O. M. Gee

Cool, Cool, everyone!  There is this stylish blogger thing that has been thrust upon me :)

Don't have time right now, to take care of the details - tomorrow! tomorrow!  I promise...

So obviously - one thing I've learned from this fun little dealio is... I need to sign my name onto the blog!

Just so we are all clear 

My name is  <<<<<   JULIE >>>>>

Oh lord, this is embarrassing LOL!!!!

I need to figure out a signature, methinks!   hahaha!


I have gotten More EXCELLANTE'  news about the job situation!!! 

I'm not not not gonna say any more until it's a done deal -  don't want to jinx it...



From the frozen tundra that is South Dakota, where winter never ends ---


the ever so humbled, 

JULIE

Answers

But first -another rug...

Still 18 inches wide.

This one I made longer - I didn't measure it yet, been kinda busy!

Made this one out of a blue bed sheet, mixed with some off white manufacture waste material.  There was a comforter / pillow / curtain making company here in the area.  They used to sell the leftovers/seconds/ etc.  I get these rolls of material on a semi regular basis when someone does some cleaning out!  Nice long pieces usually.

I put both colors on one shuttle together and as I wove them, I twisted and flipped the strips.  I like this look and it uses up some of the lighter fabrics that I seem to have an abundance of.  Lighter is not always good for rugs :)

OK, so to answer some questions that have been left in my comments - and sorry if i miss some - I'm a little scattered today!

Etsy?  Nope, not yet.  Trying to get it all figured out in regards to shipping, payment, etc.  All those little details that get pushed to the end of the day when a person is too tired to focus.  Actually, I would rather have my own website!  If you see something you would like, private message me and we can get it figured out -- it may take a bit because I can only get to the post office on Friday afternoons ...

Website?  I think I may have found where to add a page to my blog!  I'm going to try and get that figured out soon...

Towels making a mess?  Um, yeah, I guess it does make a mess - I ripped those, too.  But in the scheme of things, what's a little bit more fuzz?  Oy - PLEASE don't show up unannounced for a tour of my house lol lol lol!  I'll need about 17 days notice - OK????

Fixing the unintended stripe in my warp --  yup! did it already.  You'll just have to wait til the next batch of rugs to come off the loom - and that may be awhile!  I just rearranged a couple of the warp strings and we're good to go.

Do I hemstitch.  Um.  No.  Don't know how -  I'm assuming you meant on the loom.  I do a hemmed end on some rugs.  But not the hemstitch like some use for scarves, blankets, etc.  I'm not sure it would work on this high of tension????

Facebook -  there's a link on the blog over there to the right.  By the nice little pictures of my wonderful followers!  :)  Sorry to say, the pictures of my rugs on facebook is a little out of date.  That's on my to do list....


 Busy weekend - I'm in charge of a lunch at a local bull sale - the church ladies are doing it, I just get to do the planning and heavy lifting.  I've got 30 pies coming along with enough workers- I hope.  Sunday will be a take it easy day. 

Heard some encouraging news yesterday about the job situation.  Keep your fingers crossed that all proceeds positively!

Have a good weekend, everybody!

Denim mini's

There's a new size of denim rugs in town!

Introducing... Denim mini's!

Same great recycled blue jeans rugs - 

Just a smaller size!

The mini's are 18 inches wide and assorted lengths.

Hemmed and fringed options, too...

I spent this evening moving the last of my rugs out of the store uptown.

No more retail space available.

It's time to pull up my big girl panties and figure out a new plan!

Made it fer miself...

I made myself a bathmat.

You know how those dang towels get all ratty and tear when you're drying your back?  Oh, you don't?  It had been awhile since I got new towels - my kids got me some for Christmas.  Well, I used a couple of those old towels...

And yes, I've put some in my rag towel stash, but I really needed something for in front of my bathtub instead of laying down another towel that would just need to get washed, too.

This width works well for this spot!  A standard size rug of mine would be too wide to fit without messin' with the toilet rug, so here it is.

And it matches perfectly...

Always something new.

I got a request awhile back for some table runners that were a little wider than my normal norm.  :)

After a bit of pondering, I realized I should probably go ahead and make rugs, too, of that size.  I'd had some requests for smaller rugs for campers.

So, new size for me!  With that comes some experimenting.  After the many rugs I've made, I can tell pretty close if I was going to have "enough" of a material to make a decent size rug, or not.

So I got started on these table runners - and made this one first -

I was feeling pretty proud of myself thinking - wow these are gonna be pretty!

But then I started in on the second, matching runner - and realized I was going to be woefully short of the natural colored material.

Plan B -

I saved back enough strips to make the end stripe, and then got busy doing a double strip of denim and a single 1/3 strip of natural.  I like this look, too.  Susan?  What do you think?  I don't have any more of this natural colored linen, but I can scare up more of a white/off white material for the next try.  Do you like the end bar stripe look, or do you like the mixture?  Or do you have a different idea I can try?  Blocks of color? Asymmetrical color blocks?  Like I said - there is ALOT of this warp on the loom - we've got options, baby!

Another odd thing happened.  I hadn't noticed when I was warping and weaving, but after I took the pics and brought them up on the computer screen I saw this...

I've got an unintentional warp stripe running down each rug.  It blends in when the weft is random, but on the solid parts, it sticks out like a sore thumb.  I think I'm going to cut off the rug I've left on there and rearrange a few threads and get that outa there.   Random is the look I was going for, but that random stripe is awkward :)




Today I'm fighting a weather induced migraine.  We've got a doozy of a storm coming - terribly windy with a chance of much snow.  The last week or so has been a wonderful break from the snowstorms we've been plagued with this winter. It helped with the attitude- hope this one doesn't send everyone back to Crabbyville!

Anyhoo!  Susan - send me your thoughts on the runners and we'll go from there.
Everyone else - have a good Sunday...

Takin' it off...

So Sharon asked when I take a group of rugs off the loom...

This is when --  I wove one more rug after this picture and then cut off.  The roll of finished rugs gets big enough that it is in the way of the beater/reed. 

I usually leave the last rug on the loom, using that rug to wrap onto the take up beam.  That way I don't have to lash on all over again-- saves time and warp. 

PS.... Heads up Susan! I'm going to tie fringe on a couple of examples for you to look at...Maybe pictures later today.

The last one... finally!

TR218

25"x13"

This runner ...  Didn't quite turn out the way I had envisioned it.  

I used three different yellows - you can see them better in the picture than in person.  

Well, that is the last of that bunch of runners.  Never fear, there will be more at some point!

I'm working on a blue warp now that is a new size for me.  Could be runners, could be rugs.  Depends on where you decide to use them!

I've got a good start, but it'll be a little bit before I have enough to cut off the loom.

Can't wait to get them off to get a good feel for this new size!

Are you tired of these yet???

TR217

25"x13"

A runner made from some abandoned decorator fabric.  

Not enough for a curtain or upholstery, but enough for a cute little table runner!

Not done yet...

showing you the runners that I finished up the other day!  :)

TR216  

29"x13"

This tablerunner is made out of some fabric that I tend to call burlap. 

It's not a true burlap in that it is not scratchy and smelly!

I found a bolt of this stuff at a junque shop and I assume it was probably originally for use in maybe furniture making?  Like under upholstery/over stuffing - or maybe on the underside of the furniture piece.  

Not sure exactly, but who knows - that's the nature of using found and secondhand materials!

Sigh... today was one of those days at work that makes me wish I could weave all day everyday and be able to support myself.  Today ranked up at the top of the "worst day at work, EVER" days.

And I used to work at a goose processing plant.  

Yup, worse than that.

And yet another one!

I told you to brace yourselves!   This is TR215 ~  26"x13"

The end bars were the little bit that was left over from a yellow gold plaid tablecloth that matched the solid yellow gold in the body of this runner.  I don't know why exactly I like this color, but I do.  Maybe that it's close to the color of a dun or palomino horse? :)

Are Mondays as difficult for you as they are for me?  They always d...r...a...g.

When the workday was finally over, I came home, watered the ponies and headed to my work area. 

Blues and natural warping has commenced to be woven.  I have a rug and one special wish request table runner done.  Tomorrow I will do the 2nd of the matching runners and then get down to business on rugs.  It's gonna be a long haul of blue rugs.  Mostly denim, but other blue materials as I find them in my stash.

I'll try to mix it up a bit for you guys.  These denim rugs can get monotonous.

A different feel...

TR214

31"x13"

Same warp, completely different feel.  

It all depends on how the warp and the weft play together.

 

Valentines Day sure makes a person yearn for someone to "play with".

I don't wish to be everything to everyone, but I would like to be something to someone.

Working Weekend

What am I talking about?  I work every weekend :)

I try to do 2 hours a night during the week, and 10 hours each weekend on weaving and production. 

That's a part time job.  I'm not feeling quite so stressed and tired since I quit my other part time job being a janitor.   Only thing I miss is the paycheck, as small as it was.  (By the way, I also have a full time day job...)



Working with denim.

Here is my "mix tub".  I've got boxes of strips all ripped up, and I take handfulls out periodically and add to this tub and mix.  It helps to keep the rugs from getting big chunks of one color in the rugs.  If I had a huge tub, or a clean floor, I would mix them all at once.  This'll work, tho!

I try to have my set up so I have to get up and down at a minimum.  Tub right next to me, a bucket to put strings and trim in, a catch box behind and a finish box on my left.  When I'm sewing the bucket is right by the mix bucket, and gets moved to where you see it when I'm trimming and clipping apart.  Plus a tv and vcr.  I went thru 3 movies today.

And here's a box of strips ready to weave with.  This is a pretty good size box and I've got it filled pretty compactly.  Another box about 1/2 full is also done as of tonite.

Would you believe I haven't even started ripping up the jeans from last weekends rough rip frenzy?  These are all strips that were left over from the last time I did blue jean rugs.  I ran out of warp before I ran out of jeans!

I'm working these days in my lower level/basement.  It's not a true basement, only a little ways into the ground and unfinished.

If there wasn't so much snow, I'd have a view!  The weather here has seen a welcome change.  It was 36 degrees or a little more yesterday and almost that today.  Only 65+ degrees warmer than it was on Tuesday :)

It's hard to enjoy it, tho.  Because I know these warmer days are fleeting...

and another....

yellow gold table runner.

TR213

35"x 13"

For some reason I'm thinking this was a popular color for awhile. 

I've got four different versions of this runner now from tableclothes that came my way.  There may even be more of this yellow still in the stash that will get woven on a different warping.

And just because, here's another

TR212

20"x13"

Don't usually do things like this, I had a bit of yellow left on a shuttle and a bit of the curtain strips from another runner, and decided they went together.  We'll see if it appeals to anyone...and if not, at some point it may become a small bag/purse.

I'm up early today. Not sure what it is about Sunday's.  I wake up about 4 AM and can't get back to sleep.  It is a lonely time - no one on facebook, no one you dare to call, and even the dog is still asleep.

I guess I could get dressed and go down and start sewing denim strips.

I did that for about 5 hours yesterday. 

And I didn't even make a dent.

Resisting

I'm resisting the urge to show you all the finished runners at once. 

If I do that, I won't have weaving pictures to show you again for awhile... LOL!

So here is the next installment of table runners --

You've seen this one before, but now it's trimmed and named and tagged. 

Please meet TR210.

39"x13", plus fringe.

And since that really ISN'T a new one for you to see, next up...

TR211

35"x13"

This runner was originally a vintage curtain panel, not the usual tablecloth.

Fun browns, golds, oranges and cream colors in this one!

I've been up since 6 this morning. Normal weekday wakey wakey time.  I didn't set an alarm, but I guess I'm trained.  I've finished up tying fringe, measuring and marking, records, etc on these runners.  I also have added into the pile the rest of the runners I have in stock, and replaced some worn tags and such.

No more retail store -

I'm gonna have to figure out a place to store these things in between craft shows and fairs.

not easy being green

 Kermit is wonderful, isn't he?

I am loving these tablerunners that I've finished.  Any green these days is welcomed since the rest of the world seems to be white around here :)

I found some of the kitchen utensils that are my collection, just to make sure I've picked the right one to keep.  Glad I did, because I would have saved wrong!  I think the runners on the left are the best match and I had thought it would be the one on the right.   I even get to pick from two different sizes, or maybe I'll keep both!

There are times that I get people that really think it's neat that I weave "green".  You know - the recycling angle?  And yes, that is a focus of mine!

But mostly I just agree with Kermit.

Being green can be beautiful, too!

Another

I told you to prepare yourself!

Another table runner, this time in rust.  

I still haven't gotten the fringe trimmed down and figured out his number and tag.  

I'll do that later when I have a couple more runners tied...

Prepare yourself.

Here come a line up of table runners. 

Here's the first to be finished.  I got home from my meeting last night and tied fringe on this one.

Another green runner.   This one is 13inches wide and 28 inches long, plus the fringe.  

I'm trying to figure out a numbering system that really works.  This is the second year of doing table runners, so all of these will be 200's.  This one is TR207.   The number tells me TR for tablerunner ( duh )  -  and it's the 7th finished runner of the year! 

I am assuming I won't make over 99 runners this year.   I guess I'll cross that bridge if I come to it!

On the docket tonite is some fringe tying, some organizing of weft materials, and some warp designing for the next dressing of the loom.

I may not get "finished" with anything, but I'll get started on several things  :)

Sun = Warm?

Not so!

The sun is nice, but sure doesn't help the temp very much :)  I don't think the thermometer saw the positive side of zero today.  Supposed to be -25 by morning again.  Sigh.

Looks like the horses were up looking for a drink, so I am on my way out to run the hose for them.  Have I mentioned I wish I had my auto waterer? 

Looks like I should wade over and brush the snow off the tank, too while I'm out there.

Last night I got the last of the placemat warp  woven off.

I think I counted 13 or 14 different runners on this batch.  Now to get them tied and trimmed and put into inventory!

Next up - a blue themed warp at a new width for me.   Eighteen inches wide.  I'm gonna take a big bite and put on 100 wraps, I think. 

We'll see how it goes.

New old projects

Since I'm losing my retail space, I'm starting to do some catchup on picture of my "stuff" so I can put it on my facebook page.

I got a little lazy about getting pictures of new rugs toward the end of last year.  No extra time, and selling quickly made me get sloppy about getting them put in my "rugs for sale" album.  So anyhoo, I did inventory and will try to get my pictures up to date on what is on hand.

I'm also gathering up the random items that have been at the store.

I brought these quilted girls home the other day.

These were made from a vintage quilt top that hadn't been finished.  I tried to figure out a way to finish it up, but there just wasn't enough to make it work, and I had this idea come to me.

They are approximately 7 inches wide by 9 inches long.  These are all I have on hand, but I still have some quilt blocks left over somewhere, so they may not be the last!

Randomness

The town I live in is the county seat.  We have a really cool courthouse.  Pretty, isn't it?

The township road to my house.  Golf course on the right. A visit from the blade would be nice.  Can you tell we got more snow last night?

The ponies hiding behind a snowbank...

And a pile of denim.  This was my day!  I found every last dang blasted pair of jeans, cords, and dress pants in this place and ripped the waste parts out. 

And then I had to go to the dump.

I had a full pickup load of trash to take to the dumpsters.  But there is a nice big empty space where I had all boxes and bags of jeans.

Now my hands hurt. 

When the pile is this big it's kind of intimidating.

It's the only way to go, tho. 

You just can't think of the whole process at once.  Step by step and it seems like a doable thing.

Kinda like a lifetime :)

On the fence....

• ON THE FENCE (adjective)
  The adjective ON THE FENCE has 1 sense:

1. characterized by indecision

• ON THE FENCE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characterized by indecision

Synonyms:

on the fence; undecided

Context examples:

some who had been on the fence came out in favor of the plan / too many voters still declare they are undecided

Similar:

indecisive (characterized by lack of decision and firmness)

Today I was on the fence.  Literally!  Yup - that is the top wire of the fence that is "keeping the horses in".

I am also indecisive.  That happens alot lately.

That comes from having WAY to many "irons in the fire"...

This afternoon I did some snowblowing.

And some digging - I found my water meter...  I probably should put a flag on it or something...

The horses patiently waited while we dug out bales and replenished their Hay Buffet.  Actually the turds tried to sneak out of the gate while I wasn't looking...

I am doing laundry.

I need to do some paperwork.

Blue jeans need to be ripped.

I have a warp that could be woven off this weekend if I'd just get my behind down there.

I could be doing some of the many remodeling/repair projects in this house.

I've got a scarf on my structo loom that hasn't been touched in weeks.

Some miscellaneous craft projects started.

And I should probably cook something so I have meals to eat instead of eating random things.

What to do, what to do?

Not sure yet, but I'm sure I'll do "something"!

Is that decisive enough for ya?

Whinin' Peepee A**

 I'm starting to sound like one, even to myself.

OK, this isn't fun anymore. 

Actually it lost it's luster about 2 months ago :)

From what I understand, I really need to get this thing dug out?

Started the snowblower again tonite to get rid of the big drift that developed today.  But I broke a shear pin again.  Got it taken apart and fixed but by then I was out of daylight.  Oh for a barn where I could have a place to fix, space for hay storage and shelter for my horses.

I have to see if I can find someone to come dig out the hay bales again.

I sure do miss brown winters...