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I’m leaving for Convergence and the ATA workshop tomorrow morning! I’m looking forward to all the wonderful events and to coming home full of inspiration!
I did not harvest my weld…..I guess it will just wait for me….
I saw the first fire flies of the year last night, so it’s really summer!
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I finished the cover kimono from Knit Kimono in time to wear to my future dil’s shower tomorrow. I’m not happy with my photos, but I’ll try again. Bob and I are still hurtling ourselves around, and I had to find the camera in his packed bags in order to take this photo! I’ll be camera-less for the weekend….
He’ll be sailing in the Shelter Island area of Long Island, and I’ll be on the Connecticut River at the shower and then visiting my sister. Hopefully we’ll be buying a flower girl dress this weekend! Poor mother of the groom is going to be the last one to get her dress!
Tapestry is beginning to seem like something I used to do. I’ve started a new warp for a small sample project while I have two larger projects in various stages of woven incompletion (my neglected historical piece and ‘Handsome Rob’), and there’s a Hudson River design that is dying to get out of my head onto some paper. sigh…..
My weld is huge, and I’m ready to dye. I’ve got some handspun single-ply Romney for tapestry, as well as some commercial merino/mohair and some commercial wool, both of which I’d probably use for knitting. All I need is some time at home!
My dog Riptide continues to take up much of my time on weekdays. He’s not failing yet, but he needs to be monitored fairly regularly to see if his liver function can improve enough to get him back on his chemo therapy schedule. If he doesn’t improve soon it will become too late to accept him back into the program. It’s a clinical trial being done by Abbott Labs. He’s done very well on it for nine months before chemicals began to build up in his liver. He still acts perfectly healthy, although a bit more subdued than he was before getting lymphoma.
On that note….I have to get ready to take him for his blood work….
>It feels like I haven’t had a moment for anything spontaneous in months. I’ve done lots of outrageously wonderful and fun things lately, but it’s been all pre-scheduled and hurry, hurry, hurry! This weekend was to be no exception. It’s both my 31st wedding anniversary and my husband’s birthday. We had family come down for CT to have dinner Friday, and it was wonderful to sit in the back garden among the foxglove, peonies, iris and cranesbill as the evening turned to night.
Today I was busy making plans for the another round of relatives who were coming for lunch, when we realized that we’d all misunderstood each other about where lunch was taking place! I was waiting for them to arrive for lunch in the garden, and they were waiting for us to arrive at our typical half-way meeting place on the shore of Long Island sound in Rowayton. It was too late for either of us to jump in the car to get to each other, so I’ve got an unexpectedly free afternoon! The first thing that comes to mind is spinning! And secondly, doing a little research on how to use the weld I have flowering in the garden this year, and the woad seeds I’ve just managed to obtain (not willing to admit where I got them just yet…..)…..
So….without delaying anymore….I’m off to spin!>Yesterday I visited the annual “Lace Day” of the Metro Chapter of the International Old Lacers. They have a course of study to learn Torchon lace which I started last year. I made the first pattern which is so simple it’s embarrassing! Even though there was not a course for the second pattern, the President of the group very patiently helped me set up that pattern and get started. It’s a lot more challenging than the first exercise!
This is not quite the pattern I’m doing, but it’s simlar. The scallop edge that I’m doing is an oblique interlacement, whereas here it’s vertical and horizontal, like regular weaving. I have very little “background” netting, and my sewing edge is also narrower than this. If I get proficient at this pattern I would love to make handkerchief edging. I’d have to learn how to turn corners.
I’m completely weak in the knees for lace hankies! How awesome to gain the skills to make one!
This afternoon I planted my garlic, total wishful thinking for next year! My garlic never grows into the large bulbs I get at the farmers’ market, but I’m forever hopeful that my garlic ship will come in next year! Most likely it doesn’t get enough sun where I plant it. Today I put the bulbs in a garden that a family of woodchucks has enjoyed all summer. I’m hoping the garlic is too smelly for them, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see. My weld is there, and they haven’t touched that. Absolutely nothing else has survived there!
>Life sure can throw some hard balls. I wish I were a good catcher, but my reaction is to cover my head and duck! Everybody’s health seems so fragile these days. I’m not going to talk about it here, but it’s a hurdle. Then there are the many joys of my volunteer jobs, which are great when everything runs smoothly and everyone is happy. It’s no fun at all when the best plans and hard work don’t actually come to fruition. Guess which one I’m experiencing now.
I’m also having my first experience at organizing a group show of handwoven tapestry. (This is why I’ve been trying to finish Buddha!) I’ve certainly got a lot to learn about running a show. I’ve had great help from really savvy people. One member made the postcard, and it’s quite an eye catcher, don’t you think? (And if you click on it you’ll get to see a lot more detail. My, we have some awesome weavers in this group!) Here are the details.
I just finished Buddha, literally put in the last pick. I want to celebrate, but I feel a little overwhelmed because I still need to hem and mount him. I can’t find the raw linen material I want to use for mounting. I’ve looked in all the easy places, so now it’s time to really start digging.
The garden is a mess. My dog has cancer. Every Friday I drive him to Connecticut for chemo treatments, but today my car has some serious problems so I’m without wheels for the weekend. I’m home alone since my husband is away on business, and I’m feeling weird. I need to run away….well, on the positive side, I just went digging for that linen fabric and found it. I’ll get to work now.
Gallery Exhibit at NEWS Conference, July 20-23, 2023. First place “Miscellaneous” for a Nantucket style basket, with 2 special awards for “Best use of Historical Inspiration and Best Use of Off-Loom Weaving.
OVER, UNDER, AND THROUGH THE WARP: The Art of Tapestry Weaving, April 1-30, 2023, The Barnes Gallery, Leverett, MA. www.barnesgallery.org. An exhibition of works by Tapestry Weavers in New England (TWiNE). My works “Entangled 1,” “Untitled 1,” and “Mind the Risks” are in this exhibition.
TINY BUT MIGHTY Unjuried, small format tapestry exhibit, hosted by American Tapestry Alliance at HGA Convergence, July, 2022 Knoxville, TN
INTERLACEMENTS: Artistic Expressions in Weaving. Juried Biennial Exhibit of the Handweavers’ Guild of CT. River Street Gallery, 72 Blatchley Ave., New Haven, CT.
March 30 – May 5, 2019. Awards: 1st Place Wall Hangings, HGA Award for Outstanding Fiber Art.
CROSS SECTIONS: Works in Fiber by the members of North Adams Fiber Artists. Sept. 7 – Oct. 8, 2018.
Opening reception, Friday, Sept. 7, 5pm – 8pm. Gallery hours: Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, 12pm – 5pm.
A CELEBRATION OF FIBER ARTS: Arts Center East, Vernon, Ct, October 11th — November 7th. Opening reception Oct. 11th from 2-4pm. Gallery is open Thurs–Sunday from 1-5pm. “Sunset on Wilson Cove” and “Hudson River Idyll” are both there for this exhibition.
AWARDS FROM NEW ENGLAND WEAVERS’ SEMINAR: for “Sunset on Wilson Cove”: 1st Place Tapestry and Transparency, Judges’ Choice, People’s Choice, Textile Arts Center “Best in Tapestry,” Rebecca Dea Award for First Time Entrant. NEWS 2015.
NEW ENGLAND WEAVERS’ SEMINAR: gallery exhibition, Smith College, Northampton, MA. July 9 – 12, 2015.
“THE WEDNESDAY GROUP” at Garnerville Arts Center, Garnerville, NY. May 30 – June 4,2015.
“CONTEMPORARY HANDWOVEN TREASURES,” 2015 Biennial Exhibiton of Conneticut Guild of Handweavers, Lyman Allen Museum of Art, New London, Ct; April 4 – 26.
www.lymanallyn.org
“POSTCARDS FROM HOME,” Invitational Gallery Exhibition of small tapestries by artists in Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Australia, and New England. Northlight Gallery, Stromness, Orkney Island, Scotland. March 25 – April 25.
August 2015, Torshavn School, Faroe Island, Scotland.
“A LIVELY EXPERIMENT,” Gallery Exhibition of the Handweavers Guild of America (juried), Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, RI. July 16 – 19, 2014.
“SMALL FORMAT TAPESTRY: Untitled/Unjuried,” sponsored by American Tapestry Alliance at HGA, Convergence, University of Rhode Island Feinstein Campus Gallery, Providence, RI. July 16 – 19, 2014.
