Fibery Fun Stuff

Oh my this week flew by fast!

We started out Sunday with Pa Pfundtner treating us to a dinner and concert with the Sweet Adelines group of the Fox Valley.  He was so kind to host us and reserved a table for our family.  The decorations on each table were themes of different holidays and seasons.  Ours was "Snowmen" and each of us received a "party favor" of a chocolate bar wrapped up in white freezer paper, with gathered gloves for the hat.  Adorable! I have to remember these for stocking stuffers next Christmas?

Monday and Tuesday it was time for some Spring Cleaning... 

in My Loom Room!

After vacation, a lot of things had gotten hauled in and "dumped" in the middle of my Loom Room floor.  I had a new student coming on Wednesday to weave, and a new-to-me table loom coming on Friday.  Guess I needed to organize some things and sort out the supplies I needed for the lesson.

It wasn't as bad as I thought I would be, and most of the items were put back into their places in quick order.  I even had some time on hand to work on a new quilt, and finish up a rug for a customer.  Wheee "ahead of schedule"! 

Next, it was up the stairs to 

My Fiber Storage Room

I had another set of metal industrial shelves to assemble for my bins and Steve helped me whip them into shape fast. This is a small room that had originally been the housekeeper's bedroom 100 years ago.  According to the census, the maid's name was Josephine Flemming.  I wonder if she ever thought 100 years later people in this house wouldn't have maids.  They would have Yarn Stash!  LOL

 I love the funky linoleum, perhaps from the 40's or 50's?

Heading down the servants back staircase is a landing about 18 inches wide alongside of the staircase.  I had originally wanted a nice oak bookcase to put here but haven't found anything yet that I like that is in my budget range.  But, a while ago, I bought these wire cubicles from a friend, and the grandkids helped me assemble them.  Now it was time to fill them up!  My books, magazines, quilting fabrics and patterns all reside in these bins.  It worked out rather well, at least until the "right" bookcase comes along....

Wednesday afternoon, my weaving student cancelled 

so I had more time to get a few more sections done 

on the quilt I am working on. 

Wednesday night was my knitting night at the library, and the weather was sooo wonderful that I almost skipped going.  I am itching to get into my flowerbeds and start cleaning out dead leaves and stalks and get ready for SPRING!   But I have not had any time this week. 

Thursday was spent preparing printed material and cooking up some food for a pot luck, (calico beans, little smokies) and a run to Hilde's Bakery and Deli for kaiser rolls.  Steve and I were conducting the training for the upcoming season of camphosts for the park.  We are the Camphost Coordinators and do the training and information distribution to the volunteers.  We have seven couples who each take a one month stint in the park (We are the August couple)  and this year most are returning folks who already know the ropes.  It was a fun meeting and we had a good sense of the upcoming season and how things were going to work around the park.   On our way out of the meeting, I snapped this shot from my cell phone, and it was amazing watching the sun set over Lake Winnebago. 

Steve is so lucky to work in a place like this each day! 

Friday morning I whipped up some of my special Chicken Alfredo Lasagna and salad and fruit sliced for dessert.  My good friend Connie was coming from "across the pond" (Oshkosh) for the afternoon!

We had a great time catching up.... and she also brought along a pile of quilting she has been doing. It is all gorgeous and I learned some new ideas from her creations. We gabbed away for five hours, and it seemed like just a few minutes.

This lovely quilt Connie showed me was a gift she had been given,

with a wonderful story behind it.

A woman in her quilting guild had made it for a benefit function last year,

and Connie had admired it greatly during it's creation before it was donated away. 

Connie's' daughter in law somehow attended this benefit function,

and she bid on it and won it, not ever knowing that Connie even knew the maker.

The daughter in law wrapped it up for Connie for a Christmas Present!!!

Imagine Connie's surprise to get that quilt as a gift!!!

(notice little Binney giving it her "approval")

It is all water looking batik fabrics 

and The Lord's Prayer is delicately embroidered in the middle. 

The other reason Connie trekked around the pond to see me: 

She was delivering a sweet little table loom to me that a friend of hers had for sale.  I agreed to buy it from a photo she mailed to me, and once she got to the house with the loom and supplies, I determined it was well worth it. 

It's a 14" Kessenich 4 harness table loom (all oak) on a folding stand, with all the bells and whistles.  It folds down flat so it can fit into a rolling suitcase.  Perfect for workshops, learning, or even taking along in the motorhome.  Not sure if I am going to keep it, or sell it to a new gal who is learning to weave nearby.  For now, I will weave off the rest of the yarn that is on it, and see how I like it. 

I set it up on the front porch to weave today in peace and quiet....

It sat up a bit higher than I liked, so Steve got out the drill and made two new sets of holes about 3 inches higher on the X of the stand.  This allowed the loom to set down lower, and made it actually more stable and more secure, besides being the better level to weave comfortably.

Using the existing warp that was already on the loom, I decided to work up a wool scarf in alternating bands of color and changing around the twills... It will be all natural sheep wool colors.  Hmmmm

By Saturday afternoon, it was time to get a few things done in the house and yard... plus it's the big city bulk item trash pickup.  Even though we only have lived here 2 years now, we had BIG stuff to put out at the street curb for pickup.  We cleaned out the garage and sorted and hauled and organized stuff.  As we put our things out, folks stopped by and picked some of them up!  It saves the city from having to haul it all away, and it's kinda a traditional event in our town.  Folks roam the streets checking out what others have set out on their curbs.  

We had to run around doing some errands, so we picked up a few things from the curb ourselves!  One is a portable hunting blind in a carrying case, a rolling office chair, a brand new unopened bag of wood pellets for Steves firepit!   One man's trash is another man's treasure!  We stopped at the Chilton Fire Dept. Brat Fry fundraiser, got a quick meal and enjoyed the polka music while we had our ice cream desert.

I wanted to rush quick because there was another event going on... this afternoon was a fiber event around the area, of 10 yarn fiber farms and stores holding special open houses for an artist tour around Lake Winnebago.  I only had time to run to one place, Bleating Heart Studio south of Chilton.  I will post more pics later about the visit, and the shop.  But I will end this blog with my newest TREASURE.....

A retiring rosemaling artist from the next town over is moving into assisted living and is disposing of some of her furniture.  The gal at Bleating Heart Studio had a few of her pieces in the shop to sell during today's event.  I fell in LOVE with this darling table.....   You can't quite read the sign, but it's $35.00..... not $350.00.... it's really only $35.00!   I grabbed the sign and headed to the checkout counter! 

It's perfect for our livingroom as a coffee table in front of our couch.  Our livingroom is kinda small and a traditionally shaped rectangular one would be too big. This one is just PERFECT! 

Finney and Binney approve---