Karen DeQuardo is our secret shopper today, or is she?

Today was the first day of the Handwoven Holiday Sale which happens every year the first week end of November and runs clear through to the next weekend.  What a fun time for the Guild. It is held at the Historic Vail Hotel and what a beautiful back drop this is for the work these women produce.  Oh, yeah, I do it too, but not like these women.  They are artisians.  I am a klutz.  See that towel I showed you yesterday?  Look real close.  It has a big yellow mark on it so it is in there soaking in some bleach water right now.  Some times I amaze even myself.
So I had to set up the craft show at the church this afternoon and after I checked out the black bear stuck in the tree down in the blocks, dropped a package in the mailbox, I headed down to the Vail.  I got there at exactly the same time as Karen DeQuardo.  Think way back to when I took the pine needle basket class at Colorado Fiber Arts and you will remember Karen.  She is the one that owns the place now.  She and her friend Winnie were taking turns; one minding the store and the other shopping at the sale.  Karen was shopping for a rug.  Well, that in itself is an undertaking because there are some works of art on the rug wall this year.  Hell, there are works of art all over that Vail Hotel!
So back to Karen.  I asked her how many times she had visited the sale and she told me every year for as long as she could remember!  I watched Karen wander around the sale and I think I can safely say that she touched everything in there at least once. Some of the pieces got an extra groping.  Made me laugh.  I just love to watch a woman who loves to shop and this girl does.  And she knows quality when her fingers and eyes encounter it.  And there was a lot of that going on in there.
See, if you had visited the store like I told you to, you would know that she carries some of the best fibers in the state.  Colorado Fiber Arts, located at 121 Broadway here in Pueblo, Colorado carries about anything you could want in the line of threads, yarns, wools, batts and stuff I know nothing about.  I do know there are skeins of hand spun stuff that I would trade an arm or leg for, but she does not take body parts, so I am out of luck.  And if you want to learn how to do something she can fix you right up with a class, or teach you herself.  I learned how to felt there.  Oh, and the gourd classes. And the basket weaving.  See I know a little about a lot of things.  What was it momma used to say, "Jack of all trades and master of none!"  Yep!  That is me.  Course she also told me "Do what you do, do well, girlie."  Well, mama, I am trying!

Whoops, back to Karen.  Never let it be said I have a one track mind.  So, if you wonder about anything fiber related, pick up that phone and dial 719-543-1161 and tell her or Winnie that Lou said.  Now sometimes that "Lou said" will get you in  a world of hurt, but these people like me.  They like every body and nothing would make them happier than helping you turn out a lovely piece of knit, crochet, tatting, felting or weaving.  I like to just go in there and feel stuff.  Some times I just pick up a button that is handmade for the purses I make.  I think they also have groups that meet and set around and knit or crochet and shoot the breeze.  Hope they are not talking about me!
Back to business.  Why do I call Karen a secret shopper?  Because she is very quite and unassuming and is very quietly gathering her treasures and stashing them up at the cashier so it actually looks like she is not even buying anything, but in all honesty, she did buy all three of the rugs that T.L. draped on her.  That is why she draped them on her!
So that is it for today.  I have decided to spotlight a member every day. I may expose the people who work behind the scenes one day.  But for tomorrow, I am going to do the craft show at the church and then pop over to the sale and see who is hanging out just wanting me to interview them.  Be sure and make some time for the sale! And stop by here daily and see if I have your face on my slide show.  That will be changed daily also.
Damn!  I am good!

The sister, the Royal Gorge, and the bag of shirts.

Well, as is want to happen in my life, sometimes I had the pleasure of entertaining my sister, Donna and her friends, Karen and Alice. They were on vacation! The word vacation usually strikes fear in my heart, but this time I handled it well.  Probably because it did not entail my driving 400-600 miles one way to visit and then drive right back home.
And so they arrived. Plans were made to the Royal Gorge just outside of Canon City on the following day. And so we did. It was a lovely day to do that!  Donna and I took the incline to the bottom of the Royal Gorge. It was maybe a 10 minute ride down, but it seems a lot longer when I have to actually worry about whether anyone checked the cables to see if they were frayed, oiled or greased all the moving parts, checked that the locks were working properly on the doors.  I don't know who died and left me in charge of controlling the world, but I strongly suspect it was my mother!
It was indeed a beautiful, panoramic view. At the bottom we got to see the rapids very close.  I had to worry about Donna falling in and drowning. She fared well.  Back up and then the quest to find the other 2 members of the party. Karen was easy, but Alice was lost. After contacting the Rangers and starting the hunt, we happened to spot her standing outside the entrance gate waving. Alice, get in here!
One more thing to do. Walk to the center of the bridge to take our pictures by the Kansas Flag. Let's see, drive 400 miles to get your picture taken by the flag of the state you drove 400 miles to leave. OK! Got it!  After a flurry of picture taking we were looking down and trying to figure if we wanted to bungee jump or not when here came the ranger again. He stopped by us and pointed at a bag on the other side of the bridge. I quickly spotted our tee shirt bag and sprinted over to get it. He said "Glad that is yours! I thought we were going to have to vacate the whole area. Al Quaida, you know"
That was it for the day. We arrived home very tired little puppies, and I decided it was great fun to go on vaction, if I did not actually have to go anywhere!

Weaving of the willow basket!

Here is the basket with all the staves poking up. I did get the bottom started, which for me, is a miracle in and of itself. See, the biggest problem here is when I am flipping the basket those long things seem to slap other people across the face. When no one else
is around, the dogs get poked. The dogs run away and I am left with only myself to lose an eye. Therefore, I have decided that this will be my second and final basket, owing to the fact that I prefer to keep my orbs intact!




Here you can see just how long those pokey things are! These suckers are deadly! Do you blame me for wanting to protect myself? I guess I could wear safety glasses. That would work. Any body got a pair I can borrow?








Here is the basket all finished. I got the little things all tucked in and I must confess, I forgot how to end this so I just cut them off and poked them in where I thought they looked good.









Being at a loss for where to put this basket, I looked around and this is the first empty place I could find.  I am pretty sure this is not going to be my Easter Bonnet and I think I look like one of those Russian Cassacks (I know this is not how to spell this and I have no idea how to start looking it up so you tell me how to spell it!).  Seems all I need is a pair of combat boots and a big sword and I am good to go!

(Hey, man! I took this picture myself and I think I did a pretty good job of centering myself!)

Ok, I think we are in full agreement here that my career as a basket weaver has reached its peak. I shall now move on to bigger and better things. For now, I read that if I set on the exercise ball while I am at the computer I will be able to work and build my core. So that is what I am doing. Do not be at all surprised to read that I have been thrown and killed by this thing! In the meantime, have a good one!

I wove a basket!

Well, here is the basket that I wove on Saturday at my class at Colorado Fiber Arts, 121 Broadway Ave., Pueblo, Colorado.  719-543-1161. It is a neat place for knitting, crochet, felting, all kinds of fiber stuff. But I would rather you pop in and see Karen and learn for yourself, because I want to tell you about my basket weaving thing here!

I took my class from a lovely girl named Simone Soucy. She went out and cut these willow switches for us to weave. Last time I cut a switch it was not to weave and it included my mother and I think a canary (or lack of one), a cat and a pile of feathers! But, I do digress.

This basket is made of fresh willow sticks and I had quite the little time. It is fun to make this stuff out of natures bounty and then be able to use it in our home. But there were 5 or six of us setting around a round table flipping these baskets around and trying to get them whipped into some sort of shape that would hold something! Now Simone did tell us the Native Americans could weave them tight enough to hold water. I rather thought I would use mine to seine fish. It will be for big fish because the little ones will slide out the holes. I figure one or  2 pounders!

Simone taught us how to harvest the willow to get the best "bang for our buck" but I have not gotten that far in my quest. I have to be careful about the venturing in where spiders and snakes reign supreme. Creepy crawlies scare the bejiggers out of me.

So, just wanted to show you the basket. Now I have to go make some Kimchi cause I found a buyer for that. Dollar here, dollar there and pretty soon I have enough to do something.

Have a good one and may the Good Lord take a like'n to you!!