Fall Scarves

 Remember when I told you last spring I was warping my loom to make three scarves and I told you not to hold your breath to see results?  Well, here they are!  I made three, each one about 78" in length and 8" wide.  I made two in the burgundy/gold and one with the burgundy/red wine.  The yarn is Tencel - made from wood pulp, it has a lovely drape and the pattern style is Huck Lace. I had a number of learning experiences along the way...most frustrating were a few broken warp strings, but I figured out how to fix them (and prevent them) and moved right along! 

Here is one of the burgundy/gold.

And here is the burgundy/red wine.

It's been slow going with all three kids home for the summer.  I'm looking forward to fall to be able to put more time in on the loom.  I'm currently prepping it for another project...this time table runners!  I'm trying new types of yarn and new styles of weaving...trying to learn as much as I can. 

 I'm in love!

Chore Chart

We are home for the summer and I wanted to get organized with a routine of chores.  The kids are really good with their daily chores of getting ready, brushing teeth, making beds, etc...but it's always nice to have it written down.  Makes it much more official that way, you know?  And the same for the extra daily chores....if it's on the board, it just HAS to get done, right?  And so far, it's been great.  They have been really good about doing their chores and then checking out the Help Wanted section.    Here's a look at the board in the kitchen.

 The Daily Chores change each day, although I think this will pretty much be the routine.  I made them with velcro so I can add more or moved them around.  The kids all participate somehow, each vacuuming their room, helping with garbage cans and picking up sticks, dusting, sweeping, etc. I find it easier that they all have the same job so I can teach them how to clean and help the little one out.

 This is just wasted space on the board since they all are good at their daily routine anyway...but, it never hurts to have it official.

 Help Wanted.  I gave up on allowance awhile back...it just got to be ridiculous.  So I thought this would help out.  If you want spending money, you work for it.  That simple.  If you don't want to work extra and have money, that's fine too.  I put in a bunch of odd jobs - sweep off deck and deck table, weed, dust staircase, vacuum edges of carpet, wipe down kitchen appliances, wash windows, water flowers, etc.  They are listed on the popsicle stick along with the amount the job is worth.  When they finish the job, they put the stick in their envelope and wait til payday on Saturday.  Eliah, the worker, has scoped out the high paying jobs and has already earned $4 for the week and has plans to save it.  Ava has earned .25 and she's already planning on how to spend it.  Yup, I foresee some financial planning classes in her future.  ;-)

So, that's our summer chore chart!  Think it will work!

Summer is coming!

I had to chuckle that I hadn't realized how close we are to the end of the school year.  It wasn't until an old co-worker posted on FB that there were only 9 days left of school that it dawned on me that in just a few days I will have all three kids, each three years apart, at home again with me again all day for 3 months!  Holy buckets do I need to get some things planned out or we will all lose our minds!  Ha!

I'm so excited to go through the full summer here at our house.  Last year was so wild and crazy with us moving from our old house on the very last day of the school year and living out of a suitcase for the next 7 weeks until we moved here.  It's hard to believe that we are so close to being here for one full year.

Anyway, back to the three little people that I need to keep entertained for 3 months.  I'm so looking forward to not watching the clock and to have those wonderful, lazy summer mornings with the kids....but I know that I need to have some activities mapped out throughout the summer.  Here is my list of things so far -- some of these are annual events, some we have done once or twice and some are totally new.  I'd love to hear your thoughts and things you think I should add to the list.

• visit all the parks in our city - one or two parks a week and picnic lunch
• swimming beach
• make a tic tac toe board on a stump and paint rocks for play pieces
• visit the zoo and zoo farm
• geocaching
• Caponi Art Park
• Sculpture Garden and Sebastian Joe's IceCream
• Fort Snelling....I don't think I've ever been there
• Art Museum
• Minnehaha Falls
• Arboretum
• Shoots and Ladders Park
• Playdates with friends from old hood
• Hiking trails
• Weekend camping trips
• Visit to Island G&G
• Cabin
• Mini golf/go carts
• water park
• camp in backyard
• set up swimming pool / sprinklers
• make a water station using pvc pipes
• ride bikes to local farmer's market (tuesdays)
• Moms group outings
• visit the other libraries in the county
• swimming lesson camp
• golf with E
• see a movie
• go to a drive in or local movie in the park
• kids participate in a service project
• Explore local bike paths

And that's what I've come up with so far.  Let me know if you have other ideas that would be fun for an 8, 5 and 2 year old.

Porch Make-Over

The porch is my favorite room in the house.  When we originally looked at the house we fell in love with the kitchen and it's big window (is it weird to have a favorite window???).  Seconds later I fell even more in love as my eyes moved out to the porch.  The windows, privacy, relaxed feel....it's a great room.  We bought the wicker set from the previous owners, but dark green really isn't my favorite color, in fact it's probably my least favorite color (sorry people who love green) so I had pictured something different from the start.  Blues, yellows, oranges...something like that.  So, this is how the porch went from this:

....to this!

I recovered the seats in the Trellis Blue.  Bought some new pillow forms and made all new pillow cases. Got a new floral rug (just barely seen on right) that goes out to deck. The woven table cloth was a gift to me years ago from a good friend and was part of the color plan....as was the pot on that 3 legged stool.  That pot was also a gift to me years ago as I had hoped to someday have a blue and yellow room.  I plan to paint that little 3-legged stool and also that square, brown table in the corner.  It's pretty scratched up on the top and a coral or even lime green could be fun.  A new lamp is also in the works for that corner...something a little more porchey....that's a word....right???  Haha!

This back wall was also painted as it had been the dark, forest green to match the stripes.  It's the same blue paint in Nikkel's room...had a bit left over and figured we may as well use what we have!  Sconces were added on each side of that window.    The black little table there had been in the living room housing our tv....but I think it works okay out there.  This wall needs something yet...art, porchey type things.  I have some floating shelves that could be staggered here...just not sure yet.

Here's a close-up of the fabrics.  I fell in love with the birds and flowers.  We are really loving our backyard and learning about all the birds...so it just seemed perfect for the room.

 As far as sewing the cushions, I just kind of winged it and traced the shape of the cushion and went for it.  The only thing I wish I had done was make it just a bit tighter.  I went with the measurements of the seat and really I should have gone down in a inch....I can always go and take it in....but we'll see how much it really bugs me over time....sewing that large cushion closed was a bit of a challenge.  The pillows....the two long ones on the back are envelope style pillows and the red ones have zippers.  Zippers can be tricky, but I got it down pretty well by sixth pillow ;-) So, overall, I'm really pleased with how it all turned out.  

If you're ever in the neighborhood, please stop over and join us on the porch for a cup of tea or a G&T! 

Big Boy Bed

Any guesses who that boy is in the big boy bed???

 It's Nikkels!!!!!!!!!!

I had been digging my heels in a bit making the transfer from crib to bed.  Part of it had to do with not wanting to admit my little guy is not so much of a baby anymore.  But mostly, I wasn't sure how the transition would go....would he be out of his bed a million times in one night?  Would he be up at 5:30 in the morning staring at me from the side of my bed asking for breakfast?  Things are good in a crib...you put 'em in there and there they stay! Life is easy like that.  But, it was time.  PLUS, I had all these fun new things for his new room!  For starters, we painted the room blue as it had been RED....like crayon red.  The previous owners used this room for their office and it worked for that, not a little boys room.  So, I painted it blue and made the construction theme duvet cover and curtains.  The stuffed fabric, Smile, above his bed was in my room when I was a little girl. 

I made the duvet cover with the trucks for the top, and the underside is a soft flannel.  I put snaps in at the bottom of the duvet for easy washing and also attached snaps to the inside corners of the duvet and also to the comforter itself so it doesn't shift.  Snaps seem pretty easy to match up so I'm pretty pleased with how that turned out.

 The curtains are just sewn with finished edges and the hardware was from IKEA.  Super easy.

And now he gets to have big brother read him stories at night!

 And how is the transition???  Going well!  The first night he didn't make a peep.  Nap the 2nd day was no big thing as he was so tired.  But the 2nd night he was out a bunch of times....he'd peek out his door, then tiptoe to Dot's room.  I'd walk him back and he'd get back in bed.  Finally when he peeked out his door and saw me standing right there, that seemed to do the trick.  Each nap is getting easier and bedtime went really well tonight.  He seems happy enough as long as he can have some books in bed to read to Roger, his teddy bear.  And we haven't had any early birds....yet!

Farmor's Weaving

My Farmor in Sweden was an extremely talented textile artist.  She goes beyond the title of "weaver" when you see some of the things she created.  I sure wish I could ask her how she did things or to see her in action weaving.  One piece in particular is this tapestry that hangs in my cousins house.  My Dad sent me these pix and there has been much discussion, examination, and head scratching trying to figure out how exactly she made this.

You see, the yarn that runs up and down are the warp strings, they are the ones that go thru the loom.  The yarn running left to right are the weft that you shuttle back and forth on the warp.  So, there are these little "loops" that stick out from the main fabric.  The big question is how did she get them to stick out without ruining the tension of the rest of the warp strings?

It's clear to me that she had a separate bobbin or shuttle for each "bump" section and she wove more passes of weft on each of these "bumps"....but how did she release more warp strings without disrupting the rest of the main fabric?

Well, here's my take on it.  I was done with my sampler project and figured I would mess around with it before I cut it off the loom.  I believe that she hooked up those "bump" sections of warp string and wound them on the back beam of a 2nd loom...like she put two looms back to back and dressed one loom the normal way, but then took those sections of warp and used the wrapping back beam on a 2nd loom.  Since I don't have a 2nd loom, I had to weigh down those "bump" rows to create surface tension that matched the rest of the warp....so I very poorly wrapped my 3 "bump" sections around a 5 pound weight and hung it down the back of the loom.  I also didn't count for equal spacing...just kind of divided the warp strings into somewhat equal parts.

I made a bunch of bobbins and worked across to create the "pockets".  The weight didn't provide the best tension so it was really tricky to keep the warp where I need it to be and I encountered some "waving" of the fabric as it pulled differently so I place a wooden stick in the loops to help give it some structure when I started with main fabric weave after the "bumps".

 So, here are my pocket "bumps"...while very rough and obviously poorly constructed, I think I figured out how she did that tapestry and that's pretty much all I wanted to do was to figure it out.  And as you can see...once I did that....that was enough for me!  Haha!  It blows my mind that she made the huge tapestry. It is a treasure for sure!  

Loom Warping 101

I took a weekend weaving class a few weeks ago and since then I've been busy getting mine up and running.  The first thing I needed, that I didn't have, was a warping board.  I looked at some online but was turned away at the $150+ price tag for a few pieces of wood and some dowels.  So, of to Home Depot I went to get the supplies to make my own.  That's right...I spent a weekend with power tools!

I got 2 - 6' boards of oak to make the frame and 4-3' dowels for the pegs.  A little measuring, some sawing, some drilling, sanding, pounding and there you have it!  A warping board for around $30!

Worked pretty well!

The warping board keeps the warp organized, prepped for the loom and measures each strand the perfect length.  Once it's all done, you take it off and loop it in a chain like this until you are ready to put it on the loom.

Love that he is so interested in the loom and ready to help.

 Attaching the warp.

 These are the heddles.  They hold each warp strand through an eye in the middle of the heddle.  Each heddle is attached to one of the shafts that raise up and down which ultimately helps make the pattern.  This takes a long time to get just right.

 Once they are all through, you get to attach the ends and tighten up the warp....

 and finally get weaving!

 So fun! This is just a sampler to get a feel for different patterns and designs that can be done.  It's been fun, but now ready to finish sampler and move on to my first real project.....a scarf!