2013 Weavin’ Wicker Woman Blog Review

Cathryn Peters-Xmas 2011

2013 was a wild ride for me filled with everything good and I’m looking forward to this year in wondrous anticipation.

Here’s the Weavin’ Wicker Woman Blog 2013 Year in Review post and also adding some snippets of things that took place that I didn’t get a chance to actually post about in a timely manner.

Thank you SO much for being a loyal subscriber and sharing this journey with me. I truly appreciate you!

The first six or seven months of 2013, my family members and I were tying up loose ends after my husband’s passing in December 2012. We worked around the place cleaning up the grounds getting rid of junk, siding the building in anticipation of putting the place on the market.

We were also dividing up hubby’s belongings and either selling stuff that the kids couldn’t use or passing them on to the Salvation Army, Goodwill and donating the construction stuff to Habitat for Humanity.

start siding west end

siding done west end 2013

peters siding done bldg east 2013

 

Our son did the green metal barn siding, didn’t he do a great job? And the contrast of the light colored brick is really accentuated by the green garage doors and the green siding, don’t you think?

siding east end done

sunset 4-25-13

 

And my son-in-law built a small deck out the back door so I could sit out there and watch the hummingbirds and other wildlife, while sipping on my cup of coffee each morning, and watching the sunsets in the evenings.

new deck 7-2013hummingbirds at feeder

JULY saw me teaching the first class for the year, held in Franklin, Indiana at the famous Marc Adams School of Woodworking. There were fourteen students in the two chair caning classes; hole-to-hole footstool and the cane twill footstool.

MASW cane twill class 2013

MASW 2013 Hole Caning Peters

MASW-2013 Peters Caning

Weaving Seats w Peters 13-LMASW 2013 Peters caning

Then after the Marc Adams School of Woodworking cane class, I stopped in Ohio on my way East to New York and Canada, to visit my good friend, fellow chair caner and founding member of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.®, Jan Noall.

I spent the night and we also had over five members in total of the original 19 founding members of TSWG at lunch! What fun that was, and Jan also showed me all the caning projects she had done and some in process. She’s a fantastic chair caner and genuinely a nice and generous soul.

Cathryn Peters-Jan Noall chair caners 2013

Jan Noall blind caning 7-13

Next, it was on to Niagara Falls, New York where I stayed overnight and went on the boardwalk, Queen of the Mist boat ride into the Falls, watched the Falls light show at night and even took a helicopter ride over the Falls! What a rush and a once in a lifetime experience!

I’m so glad that I sprung for the $100 for the helicopter ride, when would I ever get a chance to fly over Niagara Falls again? Sure, over a cornfield sometime, but NOT Niagara Falls for cripes sake!

Niagra Falls, NY 7-2013
Niagara Falls, New York

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niagara falls queen mist ride

Queen of the Mist Niagra Falls

niagara falls helicopter ride
Helicopter ride over Niagara Falls

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After my stint at Niagara Falls, I drove on to Wainfleet, Ontario, Canada to be a student in a week-long willow basket weaving class with Danish instructor, Anna Metta Hjornholm at Lakeshore Willows.

AUGUST 2, 3 & 4, 2013 was the 6th Annual Gathering of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.® held in Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia, but it was following right on the heels of my two week long journey, so had to beg off for this year.

2013 TSWG Gathering Attendees
TSWG 2013 Gathering Attendees
TSWG 2013-2014 Board
2013-2014 Board Members ofThe SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.®
2013 TSWG Gathering Attendees
Oak handmade splint demonstration by Roger Belanger
Jan Stansell TSWG 2013
Jan Stansell demo/talk about Shaker tape.

This was the first Gathering that I’ve missed since our original founding of TSWG in 2007, but I won’t miss 2014 held in Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA July 25-27!

SEPTEMBER was my trip to Door County with friends during the first part of the month. We had a great time, visiting art galleries and making contacts for selling my antler baskets, taking in the tourist sites and just plain relaxing, getting some much needed R & R.

The end of September I traveled back to Wisconsin to teach antler basketry and chair caning at the Fall Workshop of the Wolf River Basketry Guild in Shawano, WI. Had a good time there too, seeing old friends again and meeting lots of new ones, too.

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OCTOBER — I participated as a student in the 7th Biannual National Basketry Organization (NBO) in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and had a blast! The last time I had been at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts was the year we founded the NBO in 1999! I was one of the founding members, so it was like old home week, going back there again.

NBO Basket Bombing trees

NBO Arrowmont Attendees 10-2013
NBO Arrowmont Attendees 10-2013

(I ran back to my room to get my basket and in that time, the group picture was taken. So they were going to PhotoShop me into the picture over there on the right.)

I learned so much, got to meet old basketry friends, meet new ones, take in the classes, workshops, demonstrations and the exhibit and work with new and exciting weaving materials.

Dawn Walden cedar bark students 10-2013cpeters cedar bark basket

Dawn Walden cedar bark demo

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Cathryn Peters with cedar bark instructor Dawn Walden

NOVEMBER — The end of the year took me up to Grand Marais, MN to teach two classes at the North House Folk School, two weekends, back to back.

First one was the three-day antler basket weekend emersion. We had six students, some of which had never woven baskets before, let alone an antler basket. But as you can see, all of them turned out great and everyone was very proud of their accomplishments.

Antler Basket North House 11-2013
North House Folk School Antler Basket Class

1st time antler basket weaver 11-2013

North House antler basket class students 11-2013

NH antler class 11-2013
Peggy, Martha, & Carla

antler basket class process 11-2013

The very last class of the year 2013 was again held in Grand Marais, MN at the North House Folk School only this time it was a three day BYO (bring-your-own) hole-to-hole chair caning class with eight students.

North House Folk School Grand Marais MN
North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota

North House Caning Class 11-2013

Some of the chairs brought were quite challenging, but everyone managed to if not complete their chairs, at least got far enough along to confidently finish at home.

round seat chair caning class

fine-fine-hole caning class

mother-daughter-caning-team 2013NH Caning Paula Johns-CPeters11-2013

North House chair cane class 2013

husband-wife-chair caning team

NH Caning Class Pat Sogge 11-2013

Well, that pretty does it for the whorl-wind wrap-up and review for 2013. Sorry this was such a long post, but I wanted to make sure I posted the pictures along with the events since I missed getting them up when they occurred.

Hopefully, with the slower pace for 2014, I will be able to blog more frequently and post all the pictures right away.

I am so blessed to have good health, supportive family and friends and all you fantastic blog subscribers! Thank you all for blessing my life and enriching it to the fullest!

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9 thoughts on “2013 Weavin’ Wicker Woman Blog Review”

  1. Nancy Fetterolf

    I saw a video from you, on caning the back of a Bentwood rocker. All the ends were tucked in, no knots? I can’t find the video. I’m ready to cane. Can you help me?

    1. Nancy,

      I’m so sorry I didn’t answer you right away, I have had computer problems for quite some time now and missed seeing this question! You can find my videos, including the one that features the “No-Knot” system of ending strands in the navigation bar at the top of every page on the DIY Tutorials tab, under the How-to Videos! And on my Youtube Channel. Be sure to Like and Subscribe so you don’t miss any new videos I post! Good luck on that rocker!

  2. What a wonderful full year you had, Cathryn!
    I was so happy to finally get a chance to meet you and get to know you and hope that we will meet again.
    Happy New Year, 2014 to you and your family

    1. Oh darn Claudia, sorry you missed the chair caning classes. Mar plans the class schedule a year in advance, so I’m working on my proposal for 2015 right now. What sort of seat weaving class would you like to take? If I have an idea of what people are searching for, that helps me to propose those certain classes.

  3. Happy New Year Cathryn!! Thanks for the 2013 wrap-up! I liked the Niagara Falls pics… My parents took us up there for vacation a lot! “The Queen of the Mist” was our favorite.

    Looking forward to reading more of your adventures in 2014!

    Lynne a.k.a., thebasketmakerswife.com

    1. I loved the Queen of the Mist ride into or right up next to the Falls, it was soooo much fun. And it was hot that day, so being in the water mist was really quite nice. The helicopter ride was a real rush, and now I understand why my son loves sky diving so much. And to think I almost didn’t do it because of the cost. Duh! I would have regretted that all my life, had I not sprung for the 100 bucks! I was in the front passenger seat right next to the pilot and there was a couple in the rear seats, so I had the best spot for sure!

      1. Yeah, we could never do the helicopter ride… my mom was too afraid. But it sounds like you had a fantastic, unforgettable experience! priceless….

        1. Luckily I’m not afraid of heights and thought I’d better take this helicopter ride while I had the chance, because who knows when it would come up again? The whole trip was a fabulous experience!

          This coming July I will be somewhat near your old stomping grounds at the 7th Annual Gathering of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc. when we meet at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA. Wonder if I’ll be driving through Tennessee to get there? Have to look at the map, maybe I could stop for a visit?

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