Kev's blog

Computer Time

2012-01-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

One of my goals for this week is to get some blogging done. I've had a request to post this wonderful soup recipe so here goes.

Tortilla Soup

If you don't have time to make a chicken stock, use canned low-salt chicken broth. You can also used canned green chilies as a replacement to fresh Anaheim chilies. This recipe also calls for Red Chili Sauce which must be made first. (SERVES 6)

2 Tblspns corn oil

3 corn tortillas (6-inch), cut into 1-in strips

1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onions

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeno chili, cored, seeded and minced

2 Anaheim chilies, roasted, peeled, cored, seeded and finely chopped

8 roma (plum) tomatoes seeded and diced (I never seed but just dice)

2 Tblspns tomato paste

2 teaspoons cumin seed ground coarsely

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

5 cups chicken stock

1 cup Red Chili Sauce (recipe below)

2 whole cooked chicken breasts, shredded

1 ripe avocado, pitted, peeled and diced.

GARNISH

1/2 cup grated Monterrey jack cheese

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 corn tortillas (6-inch diameter)

*Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add the tortillas, reduce heat and cook until they are golden brown and slightly crisp. Add the onion and cook 3 minutes longer; add the garlic and jalapeno chili and cook another 2 minutes. Add the Anaheim chilies, tomatoes and tomato paste; cook for 10 minutes. Stir in the cumin and cayenne; slowly whisk in the chicken stock and red sauce and simmer the soup for about 20 minutes, or until slightly reduced. Add the shredded chicken and avocado and heat until warmed through.

*To make the garnish, preheat an over to 350F. Cut the tortillas into julienne strips. Place the strips on a baking sheet and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until crisp.

*To serve, ladle soup into 6 bowls and garnish with the grated cheese, cilantro and baked tortilla chips.

RED CHILI SAUCE

This classic sauce is used in enchiladas, huevos rancheros, tamales, soups, beans, etc. It is also an excellent marinade for steak or chicken. New Mexico chilies turn red when they dry and can be found in just about any local grocery stores. MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS

10 whole dried new Mexico chilies

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onions

2 garlic cloves, minced (I use 4)

about 2 cups chicken stock

2 Tblspns vegetable or olive oil

salt to taste

*Preheat an oven to 250F. Place the chilies in a heavy skillet and roast them dry in the hot oven for 3-4 minutes, being careful not to let them burn. Fill a pot just large enough to hold the chilies with water; bring the water to a boil and remove the pot from heat. Add the roasted chilies to the hot water and, using a weight such as a pot lid or dish, keep them submerged until they are soft, about 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the chilies from the water, stem, seed and tear them into strips.

*Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over low heat; add the onion and saute until browned, about 5 minutes.

*Put the chili strips, sauteed onion, garlic and 1 cup of the chicken stock into a food processor or a blender and puree until smooth; strain.

*Heat 2 Tblspns vegetable or olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the chili mixture to the hot oil and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock until the sauce is the desired consistency. (I add a full cup which then gives you 2 cups of sauce. 1 cup is used in the soup recipe above and the other cup can be refrigerated for 2-3 days or frozen for 6 months. Add salt to taste

Belknap Hot Springs

2011-10-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

If you've never been, I suggest driving to Springfield and turning left. Up the McKenzie River Highway to Belknap Hot Springs. Some friends turned us onto this place several years ago and now we go every autumn. In years past, we've gone a little later in the year and taken advantage of the fall regalia of colors but this year we went a couple of weeks earlier trying to hit some warmer weather for a road trip.

Belknap consists of two mineral hot springs and many acres of gardens including a rather extravagant secret garden. There is a hotel, cabins and RV Park with luscious grounds which, while we were there, were jammed with blooming perennials and annuals. There are also some very interesting and photographic walks to go on.

Lower RV camping area along
The McKenzie River

Lower Hot Springs Pool,
always so inviting.

Crossing the bridge from the secret garden
back to the pool and hotel.

We like to stay 4 nights at a time. This gives us a chance to enjoy the grounds plus get out for some interesting hikes within a short drive from Belknap. The weather held out for a couple of days for nice hiking but as expected, the rains came in and put a damper on any road trip we had planned. 2 to 3 weeks exploring Oregon ended as a few days in Central Oregon. We had a couple of fun days in Sisters and a couple of cold nights at LaPine, turned around and headed for home. I was missing weaving school AND was curious about an email from Terry.

Checking my email one morning from LaPine I saw Terry's communique with a subject line "want to buy my rio grande loom?" I needed to get home and find out what this was all about.

Six months prior, Terry had fallen in love with the Rio Grande loom, while taking a class on one at Weaving Southwest, in Taos. I knew the looms were out there but was more familiar with the stand up looms the Zapotecs use in Mexico. I had made an extra effort, on my travels in Mexico, to see these fabulous looms and their weavers. Always curious but never in a million years thinking I would ever own one.

As fate would have it, I found an ad on Craigslist for one, the standard size and it was for a great price. Terry immediately bought it and took it to her house in two large garbage bags with a VHS video on how to put it together. Like I said earlier, that was about 6 months ago. Terry had said that if the "Cadillac" size came along she'd buy it and give me first dibs at the Standard. Well I knew that wasn't going to happen. I had never ever seen a Rio Grande for sale in this area before, not until Craigslist. But!!! Some how a gentleman showed up at school one day (when I was in Sisters) and had this loom that he no longer had any use for. Later Terry said when the man pulled the photo out of his pocket and the image was the "Cadillac" loom, she almost fell over.

So there is the story of how I acquired the standard size Rio Grande Walking Loom. I acquired the pieces sans the garbage cans. Diane, bless her sweet little poetic heart, suggested that I have her husband Mike come over to help assemble it. What a great idea!

Before assembly.

I have to say that the first hour, after watching the first part of the video, was totally confusing. Which leg went where and which side went where and why wouldn't it fit together? But I had this epiphany! I was looking at the loom like I would a car. If I stand at the back of the loom to weave then surely the front of the loom is that part which is out in front and where I stand must be the back and the right side is the passenger side, etc. But no, trying to have that sort of logic didn't work. The front of the loom is actually that part in which you stand or sit in front of. The back of the loom is that part which is furthest away from you. OK so everyone else probably knows that but I didn't. Mike evidently didn't know that either and once that hit us, it was smooth sailing from there. My fear of parts missing was unwarranted. The only thing that I had to replace were 4 bolts and a little string. I was so excited to see it together.

I did spend the entire next day trying to figure out the pile of string heddles that Diane had untangled and tied into butterflies. I got them hung and here is the proof!

Assembled with heddles

The only sad part of all of this is that my friends Joane and Ingrid spent the entire day in my studio helping me warp the loom and while preparing my photographs for this posting, I accidently lost the files. Bummed me out, but if that is the worst thing that happens, I'm good. All I can say about that is THANK YOU GALS!!! You are the best!

Once the loom was dressed and ready to weave on, I needed to reorganize. The loom and the paraphenalia to operate it take up half the studio. When I planned the size of the studio I had something like this in mind. I just didn't expect it quite so soon. Now I spend more time in the studio that ever and I absolutely adore it.

Kevynne's new Rio Grande Walking Loom making itself at home in Stick Shed Studio.

It didn't take me any time to get started weaving, once the loom was dressed. Here are my results so far. I'm just over half way and this doesn't show the lower half of the weaving. It's rolled under onto a beam. When I am finished with this piece I don't have to cut it off. I have enough warp to do at least 2 more and maybe 3 more small doormat size rugs. This is why I never blog! I love being at the loom.

first experiment on Rio Grand

And finally some weavers finished pieces.

Kiki and her Greyhound

Kathy were her incredibly beautiful framed beach scene.

Christine busy at her rug.

Pat's complete piece from the Terry's summer workshop.

And lastly, Shelly put on a basket class the last two weeks. It was only suppose to be a one day class but we novices took longer and she was gracious enough to come back the next week and help us complete our pieces.

building the bottom framework

Kathy & Jan getting a handle on things.

Terry and Pat getting into it.

Terry's fine results.

This next month promises to be a very busy one for me. I look forward to lots of weaving at home and at school. Also my good buddy Renee will be holding a Christmas Card wood block class at school the next two Wednesdays and I plan on being at both of them. There is one space still available for the class on Wednesday November 9th. If you're interesting call the school at 503-558-1727.

Jan's spinning date on the first Wednesday of the month will be held this Wednesday Nov 2nd and I plan on being there until Renee's class starts.

I'm also looking forward to another basket class with Shelly on the 16th of the month. A lovely pie carrier basket is on the docket.

Then there is my daughter's birthday with family gathering and of course Thanksgiving. So if I don't post for a while, you'll forgive me. It's only because life is so full and joyous. Take care and Happy Holidays to all.

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

2011-10-30T01:12:00.000-06:00

The last weekend of September was the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds in Canby. I think it's the last fiber show of the year in Oregon.These gatherings only happen a few times a year and I am like a kid in a candy store being at them. This year Damascus Fiber Arts School was invited to have an exhibit and to demonstrate weaving while displaying some of the items that we create at school.

Terry asked Barb and I to organize the two day event and we had a good turn out of volunteer demonstrators. We all thought it was very successful. The public showed a great interest in what we do and teach. We hope to see some new faces in the near future.

Table displaying weaving, dyeing, knitting, and basketry

Kiki, JD, Laurelen and Kathy demonstrating and answering questions.

John always draws a huge crowd.

Barb admiring the llamas

How could this animal NOT make you smile?

The Timberline Show

2011-10-30T00:37:00.000-06:00

We weavers at the Damascus Fiber Arts School were pretty excited about having the opportunity to exhibit our weavings at Timberline Lodge. It was sponsored by The Friends of Timberline and we were going to be lucky enough to have them hang for a month. Our tapestry teacher, Terry worked really hard to make frame/easels that would be sturdy enough to hold all our weavings and withstand the chance of being bumped into. Diane's husband Mike helped get them all together and then we all met at my house to organize and get them ready to take up the next day to hang. What a great work team. We all work so so well together. The only hitch was that we discovered we didn't have enough velcro to attach all the weavings, so Barb and I flew over to Fabric Depot and by the time we got back everything was organized and it all went very well.

Each easle was built with three sections like a soji screen.
Here Kiki and Joane adjust panels and mark where each weaving would go.

By the time we got all the panels up to Timberline, it was quite easy to hang the weavings because each panel was marked with information as to which weaving hung where. Here Diane is securing a weaving with fishing line.

Christine's pillow, Barb's natural dye display, John's ravenstail and Shelly's baskets
grace the old glass display case that has stood in the lodge for decades.

Pat T securing Jan J's weaving.

Our small format shoe weavings were hung down the
long hallway outside the door of the restaurant.

Terry hanging one section of Patricia's diptic

It was great fun putting the show all together and it was a great feeling of accomplishment by all. Linny Adamson, the Lodge curator, joined us for a lovely lunch up in the Ram's Head Bar and then we took a few photos before heading back down the mountain.

The first view of the exhibit was the chiefs blanket, glass case and diptic.

First snowfall of the season

We received nothing but positive feedback from Lodge employees, friends and family that visited the exhibit. I could not have been more proud to have one of my weavings hanging in this historic and world class all-season destination hotel that hosts 2 million visitors a year. I would personally like to thank everyone who had a hand in this project. It was a great success.

Settling in

2011-10-29T23:59:00.000-06:00

It was the third week of September and I was fighting the idea of fall being here. I just hadn't had enough summer, it seemed so short this year. I savored every last moment of warmth and sunlight I could, knowing that soon it would slip away.

But fall always brings great beauty to my neck of the woods. We wake on crisp clear mornings and as the sun rises over the tall fir trees out our kitchen window, we see the fog slowly creep up from the river, across the dahlia fields behind us to the west and crawl along the yard and finally engulf our pergola and deck. It happens so magically, faint tinges of sky blue fighting to at least let us know it is there. The Anna's hummingbirds are at the feeders early and the pair that has been here for the last year and half seems at home. They'll spend the winter here again, I'm sure of that. We spoil them here. But they are so entertaining that I wouldn't think of not keeping their feeders clean and full to the brim at all times.

One August day, after my friend Barb and I had been to Christine's for weaving, we drove into my driveway to find four Chukars relaxing and having a grand time in our front yard. It was a real shock to me because they naturally live in the eastern part of Oregon. Jon and I had a fun run-in with a flock at Succor Creek one time. They are odd quail-like birds (they're also known as chukar partridges) with beautiful markings and bright red bill and legs. They usually escape danger by running. Someone once told me that they need a runway to get up enough speed to really fly.

I wasn't quite sure if they'd survive here but they're still around. What once was four is now three and they must roam the neighborhood because they return to our yard every three or four days.

They like to snuggle down in the dry dirt under the eaves of the house. I swear they want to lay eggs, but it doesn't really seem like the right time of year for that.

One day a nieighbor left his power washer on his roof and left for the afternoon. That evening I saw the little flock up on his roof perching on top of the handle of the power washer. Such an odd thing to see out ones bathroom window. Odd but humorous.

I wonder if the chukars wander back into the dahlia fields. I would think it would be a great place for them to hang out. We still haven't had a frost here so the dahlias are still looking quite lovely. I am quite fortunate to have such a wonderful spot so close to home where I can wander with a friend.

Renee and I picking flowers for a gathering
of weavers at my house.

The late evening sun casts a warm glow
on the glads and dahlias.

Sunflowers make me happy.

I finally broke down and went sailing with Jon on his boat. I had been out to the marina and had dinner on the boat a few times but really didn't have much of a desire to go sailing up the Columbia. But my friend Heidi and her husband came along and we had a lovely time. I just can't do it very often because I get antsy. I think about all the things on land I'd rather be doing. But I have to admit there were times I almost felt like I was in a different land, on vacation so to speak. I like this view coming back into the slip. Reminds me of Holland or Italy. We are lucky to have such a scenic state, aren't we?

Tapestry show at Timberline Lodge

2011-09-04T09:28:00.000-06:00

Our Damascus Fiber Arts School is having an exhibit of weavers works starting Friday September 9th and running through October 10, 2011. We all are very excited about having our work shown and many will be for sale. If you have a chance to go up and see them, we'd love to hear your opinions. It seems like such a perfect place to hang them but a good excuse to visit the lodge, as well. If you have any out of town guests expected and need a place to take them, Timberline Lodge is a great place!

One of our weavers is also a graphic designer, that would be Sandy. She created these two posters to advertise the event. The top poster shows a tapestry by our teacher and fearless leader, Terry Olson. The second poster was created by our weaver Elaine Noonan. Both tapestries will hang in the show. Hope to see you there!

August wind down

2011-08-29T16:00:00.000-06:00

After Terry's workshop we took our annual trip to Mt Rainier National Park. We were actually a week later this year than in past and weren't sure how the wildflowers would be. Turns out Paradise at 6,000 feet was still buried under 44 inches of snow. They had one of the deepest snow seasons ever this past winter. But at Ohanapecosh campground down lower there were no signs of snow and camping was perfect.

camping in the old growth forests of Washington

Although we were a week later than usual, the wildflowers were earlier bloomers than we were used to seeing.

Elephant Head

Edible Thistle

My camera had died on me back in July so this trip was the first with a new one. It's more complicated and has deeper menus than my last one so all these photos are experiments. The camera was focused on the thorax of this damselfly so the eyes and the end of the tail are fuzzy. Didn't quite have the aperture set right.

narrow-winged damselfly

I was able to focus on the damselfly's eyes in this shot and only the tail tip is fuzzy. A bit better.

These tiny wildflowers, known as Pippsisewa, were blooming in our campsite on the side of a rather steep hill above the Ohanapecosh river. I was practicing with the aperture priority setting. The flowers are less than a half inch in diameter and stand on stems only about 6 inches tall so they are a challenge to shoot. Not only that but there was a slight breeze and dark lighting. Not the best conditions for clear crisp focusing.

Opening the aperture half way changes the field of view just enough to fuzz out the background until it is barely
recognizable.

Setting the aperture to it's largest opening blurs the background and forces the eye to see only the subject the photographer wants the viewer to see.

getting the camera to focus on the spider and it's unusual web was a challenge.

Mt Rainier and Reflection Lake

Twinflower

Back at home, the hummingbirds were quite active around the deck and gave me a chance to experiment more with the new camera. Having a 24x lens and 14 megapixels helps. I took advantage of shooting this little rufous hummingbird as he roosted on the tomato cage guarding his territory.

We were invited to a couple of weddings this summer. On Saturday the 20th, Bob (yes Bob the weaver) married his lovely sweetheart, Susan. They had the wedding outdoors, which in itself this year was a very brave thing to do. It was an absolutely stunning day and the entire event was a grand success. I only had my little pocket camera with me but still got some cute shots.

I now pronounce you!

The bride tossing the bouquet.

riding off to their new future.

I swear they were glowing at the reception.

The next event after Bob and Susan's wedding was Jon's 65th birthday. Jon went sailing with his Tuesday regulars and at dinner time Heidi and I met our husbands at Salty's on the Columbia for a fantastic meal of fresh steelhead and garlic mash potatoes. This after fancy drinks.

We finished dinner just as the heat of the day was waning and the sun was beginning to set behind a bank of clouds. We asked the waiter if we could pay our bill and have another round of drinks while watching the sunset. We stayed until the sun was completely down. What an absolutely magical night. I think Jon really enjoyed his day.

Sunset from Salty's on the Columbia.

And finally, this past Saturday night we had a barbecue/potluck to celebrate Jon's birthday with good friends. It was an amazing spread of foods. I barbecued several different kinds of meats and prawns and we all made delicious dishes from the abundant veggie gardens we all have. After the sun went down, the deck lights came on and Jon made a fire in our little firepit. We all had so much fun that no one even attempted to leave until midnight. That's way past all our bedtimes!

What a great way to end the summer! Now today I woke up to low clouds and drizzle. It was perfect weather for working on this blog. It's hard to sit inside on the computer when the weather is nice so this was great serendipity.

The summer weaving tour of homes continues until fall term at school starts on the last Monday of September, the 26th. Tomorrow takes us to Christines. I look forward to seeing her gorgeous flower gardens and hope to be able to get some photographs. Next Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, the weaving tour will be here at my studio. We will be working on hanging all our weavings on easels that will go in the Timberline Show. Incidently, that show gets hung on Wednesday the 7th. I'll keep you posted but I believe it runs through the end of the month. Remember Timberline is a great place to take out of town guest. September would be a perfect time to take friends to the Lodge, show them around and see our exhibit. I know I'll be going up to see how it all looks. A poster has been designed for the event. I don't know anything about it, yet but plan to post it here on the blog. Stay tuned for that.

Another thing that has kept us busy is our greeting cards. Just when we finish one big order, an even bigger order comes in from another location. Now today, we got another gigantic order. I told Jon he needs to send out emails to our customers and warn them that we are headed out for at least a one month road trip to new Mexico in October. We feel really fortunate to have found clients who like our product so much but at some point we need to get out and take more photos!

One last note: Our nephew Jordan, his wife Rachel and sister Darla drove up from Utah last week for a visit. We had a family dinner at Jon's mother's home. Afterwards they came out and sat up half the night on our deck chatting and talking politics. It was great fun. I'm sorry I didn't take one photo of the event but I want them to know that we so enjoyed their visit and hope they continue to make their summer jaunts up to see us. We love them a lot.

As the clouds start to break up on this late August afternoon I can't help but look back on this short summer and think of it as anything but being sweet and positive. It has felt good to work on the house and garden. I feel a true sense of accomplish. It pleases me to have an abundance of food coming from the garden that we can enjoy now and through the winter months. I thank Jon for all the hard work he puts into his vegetable garden so that we can prepare and then share that bounty with family and close friends. For us it has been a perfect summer.

A Full and Fun Summer

2011-08-29T14:09:00.000-06:00

When spring started teasing us with a little warmer weather, we spent a couple different nights having dinner on Jon's sailboat with friends Heidi and Steve. Jon and Steve had begun to sail regularly a couple times a week and although neither Heidi nor I were ready to sail (not quite warm enough, yet) we were ready to bring dinner out and enjoy the river and all the action that occurs there. It was fun to see all the fancy boats float by.

Steve-Jon-Heidi eating blueberry pie

All the spring rains made the strawberry season late. Some were worried there weren't going to be any berries but I was able to make many pies and jam. I made these 3 strawberry pies for June birthday celebrations at our Fiber Arts School. And then Jon can never turn down a photo opportunity. He had a 8x12 pie photo displayed at our local New Seasons Market.

Summer gets crazy busy trying to get in some travel/camping time, take advantage of canning fresh fruits and veggies and then there's house and yard maintenance. After the building of the studio, the switching out of all house windows with new trim and a new roof meaning all the eaves having to be primed and painted we knew we had our hands full. One day at a time........

I did all the exterior painting that I could reach. Then Jon came behind me and painted the 12 foot peak on the west side of the studio. I did the charcoal gray window trim and love the dark accent that matches the new roof.

Knowing that the cedar deck was going to have to be sealed I wanted to finish all the painting first.After some research, I made the decision to stain the deck. I made a few mistakes in preparing to stain and although I won't go into detail about how I screwed up and made a lot of extra work for myself, I must recommend that if you need to clean up your cedar deck and prepare it for staining don't power wash or scrub it clean. It's not necessary and makes a horrible mess. I had to sand the entire deck but it all worked out just fine. I absolutely love how it turned out and it seems to be wearing quite nicely. The stain is a Miller Paint product that I highly

I think the most difficult part about staining a deck in the Pacific Northwest is finding 3 to 4 days of dry weather to actually do the work. A couple of days for the wood to dry. A day to actually do the staining and at least another 24 hours before walking on the deck. But in the end, it is totally worth the work. My timing was impeccable because the second day after the deck was done we had a surprise lightning storm come in and hit us before dawn.

Early on the morning of July 25th, around 4am I got up to refill my water bottle. Something woke me up but it wasn't until I saw lightning flash through the living room window that I realized it was thunder. It sounded as though the storm was over Mt Hood and us being in the foothills it was likely to come overhead. I went back to bed and listened to the storm come closer while watching the flashes of lightning reflect on our bedroom ceiling.

At 4:30 a bolt of lightning hit so close that it shook the house and created the largest boom I've ever heard. As the brand new windows were rattling Jon bolted straight up out of dead sleep. I had never EVER seen him move so quickly or seen any noise jolt him out of sleep. He went from a sound snoring sleep to on his hands and knees in 1 split second. It literally sounded like someone dropped a semi-truck on our roof. We could then hear the rumbles of the thunder fade slowly down the hill to the west, as if it were echoing through a canyon. Amazing. It wasn't until later in the day when I drove to the market that I passed this giant redwood tree that stood directly west of our house on 172nd. the top two-thirds of the tree just disintegrated!

a direct hit!

Everyone was talking about that storm for days afterwards. But still if this is the worst that happens to us weather-wise, I'm good with that. A little excitement is ok.

On the weaving scene Terry was preparing for her 4 day workshop that she was planning on giving twice in August. Before she did, however, she had to finish this lovely weaving that she was giving to her husband for their wedding anniversary. Nice, huh?

So Terry's workshop was 4 days, given twice, and each session had 10 students. She had taken a painting, xeroxed it, cut it into 6x6 inch squares and laid them on a table asking us to consider those techniques that we personally wanted to work on. We were asked to consider those techniques while looking at these squares and pick one that we thought would have those qualities that would use those techniques. It was a really great way to learn. We didn't have to spend any time trying to decide what we were going to weave, the design was sitting right in front of us. It was a terrific idea. Zoe was the first o complete hers, sorry Zoe I only had my cell phone camera with me and your photo just isn't very clear. But I did get you on the web!

Zoe and her complete work

Zoe's Grandma, Jan and her finished work

Laurellen made a ladybug out of hers.

Janet S practicing tiny circles. good job!

JDs piece. The thread is the cartoon stitched
to the warp to follow the design.

My finished piece. I was learning arcs.

Kathy R

Zoe's second piece. She said it was a folk heart upside.
I said it looked like someone's bottom, from behind.

Next up, Rainier and beyond

July brings more finished projects

2011-08-29T11:17:00.000-06:00

As the summer session at Damascus Fiber Arts School wound down, many of us finished projects. We have such a wonderful talented bunch of weavers. I can't say enough about every one of them.

This is Dianne with "The Woodys". I'm not sure if that's the name of this weaving but I love the story behind it. She and her husband, Mike have a rat terrier named Woody. While he snoozes Dianne likes to sketch him (Woody, not Mike!). After her sketch book was filled with drawings Dianne thought about a saying that Mike uses probably more often than she likes to hear which is, "Let sleeping dogs lie". Her idea was to weave all the Woodys together dreaming about bones. All the yarn in this project was hand spun and hand dyed by Dianne. This piece will be in the Timberline show.

Dianne S with "the Woodys"

In July I finally finished the mud rug and removed it from the loom. I was really pleased with the results. This is all churro wool which I spun myself. My first project with my own handspun and I'm quite proud of that fact. I purchased some blocking mats at www.knitpicks.com and they worked very well. I love the feel of the rug after it was blocked. It hangs more evenly and gave it a very professional feel and look.

Me and the completed mud rug

Audrey, our teacher and leader, wove this small weaving. I believe it was a practice piece for a larger one. Terry, our other teacher and leader, suggests that we all have small looms and practice practice practice. It's a great way to see how a project design is going to work out for a large project.

Audrey's cute little dress

Here is Bob, our second year student who weaves as though he had been doing so since he was a little boy. Not only is his technique perfect but he makes great choices for color, as well.

Bob

Here is Janet C taking her latest project off the loom dowels. This piece was in the Astoria Tapestry show. It seemed like a very difficult subject with all it's curves but she was totally successful with her approach.

Janet C

And last but not least is another fabulous small format weaving by Elaine N. Elaine is the weaver who wove the women with no faces in the bathing suits and again in the 1940s style suits. And here in small format she was able to create the face of a relative from a photograph. Elaine is also a painter and I'm not sure if that is what gives her the ability to get the colors right in the face or not, but I don't think I'd attempt this difficult technique.

It's truly amazing.

Next up winding summer down..............

What IS a typical spring any more?

2011-08-29T10:50:00.000-06:00

Out of 117 years of record keeping, Oregon's spring ranked 116th, which means only one year in all that time was wetter, according to the statistics gathered by the National Climatic Data Center. Snowpacks that usually peak by April first, kept growing into May. Heavy spring rains and snowmelt sent the Columbia River near Vancouver at and over flood stage for weeks.

The temperature statistics were crazy too. Portland's latest first-60 degree day didn't even happen until March 31st, which as one can imagine, brought on lots of weather talk and complaints. Even in puddle town the city parks bureau had to shut down playing fields because they were just too muddy. My daughter and her husband play kickball and they were amazed at the cancellation of games. And while we were having dozens of cloudy, cool days, the rest of the country suffered.

The south and midwest, and even Massachusetts saw killer tornadoes. There was unprecedented flooding in the midwest, and extreme drought in Texas. People wilted and some even died during a heat wave in the southeast, and a half a million acres of Arizona went up in flames during the worst spring wildfire season in history.

Where typically, La Nina, the abnormal cooling of the equatorial Pacific Ocean water, fades away with the spring equinox this year it did not. The jet stream stayed farther south, and according to some meteoroligists the winds blew stronger and speeds were more typical of winter than spring. According to the National Climatic Date Center, Washington state-along with 8 other states had their wettest springs (March to May) in 117 years. Oregon and Montana, had their wettest spring in 116 years.

Because we had such cool and wet weather, our gardens got a very slow start. We didn't have any frost after May 15th, which is usually a good time to start planting vegetable gardens, the ground wasn't warm enough to handle the seeds. Many just rotted in the ground. Lots of people had to plant twice and three times before things started growing. Even my perennials started blooming late. Our red hot pokers have usually bloomed, gone to seed and are dead by the summer solstice, but not this year. They were blooming profusely at the end of June.

cedar waxwing on pokers

When I heard my brother, Mike was driving out from Florida I wondered if he was going to be disappointed with all the rain he might experience, once here. Although he had grown up in Portland, it had been 18 years since he had been in Oregon and he had been missing the mountains and lush green forests that we so often take for granted. He was thrilled to get away from the heat and humidity of Florida and be in a place that was tranquil compared to the rest of the country.

Once Mike arrived he met up with his 17 year old grandson, Jesse who flew out from Florida to drive back with his Grandpa. I thought this was such an excellent plan. Jesse had never see mountains, waterfalls or even snow! He said the highest elevation in Florida is 134 feet and sits on top of a garbage landfill. Mike was excited to see all the sites once more and to show off his native state to Jesse. After suffering from a bit of cabin fever I decided I best go along on some of this 'scenic cruisin'.

The first day we headed up to Johnston Ridge Observatory to see Mt St Helens. It was a first for me, as well and even though it was a cloudy day, they were high clouds and we had a great view. Jesse was thrilled to see the mountain and to learn the history of her.

Our next day was to be cloudy with a possibility of showers so what better place to visit than the Columbia Gorge.

Vista House from the Women's Forum viewpoint

I've never seen a 17 year old so excited about being out in nature. It was so nice to see Jesse enjoy himself so much. We hit every waterfall along the old highway. Although many complained about the wet spring just look what it gave us. Lush green forests with bulging rivers. We would have no drought this summer, plenty of water to keep our vegetable gardens watered and no fear of power outages. In my mind, we truly do live in one of the most gorgeous places on earth.

Jesse and Mike at Bridalveil falls.

Latourell falls

maidenhair ferns

After visiting all the waterfalls we continued east to Hood River where we sat outside in the warm sun at the Full Sail Brewery eating lunch and watching the windsurfers and kite boarders. From Hood River we made the loop up and around Mt Hood. We took Jesse up to Timberline Lodge where it was foggy but Jesse was able to walk around in the snow and get a feel for what it's like. Mike and I sat in the bar at the Lodge watching Jesse outside the window. At the end of the day I'd say Jesse had a lot of memories to store away for future reference.

Jesse loved Oregon so much that he wants to come back next summer with a bunch of his buddies after high school graduation. After he was back home in Florida I sent him the Moon Travel Book on Oregon. I thought that would give him something to study up for and look forward to.

June also wrapped up another term at the Damascus Fiber Arts School. Several students finished up projects.

Susan D finished her semi-wedge

Pat T finished a lovely small piece.
Love the colors!

I brought my mud rug home from school to try to finish it before the September show at Timberline. Once I got all my flower pots filled and on the deck, there were actually a few dry days where I could weave outside. Having the elevated deck makes it very easy to roll my big loom out. Perfect!

Life Gets Busy

2011-08-29T09:16:00.000-06:00

I hate to admit that summer is coming to a close but after looking at the calendar this morning, there is no denying it. Next weekend is Labor Day weekend, which to me means 'back to school' and the beginning of preparations for fall and winter. But wait! I still have tons of summer chores to do. I'm not ready for fall! Pitiful too is the fact that I have only posted on this blog once since April. Hey! What can I say? Life gets busy.

As fall creeps up quickly on my heels, I thought I'd look back and see just what has been accomplished since April.

My first outdoor spring project was making some new perennial beds on the backyard side of the house. We have reverse living where our livingroom faces the backyard and not the street. Before our remodel this area was filled with giant rhododendrons and trees covering the windows so we could barely see out.

During excavation of the studio all the plants were removed from this side of the house. The rhodie was moved to the far end of this new clean space. I had the same feeling staring at a giant empty flower bed that I have staring at a new white piece of drawing paper or new white warp. I could hardly wait to start planting and watch it transform from a pile of dirt to beds full of texture and color.

Last fall I saved crocosmia, echinacea and rudbekia from old beds and healed them in under healthy soil and peat moss. I was able to transplant them into the new beds after rototilling in many bags of Whitney Farms planting compost. I filled in with annual verbena, geraniums and zinnias all in vibrant reds, oranges and purples. Once the weather finally warmed up, the beds filled in quickly and everything began performing as well, if not better than in my old beds. Alaskan fish fertilizer has also done wonders. I highly recommend it over Miracle Gro.

I planted 4 tomatoe plants and a few pepper plants up next to the deck, as well. Jon always has tomatoes in his garden at the very back of our property but I liked the idea of picking right from the deck. So far it's been great. I'm afraid I probably won't get to preparing lawn damage until spring, lowest of priorities. But I did get all my bird feeders back and the bird bath filled with fresh water and the back yard came alive.

Now that the flower bed was complete and Mother Nature was taking care of the watering Jon and I were off to Prineville for Dancing Cow Farm's Third annual Mother's Day weekend "Open Barn Daze". It could actually have been the 'Fourth' annual but I wasn't at the first one so this was MY third. The weather in Oregon is always really iffy that early in the season. Only a few days before we headed out, there had been snow on the pass. We were lucky, no snow and it was dry the entire time we were in Prineville. Our dear friends, Dianne and Mike now have a little travel trailer so this was to be our first of many caravan adventures together. Jan and Jeff would come up with their grandkids the day after our arrival.

There wasn't much for us to do, once we arrived. Jerre and Sean would busy preparing for the big weekend so we situated ourselves in the lower area of the farm down by the watering hole and duck's livingroom.

Our Nash trailer parked in the runner ducks and Guinea fowl's livingroom.

Dianne and Mike's Wilderness trailer right behind us.

Jerre & Sean work harder on their little slice of Heaven more than any two people I have ever known. With all the animals, there is hardly time for themselves. The animals always come first. Then there are all those veggies to start from seed, tend to in the greenhouse, plant outside when the frost is hopefully gone and tend all summer. Then there's all the equipment to keep up and running. I get exhausted just thinking about it. Then they set aside Mother's Day weekend to invite the community onto their land and give them tours to see how they run the farm and share their trade secrets. Jan, Jeff, Mike, Dianne, Jon and I all feel honored to come and demonstrate what we love to do.

Jerre & Sean-owners of Dancing Cow Farm along with their working Kelpies, Mojo and Coogee

Jacob Momma and fairly new lamb. They are such charmers!

While Jerre and Sean were busy taking visitors on tours we were all snug in the warmth of the yurt. We love spending the weekend demonstrating. We can get our spinning and weaving done without feeling guilty that we're not concentrating on other chores. It's also fun to answer questions and see the children so fascinated with what we all do.

Dianne

Jan

Jan's granddaughter, Zoe and Jerre's granddaughter, Jaden met for the first time on this trip. They hit it off immediately. They have a lot in common including grandparents who, for one thing, raise Jacob sheep. Jeff & Jan brought their wool carder and the two young ladies took carding the wool very seriously and they did a superior job.

Zoe & Jadin

Me starting a new weaving

Me knitting in the warmth of the spring sun.

As I remember it, the weather was dry that weekend but it certainly wasn't warm. We didn't spend as much time outside sitting in the sun as we had done on some previous trips. But the forecast was for a warming trend so we decided to Caravan with Mike and Dianne over to Jasper Point campground on Prineville Reservoir for a few days.

Jon and I had scoped out this campground last year and noticed just two sites right on the water, next to each other. I remember the view being lovely and the sites being equipped with water and electricity. Just like home.

The Nash on the reservoir

Dianne & me 'camp knitting' While Mike looks on.

As you can see in the photo above, we were in the sun in our long sleeved shirts and sweatshirts. But as the day progressed the temperature rose and we were able to shed a few items of clothing and enjoy the days. Mornings were silent and beautiful. Days were full of noisy red-winged blackbirds, red-tailed hawks and bald eagles along with nice hikes along the reservoir.

sunrise on Prineville Reservoir

Milkvetch also known as loco weed

Our mini-vacation came to an end and we headed back on the west side where the dry weather quickly turned back to spring rains. While waiting for another dry spell to plant veggie gardens, we headed back to school to work on our fiber projects. Here are some of the weavings finished in May.

Elaine N

Gordon

Elaine C

Kathy R

Coastal Fiber Arts Exhibit-Astoria

2011-07-19T18:08:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday evening Terry O, Janet C, and I drove down to Astoria to see the Coastal Fiber Arts Show at the Clatsop Community College. We were excited to not only see what other Fiber Artists from around the country are doing but wanted to see our fellow student/weavers entries as well. Five People from our school entered the juried show and all five were accepted.

There were over 50 pieces hung but we mainly concentrated on taking photos of the tapestries to bring back to school to show off. The judge, Barbara Setsu Pickett gave a talk and said she wanted the show to be colorful and exuberant to counteract all the depressing news that seems to be everywhere these days. We thought she was very successful in doing so. The organizer, Cheryl Silverblatt, said she had no idea how much work was going to be involved in putting together the show and if she had, she would have gone run screaming the other way. We were terribly grateful she didn't do that. It is a fabulous show and in case anyone out there is interested in seeing it, it runs through the August 18th.

Ann Booth

Barbara Setsu Pickett

Cheryl Silverblatt

Don Burns

Janet C and I

Odette Brabec (top)
Janet Austin (Center bottom)

Janet Christensen (penguins)
our student

Joyce Gifford (left) our student
Elaine Noonan (center) our student

Joyce Marlowe

Judy Ness

Kathy Spoering

Best In Show
Kathy Spoering

Linda Rees

Innovative use of fiber
Melany Berry

sorry didn't catch name of this quilted piece

Best Use of Fiber
Pat Sparks

Pat Dunston

Patricia Bugas-Schramm (one of our students)

Therese Coucher

The fifth weaver from school that was accepted into the show was Terry and believe it or not I didn't even know she had a weaving in the show so I never took a photo of it. Sorry Terry.

Ahhhh Spring!

2011-04-03T15:56:00.000-06:00

With the newborn lambs sproinging through the fields, the sun desperately trying to break through heavily laden gray skies and the house finches being just about as red as they ever get, spring is truly trying to appear. The talk all over our community has been the weather. People are disgusted with March being our 5th wettest on record and all sorts of low temperature records being broken. By the time April hits, most people living in the Willamette Valley are ready for at least a few 70 degree days so we can soak up a little Vitamin D. Shoot, it took until the last day of March before we even hit 60! Oh yes that was another record; the latest we have ever had our first 60 degree day. It doesn't seem to be bothering me as much this year as in some. When I spend the majority of my winter in Mexico and then return in April only to see 3 more months of rain, I get very discouraged. But because I spent the winter here, I see slow improvement and know that eventually we'll get some nice days. In the meantime I will just keep enjoying what keeps me busy and happy which includes my family, home, and our local fiber arts community.

I went through a sort of withdrawal during the two weeks our little school was closed for spring break. I missed all my friends and the activities that abound. I did go to the Abernethy Spring Fiber Sale, which was a great time. It was fun to see vendors I hadn't seen since last year and check out all their wares. Spring is as important to the fiber artist as it is to the gardener. Shearing brings on new supplies of fiber for all of us. My head swims with thoughts of Jacob, Romney, Border Leceister, Merino, Alpaca; the list is endless. And so many of the vendors are selling fabulously crafted rovings, yarns AND dyes that are truly to die for! I really had to show restraint. My studio only holds so much stuff and I built it that way so that I would have to finish projects before buying more supplies. It's easy for a fiber artist to just continue to fill her cabinets and baskets with more and more supplies and one begins to feel like a hoarder. I did purchase one skein of a beautiful tweedy alpaca yarn for a hat and a small drop spindle to practice spinning on while away from my wheel.

Spring term at Damascus Fiber Arts School started back up this past week. If you were thinking of coming and participating, it is never too late. You can always pay by the week instead of the entire term and that works well for a lot of the gals who know they'll be on a spring trip for a few weeks. We'd love it if you could at least stop by and see what we're all about. There are rugs on display everywhere and tons of cheery faces ready to welcome you in.

We usually have our term potluck on the last day of the term but we delayed it until the first day of spring term because we had so much to celebrate and be thankful for. We are so very grateful that Kiki is making a full wonderful recovery from her winter medical events. This was her first time back since before Christmas. We had missed her presence terribly so were very joyful for her return.

Susan delivering Kiki to the spring potluck. Kiki you look marvelous!

I feel remarkably blessed to be a part of this community. We all fill a need in the lives of each other. Whether we need advice on a project, a ride somewhere when we're incapacitated, or just want to feel needed and help out in some way, everyone is there to do their part. I have been reminded over and over again that I mustn't be afraid to ask for help because it would be inconsiderate to not allow someone else to feel good by helping. That is the beauty of these people. No one wants to ask for help but everyone wants to be there to help anyone who needs it. If only the world could be made up of people just like my friends.

One of our teachers, Audrey, had also been absent from school for a while. She had an accident in the line of duty (dyeing at home). It sounds like she had wonderful doctors and physical therapy and bounced back so fast that we were all amazed. It is so so so good to have you back Audrey. We love you and missed you terribly.

Audrey, obviously glad to be back at school .

When you have as many ladies with as many years of cooking experience as the ones at our school under one roof and they invite you to a potluck, you would be a fool to miss it. Curried chicken to pot-stickers, roast pork to pecan pie, stuffed mushrooms to German chocolate cake. Again something everyone!

Lining up to dish up

After lunch Bob showed us another rug he finished. Someone said this is his 11th rug. I think he's only been at school two years. I don't know how he does it. He is incredibly prolific and does impeccable work. We are all very impressed with his weaving abilities. Look closely, this rug has stripes that are only about a half inch wide. Stripes are very difficult to get straight and even. Amazing Bob.

detail of Bob's perfect lines.

Below is a piece that JD just finished. I remember a time when she wasn't very happy with the progress on this piece but she worked through it and came up with just a lovely weaving. Good job, JD, I love it.

if I could only remember the name of this native flower.

In February two of my fellow weavers went to a spinning retreat in Washington. I had signed up for said retreat but ended up canceling due to the fact that the final weak of my studio being built happened to coincide with it. I'm hoping next year I can go. They focused on blending colors for spinning and as a part of those lessons they did some dyeing. Barb and Jan were anxious to experiment on their own turf so out to Drumcliffe Farm I went to see what I could see. These two gals are always a blast to hang out with. I always learn something new and have a ton of fun at the same time.

Barb said they were going to try dyeing in roaster pans so the first thing she did was go to goodwill and find us great roasting pans for a steal! We were using Lanaset acid dyes but trying something different than I had ever done before. I'm relatively new to dyeing but I've always just dyed one color in one pot, whether it was acid dyes or natural dyes. This time we were going to try to make variegated colors.

On the left is my roasting pan. My fiber is Corriedale hand-spun. I used powder dye and dropped 'red down the center, yellow on either side of the red and cyan on the edges.

In the Center is Jan's fiber. She used a Corriedale roving. For those of you who don't know what a roving is, that is the fiber that has been sheared from the sheep, washed and then carded into clean fibers that are then ready to spin into yarn or felted. Jan used a dye solution (powder mixed with water) rather than just the powder. She used syringes to apply the dye down the center with cyan, yellow on either side of the cyan and magenta on the edges. And because she was told that black would halt the colors from blending together she applied black in between the colors.

On the right is Barb's roasting pan, which is filled with mohair Boucle. For those of you who aren't familiar with boucle, it is considered a novelty yarn with a length of loops of similar size which can range from tiny circlets to large curls. To make it, at least two strands are combined, with the tension on one strand being much looser than the other as it is being plied, with the loose strand forming the loops and the other strand as the anchor. This fiber was so beautiful as just a fluffy white and I thought she was very brave to toss it into hot water and pour dye on it. She too used a dye solution rather than powder. She applied magenta down the center, then yellow on either side and a green which was a combination of the cyan and yellow (80%/20% I believe).

This photo shows the final products. I was thrilled with mine (left). I had chosen scarlet macaw colors and the end result was perfect. Jan (center) wasn't happy with her results and is going to overdye it today. Barb was really happy with her boucle as well. Her colors so remind me of Mexico, ole! Barb has a warp on her floor loom and is planning on using this as the weft for a throw. It's going to be stunning. I can hardly wait to see the work in progress.

We still had plenty of time left to do some more dyeing so we poured ourselves some lovely wine and tried again. This time I had some Harrisville commercial yarn that I had dyed and wasn't happy with so decided to try over-dyeing. I loved Barb's colors so much that I used her dye solutions of magenta and yellow

Jan's second dyeing attempt was with hand-spun Jacob from her own sheep. She used red and yellow dye solutions and added a little black with the yellow hoping to get an olive green.

We were very pleased with our results. My yarn is on the left and is a very nice variegated yellow to hot pink. Jan's turned out yellow to pink to a really beautiful olive green. There is one small skein of fleshtone yarn hanging on the rack. That was a skein of mine that was a flop from a previous dyeing and I threw it in the left over dye bath from Jan's roving dyeing earlier in the day. We just wanted to see what would happen with the left over bath that still had some color in it. It's a great color and I'll save it for some future project.

So as we begin this month of April and I'm savoring the scent of the daphne odora, I will remind myself that this spring isn't that different from any spring I can remember as a child. And that along with the cold and wet come daffodils and tulips and beyond that, days of picnics, gatherings in the park and trails to be explored. Until next time...................

Something to Write Home About

2011-03-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

I had been out in the studio working and heard Jon come home from visiting his Mother. When I came in the house Jon had a look on his face that I recognized immediately. He was about to tell me something happened that wasn't going to be good.

He usually takes my little Toyota RAV when he goes to his Mom's. It's just so much more economical than the diesel truck he drives. He had just stopped at the red light on Hwy 212 at the Carver Junction when someone behind him didn't stop at the red light but instead smashed right into the back end of my car! Jon said there wasn't much noticeable damage to my car but the gal's car (yes it was a woman) was really badly damaged in the front. After going out to examine my car I realized why the other gal's car got the brunt. She hit the spare tire on my car and basically embedded into the door of my car. It was difficult to really see the damage without taking the tire off. Yeah she did a good job and we'll have to have the whole rear door replaced but they're willing to give us a rental for the 5 days it will be in the shop and we're just grateful Jon wasn't hurt in any way. It just made for a bummer of ride home for Jon. It took me back to the early days when Jon and I were first dating. He had borrowed my brand new VW Super Beetle and a woman backed up and ran her trailer hitch right through the front trunk hood of my car. I had only had that car a few days and I was quite upset. I learned a long time ago not to get too attached to my cars. You can't expect to drive them around town and not get them dinged up by either your own mistakes or someone else's. The RAV is 12 years old so it wasn't that big of a deal. The funniest thing of all is that the loud rattling noise that has always been in the rear door is now gone! How about that? Pretty funny.

After checking out the car I went back in the studio and worked until I was ready to come back in and fix dinner. Just as I returned to the house, where Jon was watching the evening news, he looked out the front window and said, "where is all that smoke coming from?" By the time I got to the front window to look out, Jon was already running across the street to the neighbors saying it looked like Gordon's garage might be on fire.

I grabbed my phone and headed across the street. By the time I got to the Fischer's driveway, Jon had disappeared around the back of the house. Their garage sets back and to the right of their house. I could see one of their little compact cars in the garage (this is a big pole barn type garage) with flames on the floor underneath the car. Smoke was starting to billow high in the sky and turn black. I started dialing 911 and I immediately gave all the info to the gal on the phone. At the same time I yelled at Jon to please come back out away from the house and garage. I couldn't see him and I yelled that I was afraid the car was going to explode. The 911 operator asked me to please stop yelling because I was yelling in her ear. I think I apologized, I'm not sure but I did tell her I wasn't going to stop yelling because I wasn't seeing Jon or the Fischers. A lot happened in a very few moments. Cheryl had just come home from work. She had just parked her Subaru in the garage not 5 minutes before and had just sat down to eat dinner. That is where Jon found them when he went around the back side of the house, eating dinner. They hadn't seen the smoke. Gordon started to invite Jon in, when he yelled at them that there was a fire in the garage. I didn't know any of this was happening. I was trying to figure out where everybody was. While I was on the phone Gordon tried to take an extinguisher to the underneath side of the car but obviously knew it wasn't going to do any good so dropped it and went back around the back side of the house. I just wanted them to come out and leave everything alone. I yelled at Gordon that the fire engines were on there way. I guess the 911 operator didn't like that I was yelling at Gordon and Jon because she said, "They're on their way." and then she hung up. I have never had a 911 operator hang up on me before. Usually they want you to stay on the line, but she must have been miffed at me, is my only guess. It's hard to stay calm under such circumstances.

I finally saw Cheryl come out her front door and Gordon came out the back and ran down the driveway toward the street. This is how high the smoke went within just the first 5 minutes of the fire.

First view of smoke

Gordon running back for some unknown reason.

At one point Gordon went back to the garage. He had two cars and a boat inside. I think he knew he couldn't go inside but he was going to try to at least save his truck, which was sitting outside the garage. He was able to get it out and drive it back across the street. Then in the photo above he went back again. I'm not sure why but he turned right around and came back and that is when Jon got this photo of Gordon walking out of the black smoke into the street where the first Fire engine was just pulling up.

Gordon being greeted by the Boring Fire Department's first responder.

Later Gordon said he was upset that the Fire Department didn't send a water truck as the first truck. He thinks if they had, he probably would still have those things that were on the north side of the garage including his boat. I believe it was the THIRD fire engine that appeared that had the hose, parked up about 3 houses where the hydrant was and started hooking up hoses. You can see in the photo below that the garage was burning pretty darn good before they ever got the hoses hooked up from hydrant to the first engine and then to the garage.

first of the hoses

We all know how brave these firefighters are. Here are two putting on tanks. I think they were getting ready to go inside the building and spray down the vehicles and cans of gasoline that were stored inside. I heard muffled explosions and found out later what I was hearing was the tires on the cars and boat trailer exploding.

putting on tanks to go inside.

Gordon was pretty darn upset and he had every right to be. All of his hobbies and toys were in that garage. He had two compact cars and his wonderful fishing boat. I think he was just getting it and his gear ready to go do some sturgeon fishing. This morning he said all he has left is a couple of screw drivers which were in his house.

Not only did he have years and years worth of fishing gear but also woodworking tools and power tools. We feel really bad for his loss. He just retired not too long ago and this is no way to have to start a retirement.

Subaru, Honda (I think) and boat in distance

the engine on the Subaru had just been rebuilt 3 weeks prior. There had been gasoline leaking out undeneath during the fire. That is where we all presume the fire started.

the boat

We all know it was just 'stuff' but that doesn't make it any easier for poor Gordon and his wife. They have always been such wonderful and helpful neighbors. We hope that we can help them out in any way possible until they get through the mess and back to normal. We are all so very grateful that no one was hurt and that it wasn't able to reach the house.

OK That is way more excitement than we like. We are now hoping things will calm down for a while. I would just as soon NOT have events like this to report on.

Take care and just as a reminder, Hug your loved ones today. Tell them how much they mean to you, even if it is hard to say, sometimes. It's important that they know how much they are loved and it does us good to say it.

A Fun Day at Drumcliffe Farm

2011-03-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

Our good friends Jan & Jeff of Drumcliffe Farm in Sandy, Oregon were nice enough to agree to a visit so that some of us could come and see the baby lambs. I had been reading Jeff's updates regarding the lambing season so I went for the driest day possible. That's been a challenge since it just may be so that March goes down as the wettest on record here in the Portland Metro area. My friends Mike, Dianne and her son, Peter and 3 of the grandkids came along to spend an afternoon on the farm. It was dry but the wind was pretty chilly and strong.

I have never spent much time around the sheep with their newborns so I didn't know quite what to expect. Jeff said the kids couldn't go out into the field. It was just too muddy getting there plus it would have been way too stressful for the some of the ewes.

We went through the barn where we came across Elaine who just had become a new mother the night before. This little lamb doesn't even have her ear tag yet. Jeff said that would happen the next day. The newbie got up just long enough to take a few drinks of milk and allow us to get a couple photos and then she went back to her little dark corner to be left alone.

First time Mother, Elaine, with newborn.

We then went out into the field to see the entire herd of mom's with their babes. Melody is the guard llama who watches over the herd of sheep making sure they're all safe. Jeff said that in the evening when all the sheep come back into the barn, the last thing Melody does is a once around the field to make sure no lamb has been left behind. The first Mom I attempted to get near to was Beulah the Border Leicester (white) and her twins who were sired by a Jacob. They are the cutest little set of black twins. But Beulah wasn't going to let me get close and Melody made sure I kept my distance.

Melody guarding Beulah and her twins

Jacob ewe with lamb

I was able to take a few photos while out in the field but I felt like I was stressing out the ewes and besides the wind was cold so I cut it short and headed back to the barn and then into the house. We had a lovely time visiting and Jeff and Jan's grandkids were there having a sleepover with friends so it was a full house full of excitement and joy.

After we had eaten our sack lunches we brought with us, Jan served some snacks and glasses of wine. I was just getting that warm feeling inside when Jan told me I better head for the barn because Jeff was going to feed the sheep and it would be a much better opportunity to get some shots. By that time I really had lost interest, of course. I was warm and cozy inside and the wind was still blowing pretty hard and cold. But Jan convinced me that we'd be in the barn and out of the wind. I was so glad that she talked me into going back.

Jeff stood at the outside gate and yelled 'sheep sheep sheep' and they all started running in, babes following behind them. First came Beulah with her twins. Beulah is my new favorite ewe because I saw how gorgeous her fleece was when it came off at the shearing. The staple was long and crimped and boy did I covet that fleece. As it turned out, at the end of day when the shearing was over, Jan gave me that fleece as a gift for helping out. I was shocked, surprised and overjoyed. There was over 6 pounds of wool on that fleece and I'll be able to spin up some perfect yarn for weaving.

Beulah with her Jacob twins.

lamby pie

I'm hoping this one gets named Lady BaaBaa

Here is a short video of about 10 of the newest members of the farm. I'll have to go back when they're a little bigger, hopefully a sunny day. They won't be able to keep me away.

Another post coming up on the scary Thursday we had, yesterday.

Our Winter Remodel

2011-03-21T21:56:00.000-07:00

When we first started making the plans for my studio I thought sure I'd at least post weekly with it's progress. I was really wrong when I thought I'd have lots of spare time on my hands to do such a thing. So instead I'll try to lump it all into a quick photo essay.

deck and pond that will be covered with new studio.

Jon worked really hard for several weeks tearing the deck and arbor apart. He wanted to salvage all the wood for possible repurposing later. He was sad to see all his handy work torn down but it was showing it's age. By tearing it down himself, we saved a lot of money in demolition charges.

11-7=2010 grapes, arbor and beginning of deck demolition

11-23-2010 Jon tearing off the last of the deck (empty pond and stone still in)

At this time, when Jon was finishing up demolition of the deck, we were waiting for all the building permits to be okayed and to have a large tree removed. There were several days in between the day the tree went down and stump grinding day but by the 10th of December the permits had been approved and excavation could start on Monday 12-13-10. The plan was to tear out the 40 year old out of control juniper bush and move a gigantic scarlet rhododendron and Japanese Maple away from the house to new beds. Below is first day of excavation after the plants had been removed. They did a great job of staying away from our brick patio.

Monday 12-13-10 Day 1 breaking ground

Friday 12-17-10 pouring concrete into foundation footing & wall

Tuesday 12-21-20 Jon helping Greg jack up the walls.

The walls were up all the way around and Greg went home to Bend for the Christmas break. It was fun to have even that much done in such a quick bit of time. Now we would wait two weeks to see the next stage.

1-4-11 The trusses had to be lifted off a very large truck in the front yard, over the house to the back.

The trusses had been delivered from a lumber company down in Clackamas. They were suppose to be stacked on the truck in the order in which they would set on top of the building. As it turned out the two ends were to together so Greg had to manipulate one end truss from one end of the building to the other while trying to keep it balanced on just two walls. I was amazed. No one got hurt!

Saturday 1-4-11 Here Greg has set up a temporary table on the roof with the roof sheathing.

We were amazed at how quickly the structure took form. By Tuesday, end of day he had the studio connected to the house as well as the windows installed and the moisture barrier on the walls.

1-7-11 Once Greg connected into the main house he hurriedly got tar paper on the studio roof plus tarped the area between house and studio for roofers to come later.

1-17-11 We love the new charcoal colored roof and white gutters.Siding up and all electrical finished.

2-8-11 Red Oak floor is in and interior is painted by yours truly.

2-25-11 Cedar deck going in.

deck complete. Can now walk from dining room to studio, yay!

knotty pine going up.

So the finished studio is 20' x 15' and seems to be the perfect size for my needs. When planning it I worked out a floor plan of everything I thought I would need and this size seemed right. I think one reason it's a good size is because I couldn't put much more in it! This means I HAVE to finish projects before bringing in any more supplies for future projects than I already have.

I had Greg build me a long shelf up high where I could store fleeces and items that I didn't need right at hand. I also intentionally didn't have any built-in cupboards or cabinets. Not only would it have been a costly thing to do but I wanted to leave all options open on the possibilities of what this room could and can be.

East wall which includes sewing machines, books, yarn, fleeces and floor loom.

For over two months I followed this china hutch on Craig's list. it seemed the perfect cabinet for storage. Lucky for me it never sold so I was able to get it. I guess it was just meant to be. It really is the perfect piece of furniture for the west wall where all the spinning and Navajo weaving will be done. It stores all my weaving supplies.

I've been in the studio working now for two weeks and I absolutely love it. I feel so blessed to have a creative space that I can call my own. I look forward to being in it every day. I've already spun several skeins of Romney, finished one knitting project and started another. Tomorrow I'm putting a warp up on the big Navajo loom and will start working on a new project immediately.

When (and if) the weather ever warms up and dries out enough to get some of the construction cleaned up in the yard I plan to have an open studio day where friends can come and see my new work space and we can just share a day together catching up on life in general. I also intend to have my fiber arts friends come and share my space with me. We love spinning and crafting together. If you think you'll be in the neighborhood and are interested in sharing some creative time either email or call me. I'm here most of the time and would love to see you.

I'll try to make my next posting a short one with photos of the remodel inside the house. Until then take care of yourselves, enjoy life and be kind to each other.

Jon's Catalina

2011-03-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Jon has had the dream of owning a sailboat ever since we went to Bora Bora and Moorea. The lifestyle seemed so magical that I can't quite blame him. After all the traveling we had done to Mexico, he had pretty much decided that he'd like to have a trailerable sailboat to drive down to the Sea of Cortez. It made sense to me that as a novice, he would want to trailer the boat and get his experience in baby steps. He found this older 25' Catalina for sale down on Fernridge reservoir out of Eugene. It was late last fall, in fact it was the week before the reservoir was to be drained as I remember it. He got the boat out of the water and up I-5 into our backyard.

If he could squeeze a 30 foot fifth-wheel back there he could squeeze the boat as well.

It's a good thing we have a big lot to stow it until it gets in the water.

It didn't take him long to get a slip on the Columbia.

He plans on changing the name. That will call for a Christening ceremony and celebration.

I still have not been on it.

There were several reasons I could not convince myself to go to Baja this year with Jon. My biggest reason was the remodel and studio being built. And if that wasn't reason enough there was always the fact that Jon was planning on climbing up a step ladder every night, while traveling south, to camp in it. Didn't seem like something I was prepared for.

I was afraid Jon wasn't going to go at all since I didn't figure he'd go alone. He had the genius idea of invited our friend Jim C. along. Jon and Jim had been talking for years about their desire for a sailboat. Jim had just recently gotten the plans to build his. Once the invitation went out, Jim grabbed it and went with it. Jim and Jon really didn't know each other very well but they were sure willing to give it a try. They are both very easy to get along with so they knew it would be a great adventure. Come to find out, they were born on the same day. These are all photos Jon took while on their trip to Puerto Escondido, Baja just last month.

Looking back at the Sierra Gigante

This is one of my favorite photos. Jim checking the mainsail.

sun getting ready to set over the Sierra gigante.

checking the kayak tie-up at sunset.

The guys had a great time but Jon said it was a little shorter than he's used too. It was good to have him back home. I must say, however, I was a bit shocked to see him walk in with this white beard. His nose looks like a red rocket. It really wasn't as bad as it looks in this photo. We call him Skipper now.

Soon I will post the adventure which was the remodel and the building of the studio.

Kev who?

2011-03-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I posted on my blog, I wouldn't be surprised if people forgot who I am. Sometimes when I don't get back to something soon enough, it then sits on the back burner and I forget about it, it ends up at the bottom of the priority list. That has been the case with the blog.

It's amazing how much has occurred since last August when I last posted. I promise I won't put it all in this one posting. Since I am in the middle of two weeks off for spring break from the fiber arts school, I thought starting out with some of the lovely works that have been created there since last August would be a good start.

Last October Bob started this chief's blanket. I'm not sure where these blankets got the name 'chief' since I don't believe the Navajo ever had Chiefs. But none the less the blankets that were woven wider instead of longer were made that way to be worn. A person could wrap it around their shoulders and the center design would meet in front. This design that Bob has woven comes from what is known as the Third Phase Chief's Blanket with it's serrated diamonds.

By January Bob had finished the blanket and had done a magnificent job. Straight lines can be a real challenge on a Navajo loom. Bob is becoming a fabulous weaver, as you will see later with another gorgeous rug he finished.

Terry wove this little jewel. One of the things Sarah Swett talked about in her workshop last summer was the action that can be shown in a weaving to tell a story. This really shows what could happen if a bolt of lightning hit the vase. I also admire the lack of color along the edge that indicates the shape of the vase.

This was Audrey's last finished dress. She always includes buttons in her pieces.

I love seeing all the different ideas that come out of our little school. Such a talented group of people.

Susan's

Barb's

In December we had an exhibit of our small format weavings of shoes at the Sandy Library. Terry did a beautiful job of mounting them all with the weavers information and what inspired each to weave the type of shoes she chose. Pat's sister was gracious enough to have a wine and chocolate tasting party at her shop after the exhibit reception. We had such a great time. I'm sure Rita will invite us back to her shop because we had a huge line of guests waiting to buy both wine and chocolates. It was conveniently held just before Christmas which was perfect timing for all of us.

Pat chose Dorothy's ruby slippers (upper left)

Barb chose the old woman who lived in a shoe (lower right)

In January Cindie brought her new puppy Maggie into school to show her off. Here Elaine gets a kick out of just how cute that little furball was. She has grown a lot since then (Maggie NOT Elaine).

I wanted to post this black and white photo to make a point about contrast and how easy it is to check your work and see just how much contrast actually exist. Joyce had just gotten seriously underway with weaving (below) when she was curious about colors and if they created enough contrast. As you can see, the middle row of squares within squares shows how the center box on the right is almost lost to the background larger square color. and the second one in has very low contrast as well. Joyce was doing this contrast study in class so she didn't really need a color photo. It would have helped for this demonstration, however, and next time I will take both black & white as well as color.

Bob with an amazing new finished rug. WOW!

Pat with her finished two grey hill. Very nice Pat.

The reason I am posting this photo of Janet's work while still on the loom but finished, is because I wanted to point out how the bottom of the rug is rolled under the pipe. When one starts a long piece on an upright loom the top is rolled over the top and the weaver starts working at the bottom. Once the work gets up a ways, then the bottom of the rug can be rolled under the pipe and the top brought down in the front to finish.

Janet's piece just before removing from loom

Janet with her hand-spun Romney eye dazzler. It is a beautiful piece.

Elaine modeling the scarf we all made for Kiki

Because I'm so behind on the blog, this photo of Kiki is really behind the times. This was taken in February when Janet S, Barb H and I went to visit her at the care facility that she was in at the time. Kiki became very ill in December but with a very loving family and medical team plus gifts and well wishes from us from the craft school, she is recovering slowly but doing amazingly well. We are all so proud of how devoted she is to her recovery. We need you back Kiki. Keep up the tremendous work you are doing.

Kiki admiring the knitted/crocheted scarf students at DFAS made for her.

Kiki showing how hard she's fighting. Love it.

One of our newest students, Gordon, proves to be a Beaver fan with his first weaving.

Gordon has no fear of weaving. Good job.

B'Anna's creativity shines through

Janie completes the Schnauzer

This is a weaving done by Laurellen. She belongs to the National Churro Sheep Association and raises these wonderful animals. She spun the yarn, designed and then wove this piece. Forgive my photography here. The light was coming from the window behind and so caused some blemishes. Nice piece Laurellen. I'm wondering if I'll see it hanging in your booth this weekend at the Abernethy Spring Fiber Show.

And finally, for this blog, I post one of the projects I did this winter. Most of my fleeces, yarn and equipment was crammed into a back bedroom while the studio was being built. At home I stuck with knitting mostly. I completed these Russian designed mittens with some wonderful Shetland wool I had hidden away.

Next post will be photos of Jon's 25' Catalina, which he just had down in the Sea of Cortez.

Weavers Tour of Homes

2010-08-22T00:24:00.000-06:00

With Damascus Fibers Arts School closed for the remainder of the summer, all these beautiful, creative women still thrive on socializing and keeping the group as cohesive as possible. One extremely fun way to do this is to keep meeting on our regular Tuesdays but meet somewhere different every week. Anyone who wants to volunteer their home for a day signs up in late spring and unless something unforeseen occurs we meet and play. This last Tuesday Candy opened up her amazing home and invited us all in for a literally Grand day. Everything about her home is Grand, in my book. Candy loves the arts and like all good art lovers she supports the arts as well as creates her own. So while touring her home, one can see the contemporary art that she has acquired from her extensive world travels as well as seeing her and her husband's handy work.. As you walk through the front door of Candy's home, you have no choice but to notice the painting on the living room's tray ceiling. It was explained that Candy made a wonderful trade with the artist who painted this ceiling. Evidently the artist wanted to trade Candy for one of her own creations. Candy does fused glass along with tapestry weaving, mosaic and I'm sure it doesn't stop there. So a deal was struck, the artist set up her scaffolding and got to work painting an image inspired by the background of a painting hanging on the wall in the living room. Like I said, you are going to notice this ceiling.

My guess is that we probably have the largest group of weavers on the day we visit Candy. No one wants to miss it. This was my first time here and everyone had told me not to plan anything else for this day, that I HAD to see it. They were right. It's fabulous. You can see how some of the gals just moved right into the living room and made themselves comfy under the glow of the ceiling while some gathered around the long dining room table to work. One of the many things I love about this house is that no matter where you walk, there is plenty of light.

In the foyer, Candy has a Navajo loom set up. On the back side is a weaving Candy has just recently started. On the front is a weaving her mother, Dorothy is doing. She's weaving a very dark area that is actually a large forest and Candy is helping weave the tops of the trees. They called it "Reforestation".

This Northwest Coast Art mosaic was done by Candy. It hangs up very high and is a large piece. It is my understanding that Candy likes astronomy and therefore has a celestial room where clouds and stars are painted on the ceiling. The medallion hangs in that room.

The ceiling is very tall and this photo doesn't do it justice but there are heavenly bodies painted on the ceiling, a solar system mobile hanging and whimsical lettering saying "Carpe Nostrum" which supposedly means "seize the night". It's a lovely thought and a lovely little room.

Check out the LED lights under the handrails, below. Is that classy or what? Does this look like a hotel lobby? Or a posh art gallery? No, it's one of Candy's hallways. Grand.

Please forgive me, Candy for posting your master bath on the Internet but I had to show how lovely this weaving looks on that wall. I posted this rug on my blog right after Candy finished weaving it at school last year. It looks terrific there. I love getting to see what the weavers do with their finished pieces.

There is quite a story behind this mosaic and I don't know all of it but I did hear that Candy designed the mosaic below and then created some of the tile pieces realizing when they came out of the kiln, they had shrunk and she had to start over creating new tiles. Spectacular!

This cute bar with the popcorn stand and movie posters sits outside the media room. cool

Another hallway shows a cheetah weaving that I couldn't swear to but pretty darn sure Candy wove.

Love the contemporary Northwest Coast Art.

I did not expect to look out the front door and see these guys on the neighbors front porch. And only moments after these two visitors a young buck also appeared.

The last photo I took was inside their half-bath that is just off the foyer. I've never seen anything like this before. There is stuffed woven or braided fabric on the legs of the sink and check out the design under the sink that hides any u-joint pipes. The paint finish on these walls was amazingly lustrous and smooth like nothing I've ever seen before. I'm going to have to look into the technique because it seems very unusual and pleasing to the eye.

This now concludes our tour. Thank you Candy for your hospitality and inviting us into your lovely home. We all had a wonderful time. And this photo of Dianne proves that some of us did get a little bit of work done while here. Dianne's weaving is based on a drawing of herself done by her Granddaughter, Heidi. It was such a clever idea and it worked out perfectly. I think Heidi is quite proud that her Grandmother thought so much of her drawing to actually weave it. What a team!

I believe I'm fairly caught up on my blog now. The only other things I have to report are that we finally received our first Greeting Cards order from New Seasons. We had been put on an authorized vendors list last year at this time and never heard back from them. But we are thrilled that they are going to start selling our cards in their Happy Valley Store so go check them out! We're hoping they do well and other locations try them too.

The other exciting news is that I'm in the planning stages for a new studio. Jon and I are making a list of what our priorities and real needs are for some house upgrades and additional space. I'm having a great time formulating ideas for what that space will be. Once the plans are completed and drawn up I will start posting the processes we go through. Stay tuned, I'm sure it will be quite an adventure.

Stay well, busy and happy.

Sailing Through LIfe

2010-08-20T11:59:00.000-06:00

Jon is still shopping for his first sailboat. For his first boat he is wanting a used trailerable one that he can haul down to Baja and sail the Sea of Cortez in the winter and then have at home for Columbia River sailing in the summer. At first I was against it. I had always heard that sailboats were a money pit but after looking at several now, I've changed my mind. That is not to say that I look forward to doing the long haul to Baja hauling a sailboat instead of our wonderful travel trailer but I'm not opposed to Jon buying a used small sailboat any more. I'm surprised at how affordable they are and after being out on the river on a 25 foot Catalina I'm sold on that brand. We both like it very much. There have been several for sale in the Portland/Vancouver area. One night we went to look at one that was moored on Hayden Island. We were pleasantly surprised that this was the first seller who was anxious to get us out on the boat and sailing. I thought that maybe while checking out the photos of our sail and the boat, you'd like to hear some sailing music. Every time I get out on a sailboat I can hear this Christopher Cross song in my head.

For you Jamie Cullum fans, this is another really nice sailing song.

It had been a rather chilly cloudy day but as soon as we pulled away from the slip the clouds started parting and opening an opportunity for a nice sunset. There was a perfect breeze for sailing up the river.

There were some Tuesday night races going on which allowed for some fun photos.

Look at the face on Jon. How could anyone deny that kind of happiness?

The owner and Jon putting the sails away and closing up. I liked the interior lights on with the sunset glow in the background.

Jon seizes any opportunity to work on sailboats and learn as much as he can.

Mooring is much like being in an RV park, with electricity and access to bathrooms and showers. But instead of dealing with neighbors in giant RVs you have neighbors with cool sailboats to ogle.

We really liked the boat a lot and the price is right. The only draw back is the fact that the trailer has no brakes. This wouldn't be a problem if we were just hauling the boat from home out to the river but the thought of driving steep winding roads in Baja without brakes freaks me out to no end. The Devil's Grade coming down into the Sea of Cortez is a long steep haul that is a disaster waiting to happen if you're towing something without brakes. The owner is however, checking into having some installed. That could cinch the deal. We'll keep you posted.

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Moving on, one evening this week we took a walk out in Renee's field to see the dahlias, visit with Renee and watch the sunset. We had just had a five day heat spell of days over 90 and we knew some marine air was due to come in and cool things off. There was a little smoke in the air due to a forest fire of some sort up in Washington so it helped create some lovely colors.

Once the sun went down the colors starting intensifying.

Mother Nature's color palette.

Next posting, a day of weaving in the west hills of Portland.

Sarah Swett comes to Damascus

2010-08-18T19:19:00.000-06:00

In the world of Tapestry, I fit in right next to that old leftover ball of yarn from a pair of socks someone knit 12 years ago. In other words I am a comparative newbie to the art of tapestry. I do believe however, Idahoan Sarah Swett is fairly renowned in the world of tapestry and fiber arts in general. One of our school weavers had the brilliant idea to invite Sarah to DFAS to teach a workshop and she graciously accepted. I believe we had 15 students plus Terry and Audrey (our supreme beings) taking the workshop. I will not go into great detail what we learned, instead I will post some photos of the pieces she so graciously brought for us to inspect close-up. Here I will skim lightly over some of the concepts touched upon in the workshop. Also if you're interested in seeing more of Sarah's work, her website is http://neon.chem.uidaho.edu/~swett/index.html

Pen and Ink: I find this tapestry quite interesting when I think of the paper in the same way I do a blank warp for starting a weaving. The correlation between the wool weft and the pen that creates the image with the ink on the page. The symbolism that one can equate with the needle and thread/yarn. Even though the viewer may not have any idea what the weaver had in mind when creating this piece it is such the same evocative.

Manuscript Revised 3: Again I use the word evocative. The thoughts that are evoked from are; I remember these cards in the front of books from the library! Look at the signatures! She wove the signatures? The white-out is woven yarn? She wove all those words, even the form number on the bottom of the card. AND check out the title of the book. She even used the correct Dewey Decimal System numbers. You'll see how big this tapestry is in a photo of Sarah below.

I'm unsure of the title of this tapestry but I like the simple elegant ribbons of color which create the images. I find it quite peaceful.

Look how well Sarah can translate light in the real world to light through yarns in a weaving. The cast light, the shadows, the perspective. I especial admire the shadows on the floor and the ability to weave an object to represent transparency.

This is one of the first things we talked about in the workshop. How to weave an object so that it appears to be transparent. Transparent glass has got to be a puzzle, in itself.

Sarah brought all her own hand spun/hand-dyed wool for us to use in our practice tapestries. The weft was very finely spun and the warp was thicker than what we Navajo loom weavers are used to. It was fun to try different thicknesses than we're used to.

This is my weaving for the transparency exercise. Blending the lighter foreground color with the object being covered gives a transparent look.

This is one of Sarah's small format weavings showing how fabric reacts, i.e. shading with the bends and being aware of where your light source is coming from.

The second exercise would be weaving an image to look like fabric. Sarah suggested a ribbon.

Sarah studying Kiki and Elaine's work.

Terry's green ribbon is shaded very nicely.

Sarah gave a great little demonstration on values and how if you pick colors that are close in value there may be very little contrast. Something to consider when wanting to make objects pop out or hide in a distant corner. Most of these light and color concepts I learned in art school but there are so many that it can sometimes be overwhelming to try to remember that it is all the theories added together that make a good composition.

One afternoon, after we'd been working hard for several days, we were getting ready to slip away for a potluck. While waiting for everyone to arrive Joanne wanted to try out Sarah's tiny little high-whirl spindle. Sarah is so adept at it that she can lecture a workshop on one subject while spinning away on her drop spindle, never watching what she's doing. She's an amazing multi-tasker.

Notice in the very beginning of this video how Sarah stuffs her roving under the sleeve of her sweater. Here she is showing Joanne how she actually untwists a bit of the spun yarn before starting to spin in the correct direction again.

We were all very tired by the end of the third day of the workshop and so looking forward to heading to Pat's log cabin home in the woods of Clackamas County to enjoy a wonderful potluck and great company. Pat's sister, Rita owns a chocolate shop in Sandy and was incredibly generous bringing her delicious treats for us to sample. And Rita's husband also gave of his time to do all the grilling. It seems we can never get enough socializing together. We are all such interesting and fun people, you see.

My next posting will include photos of an evening sail Jon and I took on a boat he is considering purchasing. Also a tour of weavers homes takes us to a fabulous home in the hills of west Portland.

Summer Continues

2010-08-12T18:21:00.000-06:00

Just like everyone else, summer has been a fairly busy one for me as well. We weavers managed to make it to school for the final summer open studio session where a few more pieces were finished and taken off their looms and a couple works in progress were available for me to shoot.

Pat finished her rug! I'm not going to mention how long ago this rug was started. It wouldn't really be fair since she took a long hiatus from weaving as did I. We came back to school about the same time too. And to Pat's credit, she has a job and doesn't get to hang out at school nearly as much as I do. I think she is probably very relieved to have this done as it is a gift for someone.I like the traditional design woven with rather non-traditional colors. Actually I think when she started this piece pink and purple were not traditional but now they are. Hmmm. Pat may be a trendsetter. I'll be curious what her next project will be.

Oh boy, Joyce did it again. I've probably said this before but for someone who has only been weaving on an upright Navajo loom for such a short time, it is amazing to me that we weavers can all look at her work and know exactly who wove it. She borrows geometric designs (hard to create something new in that respect) but uses them totally differently than most other Navajo weavers or even just other tapestry artists. She also has a marvelous way with color. She knows how to make colors virtually pop out of the weaving and give movement through that color.

This is so perfectly woven and yet it's only a practice piece. Janet S is planning on weaving a larger piece but wanted to weave this section of the design (the centerpiece) to see how it would work out. Take note you wannabe weavers, This is an inexpensive wooden frame loom that just about anyone can make. It doesn't have to cost hundreds of dollars to get involved with tapestry weaving.

I've been working on a design for a new piece now for at least 6 months. I'm trying to design a specific flower so it helps me to check what others are doing to get ideas. Here is a detail shot of a piece Barb is working on. This is on a small frame loom as well. You can see how she has her hand drawn 'cartoon' behind the loom to help her decide where she'll place the image on her warp. I think Barb is our expert flower weaver and she has given me a great idea which will enable me to take the next step in my new design. Thanks for your help, Barb.

Mt Rainier

The next day after weaving, Jon and I took off on our annual wildflower camping and hiking trip to Mt. Rainier National Park. We were camped in the Ohanapecosh campground right next to the gorgeous turquoise river. Because we were earlier in the season than we normally are, we saw some things we had never seen before. One was this, Pipsissewa. Each five petal flower is no more than three-quarters of an inch in diameter and they were a little sticky. The hummingbirds seemed to be attracted to them too. The flowers hang straight down so I had to shove my camera underneath and shoot up blindly.

Marsh Marigolds

Shooting Stars

In our campsite I only ever see crows, Stellar's Jays, Robins and once in a blue moon hear a crossbill. This trip we were visited, a very short visit, by this Tanager. He was really too far away to shoot but at least this proves it was there. What a treat!

We had perfect weather for walks and hikes. Here is Jon taking in the view at Edith Creek. This is on a nicely kept trail right up behind Paradise Lodge. This is where the wildflowers truly begin to be amazing.

One evening we drove over on the east side of the park to take in Tipsoo Lake at sunset. There was a forest fire polluting the western sky which made for an eerie scene.

Back Home

The flower field behind our house is now bursting with dahlia blooms. I snuck out one evening and took a couple photos.

I made it back in time for the Sarah Swett Tapestry Workshop and a wonderful potluck that Pat had at her house for all the weavers and their guests. It was definitely one of my summer highlights. Photos and comments to be posted in the not too distant future.

Things are heating up even more around the Layne household. We have been out looking at a few more sailboats. The shopping process is a slow one. Jon has been looking for over a year now and we've found it can be difficult to find a trailerable boat that looks seaworthy AND has a trailer strong enough to make it on the roads to Baja. To find the two together is a bit of a challenge. A boat we saw this week and actually got to sail, we really liked but the trailer had no brakes. This wouldn't be a problem driving from home to the river and back but when driving steep windy hills in Baja we want brakes. That project is still ongoing.

Another iron in the fire is a new weaving studio FOR ME! After having a studio away from home, I've come to the decision that a studio away from home doesn't work for me. I work on my fiber arts so much that all my equipment and supplies have to be in one place, AT HOME! I've started looking at other weaver's loom rooms and getting some ideas. There are so many variables to consider. I'm leaning toward a remodel of the existing house to add space instead of an out building but it will all depend on costs of construction AND building permits. As the process moves along I'll post my trials and tribulations. Maybe I'll have a contest to guess how long it will take from the beginning to the end of the project.

Another endeavor is our little greeting card business. We have been selling to friends and a few shops for the last year. This time last year we were put on an authorized list at New Seasons meaning that any of the stores were authorized to order and buy our greeting cards for their stores. After all this time we finally heard from our local store this week. They say they are ready to place their first order so it will be interesting to see how much time we have to set aside for that.

Needless to say it's a busy time of year. We have a lot to be grateful for and a lot to look forward to. Life is good.

Next posting-Sarah Swett Workshop at Damascus Fiber Arts School

It's Done!

2010-07-20T14:45:00.000-06:00

I could not be more pleased! I finished my Kilim and removed it from the loom this morning at school. Not only did they ring the bell for me but I got a lovely applause as well. If you don't remember or haven't read, this was my second attempt at this rug. I was about 4 inches from the center when I had to stop due to a bad warp. Because I had dyed all the wool I had to cut the rug apart and salvage all the wool. Once I washed the yarn it was ready to start again. The second warp went up on the loom in April of 2009 but I didn't work on it two months last summer and I was gone 3 months over this winter so all in all I finished fairly quickly. When I returned from Baja the middle of April I was at exactly the half way mark so 3 months of working just Tuesdays and Thursdays and it was completed. My guess is about 175 total hours went into dyeing, warping and weaving this piece.

There are those who say I shouldn't put it in the bathroom but that is what I made it for. It matches my tiling job perfectly. Unless someone offered me a bunch of money for it, it's gong on the bathroom floor. I love it.

As summer continues

2010-07-19T11:26:00.000-06:00

As usual, while working on my last post I accidentally hit the "publish" button instead of the "preview" button thus publishing the post before having all the photos uploaded or finishing my thoughts. Typical me, though. I never seem to finish my thoughts completely these days. Sadly old age settles in and one becomes a bit pathetic. I keep hoping that if I'm honest about it I won't look quite so stupid but I have my doubts about that as well.

The last three photos of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show are below.

Ingrid & Jan admiring the wall of quilts.

King size with craftsmanship that was quite impressive

King detail

On Sunday after the quilt show Jan and I headed over to Prineville to have a visit with Jerre at Dancing Cow Farm. We had meat to pick up and looked forward to an afternoon of spinning. Jerre, as usual, was terribly busy with all things having to do with the farm but after a little lunch in town she was able to get away and practice some spinning with us. The weather was absolutely perfect for sitting under the shade of their gazebo to spin and visit. Jan, who is a wonderful spinning teacher was quite generous with her time to teach Jerre some basic instructions on Jerre's nice little Louet wheel. We were impressed, Jerre picked it up very quickly and seems like a natural. OK Jerre, I expect that the next time Jan and I come over you'll have all that roving spun! Jan and I are hoping that Jerre will find time to enjoy the relaxation that truly does come along with spinning. She'll get there, we have no doubt. And Jerre, we'll see you next month to pick up that syrup we stupidly forgot to take with us.

I'll just throw this photo in of my mud rug. Even though summer is busy, I still find time to work on it. I've set a deadline of the end of September to finish this. That's when fiber arts classes start back up. I'll have a chance to begin a new project that is in the design stages now. I'll undoubtedly to do another piece with this churro wool, it's quite lovely.

I'd like to say a few good words about Facebook. A lot of people my age think that it's a waste of time but I have to disagree. I think it's important to set time limits for sure but here is a good example of why it can be a great networking tool. On the right side of my home page I found a little notation that said if I synced my email address book with facebook it could check and see if any of those addresses had Facebook pages. When I did this I came up with at least 5 good friends from my past. Not more than 10 minutes into friend requesting they all answered back and we were immediately in touch. The next thing I knew I was being invited to a 60th birthday party for Dave Sundquist that Saturday night. What a treat!

When Jon and I were in our early 20s he was working with Steve Davis who subsequently invited Jon out to Lake Oswego to jam with some musicians that Steve had been in high school with. The rest is great history. We found a circle of friends that to this day stay in touch. They are all gentle and generous souls. Some I've seen as recently as this last visit to Sisters some I hadn't seen in 30 years. What did I find from this visit? That they are still as endearing to me as they were way back when. We had some really wild times back then and of course we reminisced about them all and laughed a lot. I promised myself I wouldn't go that long without seeing them again. For those of you who were a part of this circle of friends I have posted a few photos. Hope you enjoy them.

Here is Karen Wallace Sorenson, the birthday boy Dave Sundquist, and Randy Redfield. Karen writes for the Oregonian, Dave is a builder in Astoria and Randy is an extremely talented artist who lives in Sisters.

This is Steve Davis, original drummer for Some Mighty Good Eatin'. Still riding bicycles and still as great as he ever was. So so so good to see him after 23 years.

This is Greg Ross, a builder from Bend. Back in the 70s Dave, Greg, and another friend, Janit bought a house together down at the coast and we all lived together for a while. What great memories I have from that time. Greg also played congas with the band for a while. I'm hoping to talk Greg into building me a new studio next summer.

This is Marty Cranswick. Another Lake Oswego fellow. He has lived in Damascus as long as Jon and I have and his son was in school with our daughter, Lauren. So good to see you Marty. Sad that we have lived in the same town for over 30 years and we never see each other. Marty is a retired electrician.

We were really glad to see Jim "Sharky" Schaefer come up from Otis for the event. We have kept in touch with Jim probably more than just about anyone else in the group. Jim is a retired ODOT employee. A kind and gentle soul. You'd think, since so many of us are retired, that we'd see each other more often.

This is Tygh Redfield, a hay farmer from Sisters and Randy's brother, also known as "the younger boy" shaking hands with the party host Mark Henry. Thanks for putting on such a great party, Mark. We were impressed with your party planning. It was very nice. It's not often that we stay up so much past our bedtime but these friends were definitely worth it.

With friends spread out all over the state and up and down the west coast it will be hard but we definitely need to try and have another get together with some of the folks who were dearly missed and brought up in the "what's so-n-so doing?" conversations. I'm sorry I didn't get a photo of Jim Cummins for posterity, next time.

On Sunday Jon and I went out on the Columbia looking at another sailboat that's on the market. Jon had been out on Saturday looking at a 26 foot Hunter. They're really nice boats but the beam is a little wide for hauling on a trailer in Baja. The boat we looked at yesterday is a Hunter 212 a 21-foot boat. The beam is only 8' 6" or so and more practical for the Baja roads but Jon doesn't think it will feed his needs for the Sea of Cortez and the heavy winter winds that often occur. This boat is a 2002 and is in great shape with a little solar panel for a trickle charge on the battery but no galley and only a port-a-potty, just not quite enough. It would be a great little boat for summer fun around Portland but that's about it. The owner wanted $8400 for it, which seems just about right according to everything else we've looked at. We'll just keep looking and hopefully something will come up that suits Jon. If anyone out there knows of a decent trailerable sailboat for sale let us know.

And so a new week begins. I'll be going in to school tomorrow and taking the finished Kilim rug off the loom so I'll post that soon. Next week we'll head up to Mt Rainier National Park for our tradition weekly camping trip and wildflower treks. Beyond that I have a 4 day weaving workshop with Sarah Swett and the beginning of our summer tour of homes where we weavers visit different weavers homes and work on small fiber projects. Keep on enjoying this wonderful weather as shall I!

Another short visit to Central Oregon

2010-07-14T22:31:00.000-06:00

I had just been over to Central Oregon last week for a whirlwind trip. A friend needed to take some items to her Mom's cabin so we went up on a Wednesday and returned on Friday. It just wasn't enough. Normally when we go east of the mountains we try to stay for a week or so, so three days left me wanting more. The desert calls to me most of the time so when I can't stay there long I ache for it.

Luckily, however, Ingrid, a weaving friend was going to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show the next weekend and she suggested Jan, a fellow weaver, and I come over and take in the show with her. I stopped in the afternoon before and took in the view. The Three Sisters quickly became engulfed in what looked like a monster storm for July. Later Ingrid told me she got stuck in that storm where the temperature dropped 30 degrees in a half hour and hail the size of peas pounded her and her dog.

The next morning Jan, Ingrid and I met up and admired the view before heading out to the show.

Sunrise on the Crooked River

Early morning-Crooked River and Three Sisters

Mariposa Lily

We were really lucky to easily find a close-in parking space, not even being aware that they blocked the main street for the show. The place was packed out with people admiring the artistry of the Quilters.

Someone said there were at least one thousand quilts being displayed all over town, in stores, and outside. The weather was absolutely perfect for a morning stroll through town. The quilt below reminded me of the Navajo weaving we do. I imagine the quilters plan their design much as we design our rugs with a lot of contemplation.

This quilt has the local quilting store, The Stitching Post with three dimensional quilts hanging from the eaves just like the actual store did.

Of all the quilts this one was one of my favorites. I could just see it on my bed at home. I like the star motif, it reminded me, again, of the Navajo motifs.

Here is proof that there are crazies in the world of quilting. Someone actually made a quilt that fit on this car.

This quilt is scenes of Oregon. Some scenes I didn't recognize but Three Sisters, Crater Lake, Smith Rocks, the Painted Hills were all familiar ones. Amazing.

Jan & Ingrid admiring these beautiful King Size quilts.

Japanese Motif

I love this style and the different designs of fabric that create the scenes.

Japanese Motif Detail

Japanese Motif with Koi

Koi Detail

African Motif

30th anniversary commemortive quilt with miniature 3D quilts

School is Winding Down

2010-07-14T21:40:00.000-06:00

Here it is the middle of July and there are only two more days of school for the season. As the summer studio sessions wind down a few more pieces have been completed. Here is Christine and her latest piece. She had the misfortune of having more bad warp and so finished her piece way before it was planned on being done. She changed the design and was able to salvage that which she had woven. It's such a beautiful piece and I know she plans on starting over with another larger one to go with it. It's very nice, Christine.

The last time Bob was at school he was nice enough to also bring along a Navajo rug that his wife purchased at the auction they had attended back in May, I believe. This style is quite new and contemporary. The main rug is a storm pattern and within it's design are woven several more blankets of different areas and styles. There are pictorials, chief blanket style, storm, wide ruin and yei bi chei. It's quite lovely, isn't it?

Here is Audrey and Bob warping a new small project for Bob to begin.

While out in the back yard the other day, for one fleeting moment I saw a bright yellow bird on the foxglove. I knew it was a Hooded Oriole because we see them in Baja all the time. Last summer I happened to see one for just a quick moment also. Traveling through...........I was only able to get this quick shot and then it was gone.

Hooded Oriole

Warm days and Weaver's Pie Nights.

2010-06-27T18:20:00.000-06:00

First I must apologize to anyone who subscribes to my blog and accidently got this blog entitled "Summer is Finally Here". Sometimes there are unexplained glitches and while in the middle of working on the post it got published before I was ready. I probably clicked the publish button accidently but I swear I didn't. So bear with me, this is the same blog but I changed the title and added the text that was missing from the first one.

After the unseasonably cold wet spring we had, people are literally kicking up their heels with this last week's sun and warmth. I finally came out of my weaving cave and faced the sunlight, working in my flower beds and cleaning up winters mess that just never got taken care of. I even cleaned my pond out after 2 years of not doing so. Just a few more flower pots to fill with annuals and I'll actually be able to welcome visitors with open arms. A week ago I would not have let anyone go back there.

One of the best things that has happened in our neighborhood in many many years is the flower field behind us. Our backyard looks west over several patches of lovely rolling farm hills. All around us beautiful farmland has been gobbled up and replaced with pignose house suburbs and strip malls but right here, our little corner of the world can be quite divine. My dear friend Renee owns the property that butts up against our back yard and the back yards of 6 of my neighbors. Luckily we are the only ones that don't have a fence up to hide it. This has given us access to each other for years. On these warm summer evenings I feel so extraordinarily blessed to be able to grab my camera and walk through the feilds admiring what is growing. Renee leases out the land to a lovely family that all seem to have day time jobs but come back every evening to tend to the flowers. Friday evening the family is hauling 5 gallon buckets of water up to the back of a van while others are cutting flowers to sell at the Saturday Farmers Markets the next morning. That is when I like to go out for photos. This last Friday night was perfect for an evening walk with our neighbors.

Looking south over Renee's Field.

Canterbury Bells

Gee picking for Market

Renee admiring market flowers

This morning we headed back down to the field to see the morning sun on the blooms. We headed to the opposite end of the field to see what was blooming there. The lilies are just starting to open.

Black Lily

Flaming Lilies

We were pleasantly surprised when Renee took us over and showed us the huge strawberry garden they have planted here too. Mai, one of the growers told us to pick all we wanted. They have been terribly generous to us. They even gave us hallocks and boxes to pick with. There are so many strawberries that they can't keep up with all of them. Lots are going to waste so we were glad to oblige.

Kevynne picking strawberries

Renee picking

I'm used to Hood Berries, they've always been my favorites. These are Chandlers. I read that commercial growers choose this type because of their high yield, bright color and flavor. They are definitely a larger, firmer berry than Hoods but they're just as delicious.

Big gorgeous Chandler Strawberries

Enough to make a pie!

Since I had already made all the strawberry jam I needed for the year, and then some, I decided I'd try to make a strawberry pie. My Mother, bless her heart, was never a very good cook and she was an even worse baker but she did make a great strawberry pie. I never got her recipe and in all these years I've only made one strawberry pie. The recipe had gelatin and I just didn't like it. The pie my Mom made was just berries like any other fruit pie NOT one in which the berries floated in a cold fake red gelatinous goo that had to be refrigerated. No offense to anyone who enjoys that type of strawberry pie, but I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to try to make one like good ole' Mom.

This was an experiment but it turned out really great. I like 10 inch pies so I made enough dough for a two-crust 10-inch pie. After placing the bottom dough in the pan and leaving plenty of the dough hanging over the edge of the pie pan.

I cleaned, hulled and halved roughly 6 cups of strawberry. Don't leave the berries in water after you clean them, it will suck the flavor right out of them, plus I think the pie might not set up very well, it might be runny.

I mixed together:

1 heaping 3/4 cup - brown sugar

1 heaping 1/2 cup - spelt flour (you can use all-purpose)

1 heaping Tblspn cornstarch

1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

4 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

I added the 6 cups of berries to the flour mixture and tossed the berries until they were coated.

Place the berries in the dough lined pie pan

Then I dotted the top of the berries with 3 Tablespoons of butter. I measure out the butter and then place drops of that butter all over the top of the berries.

I rolled out the top layer of dough and cut strips about a half inch wide and wove a lattice top (good practice for all us weavers). Then I trimmed the lattice pieces and the bottom crust just so there was enough dough to crimp top and bottom together in a fluted edge. I always brush my crusts lightly with milk and then sprinkle lightly with white sugar. I did that with the lattice also.

I have an aluminum ring that fits over the fluted edge of the pie to protect it from being burned. I bake the pie for 20 minutes at 400F, then remove that aluminum ring and bake for 10 more minutes. If you don't have an aluminum ring you can cut 3 1-inch wide strips of aluminum and fold them gently over the fluted edge and it will do the same job, just remove for the last 10 minutes of baking. Pretty darn yummy, tastes just like summer.

So my new pie has been crowned..........................

Weaver's Strawberry Pie!

So while the berries are still on the vine I suggest you all get out there and get some of those wonderful Oregon berries. They just don't come any better.

2010-06-17T12:41:00.000-06:00

Gulf oil disaster from Martyn Stewart on Vimeo.

Here's Mud in Your Eye!

2010-06-15T23:31:00.000-06:00

The weaving project that I am working on at home was started in April of 2009. I had been to the fiber shows at Abernathy and Prineville and found Churro roving, which I found quite beautiful. Churro was the first domestic breed in the new world and were revered by the Navajo. It was Kit Carson and his troops who were ordered to relocate the Navajo and destroy there livestock. Do we really not see all the heavy handedness of the Federal Government over it's 200+ years? Ugh, it's so depressing to me to think what the good ole US of A has done to not only the natives of this land but countries all over the world over it's long greedy history. But I digress. Liane Hansen did a report this last Sunday on Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR regarding the Churro. If you're interested here is a link to that report, it's quite fascinating.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127797442&ft=1&f=10

Once I found the churro roving I decided I'd like to spin some for a future project. I probably bought 3.5 pounds of a natural dark gray which has a lovely white hair running through it, about 2 pounds white and another pound of a brown. Once I started spinning the dark gray I fell in love with it. I knew I wanted to weave something and because I was only a beginning spinner and knew my yarn wouldn't come out perfectly even, what ever I wove should not have to appear to have a perfect design. I wanted something that would be ethnic looking, not necessarily Navajo but a bit rough around the edges. I have several samples of African mudcloth in my home and have always loved the tribal feel of it. The art form comes from Mali, Africa and the process of creating the design on the woven cotton is one of dyeing with mud, hence the name mudcloth. The end result is a rather crude design which I have admired for decades. I thought this might be the perfect way to go for my new rug. I got online and started looking for mudcloth designs to get ideas. I knew I didn't want vertical lines so I just kept looking for elements that I thought would be fun to incorporate.

I liked the vertical panels. I could create repetitive design elements that would create verticals without actually having to weave vertical lines which can be a real pain in tapestry weaving.

I liked these exes that were created with negative space.

I was struck by this photo (here kitty, kitty) the white background with black print and the black background with white print. I especially liked that same negative space x and the short horizontal lines to separate them. Ideas were coming together in my head. Now to transform them onto paper through Adobe Illustrator.

The next step was to create the design in Illustrator at the actual size, then reduce down to fit on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper to refer to when weaving. It would be square 34"x34". I had no idea how many pounds of roving would make any particular amount of yards of yarn but I just winged it. I started spinning and when I thought I had enough to get started I began weaving.

I didn't try to match the exact shapes of the Vs. It was enough trouble just trying to keep the designs even due to the uneven spin of the yarn. I knew the design would not be perfect. It would made in the spirit of the mudcloth, crude and yet whimsical in a way.

The weaving went very slow. The yarn is much finer than the Harrisville I'm using on my Kilim. I'm guess with the Harrisville that I have approximately 30 shots to the inch. With the Churro probably more like 75. So it takes many more rows to create an inch. It also was slow going because I was counting warps laying in design elements and even keeping close watch, I made many errors. I've not done any taking out, however. I decided that all imperfections other than blatant mistakes would stay in.

None of the design elements, even though I seem to be doing the same exact warp counts, have come out the same size as their counterparts. The way I handled this small dilemma was to always measure from top to bottom when I came to laying in the white horizontal bars. I figured if they were level then everything else would fall into place well enough.

If you check out the side designs, the Ys that go vertically up the sides, not one is exactly the same size as the one before or after. Oh well..................o_o

I've been able to speed up on the work a little since we got back from Baja. The rain is definitely beneficial for getting inside projects done. In this photo I have just reached the center. I was shocked when my center design came out evenly. But if you look at the cartoon, my original design was to have 6 rows of exes and as it turns out at the halfway turnaround point I'm going to have 7 rows. Again, oh well ;-)

It's moving right along and I'm quite pleased with the way it's evolving.

So that pretty much updates my little weaving corner of the world for a while. There will always be at least a small group of women at school weaving on Tuesdays through July. August we will abandon the old school until late September for our summer tour of homes where weavers have volunteered to open their homes and welcome in their fellow weavers to craft, chat and just enjoy each other's company. We would miss each other too much to have too long a break. We amuse and nurture each other to keep us all healthy and happy.

My life personally can be pretty mundane so unless I win a lottery, meet Bruce Cockburn and get swept off my feet by him (no offense, Jon, but sometimes a gal's just gotta dream) or have some other grand fandango occur, this may be my last post for a while. Have a wonderful summer and enjoy the video. My fave!!!

This time it's all about me!

2010-06-15T20:08:00.000-06:00

This little history of the progress of the Kilim rug I'm working on is more for me than the public but I felt it would be good to backtrack and look at exactly what I've done with this project. It seems like it's been on the loom forever but now that I look back at the photos I realize it really hasn't taken me that long to finish it. Non-weavers often ask how long it takes to weave a piece. Of course it depends on the piece and how complicated the design is but these photos should give a fairly good idea of how many hours go into a project.

I originally started this project in January of 2009 with the dyeing. I used white Harrisville yarn and spent an entire day at school by myself dyeing and loved every minute of it. I was a little scared at first because I had only taken two one-day dye classes and I had quite a bit of cash invested in the yarn. I did do a test with a small amount of yarn to begin with to make sure I'd have the right colors. I was trying to match colors in my bathroom tiles. Because I was a novice I probably didn't stir the pots as much as I should have and the result was that some of the blue came out much darker than the rest. But I knew that would be alright because it gave me a fourth color to make the design a little more interesting. Also in figuring out how much yarn I would need, I added an addition 10% in weight so that I'd have a small surplus. Better to have too much than not enough. I would never be able to match the colors again exactly. That is why there are dye lots of commercial yarn. Noel Bennett has a formula in her book "Designing with the Wool" and I have found that to work very well in estimating just how much yarn is needed for any given size weaving. It does involve counting how many square inches of each color will appear in your weaving. Of course if I hadn't created a 'cartoon' of the design I would never have had that count. So you can see there is a lot of planning that goes into weaving a piece. I read somewhere that if you don't spend as much time designing and planning your weaving as you do actually weaving time, your end result will suffer. I truly believe that to be true. Preparation is key!

I start my idea for a weaving the same way I would start an idea for any graphic design project; with brainstorming, research (in this case looking at lots of Turkish Kilim weaving books), and sketches. Once I'm satisfied with design elements I then go to my computer and work out the design in Adobe Illustrator. I love this step in the process. Illustrator has always been a really fun application for me and it's a great way to hone all the elements. I have master files of the warps, one 8 to the inch and another 10 to the inch so I start with a copy of whichever master warp I'll be using and begin my design work on a second layer. I usually draw the elements with just black outlines. Once the design is perfected I can go back and add the colors on another layer with just a click of the keyboard. I can change colors just like that so no coloring inside the lines with colored pencils and using up all that precious time. One very cool thing about Illustrator is that I can create the design at it's actual size, in this case it was 30" x 65". Once I have it all worked out I can print it out in black and with (outlines only) and warps showing on 8.5" x 11" using the 'tiling' feature. I can then tape all those pages together and I have my design life size. Then I go back to the file, add the colors, reduce it down so it fits on one sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper and print it out for reference while I'm weaving. This way when I'm actually at the loom weaving I can refer to warp counts across the piece on the large cartoon and refer to colors with the small print out. It really is a fun way of designing a weaving and creates great cartoons for reference.

I began the original weaving on January 27th of 2009 and if you're not familiar with the REST of the story let me repeat it for you. By the time I had woven just about 28 inches (4 inches from center) I realized that it would be a wasted effort to continue. The warp was bad, it hadn't been spun correctly somehow and so it was actually shredding. I knew that any more work on it and it would fall apart. It certainly wouldn't stand up to any wear as a rug on the floor. I knew that I could never dye another half as much yarn because the colors wouldn't match. Not only that but I didn't want to go to that effort again or the expense. I cut the warp, removed the weaving from the loom and then gently removed the yarns and salvaged them. At home I dampened all the yarn I had used and let it hang back on the drying rack so all the little ripples would stretch out. I was able to salvage every last piece of yarn and start over.

I began the second weaving on April 14th of 2009. I was weaving two days a week at school through the middle of June. Our formal instruction then ended for summer and I was able to weave on just one day a week during July and August. It sat idle until the last week in September. This first photo was taken 11-10-2009 so I had approximately 225 hours into it at this point. You can see at this point the bottom of the rug, where I began is still visible, with the wooden dowel lashed to the pipe. I'm just short of center.

The next photo was taken on 4-27-2010. I spent 3 months on vacation so by the time this was taken I only had about 30 more hours into it. Notice that in this photo I have gone past the center point and now had rolled the rug under. Where once the bottom of the rug was at the bottom of the loom, now the center of the rug was showing at the bottom

Five working days later, 5-13-2010 another full color panel is finished.

At the end of day, on 5-18, I was finishing up the gold and blue 'tuning forks'. That's what I call that row with 27 color changes! Those color changes take the longest. It can take me one whole session (4.5 hours) to lay in all 27 colors and get those 18 shots (a shot is one pass through one shed) completed.

On 5-20 I was up into the last color panel.

5-27 Just past the center of the last color panel.

6-1 Within about 7 inches of the top. Here is where the act of weaving slows considerably. The batten used to hold the shed open has to be replaced with one which is much narrower The warps are very tight and because they've gotten so much abuse over the lifespan of the weaving it's important to treat them kindly, to not stress them with even more tension from a fat batten.

6-3 It's much slower weaving now. In a 4.5 hour session I only wove about an inch and a quarter.

Today 6-15 made it up to the last rows of 'tuning forks'. In 4.5 hours today I was able to lay in the 27 colors and get half or 9 rows done. I'm using a plastic tapestry needle with a thread on the end that I can feed the yarn through.

A close up detail of where I finished up today shows only about 3 inches remaining. I'm guessing to be finished with this piece by the end of July. I try not to get in too big of a hurry to get it off the loom. It's important to be just as careful and attentive to the weaving's needs as it is being finished as it was when it was begun.

A lot of love has gone into this piece. I've enjoyed every aspect of it. Kilim designs are a real pleasure to weave. There are no weft locks or warp locks involved. Where ever colors meet and separate there are slits. Not only does this technique make for really smooth color changes, I think it also helps to keep the edges of the weaving straight. The warps don't squeeze toward the middle quite as much as they normally do without slits. I will definitely return to these techniques for another project somewhere down the line.

I will wait to report just how many hours I have into this project until it is completed.

Hey! Where is that sun? I keep thinking I'm going to have to give up my computer and weaving time to the garden soon but the weather isn't cooperating very well. Pray for sun!!!!

Shine on Janet

2010-06-14T18:14:00.001-06:00

Today I'd like to shine a spotlight on a weaving that Janet S just recently finished. I can't remember exactly when she started weaving this piece but she worked on it all this last year. Janet has a real knack for using motifs from many different traditionally woven rugs and incorporating them into one that is all Janet. Once again she has chosen perfect colors for the design. Giving the inner red diamond that little oomph of brighter red gives the weaving a lot of depth. Darker borders to lighters centers also have a way of doing that. This first photo demonstrates the rug rolled under the bottom pipe. She is up to her last inch and a half or so.

Weaving almost completed

This photo shows what happens in the last half inch or so of weaving. The closer the weaver gets to the top of the weaving and the ends of the warp, the more difficult and slow the weaving becomes. The last few rows are woven in pairs as were the first few rows. Weaving in pairs means instead of going under and over each warp, she weaves two under and two over. If you look closely above her index finger you will see a light blue tapestry needle coming forward from the back of the loom. This is how those last few rows are woven, squeezing in ever bit of yarn that will possibly fit. You can not tell the difference between the top and the bottom on a well woven rug. This is definitely a well woven rug.

cramming in the final rows of pairs.

Janet unlashing her weaving from the loom.

Here's Janet holding her completed work of art. All that's left to do is unlash the weaving from the dowels and find just the perfect place at home for it. Absolutely stunning Janet! I can hardly wait to see her next project get started in the fall.

Congratulations are in order!

2010-06-14T16:36:00.000-06:00

What a great Sunday to attend a Portland State University graduation ceremony. The energy was high and the graduates full of joy and hope for the future. Her father and I could not be more proud of her and her success. Lauren congratulations. You worked very hard and your accomplishments have not and will not go unnoticed. May all your dreams come true. We love you with all we have.

Lauren Layne Enochs-PSU 2010!