Happy Birthday to me!

For my BFF's!

Summer Highlights

Summer is almost over and soon Fall will be revealing all her wonderous colours to us. I personally love the autumn season. It plays with my sense of creativity and brings alive my need to express that which has been laid dormant for months to give way to summers chores.

Did you know that 2009 is the year that UNESCO has declared to be "The Year of Natural Fibre"? What a wonderful thing to declare. So much interesting information on their website too. It puts fibre artists such as myself in the forefront for a change. Too bad that I have not had much time to explore that but now that we are into our new home and for the most part 'organized', I can turn my attentions to my stash of fibre.

By acclimation I have been elected the new President of the Nanton Weavers & Spinners Guild. I hope that I can be half the inspiration and guide that Penny has been. This group of ladies are so very talented and I want them to go out and show off what it is that they do so well. Whether it is spinning, weaving, knitting, crochet or even kumihimo. I want the Fibre Arts to continue on and the history of it to never be forgotten.

To get everyone pumped up I held an annual Spin-in. This year it was 2 days and even though the weather was not very cooperative, we still had a really good time. I invited Karen Brewka back to do a follow up natural dye workshop. While the dye pots were simmering we learned how to reclaim fibre from cattails and siberian irises, without retting, and also how to spin those fibres on our laps for weaving. I even made a video of the process to refresh my memory in the future.

When not trying to unpack boxes or move furniture around, I did manage to get some spinning and felting time in. I made a couple of cute 3d animal figurines and my my favorite piece is a needle felted picture of a border collie herding sheep. Jason just loves this piece and so it is proudly hanging in our home.

The rabbits did not fair so well during the move. Indigo passed away, as did my prized doe, Saga. These losses are very tragic for me and has made it urgent to finish the bunny palace and to keep a more vigilant watch on the herd. So Jason has been very busy with the palace in his spare time and I am probably being overly protective of the herd.

On a positive note, Elaine, a.k.a. Sweets, has been adopted by a young woman who plans to train her for rabbit agility. Supposedly, this is a big sport in Europe. Please check out the Canadian Rabbit Hopping Club's website for more information. Kate has begun a profile page of her and Sweets and I will be watching this with great interest to see their progress. Here Sweets is shown in a 3 week regrowth and a couple days after being spayed. She is such a vibrant bunny and will have high expectations of Kate being able to cater to her every need.

Also, the Callisto x Machiatto litter arrived August 23, 2009. So far four kits remain of the six that have been born. Surviving are two lilacs, one black and one unknown. I am so very pleased with this. The lilacs are bright and beautiful.

Well, that is all the news I have time to report today. Kristien starts school on the 31st and is pretty excited about that. The swimming pool closes on Saturday for the season so with that done I will also be looking forward to the new school year beginning. Do you know how hard it is to keep away from the tele and entertain a 14 year old? We have started to go bike riding together. At first, he complained because he thought it wierd to ride around and be seen biking with his mother but now I think he likes the "special" time together. As he says, "These are the moments I will miss most". I wonder when he says that, how soon does he think I will be going into the seniors home? Sheesh!