A Wonderful Birthday Gift

This card was waiting for me when I got home from the most amazing NIA class I have ever experienced.

Dear Bonnie,
For the past six years the Olympia Weavers Guild has participated in the Puyallup Fair's Sheep to Shawl. This past fall we decided to use the information you presented in your WeaveZine article, Turned-Weft Ikat for our design inspiration and the multitudinous hues present in hydrangeas for the color inspiration.

We had so much fun wrapping and tying and dying that warp. Fair-goers were fascinated with the project and the finished shawl was quite simply beautiful.

Each year after the Fair we print up cards showing the draft we used, colors, and the completed shawl. Sine you were so much a part of this project, I wanted to send you a picture of the completed piece.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge so freely! We won first place!

Sincerely, Olympia Weavers Guild

Here is Tami modeling the freshly completed shawl at the fair---September 2009


This was the very first I had heard about this, and the news couldn't have come at a more perfect moment.

All in all, it was the best birthday I have ever had! Thank you all for your birthday wishes. They were the delicious icing on the virtual cake.

INSPIRED BY BONNIE

Theresa Davies recently bought a kit from me. These are her words:

Here is all 12 feet of the rug loosely based on the horoscope gamp. I had a lot of fun with this.

I did have to do some creative interpretation, as some colors I didn't have a lot of in my stash of quilt fabric, but I came close. I never would have guessed that true red was so lacking in my collection of fabrics. I had lots of good yellows and greens though and plenty of indigo.

Oh gosh, I couldn't imagine doing the rug exactly like the draft. I did find that with the rug and weft, it isn't the individual shots, it's the rug as a whole.

Worrying over each shot is, well, needless, but then again...maybe I'm not so much free as a bit lazy

My husband was so excited he hung it before I could get some close ups!

Take care and when I get that formal warp done I'll be sure to send you a pic.

For all those who have ordered kits from me, remember if you send me a picture and some words about your process and I post it here---I will send you a complimentary horoscope draft.

In case you already have, and I have not sent you a draft, please remind me. It is merely a senior moment.

A Successful Day

Here is the picture of my completed Barack Obama Horoscope which accidently got erased from the last post. (Bambu 7 warp, sett 20 epi with recycled cashmere weft)

I received 9 orders! After substracting for paypal fees and mailing expenses, I am able to donate $225 to Weavolution. I can hardly wait for the roll-out!

Stay tuned for more unique weaving opportunities coming your way.

More Inspired By Bonnie

My Wonderful Turned Weft Ikat Adventure with Bonnie

by Linda LaMay

After meeting Bonnie at our Weaving Guild Meeting, and having seen so many of the beautiful Ikat treasures she brought to share, I eagerly signed up for a three day workshop. But as the day approached I worried that being a new weaver, and having never dyed any fiber, perhaps this class was going to be way beyond me. Was I ever wrong!

From the first hour of our workshop on Friday to the last on Sunday, Bonnie guided and encouraged us and freely shared her amazing wealth of knowledge. I learned how to wrap fiber with plastic as a resist technique, and to actually dye, dry and wind the fiber into balls to facilitate easy warping.

The most amazing step for me was learning how to arrange these lovely stands of color and pattern into a design of my own creation. Bonnie taught us to work in “phrases” or small groupings of yarn, to create groupings of 1 ½ to 3 inches of warp. By concentrating on a small section at a time, it was easy to get beautiful design elements which could easily be arranged and re-arrange until the perfect pattern emerged!

As I watched my towels grow on the loom, I was absolutely amazed at how much I had learned and how beautiful my towels turned out. I can’t wait to try this technique again.

I sometimes wonder whether its inspired by Bonnie, or its Bonnie's fault. :-) Bev Ryan

In your blog last month you said:

"One of the problems I face when traveling to teach a workshop is I go home and never know if the students ever finish their projects, what challenges they faced in the process, or how the weaving came out."

So here it is. I've taken 2 seminars or workshops with you at the So Calif Handweaver's conference. At Visalia last year I took Bonnie's the easy ikat and I did finish my scarf. It goes great with a denim jacket so that's how I photographed it.

A few years earlier I took one of your color workshops, find the colors within maybe? We did the cut up magazine collages and I still have my little collages. But what I really came away with was the realization that I had been consistently too quiet with my colors. So I decided I had to use black, red and purple. I did 2 smallish tapestries, one became part of a large unwieldy knitted bag.

And I think your workshops are great fun, by the way.