• Updates

    #100DaysOfFiberArts

    One of the things I’ve noticed about myself is that having external motivation (and sometimes, deadlines) is really important for getting things done. Just having a box to check at some point during the day makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something (even if it’s been one of those days where just getting out of bed, managing my hair, and putting calories and caffeine in myself is a challenge). On those days when I’m on the struggle bus, it’s even more important that the box to be checked is really just about progress. This challenge wasn’t about completing certain projects – it was about doing *something* fiber related for at…

  • Living History,  Updates

    Back Into the Swing of Things

    Back on May 16th, I got up early, put on funny clothes, and got in the car to head out to the High Point Museum to do a flax spinning demo. I’d loaded my wheel and most of my gear the night before, and just had a few things to grab in the morning. In 2019, that would have been a pretty typical Saturday. It should have been a typical Saturday in 2020 as well. It was definitely not a typical Saturday in 2021. It was my first event back post-vaccine. It was outdoors and small (about half a dozen of us in kit, with under 50 total visitors over…

  • Updates

    Fits and Starts

    Back at the beginning of the year, I set some goals for myself. I’m doing pretty well at getting two blog posts done each month (even if I just squeak them in by writing the draft on the last day of the month and publishing it in on first day of the next month). I’m close to finishing the second of three fiber arts related challenges I’ve set for myself. But my other goal – completing six living history projects in 2021 – is going much less well. How much less well? As of April 28th, I’ve completed one of the six projects. And I completed that *on* the 28th.…

  • Gardening,  Updates

    Garden Update: Spring is Here (Ish)

    Spring is a sort of fickle thing here in North Carolina. It’s cold, and then it’s Pollen Everywhere. And then it’s comfy for about a week, and then it starts getting hot. But it might suddenly get cold again (very unpredictably). It can make it a bit challenging to figure out when tender plants can actually go outside and stay there. Last spring I made the mistake of thinking it was done being cold in mid-March. Yes, our last average frost is around April 17, but it was in the 70s last March. Which also meant I put in tomatoes and peppers too soon. Even covered, there was some cold…

  • Close up of a spinning wheel with geometric decorations sitting on a glass table. Black cat with red collar in the background.
    Equipment,  Spinning,  Updates

    Spinning Wheels Are Like Pretzels – It’s Hard to Stop at One

    Okay, it’s usually potato chips, but I’m not as much a fan of those snacks, so I changed the phrase. Moving on… A couple weeks ago, someone in one of the Facebook spinning wheel groups posted a photo of a wheel that they were considering acquiring. That inspired me to go check eBay for antique wheels. I do it from time to time, but rarely find anything worth dealing with the potential hazards of shipping a wheel (or find one that’s amazing but way too expensive for me). So imagine my surprise when I found a *really interesting* looking wheel. The seller described it as a “German Bride wheel”. It…

  • Odds and Ends,  Updates

    One Year Later

    A lot of folks have written things over the last week(ish) about where we are a year into the Covid-19 pandemic. I can’t really speak to the science, the public health, or societal effects, but I can talk about the effects that it’s had on me over the last 12 months. This may drift around and ramble a bit, but I’d say that’s what the last 12 months have been like in general – bouncing from one random bit of chaos to another, with some things seeming to go on forever. I’m generally pretty good about staying up on the news, so I was watching the emergence of Covid-19 somewhat…

  • Gardening

    Growing the Garden

    Outside of fiber arts and living history activities, I’ve always had an interest in plants and gardening. Between college and grad school, I even worked at a garden center near where I lived. I’ve had houseplants since college, and the number of plants in the house increased significantly while I’ve been staying close to home due to Covid. With today’s temperatures in the 70s (there’s more cool temperatures left until it’s really spring), I started reflecting on the past year’s garden and thinking about what I want to do this year. Last spring, I put in my largest garden to date. Not having events to go to, it gave me…

  • Spinning,  Updates

    #Spin15ADay Challenge

    Having taken stock of my fiber stash over the holidays, I realized that I needed to start spinning more before I ran out of space for fiber. Or needed to get (even more) creative when it comes to fiber storage. So I decided that my first challenge for the year would be #Spin15ADay – to spin for at least 15 minutes every day during the month of January. Over the course of the month, my spinning time usually happened in the evenings, but time spent on the task varied. Sometimes I was squeezing in 15 minutes with a drop spindle right before bedtime, and sometimes I was spending the afternoon…

  • Equipment,  Spinning

    Ashford Traveller

    I bought my first spinning wheel only a few months after I learned to spin in the spring of 2008. I had an on campus job throughout the school year, and summer work lined up, so I had a bit of money I could spend. After looking around a bit, I decided on an Ashford Traveller. It looked like a solid wheel, and wasn’t too expensive, especially if I got one unfinished. So off I went to eBay, of all places, to order one. Of course I was telling myself I wasn’t going to put it together right away after it arrived, I’d save it for some point in time…

  • Resource Review

    Resource Review: 18th Century Embroidery Techniques by Gail Marsh

    I ordered this book earlier in 2020 after taking an embroidery workshop as part of the Beginner’s Guide to the 18th Century Virtual Workshop Weekend. I ordered my copy from Wm. Booth, Draper, but it is also available on Amazon. 18th Century Embroidery Techniques is based on Marsh’s Master of Arts thesis, and includes an introduction, two large subdivided sections, two appendices, a glossary, and bibliography. The book contains color photographs of many of the garments and items discussed, along with line drawings showing the details of embroidered sections. After briefly explaining in the Introduction how and why she wrote the book, Marsh moves into the first large section of…