As I intended, the entire month of August was filled with ongoing birthday celebrations and little trips and treats along the way. To have time to crochet some of my original designs is always my biggest joy and I did take a couple of days to play in my studio.
The middle of the month my neighborhood decided to have a giant garage sale. We usually do this once a year and often move items from one household or garage to another, just to make it available again the following year! I had not accumulated too many sellable items this time, so I just contributed the use of my card tables and foldable clothes racks.
On the 2 days of the sale, I made sure to shop all the available bargains before I left for my August demonstration at the Folk Art Center. This time I had the pleasure to demo with Jason Probstein, who is a very well-known glass blower in our area. He often works at the Biltmore Estate, which currently features a large Dale Chihuly exhibit with his glass art and garden ornaments displayed all over the Estate. Jason’s demo is very impressive; visitors were watching him blow glass and explain his work process.
Several people commented on his yellow mustard jar, so he gave everybody a very important tip: If you ever burn yourself, even 3rd. degree burns, (his propane flame is 3,000 degrees) have some yellow mustard handy and slather it on the burn. Let it dry and your burn will almost disappear. He learned this from the masters in Murano, Italy and according to some visitors, they still have the mustard jars handy. Good to know.
I always meet really nice people from all over the world when I demo at the Folk Art Center. 2 friends from Jamaica fell in love with my fingerless gloves on my first morning there and asked if I could make them each a pair of blue and yellow gloves (Go Michigan!) because they both attended the University of Michigan and still go back for some of their games. Fast forward 2 days and by Sunday morning I had made the blue and yellow gloves, and the ladies were delighted!
Another couple from South Africa purchased one of my raw silk shawls for her to wear at their godson’s wedding the following week. I was very impressed that they were familiar with raising silkworms; the needed mulberry trees seem to grow in some parts of South Africa, but they add lettuce and beetroot leaves to the worms’ diet. Our guild member, Cassie Dixon, who also spins the silk, has to order the mulberry leaves to keep her silkworms happy. Cassie does a great silkworm farm demonstration, and I can’t ever resist her beautiful threads. The spiderweb pattern I designed for this wrap really features the gossamer texture of the silkworm product – and I have another happy customer.
Another visitor took a picture of me demonstrating Broomstick lace. I had 7 cones of commercial silk standing upright in a lined basket and held them together as one to create a delicate autumn hues color palette. I don’t usually post images of myself, but in this case, I am going to make an exception!
Of course, I also had a fun restoration job towards the end of the month. This one was a filet crochet table piece which had a bad experience with either a food or candle spill. Someone tried to remove the problem by using an acid cleaner, probably bleach, which dissolved the cotton threads it touched. I had to pick out a large section of the design, because you cannot connect to weakened threads. Then I copied the pattern and just reworked a whole new section to fill in the destroyed area. As you can see below, it is back to its original condition.
Now I am looking forward to our annual Heritage Day Celebration at the Folk Art Center September 21 and 22. Be sure to stop by and enjoy our demonstrations, fun and live music. Check here for details:
https://southernhighlandguild.org/event/heritage-weekend-3
The mornings are nice and cool in the mountains now and after another heatwave, soon summer will be over. Before you know it, we will be looking for soft and lovely things to keep us warm.
Let’s start making a mental list for projects to do for loved ones and ourselves!
Whatever you do, just enjoy dreaming about your plans and they will come true. Have a happy September!
“ I do what I love and I love what I do”
Have a happy late summer!
Demonstrating at the Folk Art Center, here I am working with
7 strands of silk to create a Broomstick lace scarf.
New in the Studio:
Here is the panel after complete restoration.