Mill Creek Forge/Westmoore Pottery

2022 Heritage Day at Mill Creek Forge

(Many thanks to Linda for all the good information and Jackie for the great pictures.)

Laura at the great wheel

The Sandhills Handweavers Guild was out in full force, demonstrating fiber related skills–our heritage. Cindy, Sharon and Jackie dressed the part, creating an aura of yesteryear throughout the spinning and weaving shelter. Today we have the luxury of spinning, weaving and knitting etc. for our own enjoyment, but for our ancestors these skills were an everyday necessity.

Visitors were captivated by all the activity. Many had never seen a great wheel in action, and sheep’s wool spun into yarn, nor had they seen how retted flax had to be beaten (scutched); just one of the many steps to turn flax into linen thread. Sharon demonstrated the process to a steady stream of visitors and had several volunteers help her. Conclusion: Hard work, but fun to do for a little while.

Sadly, during the past year the barn loom had been visited by gremlins, so several of our members set to, diagnosing the problem. It barely managed to limp through the rest of the day. But we are a persistent bunch. and Kate soldiered on!

And then there were old friends who came by to visit and volunteer for a while. Nancy came to knit but also helped out the Randolph County Quilters Guild demonstrate on a large quilting frame. As Linda explained there were more old friends to be remembered because much of the equipment in use that day had been donated by the families of guild members no longer with us. Linda and Cindy demonstrated warping a rigid heddle loom–it had been Nancy’s, and Jackie spun flax on Barbara’s Canadian spinning wheel. She had fond memories of friends departed that had been embedded deep in their equipment.

The comradery, the weather and the knowledge that we were fulfilling one of our stated missions, to educate the public about fiber arts–All this made for a fun and fabulous day.

Many thanks to all who participated in this event.