Clean Start for a New Year in My Loom Room

Ahh my Loom Room has taken a beating.  Since mid September I have been rushing to get inventory finished for stock in my online Etsy store, plus I had some custom rug orders to get done.  On top of that, before Christmas I was working on projects for gifts.  

I made these two wine totes for my daughters Erin and Heather... one loves Judy Garland thus a ruby red slipper, and the other loves The Christmas Story lamp.....   Then for my daughterinlaw Heather, I made a beer tote in the flip flops that she loves.  I couldn't post pics in December when I made them, because they were being given as gifts.

Bit by bit, things got cluttered in my Loom Room. Things got piled up.  It was a mess! The lint and fabric "schnibbles" and threads and yarn bits piled up on the floor to humongous dust bunny size--- more like dust kangaroos!   Tools weren't put away, cutting mats were laying out, cords were getting tangled and most of all, it was stunting my creative juices!

I needed a nice clean slate.  This week I decided to DE-clutter and organize it a bit.

Here are my finished results: 

 These are my 2 Newcomb Studio Art Rug Looms.... 

I have had a lot of looms come and go over the years. 

This type is my favorite loom for weaving rugs, 

and I have these two as my main "go to" looms, 

plus another Union rug loom in storage, 

and two table looms for smaller items. 

 I love the sunshine streaming in the leaded glass window 

I sorted out my hutch and baskets and bins.

All of my tools were sorted and shuttles stacked back in the tall basket.

Amazing how many things got tossed on the surface and not put away.

 The dogs love to lay in a basket of wool blanket strips

to look out the window and see the world.

The window light kinda made this picture turn out "funky"

but that is my prized 101 year old Singer treadle machine in that parlor cabinet. 

I am not spinning on my wheels right now, so I decided to move two of them to my fiber storage room and one to the guest bedroom.  When I carried up the wheels I could barely open the door! Oh my, the fiber storage room needed an overhaul too!  I spent a whole afternoon sorting and labelling bins.

I set a chair in there in case I want to sit and spin a bit.  This tiny room had originally been the maid's quarters, near the back staircase. According to the 1920 census, her name was Josephine Flemming.  I like to imagine what life was like back then, when you had live-in servants!  And this tiny room with a slanted ceiling and no heat vent. Check out that funky linoleum!  Probably from the 40's or 50's.  

I even organized all of my quilting supplies in wire bins

at the top of the back staircase. 

I found stuff that I didn't even know I had!

Once I got everything organized, it was time to get to work!  I finished up these two rugs, and cut them off the loom.  Now I have to sew the hems, measure each one up and tag them.  Once photographed, they will be added to my inventory pile.  The one on the left is made with recycled sock looper pieces from industrial scraps from a sock factory... and the one on the right is from woolen blankets cut into strips and woven in an alternating stripe pattern.

I tied up the loom to get another rug started, but then I got distracted.  I had seen a new quilting technique that I wanted to try out. It's called Star Flowers, and it's made from half-square triangles.  I saw a YouTube on how to sew and cut four at a time: Star Flower Blocks by Alanda

I enjoyed it so much that I made a second set in different colors...

now both sets will be made into hot pads.

I enjoy trying out different block patterns until I find one that I like enough to make a WHOLE quilt of a well-liked pattern.  Turning the samples into hot pads is fun too...  and I love to play with the colors.  Someone once told me: "Quilting is where you take big hunks of fabric, cut them up into little pieces, and then sew them back up into big hunks of fabric again!"  

Well, yes!  Kinda sorta. It's like painting with pieces of multi-colored fabrics and arranging them back onto a pleasant arrangement... and sewing them down into place! 

Another distraction----   While sorting my yarns.. I found some perfect colors to combine into a hat.  The store bought hats I have were too thin over the ears when we walk the dogs at night. I decided to knit a thick double brimmed hat to match my winter jacket.  So I whipped out the yarns and my thick circular needle and got to work.  

The dogs helped....  

(Yah, some help, all right)

Binney volunteered to be my model. 

She was actually sad when I took the hat off,

and sniffed it and nosed it in my hand to put it back on again! 

As a final note, my step dad is not doing so well.  He is back at the apartment with Hospice care and Mom at his side.  He is very weak.  Prayers and good thoughts are appreciated for a painless passing.

Finally a post for my Fiber Friends - my Loom Room

As we get organized and arranged in the new-to-us-house... there has been a definite lack in my Fiber Fun posts!   Soooo today this post is for you!

My Loom Room is located on the main floor, and I also have a Fiber Storage Room up on the second story near the back servants staircase.  The Fiber Storage room has funky linoleum in it, probably from the 50's... so I decided to keep it because it is in very good shape!  

At first, the door to the Fiber Storage Room was just a folded accordion style wood slat door from the 1970's and I was quite disappointed.  But lo and behold, when exploring down in the basement, we found where two doors were stored away in a front corner of the old stone basement!

One was for the swinging door to the butler's pantry (presumably removed for more space for the fridge in there) and the other door was for my Fiber Storage Room!  Testament to having a dry basement, because they were both in great shape and not ruined by any dampness, mold or mildew. Whew!

 By the second or third day of living here, Steve hauled my door up and we popped it right back into place, with the hinges still intact on the frame.  Voila!

We had removed some basic shelving from the walls of the livingroom and master bedroom, which we re-installed up in my Fiber Storage Room.  It is working out great for folded rugs, hats and socks in my inventory. I put up some of my items just to see how it worked out, and it's wonderful!  

Then there is plenty of room on the floor for 10-12 totes, and four big trash cans of loopers for rugs.

So that is it for the upstairs Fiber Storage Room... 

now let's go back downstairs to the main floor for my 

Loom Room!   

I had assembled the parts of the 4 harness Newcomb Studio Rug Loom that we bought a few months ago from Hidden Valley Fiber Farm http://www.hiddenvalleyfarmwoolenmill.com/  It's the same as the ones I sold off last spring.  It went together without a hitch, and I just have to replace the cords with some sash cord (doesn't stretch like clothesline or macreme cord does)   and Steve is going to shorten up the reed a bit for me.   

The 2 harness Union Rug Loom was hauled over fully warped.  We took off the front beam, tilted the castle, and struggled to get it through the back door.  In hindsight, I should have just dismantled it.  It would have saved me the bruised/broken foot I am limping around on when Steve dropped it on my foot!   ACK!   Not sure if it's broken or just bruised, but ice bags and soaking in the hot bath have helped.  It is a pretty color of purple and green though......

We had moved the hutch from the dining room last week (so we could use the other buffet and hutch that match my dining table and chairs)  This one now gets to house my precious weaving tools, books, supplies and yarn skeins.  The big window faces south and lets in lots of sunshine.  Steve is thinking in the summer we might put a crank out awning on that window to keep the heat down.  I found the old wooden crate in the garage that has some warp  tubes in it next to the hutch.  On top are my quilting boxes and in the front and center is my Grandma Groops old Singer sewing machine.  I don't have a sewing table yet, but the center island in the kitchen will suffice.  (Once we get the kitchen done) 

The ceiling fan is the one I repainted with the hammered metal spray paint, and now I added new glass shades to the light bulbs.  The room has heavy plush carpeting and I found even in my last Loom Room that the looms don't "walk" much because of the thick carpeting and pad.  But I did put some rubber mats down under the looms, because in my last Loom Room, the beater portion made rusty marks on the carpeting.  So this time around, I will protect the carpeting in advance.

The three overshot woven coverlets were hung today.  I used fancy curtain rods and was careful to measure and use a level to make them all even.  The one on the left was an antique coverlet that I was given, and the middle one (Lee's Surrender) and the right one (Orange Peel) are ones that I wove myself.  Above these I will hang my Loom-A-Tic sign that is undergoing a transformation by the original artist, Juanita Hofstrom located at:  http://www.vavningstudio.com/   

This room is located just off the dining room with an open doorway.  We bought a set of french doors to be able to close it off later, if we want.  I have not yet stained the doors, nor did we buy the swinging hinges yet, so that is a future project.  Ooooh look at that sunshine streaming in! 

Since I took these photos, Steve helped me carry in my Tools of the Trade 8 Harness table loom, which is on a rolling bench. I think I am going to place that right in front of the window to look out as I weave up some more towels.  It's warped for about 30 of them and I have to get them woven before the next Jason Collingwood Class in May, 2013. 

Any of you weaver buddies, fiber fanatics or heck, ANY of you blog readers who find themselves up in my area of the country, drop me a line and come over to sit and create something in my new Loom Room!!!