so many things the hardest way possible.
My point is that I could have written about every subject in Tom's book, the hows and the whys, but I didn't.   My book would have been "the long way around".
Oh, how I wish I had this book way back when.

It starts with basics, so that if you only have rudimentary skills, you can brush up.   Especially welcome to the new weaver, there is a wealth  of information on what to do and how to get started before you are ready to sit down and weave.  Because while weaving is the best part, good technique and skill at setting up your loom, and prepping your materials, is invaluable.

Throughout this lovely book, there are pictures showing you how to do all of it.  As someone who has tried taking pictures of projects for this blog, I can appreciate how great Tom's photos are, and how informative.

I laughed when I read his description of tying fringe, holding one thread back.  I thought I was that was some strange deviation of mine.  Tom shares with you those helpful hints that he has learned over all his weaving career.  They are priceless.


I have met many rag rug weavers.  One of them told me a long time ago, that we are all unique, and our choices of colors and patterns, and styles make our rugs special, and only ours. 

I am a spontaneous kind of girl, and love to design random and wild colors at the loom.  That being said, that method doesn't work for everyone.  Many weavers are intimidated by weaving without a plan.
In Tom's book, he gives you specific plans for weaving 30+ incredible rag rugs.  From plain weave to twill, flannel to denim, there is something for everyone.

I think that once the weaver has tried a few of these designs, they will be more than ready to design rag rugs  on their own.

This is a great book, easy to read, one you will go back to again and again.

Now all you have to do to win this book, is leave a comment.  I will do a random draw on Sunday,  Mother's Day.  What better time to get something special?

I have immersed myself in rag rug weaving for the last decade plus,  I have taught many people to weave over that time.   I think this book would be a great addition to anyone's weaving library, student or old timer.

This is my favorite.  I can't wait to make one of these.

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