September...

Well...it's been quite a month.  I have a show/sale next weekend so

mostly I've been weaving and organizing

and tagging and pricing, etc. all month.

 Scarf detail...

 Towels on the loom...

 Another scarf detail...

And we made butter

 Made 32 pounds of applesauce to freeze

Gary is building a deck for storing wood for heat

And I went to see my sweet Mom in NH.  My sister

Faith and her husband were there, too.

The second night I was there sleeping my Mom

wandered out to her screened-in porch and

got locked out of the house.  Luckily

there is a phone out there and she called

the operator who called the police.

Next thing I know there is a cop banging on

the door.  Sooooo...needless to say we now have

an awake night nurse staying with her every night.

But the next weekend she ended up in the hospital

with a blood sugar over 600.  Oh my god.

It really is a wonder that she is alive.

I think she is getting discharged today and

will have people checking in during the

day and making sure she eats properly.

It is so hard to be 6 hours away from her.

Isn't she totally adorable? 

Oh yeah...my horse. 

I'm going to see if we can

find her another home. 

Karen,
(http://thisoldhousetoo.blogspot.com/)
you were so right...

I see Miss Ellie more as

a hunter/jumper and she has way more

energy than I need.  I have put out the word

with my horse ladies and we'll see.

Meanwhile, I'm not telling my trainer because

he thinks I am giving up.  And for

a while I believed that but now I realize

that this should be fun and I am

not wanting to go out to the barn

anymore.  sigh.  But I still need him

to work with her so I'm keeping quiet.

So an eventful month and I haven't had

much time to even check in with my blog.

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend!

xo

Empty Nest and Weaving...

So odd being without the boys.  Noah went back to

Skidmore for his senior year.

Alex got an apartment in town and is finishing

 up his graduate degree in Engineering.  

Me...I'm just weaving and wondering who I can get

 to vacuum this place.  I tend to clutter up

all the downstairs when I'm working

and usually Noah gets fed up with my bad

habits and picks up (and hides things, I'm convinced).

Alex is always good for a vacuum if I ask

(neither he nor his father would ever

notice that it was needed).

So.  Weaving like a crazy person.

My Soft Stained Glass series

Three of each all sitting in my "shop" and virtually on Etsy.

More warping going on and towels still to be finished

and already designing new towels because 

Christmas is coming, people!!

Stripes!

So, now you know why I haven't been blogging

 lately.  Having way too much fun weaving.

Ellie update:

She is coming along though she has a bit of 

an attitude at times.  As in no I don't feel like working. 

But I am persevering and the trainer is still coming.  

This morning for the first time I took her out by myself 

to the outdoor arena to lunge and she was not too happy.

Even though she got some hay before going out.  

And we will do the same tomorrow morning 

and the next morning and the next morning. 

Trainer dude coming tomorrow. 

 We'll see how much progress we have made.

Empty Nest, Fiddling Party and More...

Had a party for the boys going away.  Alex off to his first apartment with Victoria and Noah leaving Sunday for Skidmore and his senior year.  So some good friends, some music, good food, some wine, 

some dancing in the kitchen.  Bittersweet.

Noah on fiddle, Mark on bodhran

 (Fay trying to get out of the picture).

Alex and Victoria in their Potsdam apartment!

Still feeling creative.  And Katie still helping me weave.

A lot of finish work to do...twisting fringe, tagging, 

photographing and loading onto Etsy.  Not yet.

Too early for fall yet.

Ellie had a lesson tonight.  Sunday she will have a lesson

with her saddle on...Soon we will ride.

Hmmmm...I think I need to join a gym or something.

I am realizing that I have been doing nothing but weaving

since last fall.  Uh oh.  My riding is going to suck...core strength?

xo

Farm Happenings

It's quiet here.  I am weaving like a crazy person because the weather has lightened up.  My wonderful farrier came for the horses.  Ellie is totally behaving herself.  

We had an excavator come to move some rocks in the driveway

so our plow guy in the winter will be happy.

He also took out a huge stump near the new barn.

Ahhh...Gary's garden.  I'm going to make little dolls out of the seedheads.

Though time is really getting away from me lately.

And today I went with a friend to Waddington which is on the
St. Lawrence River to a bass fishing festival.  

OK I didn't take any pictures of the festival

 but while we were walking around the little

 town I fell in love with a few brick houses...

would take more than we have to fix these old beauties up...

 Fell in love with the door...

 and all the detail.

 Want...

and these window boxes on a different house...yup.

Happy Weekend!

xo

August Weaving...Stained Glass Series

As soon as the weather started to change I got some energy back.  I don't do well in that hot, sticky weather at all.  On top of that the sisters have been fussing and feuding over how to care for my 92 year old mother.  Should she go to assisted living?  Should we get someone to live with her?  Cut back on her medication, etc...and to add to the mix, there are only two sisters who are making decisions and the rest of us at times become frustrated that we are not being heard.  However, my Mom, when she was more aware, put these sisters in charge so that is the way of it right now...

Meanwhile I am weaving up a storm getting ready for Christmas and cold weather.  Still struggling over some very difficult towels which I have not photographed yet...I will wait until they are done.  But the chenille scarves totally delight me.  Wonderful to work with.  Soft to the hand.  And I have a weaver friend who is coming over to work for me for a while so I can get caught up.  (Thank you, Katie!)  I love making my warps and she loves to weave them off.  Though I weave also, I just can't keep up with my ideas, and I need to get ahead with my inventory.

Warps...

 Blues...

 Pinks

 Beginning a multi-colored warp

Weaving...

The farrier is coming today for the horses...will try to remember to take some photographs!  And the trainer is coming tonight for Miss Ellie...we worked her last night and she was wonderful.  So progress on many fronts!

xo

Shimmer...a Scarf/Shawl

I've been working on a custom order and she wanted an autumn shawl/scarf with lots and lots of sparkle.  I am making three of these and have to say they are liquid metallic magic!  Very light and airy and full of life and light!

About every third thread is metallic...either silver, gold or blue.  

But I have such a hard time photographing shinny.

Weaving

 Done and photographed.  Now to load on Etsy later.

Update on Ellie.  She is doing fine.  Becoming affectionate as she

settles in more.  More compliant and less stressed with her

lessons as she learns we will not hurt her.  

Gary and I will work with her lunging tonight without

my trainer.  Hopefully things will go well!  Though having

the trainer here really helps my confidence, I think

it is time for us to tackle what we have learned.

In any case, he will be back on Monday.

Happy Thursday, everyone.

xo

More Sunshine...

Winding the warp onto the back beam after separating

it into inch sections and dropping those

sections into the raddle which is taped

onto my loom.  

 16 ends (threads) per inch...

8 1/2 yards of warp...enough for 3 shawls woven...

All wound on the back and ready to take the

threads out of the raddle...

and let them hang down from the lease sticks...

Threaded through the heddles in the order I need,

 sleyed through the reed for the

density and width that I want, and

tied on ready to go...

Weaving the first shawl!

This is unrelated to weaving but just had to say

Ellie is doing so well with our trainer.

He comes and the only hard time she gives him right now

is when I have her loose in the arena and he

wants her to stop eating and turn to face him.

She gets a little pissed off that she can't eat

so she runs and hollers.  Then you can see

her think and she will turn and trot over to him.

Sometimes she will slow down and then

start running again like she wasn't sure but soon

enough she gives in and he puts her halter on

and scratches her forehead and lets her rest

near him.  She has gained some weight and

is much more affectionate and relaxed. 

I think she is happy that she is not doing things

that she isn't yet ready for like jumping.

Soon we will be riding.  Soon...

xo