Ayn Chase turns 85 on Dec. 11 and to celebrate she is thanking Island customers with a 15 per cent discount. On what you may ask? Mrs. Chase is a weaver working over the years on every type of textile good but is perhaps best known for her placemats and lampshades.

She estimates that she has woven over 27,500 placemats and made over 3,600 shades (not counting the tiny ones made for dollhouses) during her career.

In 1953, Ayn married Paul Chase, of the old Vineyard family that built and owned the Wesley House, where she had her shop until 1985. She set up an independent shop in Edgartown for eight years, later selling her products out of the Women’s Cooperative in Vineyard Haven, and then most recently through Rainy Day and Secret Garden. Rainy Day is located on Main street in Vineyard Haven, and the Secret Garden is located on Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs.

Mrs. Chase’s output has recently “slowed down a bit,” she confesses. “I now only work six hours a day instead of twelve, but I still work every day of the week. I still keep two looms going all the time, and I will continue to do custom designs and develop new items.”