And some days are way better than others...

Last Thursday had all the earmarks of just another wonderful day of weaving.... until I walked into the Museum and was handed a note from Elliott the Director. The note contained a name & phone number and the words "Loom" and "Go Over".

Wonderfully long story made short, ends with me meeting a new weaving buddy and helping her relocate the old rug loom she was donating to the museum along with enough warp thread and fabric to keep our growing number of museum weavers gainfully 'volunteered' well into the next decade. Our rag box runneth over. My usual Thursday routine was transformed into an exhilarating adventure.

A new "Ideal Loom" was selling for $55 in 1930. This old Ideal Loom will prove to be invaluable as a tool for attracting and training the next generation of museum quality weavers. I expect to start assembling the loom on April 8th - helpers welcomed.

The loom is in remarkably good condition for it's age.

It's equipped with a fine sectional warp for production weaving.

And OMG, a half a truck load of fabric.... we could carpet the entire museum.

Some days are better than others....

Last Thursday was Fantastic!

We cut Museum Quality Rug # 11 off the loom, finishing off the same sectional warp we wound on nearly 11 months ago.

Fred & Louise work "closely" to tie off the fringe knots on our latest creation.

And, we were blessed with the presence of two new apprentice weavers, Tracy and Sandy. Both recently retired educators - both enthusiastic learners.

And, they couldn't have shown up at a more opportune time. The "lesson" of the day involved winding on the sectional warp for our next series of projects, threading the heddles and sleying the reed - pretty much the whole nine yards.

I did not expect to complete the entire set up in one day, and clearly couldn't have without the able and enthusiastic support of our growing group of weaving friends.

The new sectional warp will give us 25 yards (and many months) of easy weaving - that's a lot of placemats and table runners.