India Girls

The last Monday of every month is our spinning meeting. This past Monday was a special treat as Marcia, Nancy and Beckie regaled us with their stories of their trip to India. Nancy's daughter is living in India for two years and arranged for the four of them to visit working artisans where they live and work.

They spent 3 weeks traveling around, gathering information on ancient dye techniques, watching people create beautiful things, and of course buying amazing goods.

Hand embroidered pillow

Beautiful quilts

cloth checkboard and seed stitched game pieces

Dyed silk scarf. Notice the tiny bluish dots. Those were made by gathering the material around very tiny seed beads and sewing them in. Then the fabric was dyed and the beads carefully removed. I cannot imagine the time this took and how they cut the seed beads out without cutting into the scarf.

Here is that technique again. wow, wow, wow!

This is all hand embroidered, black thread on white fabric.

The piece was covered with whimsical creatures.

hand dyed silk and hand embroidered

This type of stamping on material is called 'bandini' and is where our bandana fabric comes from.

hand woven silks

These rolling pins and spoons were coated in lac, which is a resinous secretion from various insects. The women watched the family make these by getting the lac hot, then spinning the wooden part while laying on the hot resin in these wonderful patterns.

We were called to lunch by these handcrafted bells.

And what a lunch it was! We were looking forward to this for weeks as Marsha and Becky are gourmet cooks and they whipped up about a dozen Indian dishes for us to try.

Indian food is my second favorite type of food (right behind Thai) and they did not disappoint.

We sampled their lasse, both sweet and spicy.

A slide show of the artisans, the scenery and some of the people they met showed us an insiders view of this amazing country. Thanks to the three of them for a very entertaining day and sharing their experiences with us.

Girlfriends

I am so lucky to have girlfriends around here (Barnesville) AND in Western Maryland. Because we have another home in Cumberland, I've met heaps of women up there. There's a huge artsy community and a well organized biking community so meeting folks was easy. But to have these women welcome you into their fold, is really special.

Last week we celebrated Macee's birthday by whisking her away to Garrett County for a fun day of visiting AnnaBellePetuniaHead's studio, going out for lunch, antiquing and gathering artisan cheeses from a new cottage industry in Accident, Maryland.  We spent hours on this rainy day at the foothills of the ski area Wisp. The folks there wish the rain would have been snow.  Canoe on the Run is a great little coffee/cafe house serving up frothy java and panini.

 I love, love, love coffee. A day without coffee would be a day in the ER. I am soooo addicted!

 It would be nice to sit here and watch the snow fall, sipping a grande espresso, half caf, soy, non-fat, latte, whip, extra hot! Oh, and with a crescent with organic strawberry/rhubarb jam with a bit of hand churned butter and pear tree honey. (But this isn't Portlandia!)

 The birthday girl, Macee, enjoyed the yarn bowl (even though she wore it as a hat here) and her hand knit handwarmers. The bowl was actually made from leftover yarn from the handwarmers.  Macee was formerly known as Mary, but that was much too plain for this lively girl, so Seal and I decided to change it to Macee and it stuck.

And this is Celeste, formerly another Mary. Too much personality for 'Mary' so now we call her Celeste. She's also modeling her new handwarmers and the same hat/bowl.

One of the guy artists in Cumberland got Seal, Celeste and me mixed up. We said that all us Curly Haired White Bitches look alike. I see a few differences but we all have that curly hair going on. What a great day with the girls. And more to come this weekend as my Barnesville girlfriends are coming to partay with the Cumberland girls. Crack open the wine!

Winter White

 Since it hasn't snowed outside, I decided I needed some white stuff inside. Usually I'm all about the color, but white has its place. It's soothing, gives the eye a place of rest and is quite popular right now, according to some designers.

  So I did a 'Re-purpose Redesign' and went for a look-see around the farm, in the closets, in the basement and even outdoors. Our loft in the barn is stacked with doors, shutters and windows, collected from our local 'beauty spot' (dump), saved from our own renovations and some found.

 I found plenty of white stuff, actually way too much and had a good time arranging and rearranging.
I brought these windows, formerly in the sunroom, down from the loft and cleaned them up.

This angel is made out of old corrugated metal, by a rural artist north of Frederick.

 I spend way too much time on Pinterest, an amazing online pinboard, where you can see pretty things, get ideas and 'file' them onto boards. I searched 'white' and these were just a few of the images that came up.

 Love that mirror...

 See, a window on the mantle....that's cool!

 Next I'm putting together this centerpiece. It's an old chicken feeder (which I have and I don't even have to steal it from my hens) with pine cones and candles.
Enjoy your winter by doing some re-design. Ciao!

Resolution: More Fiber

More fiber, more better. I made this nuno shawl for a friend who had given me back a spinning wheel that she had bought from me nearly 15 years ago. She said she didn't use it, dropped it off and said "Merry Christmas!" 

To attempt to pay her back a little bit, I made this nuno felt shawl for her. 

She's a wee bit of a thing, very pretty and I picture her in these soft pastels.

Here it is laid out before the felting process. Wisps of mohair, wool, tencel, silk and sheep locks.

I included a felt brooch with it in. I'm taking it over today so I hope she likes it!

 

 A few months back I tried to arrange 'Craft Days' with my girlfriends. We'd take turns coming up with a project, getting the supplies and teaching it. Well, life got too busy and we didn't get around to it. Until last Friday.

Just three of us got together to have a 'Pinterest Challenge'. If you don't know what Pinterest is, go check it out. It's fabulous! My treat to myself every day is to spend some time on this site (usually before I go to bed so I can dream of new projects). I get so many ideas from all the clever people out there. And this was one of them.

Yarn bowls. Pick out a bowl, turn it upside down, wrap in plastic wrap, make a paper mache paste, dip yarn into paste and wrap the bowl. Easy peasy. I have quite a stash of yarn (duh!) but we didn't really use very much.

 

We let them dry overnight (it took a long time, even on the radiator) and I have to say, they turned out great! This would be a fun project with kids too. So now I want to do many more. They'd look cute with a bunch of felt balls in them.  So get crafting!

First Rise

First sunrise of 2012. A brand new day, a brand new year. Time to reflect on 2011 and envision what's ahead for 2012.

 I had a great year, this last one.
* I went on my first bike tour, biking nearly 500 miles over 12 days
* backpacking in Virginia and Montana
* my busiest yarn-selling year ever
*welcoming #3 son and #1 dog back into the fold
*experiencing very good health (except for my ongoing stupid knee problem)
*my loving, giving family
*the engagement of #1 son and his lovely fiance, Deidre
*all my friends who rock my world

I am so thankful to have so much, to be rich in friends and to be the happiest person I know. I am one lucky girl. I wish all the best in this fresh new year. Let's make the most of it.

I'm Almost Done Shopping....

 ....for me! While Christmas shopping I found this delightful, aromatic soap that will make me happy whilst taking a shower.

And this smell-good candle, scented for the holiday. It smells like Christmas in our house!

 And this adorable little bottle brush tree that I added to my collection.

I couldn't resist this cute, cute, cute barrette that perfectly keeps my curls out of my face.

 But whoa! How bout these killer kicks?! Cowgirl paisley patterned rain boots! Sweet!

Tarjay is always a fave shopping place and it didn't let me down. A smockey type top that doesn't show my rolls. Perfect for holiday gorging!

I put this pink underwear shirt in my cart and it made it through check out. It's a bit utilitarian...

but it's good for layering.

 Another look at that fabulous boot. Love!


I had asked Santa for this (along with an LED hula hoop), but since Santa is spelled Amazon.com, I just went ahead and ordered it. It's already here and hopefully Houston will put it together for me cuz I just can't. It's too confusing.
So, I guess I better get out there and get my shopping done. Yikes! I only have a few hours. Enough time to get that cute purse I saw! Happy holidays to one and all!!!