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.