Last Visit...Lilies and Birches

Painted Warps with Sarah Saulson

Dear Alice,

What fun we had yesterday and today! Today we finished up the workshop that the Warped Women/Weavers held with Sarah Saulson. Painted Warps. Very cool. I really can't wait to weave my warp...I tried two colorways, based upon using a cocoa brown that I mixed. It was a conglomeration of cool red, warm red, a touch of black, cool yellow,and aqua. I finally got a yummy color of cocoa. With this I painted a 'mint' green that I concocted; the other colorway is the cocoa combined with a blood red that Phyllis
created, and the weft yarn that I tested on this section of warp was a red polyester that will make a really great table runner for Autumn. Phyllis dubbed them Chocolate Mint Ice Cream and Cherry Chocolate Pie.

Here is what Fran did:
So apropos! A few days later I saw a sweater in the 'Designer Runway' section at T. J. Maxx that looked just like Fran's pretty warp! Here she is tightening her warp on her little workshop loom. She's too cute!
Ellen took a walk on the wild side and put some lime green with splashes of red and 'Ellen's blue'. She tested a very fine dark green weft that is going to make this piece stunning!

Pat was a little worried about using her table loom, but all worked out, and she has a beautiful painted warp that I can't wait to see!

Here's part of our engrossed class


I wish you could have come...Sarah is a really organized, thorough teacher!

She sends her regards! Hugs from me too,
Nancy

The Envy of LA

Alice,
It seems that this oldie but goodie is the envy of LA:


This was one of the enticing elements of the place when we bought it 23 years ago. Now, with all the decorating shows featuring outdoor kitchens, this has become the most talked about outdoor piece as people pass by in their boats. We love it! We use it often, and when the weather is such as it is, we eat outdoors at every meal.

I hope you have had a few moments outdoors in this beautiful summery weather,
Nancy

MLH Summer Workshops

Silks and Samples

Dear Alice,

What a fabulous time I had at MLH's Summer Workshops held in Holland this past weekend! I had signed up for the Shimmering Silks workshop, taught by Heather Winslow. What beautiful samples we made, and what a very good teacher Heather is!

The sad part was that there were only three students in our class, and the good part is that there were only three students. I was lucky to be in a workshop with two other accomplished weavers: Barbara
and Martha


We were so lucky that two of the MLH Board members dressed two looms each and brought them to our workshop so that we were able to have 7 samples each in our 'Round Robin' workshop. (Thanks, Cathy and Ann!)

The samples included point twills, transparent effect, collapse, two block twill, lace and a braided twill.





It was a small crowd this year and because of that it was easier to spend some more concentrated time with several people, a benefit, to be sure. The other presenters included JoAnn Bachelder, Christine Grimm, Russ Mason, Anita Mayer, and Robin Spady. Great workshops with beautiful work created by everyone who participated. I do hope that next year will be a blow-out--it will be the Golden Anniversary celebration for Michigan League of Handweavers! Alice, it would be fantastic if you could be there with us.

So good to be able to spend some time with you when on my way home. Take care!
Nancy

Wednesday Morning...Very Early

Hi Alice!

This is what what greeted me on the bulletin board by the phone when I got home really late Tuesday night/really early Wednesday morning. I won the "Clerk-ship". The Primary Election was critical since everyone ran as a Democratic candidate this time. I got an 'A'.
Now I have my work cut out for me.

Time to rest.
Nancy

Eve of Election

Alice, it's that Eve of Destruction song that keeps going through my head tonight...really it's the Eve of Election. I told Scott at dinnertime that it feels like I have been working steadily, a little bit every day, on a term paper, and after a lengthy accumulation of days, there is enough to turn in tomorrow. It will be on time. I could very well get an A. I'll let you know.

I finished the color warp/gamp on Friday morning. I had hoped to stitch it in every spot that needs to be finished for samples over the weekend. It just didn't happen. Maybe Wednesday. I finished it off by doing a plain weave with 1/3 twill stripes at either end as a runner for Suzy to put on their table. Because it was plain weave and I put my feet only on two treadles, I was able to weave approximately 16.5 inches in 30 minutes! Whew! I was cruisin'!!! It was fun to see how fast I could go. The samples,on the other hand, were complicated enough that I eventually put colored dots on the treadles to keep track of which ones to depress in which order.

Off to bed with me. I must be up at 4.

Sova gott!
Nancy