January Beginnings

It is the best way to begin the new year--with friends and good eats! At the ex-patchers gathering this week, we had some delicious (although non calorie free) treats. Of course, meetings of any kind should begin with a layout like this one.
Jane was proudly showing off her new apron, purchased over the holidays. Jane is not the hostess for the day, but she loved the apron when she saw it.
At these gatherings, it is always great fun to be nosey and seek out treasures! Look around your surroundings and see what wonderful handmades are in sight. Here on Annette's chairs were two 'trip around the world' pillows--opposites.
Sandy was showing off her 'Birch Tree' hanging that she is having fun with. She found the pattern in Sept/Oct issue of Quilter's World. The nice thing about some magazines is the fact, with your paid subscriptions, you can view them on line. And the archives is right at your finger tips. No thumbing through piles and piles of magazines--that was always a side track from what was being sought!
In the front area of Annette's house we found this delightful pillow tucked behind the kitty's bag of toys. This was from a quilter gift exchange several years ago.
And to accompany the upcoming February holiday, Annette had draped a wonderful heart quilt over the rocking chair--all cozy and inviting.
Now, we move onto "sort of" finished UFO's. Here is the quilting view of the last top that Sandy did--feathers design--great balls of fire! how super is this design!
She placed it on this wall hanging--now, to just bind and it will be ready for the spring season.
Here is another Halloween bear from Fat Cat which will be added to the other two bears. If you haven't checked out the new 2011 BOM from Sindy--better hop over there immediately--it is awesome!! and Sindy offers each block free of charge for one month.
We are off and running with the Layer Cake happening. This is the fifth block in the group. So far, we are keeping up with this.
Okay, folks, back to the grindstone--dashing off those UFO's. Next time, we'll discuss knitted wear.

WEAVER SHOW & TELL

The first week of each month is dedicated to weavers. Two different study groups meet during that week. One group has found a permanent location for meetings in a historic home.

The Wright House, built in 1898 is a museum and weavers only add to the element of the site.
Each weavers' meeting begins with show & tell. And in December we have a gift exchange but this time the moderator ended up with her own gift. She had the last number & her bag was the last on the table. She wasn't unhappy about keeping her handspun yarn though!
Our January meeting brought out recently acquired items. Leigh's sister is living on Navajo reservation and has met a weaver from whom she bought these lovely rugs. We were all envious of such work.
There were three rugs presented to Leigh, each beautifully woven by 80 yr old Navajo lady.
Leigh was taking orders from the members--we can keep this little Navajo weaver busy for a long time.
Barbara was showing her log cabin towels, woven of cottolin a 50/50 blend. Just lovely work! We always look forward to seeing Barbara's work.

The study group is working on their 2011 project--summer/winter weave. Since the house is available, those who have portable looms are bringing them. With assistance from each other, warping takes place after the regular meeting.
At the other weavers' meeting that takes place on Tuesday, we have another similar show & tell. Olga, our felter exordinare', is wearing one of her wonderful scarves that she has fashioned as nuno felt. In the background you see Rosemary and her prize Christmas tree that is loaded (!) with handmade ornaments. We always enjoy meeting in January at Rosemary's house so we can relish in her delights. It must take her days to place all those tiny ornaments on the tree; not to speak of how long it takes her to put them away. And she can tell you where each ornament came from and who gave it to her.
Connie brought her latest weaving exploration--trying to duplicate Huichol bag. Huichol is an indigenous ethnic group of western central Mexico. Below is Connie's weaving.
And here is the original bag. You can read about Connie's weaving adventure in the Jan/Feb issue of Handwoven beginning on page 56. Looks darn close to the original!!
Rosemary showed off her Christmas card from Antje, who was absent, a felted Christmas tree. Antje added embellishments after all the shrinkage occurred.
Two good meetings each and every first week of the month. There is plenty of encouragement to return to the looms and weeeeeeeave!

WAFFLING

Waffling: "indecisive; unable to make up one's mind; playing the safe middle ground due to one's own lack of conviction or sense of morality"

Nope, we are not indecisive about our weaving project for 2011--Westside Weaver Group has decided on Waffle Weave! Several brought samples of their previous work or attempts at sampling. The sample from Penny shows her accomplished washcloth with matching towels in twill/plain weave combination. Her samples were great examples of color placement.
This sample from Anita's treasure chest shows how she mapped out her plan using her computer program.
Another washcloth was a gift from our state conference, given at the luncheon, and woven by our dearly departed member, Marji. The nice thing about having this washcloth is the memories we have of Marji.
These hand towels were woven using natural colored cottons.
This colorful waffle weave towel was woven by Barbara and bought at one of our annual fall sales--a cheerful addition to any kitchen.
And now sampling that didn't work. Rosemary showed her test sample using linen--floats are too long and waffles do not happen.
These are the linen yarns that Rosemary would like to use for her weaving. The woven item is a washcloth that she received from a friend, linen content also.

Off to plan that waffle weave..............

RESOLVE!

Another year brings newness. So here is the list of items that need to be resolved this year.....so we don't look like a couch potato!
Resolve to weave off this warp...............................
Resolve to walk further.....................................
Resolve to learn this program...............................
Resolve to block these scarves............................
Resolve to sort out the knitting needles...............................
Resolve to hang this new gadget..............................
Resolve to eat healthy..............................
Resolve to wind a new warp.........................
Resolve to read more.............................
Resolve to............. fill in the blanks!

On Hold........till January, 2011

It's that time of the year--everything is put on hold and family rules the roost! Some of the projects have been ongoing for some time so we can say they are 'aging' and it will not be a big problem if they age till 2011. Like this knit project..............................
it's handspun como wool/silk ply and it must be finished by January 15!!!
These two projects involve hand stitching; ready to be picked up so if time is available and family is elsewhere, we might do some stitching.
It sounded great when the idea was submitted--a small pattern each day leading up to December 24th. This was Advent knitting, but at the present time we are 'stuck'!! (as they say in the movie Christmas Story) on day 15. The finished scarf will need lots of TLC or blocking!
Now, it's time to bid everyone Merry Christmas! See you in the New Year!

Traditions!

Traditions~we all have traditions we follow throughout the year. Mostly, we have traditions we follow during this time of the year. Maybe, it's an evening spent with friends or a luncheon laced with gift exchanges. But, there are those things we do within our family that are the most important and remembered. How does one start a tradition? Just by repeating it year after year. Every year for the past (who knows how many) years, our son has given a gift to his fellow company personnel. And now every year, it is the same thing......... We take the recipe from this book.
And on the recipe page, we make notes--lots of notes since the first year we ran out of ingredients and had to make a grocery store run.
We gather the supplies. We need jars--this year 24; some years, it has been 36 or more.
Bags of sugar
Tasty walnuts.......
Boxes of cocoa.......
Pounds of flour........
And we begin the assembly. There are some years when granddaughter would assist, but this year she was in the midst of her college finals and just too busy. But, she and I had worked out a method!
It certainly helped when we found these jar holders. The first few years, we used an old funnel that we had cut off the spout.
Pour in the sugar, flour, baking soda and powder, salt--shake it down. Still must add
chopped walnuts.......
Chocolate chips.......
All filled and ready to be capped off with a fancy square of fabric. Screw down the top
and slap on a label to tell how to assemble the brownie mix. Now, as the numerous years have progressed, this is always a wonder--do the recipients really enjoy receiving this -traditional- gift each year? Our son says yes; they look forward to the brownie jar sitting on their desk--they know they're not forgotten. Maybe, this is a tradition in their households--either bake up the mix or see how many jars they can acquire!!
December 16 is also a day we remember because it brings up another tradition--thanking God that we have a wonderful life. December 16, 1976 was the day we lost our home, cars and all personal possessions to a fire--new traditions were begun that day--ones that will be passed along to generations to come.