More travels, an old dream awakes... and...going after Doris with a wrench!

I feel like I've been gone for sooooo long! I had many, many deadlines in recent months and I simply could not post in January or February! Ahhhhh!m it's nice to have a little break and have my own thoughts drifting about just because they want to drift about. It's so nice to be home and for my next "show", I'll be joining in the Las Aranas Spinners & Weavers Guild's annual members sale called "Spider's Market" in Albuquerque, NM! This is such a lovely show and is gaining popularity for shoppers even as far away as here in my Village of Magdalena!

My travels have taken me to Texas again...Kerrville, for the Texas Federations of Fiber Artists at the Inn of the Hills. This event is a regional conference and was quite nicely run, indeed. I was a vendor for just a few hours, but what a DAY! I hope they consider extended the stay of the vendors, to give us more time with interested booth visitors. These vendors were such a fun bunch of people that we had a great time just visiting and networking between "shopping times". If invited, I will definitely give it another go!

I did submit a couple of pieces for consideration for the Exhibition connected to the TFFA Conference and one was accepted!!!  What funfunfun! I don't know if you recognize it, but it's from my Desert Daze Series, warp #7 and I was so happy that they liked it!

Here I am, in the photo above, at the opening, trying to represent New Mexico with my favorite turquoise. And, yes, I tried to be a walking "billboard" of my handwoven stoles by wearing my old white workhorse stole. I'm with Rachel and sweet friends.... yes, Rachel took this photo. She is such a crowd gatherer that, when we would be wondering if she might be getting tired and ready to go home, we'd just look for the crowd and there would be our Rachel!

Here is one of several photos I took of Rachel as she visited with everyone... they seemed to always love what she was saying... I guess I'm not the only one, eh? One wonderful thing about Rachel's stories is, they are not just entertaining, they are lessons of art, of craft, often of life.

We all loved hearing her descriptions of how she created the shoe....yes, THE shoe...that is in the display case. The title of this work is "A Soul-Searching Experience". And it IS an experience to look at it!

If you would like to see a close up of this marvelous piece of art, let me know and I'll get you in touch with Rachel to buy a copy a wonderful book that's come out.

The title of the book is:
"Touching Fiber Arts"
by Carol Ikard and Jacque Smith

A close-up of the shoe is on page 77, and there are several other of Rachel's works that grace the pages of the book which is a work of art in it's own right! Check out pages 68-69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, too!

Okay, I am very honored to say that one of my works was included in the book, too, on page 39... one of my yardages from the loom I call Margaret... it was inspired by riding in the extreme of west Texas on one of our many journeys through the area. Here's a close-up...

You'll have to get the book to see the photo there....HA!

On to telling about an old dream and how it's a happenin'...I am finally weaving those blankets that I wrote about earlier. I did weave them as I wrote in the blog post "Texas Adventures".  I had photos in that blog and thank goodness because they sold SO fast that now I have none again! One sold out of my little booth in Texas at "Kids-N-Ewes & Llamas, Too!" and then the other old out of my Etsy Shop so fast that I head was spinning! I am planning on keeping the pricing the same for now to see if there's another 'flash' or if it was just the holiday shpping frenzy that fueled the sales. I have Doris and The Old Structo just about ready to begin to weave again...sofa throws on Doris and my first baby blanket in YEARS on The Old Structo. Wish me luck!

What is it you've heard me say a million times....."Success is hard work!"

Doris and....what? A WRENCH? Yes, okay, as much as we like to weave endlessly, there are times when we must stop, take the time, look over our loom 'friends' for maintenance purrrrrrrrrrposes...okay, from weavers I can hear the groaning, but...when not maintained, our looms will fail to make that puuuurrrrfect shed, will drop a treadle, or the beater bar holding that reed in comes off in your HAND....yes, this did happen to me and I was SHOCKED!

I've had this happen to me so many times over my almost 40 years in front of one loom or another ~ You are weaving along, happily, you're really in the cadence, shuttles are flying, the fell line is inching forward at a rewarding, give-me-instant-gratification kind of HIGH...when YUCK!

Now, my going after Doris with a wrench was to tighten up an "S" hook from with harness #3 hangs...it was loose and came undone, leaving me with a disadvantageously dreadful shed through which I tried to throw a poor, innocent shuttle having not noticed that there was a train wreck in that tunnel....the shuttle was entrapped in the shed in a newly formed indiscernible spider's web of 10/2 bleached white cotton.

Not a pretty sight......

Okay, so my point is, and HERE's MY TIP...take one day a month....say on the first of each month...and check all your bolts, wing nuts, pieces and parts and make sure things are snugged up tight, straight and neat and ready for the rigors you are about to put it through...and (I'm guilty of this one), when you tie-on aprons or cords need replacing, DO IT!

See you on the first of the month and until then I'm sending out happy thoughts and Miles and Miles of Smiles, Cat B.