Winter respite

We've been having a mid-winter thaw here in Indiana. Always welcome this time of year. Our driveway was snow-packed, then ice-packed, and is now just muddy.
I've been exploring more uses for these organic dyed T-shirt scraps ... quite small pieces and odd sizes, like maybe they were neck opening cutouts? Not sure. But very time consuming. I had been through the box once and what was left was up for grabs to anyone who wanted them. Until Hilary asked if I had ever made a rag rya rug. Which got me thinking ... with a little bit of effort (like just a few more hours) these remaining scraps would work for that. So, here is the end result, front and back:
There is a dark blue ground weft that is constant throughout the rug and the cotton scraps provide the alternate rows. If my blue weft had been thinner, I might have included the short pieces in each row. As it was, I only put them every other row, overlapping by a few threads and leaving the ends to stick out.
A fun project for a winter day. My husband says it looks like a flower garden ... I think he's thinking spring, too!
You could also use quilting scraps or pieces of clothing for the rya.
If you try it, send me a picture!

No time to weave?

January is not a productive weaving month for me ... all the chores I've put off in the fall finally get shoveled through like the snow on the sidewalk. Filing, put off for more than six months, must be dealt with before taxes can be started. Seemingly small projects of sewing seem to pile up in their corner of the office and are some of the biggest time-suckers I ever deal with. Do you have any idea how many seams there are in a 25 pound box of organic cotton t-shirt scrap when cut into one-inch strips for rugs? It would boggle your mind. Suffice it to say that these rugs are going to be EXPENSIVE.Long ago, I began pricing my rugs based on the amount of preparation time needed. Thus, rugs from jeans, corduroy pants, and small pieces of whatever that require sewing are at the top of my price chain. Does that seem fair?
Then, there are the "ideas" that get piled in the office. If they are still in the office and not relegated to the garage, they must be great ideas, right? Well ... eventually, even the good ideas have been moved out there, and now there isn't room to park a car. My poor husband!

Another issue I've been pondering is whether or not to continue weaving rugs from plastic bags. In an effort to make an environmental statement, I devised a method about 10 years ago that allowed grocery store bags to be chained together so that they could be woven on a floor loom ... taking used plastic bags out of the waste stream and creating long-wearing rugs in the process. I've shared my system with many other weavers and am glad to see others making the rugs.The reason I'm going to stop making them is simple ... in the last 10 years, there's been much debate on the plastic bag issue. Some states have banned them, some stores charge for them, but most importantly (to me) the bags aren't as long lasting as they used to be! On a bag that someone dropped off at my studio recently, from Canada by the way, I found the following info:
"Oxo-BiodegradableTM Bag - The plastic used in this bag will convert to water, carbon dioxide and biomass in the presence of soil, moisture and oxygen. Like a fallen leaf, it will disappear over time."
Hallelujah!

Five days of sunshine

Today marked the fifth day in a row of sunny (but frigid) weather here in Indiana. I feel recharged. Something about January and February ... even if we have storms, I feel optimistic because we have crossed the threshold of December and are headed downhill into spring. I know that's not necessarily true, but that's HOW I FEEL.
I spent some time warping a little loom and weaving in my new sunroom. I love it. You can't see it in this picture, but the loom is in front of the chair on the right. The large windows face south west and the room warms up nicely on a sunny day. The cats love it, too. However, they have their own area on the screened portion of the porch when the weather is warmer. They spend most of their day there.
Smitty, the sweet Siamese, joined me in the sunroom today.
This porch project was born of necessity. We had water damage to the back of the house and had to replace the doors to the deck. We also needed to replace the decking so my husband and I settled on a plan. We turned our 9' x 32' deck into an 8' x 11' deck, a 16' x 11' screened porch, and an 8' x 11' sunroom. We repurposed the doors and sidelights from the house and turned them into the windows of the sunroom. We used composite decking instead of wood and installed a rubber roof because the slope is minimal. Once the sunroom was finished, we closed the floor gaps by putting down a large sheet of vinyl and filling part of the gaps underneath with insulation. Today, for instance, the temp outside was 23 degrees but the sunroom was about 65. Since I often work on the porch of the studio, even in the winter, 65 degrees in balmy to me.
Happy New Year to everyone. Stay safe.

Bird-brained thoughts

Driving home from a meeting this afternoon, I saw a flock of wild turkeys along side the road. They are a lot like families at Christmastime ... huddled together, pecking through the dried grass for seeds. I love seeing them in the sunlight when their feathers glisten, but it was cloudy today.
I read Hilary's post a couple days ago about photographing the red-tailed hawk and was drawn to the symbolism ...
I'm probably giving myself too much credit, but I really feel like I'm doing my best to help Mother Earth with my recycling.
When I rescued the young hawk after the storm in August, I wondered what it meant ... why the hawk was trying to get my attention ... and now I am glad I didn't just ignore his cries. As it turned out, he was able to be released in October to migrate with other Broad-Winged Hawks. So he's probably down on the beach in Florida by now ...
The runner I was working on is finished and ready to be a Christmas present. It's 15 feet long. Here's a bad picture of how it turned out:
It's a gift for a man ... think he'll like it?

The busiest month

For lots of people ... not so much for me. By the time early December comes around, most of my work is done for the year. Earlier in 2009, I've experienced two studio tours (one a month long), a vacation by car to visit our daughter in Minnesota, an assortment of first-time weaving students, a magazine interview, a television interview. I've sold rugs and clothing through my studio, the craft gallery, and to my wholesale accounts, done a handful of art shows, and taken some "special" orders for people needing certain sizes or colors that I didn't have available.

So today, one week into December, I'm trying to finish up these specials. I'm finally closing in on them ... an extra long shaggy runner in autumn colors:
A red rayon chenille wrap:(this is NOT the special order, but it plays one on this blog)
There are a few others small jobs that don't have to be done for Christmas so I'm feeling rather relaxed because these two should be done this week.

So, now, I can start Christmas shopping!

Shorter days, but more to do

I thought when we turned the clocks back last week that I would have some more time to get caught up on stuff ... didn't happen.
I make myself crazy in October and November anyway. The month-long studio tour sounds like a great idea ... it forces me to be at the studio every day, supposedly creating rugs and clothing. But this year I had about 400 visitors for the month and that's a lot of talking, demonstrating, and, yes, selling. Mind you, I'm not complaining, but I did get a little behind in the weaving.
About mid-October, I got a call from a reporter for the local PBS station ... would I like to be on TV, talking about my Recycled Rugs? That was a hard one, seriously. It meant extra effort to make the studio look nice (thanks, Stephanie!), thought about what I should say for the interview (how can you plan ahead for that?), and just having to finally admit that I am now a senior citizen and look the part. But, of course, I ended up saying yes, and here's how it turned out:


You'll love the scene at the end with Pike, the studio cat.
More later ...

Critters

Nature fascinates me. Birds, cats, deer, even insects.
My latest encounter was with some praying mantises (manti?). I went to fetch something from the pole barn and noticed one inside the building. I held out my hand and she climbed on and I took her up to the garden. I put her down in what's left of the day lillies and she stuck around ... and then I noticed another one, larger and darker. They must be getting ready to make their egg cases before the weather turns cold.
Driving to town last week I noticed something that made me smile ...
a flock of gold finches were gathered beside the road. I've never seen so many in one place. They took flight as I drove past and their gold and black feathers caught the morning sun.
Take some time today to notice the little things. You might smile, too.