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Showing posts with label rug. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rug. Show all posts

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Planning RV Trip - Ice Fishing - Rotato Peeler - newest rug off the loom

Ahhh plans are moving ahead for the upcoming vacation.    10 days and counting down!

Next week I have three lovely days planned with three different doctors, but rest assured I have the GO AHEAD approval for the vacation and I am making them stick to it!

On the way back from the doc the other day, I stopped to snap a few shots of the winter community that emerges on the wide part of our river, just upwards of the dam.  Yes, it's the ice fishermen!   Every year many ice shacks appear, each with trap doors in their floors to reach down into the water with short jigging poles.   It's like a whole village that pops up.  (sorry, taken with a cell phone on a cloudy day, but you get the gist of it)



Heaters, portable tvs, cooking devices and comfy chairs make ice fishing a pleasant pasttime, rather than a frozen winter sport.  The ice is now thick enough to drive on with vehicles.  But that gives me the heebie jeebies, so my little Tracker stayed on the road, thank you very much.



They are after perch, bass and walleye.  My sister here is posing with a walleye, caught last winter.  They are a light white meaty fish without an oily or fishy taste.  Yummmmmm


Our river is also a major highway or kind of a race track for snowmobiles this time of year, and we have them whizzing up and down morning noon and night.  Took this from the bridge up the river about a mile from our house.




Today, we have added a few more things to the motorhome storage compartments and we are just hanging out there, well, because it's fun to hang out in the rig!  Even if it's freezing out and we are parked in the driveway.   No matter.  The heater is on and we are stowing, stashing, removing and reorganizing some of the cabinets.  Taking out things we won't be needing and reorganizing things we will.   Steve was sure to snowblow alongside the far side of the rig too, so we could reach those compartment doors without having to wade through the deep snow.   We won't add water or freezable food items until the last morning.

I am making lists of things to doublecheck and Steve is my "pack mule" hauling things out and in and back to the house again.   Steve made up a big ole pot of chicken veggie soup for lunch, so we took a break to eat and then decided we had enough.  It was time for a nap!



On Wednesday, I decided to go with an easy hair do ---  wash n go, tousle with the fingers and be done with it, just in time for vacation.  So after three and half hours in a beauty shop chair, I had a cut and perm!



A couple weeks ago, Steveio and I had stopped in St. Vinnies to kill some time before an appointment in Green Bay.   He scouts out the bargains and found a handy dandy device for the motorhome kitchen.
It's made by Pampered Chef.....   it's a ROTATO!     (our nickname for it)  


It sells for $31.50 but my darling Steveio found it for the mere price of $2.00 at St. Vinnies!   What a guy!


It's a device that peels, slices and cores apples or potatoes in a fast fun and easy manner.    I already have one for the house, but now he found this one to keep full time in the motorhome.   With his favorite apple pies for his reward, he will gladly hunt out bargains for me to cook with!

Now for my fiber buddies who read my blog.  I am sorry, I have been sorely lacking in snapping pics of things I have been doing.  This past weekend I did spin up four bobbins of new yarn on the wheel, but didn't get a pic of them yet.  Will wait till they are plied into yarn and perhaps start some socks with them.

This morning I cut the newest rug off one of my looms, in preparation for a new batch to be woven on that one.  Here is my Path Thru the Woods rug...




 It is made from fringey strips of factory selvage.  
It's the edges cut from large rolls of upholstery fabrics after they had been made.  
These strips are cut free and tossed in the landfills!   
So some enterprising weavers discovered they make great rugs.   
We buy them by the pound and wind them on shuttles and weave them up into rugs. 


Steve named it "Path Thru the Woods", as it looks like a soft sandy path underfoot between the green foliage and brown trees.  What a great name!   It's a very generous 75 inches long and 30 inches wide.  I just love how the colors gradually blend from one to the other.   

Well, it's snowing out there again, and dusk is falling.  Time to think about some housework IN the house instead of all the stuff we were doing out in the motorhome.  

Is it Feb 23 yet?


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Sunday, May 2, 2010

Weaving Conference - Vavning Studio - Jason Collingwood 3 End Blockweaves - Shopiere, WI

After a very blustery windy 200+ miles, we arrived at Vavning Studio on Thursday night and parked in "our spot" out in the back corner of the parking lot....



We woke in the morning to bright sunshine, singing birds and a lot of excitement (on my part) to get the day going!   Friday we helped Juanita Hofstrom and her husband Norm around the studio a bit.....






They have purchased a Methodist church in a tiny village (4 blocks long)  and turned it into a studio... for her weaving and his photography.  What a wonderful place to meet, create, enjoy and share.


Here are a few shots around the studio... from the entryway to the main loom studio....  Now to you *non weavers* this may not seem so interesting... but keep in mind that each one of these huge tools runs in the thousands of dollars, and the *weavers* reading this will be going OOOHHH and AAAHHHHH  there is a Cambridge!  There is a Barbara V, there is a row of Kessenichs!    It's like an auto show for the guys....

Juanita has various rugs she has completed hanging around the studio for us conference goers to view, touch and enjoy.  She is a wealth of information and creativity.... a retired art teacher, she has done it all!





Friday evening, we met with friends Jim and Norma for a fish fry at a tiny pub down the road.... Friend and fellow conference goer, Lynn Twitty joined us along with Norm...Juanita waited at the studio for various other weavers to come and bring their portable looms to the studio and set up in advance for the early morning start on Saturday.  (Norm brought her a fish fry back to the studio)   Big storms moved through the area overnight, and tornado warnings were all over the news.  We were safely parked near this huge old church and if need be, we could have scooted into the building as Juanita left me with a key....  but it's been around probably for 100 years, so I don't think a bit of high wind would bother it?

By Saturday morning, the folks started arriving... I was in the studio early to make up pots of coffee, hot water for tea, set out breakfast snacks and fruit... I am known as "The Kitchen Wench" to help Juanita hostess this event.   It sure helps her with the early mornings to get this all done before things get busy.

We were a tad bit worried about Jason getting there, as last we heard he was on Madeline Island out in Lake Superior the day before and nobody had heard from him yet.  Turns out he did quite a journey to get to us!  He was on a boat.... then a car.... then an airport for flying from Duluth MN to Chicago, IL .. then a bus from there to Rockford, IL, then a taxi from there to his hotel in Beloit, WI   Whew!!!  

The workshop started out with a gift from Juanita... I will post a pic of it on tomorrow's blog.... all I can say is WHAT A SWEETIE that gal is!

Lectures were held upstairs in the main area, which is bathed in golden sunlight....


We scribble down notes as fast as we can , before we move on downstairs to weave, learn, laugh and enjoy

This is  the lower level, with everyones portable looms moved into the center area of the room... a bit crowded but each needs a loom of their own to work on the techniques and lessons

Juanita's daughter, Melanie, stopped by with a little orphan named Susie.... awwwwwwww

And yes, she needs a diaper because she is a BABY! 

These are the kind of rugs we are learning to weave.  This one was brought in by a gal who went right to Jason's studio over in Great Britain.  She went for a whole week of lessons, and wove the entire rug before coming back home.   This is what is called a lesson in residence.  What an experience! 


These rugs are also reversible, getting double the use outta your handwoven item



We ended up Saturday evening with a swap meet,  where we could get rid of items we didn't want and pick up items we did!   Then we did a *Show N Tell* where we could share what we have done or like to do....

Whew... I collapsed into bed after a quick shower at 10 pm.....  and now it's Sunday morning.  Time to get up and make that coffee!!!! We have a whole nother day of weaving ahead of us!


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