Fiber People Are The Best

What is there about a passion be it gardens, or fiber, or wood, or whatever that brings out the most generous side of people. I'm not sure. But I know that fiber people are high on the list when it comes to generosity.

Sometime back, I decided that I wanted a floor loom. Now my space in the studio house is somewhat limited so I figured a loom that I could fold up when not in use would be best. But I still wanted a loom that would allow me to do a variety of weavings. After some research and bending the ear of everyone I knew that did any weaving at all, I decided that I wanted a Schacht Mighty Wolf loom. It could weave cloth up to 36 inches wide and could be equipped with up to eight harnesses and its size was reasonable for my purposes.

Imagine my surprise when a good friend on the mainland emailed me and said that she had one and I could have it if we could find a way to get it shipped from the midwest to me. It took awhile, but on March 26th this loom arrived on my doorstep.

Loom Back

Loom Front

Because I had never worked with a loom of this size, most of my weaving has been on a rigid heddle loom, I decided to work my way through Debra Chandler's "Learning To Weave". The piece on the loom right now is the first of the projects in her book. It is a simple striped cotton piece to get the feel of using the beater and weaving plain weave or tabby and twill patterns.

Then a few weeks ago, a computer student of Glenn's mentioned that she had a table loom that she needed to find a home for. It had been her mother-in-law's. I said I'd take it and either use it or find it a good home. So on Wednesday, I stopped by her house and picked up this loom.

Table Loom

It is hand made out of plywood and has a simple four harness configuration with the harnesses being made of dowels with string heddles and using rubber bands to provide some tension. When it arrived, it had a fairly complex warp on it of a fine linen and an obvious practice piece of weaving where the person using it was learning to do a double layer construction. I saved the about three yards of warp still on the loom. It will make excellent thread for kumihimo. And I will keep the weaving sample as well. It think the loom will be great for doing small things like the bookmarks that I love to make.

In addition to the loom, Glenn's student gave me a small warping board that will be great for kumihimo class in the fall, a bag full of stick shuttles, and the greatest prize of all: A notebook with many samples of weaving and patterns that was put together by a weaving instructor many years ago. Do any of you weavers have any knowledge of Karin Melander who, at least at the time the notebook was put together, lived in Santa Barbara, CA? This notebook is her work. I googled her but found only a couple of small mentions in the old Robin and Russ newsletter.

The patterns in the book are way beyond my current skill level. But a couple caught my eye and I will want to try them when I have more projects under my belt.

As I said, fiber people are way at the top of the generous list. Now I just need to pay it forward for that is how it all works out in the long run.

The Miracle Vireya

On June 15th 2003 a precious gift was given into my hands. On January 5, 2002, Ray Greuel took some seeds from Sherla ( www.PacificIslandNursery.com ) that had been sent to her by Chip Lima and placed them in a pot. They were from the hybridizing of two of Peter Sullivan's Vireya: V. Semper Fideles x V Paschal Witness. That's where the miracle begins. These seeds spouted in that first pot and on June 2, 2002, Ray moved the tiny seedlings to another pot. Here they grew for almost nine months. On February 20, 2003 they were moved to a four inch pot. And on June 15th, they were brought to the meeting at Sherla and Richard's.

I took one home. It had two branches and maybe four leaves on it. But it was a beginning. Now those of you who know me, know that I'm a very haphazard gardner and trusting any plants to me, let alone a seedling, is a great act of faith. The little plant lived in its pot in a garden outside my kitchen door and there it sat being watered mostly by the rain and fed by the sunshine. Nothing else.

Sometime, I would guess in late 2003 or early 2004, it was moved to a place beside the fence where it could be seen from the lanai of my studio house. It still was only about 8 inches high and had two branches and a few leaves. And there it stayed. I weeded around it when I thought about it. It was watered by the rain and lived in full hot sun with maybe a little fertilizer over the years when Glenn was generally fertilizing whatever was over there.

Then last year, it decided to grow and it began to put on height and more leaves. And imagine my surprise when this spring, I noticed two buds on the plant. About two weeks ago the first bud bloomed. And what a lovely bloom it was. It is large, white with just a bit of yellow in the center, and fragrant.

It is obviously a very hardy little plant. It is still living in less than optimum conditions, but it seems to be doing just fine thank you. Because I am not to be trusted with a lovely and rare plant, I took the first truss to Sherla so that she can grow it out. At some point, it will be available for everyone to enjoy.

Thank you Ray for your faith that something you started would continue long after you had passed.

Garden Surprises

I looked to my right up a path as I walked to feed the chickens today 

and this is what I saw.

 I looked down at me feet on the path and saw this lovely stuff.

Then  I followed a path through the woods of the garden 

and I turned a corner to find this

Then I fought my way through some overgrown grass that had 

strangled the path and this came into view

On the last part of the path to the house I found this lovely sight 

in a spot where I didn't even know we had this variety planted.

I hope you'll walk with me in my garden on another day.  

You never know what surprises might be in store for you.

It's Raining

Well, maybe not as much as it did in February of last year, but enough that I feared I wouldn't be able to get out and back in if I did what I had planned today.  So instead, I'm here at home looking at a day of unplanned leisure.  Kind of nice.

This is what I was supposed to do today.  Hoku and I had an agility seminar scheduled.  They are still doing it; we just aren't joining.  At least not today.  We may still go tomorrow.  Good thing the teacher, Andrea Dexter, is from the Seattle area.  A little or a lot of rain isn't going to stop a good north-westerner.  Hoku really does enjoy the agility.  She'd be even better at it if her mom found more time to practice with her.  At least my teacher is there so hopefully she will be able to transfer any tricks that Andrea gives us today to me over the course of the next few weeks.

And in case some of the rest of you are also in the doldrums of rainy, snowy, or whatever winter, here is a bright spot to warm your day.  

I don't remember which vireya this is, but it is a sunny spot in the garden when it is in bloom.

Just One More Thing

As Rachel Maddow would say, "Just one more thing".....  I learned another lesson from this quilt.  Do not, I emphasize, do not use a deep blue color in a quilt unless you first wash it with Retayne or some other fixative and then probably wash it a couple more times.  

I should have known better.  I did know better; I just didn't pay attention.

Anyway, this blue bleeds.  It really bleeds.  I knew it would.  I tested it on scrapes and extra material.  I tested it with dye catchers and I still had bleed.  The dye catchers did their job valiantly, there was just too much color flowing plus where the blue was up against some other color in the washing process, it bled onto the other color.

So I had a choice.  I could send it unwashed and tell my nephew and his wife that they would have to dry clean it.  Or I could wash it and suffer the first consequences for them.  I debated.  But the main reason I made this quilt for them was to have them use it.  I visualized them all curled up under it on the couch.  They have one two year old child and another on the way.  They weren't going to use the quilt and dry clean it.  Wasn't going to happen.  It wouldn't have happened in my house when I was young and it still wouldn't.  A quilt that had to be dry cleaned would go into the cedar chest never to see the light of day again.

So I washed it.  And it bled.  It will probably still continue to bleed so I'm sending a box of dye catchers with the quilt.  But now they have no excuse not to use it. 

From a distance, the quilt doesn't look that much different.  At least not to the camera.  But when you do a close up of one of the stars, you can see the blue bleed.

One can always have would of's, should of's, and I obviously have one on this quilt.  But I still, given that it was going to bleed, think I made the best choice.  Wash it, take the hit, and send it off to them to be used.  However next time, I'll remember the lesson learned here.

Starry Skies

My nephew, Brian, married Paulene in April of 2006.  Some months before the wedding, I started a quilt that would become "Starry Skies".  It was to be their wedding present.  Well, time has passed and they have received a throw pillow with one of the squares, but the quilt has continued to be my main project at sewing each Monday morning.  I can now say that it is done!!

This quilt had a number of firsts for me.  First it was the largest quilt that I have made - coming close to filling the top of my queen size bed.  

Then it was my first venture into paper piecing.  All of the stars are paper pieced.  I tried every trick I know and I was unable to get a really good picture of the star.  The center does not show that it was made from eight individual pieces.

And last it was the first time that I had done any machine quilting on a piece this large.  The "rays of starlight" and the outline of the stars that are the quilting were all done with my standard sewing machine.  It did not become my favorite form of quilting.  I've learned to never say never, but it will be quite sometime before I venture into machine quilting for a piece this large again.

I learned a lot making the quilt, and I think Brian and Paulene will enjoy it.  My favorite part of the whole quilt is the color of the fabrics.  They are stunning together and they are what make the quilt stand out.  All in all, I'm happy with it.  But most of all, I'm happy it is finished.