Found some beautifully hand-dyed silk that has a soft hand and texture.  I used it with some amazingly soft bamboo to weave this Mobius Wrap.  I wove a texture down the left hand side with a shiny lurex and added a lattice fringe in the back.  I love it when I find gorgeous yarn that tells me what it wants to be.

This is new work I will be exhibiting at the “Going Green” show starting June 27th at the Brush Art Gallery and Studios located at the National Park Visitor’s Center in Lowell.  I did weave a few in green colors but my focus was 0n using renewable eco-friendly fibers to weave my piece.

Glenn and I went to visit a group of women taking a class in Japanese embroidery.  They were so nice and were happy to share with us the beautiful work they are doing.  This is extremely time consuming and it is obvious the love they have for creating their pieces.  Go and check out the web site for information on taking classes or just to see what it is all about - http://www.newenglandregionega.org/japanese_embroidery.html.  We are very lucky to have the classes held in this area (Bedford) as some of the women have flown in from all over to take part in it.

Glenn has his kimono design that he shared with the group and was hoping to find some that would be willing to collaborate on the piece he plans to dye with embroidery.  Three of the women will be working on this piece and it will be amazing when it is done.  I am also excited that the group is willing to demonstrate at our Kimono Exhibition.  The title of the exhibition is “Art of the Kimono” timeless form/contemporary vision.

OK, no pressure on me for my kimono!  Actually, being around this group who is excited about creating something that is so close to their hearts and really is a piece of their souls pumps me up to want to do my best as well.  Let’s see where it takes me.

Ready to boot 2008 out the door.  It’s been a rough year.  My dad passing away was tough.  He always made the holidays so much fun.  On Christmas Eve day, we would go to the cheese shop in Concord and pick out a few favorite cheeses, yummy salty olives and grab some french bread, come back to my house and munch on our goodies with a glass of wine or two.  We’d just hang out and talk until everyone started to gather and let the holidays begin!  This year my mom went to see my brother in New Mexico – a good place to be as my nephew is 7 years old and we know little ones remind us what Christmas is all about.  My family went to the inlaws in upstate New York.  They are such wonderful people and it made the holidays fun.  Paul’s sister has 5 grandkids so seeing the little ones run around in such happiness was delightful.   Kristine and her grandmother baked lots of goodies which is one of their favorite things to do.  Of course it made the rest of us happy to munch on the results.  A colorful angel food cake and an apple crumb pie were enjoyed by all.  Lynne and Gracie had a friend over and had a nice low key day.  We celebrated when we got back.  Kudos to Grace for picking out such awesome gifts.  She really put thought into each person and we had lots of fun opening our presents.

My friend Carol’s mom passed away a few days before Christmas.  Even though her mom was 92, it is still very difficult.  Carol spent so much time making sure her mom was getting everything she needed and took such great care of her.  Then we had a call that one of Paul’s former roommates from Cambridge, age 53, has terminal cancer.  Next a card comes in the mail and a friend our age had his stomach removed from cancer.  I am so overwhelmed at all this sad news.  I’m just starting to process it all.

So I have to be hopeful for 2009.  Hopeful that things will turn around and positive will come from such hardships for the people I care about.  I am going to do my best to put the negative aside and find the positive to move ahead with.

I am sad to be giving up my studio space at the Brush Art Gallery.  My fellow artists’ there are such great friends but I am finding the effort needed to put into being there takes so much away from creating art and right now, I need to create art.  So I am moving everything over to the Western Avenue Studios and will be totally set up by the end of February.   It’s bittersweet but feel that I don’t want to put any more energy into meetings, justifying my existance of being an artist to a higher authority that constantly wants to fix things by fixing the artists, having to serve on committees or giving up any more time to things other than art.  I guess after being at the Brush for 12 years, it would be best if I moved on.  That way, a new artist could come in and would accept things as they are instead of seeing all that we have lost.  I do feel hopeful for my fellow artists who have chosen to stay as I really want the best for them.   I have my good friend Betsy sitting on my shoulder telling me it’s time to move my cheese.  I am so excited about the things I want to weave.  Sometimes making a change can make us move forward and I feel I really need to do that.

So come visit me at Western Avenue.  I hope to have things set up and running very soon.

I am so excited.  Glenn Szgedy and I have signed the contract.  We are finally going to be putting on an invitational Kimono exhibition at the Brush Gallery and Studios in April -June of 2008.  We have talked and dreamed about this for a while.  Our goal is to invite textile artists whose work we admire to create the kimono of their dreams.  We will also be creating the kimonos of our dreams and my problem is that I have too many options running around in my head right now that I have to narrow it down to at least a few options.  Glenn is a fabulous sculpter and silk painter.  He’s been busy trying out new techniques and has his sketch designed.  I, of course, want to weave my piece.  I actually think I am even more excited about creating the obi as that is the exquisite final touch of a kimono.

We want to have a lot of educational components to our exhibit.  We have so many ideas that if we get to do half of them, it will be amazing.  We are at the stage now where we will be looking for the artists whose work we love and who want to participate.  We feel we need to give everyone a long time period in which to create their piece as these works of art are complicated.

So far, I have picked out a 60/2 silk that I will dye and do some sampling on to see if any of these ideas running around in my head jumps out and says “this is the one – now take it to the next level”.

Glenn is an amazing and talented artist who has great vision.  We both have a similar approach and that is to make sure this is done right – no short changing anyone as our names are on this one.  We want every little detail to be right.  They may not be noticed but anything not done so will be.  A lot of work ahead and this is the right time to do it.  I’ve stepped back in the shows I’ve been doing and what I’ve been weaving.  I’m not producing what people might buy, I’m weaving what sings to my heart.

I plan to blog my process so if you happen to stumble onto this page, check back every once in a while and you will see my mistakes which I will draw upon so you can see my successes.  I’m so excited!

Gay, Penny (Artists at the Brush) and Lynne (Western Ave. studio A306) at the opening.  It was a fun event with lots of good people, good food, and the show looks fantastic.  It was great to see some folks that I hadn’t seen in a long time.  Betsy, thanks for coming down and we miss you.  And I found out Drew and Emily will be neighbors soon!  It was cute to see Carol’s grandson walking down the hall in his snow boots.  He’s not ready to give them up yet.  Below is a picture of Jerry Beck (Revolving Museum), Bill and Will (Artists at the Brush).

Next event is folk festival at the end of July which his always fun.  The show will still be up so stop by if you haven’t seen it yet.  Gay and I will be on duty at the Brush on Friday night (July 25th) and there will be a stage in the National Park parking lot.  Hope to see you there.

I took a very cool class yesterday that adds to the Basic RAD classes that I teach. It’s how to use keychain defense to fight off an attacher. I think this is an extremely effective way to do just that. It can be taught separately or as an add on to the basic RAD class. I will definitely use this as an add-on to my classes. The techniques are fun to do and you can really see that this would work very well as an option to get away from “the bad guy”. I think every female who is in college or going off to college should be required to take these classes.

My daughter is done with high school. Just a few more fun events. Today marching in the memorial day parade in her last official drum major position for the high school band. Next week, senior week events and prom, finishing off with the graduation ceremony. It’s a very exciting time for her as she now looks towards college. Her next big adventure is 2 1/2 days at college for orientation, which will get them ready to step on campus and be ready to go on day 1 in September. She needs to decide where she wants to live and pick a room mate. She’s ready for this next step and as much as I will miss her, I am very excited for her and very proud of her.

My dad passed away last Sunday in the early hours of the morning. He died at home in his own bed and it was a comfortable and peaceful passing. Hospice came in on Friday and they were amazing.

Dad had a great life and lived it to the fullest. He even had friends for dinner last Thursday and cooked his favorite meal. Well, actually one of many, he loved all food. His life took him from a small town, into the navy in WWII, to college on the GI bill, to working on the space race where he was program manager for the lem simulator in Apollo 13. Armstrong planted a time capsule on the moon when he landed and my Dad’s name is in it. His job took him and us on many trips and even a year’s stay in England.

He was a people person who loved friends, family and having a good time. He loved to play practical jokes and he loved when someone got one over on him.

Many of my friends have lost a parent so I do feel lucky that I was able to have him as long as I did. However, I am going to miss his voice when I call him on the phone saying, “How ya doin’ honey?”. And our lunch dates to the Olive Garden where he told anyone who worked there that he made the Zuppa Tuscani as good as they did and he got the receipe from their web site.

I’ll miss you, Dad, but you’ve left me with such great memories. I know on my next trip to Olive Garden, I’ll be telling anyone who will listen that my Dad used to make this soup as good as they do.

First Saturday at Western Avenue was fun.  Roberta and Linda came to weave a scarf and here is a picture of the awesome scarves they wove.  Lynne was there spinning and Alicia was making jewelry.  It was a cloudy day so it was perfect to be with such nice people playing with fiber!

I had the opportunity to tag along with a group of 20 10th and 11th grade girls from the Agnes Irwin School on a trip to Peru.  My cousin was putting this trip together for the school.  Since I am a weaver and we were to spend some time with a host family at their weaving co-op, she thought I had to come on this trip with her.  The trip was amazing and the girls were great.  Their task was to build a web site for the co-op.  I will pass that along as soon as it is put together.

This is part of the weaving co-op.  These ladies sit on small stools and weave on the backstrap looms all all day.  They set up their wares on wooden tables around the room for visitors to view and purchase.  The cloth tied around the neck is worn by most woman.  It is two pieces of cloth woven and sewn down the middle.  Woman used these to carry their children, purchases from the market or potatoes from the fields.  The shoes everyone wore were made from tires.  I don’t think they ever wear out.  The younger girls start by weaving bracelets and belts before they learn to weave the more complicated larger pieces.

These are the dyes plants they use and the colors they get.  They can alter a color by adding something to the dyepot such as salt or by how long the spun yarn is left in the dyepot.

This is Abuela teaching me how to spin.  She is 84 years old.  All of the co-op ladies were helping the girls learn the drop spindle.  Abuela has Chaska (her 2 year old granddaughter) on her back sleeping in the cloth around her neck.  Later in the day, Abuela came over to me and gave me her drop spindle to keep.  I almost cried.  She is so sweet.  She does not speak English and I do not speak Spanish but somehow we are able to communicate (love of fiber, family?)

The ladies from the co-op came up to the main house and we all sat outside while they taught us to weave belts on a backstrap loom.   After they spent hours working with us, they gave us the belts and the looms to take home with us.