blackcatdesigns

I inherited my Grandmother’s dining room furniture a few years ago.  The set is from Drexel Heritage and is maple with a mahogany veneer.  The finish and color are original.  I had the chairs and table refinished this year.  The chairs were in pretty bad shape and I wasn’t sure if they could be salvaged.  I found Ensign Fine Finishing through a friend and Michael, the owner, did a wonderful job with the restoration.  He stripped the table and chairs, then sent the chairs out to have the missing chair parts built.  He finished the job with regluing and restaining and reupholstering the pieces.  I grew up with this furniture and I’m overjoyed to have them back.  Now I’m thinking of having them reupholstered again in a zebra print.  Hmmmm, could I live with that for a very long time?

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Originally uploaded by elyoung2007

I’m sewing Christmas presents now.

I’m using upholstery fabric in animal prints and lining the bags with bright batiks.

My newest acquisition is a Bosworth.  These spindles are nicknamed ‘Bossie’.  It’s a Birdseye Maple Mini and weighs 22 grams.  I’m on a learning curve with this one.  The hook is shaped differently than my spindles from Greensleeves and with the way I finger flick it causes some precession in the spindle shaft.

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Originally uploaded by elyoung2007

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Originally uploaded by elyoung2007

It’s been over a year since my last posting. In that time I’ve taken up spinning. No, not as in exercising, because that would be too healthy and good for me. When I say spinning I mean drop spindling.

For a long time I was pretty indifferent to the whole idea of making yarn and resisted my friends invitations to learn this ancient craft. My feelings were pretty much along the lines of the ‘why make yarn when I can go buy it” school. Then I read Abbey Franquemont’s book ‘Respect the Spindle: Spin Infinite Yarns with One Amazing Tool’. I didn’t so much read the book as devour it in one sitting. The spindle photos are amazing and the prose was so concise and logical that I was on fire to learn how to spin.

I visited my LYS to buy my first spindle, and as you know, with a new hobby comes lots and lots of new toys.

This model is Katherine’s Cup from Greensleeves.  The whorl is Cochan Rosewood and the shaft is walnut.  She weighs in at a whopping 39 grams.

I then bought a Bare Bones spindle in Maple, also from Greensleeves, but gave it to a friend to help her learn spinning.  I’ve since replaced it with a Baby Bare Bones in Maple that weighs 20 grams.

I went on a buying spree and bought 3 Mjolinor  Greensleeves spindles within a short period of time.

The wood is Birdseye Maple and it weighs 13 grams.  My spinning was getting more and more consistent on this spindle then I lost this one a few months back and was incredibly sad because I thought it might be gone forever.  I then stopped looking for it and one day was rummaging around in my car’s console and found it.  I had put it there for safekeeping while traveling back and forth to Colorado.  Oh well, that just means I can’t put something in an unusual place because chances are I’ll forget where it is.  I’m so happy it’s come home.

This bruiser weighs in at 39 grams.  The wood is Masur Birch.  I use it for plying.  My third  Mjolinor, also in Masur Birch that weighs 14 grams.

Edit:  A friend notified me that I misidentified this spindle.  Here is my correction:  My favorite Greensleeve’s spindle is a Damsel Monique in a Burl/ Birdseye Maple combo at 32 grams.  It spins beautifully.

I think this burl is incredibly gorgeous.