Enough with winter.

This has been the view out my bedroom window for months now.  But it rained last night, and I think maybe spring is around the corner.

Inside, I have tried to keep it bright and colorful in spite of what's going on outside.

I have a stack of yardage woven, on the shelf waiting for me to get inspired 

to sew.

I used to make a lot of möbius shawls, but I'm trying to push myself 

out of my comfort zone,  so in addition to some Naya cloaks, I want to make 

some version of these two patterns that I have collected.

What do you think????  All suggestions considered.

About a year and a half ago, I got this tiny slip of an aloe plant in a 

sandwich bag, and look what it has grown into.  It has become quite the showstopper.

I have amazing light in my house......the front of the house is all windows, and up and 

down on a sunny day, it's blinding.

The studio gets sun all day long with windows on two sides, east and south.

It's the warmest part of this old house.

This is the upstairs hall, and that is my Sea Onion......a plant I have had for probably 40 years.  I have split it more times than I can count, and gifted its babies.  It gets tiny white flowers when it's very happy.  It needs to go in a window where you don't mind it taking over, because it does.

This past winter I decided to get rid of this old sink in the studio.  It's been very handy, especially to rinse dye in, but the door is just to the left of this picture, and I can not tell you how many times I have run into the corner of that countertop.

So I moved my serger to the other side of the room.

Then I bought this lovely little laundry room sink at Lowe's.  It's perfect in the spot, 

and now the door is easy to open and close without injury.  It wasn't a very costly

project, but a satisfying one.

I put the old sink and countertop on FB marketplace for free, and some nice 

gentleman snagged it right off my back porch.

Win/win.

My next home improvement project occurred in early February, when we started 

the 3 week deep freeze in northeast NY.

My dining room and kitchen are perhaps the coldest rooms in my house, facing north and northwest.  So back to Lowe's, where I bought Levolor cellular blinds for all four windows.

Every night I have been faithfully pulling them down, along with the ones I already have

in the living room.  I really think it has helped.  I probably should have done it long ago.

If spring every really does arrive, my outside project for this year is getting the front of the house scraped and painted.  It really needs it and I will feel better having it done.

I will not die rich, but what sense does that make anyway?

Animal Kingdom

It's been a long, and very cold, and did I say LONG, winter.

I think most of us are very much over it.   

The fuel bills have been outrageous, I am way over my budget, and the heat is still on.

With the WAR in Iran, the prediction is that OIL will go even higher.  I am trying to 

figure out how that will be possible for me next winter.  I have gone over the options

available to me.

None of which are easy, or good.

Anyway.   Do you all remember Goldie?   He has been my resident outside cat since 

2017.

I have taken many photos of him.   He appeared out of nowhere, and has never left.

I have tried to keep him happy, with heated water bowls, full food dish every morning,

a solar house for sunny days, and a heated little house on the porch, when it's not.

Every day, I would sit on the porch and give him some TLC, which he ate up.

At times, in winter, when it was really frigid, I would bring him inside.  At first I had to trick

him to get him in, and later when he got more used to me, I would just pick him up and bring him in.  I kept him in the studio with food, water, and a litter box, and the doors shut

so he didn't have to deal with the dogs.  

And to be honest, I didn't know how that would go.

Every time, he was inconsolable, yowling all night and just miserable.   Then when I would let him out, he wouldn't come near me for days, once it was a couple of weeks.

Fast forward to this winter.  The forecast was for a bitter week of below zero nights.   He is getting older, he was getting thin.   I made the decision, he is coming in.  He is staying in until this tundra weather is over.

For the first week, he stayed in the studio, no dogs allowed.

After a few nights, he stopped with the screaming.

The second week, I let the dogs into the studio, for 20 minutes here and there.

No one died.

The third week, I just opened the damn doors, and told them to all figure it out.

That was in January.

Now he goes out, and stays out a while, and comes right back in.  If it's too cold, he turns 

around at the door, and stays in.

He sleeps in the dog bed.   On the sewing table.  In the cupboard in the LR.  In every chair in the house.   On the dining room table.

Goldie has become a spoiled, and FAT inside/outside cat who is so content now, that I struggle to not cry every time I see him curled up somewhere while the snow whips around outside.

And the group?????

Well, as you can see, they have figured it out.

Willie still has his moments.   He doesn't like Goldie in his dish, and at no time EVER, is Goldie allowed on the sofa.   

The sofa is where Willie has me to himself, as Naya never stays up there for long.

Naya has had a tough winter.   Her legs are failing her, and I have to lift her up most of the time to get her going.

I wasn't sure she was going to make it through the winter, but she's a tough little girl.

She's also pretty confused at times.

We're just doing the best we can do, and we are trying not to think about what's

coming down the road.  The vet says she is a lot older than we thought, but that rescues

often lie about a dog's age.

So there's that..

I'm going to try to do better here, assuming that someone is still listening.

Somehow, I just know you are.

Taking a breath.

In the studio, I have two chairs, across from each other, and when friends come, it is 

often where we sit with a cuppa tea for a visit.

Willie has never gotten up in this chair.....ever, until just a few days ago, when suddenly

he decided that it looked like a good place for a nap.

Since that day, he has been in it almost every day.

Sometimes I wish I knew what went on in his head, although I guess it isn't 

that hard to figure out.

It's his house, and everyone else sits in that chair, so...............

To answer a question about the Megado, a loom that I sold a few months ago, here's the story.

When my husband died three years ago, I sold my AVL.  They say you shouldn't make any big decsions for a year after a life changing event like losing your spouse, but I made it anyway.

It seemed like the right thing to do, and then once it was gone, I missed it.

So the following year, I ordered the Louet Megado.  At first I had the mechanical dobby with it, but found that I wasn't fond of the need to change the pick with one leg while treadling with the other, so I saved some money and when I could I ordered the electronic dobby for it.

I loved it.  Loved having 16 harnesses, loved what I could do with it.  But as the months went on, I found that every time I wove on it, my right shoulder was on fire the next day.

I realized that I was slightly raising my shoulders to throw the shuttle.   So I tried changing the height of my stool, I tried a bunch of other things.  The bottom line was that my body was just not made for that loom.  When I raised the height of my stool, it solved the shoulder issue, but it brought my legs up so high, I couldn't treadle.

I think it just has something to do with not just my height, but the length of my legs, and the length of my torso.  So I tried not weaving on it for days, then weeks, then weaving on it again.....and sure enough, it was the culprit.

So I decided to put it up for sale, send it out on the world wide web so to speak, and let the universe decide.

And it did.  A retired vet from PA came with her husband, and took it home.

So now I have the 8 harness David, and soon I will have an 8 harness Baby Wolf, and then I have my three looms that I use for weaving workshops.

The big news is that in addition to being a Louet dealer, now I am a Schacht dealer, too.

Which is why I am getting a new Baby Wolf.  It will be the designated towel loom, and it will leave the Louet David available for yardage.

Louet news:   next year Louet is coming out with a 12 harness David!!!!   It also might have the availability of an electronic dobby for the David 8 and the David 12.  

Since I try to limit my time weaving, to keep my shoulder from firing up again, I sometimes 

wind warps on my warping mill.   I find I can do it without it causing a problem. 

That being said, I don't weave a whole warp in one day.  I spread it out over 2 or 3 days.  I get a lot more done that way, without more pain.

A good friend and fellow weaver, who started out as my student many years ago, has a bit of a crush on Willie.

He is ok with that.

I try to eat a pretty clean diet, and most of the time I do well.  This is tofu, bok choy, and rice, 

with a lot of garlic.

I love dishes that I make up as I go.

But I confess, I love carbs.   Bread, naan, bagels.....toast!!!  of any kind.

That is my weakness.  Going to at least TRY to be a little better.

You notice that I did not say I was going to give them up.

I'm far more realistic than that.

Quiet post Christmas day here.  Very, very cold morning.  Dogs don't stay out for more than

a couple of minutes.  That's telling.

Did some weaving, made some soup, taking a break with the crossword,

Loving the post holiday lull.  

It's welcome.

Hope yours was a good one.

Checking in.

Hard to know where to start, when I haven't written a post since September.  Wow, I am 

pretty pathetic at this, clearly.

I've been experiencing more intense headaches, the worst in August and September and October, a bit better since then, but still a little nastier than I would like.

As I have often said in the past, I would commit to a #3 on a scale of 1-10, for the rest of my life, gladly.  But I don't have that choice, and sometimes, my headache just takes over.

Period.

I do the best I can.

Just a few photos of what I've been up to.

I used this round stone from an antique grinder, to make my "bird charcuterie board".

Can I just tell you, I load it up with black oil sunflower seed every day, and it is CLEAN by mid afternoon.

Sometimes I look out there and there are a happy group of mourning doves, enjoying

their new dining digs.

I put the rod in the seed cone on top, to keep it in place, but the rod fell right through it onto

the ground, so I fudged up the pots underneath it, to keep the rod where it belongs.

One day I had a huge raven taking over the menu, but he hasn't been back

after that one day.

Since the Megado is gone, I have done some rearranging.  I don't know if it's Feng Shui or not, but I know when it feels good to me.

And this feels good.

I made more room here too, just by moving my ironing board to the inside porch, 

just beyond a door, but not here, where it had become just a "surface" to collect whatever I decided to throw on it.

My next project is giving this triangle loom a go.  I've never used one, and I've 

always kind of wanted to, so when I got a real deal on this one, I grabbed it.

If I don't like it I will pass it on.

This antique quilt, which by the way is in pristine condition, was an 

early gift from my oldest daughter.

We happened apon it one day when we went to a local book/antique shop, and 

I fell in love with it.

Hand quilted, it was someone's treasure, and now it's mne.

The guild show was in November, and I did very well.  No complaints.  I took 114 towels, and came home with only 5.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now here it is almost Christmas.

Here's a photo of me, my oldest daughter, and my son in law hamming it up

for a photo.

I am always relieved when Christmas is over, it always seems so stressful working up to it.

But watching the kids with their gifts is usually worth it.

I recently went back through my blog looking for something in particular that one of my daughters asked me about.  While I was doing it, I was reminded of how great a collection of memories my blog is, and I experienced such a wave of gratitude that I started it, and kept up with it for  so long.

It is a treasure of photos and rememberances, of all the things that I love, and mostly, all the people that I have loved.

I came across posts about trekking across the country with my husband to fetch a loom, 

and Lois and I and her sister unloading a tractor trailer of sock waste in my driveway.

Some of it made me laugh, some brought tears, but it's all there.

My daughter asked me, " will your blog always be there?"   

I told her that unless Blogger goes away, I think it will be.

That makes me very happy.

Changes

Years ago I bought this bookcase.  Bill was going to paint it, way back then, and never did.

So it has been in my living room for years, unpainted.   I kind of got used to it.  But suddenly I decided that it was time.   So my handyman took it home with him, sanded it, and stained it with the same green stain that I used on my picket fence in the back yard.   I had a half gallon of it left over, and I wasn't about to buy something else.

I love the way it turned out.

This was the chicken coop.and for a while, after I cleaned it up, it was a play house for

my grands.  But they live a ways away, and don't get up here that much.  So I decided to 

do a little renovation.

The window used to be the cupboard door in my pantry (which is now the downstairs bathroom).

I found the windows on FB marketplace.

New plywood floor.

The wood on the walls came from my neighbor's little sawmill.

Everything else came from my house.

My youngest daughter asked me what it was for.  I said, it's just for me.

It's a place to write, a place to meditate, just a little retreat.

I left the ceiling the way it was.  I love the tin roof, and one day when it rained,

I went out there and sat.  I was so glad that I had not put a wood ceiling up.

The sound of the rain was incredible.

I had to buy latches, but the windows are great, and they open .

There's a great view of my perennial garden.

Through that door, there is another small room, that was my original chicken coop.

It's just another place to retreat to.   The hammock chair was $12.99 at Ollie's.

New floor and woodwalls in here as well.

And sitting in the hammock chair, this is your view.

This project just made me happy. Maybe it doesn't make a lot of sense to

anyone else, but it made total sense to me.  It just felt good.

And after 6 weeks of PT, my shoulder is much improved, and I'm weaving again.

I am SO grateful.   Weaving is what I do.

Classes coming up.  They are always stimulating and fun, and I always 

appreciate the little extra income.

And I get to do it in my beautiful home.  

How blessed am I???

August

I am not a fan of AC,  but I have given in and turned it on this month.  It has been horrific, hot and humid.  So walking has to be done earlier than I would like, and then it's advisable to stay in the cool house all day.

These are the peacock feathers that I was given by the people who fetched the Megado.

They have a flock of them, and apparently they drop their feathers often.

I love them.

Since the Megado has gone, I have been weaving on the 4 harness Baby Wolf, and I've actually been enjoying it.  Simple, uncomplicated, organic.

These are some of the towels I have done.

For over 20 years I have been collecting Handwoven magazine.   I like to look through them  on occasion, and I often see a reference to a draft or a project in a particular issue.  Then I have to go through my stash to find that issue.

I have done it a NUMBER of times over the years, and I finally said ENOUGH.

I had them all laid out on my sewing table, and I organized them into years.  Then I ordered these handy magazine organizers.  They weren't cheap, but they are awesome.

I am quite proud of myself, and looking for an issue will be so easy from now on.

The grands are pretty busy, but now and again, they come to visit. It's always a little hectic, but always a good time.   Here's my youngest, intent on weaving.   He really did well for a 5 year old.

Lots of my perennials are looking kind of dried up and raggedy.  Too much heat, and crazy storms as well.  

But these little morning glories seem to manage it all.

I only planted one color, but sometimes you never know what you're going to get.

I am trying to use my "inside" time well, organizing, downsizing, and generally trying to live a simpler life.

When I do get outside, I immediately have a stalker.

I have been moderate in my weaving, since I am trying to make my shoulder happy.

So I did some playing with  paper.

It's not perfect, but it's a good start.  I want to make a village.

I have a few really good friends, some are weavers, others aren't.

They are all very interesting people, and that's what I love about them.

But this particular oddity really says it all.

Can I just say that  friends who let this cleome have her way, all summer long, while people step around her to get to the house..................well, folks, that's my kind of people.