I'm taking a bit of a break and heading south to Missouri to visit friends. I'll be doing spinning demonstrations at Luticia Clementine's, on the Square in Independence on Friday. Stop in and say hi (and do some shopping) if you're in the neighborhood!
I'll leave you with this wonderful whirligig yard art we saw last weekend. It was mesmerizing, there are so many things moving on it.
Yesterday Mom and I went to my sister's place, then the three of us went eagle watching on the Mississippi. The eagle congregate here as they follow the open water north. There were a lot of eagles!
It was a beautiful, sunny, 50+ day. We walked with Mom along the river, and at one point tried to stop to take a photo of her. She was having none of that, and kept pulling us along. She refused to stop. It must have tuckered her out as she fell asleep as soon as we got back in the car. It was a really nice day.
On the way home, I was admiring the sunset and finally had to pull over to take a photo. It was a deserted county road, so no worries there. I was trying to beat the sunset, and started snapping photos as soon as I turned the camera on.
I forgot that I had it on manual focus.
I like the first one better!
Well, that dream got shattered pretty quickly. I drove over there and checked out the building. Now, the listing said to be torn down or moved. I could not figure out how they thought you could move that building. It was surrounded on three sides by buildings, and huge oak trees on the other side. I did not see any way that it could be moved in one piece. It would have to be torn down and then put back up. That is way beyond my abilities. Hiring it done would be cost prohibitive. Man, did I want that building though. He was nice, and gave me first refusal (he had two others interested but wanted to give me first crack at it because I was close) but I had to pass. Insert heavy sigh here. Even if I had been able to get it out of the yard, it was tall enough that I think the utilities would have to come out. I counted at least 17 line crossings, and at $250 each, that wouldn't happen either.
To torture myself, occasionally I go to this site and drool. They save and restore old buildings. Check out their barn and cabin inventory. Sigh. Do you think they would barter for a whole bunch of handspun yarn?
Isn't this the cutest building you ever saw? Oh, maybe it's just me.
It is Craigslist listing that turns out to be only 8 miles away from me. It is 14' by 28', has a second story with a staircase. The roof is bad. No matter, I want it so bad I can taste it.
I am imagining a farm store/studio. Fiber/supplies storage on the second floor, yarn/fiber store on the first floor, with room to spare to hold classes and spinning group meetings. I also imagine my friends sitting around picking guitars, mandolins, autoharp, and a mountain dulcimer or two. A wood cookstove maybe for heat.
I also picture adding a screened porch to one long side, where Mom can sit in bug-free peace looking out over the garden. Yes, I already have the spot to put it all picked out.
Now if only I could also imagine the money to pay for all of it.
I think my trees are trying to kill me. At the very least, they are making me miserable. Right around this time of year for the past couple of years, I get allergies. I never had them before, so I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on. For a while, I thought it was those pesky Asian Ladybeetles, because it seemed to happen when the beetles start getting active again when the sun warms the windows in February. When they bite me, I get a huge welt too. Come on, it's not like anything blooms in February around here!
I found out today using the trusty Google, that maple tree allergies usually start in February in my area. Bingo. There is a reason I call this place Maple Corners. I have maple trees all around me. Lovely.
The site I found also said that allergies can cause mental dullness and fatigue. I'm totally using that as my excuse for my mental dullness. I forgot to close the chicken coop door last night. Everybody is fine, but the stupid roosters were right outside my window this morning before 6 crowing their fool heads off.
Pardon me, I must blow my nose now. Have a great weekend!
P.S. Can any allergy sufferers out there recommend a seriously non-drowsy OTC allergy medication? I can't take anything that might knock me out or make me loopy(er), I have to remain able to be on full alert with Mom, of course.
When I bought this place, the living room had curtains that were not to my taste. At all. It looked like a 70's wedding dress had thrown up all over the windows. Yards and yards of tulle with flounces and bows and ruffles. Eeew. I took it all down immediately, stuffed it in a bag, and put it upstairs. I offered it up on Freecycle, but had no takers. I can't imagine why. So it has been in a bag taking up space for almost nine years. When my friend was over a couple of weekends ago, we were working on organizing the fiber room. I found this bag of tulle and decided it just had to go. I hate throwing away (packrat much?) something like this, perfectly fine fabric/curtains that I had no use for. The bag went out in the hallway in the pile of stuff to get rid of.
Then we came upon the idea of the shoe organizer/fiber pocket storage. But where to hang them? All of my wall space in the fiber room was already used. The guest bedroom had some wall space, but I really wanted to try to keep it as guest bedroom like as possible. We happened to be standing in the guest bedroom, then walked out into the hallway/landing. Duh! Perfect wall space right there in the stairwell! Look at all that otherwise wasted space! I decided I would make my own fiber pockets. As I was rummaging around in my fabric stash, I found the perfect almost canvas-like base. But what about the pockets? Why, the tulle! It would be see through, so I could see what fiber was in the pocket, I could make use of the tulle, perfect! Let me tell you, that tulle is slippery crap and hard to sew, but I did it.
I hung it on a dowel suspended by two cup hooks screwed into the wall. That is the stairwell. I have room for another shorter one, to the left of this. I have to sew it yet. There is still wall space left though, so I didn't stop there.
I hung long lengths of roving on the one wall, the two over the door pocket organizers my friend gave me hold finished batts, and the pocket organizer I made holds loose dyed fibers. That is, dyed fibers not in roving form. 
More dyed braided roving went on the little landing wall where the steps turn the corner.
It is like a huge design wall. I can stand there in one spot and see all of the dyed fibers I have to choose from when designing a batt colorway. I can already see a color combination I wouldn't have thought of without seeing it first. (The melon roving in the middle, combined with the teal to the left of it, and maybe the blue to the lower right of it. It would have a Southwest feel to it.)
My fiber room no longer has a huge pile of little bags of dyed fiber. Now it just has a huge pile of huge bags of roving from the mill. At least I can walk in there now though. And the stairwell is a lot prettier with the roving covering most of the ugly brown paneling. Win all the way around!
Anybody want some tulle? I still have a whole bag left, I only used part of one curtain panel. No really, anybody want some?
The mosaic shows the progression from colorway inspiration photo to finished piece.
In the end, I went with something completely different. A comment about the organic nature of it reminded me of a couple of deer antler buttons I had. One of them even had a tinge of bluegray on it, so I went with that.
Unlike some, I don't have an issue wearing/using a button made from deer antler. I'd much rather see it put to a use other than hanging as a trophy on a wall. Besides, for all I know, this could have been made from a shed antler, found before a mouse or other rodent ate it for the calcium.
