If you’ve ever tried to leave a comment on my blog before, you know how easy it was. That was a good thing. 🙂 And a bad thing. 🙁
Good for you; bad, in the end, for me. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had ‘moderation’ in effect for my comments. That meant I would get an email telling me someone had left a comment and I’d have to go to a specific place to approve your comment. No big deal. Until.
Starting a few weeks ago, spam bots found my blog and started leaving comments. They built up over time, ending up being 5-dozen-plus a day. That meant 60+ emails and 60+ times I had to go somewhere to mark those comments as spam. So I had to find a way to stop that.
I worked with my tech-helpful web host, and added 2 tools. Now you have to enter your name and check a box that you are not a robot in order to leave a comment. I promise to try and get back to posting more regularly, and hopefully you’ll continue to comment, even though you have to jump through a hoop or 2.
I’d love to include relevant images with this post, but relevant ones are all online and I don’t want to get dinged again for illegal use. So here’s a photo of my son wearing a Tshirt I just love. Isn’t this a perfect message?! He is clearly NOT a robot.
It’s now December 17th and I’m still making Christmas presents. Several left to make, nothing is wrapped, packages have to be mailed out of state. Everything I ordered online has arrived, so there’s that.
Of course I can’t show you any of what I’m making because it would ruin the surprises. So instead you’re getting a variety of other things, many Christmas related but not gift- or making-related.
There are 3 wonderful teenagers in my neighborhood. We have actual conversations when they’re hanging out in the street after the school bus drops them off; I love it! A few weeks ago one of them asked if I had any allergies as she wanted to bring me a plate of Christmas cookies she and her mom were baking. HOW SWEET IS THAT?! So I decided I’d bake cookies myself this year, too. Here they are in order of being baked. First up, cappucino cookies. My process was mix the dough on one day, leave it in the fridge overnight to cool, and bake them the next day. Repeat the process with a new batch each day.
Then I made chocolate crinkles. I’m not happy with how they turned out and will not use this particular recipe again.
The third batch was my sister’s recipe for gingerbread cookies. I particularly like her recipe because it has a lot of freshly grated orange rind in it – so YUM! Some got a little browner than ideal, but none are burnt.
I am not a fan of frosting on either cakes or cookies, so went very minimalist with my decorations.
Then I made a new-to-me recipe for cream cheese cookies. I wish they’d stayed a bit rounder, not flattened out so much, but they taste good.
Next up are two things I bake every year, even when they’re all I make. First is my grandmother’s recipe for date-nut bread. It just wouldn’t be the same for me without these mini loaves.
And finally, pizzelles. I think that my pizzelle maker used to belong to my mother-in-law, although I can’t be positive of that. Anyway that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. This is a very old-fashioned pizzelle maker. It is not electric. If I didn’t have a gas stove I don’t know if it would work. Here’s the process: send everyone in the family away. Turn off the Christmas music so you won’t sing along with it. Mix up the dough, then turn on the gas burner to preheat the pizzelle iron. Once it’s at the appropriate temperature, grease it lightly with cooking spray or an oiled pastry brush and put in a tablespoon or so of batter. Now start counting the seconds. When you think it’s enough, flip the iron over and start counting again. Do this every single time for every single cookie you make, one cookie at at time. That’s why there can be no distractions. My husband liked pizzelles that were very blond; I prefer them with a bit of color to them.
I carefully froze everything as I went so that I didn’t eat it all. 😮
Also Christmasy – this year I managed to pay enough attention to score some free tickets to TubaChristmas. I’ve wanted to go for a few years, but the tickets were always all gone by the time I heard about it. This year I looked into it in November and put an alert on my phone for the day the tickets became available. This is the 40th annual TubaChristmas in Rochester, and this year there were 125 tubas in various sizes on stage in one of the halls of the Eastman theater, so great acoustics. I went with a friend and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.
I’ve decorated wreaths with all natural decorations for many years now – maybe as much as 20 years. I took last year off as I just couldn’t get up any enthusiasm for it. This year I was back at it, and made a wreath for my front door. I really got into the gold spray paint this year: milkweed pods and the pods from Green Lantern or Paper Lantern trees that grow in a nearby park.
…and for my son’s. He’s a hunter so when I saw that Buffalo plaid ribbon I knew that was for his wreath.
New topic, not Christmas related. Some time ago I was gifted a few rolls of fabric, the kind that you can get at a fabric store that is used to make quilts, I think. It sat around for months and I decided I’d try to make some rag-style placemats for my kitchen table with it. I poked around online to get some idea about warp sett, how wide the fabric should be, etc. I used a few different techniques, and am quite pleased with the outcome. And I like how they add a pop of cheery color to my kitchen. And they coordinate with that paper dahlia I’d made. 🙂
Now I MUST get back to my making of Christmas presents. Time’s a-wasting!
I’ve not often taken a video of myself doing anything…or even many stills, for that matter…and with good reason. It took 25 tries to get this 90-second video. That’s not an exaggeration – I looked at my phone and counted them all. Sigh.
This is me weaving two complete circles on a towel warp. The draft is from Susan Poague. She and I became acquainted online several years ago, and I was a *tiny* voice making comments as she developed this draft. I first wove it in 2016, and I’ve used it several times since then. So I have no idea why I was struggling to get the treadling order into my brain, but I was. That was part of the reason for so many video attempts – I’d throw the shuttle a few times and realize I’d made a treadling error. I had to unweave and start again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Then I realized I didn’t want to see my face in profile with double chins in full view, so I repositioned the stand and camera. Then I wanted to be able to show my feet as well as my hands, and see a bit of the shafts raising and lowering, so more repositioning.
I’m currently weaving towel #7 on the warp, and since I typically make warps long enough for 8 towels, I’m nearing the finish line, and glad of it. Although I got in the groove for treadling correctly, I’ve found that I need to focus enough that I can’t listen to an audiobook while I weave or I mess up. Ditto listening to music that will tempt me to sing along. So I’ll be happy to be done with this warp.
I’m making decent progress at making my planned Christmas presents, but can’t show you any photos yet or it’d spoil the surprise. 😐
Jumping around, you’ll be pleased to know that Jack healed well. He’s back to his usual pleasant and mellow self.
On a completely different note, my local library was offering a 1-hour free program that I found enticing, so I signed up and learned how to make a paper dahlia.
I think there were 7 of us plus the teacher, and I was the only one who chose to use several colors in my flower. I like it. She had the paper all pre-cut for us. This was made from 3″ squares and the flower is roughly 8″ square & 3″ high. I’m sure it could be done successfully with 2″ squares. I think I’d be hard pressed to get my fingers to manipulate papers any smaller than that well, but maybe you have experience and know it’s not too hard.
Moving on…The large bay window in my kitchen had issues with its seal so was getting cloudy, causing me to have it replaced. After months of waiting for the window to be made, it finally got installed last week. It’s beautiful with lovely hardwood molding. The new molding didn’t quite cover the space of the old molding, especially since I had them remove a bit of gingerbread that just wasn’t my style. No problem, I had the wall paint so could paint those bits without a problem. Or so I thought.
Above the window the wall had previously been papered. I had the wallpaper removed a few years ago and the wall painted, all well and good. But now a new section of paper was exposed. I was on my 3-step stepstool with a razor blade and tweezers trying to remove the inch or so of remaining paper. This was not my idea of a good time. I was cranky. When I was finally done with this task I looked out the new window and saw this. A lovely little rainbow was poking out of the clouds. Brightened my whole outlook.
So I wasn’t nearly as unhappy when I learned that below the window there were sizeable bits of missing plaster where screws or something was removed that had to be patched. Not something I’d done before. The next morning I went to the local hardware store and bought the patching plaster they recommended – I could have gotten a half-pint and had plenty, so can patch any remaining holes I happen to make or find for years. The job wasn’t as hard as I feared. But then again, my standards aren’t high for something that I have to get on the floor to see. 😉
Next up was to stain and then seal the wood. Years ago when we were building our house, my hubby made me stain or paint whatever wood we’d be using for finish work before it was installed. I thought this was a royal PITA and unnecessary. Well. It turns out he was 100% right. It was not easy to stain the molding all around the windows. Some was wide, some was narrow, some was over my head, some was closer to the floor. The ‘ceiling’ of that bay window meant I had to work on a flat surface parallel with the floor, but upside down. I did the best I could to apply that stain evenly. A professional could surely have done a better job, but again, I did the best I could.
My intent was to apply the polyurethane today, but that didn’t happen. It was a lovely sunny day, and that window faces south, so I’d have the sun in my eyes the entire time I was working and that would only make the job more difficult. It’s supposed to be rainy and/or cloudy tomorrow, so I’ll aim for then. Not looking forward to this task that will require a calm, steady hand with the brush. That made weaving those polka dots sound much better. 🙂
Life. How did my life get so busy in my retirement? Or perhaps the appropriate question is how did I ever find time to work, especially knowing that I rarely worked *only* 40 hours/week? I don’t have the answer, but I do know that I am indeed busy. For the most part I am busy doing things that I enjoy: gardening, reading, spending time with family (including four-legged), dancing, and weaving. But somehow the days just fly by.
This is what Jack looked like on the afternoon of October 30.
Poor little guy had dental surgery – 13 teeth had to be removed. This after he had 14 removed a few years ago. Since dogs have 42 teeth he still has several left. I’m hoping that after he heals he will allow me to begin brushing what’s left to try to save them. IMO teeth brushing needs to begin young in order to get the dog to adapt to it. Jack is so easy-going you’d think I would have taught him how years ago, but since I don’t like to do it, I simply let it go when he resisted. Bad dog mom.
The vet said he didn’t think a soft cone was advisable because he thought Jack would still be able to scratch/paw at his mouth when it itched as it healed. Once I saw how sad he was with that hard plastic cone, and how difficult it was for him to navigate (with just one eye he kept ramming into things which could not have been comfortable), I decided to use the soft cone I had anyway. Not as good as no cone, but much better.
I realized I had it on upside down in the photo and corrected it. Anyway, the follow morning a vet tech called to ask how Jack was doing, and told me that as long as I was with him he didn’t have to wear the cone at all, but he did need it at night. So that’s what we’ve been doing and will keep it up for 4-5 more days.
This was the scene out my front door on Wednesday, November 1…the morning after trick or treating. I found it beautiful but chilly. Especially since just a handful of days ago the temperature was in the 70s. Yep, I live in western New York alright.
Back to the time-gets-away-from-me theme, I thought I had two+ weeks between the ArtFest show and the Guild show. Not really true. I had to submit my complete & detailed inventory online just three days later. So that was when I had to commit to what I was going to put in the show. Several things weren’t yet made, and I had one week after that to get things made & tagged. Given the very well organized sale, with consistent label formats for all 50 artists/crafters & UPC codes, just creating and affixing those tags takes hours all by itself. So I had to really make my fingers fly. I was beaming this warp for towels on a Monday, and the towels had to be woven, wet finished, and hemmed by the following Tuesday.
I did make that happen, but didn’t get any photos of those towels. I also sewed up eight microwave bowl cozies. Actually nine, since there were problems with one of them so I knew it wouldn’t be accepted and I had to re-make it.
I had made four of these wrapped ornaments for the ArtsFest show, and although they drew little attention there, I was hopeful for the Guild show so made two more.
So. I submitted 50 items for the Guild show. All were accepted. That nubbly cream jacket and coordinating shawl, another shawl, and three scarves; the felted slippers, the above bowl cozies and ornaments, and 29 towels. I worked two shifts as cashier at the sale yesterday, so I know that several of my towels, two of the scarves, and some (four?) of the bowl cozies sold. I’m not working there today but will be back tomorrow afternoon, and then will get the final count on what I’m bringing back home with me.
Maybe I’ll have time now to plant my garlic and dig the glad and canna bulbs for storage. Mow the lawn and shred the leaves that have landed on it. Clean the bathroom and mop the kitchen and studio. You know…the unending tasks that life requires.
Meanwhile, I’m keeping my fingers busy making Christmas gifts for family & friends. I have four things identified and the beginning made; seeking inspiration for more, especially gifts for men and for children. I hope if you have any ideas on those you’ll leave me a comment with your thoughts.
I have been busy. I have 2 shows coming up and find myself a bit stressed over them, so I’ve been creating. The first show is just one day. I haven’t done it before, but I’m hoping it works for me. I know from the indoor show I did last year that I need to have a few big pieces along with my many smaller pieces.
Way back in July I showed you the jacket I made using a nubbly cream cotton and several inclusions of browns and blues. I’ll have that at the show. I am deciding – I may sell the red one I made for myself as well, because the reality is my social life is such that I have occasion to wear it just once or twice a year. My tentative plan is to wear it to the show, and if someone wants to buy it, to let it go. We’ll see about that.
I did finally finish the ‘extra’ length of fabric from the cream jacket. I tried a few different options and decided to leave it basically as is, not make it into a mobius or anything, but I had to remove all the dangling threads and decide on finishing the ends. I chose something I’ve almost never done, which is a line of machine stitching for stabilization and relatively short, unfinished fringe. That required some unweaving by hand to create the fringe the same length on both ends, but didn’t take forever.
But….I’ve also decided to sew up some pieces of handwoven yardage I made years ago but never did anything with. I’ve gone as far as getting a few patterns that might work with it, but not beyond that yet. Scary, and takes time.
Although not big pieces, in the never-ending quest to use up stash, I decided now was the time to use up one of my favorite hand painted yarns that I purchased some years ago. Poinsettia rayon chenille. I had enough to warp for three scarves and set to weaving. After using that same yarn for weft on the first scarf (on the left in the photo) I decided I wouldn’t use the one remaining skein for warp of a second, instead opting for solid color wefts to hopefully highlight that beautiful warp.
The middle scarf has mostly a burgundy warp with a few stripes of pink & red. The scarf on the right, my personal favorite, uses a deep cranberry warp. I’m hoping they sell at the October show.
Remember those slippers I felted? I’ve decided to sell them as well. Again, I won’t really wear them as I have 2 pairs of slippers I love and wear all the time. (Plus, truth be told, I can’t wear them barefoot as this type of wool – Bergschaf – is too itchy for me.) So after I sewed on a non-slip bottom, I decorated them to make them more desirable.
Despite the fact that the white needle felting isn’t completely symmetrical on the two, I’m happy with the designs. (I’ve added the missing turquoise French knot since this picture was taken.)
I know from experience that my handwoven towels will do best at the Weavers’ Guild Holiday Sale in early November. My towels usually do pretty well in my Etsy shop too, so I don’t have a lot of them in my cupboard. So I’ve been trying to get more towels woven, too. I had another…interesting…experience with them. I had a warp I’d hand painted a few years ago. It’s autumnal colors called to me. I had to add some solid color stripes to make it wide enough for towels, but did that smartly this time, having learned from my last experience. Here it is during the beaming process.
The orange and yellow stripes are a rick rack/zig zag cotton. I assumed they were the same grist (yards per pound). Nope. I knew I had to sett them farther apart than the rest of the warp as they were larger yarns. After beaming, threading, and tying on I tried my first warp. Absolutely no good. As you can see in the photo the yellow looks…BAD. I walked away from the loom for a day while deciding what to do.
I ultimately knew I had to replace the yellow with something else. To be most successful, that meant pulling the whole warp forward, adding in the replacement threads, and winding it all on the back beam again. Maintaining tension on those threads the entire time, that was merely time consuming. Here I am beaming it again, with the yellow replaced by burgundy/cordovan/some other color I can’t name but is part of the autumn leaves of my oakleaf hydrangea.
I also had to unthread the reed and some of the heddles, because I had to add in more 4 heddles for each of the two burgundy stripes. This was a less onerous process for me than making string heddles. I’ve now woven 3 of the 8 towels in this warp, all successful. I haven’t had time to do more yet.
In addition to embroidering the slippers, I sewed more bead bags (no pix this time). I missed September completely so it was important to me that I get 10 made for October.
Unrelated to fiber pursuits, I had to snap a photo of this interesting take on decorating with pumpkins that I saw in my neighborhood. They used skeleton parts to add arms & legs to the pumpkins, which I hadn’t seen before. But most appealing to me was the eyes & eyelashes – hand prints! What a great idea!
And now for SSSid. Here are the last 10 rocks placed by neighborhood people. They didn’t all come on the same day, nor clearly were they by the same person. Varying degrees of artfulness, friendliness, and types of paint used.
I’d already thought about the fact that SSSid would probably have to go away before the mischief-making day of Halloween, especially since we get lots of people coming to the neighborhood for trick or treat who don’t live here. Then the stake for the SSSid sign rotted at ground level and broke off. Would I find a new stick and replace it for a few weeks? I decided not. So I made a new sign.
That sign has been up for a few days now, and so far only 3 rocks have been taken. I expect several more to be brought home in the next week or so. I also wrote a thank you to the community for their participation. SSSid grew to 91 rocks! More than I ever expected!
I’m at an age where I really must do what moves me – physically, mentally, and emotionally. Dancing does it for me for sure. So I’m doing more and more of that, and made the bold decision to take a big step back from the Weaving Center. I’ve been the (volunteer) General Coordinator of the Center since 2016, and I have now told everyone that I won’t do this forever. If someone steps up to replace me I’ll be done at the end of this fiscal year (May 31, 2024). If no one come forward by then, I will stay until December 31, 2024, but no longer. Fingers crossed that it’s sooner rather than later, but I can see the light at the end of that particular tunnel.
In that dancing vein, tomorrow is a line dance party in Buffalo. 15 people from my group are attending, with lots of carpooling going on. The theme of this is trail ride/barn style. Easy to get a ‘costume’ from the closet – jeans, a plaid flannel shirt, and a bandanna. I wanted a cowboy hat so went to a few thrift stores to find one. Got a plain black fake-velvet hat and decided it needed to be ‘blinged up.’ I still have literally thousands of beads in my basement from my jewelry-making days, so I added a decorative rim to my hat.
Going to head out in the cool, Autumn sunshine to do some more garden cleanup. Or will I head immediately to the loom and work on those towels? At this moment your guess is as good as mine.
