Breaking News!!!

 

 

The space looks so big! But already it is getting filled with looms.

 

We are now into September and I have taken the day off to make blueberry jam, bread and do a much needed clean up at home - well so far the jam and bread are done and a quick sweep started, but I got sidetracked sorting out some wool and things for the studio - I miss the studio!
 And the breaking news??
Leola's Studio has expanded again! There are now three studios of which all are full and busy. The original studio I partially use for my younger students and the overflow for The Loom with spinning and weaving supplies, the second for classroom with a dye kitchen out back, and the third for classroom and a Gallery - where handmade beautiful things can be purchased. Please come and have a look - we are going to have an official opening soon. Join us and create on the community looms - rag rugs, hand towels, blankets and our new warp will be for comfort shawls or prayer shawls for those in need of a special 'wrap me up and soothe me' shawl. We are hoping to make it a true community loom, we provide the warp and you provide the weft. A donation will be accepted and then in turn a donation will be made to hospice or other charity, as well as to purchase more yarn if needed. Please take part, as there are a lot of people that require comfort. Meanwhile the rag rug community looms are in high demand and I need to warp another rag rug warp for three friends coming to weave - we have named them the girlfriend looms. It is a wonderful way to experience a working studio - no, you do not have to have prior weaving experience.

A rag rug in progress

Debbie at work......the room now has about 6 looms and the front space is
for our retail

A beautiful blanket woven in the new
expanded studio by Debbie who will be assisting us










Slocan Lake

I think the last time I posted was just I before I left for the Kootenays where I had a very restful time, sleeping, swimming and reading nestled on my beach surrounded by my mountains and quiet. The highlight of my visit was a wonderful day with my weaving teacher Wanya Twan. I drove over to Kaslo and spent the day talking non-stop reflecting on just about everything. It was inspiring - one of the reasons I am doing what I am doing is because of Wanya. Her teaching style is unique and beautifully traditional. Wanya has an aura about her that is healing as well as instructive. She is from Sweden and learned at the H.V. school and Lila Lundall was her teacher. I was fortunate to study with Lila as well in Stockholm. I had the opportunity to apprentice with Wanya, so I feel very fortunate to have had her as my foundation teacher. Cherryville was a place of such energy and creativity.
 The day was so rich and full, that it is hard to explain. I can only say that it strengthened me in my focus and my goal to teach and share as much as I can with what I love best.

Lunch on the porch.....





I took pictures of weaving and other textiles and Wanya gave me this amazing felted piece that blows everyones minds....

Yes, it is wool, wet felted - it is hung now in the studio. Come and see it in person!



Kaslo is a lovely little town on Kootenay Lake, just 30 minutes from New Denver on a delightful road, saw a couple of bear and missed a moose by 5 minutes acccording to some tourists.

 A lot of the  houses are Victorian in Kaslo and Wanya was intrigued and delighted by some of the old wallpaper in her house - made of linen!



Yes, woven with rags.....

I have many more pictures and will post more later. One of my favourite pieces - a tapestry woven with rags that Wanya purchased in Sweden. I took tapestry weaving with Jane Kidd in 1972 (yes I know that is a long long time ago!) and I didn't have any money for supplies, so I decided I would just weave with rags. I have always been rather partial to rags and now I want to weave tapestry with rags - just something to do!



Dolls made by 7 and 8 year olds - aren't they delightful?



August was incredibly busy in the studio - I didn't take but two days off in three weeks. It was exhilarating and it was hard to stop. I had lots of kids for 'textile camp' and it was really fun.

Sophie's Story Pillow
a special pocket in the back for
a bedtime storybook



My grandson learning to weave!



Hailey's blanket with the source of inspiration,
The Crane's Wife. This blanket won first at the Cobble Hill Fair!

The kids were all felting as well, and a couple of the students are now making coffee cozies to sell in the Gallery. Another student also won a first at the fair for her needle felting, but I didn't take a picture yet - she is also selling it because she is saving for a sewing machine - I guess my teaching extends to entrepreneurship too!

Speaking of felting, here I am fulling with my feet. Thought I would try it and it worked to a certain extent! And it was fun.

And right next to my dye kitchen is a Cowichan carver currently working on a totem. The studio does not lack for creative energy. It is truly a small community of creative folk.

Herb Rice, Cowichan carver

The fibre fairs are just getting better and better. Fibrations, a new fleece and fibre show held in the St. Ann's Academy Orchard in Victoria, was fabulous. We had so much fun and we worked hard. The 'Shawnigan Girls', Devon, Sandy and myself were next to each other and we didn't stop the whole day. It was great and I am still getting calls from people that want to take classes. What a great great day. And so I think I will end. I have a busy day tomorrow in, where else? The Studio! 

In the pink.....

Afternoon in the studio...

Pink epitomizes the pinnacle of quality, according to the http://www.phrase.org/ - Elizabeth I admired the variety of dianthus flower as we now know as 'pinks' where the idea of excellence comes in. Whether the colour pink came first or the flower can be argued, but the verb is rather interesting, and being all things to me are wrapped around textiles - the verb pink, means to cut or pierce - the edges of the flowers look to be 'pinked' - voila - pinking shears!

I have a fondness for pinks - my grandmother's garden had a mass of them, but it was the smell that swept me away. My first bouquet from my husband was a posy of pinks.......however, I love tulips as well and today this is what swept me away. That and pink of course - it is just that time of year I guess. And it is quite a wonderful colour I must say - I am quite tickled pink to be celebrating the colour.

The dressed window at The Loom - advertising the Spin In! at Providence Farm this Monday - which just happens to be Valentine's Day. 10-2

Come and spin wool for the new Textile Program at Providence using the farm's wool. Lunch and wool will be provided. Bring your spinning wheels and spin to your heart's content.

Now what else has been happening at the studio these days. I can see why people write regularly on their blogs, as it is hard to keep up with all the goings on. It is my students that are working the hardest these days. I know I am teaching, but what they are producing is nothing short of wonderful. Michelle is working on a blanket that is so rich that it

is almost hard to be near it! There are these little sequins that wink at me when the light is right - wool, rayon, and our new favourite yarn Berroco Lustra.........

The blanket is threaded to a goose-eye block - very electric!

One of the other fabulous students, Alison, wove her first scarves with beautiful Sublime and Little Flowers, Lustra and Mochi Plus. When I think of the fibres we had 35 years ago, so limiting that you had to spin for interest. Now with knitting being so popular, the fibres available are amazing. We are so lucky to have such a variety. Speaking of fibres - the studio is now carrying a line of linen - we have a distributer right in the Cowichan Valley.
Alison is now on her second warp for handtowels ready to weave her twill sample - a variation on each towel.

My best weaving friend Ann and I had a draw down night a couple of weeks ago, both hand and PCW - we had a great time, but one of the best parts of the night was this wonderful book on stripes which I will make sure I include the title in the next blog. I cannot remember the name of the author and I would like to quote some of the content - it is sure to make you look at stripes a different way. If I can figure out how to edit in after posting, I will edit it when I get to the studio. I used her 'harmonies' of stripes as an example of designing stripes with Alison and Kate (who hates stripes) - and the 'striping' they are getting up to is awesome.

And then my dear student Nadine....she has the ability to make things happen when they are supposed to - all the planets are aligned in the right order and the energy around her just makes things happen. Nadine had a warp on for some time to do cushion covers for her dining room chairs - a bold red and brown warp, with this electric blue thread running at regular intervals........but it just stalled. Along came Nadine and along came Gaye from the Loom with this wonderful sari strips all sewn together and wow - chair covers woven in no time flat and

they are fabulous. I look forward to seeing them on the chairs in her beautiful home.

I have so much more to write, but I am saving some for the next blog which I hope to do soon - my favourite Shetland wool will be celebrated with Alberta's most wonderful warp - stay tuned.

And I leave you with Gabriele's stripes - pre-stripe book - she has the stripes down - lovely Super 10 and a hint of cotton boucle....it will be a beautiful runner - perhaps the weft will be linen....

And don't forget to put the Unfinished Project Project on your calendar. February 26th and 27th at Whippletree Junction in the courtyard, 10-3.........bring your mug, lunch, projects, yarn exchange etc. etc.

email if you have questions or phone the Loom.