tapestry – Page 9

January 6, 2013 | Leave a Comment

The best made plans…. I’ve looked forward to being home so much for so long, yet I’ve spent almost the entire month at home sick! And I’ve had one rather big disappointment in a tapestry project…..

….but the upside is that in spite of being sick, my kids spent most of the month with us. It was beyond wonderful to have time with them! And I’ve gotten some weaving and some knitting done. We’ve had some awesome meals, and I guess I will credit being sick with what has kept me from gaining weight (always the silver lining, right?)….

So, with not much to show for myself, I’ll share a couple of good cartoons I stumbled on recently….

From the New Yorker

and from ecards:

I did my bit on fiber purchases. I have a wonderful LYS called Yarns Down Under, in Deep River. During my visit I learned that Filature di Crosa’s “127 Print” is being discontinued (sigh) so I bought two colors to make a cardigan. I bought the black and the periwinkle blue, and I plan to use them in a vertically striped cardigan based on “Designs by Judith” pattern called “Buenos Aires” that called for Manos del Uraguay.

So this takes a bit of imagination…. I am knitting not quite random vertical stripes in my two colorways instead of the two-color stitch pattern used in Judith’s design. I just love the shaping of this sweater and hope it will turn out well in a striped stockinette stitch. Although the gauge is the same, my fabric will be considerably softer since it is not a texture stitch. Wish me luck!

And while licking my wounds about my weaving disappointments, I found this in my inbox today:

“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.” –Dalai Lama

Sunny St. Augustine

November 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment

We spent a lovely day ashore in St. Augustine yesterday. It was sunny, there were blue skies, and the temperature was in the 70s! Finally! This is why we headed south!

The Main Square on King St.

The oldest church in St. Augustine.

Flagler College

It was warm enough for an al fresco lunch at a Cuban restaurant!

Christmas in the main square. Yes, those are poinsettias planted outside!

…and the highlight for me was getting this shot from the fort of Castillo de San Marcos which I think might make a lovely companion tapestry to my “Terrace View from Skouros.”

We ended the day with dinner at Bistro de Leon as planned. Chef Jean Stephane Poinard’s menu was as delicious as we expected, and this years’ Beajolais Nouveau is quite good!

Day 78, November 27: St. Augustine, Florida

Sweetgrass in Charleston

November 6, 2012 | 4 Comments

We are in Charleston, and I have not posted anything here since our arrival last Thursday. Bob has posted lots of photos and descriptions of what we’ve been up to, and he’s done such a thorough job, that I’m not inclined to try to catch up!

I’ve been distracted. We are photographing doors and window boxes, something I’m always intrigued to do… I’ve been thinking of window box images taken from every place I’ve been in the past decade or so…. Maine, France, England, now Charleston. There are so many beautiful little window gardens… I’d like to choose a few and weave them using Theo Moorman technique as Daryl Lancaster does (and as I have now done a couple of times), and put them together in a window frame fashion. I’ve got just the spot in our house for this…

I’ve also been distracted thinking about the potential group tapestry project that the Wednesday Group might do. For the first time in aeons I have been reading papers on classical literature and reliving my past when this was such a major part of my life. It’s been aeons of aeons since then. It’s rekindling the love of words and ancient languages that I’ve neglected for so long…

And I’ve been looking for the perfect basket. Actually, I saw it last Thursday, on my first day in the Charleston Market, but I did not know it until I’d spent days looking at hundreds more baskets!

I didn’t realize that I would have so many choices. And in the end that perfect basket was still waiting for me this morning, although when I finally realized it someone was holding it, considering it for themselves. They put it down, and I heard them say, “I’ll think about it and come back”…..bam! It is now mine.

Carlene Habersham made my basket. Here she is making some last minute adjustments to the rim.

She had this book on display in her booth

Carlene said the basket on the cover was made by her grandmother. She then turned to the pages that highlighted both her grandmother’s and her mother’s work. I was duly impressed. But most of all, I just love the basket she made.

Last Thursday I spoke to another woman, Susie, who had some very delicate small baskets on display. I wanted six of them to give to some basket making friends of mine. Susie said only her daughter did work that small, and she called to ask if her daughter could make six miniature baskets over the weekend. Susie told me to come back today and they would be ready. Luckily for me, her daughter came too so I could meet her.

There were lots of other stalls with small baskets, but only these were done to a scale that was pleasing to the size of the basket. Aren’t they lovely?

This basket is done by Susie’s other daughter. It caught my eye as I was leaving their booth.

I am in basket heaven….

Days 52 – 56, Nov. 1 – 5: Charleston, South Carolina

Tick, Tick, Tick….

August 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Isn’t this mid-August weather glorious? It’s hard to choose between being outside and being in the studio. With only three weeks left until my long voyage, I have to choose being in the studio!

Precious Materials

April 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Last week a friend of mine asked if I wanted to join her for the monthly meeting of the Westchester (NY) weaving guild. They were having a guest speaker; she couldn’t remember whom. She thought he was a tapestry weaver and a member of the “New York study group.” I wracked my brain! I should who this man is!…..but I didn’t!

So I went. And of course I knew him when he arrived to speak. It was Stanley Bulbach, who also happens to be a member of the Textile Study Group of New York. I’m so glad I took advantage of the opportunity to hear Stanley speak and to see a few of his rugs in person.

Photo Apr 03, 12 23 29 PM — Stanley Bulbach

As many people may know, Stanley spins his own yarn. I did not know that he does this on a homemade spinning wheel that is based on a bicycle wheel he upcycled for the purpose! He spins yarn from Lincoln fleece, which is long and lustrous, and when he wants something other than the natural colors of this fleece he turns to natural dyes for additional color. His rugs really glow, something you cannot imagine from a photograph They are beautiful!

I know you can’t see his rugs well in these photos, and I’m sorry about that. Trust me that my photographic ability wouldn’t do them justice anyway.

What I want to say about his rugs is that they have a presence. Even if I didn’t know that he’d done all the fiber preparation by hand, that he’d created the yarns by hand, that he’d woven the rug entirely by hand…. I know I would still feel the presence of something extraordinary about them. …which leads me to the title I gave this post: there is something precious in the quality of work done by hand with precious materials.
It shows.

He also spent a good deal of his presentation on the need for textile artists to better advocate for our chosen field. Of course we do! I am a perfect example of someone who has not recognized this facet of working in textiles, and since I am so ill equipped to cover this subject I’ll just pass you along to Stanley’s website.

(His photographs don’t do justice to his rugs either)…