Alcohol, Idiocy and the Unofficial Start of Summer

I swear, we can't decide which holiday brings out stupid the worst in people. Memorial Day or 4th of July? Probably the 4th but THIS Memorial Day weekend was a banner one. Can I give out local Darwin Awards I wonder? And you are wondering what the heck I'm talking about. Gene, as you know, is the volunteer Fire Chief of the Greensprings Fire and Rescue so it was not unusual for him to get called out for an emergency on a Saturday night on a holiday weekend but these were spectacular calls in their own right. Call #1 was a drunk asshat 4 wheeling on a back road off of a back road in East Bum...you get the idea. He went over a 20+ foot cliff and was so far out in the wilderness that they had to rope and winch him out. No copter could get in there and it was after midnight. One of volunteers went down with the ambulance. Gene had to go to town to retrieve him. They were returning when call #2 came in from the Howard Prairie camp ground. Seems two couples were camping together, the guys got drunk and then into a fight and then the one drunk decided to take the other's truck and run him over. Sadly he ended up running over his own dog instead and killed it. The state police showed up in force, the other drunk had been hit also, someone was waving guns around, you get the idea. Gene arrived home about 4 in the morning and then we had to deal with my dead LG phone later in the day. We were tired and grumpy and that's about all I want to say about Sunday. I got a new phone (angst over getting it to speak to my Mac computer), but the day finally ended and we both got a good nights sleep. Thank god!

Monday was much more fun and productive. I started weaving on the Ziva David warp. There was one threading error and it was a quick fix with a made up heddle and a hanging bit of yarn added.



Another warp went on Buttercup easily and is being threaded today. I also managed to finish up another Teddy tunic. Remember this fabric?



 It started life as curtains, became a little throw and now finally has morphed into it's final form. I do LOVE this graphic print. I have looked high and low for years for another piece of this fabric to no avail.

And this morning was so beautiful and perfect I got my fat little 22 year old pony out for his first spin in 2018.



Cooper was typical Cooper, alert but easy going.

Where you lead I will follow...

He had a couple of skin twitches, a little goose, but nothing big. The dang goats accompanied us the whole way. They were panting and lagging by the time we got back. Dandy had been left alone quietly munching on some hay. My spotty guy remembered all his voice commands, neck reining and such and was only a little sticky on turn on the haunch.

And here's a song to sooth and honor the wild things.

Parting shot: Gratuitous Nose shot. Got Carrots?

Names

Names are powerful things, for good and ill. With few exceptions I have given all my animals person status with their names. For the most part they have fit them too, or maybe that is just how my memory works. I wove the log cabin warp off and got to work adding all the names to Buttercup. She is a receptacle not only as a fiber eating monster of a loom, but as a touchstone of names, memories, imagination, good will, and things Zen.















My long time readers will recognize some, if not all, of these names, There are those who wait in beautiful places and those stuck here with me still. ;-)  Everyone's name is on the loom somewhere and still there is room for more. And of course, I have added a true wind horse.



 I doubt I will ever let this loom go. And now she is ready for another warp. Rag placemats.

And since we are on names, I want to tell you I have new lifetime favorite book. "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. If you don't like fantasy, let alone epic fantasy, this may not be the book for you, but if you do, the writing is poetry, the characters deep and interesting and the world more magical than Hogwarts or Pern or Westeros. This is book one of a trilogy. The second book is "The Wise Man's Fear". I have both of these books in my Audible library. I am on the second listen to the second book. The third book is still in the works. Patrick Rothfuss is a lyrical writer, but he is not fast dammit it! I have to say I have enjoyed dipping back into fantasy books. I keep up with the news, so really, I much prefer to have my reading or listening time as far away as possible from current fiction or biography. Escapism at it best.

I even send my dogs on magical adventures. Look, one of the Jacks escaping for a bit of a sail.



 This lovely banner was handmade by Etsy artist Karly Fae Hansen.

You can be sure I have her little shop is bookmarked and other favorites picked out.

I also got the lovely Eagle print framed. Something simple so that the artwork shines.



Now it would have been easy to give you "The Name Game" as a song for this post, but I'm thinking something a little smoother. I dare you not to be humming this at least until the end of the day!

Parting shot: Sleeping in.

The Weekend in Two Parts: Part Two

Shopping and all the other stuff. As always, the little sales room (chalk full of quilty items donated and handmade), had some real treasure. This lovely grey and yellow quilt grabbed me right from the get-go and at $45.00 was a steal IMHO.



A couple $10.00 and under blankets came home to swaddle little fur bodies, of which we have a plenty.



Every dog deserves his own blankie. Many have gone from homecoming to grave. Just like kids, dogs have their favorites. A cute little quilt book also jumped into my basket.



 Can you guess why?

We took my Mom out Saturday night to a favorite eatery for a fine dinner instead of a brunch on Sunday. The food was quite delicious. It was a busy night out as it was prom weekend too. Who did that to all those Mother's I want to know.

The big push was of course getting two lengthy towel warps beamed on. I did the one for the David myself and it was a bit fussy. Some cottons just get grabby and the soft American Maid organic colored cotton kept hugging the neighboring stripe.



  I also decided that keeping my Dad's loom as a shrine was ridiculous. I either needed to use or move it along. I decided on the former, with modifications. I never liked the crowded feel of the loom after he put 4 more shafts on bringing it up to 12. I e-mailed Jane Stafford, who is an expert on all things Louet and she suggested the best way to remove them.



I spent after dinner Saturday removing those shaft and lamms and DH was the warping valet I needed for this lovely blue warp on Sunday morning. Threading has started and I am excited about using this loom again.



 8 shafts and 14 treadles! Perfect!!

I also added some bells to Buttercup,

Bells on beater and shafts make a beautiful light laughing sound.

 and a little clay fox.



 I can see this loom starting to look like one of those Tibetan yurts, brightly painted, bells and prayer flags and all sorts of wonderful things bestowed upon it. We're just getting started here.

And then there was a wee bit of sewing. I had this Tania Tabard cut out a few weeks ago. I have to say soft a soft buttery yellow is one of my favorite colors.



The other bit of sewing ended up in the trash. Yep, a StyleArc pattern that was an utter fail. Usually raglan sleeves work beautifully for me. This pair of them was cut so low they went to my waist.



When I lifted my arms the whole top came up and it was weird feeling. It hit the trash so quick it would make your head spin. So many nice patterns, why fiddle with one that simply doesn't work?
I can do pin tucks easily enough on something that fits better.

I think some Tuvan throat singing a perfect end to this post. They came to Ashland a number of years ago. I took my Dad, we had a blast!

Parting shot: Keeping an eye on those humans is exhausting.

The Weekend in Two Parts. Part One

Quilt show!  Cindie and I met up in Grants Pass for the annual Piece Makers Quilt Guild Show. There were some real gems. The series of quilts based on art by Charlie Harper was the BEST! The general quilts, while lovely, just didn't seem to be consistently of the same caliber as years passed. Not that they were bad, just more kit quilts and less innovation I thought. I did manage to snap some pics of the beauties that captured me, so rather than fill this posting up with my usual drivel, I'm going to do pics. You get the drivel on part 2. Fair? Gonna have to be. Feast your eyes!

These first 6 pics are of the Charlie Harper challenge.

All the quilts following are from the general display. There were many more than I took pics of.

Which one is your favorite?

Procrastination

There are some jobs that justify serious butt dragging. I am sure it varies from person to person. Stacking the dishes in the dishwasher for me is one, the other is adding heddles onto any of the looms. I have two perfectly wonderful warps waiting to go on the Spring (Sheila) and the David (Zeva) and both require I beef up the front shafts with more heddles. The David is almost done,



 just need to free the last batch from their twist tie bondage and cut the top loops.

Sheila is another matter. Now my Dad was pretty darn neat with his stuff, so the jumble of untied heddles is an anomaly. I made a jig and am slowly stacking them in groups of about 25 and getting them ready for the trip to the loom. The Spring is a true PITA to add heddles too, so there will probably be another week of pissing and moaning about. I don't do that often but when I do, I try to give it my all!

Weaving on Buttercup has progressed to these kind of pretty and sort of Christmas-y placemats.



The set of 4 will have two red and cream and two of the light green and cream I started with.



Then it's on to other colors, maybe more than two in one mat. See what strikes me when I get there.

A small easy little treadle gate was installed.



 Basically a cut piece of iron rod, pounded into a hole we made like a dowel and for protection of the side of the treadles, a spool of cotton rug warp. Interchangeable of course. ;-)

A very cute Teddy Tunic was made up of some light canvas fabric I've had in stash for at least 3 years. I didn't know what to do with it and I'm so glad I held onto it for this top. There are hidden side pockets so it makes it all that more wearable.





 I wore it to the spring garden event at the fair grounds last Saturday and received at least 4 walk up compliments on it to. Who knew a circus print could be so compelling?

Also another pair of the Trio Pants (Sewing Workshop), made it out and I'm hoping I can shrink them. I've lost just about 20lbs and need to go down another size. I have been using my little all manual Pfaff. It's such a workhorse it deserved a little sewing time.



 I have also been organizing loom parts and such into project bags. At least I can accomplish something while procrastinating on other things.



 Labeled and ready to grab as needed. I need a few more bags for the different looms.....

It's time for a Mom update. She is finishing her last round of chemo today. That's it. There is no more that can be done. They have arrested it's spread for the moment but this is incurable and terminal. I'm hoping she has a good number of comfortable months ahead, but it can just as easily take off. There is likely going to be brain involvement when it does step up again, assuming it follows a typical pattern spread. The oncologist is preparing her for it. There will be lots of scans coming up in the next few weeks.

Friend Cindie and I will be meeting up this week for our annual spin around the Grants Pass quilt show. I'm looking forward to it!

Maybe I should have listened to this song and I would have been weaving by now. BTW, this was my teenage favorite band, I saw them a number of times and I still love them. Any hearing loss I experience today can likely be blamed on them and The Who.

Parting shot: Fort Pillow.

Who goes there?