Archive.fm

Idaho Matters

Weaving saddle blankets for modern day cowboys

Idaho Matters heads to the Melba home studio of weaver Linda Morton-Keithley to learn more about her craft and how she is outfitting modern cowboys with handmade gear.

Broadcast on:
06 Nov 2023
Linda Morton-Kiethley sits at her largest loom, a tapestry loom, in her home studio in Melba, ID. She’s weaving a pattern to be installed on a handmade leather purse, a bright triangle of yarn before her, in red, blue, green and gray.
Linda Morton-Kiethley sits at her largest loom, a tapestry loom, in her home studio in Melba, ID. She’s weaving a pattern to be installed on a handmade leather purse, a bright triangle of yarn before her, in red, blue, green and gray.(Arlie Sommer / Expressive Idaho)

This week on Expressive Idaho, we head to the Melba home studio of weaver Linda Morton-Keithley. She started weaving more than 50 years ago, when she took an undergraduate occupational therapy course at Western Michigan University.

Morton-Keithley dove deeper into fiber arts for a master’s degree in historic costume and textiles at Colorado State University. Her education led to her roles that include being a curator, museum director and an archivist.

Now, she and her husband outfit modern cowboys with handmade gear, including Morton-Keithley’s hand woven saddle blankets. Arlie Sommer brings us her story as part of the Expressive Idaho series.