Not too hot to weave ...

Arletta making rag placemats

With the Studio and Garden Tour 2012 now behind us and a hot, dry summer settling in, things are getting  back to normal at the weaving studio. This week, Chris has three women from Illinois who are spending four days taking weaving lessons and producing their own treasures.

Keena weaving a dish towel.

Myrna making huck placemats.

The gardens were affected by the drought and nighttime visits from our deer friends. Chris notes that the weather must make it tough on the deer, too, so we're cutting them a little slack and a day lily snack or two.

Temps around here have hit 107, and it's been weeks since we've had significant rainfall. Fourth of July fireworks locally have been postponed until Labor Day. We are managing to keep the veggie garden going with water from the green tank in the middle of the picture below. The tank fills from the gutters and downspout at the back of the studio (when it rains) and from the pond on our property when it doesn't.

Part of the back garden ... tomatoes and kale.

We met some interesting folks on the tour, with the first visitors being from Edinburgh. Scotland, that is, not Indiana, and lots of folks from Indianapolis, Columbus, Ohio and Louisville, Ky. Visitors trying their hands at weaving produced two "community rugs" which will be given to local charities as fundraisers. We raised about $80 from the sale of Chris' mug rugs to be donated to the Brown County Art Scholarship fund. And some funds were raised by selling peace flags which we created on the tour last year. We are suggesting a donation of $10, all of which goes to the local Habitat for Humanity. (We can ship them for $15, and it's an ongoing project until all the flags have found new homes.) 

Peace Flags for your garden - visitors to the studio tour wrote messages
on the fabric which was then woven into flags.

Guest artist Doug Runyan sold several of his paintings and pastels and created one of his best drawings while demonstrating pastel techniques.

"Consider the Lillies of the Field" by Douglas Runyan

Chris just finished several scarves, some of which will be going to the Columbus (Ind.) Visitor's Center. 

We're also preparing a group of rugs and clothing to be listed on the Indiana Artisan's new virtual marketplace website. More on that later.

The studio will remain open throughout the summer, booking day weaving classes as weather permits. Visitors are always welcome.
Bob (and Chris)

Ahhhh, summer

After all my preparations, complaining, weaving, gardening, and brow beating, the Studio and Garden Tour is OVER! A big sigh of relief and on to summer.
We had about 280 visitors over three days of miserable heat. What troopers they were.I had a guest artist, Norene Mara, that paints and makes jewelry:
I also had a guest artist, Rose Poe, that makes beautifully colored baskets and also weaves.
The gardens could have used more work, but at 90+ degrees, not that many people were taking time to look at them ... out of their cars and into the air-conditioned studio!
The "weaver's garden" had a new umbrella for shade and some cute purse pots (an idea I stole from a friend) hanging on the shepherd's crooks. The purses got a LOT of comments.

The loom room was a demonstration and display area:The plate garden needed washing ... too bad. Pike was watching for cars ...Too hot to sell clothing ...

The positive comments make all the preparation work worthwhile. But I'm ready for pool time and to get back to weaving for the fall shows.

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!

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!

Three new rug weavers~

Three women came to the studio today for a "day weaving" class to make a rug. None of them had ever woven before but they all caught on very quickly.
Above is Emiko and Miho. Miho will start college in the fall and she and her roommate are doing their dorm room in pinks so she wanted her own special rug.
I was very pleased with their rugs and they were thrilled ... here's a picture of the finished projects:
Konomi, left, is Miho's mom.