100% American made

 One of the few 100% American made companies left in the USA, from sheep to finish!
The bales of wool arrive at the plant  some are dyed in the fleece then the natural wool and dyed wool are weighed and mixed together in very specific proportions.  The scale on the left, there is a mark for how much natural wool a mark for black then more natural and black again to make a medium grey.
The wool ready to be carded on the right.

We toured the mill on Saturday so none of the machines were working. Some are 100 years old and still working!!  The men were told not to touch anything because sometimes around mechanical stuff men turn into 10 year olds and start taking things apart just to see how they work.  They were told repeatedly to keep their hands in their pockets.

The carded fibers come off the machine and are pleated into layers ready to be spun into a single ply yarn.

 Fairbault has had the contract since WW1 to make wool blankets for our troops, why wool? its a natural fire retardant. If your house is on fire you want to grab the wool blanket and cover yourself to run to safety. They have been using the same color recipes since the beginning.  The current West Point cadets will have exactly the same color blanket as great grandpa's.  In the 70's they bought a wider loom to weave queen and king size blankets.  Prior to that all beds were twin or full size. Threading the loom is done by hand and takes 2 days, each of those yarns is threaded through 2 eyes, the heddles and the reed which lift and lower the threads.

 

West Point Blanket

U.S. military blankets

The blankets are very stiff and scratchy coming off the loom but then are fulled  meaning they are shrunk a little bit to make them fuller and softer.  That is such an oxymoron. Shrink to make fuller don't you wish dieting worked that way.
These blankets are also 100% virgin wool.  First time through the mill is virgin wool.  The scraps below are saved and go through the grinder which weakens the fibers because they have been broken, nylon is added then the wool goes through the same process again to make more wool blankets.  With the added nylon they are superwash machine wash and dry.

As tempting as it was I did not buy a wool blanket because as you know I have stacks of quilts in the house and a few heirloom wool blankets that my mother wove and a couple wool blankets from Ireland.  But if I do ever need a new wool blanket I know a place in Faribault, Minnesota.  The guys even enjoyed the tour, there was so much history and humor, hubby was telling another nephew about the tour and his new appreciation for cost of wool garments and blankets.
 --Ann--

fun weekend

 A fun weekend with niece Missy and her hubby in Minnesota.  Hubby asked enroute if I needed anything at the quilt shops in New Ulm. I didn't need anything but he did stop and I found some stash fillers since I have used all my white and black fabrics I found a couple and then some and since the store was celebrating 7 years everything was 25% off! What a deal.  We went to MSU hockey they won Friday but got beat Saturday.  And we went to the Faribault Woolen Mill more on that tomorrow.  They are one of 2 woolen mills still in operation in the United States.  --Ann--

little projects

Some little projects I finished recently.  I thought I was going to deliver these socks and slippers in person but my passport is too close to expiring. So instead I will mail these and let Emilia felt the slippers to fit her feet.
I've been working on the bottom socks for a year now, they haven't been a priority, I think they will be my go socks to work on in the car on the next raod trip.  you can ever have too many wool socks in the winter.  --Ann--

Ta da da done

Its funny the way secondary images pop out when the quilt is finished, there is a big circle on the right side in the middle that just catches my eye and above it to the left is a block with the black and white fabrics that are the same value that pops out as a small beach ball.  I saved this polka dot binding just for this quilt and still have enough for another small quilt.  Sadly I have used almost all of my black and white fabrics, for not remembering why I bought them years ago they have been surprising versatile as background fabric with the pink and click with the brights.  A couple more weeks before the bably is born do I send this or click this one?  I think it is refreshing that the couple wanted to be surprised at the birth instead of knowing the gender months ago.  Maybe I will make something else in the meantime.  --Ann--

Fresh look

Same coat, 

still winter, 

still cold outside,
lots of snow,

fresh look, 

attitude improved.

--Ann-- 

machine quilting

An afternoon of power sewing, I haven't done that for months.  A girlfriend's daughter is having a baby soon and this might be the perfect quilt for a baby girl if she has a baby girl.  I thought I would get it done and enjoy looking at it for a couple weeks.  I pieced this back in 2017 and it has just been waiting..........for the perfect baby girl.  There is a boy quilt completly done already.  --Ann--

Quilt top done

 First quilt top of 2020 finished add it to the short stack because I like to have at least 3 quilt tops done before I get the quilt frame out to pin the layers together.  What shoud I do next???
--Ann--