Still here, still working on the blasted tapestry.

Oh how time does fly!

Here it is 2017 and I'm still working on the sunflower tapestry. Progress is being made. I may even finish it before the end of the decade. Truth be told, I don't get out to the Shanty as much as I should these days.

Lest you think I'm completely slacking on craftyness, let me assure you that I have been carding fiber, spinning, and knitting. And there's that whole gardening thing. And now there's...[ta da!]...

Genealogy! You can read about that at my other blog, Rooted in Elizabeth.

Here is photographic proof of my efforts since last I wrote.

Well, first there were these guys. They sucked up most of my time in December 2015

[and lots of money too!] They were dumped out where I work, and after living on a manky deer carcass for five days I fed them and took them to my Vet's office to board. For three weeks. With the generosity of friends and strangers I didn't have to foot the bill all by myself, but boy was I glad to get these guys adopted out - one through the vet's office, and one through a very reputable rescue group. [I would have loved to keep the Doberman. What a complete goofy love muffin!]

Our own dog is getting older now (14!), but there are still walks and games and sleepovers with her doggie friends. We try to get her to day care twice a week, just so she can have an outing.






Here are some pics of things I made, though not all the things I've made! Must get better at taking finished object photos!

Spun lots of naturally colored wool.

Brilliantly dyed batt from Into the Whirled

On the bobbin

Done! Still haven't made anything with it!

To be carded, and carded fiber.

Lincoln, with mohair locks carded in.

I've been working on blending Ramboullet and Alpaca.

Studio. Birds eye view from the loft.

Sunflower on the loom. I'm a good bit past this part now.

 And around the house:

Strong young men with shovels built our new patio.
We built the lovely surround for the stairwell.

Spinning on the new patio, Teashanty in the distance.

The front garden with sunflowers of ridiculous proportions.

 And so it goes. We do a little of this, a little of that. And, apparently, not too much blogging on this site. I shall try to be better. But....genealogy! Really.

Happy New Year. May 2017 be way better than I expect it to be.

Springing into Summer

 

Where does the time go?

I think it gets scattered around the garden, gets sucked up in the vacuum cleaner, blows out the window on the drive to work, wanders off in the grocery store, gets stuck in the pages of magazines and books I've been reading, lies tangled up in my latest fiber project... well, you get the picture.

It's almost summer, and of course every day has been full of stuff and doings. Out in the garden, the strawberries and sugar snaps are done and gone. My first planting of beans are up. Ditto the zucchini and the cukes. There are little green tomatoes out there too! The cosmos have started to bloom, along with the marigolds, mums, and zinnias. The lavender is in full bloom and is buzzing with bees.

This month Eric and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary. (Time wooshing by. Again!) We had a lovely time at the Hotel Floyd, enjoyed some very nice meals at Mickey G's, Oddfellas Cantina, and had a tasty pizza at Dogtown Roadhouse . The galleries in town feature great local artists and crafts people. We enjoyed browsing, and I was certainly inspired by all that creativity. Also, I bought some yarn at the new knitting shop, Wooly Jumper Yarns, in downtown Floyd. I'm knitting a hat for Eric - photos to follow eventually. I'm still working on the 2/2 rib, which isn't terribly interesting to look at.

Last week I traveled with Eric and his mother, Joyce,  to Syracuse, NY to visit Joyce's brother and his wife. We stopped for the night in Sharpsburg, MD and stayed at a nice B&B quite near the battlefield at Antietam. Lovely old town with great old buildings. My favorite was this barn, in a backyard on the main street. I covet these crazy cupolas for my studio!

Up in Syracuse we enjoyed the company and the scenery, took in an exhibit of art quilts, visited the Art Park (always fun), had many fine meals, wandered around a rose garden in full bloom, and had a generally lovely time. I made a little slideshow of our visit, which you can view below.

I've also been spending a little time in the studio, but haven't got any photos to show just now. I'm making progress on a little set of tapestry samplers, almost done rethreading the new loom, and just about finished with those never-ending linen napkins. Progress on all fronts!

I hope your Spring has been lovely. Next week - Summer!

The Happy Valley Greeter...

No red vests for this guy! With plumage like that he's already the star of the valley!

For the past few weeks on our way to work in Happy Valley, Lawre and I have been greeted by this handsome fellow. This morning I had the camera close at hand. The tree he was perched in was right next to the road and we got fairly close - though I still had to use my zoom.

Then I guess we got too close, or maybe he was just tired of being hounded by paparazzi...
Isn't he lovely?

We're hoping that this spring he'll set up a nest and bring a mate to Happy Valley.

Any cool wildlife sightings where you live?

Catching Up

So, it's been a while. Ok, it's been months. But now I'm back, and I wanted to give an update on the bean tapestry. I finally got back into the studio this month so some progress has been made. Really, there's not that much more to go, maybe two inches or so. If the weather stays above freezing I just might get it done before New Years eve.

Coming down to the end - the eggplant and the background...

In other news... here's a brief tour of what else I've been up to since July. (Just so you don't think I've been sitting around twiddling my thumbs.) If you want the captions and some sketchy details, you can also view this on my Flickr page.




Of course there's been more day to day stuff than I can write, or that you'd probably want to read. If anything else of interest occurs to me I'll post again. Really!

Ta ta for now!
Liz