Still here, still working on the blasted tapestry.

Oh how time does fly!

Here it is 2017 and I'm still working on the sunflower tapestry. Progress is being made. I may even finish it before the end of the decade. Truth be told, I don't get out to the Shanty as much as I should these days.

Lest you think I'm completely slacking on craftyness, let me assure you that I have been carding fiber, spinning, and knitting. And there's that whole gardening thing. And now there's...[ta da!]...

Genealogy! You can read about that at my other blog, Rooted in Elizabeth.

Here is photographic proof of my efforts since last I wrote.

Well, first there were these guys. They sucked up most of my time in December 2015

[and lots of money too!] They were dumped out where I work, and after living on a manky deer carcass for five days I fed them and took them to my Vet's office to board. For three weeks. With the generosity of friends and strangers I didn't have to foot the bill all by myself, but boy was I glad to get these guys adopted out - one through the vet's office, and one through a very reputable rescue group. [I would have loved to keep the Doberman. What a complete goofy love muffin!]

Our own dog is getting older now (14!), but there are still walks and games and sleepovers with her doggie friends. We try to get her to day care twice a week, just so she can have an outing.






Here are some pics of things I made, though not all the things I've made! Must get better at taking finished object photos!

Spun lots of naturally colored wool.

Brilliantly dyed batt from Into the Whirled

On the bobbin

Done! Still haven't made anything with it!

To be carded, and carded fiber.

Lincoln, with mohair locks carded in.

I've been working on blending Ramboullet and Alpaca.

Studio. Birds eye view from the loft.

Sunflower on the loom. I'm a good bit past this part now.

 And around the house:

Strong young men with shovels built our new patio.
We built the lovely surround for the stairwell.

Spinning on the new patio, Teashanty in the distance.

The front garden with sunflowers of ridiculous proportions.

 And so it goes. We do a little of this, a little of that. And, apparently, not too much blogging on this site. I shall try to be better. But....genealogy! Really.

Happy New Year. May 2017 be way better than I expect it to be.

Tapestry in Unexpected Places : Origins

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now. Please forgive the poor quality of the photos. I took them with my iPad.

Last summer we were dealing with old dog Pyper's mysterious skin condition. Our regular vet got us a referral to the Veterinary Hospital at Virginia Tech. I had forgotten that my friends Lynn and Bernie had commissioned and donated this tapestry to the Vet School, so it was a special pleasure to become reacquainted with it while Pyper and I were hanging out in the waiting area.


"Origins" was designed and woven by Jean Pierre Larochette and Yael Lurie. I quote from the informational sign:

"A husband and wife team, Jean-Pierre Larochette and Yael Lurie created this multi-dimensional tapestry to showcase the coordinating dimensions of veterinary medicine and the natural world. It is woven in the classic French Aubusson style, from the back rather than the front. ... The piece has many layers of symbolism and meaning. Serpents are especially appropriate for the College of Veterinary Medicine as they symbolize the vital forces in life and are a long standing symbol of the medical profession. The serpents are entwined to form a double helix, the genetic code of life. Hands represent creativity, compassion and healing - all essential to veterinary medicine. A vast variety of plant and animal life can be noticed throughout the work, tucked away in different layers of the tapestry."

 You can see more of their work at the American Tapestry Alliance web site in an extensive on-line exhibition.

 

What to do next?

So, the bean tapestry is off the loom, and I've trimmed it up and steamed it. The good news is that the bubbles seem to have gone away and the whole piece isn't as horribly misshapen as I had feared it would be. Actually, it's all good news. I even have a vague idea of how I want to mount it - but I'll need to consult with some folks about how to go about it. And probably I'll need to rummage in Otto's scrap pile.

Anyway, now I have to figure out what to do next. Please be very impressed that not only have I completed ONE tapestry, but that I'm actually looking forward to doing another! I've been playing with some of my photos in Photoshop Elements (wheeeee!) and have a few potential designs. Really, I have a lot of potential designs. I just have to figure out

• which one appeals to me most, and 
• which one I might have the skill to take on.

So, for your amusement and mine (probably mostly mine), here are a few of the possibilities. Please bear with me. I had a lot of fun with Photoshop. And do let me know what you think!

Carrying on with my veggie theme, we have "carrots and red potatoes in a colander." Each version becomes slightly more abstract. Click on an image to enlarge.

 

 

I think all three of these are a little odd, but way more interesting than the original photo...

Also, the Chives in my garden. An appealing option since I already have most of the colors leftover from the beans & eggplant.

Daffodils - from most to least abstract.

Does this one make you uneasy? Just wondering...

My buddy Adam and I moved a doorway in my house last summer. I call these "Doorway." :-)

I really like this one for some reason...

 

I also like this one. It seems very atmospheric to me.
It looks like it would need a lot of subtle color blending though...

The Little Red Schoolhouse in Cedar Falls, (or possibly Cedar Rapids) Iowa. My mother-in-law went to school in one just like this when she was very young.  Her mother was the teacher. I like the strong lines and intense colors in this one.

Although I'm pretty much ready for spring, I thought these photos from an icy morning in Happy Valley looked interesting.

I think the sharp angles in all of these would make them hard to weave.

So, there you have them. The possible contenders so far. What do you think? Do any of them make you go ooooh, that should be a tapestry ?

Shhh. It's resting.

Here's what the bean tapestry looks like from the back. Yup. It's done. Right now it's "resting," tension off, relaxing it's little warp and weft yarns. Next week I'll trim the back, hem it, block it and then figure out how I want to mount it. (I know I should have probably thought of that first, but there you go.)

It took me over a year to finish this relatively small tapestry. I'm hoping that I'll have more time to devote to the next one. Please note that I said "the next one." This from a person who swore they'd never weave tapestry because it was too slow.

I think I've finally gotten to the point where the journey is more important than the destination. There was pleasure in every inch I wove. And unwove. And rewove. Whatever. The point is, weaving tapestry is completely absorbing, sometimes frustrating, and really lots of fun.

You can quote me on that.

Almost starting, almost finished

Almost starting: Spring! Yes, the trees are starting to bud in late January. At least on Main Street in my little town. It was in the fifties here today, so no wonder the poor trees are all excited.

If you click on the photo you can see a larger version.

Almost finished: The Green Bean Tapestry! I started weaving the top hem this weekend, so soon I'll be cutting it off the loom. Perhaps I'll pop open a bottle of champagne to celebrate!

Catching Up

So, it's been a while. Ok, it's been months. But now I'm back, and I wanted to give an update on the bean tapestry. I finally got back into the studio this month so some progress has been made. Really, there's not that much more to go, maybe two inches or so. If the weather stays above freezing I just might get it done before New Years eve.

Coming down to the end - the eggplant and the background...

In other news... here's a brief tour of what else I've been up to since July. (Just so you don't think I've been sitting around twiddling my thumbs.) If you want the captions and some sketchy details, you can also view this on my Flickr page.




Of course there's been more day to day stuff than I can write, or that you'd probably want to read. If anything else of interest occurs to me I'll post again. Really!

Ta ta for now!
Liz

With a little help from my friends

Well, it's been a while hasn't it?

Yesterday I taught an Introduction to Tapestry workshop for some wonderful and talented folks at Reynolds Homestead. This was the first time I taught this particular topic, and I'm still pretty new to tapestry myself, so saying that my stress level leading up to the class was a little high would be entirely accurate.

But it went really well! At least I think it did. So before I write about the class and post some photos I want to thank everyone who made this possible and helped me keep what's left of my sanity.

• First of course, my husband Eric, who endured less than stellar meals and housekeeping for the past month, and who was very supportive, as he always is.
• My friends Darcy and Karen, who let me use them as guinea pigs and gave very good suggestions for making the class go more smoothly.
• My pal Lawre, who always offers good perspective and encouragement, and who can find some humor in almost every situation.
• Otto Strauch who has at least one of every tool known to mankind and knew just what to do to make the little loom legs.

I'd also like to send a shout-out to Caroline, who's idea this was in the first place;  Mary Kay who got everything organized and kept us on track; and the nice ladies at Yarn Explosion in Roanoke who patiently let me rummage through their Paternayan and Brown Sheep tapestry yarns.

It really was a fun day, and I learned so much myself preparing for the class!  As soon as I've recovered, I'll post some pics.

We're in the purple... and a great knitting resource.

Yes! I'm finally weaving the eggplant. Also, lots of tan background.

You probably can't see it in this photo, but I'm blending three shades of tan in the background in various combinations. I'm also weaving random "shapes" with the colors so that, hopefully, the background won't read as one flat color, but will have more visual "texture".

Due to the wretched state of my sinuses, I only had one afternoon out in the studio this weekend. Most of that time I was doing some prep work for an introduction to tapestry class I'll be teaching at Reynolds Homestead at the end of March.

I've started on a sampler for the class, using leftover yarn from the bean tapestry. Now that I'm looking at it though, I think the colors are dull as dishwater. Perhaps I'll start again. I'm working on my Schacht Tapestry Loom for the first time. It wasn't dreadful to warp, and I've skipped the part about making heddles entirely. It's a 4 inch warp, so picking up my shed by hand isn't the least bit bothersome. I'm doing it on the bean tapestry so plenty of practice there.

In other news, I've been working on a little knitting project. Kirtland's Yarn Barn in Dillwyn, VA is participating in a project to knit helmet liners for our troops in Afghanistan. My friend Lawre already has hers done, and I'm plugging away on mine. There was a tricky bit (for me, anyway) after doing the neck ribbing where you cast on extra stitches for the hat part. No matter how I did it, it looked really bad. So off to Google I went and found this wonderful explanation of casting on additional stitches at TECHknitting. What a great resource this blog is! Especially for knitting-challenged people like me.

Signs of Spring!

Spotted just this weekend in my front garden -- the first sprouts of the year. Go daffodils!! Makes you want to shout and do the happy Spring dance, doesn't it?

We had balmy temps here all weekend, in the 40's. Just enough to get a good melt (and the daffodils!) going. 

In other news, work continues on the tapestry. The beans are done, and I've moved on to the background. I'm not entirely happy with the last bean - looks sort of lumpy to me - and I may re-weave it next week. We'll see.

So, here we are. Just those two tips of beans on the right there to go, and then we're into the eggplant and background. My friend Kristy suggested that some people snap the tips off the beans. But as anxious as I am to get to the eggplant, I think I'll keep those bean tips right where they are. Besides, if I don't have to unweave too much they shouldn't take too long. Right?

We had a whopper of a snow this weekend. OK, for us 12" of snow is quite the thing. I'm still enjoying the staying home, the sleeping in, the baking and eating of treats. The shoveling, not so much, even though my husband did most of it. Today we spent an hour chopping and digging out the pile that the town's snowplows thought fully dumped in our driveway.

Just a few more photos : the Teashanty, as it looked this morning just before the rest of the snow slid off the roof; and Pyper, the old dog was soaking up the sun while sister Freya ran circles in the snow.

Baby, it's cold...inside!

Ok, I know it doesn't look like I've made much progress since last time. I did get the start of that top bean in the upper left corner started. Also, there was some un- and re-weaving done. And, I spent some time trimming up the loose ends on the back of the piece.

We had more snow this weekend - several inches - and it was just too darned cold out in the studio on Saturday to spend much time sitting still. Some days it warms right up in there and gets very cozy. But other times it just never really gets warm. Probably it would help if I finished insulating under the floor of the building and covered up the sub-floor with actual flooring. Maybe this summer. If I sell the spare loom.

Here are a few other photos for your amusement:

A corner of the studio, showing the Glimakra. I've been weaving those linen napkins forever, but had to quit a few months ago due to a bum knee. I start physical therapy next week, so hopefully I'll be throwing the shuttle again real soon now! Also, you can see the tapestry in the background there, part of the Stash, and my desk.

The last photo du jour was actually taken last week - before the current snowstorm upgraded us to "Winter Wonderland." Again. This is the view I get every time I drive to work at Strauch Fiber Equipement Company. We call it "Happy Valley." It really is lovely there.

The beans progress. The bubble remains.

Lest you think I've been idle for the past two weeks, here is an update on the tapestry.

The beans progress. The bubble remains.

Oh, there's been the usual fits of unweaving and reweaving and unweaving again, but all in all I think it's coming along ok. The egglplant is in sight now, and I'm looking forward to weaving with purple yarn, just for a change of pace.

In other news, I have a new weaving student to look forward to beginning in February. New weavers are always so much fun. All that enthusiasm is contagious.

The thought of having company out in the TeaShanty prompted me to clean and rearrange the studio a bit. I thought it would be nice if she actually had space to sit at a loom. It took me two and a half days, and there's still a little bit of putting away to do. It occurs to me that I might have too much stuff.

Part of the stuff includes too much yarn (of course), tools, books, and twenty-eight years worth of weaving samples - mine and other peoples. You know, guild sample exchanges, samples from workshops, and that sort of thing. Some of them are lovely little snippets, others are less attractive. Unlike some people who are avid and enthusiastic samplers, and swear that they are the most useful things in the world, I rarely look at mine and almost never find them helpful. Every once in a while I think about just throwing them away. But that just seems wrong somehow.

I've got them all in binders now, labeled. And I've sorted out the worksheets and samples of things that I've done myself into a separate notebook. I guess I'll hang on to them for a while longer. Perhaps my new student will find something there of interest....

Happy New Year! a few links, and a baby in a basin.

So, here we are in 2010! How the heck did that happen?

It was a studio day today! Hooray for that. What a great way to start the year -  doing something that I absolutely love!

The tapestry is coming along nicely. Or at least I think it is. I have a few concerns about some ridges that have developed, but not enough concern to want to do a significant amount of unweaving. Hopefully it will settle down in the blocking. We'll see.

I hope everyone has a joyful New Year. Here are a few little things I've happened upon that I'd like to share:

First, a neat tapestry from Tommye Scanlin. She wove a tapestry diary of 2009, committing to weaving a little bit every day. Today she cut it off the loom.

Another great tapestry link: Joan Baxter - Tapestry Artist (Note: the site has music playing - you might want to check your sound before heading off in that direction.) When I grow up I want to weave like Ms. Baxter! I love, love, love her stuff! And she lives in Scotland - my favorite place on the planet.

And if you want to see what my studio looks like - with bagpipes - check out the Teribus website. That's my friend, EJ Jones, in the yellow shirt, playing a bagpipe that he made. He's also a brilliant knitter. (Hi EJ!) There's a movie to watch there too. Bagpipes = bliss :-)

Finally, there's this: Something for Everyone

Happy New Year everyone.