Day 12...

Day 12 and I am even short a post or two because I started late and I am at a loss for words. Kind of a quiet day. Dragged my farm table back in because the weather is changing. It grew too cold to work on it any further and a storm is coming up the coast, I think they are calling it a Northeaster. I don't mind, a good excuse to hunker down and be cozy and just be.

I began a painting today. I was excited to get painting. There just never is time or I am looking for a place in my house to physically put my self to do so. I no sooner began and a family member decided her emergency, in her way of thinking, was more important...Have you seen the movie "Who Does She Think She Is?" Take a peak at the trailer.

I belong to a small group that meets at my church for the purpose of looking at creativity, art and faith. We have worked through some books over the past year or more, beginning with The Artist Way. Now we are working through the book Creativity and Divine Surprise. But the most important thing we do is encourage on another. Tonight we decided to begin a program that was found on a web site called Prayerwindows. We will work it independently then share what we discover and anything we do in the way of art making weekly. I'll let you know...

This is Amy. She is a 13" Beagle. I usually show Maggie on here just because that is how it happens. Amy is getting on in years I guess is the polite way to say it. She is 13 plus years and pretty feisty compared to the meek little thing she used to be...and begging was something she left up to Maggie to do but now her begging skills are up there with the best of them. These days she misses breakfast and sleeps in and most of the day really. I just thought I'd introduce her.


Thanks for reading. Peace.

Peaceful Friday

Our first cord of wood for the season was delivered this morning...so it is official. Winter is bearing down on us.



My friend, Cindy invited me to paint with her and two other friends of hers at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Garden. What a gem, and in my own back yard ... I never visited it before this. I was so overwhelmed with all of plants and in some cases very large plants. There were some tropical flowers, orchids, banana trees, carnivorous plants and a koi pond. It was a peaceful way to spend a Friday afternoon. I walked around and took a lot of pictures, then finally sat down to draw. It was hard to settle down. I haven't painted in a while. I started to but I still felt wound up. So I found something that interested me and a bench, poured some tea and began to just draw the plant in front of me and the tension and cares just poured out of me...time disappeared. Oh yes, this is why... So, not much accomplished but meeting some nice people, two simple line drawings and many pictures, delicate washes, all in my sketchbook...


just those simple things are enough to get me going again, to prime the pump... I let everything take priority, some things certainly were unavoidable but others could have been re-thought. So I came away with some further clarity on what is important to me. Oh, and I was given the date when we will meet again to do whatever we want, paint, draw, take photos...the point is they they invited me back. For that I am grateful, for I had been hoping for such a group.

Here we have the wood stove beauties. I have disturbed them by moving. The looks on there faces shows it too.



Thanks for reading...Peace

Opportunities

Why is this photo on my blog? Read on...

The story has a few beginnings really but I'll pick one for today. A few weeks ago while attending my spinning guild meeting at historic Slater Mill, I was milling around( pun unintended) and checking out a display of fiber equipment. There was a wonderful old Leclerc Tissart Tapestry loom and in passing said to another weaver friend, "Boy, do I want one of those". Then we went on our way, her to teach a dye workshop and I to my meeting.



Fast forward a few weeks and I settled down one night after a busy day and was reading a newsletter from the weavers guild I belong to. At the top of page 5 was the classifieds...and the first entry read: Tissart Tapestry Loom: 60 inches with new aprons, rods, and new reeds to anyone interested for free... Well, two weeks later and it now sits beside me. I followed the assembly instructions but the diagrams aren't the best. I think I have it right but I have a question or two. I have tried tapestry on my floor looms and want to do more but knew immediately I needed a vertical loom, so as not to be hunched over and I didn't want to have to hold on to a frame loom. Did I ever think I would have this opportunity? No, not at all. Loom buying, of any kind, is not in my budget...So I consider this quite the gift on so many levels. I love to draw and paint but always kind of wondered where am I going with all of that? So it appears I am on a journey of sorts. I am excited and energized. There has been a reason why I own and have read books about tapestry weaving on a regular basis for years. I subscribe to a tapestry list and just soak up the information and some of my favorite blogs are tapestry blogs. It is funny how things just kind of present themselves and it is up to us to respond or not. I am happy to say I responded. But that is not the end of the story.

The day before I was to pick up the loom was my birthday. During the party my son, who owns a pick up offered as part of my birthday gift to take me for the loom. Great! I do forget sometimes that he really is fun to do these things with. He understands my spontaneity and goes with my flow. The woman who kindly gave me my loom asked if I would like to look at a loom she had bought for her church a while back for the kids to learn on...the church desperately wanted it moved as they had other plans for the space. So we followed her to the church. There was a 45" Hollandia...I just stood with my mouth hanging open... My son said, Mom, I am here with a truck, you are a weaver, we are taking the loom today. At this point I was numb. The owner of the loom and the church sexton were happy, I was overwhelmed with an embarrassment of riches...So everything was packed by the weaver's son and off we went. But before going home the weaver's son said, I am taking you for a birthday lunch. So off to a restaurant with seats near the windows, where the truck is parked to have a much needed lunch.



This past few days have been spent with moving furniture and looms around and assembling and researching and I can be caught with a big ol' grin and even tears in my eyes, thinking what's up with all of this...on the other hand, it has been pretty comedic trying to fit these wonderful additions to my home and life. It is also a feeling of affirmation. Still sorting through it all.



So as this plays out I hope to write about it.

And just for good measure, a sleeping hounds photo...what a life to just crash a few times a day, warm, cozy, full and loved. What's better than that?



Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Weary Days

Maggie is getting around better now that she is finished the Lyme medication. Begging, running to the door hoping who ever is there will have a cookie or anything...but all is not well. She had another seizure, that is two since February. But in both cases she was very anxious or upset? In February she was afraid of my daughters baby (60 lbs) English Bulldog, took a seizure. Then, other night I ran out to bring her in before a rather large skunk decided to lift it's tail. I scared her I guess but telling her loudly to stop and come. So I guess I have to give my commands in my gentle voice. Who knew...

I have been weaving but my heart is not in it. This has been a hard summer. I can't even believe it is over and it is the middle of October. My daughter's illness was a blow to the system I'll tell you. Then my dog became ill. That hurt emotionally and financially. Then one of my sons moved back home for a while. I can barely find the time or muster the energy to write in this blog. But I am going to try to pick it back up again, even if I post a photo. So I am trying to challenge myself.

The only thing that I seem to turn to are my paints and camera. I have been picking up here and there water soluble oils. They are a little different. Still figuring out how they work. The mixing with water or other mediums kind of confuse me, but I am working on it. This was kind of fun, a use up whats on the palette painting. I did it on 6"x6"gessoed board. Thanks to some great tutorials I bought Masonite and had it cut and gessoed away. I call it Harvest Moon.

Plus still doing watercolor studies. I am thinking if I post things, I will be motivated to continue to paint or draw, both of which I have always loved to do but for various reasons always got put on the back of the proverbial burner. I never let myself take it seriously. Someone told me that at the end of ones life, one doesn't really think about all one has accomplished, but rather what has not been accomplished. I joined a small group of friends, who are artists, to do The Artist Way together over the next 12 weeks or so. I read the book on my own a couple of years ago, now it's time to be accountable and do it with others. It has been encouraging and affirming time together. We are painters, stain glass artist, photographer...I hope it morphs into a support group. We will see.



This past week end had been a busy one, WaterFires, Art Festivals, Enjoying the beautiful fall leaves, apple picking and pie making. But I'll leave that for another day. But here is a shot of our wonderful WaterFires in the middle of downtown Providence.


Thank you for still reading and have a great day.

Sunflowers and A Sick Pup...

My Grand-daughter found and joined a Photography Meet-Up. She does not drive so I guess she joined hoping I would be interested as I have the wheels...The first meet-up was a trip to Sawmill Farm to visit their field of sunflowers at 5:00, as well as other things. It was great fun and I got some great photos of sunflowers. They are so graceful. They gave us full run of the farm in regards to our photo taking. Our next Meet-Up will be to take photos of the barns of Glocester, a rural area in our state. The organizer of the group does the advance work so that we have permission to visit the various places. It is planned that we will meet at a specified spot at which point we will either car pool or caravan to the various barns. It is a great time of year for this excursion.


This is Maggie's chair. I gave up a long time ago. She lets us sit with her, she actually likes when someone visits her in "her" chair. Anyway I was walking by her and there was this poor pathetic pup just watching every move I made. She had to return to the vet the other day as she still was having trouble getting around. She was unable to get on her chair or off the deck to check out the yard and what ever else she does out there. She usually was in and out annoyingly all day, but she no longer had the energy or the legs for it. She was still limping and her back legs were weak. She was wobbling. Pretty upsetting. So of course I had been doing research and I was very concerned. I should not research...The vet was also concerned and somewhat mystified. In any case, Maggie is now being treated for Lyme disease on the off shot that her original Lyme test was a false negative. She is on the three week regimen of antibiotics and anti- inflammatory medicine. While on the anti-inflammatory she can move with ease, but she stays pretty quiet which is what the vet wants, no walks, no playing, just "chair rest".

Two days later my next door neighbor came to tell me her Beagle had been diagnosed with Lyme disease and he too is pretty sick. His appears to have settled in his neck and he can barely move. So they are both down. The vets have told us it, the deer tic, is also carried by squirrels and mice...That's nice, I have a full community of squirrels outside and probably mice as well.

In Maggie's case, I hope it is Lyme, in fact, what she has, otherwise I don't know what to think. But for now I am going to be positive and just love on her and give her her little peanut butter cocktails twice a day with meds hidden inside. Poor 12 year old Amy gets all excited when the peanut butter gets broken out. She comes running and now we give her a little peanut butter as well, hers straight up. Oh well, if a little peanut butter is going to make her happy.
Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Maggie Takes To Her Bed...

Maggie hasn't felt well for a few days or longer. My daughter had her Gamma Knife surgery this week. So I was noticing things, but not really seeing them as I was focused on Cheryl and the procedure coming up. What I did see was my dog was limping and having a hard time moving in general. Not all the time, it seemed to come and go. But when she wasn't racing me down the hall wall in the morning as I got out of bed I grew concerned. It is of Maggie's opinion that she should be fed before anything else occurs in the morning. I of course disagree. It is coffee for me and then food for her and Amy. But she didn't seem to care. She just stayed put. Anyway fast forward.

Gamma knife procedure is now 5 days old and she is doing well other than swelling that was expected. But yesterday my dog was having a hard time getting around and appeared to be in pain if I pet her face or touched her in anyway. She was lethargic, limping, and off her food. In the back of my mind was lyme disease. So off to the vet we went. Emergency visit, blood tests, thorough exam later, no to lyme(vet thought it was also)so more blood work, Oh God, do they have dishes here I can wash...The pain was a pretty bad ear infection. So now I wrestle with her to use an ear wash daily for two weeks followed with an antibiotic squeezed into both ears...she is not amused. As for the lameness, well all her blood work came back pretty good. But she is on medication for the pain and muscle relaxers. Who knew. So she is feeling good and looks happier but still favoring her leg but we will watch and see now and continue on the meds if need be.

I am getting nothing accomplished this summer. My looms remain untouched and I barely wet my brushes or draw. My gardens always look raggy from weeds. So much to do and just not getting anything done...Frustrating to be sure. Also not having an easy time uploading photos tonight. Trying to figure out how to get them directly from Picasa to blog rather than Picasa to My Pictures to blog.

The other day butterfly after butterfly arrived at my butterfly bush. This was just one of them.




Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Dog Days of Summer

Anticipation...



How pathetic is this? This is what I have to put up with. I cook, she begs. She has it down to a science now. She drags her dish around and lies beside it and looks tired, sad, and hungry...And if that is not bad enough, the other one, Amy, is waiting in the wings to swoop in for the drop. She has age on her side so she lets Maggie do the work. They have become a tag team. It doesn't work anymore, I am on to them...



Weaving has finally started on this blanket. Gosh, I felt like what was up... I counted wrong on the warp winding. Then if that wasn't bad enough, while I was warping back to front(which is my preference) I removed the raddle after spreading out the warp in groups of 8 EPI(ends per inch). I actually removed it and started to wind on and of course I ended up with a big mess of 406 ends...Then realized my error, what was I thinking? I have no idea. I know better. So I made more work for myself and unwound and reinserted the raddle and all that entailed. The thought occurs to me that weavers must be a stubborn, tenacious group of people, otherwise how would we go from warp to warp with these types of occurrences occasionally happening? I am stubborn and it works for me in this instance. I have started weaving, with 13 inches done and I discovered a threading error which will be taken care of with needle weaving when it comes off the loom, and if that is not enough, two threads popped while advancing forward, fixed them, then a little further discover a weaving error, two passes in the same shed----------and it being double weave guess what, I treadled out of step. Anyway, all is fixed and ready to go again. I don't know what the deal is but it happens. But what I do know is that when I sit at my loom I relax and all is right with my world and all it took to get here is all over, not important other than learning from...kind of a metaphor of life wouldn't you say?


I'll end this post with a image of a sunset the other night while at Point Judith eating clam cakes and chowder. We buy them at Aunt Carrie's (the best ) then drive down the road to the lighthouse , park the car and listen to the waves crashing, watch people fish, and the sunset. It is the best on 90 degree days and evenings.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.

A Celebration of the Arts

Saturday I spent the day at my church with my 40" Harrisville loom demonstrating weaving. In the next photo you can see my loom on the back of a pickup going on holiday for the weekend. It was a great day with many people stopping and asking questions. Some people had no idea what I was doing or what I was doing it on! I had decided on making a "story cloth" of 8/2 cotton in plain weave, a story of the my church community. This cloth will be made of pieces of cloth, natural fibers, jewelry, beads, ribbons, trims, etc. I asked that people please prayerfully consider what they would like to include in the cloth. What might they include that would represent them or someone they love. They could bring something meaningful, like a piece of fabric from a special garment or strips of a favorite fabric. I warped the loom at the church the night before until 1:30 AM. That was an experience. I was humming, whistling, close to talking to myself. I was alone downstairs while others were upstairs hanging paintings and photos and art in general made by the members of the church. I finally got it warped and decided to send a few picks in for a header but I had no tension. Needless to say I was sick. The loom appeared or the friction brake appeared to be not working. At home over toast at 2 AM looking through the Harrisville booklet, the photo showing the brake peddle and it's cord looking somewhat in a different position than mine...I still researched friction brake issues and purchased sandpaper on my way back to the church the next day. Also on Hi,It"s Terri I read about live-weight tention. Looks interesting. Something one uses instead of the brake on the loom. But not enough information for me that day to use...But back to church I go armed with some things to try. The first being to re-route the brake cord...it was the problem. The loom had been in the basement apart. I tried to find a smaller loom to use but there were none close by so the next best thing was my second loom. I have two looms, both 40". One a Macomber and the Harrisville. So I quickly put it together, quickly being the operative word. It was arranged that someone with a truck would come for it as I said. So now it is back home and I am awaiting more additions from people who now have more of an understanding of what I am doing so I can finish it. It will then go to the church with a journal of who and what people gave and it will live on the Communion table and belong to the church.

A book was mentioned in the program Art and the Bible by Francis A. Schaeffer. Looks interesting and will read it but one of the thoughts was encouraging. "Being in the image of the creator, we are called upon to have creativity. In fact it is part of the image of God to be creator or to have creativity."
"He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them master craftsmen and designers." Exodus 35:35 I think that is so cool , written so long ago.
Here is my Amy. She agreed to a photo shoot and her eyes are just fine. Look at that white face. She is a sweet girl.
Ah, my flowers are beginning to return. I found these white bleeding hearts as I was roaming around my winter weary yard. Maybe now I will be able to get out and do some work . It is actually May 1. It is so nice to look out and see green, grass, leaves, and flowers. Yes, green is good right now isn't it.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Lady Eleanor

There she lies, the wrap, not the dog, after a wash in Eucalon and a spin and blocking. And yes, I occasionally make a quilt when the need arises. I finished yesterday. It is now dry and I did wrap up in it and it feels very nice. I have not decided if I want a crocheted trim as the pattern displays it.

But then, yes, here she lies...also on a quilt. No matter where Maggie finds herself she always looks so comfortable and she gets down right cozy. It is her assumption that if something of comfort is left lying around then ofcourse it must be for her...quilts, furniture, anything soft. She is also very tactile. As I said a few days ago she teaches me about relaxing. Look at her...doesn't she cause you to just want to grab a blanket and a book and possibly a dog and go hide somewhere. That chair is near the woodstove...need I say more.

I thought I'd show my weaving progress so far. I have maybe another yard or so to weave. Then the twisting of the fringe and finishing with a wash. I'll show a before and after photo. I am planning a wrap from some handspun yarn for the next project. I am trying to keep something on the loom at all times and have a warp ready to go and have something in the planning stages, atleast that is the plan. Have a good day and thanks for reading.