Ahhhhh the First Day of Fall!!! Just as if right on schedule, our temps dropped and it's a beautiful crisp fall day. We woke up this morning and noticed that some of the trees are just starting to turn along the edge of the nature preserve behind our home.
Hot coffee tasted especially nice this morning, looking out into the backyard from through the windshield of the motor home. Soon we had to crawl out of our cozy warm motorhome bed and head on into the house. Our plaster guy was coming over to do some more work and we wanted to get inside and take some quick showers and get started for the day.
It was such a pleasant morning, we kept the heat on for a little bit to warm things up in the she shed. I decided to work a little bit on my big Finlander Barn Loom. Working on another "farmhouse rug".
A fellow blog reader purchased one of these farmhouse rugs from me yesterday, and although she lives in Arkansas, she was up camping along the Wisconsin / Michigan border. So what did we do? We saved hast paying the $14 postage shipping fee and took a ride to her campground and personally delivered her rug to her. It was so fun to meet her in person and to share with her puppies and her travels. Thank you, Deanna!
So it's time to get back to the loom and weave up a couple more rugs. I only have a few left in my inventory so I should get a move on. The summer has passed quickly, and now with this cooler weather, I feel more like creating and exerting some energy to weave more rugs.
Sliding onto the bench of this great big contraption just puts a mesmerizing trance on me. I start weaving ---- the inches grow from underneath my fingers. The shuttles fly back and forth, and the fabrics keep up with the flow of the loom warp. I get up from time to time to advance the work for the next section to be woven.
I have my shuttles numbered so I can flow from section to section of the rug and not put too much of one color in one area and not enough in another. I alternate among the numbered shuttles weaving half of it off in each phase and then going back and weaving the other half off again in rotation.. It makes a nice harmonious blend of colors throughout the rug.
I love the nubby texture of where the seams of the rags are joined. It creates such a good interesting surface for a farmhouse rug. I am really enjoying making these rugs. They may be simple in nature of plain weave structure, but to me they are artistic in the flow of the colors. There's something soothing to my soul when I weave these rugs.
While I was working on the rug, Steve was in the garage double-checking the amounts of siding that we are going to put up around the window on the outside of the house. I think I have enough pieces of siding painted up in advance. The new trigger valve part is due to be here tomorrow, delivered by FedEx for his special siding air nailing gun. We really can't put up the siding without that. We called around to some places to see about renting one, but nobody has them. We really didn't want to have to buy another gun, they are over $200.00. He's not about to hammer it nail by nail. So once the new part comes, hopefully he can fix the air gun and we can get back to the siding.
The plastering is going well! He got a lot done this morning, and then left for a few hours for the newest surface to cure and come back later in the evening to spread the final coat. We are having it "skip troweled" so no sanding, no dust, no mess. It will be the same technique he used in the She Shed and we love the muted soft texture which can easily hide flaws or new damages that may happen over time.
The amount of lightness and brightness is so refreshing to see. Soon this will be all done and cured. Then I can prime and paint the white ceiling. The wall color is still up in the air. I like the ligher cream color with the slightly "pearl" color of trim. But then we tossed around the idea of a pale light blueish white. Hmmmmm Not sure yet. We have a few days to decide.
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In between all our recent adventures, something else happened. I might be cleaning up this loom, giving it a good tune up and getting it ready for sale to a new happy owner? It's a Kessenich 4 harness loom with the bench, warping rack and other assorted goodies. Stay tuned. It might be available as soon as I get my butt in gear with my Howards Feed N Wax and some rags and who knows what else it will take???
For now, I am happy with the looms I have so this one will need to find a new home.
Tomorrow I will work on more weaving, but I think tonight is a good one for a long soak in the bubble bath, and relaxing and taking a little break.
