Indianhead Fiber Guild- January 5, 2012

Hello there, are you having a good weekend? Have you been working on anything that is fun?
I have to say during this break from school I am having alot of fun with different projects. I have been able to meet with wonderful ladies from different groups that I belong to. Some are new groups, as I have been saying that I was going to get to the meetings- things seem to always get in the way. So this year that is what I am working on, making time for things that make me happy and meeting up with friends to stay in touch and to just let them know they are important to me!
Having said that I finally made it to the Indianhead Fiber Guild meeting. What a great bunch of ladies! I immediately felt at home with Deb and the other ladies. They are all very helpful, down to earth ladies that share alot of the same interests that I have. I can't say how happy I am to have spent the day with these warm, friendly ladies.

Making a basket for your fleece/yarn and your drop spindle.



I look mean in this picture. But I was really concentrating! LOL



Adding some of the color. I picked green, of course. There was also purple, red, blue.

This is what it looks like when you are first starting out. Of course we soaked all of the wood in water so that it would be bendable.



Everyone was having a good time weaving.




Busy at work. As you can see I did not get a picture of the Spinner who was teaching us how to make these. She was busy running around the room helping people.




Mikhaila really liked making this basket. Of course she is a tight weaver , just like she is a tight knitter!




As you can tell the pictures are not in order. Here she is putting the edging on the top of the basket. She looks like she is sewing, which she is as she is putting the edge and the braid together.




Yes this is the turtle look. LOL Do you like her hat? It is one of her own creations.





These are the ladies, not all of them of course. Their baskets are wonderful! We did a great job getting together at 1 and leaving at 5:30 with a done basket!





Yes Mom I am almost done!





My finished basket. I am a loose weaver so my basket turned out bigger.




This is the inside of the basket. Quite roomy.




Here is the place you put your spindle. It even comes with a strap.




As you can see Mikhaila is a different size then mine and a different shape, she is a tight weaver. She did not put the spindle holder on the outside as she is going to us it as a pocketbook.




As you can see her basket is alittle smaller. I think her is darling. It was really interesting to see that each basket turned out differently.

 I want to say a big thank you to all the wonderful ladies who gave us such a warm welcome. Thanks  to Deb for haviong us all in her kitchen. A huge thank you to Kathy for teaching all of us how to weave a basket!

Spinning Group meeting - Jan 10, 2012

Hey there. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I am trying to get some paperwork and some blog entries done, I like sharing with you what we have been creating in our little corner of Wisconsin.
School has really put a kink in my getting to some of the groups that I belong to. I missed the Spinning meeting last month because my car was not working at all. So I was very excited to be able to make the latest Spinning Group meeting.
The group meets once a month at a members house. We share what we have been working on, what is going on in our lives. We talk about the fiber animals we raise, the yarn or fiber we have been making. There are sometimes demos- this meeting we had lots of demos! We also have a lunch andd just have a good time hanging out with others that share our love of fiber and spinning.
Now I have been going to the group for almost a year and I am finally just getting to try my hand at spinning. I have been dreaming of making my own yarn out of my own fiber FOREVER!!!! I am borrowing a spinning wheel and all I can say is I want my own now more than ever! But then again with having a spinning wheel you need all the carders, fleece and all the other things that go with it..... so for now I am borrowing- I really appeciate Cris letting me borrow her Kiwi!



Carmella showing the box she made out of a Christmas card, this was the demo for December. Alot of the ladies made these little boxes with grandkids and really had a great time.




We learned to make book art. These are older books, upcycled into new works of art that can be hung on the wall or displayed on a shelf in your house.




Here is another one folded differently. I really like this one it reminds me of a Chinese lantern.




Cathy start off by showing us how to rip the fabric for making the coasters or the basket. These strips will be what goes around the clothing line that we are using to make the project. You can buy clothing line at a big box store or the dollar store- whatever you have in your area.




Here is where you start- the middle. As you can see there is fabric wrapped around the cord. At the very tip (the begin we used glue to make sure the fabric stays put. Then basically what you are doing is sewing the side from one to the side of the other, using a zigzag stitch. When you need to get to the next part of the fabric, just grab those threads and it will swing it around towards you and you can keep on sewing.




As you can see we wrapped the cord and then held the fabric in place with a big clip. We keep the rope attached to it so that we can go as big as you want if you are making a basket. When changing the color you are wrapping you can just cut the one fabric, put the next color on and put a dab of glue on the new fabric to keep it there.




Alittle closer so you can see the stitches.



These are the wonderful coasters that she brought  with. They are made the same way the basket is made.I really need to make some of these for myself as well as for some gifts!




This is one of the demos that she showed us. How to start curving it to turn it into a basket.



As you can see you actually are pulling it up and curving it while you are sewing. These baskets are also on my list to make. They are just so cute and would be great to have to hold yarn or some of the pieces I am working on for my quilt.

Cathy is getting the inside of the tie removed and also taking the thread off that holds the tie together.



This is the necklace that she made out of mens ties. Isn't it cute? The color is actually more purple with a burgundy stripe. You put wooden beads inside the fabric after you take the tie apart, you would use floss thread or light crochet thread depending what color you need to tie after each bead. 




Another ruffle scarf made with a different yarn. I really love these colors!




Carmella working on the basket. You can see the red basket that is finished right by the sewing machine.





A really cool ruffle scarf that Cathy showed folks how to knit.




One of the supervisors of the day. The other one was always in a bag or a box so she did not get her picture taken.

 All I can say was the day was wonderful and inspiring to say the least. I really am happy that I belong to some different groups that share the same interests that I do. I also appreciate when people share their patterns, ideas. I mean that is the real reason to be in groups, to bounce ideas off each other and learn from others failures and successes.