Sunday Musings

Well, I think this is the year that we missed Autumn. We don't seem to be finished with Summer yet. After a gnarly rainstorm on Thursday, with thunder and lightning and reported funnel clouds, the welcome cool down passed and we're back to mid-80's. I am frankly tired of being hot.  What I wouldn't do for a brisk Fall day.  Oh, well!  Here are a few photos I took hoping to get myself into an October state of mind.  

 The colors of nature are amazing.

                                                 The simple beauty of piles of leaves.

I am continuing to work on pieces for my booth at Artistic License -- coming up on Friday, October 26th and Saturday, October 27th.  These are some of the eco-printed garments I'll have there. 

                                             Shawls, ponchos and scarves

My booth will also be stocked with lots of my handspun yarns (and probably some bags of my "Pastiche" for spinning art yarns).  

Fingering and sportweight yarns  

 Chunky yarns

 And some art yarns

For information on how to get to the Artistic License Fair in Costa Mesa, you can visit the website:    www.ArtisticLicenseFair.com

Back to work now!

Upcoming Travel and Events

Well, in less than 48 hours, I'll be winging my way to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to meet my friend, Michelle, and to head up to Santa Fe, Chimayo and Taos.  This is our annual trek to the Taos Wool Festival -- this year, the weekend of October 6th and 7th.  We take some extra days for fun and relaxation and to rejuvenate and get our bearings.  A couple of days/nights in Chimayo at the Casa Escondida B&B works wonders on the soul, especially stretching out on our deck in the chaise lounges at night, glass of wine in hand and watching the stars and the Milky Way.  Then off to the Old Taos Guesthouse for the remainder of our stay -- always feels like home.  Lots of stitching and knitting in the back garden.

Casa Escondida

 Old Taos Guesthouse

Upon our return, both Michelle and I will be finishing up our preparations for the Artistic License Fair, Friday and Saturday, October 26th and 27th in Costa Mesa, CA, at Estancia Park.  For more information, visit:    www.ArtisticLicenseFair.com

Some felted scarves I'll have in my booth at Artistic License.

The following weekend on Sunday, November 4th, I'll be participating as a vendor (with my friend Margie Bell) in the Weaving and Fiber Festival at the Torrance Cultural Center.  For more information, visit:   www.schg.org/festival

This is a wonderful local fiber show with many great vendors, indy dyers, etc. hosted by the Southern California Handweavers Guild --  an annual event that draws fiber enthusiasts from all over Southern California.  Hope to see you there.  

During this next month and until after the November 4th fiber fest in Torrance, my Etsy shop will be closed but I will reopen shortly after that.  

August Workshop with India Flint -- Our Wayfayer's Wanderbooks

The afternoon of our third day with India brought us to the construction of our Wanderbooks.  It was very quiet indeed as everyone pieced together the fruits of their labors over the course of the workshop.  Here are the books displayed out on the grass. They are basically works in progress, because there are so many nooks and folds where little treasures and maybe new little books can be tucked away.  

 Close-ups.

Each and every one of these books was so special and unique, and I think every person walked away from India's workshop very happy and with a profound sense of accomplishment.  These three days were truly one of the best workshops I have ever taken and I hope that India, in her wanderings, passes this way again. 

August Workshop with India Flint - Day Three

Day Three of our fabulous adventure with India arrived and, of course, the opening of the bundles we had placed in the dyepot at the end of the previous day.  Again, we encountered magic as we opened our new work.  Each person layed their opened bundles on the wooden deck and we walked around marveling at the natural beauty of our creations, each person's work so unique with the many different materials used.

One of our bundles was wrapped in a bamboo sushi mat.

Some of our papers were folded to make little books with pockets.

More stitching of fabric on paper, too.

On student used some lace fabric from the sleeve of her wedding dress.

The prints on cold pressed water color paper were pretty amazing.

These pieces almost had an ancient look to them.

India shared some of her eco printed cloth with us. A beautiful wool shawl.

A pieced quilt.

We all gathered on the grass under a tree and India gave each of us a piece of newspaper that she had torn up.  She asked us to pick out nine meaningful words from the paper and write them down. We then went around the circle nine times reading one of our words each time.

She then gave us a bit of time to write a small poem using our words and then we each read our poem. What a lovely experience it was.

Finally, Darcy (our most wonderful host) gave each of us a small present of a rolled bundle she had dyed a few weeks before.

 It was a lovely piece of silk -- rust  and brown in color.

Before our break for lunch, India finally revealed that we would use each of the pieces we had dyed during the workshop to fabricate our Wayfayer's Wanderbook.  Our largest sheet of paper, on which we had painted with inks made of blueberries and walnuts, was folded in a way that created many nooks and we could insert little books and other things within this larger book.  

Final instructions for the morning were on how to sew our little books into the larger book.

Next -- our lovely books completed -- well, our works in progress.