Spooner Advocate Column- March 28, 2013

Good morning- I am so glad to be back in our little neck of the woods! I am sorry that I missed the column last week I was in Green Bay for the AIHEC Conference.  The AIHEC Conference is held yearly, in different states for all the Native Colleges from across the US to come to and compete in different categories. It was a great time, I met some really nice people, competed against worthy advocates and got to see Green Bay too! LCO Community College did a great job and came home with many awards. I am proud of all the hard work and time that all the competitors put into their events. You all did an amazing job and showed everyone that LCO Community College can really do battle against the other Colleges! I look forward to going again next year and winning even more competitions!

 

I want to send out a BIG THANK YOU to whoever plowed my driveway on the last snow fall. I am hoping that we are seeing the last of the snow, however it is still March! I am so thankful for you! You have no idea what a blessing that you have been to us!

 

The next election for the town of Springbrook is April 2. Springbrook will hold its meetings and elections at the VFW meeting room in Springbrook until further notice. The polls are open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. Questions, please call Kathy Helm, 715.766.2155.

 

Happy birthday to all those March birthdays out there! Hope you have a beautiful birthday. You are special, and we love you!

 

On April 6, 2013 St Joseph's Annual Quilt Show will be held in Rice Lake. St. Joseph's is located at 111 W Marshall Street, Rice Lake. THe quilt show runs from 9 am -3 pm, admission is $3.00. There will be all kinds of quilts to look at, vendors and also if you are interested in knitting, spinning or talking about yarns and fiber the Spinning group from the Rice Lake area will have a table all set-up. The show is always a good one to go check out, we had a great time there last year! Come on out and get inspired!

 

Well Easter is right around the corner, hard to believe. I pray that you all have a wonderful time during this Easter holiday and Spring break. Remember God loves you, even if we think He can't/won't/doesn't. He would not have sent his son Jesus to take our punishment if He did not cherish us. I wish all my readers and their families a blessed Easter. 

 

Things to put on your calendar ...

 

Shephard's Harvest, May 11-12, 2013 at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Lake Elmo, MN. They are open Sat 9-5 pm and Sun 10-4 pm, admission is FREE! More information or to sign-up for classes held on May 10 please go to their website- www.shephardsharvestfestival.org .

 

Minnesota Quilters 35th annual Quilt Show and Conference. This year it is in Duluth, Minn., on June 13-15. Classes begin June 12. You can get more information off their website, www.mnquilt.org/mq2013. Good luck to all those quilters who put their beautiful creations in quilt shows, I hope you win some ribbons! I know I am always inspired by each creation that I see when I go to the shows. We really have some talented people out there. 

 

Wisconsin Farm Tech Days July 9-11, 2013. Held at Breezy Hill Dairy, 147 16th Street, Dallas, WI. They will be open 9-5 pm daily, further information www.barronfarmtech.com .   

 

The 2013 Hayward Quilt Show is July 26-27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Flat Creek Inn in Hayward. If you have questions or donations please contact haywardpiecemakers@hotmail.com.

 

I just wanted to ask all those in the area to let me know what is going on. There must be something going on at the churches, quilting groups, 4-H or something.  I appreciate all of you reading the column weekly. Until next week, do something unexpected for someone else.

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.