Weaving A Gem Of A Life

The old & the new

I am fried. Toast. Dog tired. Another day with only virtually no weaving. Why? Continuing to work my butt off with my contractor to finish things up for the showing tomorrow. I promised you photos, and here they are, comparing the old and the new.

First, the upstairs hallway. OLD: pressed board flooring that’s been in place for 3 decades, no trim. Ugly, dirty. NEW: laminate flooring, molding. Bright, clean, attractive.

Next up – the room that was the playroom turned storage room turned office. OLD: rough cut floor boards, not even sub floor, rough cut lumber around the window (which isn’t in this photo). A real eyesore. NEW: laminate flooring, molding, trim around the window. Bright & ready for a home office.

From dark & outdated to bright & clean. OLD: sponge painted walls in dark colors, unattractive from the day I did it. NEW: light blue walls that are bright & add a watery look to the bathroom.

Less impressive but still important, a small bit of electrical work. OLD: outlet that is chipped & looks scary to someone who hasn’t used it for 35 years. NEW: a professionally installed box mounted to my chimney.

Final inside shot: I forgot to take a before picture, but I’ll tell you that until this morning this area was covered with a combination of a stained, old piece of unfinished plywood, a piece of laminated plywood, and, believe it or not, a piece of corrugated cardboard. I still need to finish that angle cut in the front, but I can’t get it done by tomorrow — I need to find the right material.

And outside – here you can see the difference between where the new opaque stain was applied on the right and where it hasn’t yet been done on the left. It’s so bright & clean!

The back wall of my house was never painted. It used to be an inside wall when I had a (really poor) greenhouse there. Now it’s painted with the same opaque stain as the rest of the house. I took this photo before we installed the painted trim around this window — it’s a dark red, just like all the rest of my trim. I have one wall that’s not yet painted, but it’s obvious that we’re in process, what with ladders, paint, etc.

Are there still plenty of things that aren’t trimmed out and won’t be? Yep. But that’s why my asking price is so reasonable.

If the potential buyer who’s looking at my house tomorrow isn’t impressed, well, he’s just not my buyer. But someone will be, I’m sure.

Bee helpful

Sometimes help arrives from really unexpected places. On Monday morning I followed my usual routine: roll out of bed, throw on clothes, put on my sneakers and go for a brisk two-mile walk.

That is, I started my routine. When I put on my 2nd/left sneaker, things changed dramatically. Unbeknownst to me, a yellow jacket had decided to spend some time in the toe of the sneaker. He was none too happy with the intrusion of my foot, and I was none too happy with his self defense mechanism.

By the time I pulled my foot out, ran upstairs, pulled off my sock, and found my prescription medicine, tears were running down my face. I believe I was only stung once, on the top of my toe, but it felt like 5-6 stings….very sharp pain. (I’m quite sensitive to bee stings, although only in the area of the sting – not any worry about breathing difficulties or anything serious.) I rubbed in the cream, sat for a few minutes, and decided I’d try the old “walk it off” strategy.

Hah! I made it about 50 yards, limping badly and in pain, before deciding that was most definitely not going to work. I hobbled back home, removed sneakers and socks, and made myself a cup of coffee.

Although it was red, the swelling was minimal, and with the toe uncovered and not carrying weight, it didn’t feel too bad. So I figured I could easily use the time saved from my walk and yoga (which I also didn’t think I could do—too much toe bending and weight required) to thread the loom before my contractor arrived.

I got all heddles threaded before he got here, but by the time he and the painter left it was time to get ready for book club. No more weaving on Monday.

On Tuesday morning I could walk about 1/4 mile before I had to turn around, so I threaded the reed while waiting for my contractor. After he and the painter left I had to go to town to buy some more supplies & materials we needed. When I got back I did get the warp tied to the front beam and the warp spread, but ran out of energy after weaving about 30″.

On Wednesday I managed to weave another 50″. Nothing to write home about, but at least I got something done. I really like the way the pink thread/white thread sections look on the loom — better than in the photo. This is the part of the warp that’s designed to mimic the bursts of color at the ends of the mimosa blossom.

Between yesterday & today I made what feels like about a million trips up and down stairs. As a result my knees & back are toast. I’ve taken some ibuprophen and a hot bath, and need to sit in my comfy chair. No weaving tonight.

The contractor will be done by mid-day tomorrow. Thank goodness! The painter won’t be yet, but she doesn’t require much from me.

And more good news — my realtor is bringing another interested person in on Saturday. He’ll see all the new stuff we’ve done, most of which you haven’t yet seen, and it’ll all hopefully make a great impression. I’ve been taking before & after photos, so I will share them with you soon.

Mimosa memories

My only experience with mimosas is the drink made from orange juice & champagne. In other parts of the world mimosas are beautiful wildflowers like the above photo. Similar to native plants in many places, mimosas are apparently disappearing from the wild. So JK wanted to capture one of the joys of her childhood – touching the leaves of the sensitive mimosa plant and watching them react to her gentle fingers – in her custom baby wrap.

From the above inspiration photo we developed a warp with 6 colors: pine, nile green, white, dark pink, fuschia, and pale pink. From the computer draft it turned into 4 bouts of chained warps, shown here in their boxes ready for beaming.

It’s been slow going, weaving these days. I’ve been working with my contractor to make improvements to the house in hopes of making it more attractive to potential buyers. Plus lawn mowing, weed wacking, vacuuming, cooking, laundry…it doesn’t leave enough time for weaving. Or much of anything else. I’ll share some more photos of our progress next time.

I was happy that today I was able to spread and beam the warp.

I’m not sure how quickly I’ll be able to get the threaded and ready to weave. JK and her wrap sister, QW, are being very patient. But then, what option do they have but to be so?

Obstructing the view

My realtor strongly suggested I make some improvements to the house in order to get offers quickly. So I am.

I’ve lived with my front porch for 1/4 century with no railings. I love it like this — the view is great, and I simply don’t worry about the fact that much of it is at least 10′ off the ground.

I’ve also known since I even thought about selling the house that no one could get a mortgage without a railing. I was hoping for a cash sale, but my realtor knows the truth – even a cash sale buyer will want a railing. So I’ve been working with my contractor to build one. And to make the porch be square/plumb, which it wasn’t after standing for 25 years with no braces.

NYS Building Code requires that railings be at least 42″ high when the floor is more than 30″ from the ground, so of course that’s what we did. For what it is, my contractor did a good job. I don’t have to like it — but only because I’m so used to no obstruction. I will get used to it…and hope that I won’t be here for long anyway.

We’ll finish the porch tomorrow morning, then on to other ‘fixes.’ Meanwhile, my realtor is bringing people through tomorrow evening and again on Wednesday afternoon. They’ll see all sorts of materials and projects-in-progress. That’ll have to be ok. They’ll also see 3 flowering crabtrees, a large lilac bush, creeping phlox, and some other garden lovelies in bloom that will hopefully make them overlook the fact that all the work isn’t yet complete. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Playing with pockets

When I do a show, it’s important (to me, at least) that I have something small, something that doesn’t cost a lot and that people can pick up at the checkout stand. My bookmarks are a must-have for that purpose. I’ve made mug rugs before and may make some again, but the ones I’ve made haven’t ‘sent’ me so I didn’t want to do them right now.

I’ve had an idea in my mind for a few months. I finally made the time to try it. I’m going to weave little tubes that I’ll fashion into pockets. I may call them treasure pouches…or something else entirely. I can imagine suggesting that they’re used to hold a tooth and the subsequent tooth fairy reward, or to present a small charm or similar to someone, or something I’ll come up with when I see the finished product.

Which, of course, may not work as planned. 🙂

So I wound a warp of 160 threads, half red & half orange. I’m going to sett them at 40 ends per inch on my counterbalance loom and treadle for doubleweave, which will end up at 20 ends per inch. Will that be enough? Too much? Can’t tell yet. Is 4″ wide the right size? Don’t know yet. Will I like them or hate them? Time will tell.

The good news is that it won’t take long to know if this is something I’ll follow through on or if I’ll cut that warp off and trash it. And that it’s just cotton so not a big loss if I choose the second option.

Weaving A Gem Of A Life

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