Going to Do Meets Doing

Before I head down to Asheville, I will be attending my 50th High School Reunion in Baltimore. I thought you would appreciate seeing my high school yearbook picture.

I am heartened by the comments I received about meeting up in Asheville and will talk about the trip tomorrow.

Back to the Seeds of Hope: This morning I pinned all the pieces together and sewed them. After lunch I trimmed and turned them.


All of it leading up to my favorite part--stuffing them with 21 grams of lavender flowers.


Now I just have to hand sew the openings, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Making Seeds of Hope

My greatest desire in life is to find a craft focused community in which to settle.
There, I've said it!

I have been dreaming of visiting Asheville for over a year and am so very excited about this trip I am beside myself.

In preparation, I am making a bunch of lavender sachets from my woven recycled cashmere and bamboo cloth (with Thai silk for the backing) to offer as seeds of hope that North Carolina will house the community I am searching for.

As soon as I decided to create these as travel favors, all of my resistance to sewing dissolved. I pulled out my sewing machine, cut out 5" Thai silk squares, and began sewing a label onto each square.


Keep in mind that I am semi sewing challenged, but I had a blast.


After 49 years of weaving, it is still with a certain amount of reluctance that I take scissors to handwoven cloth even though I designed and wove this cloth to cut into sachets. I had been weaving for 20 years before I could cut up anything I had woven (and for 10 of those 20 years I was actively trying to cut).


Today I pin and sew---more pictures to follow.

MEET ME IN ASHEVILLE!

I have my ticket in hand! This will be my first trip to North Carolina, June 18th-22nd. I will be visiting an old friend who lives in Balsam, and I am most anxious to meet as many weavers as I can. I thought a "Meet Up" in Asheville on the 20th and/or the 21st would be divine. I was just checking out the restaurants and Mela's Indian Restaurant (I love Indian food!) sounded pretty good although I am more than open to suggestions.

So if you live in the general vicinity, leave a comment.

I also want to visit as many weaving studios as possible.

What I Am Doing

Both Fran and Sarah purchased their weavings using CASHMERE DOLLARS (10 cashmere sweaters equals 80% of the price). Most custom weaving ordered in this manner are in the Woven Words technique, but these ladies wanted something a little different.


Fran 's Color Horoscope Weaving is finished and ready to ship. I like it so much I am having a bit of trouble letting it go. I believe I captured the feeling of sunset with the cashmere weft. I will send it off on Monday though.

In the picture below I have the piece hanging over top of some other weavings.

Oh yes, I changed the sett on the Bambu 7 warp from 20 epi to 18 epi, and I have to say I was very pleased with the results. I wanted the weft to show up a bit more. Before laundering and drying in the dryer, the dimensions were 19" x 78" and after 18" x 72" (minus fringe). It washed like a dream and didn't seem to shrink quite as much.

Sarah's fell in love with this merino wool ikat sample I wove 10 years ago. This was a sample for a 90" x 100" blanket. Instead of using bamboo yarn for the scarf warp, Sarah wants to have a merino warp and cashmere weft.

Much to my delight, I discovered I had enough ikat dyed Jaggerspun Merino left over from the blanket to create a scarf. I certainly have enough to create yet another as well. This is what I totally love about Turned Weft Ikat. The ikat warps are pure potential until I sit down at the warping board to spontaneously create a design. Of course, I won't be able to duplicate the pattern above, but then I don't really want to.


You may notice some little tags on the balls of yarn. I know they must have meant something when I wrote them, but now I have no idea what "Q NEG" means. Plus only half of the balls have mystery tags on them. Now each ikat dyed ball is a magical surprise waiting to be revealed.

Shea's baby blanket is still in the planning stage. The yarn has been ordered, and I am awaiting its arrival.

Blog Clog

When I first began writing a web log, I never realized how satisfying it would be on many levels. I have such a deep appreciation for the connections I have made and how personally inspiring this process has been for me.

I see my flagging ability to post regularly mirrors the rest of my life.

My ideas and ambitions have outflanked my day to day reality.

Today I sat down and outlined my life (on the back of an envelope). Now that I have it down on paper (and now posted) be prepared for a flurry of posts.


WRITE ON BLOG:
1. What I am doing
a. Kathie's piece
b. Sarah's piece
c. Shea's piece
2. What I have done
a. Mercury Retrograde
b. Set up new blog
c. Set up Etsy
d. Sent out cards
e. Finished Fran's piece
3. What I will be doing
a. 50th high school reunion
b. Check out North Carolina
c. Teaching at Golden Gate Fiber Institute
d. Move "Inspired by Bonnie" posts over to my new blog

A Word About Cashmere Dollars

What are Cashmere Dollars, you might ask? Every (imperfect) cashmere sweater a person sends me gives them a $50 credit towards a custom designed scarf/shawl up to 80% of the total cost of the weaving. Most weaving purchased with Cashmere Dollars becomes a Woven Words scarf, but Fran from Calgary decided on a Color Horoscope Weaving instead.


Fran favors sunset colors, so I selected an array of 12 such hues from my cashmere stash. I matched the coral thread I used for my floating selvedge. (my spell check doesn't agree with my spelling here, but I like it)

When I weave, I triple the weft and change one of the 3 strands at regular intervals creating an interesting shading effect. I pull the knotted tails out of the shed.


And then just trim them right off. The remaining 2 strands of weft are strong enough to not compromise the cloth. I am semi-haphazard in my shading, but it is possible to be extremely precise.

Cards Ready to Send---at last

Whew! I am finally gathering my energies after getting a semblance of an Etsy Shop up an running. The experience has left me with a feeling of both satisfaction and suspense.

A huge thank you to Sandra Rude for telling me how to put type ABOVE images! It is easy. I am also having a problem with the same finger of the same hand! I guess it doesn't matter how many harnesses a person has (grin).


At least a month ago, 16 people voted for their favorite greeting cards. I said I would send each person who voted, their favorite card, if they would send me their mailing address. At last, these cards are ready to send! Alas, I can find only 4 addresses : Katherine, Fern, Charlotte, and Denyse. Your cards are pictured below and will go out in the mail tomorrow.


Here are cards below for Heidi, Deanna, Irma, Carol, Holly, Margreet, Martha, Bonnie S, Meg, Cindie, Leigh, and Valerie. I am sure that Irma sent me an address, but I can't locate it, so please resend. The rest of you, send me an address if you wish......


Now that I have completed this little project, I can begin to move forward again.