BUSY IN THE WORKSHOP

I have a 'small' Christmas show coming up this week, and I have been making items that I thought might actually sell. It has, I must admit, been lots of fun!

This stack of blankets is one of many in my workshop. I collect old wool blankets and I can't seem to pass up any of them when I see them. I am literally running out of room to store them. I have a friend making me large barn-wood boxes to stack and store them. I love to look at them; their textures, colors.

Recently I thought I heard some faint stirrings from within that stack of blankets. It seemed somewhat like whispers and persisted for a several days until I finally truly heard it. Trapped within those stacks of blankets were multiple 'Creatures' aching to be born.

She is not actually the 'first' born, but rather the third. It was only with this third "birth" I thought to snap an image. That's her, Holly, in the center of her brothers, Zebot (the first born) to the left and Oliver (the second born) to the right.

Iris assisted in the naming of some of the Creatures. The one below, which happened to be her favorite, she named Elsa Mae.

Below is a gathering of the whole lot...at least thus far.

They are made from a variety of old blankets and new blanket ends, some of which are Pendleton blankets.


Then on to needle-felting.

I think of these 'trees' above as my watercolor trees, as they remind me so much of the beautiful, soft colors obtained with wet-paper water-coloring.

These trees were fashioned from an old, green, wool coat. They are adorned with sequins, 'pearls' and glass beads, and stuffed with wool.

I am still in-the-making of birds. I love how each one takes on its own personality despite using the same 'pattern' for each.

This week I'll spend more time prepping for the show, doing more mundane things like tagging and pricing. We'll see if I can halt the creative urges that wake me in the night!

IT'S ABOUT MAKING....

I found that I liked the results of mixing textures, wool yarn and wool blanket strips, in the last two bags I made. I thought perhaps I could weave two more bags with the warp that was left on my Union loom, but I anticipated needing to 'release' the last of the warp with extensions.

What I did not anticipate was the complicated, tedious process that involved.

The first of the last two bags, which I call 'The Hot Pepper Bag'.

I started this bag in reds and gray because I wanted to embellish it with the hot pepper ribbon you see in the left hand corner. After weaving about three inches with red/gray, I actually looked at the ribbon, which was not red at all, but a 'hot' orange. So, I took apart the weaving and started again with a light orange and gray. Approaching the end, I thought it would be nice if using tapestry techniques, I could inlay some hot peppers, which you see on the right of the bag. And it worked. I like the effect. The vintage button, which I really love, seems to be made of some kind of stone.

Next came this last bag. Which was a cinch until I approached the very last of the warp to be released...and had to figure out how to extend what remained on the warp beam. It wasn't easy, but I must say I enjoyed the challenge of it. I will further say, I enjoyed the challenge a bit more then the doing. However, I like the result.

This is the Warp-End Bag.


Recently I signed up to do what I thought to be a small Christmas show, which is coming up soon. Thinking that many of my items might not sell due to their price tags, I thought I'd make some items that might sell.

At first part of me balked at this idea. Where was my artistic/creative spirit, and how much art/creativity comes in making matching mother/daughter aprons and pot holders?? Was I just selling out, so to speak. I spent much time thinking about this, and first of all, came to realize something about myself. I love creating, and this I already knew, but what I did not truly realize was, that what I really loved was MAKING. This covers my love for weaving, cooking, baking, knitting, gardening, and just about 85% of my life. So, making pot holders wasn't really a step down, I actually found it lots of fun, and am still inspired to make more.

Potholders made from recycled wool.

In addition the kitchen is my favorite room of the house. Not only that, I think, for me at least, it is the most essential room of the house. And though I have NEVER been a Martha Stewart fan, I think if you are going to use something, in the kitchen or anywhere, having it be beautiful enhances one's life.

We're Covered....

I have been fascinated with sewing (and aprons) for quite some time. As a child taking dance lessons, my mother made all of my costumes. They were really lovely. Despite being proud of her skills, I never really valued the process of sewing, and the creativity that she put into it. I do today.

A Navy costume my mother made.

Another military theme.

My uncle Tom and me. He came to see the gypsy dance, under duress, I'm sure.

Betty Apple and me, on the left.. THE BALLERINAS!

The picture I call up of my grandmother, with whom we lived, is standing in the kitchen or the garden, wearing a small-flowered print full length apron. Grandmothers seemed to wear aprons a lot. As I have been making matching mother/daughter aprons lately, and making them and making them, I have explored my fascination a bit. Aprons have a poignant and long history. Somehow just the word calls up a longing in me.

"Aprons have been cooks’ companions for hundreds of years. Indeed, aprons were used by men and women for a variety of tasks long before they were seen on 1950s television. During this era, women were portrayed as homemakers and good mothers and you rarely saw them without their aprons.

Some researchers point to Biblical references about aprons. They cite a passage in which Adam and Eve sewed together fig leaves to make aprons to cover themselves. We traditionally think of aprons being used for cooking, and while that is true, they have served as a cover-up for other tasks that tend to be messy. Occupations such as butchers, welders and bakers have always used aprons to protect both their clothing and bodies from their work.

For centuries, homemakers have used aprons. Even since the early 19th century, women have used aprons to keep their clothing clean. They have also used aprons to carry essential utensils such as rolling pins, for gathering and carrying eggs and for transporting kindling wood. Aprons have been an effective tool for many, many years.

It was not until the 1940s and 1950s that society started to see the stereotypes of the ""perfect mother"" who always wore an apron, no matter what. Until that time, aprons were thought of as a functional piece of the wardrobe.

Today’s aprons are more stylish. Perhaps surprisingly, aprons have made a fashionable comeback, even making occasional runway appearances in the form of the apron dress."

An aproned grandmother(not mine, though it could be) holding a child. Sicily.

It's difficult to see this grandmother's apron, but the ties are visible. Sicily.

An aproned Sicilian grandmother at market.

An apron depicting Sicily.

Spaghetti supper at the Reserve, matching aprons.

Protected against the sauce.

The aproned pasta cooks at the spaghetti supper.

(My father, a great cook, wore aprons a great deal of the time. These men remind me of my dad.)

The cutest aproned cooks yet!

My latest sewing efforts.


Most of the women I know, do not wear aprons, even though they seem to be 'making a comeback'. I wear an apron some of the time, and sometimes seem to be in too much of a 'hurry' to take the time to put one on. Aprons recall days of a less hurried existence. Perhaps putting mine on will slow me down!

On a Quest

I would not consider myself an accomplished, nor expert knitter. When I was in my thirties I took up knitting, and actually knit many, many items. It wasn't, however, until the upcoming birth of Iris that I took up knitting once again. I must say that I have knit more then a handful of items since. When knitting the body of a garment, following directions is fun, and I'd say mostly a piece of cake. However when it comes to applying patterns to sleeves(including decreases), the fact that I consider myself 'Orientationaly Challenged', seems to come strongly into play. Despite several attempts and equally as many unravelings, I have to draw out a schemata for each and every stitch! Now that is a handicap. Still, I persevere.



The stitch that intrigues.

Knitting, not unlike tapestry weaving, is a contemplative activity (this sometimes gets me into trouble as I can be known to have to unravel many a row.) From the onset of this, my second stage of knitting, while in the contemplative zone, I have wondered time and again, how was the first stitch ever thought of? How did someone know to loop 'yarn' over a stick and somehow draw another loop through it? I mean, I think about this a great deal, and want to know with a passion. I have researched this, granted my research has been limited to the Internet, and have found much interesting information regarding origins of knitting, but nothing that comes near to answering this quest. I have even tried to think as though knitting had never been invented and see if I could duplicate the 'first stitch', to no avail. I understand more readily how, weaving for instance, could have been invented...catching a glimpse of the crossing of long slender leaves, and transposing from there. So, my search just begins, and I hope to come to know how the first piece of knitted fabric came to be.

Completed sweater, hat and leg warmers for Elsa. One of the knitting projects started on vacation in the Black Hills.


A couple of years ago, I bought this variegated yarn at a friend's shop. I thought it beautiful, little knowing the difficulty of knitting anything that needed matching, with yarn that revealed itself in a striped pattern. The challenge of this outfit was enormous, but I must say fun. I loved the figuring out of changing necklines, matching stripes, etc.

The second of the knitting projects started in the Black Hills. This one is Iris'.


I recently got back to the loom. An acquaintance had given me some wool carpet yarn, and I decided to experiment weaving with this yarn and blanket strips. The first project is the bag below.

Yellow, gray-green, flower bag.

After that bag came off the loom, I was excited to try again. The above burgundy (both carpet yarn and blanket strips) gold and plum bag was my next weaving. Once started on a weaving venture, I have a tendency to repeat myself. So, I am anxious to use more of this carpet yarn and see what the next bag will look like.

MY MOTHER

Sarah Adragna

Sonnets are Full of Love

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome
Has many sonnets: so here now shall be
One sonnet more, a love sonnet, from me
To her whose heart is my heart's quiet home,
To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee
I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome;
Whose service is my special dignity,
And she my lodestar while I go and come
And so because you love me, and because
I love you, Mother, I have woven a wreath
Of rhymes where with to crown your honored name:
In you not fourscore years can dim the flame
Of love, whose blessed glow transcends the laws
Of time and change and mortal life and death.

My mother has been on my mind a great deal these days. This coming Friday, October 30th, would have been her 90th birthday. She has been gone now for nearly six years. It hardly seems possible. I have missed her in so many ways, at so many times, and for so many different reasons. There has been much I've wanted to share with her, especially the birth of Jonel's two girls, Iris and Elsa. I recall after coming home from the hospital just after Iris was born, what I wanted most to do was to call my mother.

No matter how old we are, we remain the child. No matter the passing of one's mother, we remain her child. I need her in countless ways in my life, and though I ache inside, she is there for me each time. I once heard a lovely song a mother sang to her child with a line something like this, "you are my flesh, my blood, my bones...", and somehow that has comforted me. What could be more true, I am my mother's flesh and blood and bones, and she lives in me.

We gathered at one of the granddaughter's weddings several years ago.


My siblings and I at my mother's 75th birthday celebration.



For my mother's 75th birthday celebration, among other things, I wrote her a poem. I felt compelled to do so again. This is not a sonnet, nor does it compare to Rossetti, but mother, it is for you:

Is there any part of me
untouched by you?
When I chance
to glance into a mirror
it is you I see.
Not me.

I rue I did not take more time
throughout the years...
to come to know your inner thoughts,
or at least to be more interested
in them;
to come to know your deeper thoughts about
the world;
and love;
and peace;
and war;
and hope;
and God.

I never asked.
You never told.

As I've been shaped
and formed by you
I wonder if my deepest
thoughts
have, too?

There is much of me
that needs repair,
or change
or betterment;
still, when the good of me
comes through
you are there
in thought and word and deed.

CREATING OFF THE LOOM:

for the love of Iris:


Being a Nonna is a wonderful outlet for creative urges, especially when they are so deeply appreciated. Iris' third birthday was coming up and her mom told me that she'd like a chocolate cake. Actually, she also said she'd like a chocolate cake...so I made the Triple Layer Dark Chocolate Cake pictured below. Iris is a great fan of dogs, and she actually loved this cake. However, the Wednesday prior to her birthday party, when I had her at my house, just to be sure I asked again, what kind of cake do you want?...

she said, "I want a strawberry cake!" "Hmmmm, are you sure you don't want a chocolate cake?" I replied. "Nope, I want a strawberry cake." So, in addition to her chocolate cake, she got a

...strawberry cake...

I sprinkled sesame seeds on top to resemble the actual strawberry seeds, and when she saw it at her birthday party she remarked, "...but I didn't want seeds." This sure made me chuckle.

Getting the opportunity to make birthday gifts is something I look forward to with great eagerness. Lace-up cards were something that her mom thought would be a good gift, so I searched images of books and pictures of familiar things, copied them, and proceeded to recycle old cereal boxes to make these lace-up cards.

The Orangutan is a picture of her 'baby' 'Rang. The lace-up card below 'Rang is Iris in her Halloween costume of last year, a puppy. The other pictures are from some of her favorite books. These were a challenge, though much fun to make.

When asked, about a month prior to her birthday, what she wanted me to make, she first said some blue pants with flowers on them. Since I had blue fabric with stars, I asked if she wouldn't like stars..."Oh, yes, I'd like stars." So the above outfit, pants, jacket, skirt and doll's skirt, happened.

Below is just for fun. I had gathered tomatoes from the garden and saw that one of them definitely had a nose. As she was coming the next day, I gave it some eyes and a smile.

She loved this tomato.

The leaves were falling all about, so I fashioned a Leaf Crown for her, and when she arrived I was wearing it. She sure got a kick out of that..."Mommy, what is Nonnie wearing???" She wore it and felt like...

the Autumn Queen...

When Jonel was growing up, I loved most her birthdays, because I could fashion a cake specific to her; and Halloween, when I made her whatever she wanted to be. This is continued fun of grandchildren, I still get to do this. Iris wanted to be 'Little Elf' with wings. Hmmmm...

I gave this a great deal of thought, looked over my stash of fabric. I found a lovely golden 'silk' underskirt from an antique lace dress I had, and some shiny, sheer multi-colored fabric. This seemed like it would do. This outfit took on a life of its own, as I'd completed one thing, the next idea would pop into my head. I started with the wings, then the dress, then I thought a crown, then a wand, and finally something to make her feet special, so I fashioned golden shoe covers.

Little Elf's outfit, with wings.

Here Little Elf tries out her magic wand and Grandpa instantly falls asleep. WOW.

How much fun is that!!!!!

WE HEADED FOR THE HILLS...THE BLACK HILLS THAT IS


The harvest was done, the Dam Challenge over, and it was finally time for our very overdue vacation. Initially this vacation was meant to be a fly fishing excursion, but as the autumn moved forward and the cold air arrived, we had our doubts.


We had made reservations for a 'cabin' at a place we had happily stayed last year, and upon our arrival on Monday of last week, there was snow, and plenty of it, close to 8". As no one was at the cabin(s) to greet us, we called the number that was left with the outdoor phone. We were told how to get the key and open our cabin, which we did, to no heat or electricity.

This is how we spent the first hour and a half of our stay in the Black Hills.

After much calling around and lots of waiting, trees and branches down all over, ice encrusted the lines, and generally no one knowing when the electricity would come on again (anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 days), we left there to find other accommodations. After much indecision, lots of time, and some searching, we went to Pinerest Cabins, a place we had looked at on line prior to leaving. The woman there said she had a duplex cabin for $60 per night. We said we'd take it. As she was walking us to the cabin, she said, "Opps I haven't cleaned it yet. I'll give you Birch for the same price." Did we ever luck out. What a beautiful four room cabin with fireplace, and small kitchenette, and for only $60 per night. We stayed there for 6 nights, and it was the nicest place I have ever stayed!!

The snow remained, and we got more, but that did not deter Fishing Freddie, who did spend several days fly fishing. As I have Raynouds disease and it was in full swing, I knit or read in the sunny, cozy car, or hiked around the nearby hills.

This a picture of Freddie, on the first fishing trip, changing into his waders, well, actually getting up from just having fallen off the rock he was trying to sit on while changing into his waders. I laughed until tears fell, really this was very funny, as he did not get hurt.

This is the creek he fished that first day.

The aspens were simply glorious the entire stay. Everywhere we looked was white snow and brilliant aspens.

One day we hiked the Black Elk trail, the most beautiful of all the hikes we took. Black Elk was a Dakota shaman and we think in the above and below pictures he was either objecting to our hike or blessing us.

The Centennial Trail 89

The Centennial Trail goes for 89 miles through the Black Hills. It can be accessed from many places. We hiked portions of it several times. The vistas upon reaching the top, were truly breathtaking.

The 'summit' of one hike.

The summit of yet another hike.

We left for this trip with great doubts that we would have a good time, knowing there was likely to be snow in the hills. We did not anticipate 8", and when we arrived, we had even more grave doubts. However, it was not long into the trip, that we felt blessed by the Hills and the snow.