New things Part Two

 First things first....

Another new baby!

This little girl was born a week after her brother - meet Cricket :)  Or at least that's what I think her name will be/include.  We will see if her personality changes it in the coming days.  Don't think it will as this name wasn't even on the list, it just came to me in the early morning of her birth.

So amazed that we have two foals that are almost identical. 

Dragonfly is nursing, Cricket is facing us.  

The moms are full sisters born 2 years apart, and the babies have the same sire.  So 3/4 siblings?  Not sure exactly how that is explained technically...

Both have dun characteristics.  The dorsal stripe, some leg barring and shoulder bars.  Both have white face markings.  It will be interesting to see what body color will be.  They may be very light duns, or there is even a possibility they may test as grullo.  

Other relatively new is that my father is in the nursing home.  He went in to get some extra care for some immediate issues and for physical therapy.  He and my mother believe it is a short term stay.  I'm not so sure.

I do know that dad is not happy about the situation, thus making my mom not happy about the situation.

What is especially frustrating is the extreme limits that are put on for "visitors", which includes mom.  During the week, she can come in between 8 and 5 - stay as long as she wants, but if she leaves, she can't return that day.  On weekends, entry time is only 1-3.  

Those time frames make it extremely difficult for anyone that has a job to visit during the week.   During the week, dad is busy all day with therapy sessions and activities during the day, so visits aren't ideal then anyway.  Evenings there are no activities, and no visitors, unless you get there before 5- which means you have to wait until after supper to see anyone as no one but residents are allowed in the dining area.

Weekends, there are no activities and no therapies.  Weekends go slow for dad - mom can't get in until after lunch, and since they frown on more than 2 visitors at a time and require a reserved conference room for more than 2 people in dads room (which would be mom, dad) , he is limited at most to one visit unless we push the issue and ignore the guidelines in the conference room.  For example, my son was here this weekend to visit, and one of dad's brothers and his wife came to see him.  So there were 5 plus dad there.  If we followed the 'rules' he would only get to see one person at a time. 

If it turns out this is a permanent situation, I think we will need to look for another facility - this one is notoriously short staffed, and the current situation with people choosing not to work is exacerbating it.  Unfortunately, that would mean a different town as this is the only place here. That would make it very difficult for my mom....

Lots to figure out I guess. 

On the weaving/rug front.  I've survived the 2 events in this month.  Both we Saturday/Sunday shows. 

First one was record temps and windy, but sales were normal for this show.

Second one had great weather - Good crowds and about the same sales as the last time I was there 2 years ago.

I am now lighter 27 rugs, 11 table runners, and 4 mug rugs.  

I should be weaving, but can seem to find the time between work, parents, lawn care, messing with the new baby foals, and helping my daughter in the house - we are trying to get some more things gone thru and cleaned up.  This weekend my son came to help and we textured the walls, and painted in the kitchen.  The wallpaper had come off awhile ago, and just hadn't got finished up.

We've got a deadline to get some of this stuff done.  Another baby is coming in October....  First grandchild :)

All for now,

JULIE

PS>   Here's a picture of Cricket - this little girl is quite bold, unlike the colt.  He's more cautious.

New things

 I've finally got myself a new computer.

Let's see if this works  ;)  I'm still working on getting programs and such set up and getting comfortable with updated programs.  Change is a b**ch, LOL

Not sure what rug pictures I haven't gotten here in the downtime, but here are a few of the latest that will be going with me to this weekend's show.

This was the last of the warp with browns, tans and rusts.  

On to a new warp next week.  It will be a 36 inch wide one, I will try to come up with a design that will go with many different colors.

Another new thing ....

This is my newest baby!  I think his name will be Dragonfly - or something to that effect :)  He was born Monday evening. 

We are still waiting on another one.  These dang mares, I thought the other would go first!

All for now, I have much to do and not much time or energy to do it.

Julie

Almost feels like summer out there

 Typical South Dakota spring.  Never know what the weather will bring us...

It goes from cold and snow flurries, to like today,  sunny and in the 80's.  Almost too warm in comparison to what it was juts a day or two ago.

The sun brought me outside with the rugs I've not had a chance to photo yet.  They've been done for a week or so, but it never seemed to be photo friendly lighting up until now.

Well....I put this post on hold the other day because I couldn't seem to upload any photos...  It's saying the server failed so I'm not sure what the deal is- 

I'm not technology literate so who knows what I'm doing most days.

I've been able to post without problem on my facebook page so if you'd like to see what I've finished lately, go there and search for me if you aren't already following me there.

renew.rugs  is how you find me in facebook land...

All for now,
JULIE

PS:  Maybe if I ignore this issue for awhile, it will take care of itself!  LOL

Another one in the books

 Yesterday was another vendor event.

In my part of the country the events are popping up all over!  

A friend of mine who makes and sells sweater mittens and also some stamped jewelry keeps me informed about new ones she sees :)  She tries to talk me into to going to them, but I'm a bit pickier than she is - her items aren't quite as heavy as mine! LOL

Pretty decent day yesterday  - It was in the community I lived in for almost forever, so many people I knew.  I pretty near met my soft goal of selling 10x the cost of the booth.  Good day for a small event - the venue was full of booths and had a waiting list...

I took some just finished rugs from the newest browns warp.

Here are the earthtone rugs made from a duvet cover that I mentioned in my last post.

Aaanndd some brown denim rugs- there will be more of these as there are still strips unsewn in the totes and several on the take up beam on the loom.

I have a direction for the tablerunner warp -  I sold all of the patriotic runners I had in stock, so that is what I will weave next on that loom.

It was a tablerunner day - 8 runners and 3 rugs sold.

All for now,
JULIE

Newest warp plan

 

Here is the browns colorway warp I came up with.

Thought I had way more brown, but had only 2 cones in the stash!

I think it's ok tho :)

I'm already weaving with strips that came from a duvet cover.  

Should be a couple cute rugs from that.

After that will be denim in browns and tans.

Also finished tying fringe on some tablerunners that past weekend...

Here are three of them.  

Also a couple more patriotic ones were finished.

Just heard yesterday I got into a juried Art in the Park event in June.

June will be busy - 2 scheduled already.

It's spring here - south dakota means weather ups and downs,  cold today and snow flurries.

We've got baby calves arriving and it should really step up the pace with that soon.

Still some time for the weather to moderate before baby horses :)

All for now,
JULIE

Searching for inspiration

 I have been struggling with this mini rug warp -

Inspiration wise that is...

I had some requests for this size to start with so that was fine, but when you have enough warp for over 30 rugs in this batch, it takes some imagination to fill it all up :)

What really helped, was the vendor show I was at a couple weekends ago.  Seeing what sold, and visiting with potential buyers that were looking for a certain something gave me some ideas.

This rug happened because someone was looking for a long narrow rug for 2 little girls bathroom vanity.  Not sure it will connect with that specific customer, but it used up some of the pink fabrics that I don't tend to use very often.

I sold the last of the 'dribs & drabs" rugs in my inventory at the show, too, so i went ahead and made some mini versions.  I can't believe how far those little bits of fabric go when weaving with them.  I had thought I'd would get one and a start of a second rug with the basket of leftovers, but I still have some left there!  I mostly used up the brighter stuff, so I left the remainder of that basket to grow again.

This rug is from pillowcases -one case filled out each color block here.

I used up the last bits of chenille blanket type fabric on this cute little rug.

This wasn't a leftover bit of fabric, it had just come into the stash and the dots on the blue matched some of the warp colors, so it was a perfect fit here.

Also made a few more black denims and there is another itty bitty rug from some random sheets fabric that matched the warp.

Now it's time to start on the next color run.  It will be in the browns color way.

I'm hoping the inspiration is stronger on this one - should be as I like the colors from nature.  I've said before my favorite colors are the ones that horses come in, like buckskin, chestnut, etc.

Also hoping to get a bit more time to weave... been spending a lot of my time taking my parents to doctor appointments and helping my mom care for my dad.  He has become extremely dependent, unable to walk at all.  Some days I have to stop and help get dad from point A to point B because mom is worn out. Mom is on oxygen and at times is short of air and energy to be able to help dad - Big changes are looming in regards to them - trying to figure it all out. 

All for now,

JULIE

First vendor event of 2021

Got thru the first event of the year.

Not that I did anything special to get ready for it -  lol.  

My "office" basket was stocked - including change box - from the last show.  It's so much easier to come home and do all the record keeping and accounting things when it's fresh in your mind.  And I'm always ready at the drop of a hat if a show sneaks up on me!

I did cut off all the rugs on my loom and finished them up this week.  I had lots of farm fresh items to take - and a lot of rugs that had only been to one or two small events last fall.   Fresh inventory.

 I'm currently weaving 18 inch wide mini rugs on the Union Loom and tablerunners on the FairLoom.  

 These are the mini rugs.  Sold the first one already.  It was a cute one.

So tonite when I drove into home at dark - I pulled my truck into the garage and decided I would unload tomorrow.  But I did sit down and do my normal end of show report.

That report has a list of all items sold, for how much, how much sales tax added and collected.

I also look back at what the booth cost and write that on it, along with any meals I purchased, a place for the credit card fees that I will get a total on tomorrow, and mileage driven.  

If I remember to do it, I even break down the tax into state, town and tourism - makes it easy when it's time to report and remit to the revenue service.

The next step is to take the sold items off the excel spreadsheet -  I can tell you how much inventory dollars I carry around....

Bank is on Monday - only one check-  it was a heavier than usual cash day, but about half my sales run thru the square app on my phone.

By Monday evening I will have everything ready for my next show in April - except for some new product that I am constantly producing.

Oh, and by the way, I sold 11 rugs, 3 tablerunners, and 9 mug rugs.

Respectable day.

All for now,

JULIE