Stormy Saturday

Here is my painting in progress, very preliminary. More a study to learn more about painting leaves. For me though, the fact I began is big...It has been a difficult year or so for many reasons and my creative well has been so dry for so long and yet the urge to paint is sometimes all I can think about...


Today I went to my spinning guild meeting which is held most of the year at Slater Mill. Slater is a historic spinning and weaving mill where the birth of industrialization began, so it is pretty cool that we meet here. There are also knitting, weaving, quilting and basket making guilds now meeting here on a regular basis as well as a variety of classes making it a valuable fiber arts center. Todays meeting was focusing on plying techniques and needle felting, with these being demonstrated by members. We was given a felting needle and some dyed fiber to make a pumpkin. There is a good tutorial on You Tube. There was also a demonstration on making center pull balls of yarn and this is show it being done using a nostepine. That's Cindy demoing...Judy was beside her. I took their pictures but I didn't bet permission to post them but I'll link their blogs.
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Then we have Stan with his needle felted cigar and in his lap he is working on an ash tray. Jen is hard at work on an angel.


And the result of my needle felting...still needs finishing but I need more light. As I was adding the wool I was thinking it is a watercolor pumpkin because the wool I was given is multicolor , so it was not just one shade of orange.



So for a very stormy Saturday it was a great day. Some research dealing with my painting, a trip to Utrecht's for a couple of tubes of needed paint and another sheet of 300 lb paper with a 40% coupon, and then to the guild meeting where it is always good to hang out with my creative, fun friends, some of whom I have known now a good many years. Yes, today was a filling of the well.

Have a good evening and thanks for reading. Peace.

Surprise!

Now I can post the photo of the finished knitted item. It was a gift for our very pregnant Nuala, the secretary of our knitting guild. She has three little boys and this little one is a girl. She offered to have the July meeting at her home and one of our members suggested a baby shower, a surprise. We all loved the idea and it was just the best. I really looked forward to this and enjoyed the knitting of the sweater for the baby and possibly because Nuala is just a great person. The baby received woven wash cloths,hand knit and machine knit sweaters, hats, socks(real socks)shawls for nursing, felted booties. We just threw ourselves into this and had the best time. The baby is due September 1. Nuala states she will be at the next meeting, August 8. Funny aside, the next meeting is at the home of our resident midwife...how cool is that. Hmm...

Belonging to guilds have enriched me. I have been apart of my spinning and knitting guilds for close to 15 years, and weaving guild alittle less on and off. The comradery in learning and trying new things is invaluable, not to mention we become apart of each others lives. We are as diverse as we can be in age, beliefs, married, single, widowed, ect. and yet we pretty much just blend and it is something I am really grateful for. Some of our groups have smaller spin off groups, probably pun intended...and those groups have kept me personally afloat in some very real ways in the past couple of years and I guess today I just want to say a public thank you to them, they know who they are. We share, encourage, laugh, untangle balls of sock yarn that beagle #2 tried her hand at, we are just there... So it was with great pleasure to share Thursday night with my guild and Nuala's family.

Here is my next wound warp. 392 ends of cotton novelty of which I dyed some. It will go one the loom as double width and it will be a baby blanket. I am stuck on blankets and shawls and my lttle tapestry deal is still on the other loom.

Have a great day and thanks for reading.