Where Does the Time Go?

The time has been moving fast and I barely get a to do list written and the day is gone and the list gets longer and I procrastinate more. Things do get checked off but not as fast as I'd like and the Twittering and the Facebook and the Ravelry and I am allowing them to interfere with my work rather than spending a few minutes and moving on. Things I need to work out.

But the shop stuff is progressing and getting better and I've had top notch teachers over these last couple of years and the rest of the year and 2010 are shaping up to be just as good.

Last weekend Jane Patrick (from Schacht Spindle Company, former editor of Handwoven Magazine and auther of Time to Weave and an upcoming rigid heddle book) was here and it was fantastic and wonderful and eye opening.

Here she is demonstrating one of the MANY rigid heddle techniques we learned over the weekend. It was a wonderful class. I know I said that but I am still amazed.

In the end even Jane couldn't resist buying some fiber and Chelsea was happy to help.

Friday and Saturday I paid as much attention as a could while trying to be hostess to the students and manage the shop stuff that couldn't be avoided. But on Sunday Jane taught at Woven Art in East Lansing and I got to take the class and have that as my single focus.

The above photo is my warp through a double heddle before being tied to the front beam.

Marilyn was there and this was such a cute photo I couldnt't resist adding it.

Here's Jane helping out and Lynmarie hard at work.

I have been a bad bad blogger and have very few photos and not even one of the sleepover where the bad girls were badder than ever.

For those of you who ar4en't on my email list, the shop hours are changing as of May 5.

New hours are Tuesday 10 to 5, Wednesday 10-5, Thurday 10 to 8, Friday 10-5 and Saturday 10-4 and closed Sunday and Monday.

If you'd like to be on the email list so you can stay up with the upcoming classes and new shop additions you can sign up on the website on the contact us page.

I am off to bed now because there is a spectacular weaving class beginning tomorrow with Gisela Bosch. I need to be well rested for the brain fill up.

Transformation

This post has a lot of pictures and very few words.
Chelsea made me go to Ikea, as you know. So here are some before photos of the rooms we fixed up.
This first room has the needles, spindles, some wheels and books.

The other room had carders, small tools, small looms and the Wall O'Fleece.

That's Ian (Chelsea's) and little buster helping to assemble the new shelves after a trip to return them due to a purchase of the wrong color.

Here they are mid fleece move.

This is the wall where the Wall O Fleece used to be...somuch better...yes, there are 5 carders and a picker on that table.

Her eis the Wall O'Fleece organized and lovely.

Beauty shot of the labels Chelsea made....with a lock of the fleece easy to see so you don't have to pull out every basket.

Another angle of that room.

Here's the main room. With Chelsea fixing the vacuum. All that fiber is really hell on the shop vacuums. Anyway, I am very happy with the whole thing. There's still plenty to do but everything keeps getting better.

On Saturday the posse showed up....Carla, Erica, Katherine...

These two lovely ladies. I have completely forgotten their names (give me a break, it's late)

And Jillian who is always a blur.

Saturday was gone before I knew it and then it was time for Sunday.

Marilyn was having a show opening to show off her quilts at Woven Art in Lansing and so we had to go. Isn;t she lovely...oh, that scarf? Handspun and beaded by her daughter in law Tammy.

This quilt is made with fabric that was originally black, then the color was removed and it was overdyed with indigo. It was my favorite.

And just one more for good measure.

Chelsea was doing fancy stuff with her camera.

Home we went so I could get ready for today.

And her4e she is. Favorite of the day. I gave her a short spinning lesson, maybe ten minutes and she was making great yarn. She'll be taking a new wheel back to Isreal with her.

O.K. I am going to bed.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

It was our first trip to Ikea. I was excited!
There was so much to see and lots of things to dream about. This was Chelsea's dream bedroom.

We walked through the whole store and when we were done making our list it was time for lunch!

We both chose the delicious Swedish meatballs. I went with the macaroni and cheese and Chelsea had the mashed taters.

We even had some delicious fizzy juices.

Yummy.

We had a cart with 30 banana fiber baskets.

The bottom right corner of that sign says "not actual size". It made us both giggle.

We had 2 full carts.

Will it fit?

I went back in to buy tie down straps.

We got it all in. It was like a little vacation...until we had to load the car. But we have lots of new ideas for shop shelving now and I found some cute little chairs to get next time we go back. Tomorrow is assembly day and the moving of the Wall O' Fleece. Our goal is to make it more manageable and easier to find fleece types. It'll help Chelsea and it'll help those who are looking for specific breeds. Yay! Photos after it's all rearranged.

When we got home I made some chili for dinner and then we headed off to the salon.

Here's my new hair. It's a lot blonder than it looks in this photo. And it feels like spring.