A Call For Quilters And A Surprise For Sheepie

We don't often talk about it. I like to think that everybody just politely ignores it. But, I think that, by now, we are all familiar with The Sheep's strategy for taking up new hobbies. It is unique in it's very lack of strategy.

It all starts with me saying something like, "I've got a great idea!" This idea marinates for a while. A short while... And before I have completely thought the process through, asked any really pertinent questions, read the directions and donned the appropriate safety equipment, I'm off and running. More often than not you will find me, many dollars later, sitting in a pile of fabric, needles, pine cones or glitter muttering, "I don't know where I went wrong..." My thirty or so loyal readers sit back in either abject horror or well-meaning amusement as I fight my way back to the starting point and try again to achieve the desired whatever-the-heck-it-was that I was aiming for in the first place. I will go through this process several times before I finally get there. And, by the time I have arrived, I have, more often than not, come up with some other brilliant scheme for creating beauty out of raw materials.

It makes for good entertainment for you and is the only learning curve that works for me. What can I say? I enjoy a good symbiotic relationship...

This is how I do stuff. It is my way. However, it is not Mommy Sheep's way. Mommy Sheep reads the directions. She takes the time to figure out what she is doing well before she cuts up fifty dollars worth of designer fabric or mahogany dowels. She measures twice, cuts once. Daddy Sheep is like that, too. For that matter, Baby Brother Sheep is a rather methodical sort of fellow... What the heck happened in my genetic makeup????? I mean, you'd only have to see us all together to rule out adoption. There is no mistaking the family link, here. Sheesh...

Any-hoo...Mommy Sheep just got herself a brand new and rather fancy sewing machine. To say that she deserved it would be an understatement since her old model was the one I remembered from my childhood and I am somewhat "vintage" myself. It does all sorts of amazing and wondrous things and she has asked me if I might know of anyone who could recommend some good beginning quilting resources. She, being a reasonable sort, is looking to start with a table runner. (some of you will remember that I plunged ahead last summer on a full sized nine patch with rather sad results...) If you know of any good books or websites for the newbie quilter, would you please leave a comment for me? Mommy Sheep would be grateful and I think we would really all prefer it if she got her advice from people who know what they are doing rather than my stepping in on this one.

There was a time in my life when I wouldn't have believed that I could just type up a few paragraphs, hit "Publish Post" and be guaranteed that a response would come. But I know now that there will be some help on this one in my in-box before I can say, "Gee, I wonder if anyone is even reading this thing..." Because, you see, people are nice. Very nice. How do I know this? Well, there are examples of it every day and so many people have been nice to me right on this very blog. Sometimes, though, you get a reminder that is overwhelming in its generosity. Sometimes, you get an email from none other than Snooze.

For those who don't know of Susie, she dyes things. Beautiful things. Specifically, she dyes woolly things. And people buy them. They buy them so darned fast that I don't know how she keeps up. Last summer, when I had a pair of socks go tragically wrong, she sent me a skein of her hand painted sock yarn to soothe my ego a bit. Now, all my handknit socks are favorites in their own way...but these babies saw a lot of wear. The colors were perfect, held up to washing and went with darned near everything I owned. And the yarn? Mmmmm.....

So what is a Sheep to do when someone this talented notices that she is a spinner and offers up some handpainted roving for sock yarn? A Sheep says yes, that's what she does! And when Susie learned that I am a self-taught spinner who would like to take a stab at doing things the right way for a change, she even offered to send a book along that would be helpful in mastering techniques. Wow!!!

I awaited my package with all the giddy anticipation of a school girl! I was expecting a smallish box with the average two to four ounce package of roving and a book. Imagine my surprise when I opened the not-so-smallish box and found this:

No...I am not kidding.

Along with the hand dyed merino came a sample of almost every wool known to sheepkind with Susie's hope that I was feeling better and would enjoy experimenting and playing with different fibers. I was stunned...stunned beyond words for a moment, there. (believe it or not)

Even Desdemona was beside herself...she is a great lover of the woolly things. Note the somewhat greedy expression in her little eyes. I may have to watch her...

I won't list all the lovely fibers that came in this box 'o happy as you will be hearing all about them when the hit the dye pot, spindle and wheel over the next few months. I'll just let you look forward to it...as I am!!! There are really no words that can begin to express my thanks for such a wonderful gesture. A simple Thank You is the best I can do and yet it seems like so little. You are the best, Susie! I will follow your directions to the letter, play with it and enjoy it to the utmost! You made my day! Heck, you made a good chunk of my summer vacation!

Now, I must bid you all good day while I go whirl various spindles and wheels, make some needles click and review the dye supply. 'Cause, ya know what?

I think I have a great idea!!!

SA