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)

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!

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 ...