Sherri Woodard Coffey

At least that’s what I would have said on Thursday. Nothing to say…the same weaving is progressing in the same way, the weather is still cold, windy, and dreary. But today (Friday) we forced ourselves to go out in the cold, windy, dreary, and now rainy weather to have breakfast and go to the museum. We went to the Amon Carter Museum which I have mentioned before. I was thinking that a new exhibit was starting, because, if I’m out having fun, it must be Saturday. And Saturday is when the new exhibit opens. Not to worry…we got to see two great photography exhibits. The Carter has a huge collection of photography and always has some hanging, either from their collection or brought in from other places.

Edward S. Curtis: The North American Indian

Every time I see these old photographs, I am amazed at how good they are, and, even more so when I think about the age of the photos.  This one probably won’t reproduce well here, but it’s very effective in person.

The Night Scout, Photograph by Edward Sheriff Curtis

In keeping with weaving, I always notice patterns:

Original title: A chief of the desert – Navaho. Photograph by Edward Sheriff Curtis, ca. 1904.

I always carry a small notebook in my purse to make note of things I find interesting or draw patterns that might be used in a weaving later. Of course, I have to remind myself to look at my notebook occasionally!

And then, there is this one of interest to all of us who weave:

 The Blanket Weaver, Photograph by Edward Sheriff Curtis, ca.   1904.

It’s such a shock to walk outside and feel how cold it is. The sunshine makes it deceptive, along with the brisk 14 mph winds. I really wanted to catch a goldfinch at the feeder—at this time of the year, they’re very colorful—but it was not to be. Instead, I have pictures of hyacinth buds and new growth on the climbing rose by the front porch. The picture on the right shows what it looks like in bloom.

In the back, I know there are berries still on the nandinas, but the cold got to me. In keeping with the February color pictures proposed by Life Looms Large, here are my contributions. Otherwise, I have nothing. Still weaving the  same piece. I chose a color to put in that seemed right, but the yarn is a mix of mohair/wool, so it’s just a wee bit different in size than my usual two strands of wool together, so I am having to compensate for that in the weaving. The piece is not quite to the halfway point yet. 

Since I can’t do anything about the dreary days that we are having around here, I can choose to work with bright colors. At least the last couple of days have been mild as to temperature, and I did do a few things outside yesterday. The carport and back porch really need sorting and cleaning. A few months ago I cleaned out old files, boxed everything up, and hauled them outside. They’re still there, waiting for shredding.

I knew there was a reason that Olympic viewing wasn’t on my schedule. If I start watching, I have to go to the bitter end. Got caught up in the men’s skating finals and, last night, the men’s speed skating. They go past my bedtime, so that means the next day is full of the desire for a nap.

They’re calling for more snow! This is amazing!

No, not a sign “from above.” Just an interesting sign along the side of West Seventh Street. Hope you can read it. You can see the dreary day in this picture. But, then again, it WAS taken with the phone. Maybe I should start carrying around my camera, see if it makes a difference.

Weaving on tap for today. Maybe a picture later.

We’ve had a strange object in the sky for several days now, and it’s been wonderful! For a few days the sun was accompanied by bitterly cold temperatures (a big surprise when opened the door to go outside), but for the last two days temperatures have been closer to normal—low 60s. Funny, but there’s still snow on the ground from last week’s record-breaking snowfall. Today, though, is a different story entirely. Cloudy, windy, dreary and cold. Still, we persevered and constructed one bed for the garden I plan to have this year. Tomatoes and corn, here I come!Thursday was filled with doing some research on Mayan ruins in Belize and the ruins at Tikal, weaving, cooking two dinners in two Crockpots (yay for slow cookers!), a little yard work, and shopping for muslin at Joann’s. The muslin will be used for covers for both the tubes and the outside of the rolled pieces. I think 10 yards of 90” muslin should last a little while, especially since I can only complete about one piece per month.

Monday night I presented the program to the Dallas guild on natural dyeing. The skeins above are from a dye workshop many years ago with Michele Wipplinger of Earthues dyes . Each small skein is actually two; we dyed both a gray and a white skein for each color. Don’t they look gorgeous! Each skein is tagged with its formula for reproduction of that color. I do the same thing now, except with a notebook and/or extensive notes. Every thing I weave is drawn on graph paper, and as I weave, I write notes on the sheet. That way, if something doesn’t work, I can assess the reason. If it does work, I have a way of duplicating if I want. Below is an example of one of my workshops.

Once I bought this little inexpensive radio/iPod player, I finally fell in love with my iPod. It has a remote control so that the volume can be adjusted, and it can be turned off or on while sitting at my loom. I tried making CDs from my audio books, but that takes FOREVER! The little iPod syncs in seconds, much faster than it takes to download the books from audible.com in the first place. This little device, which is made by Atlantis, also has slots for USB and SD cards. I have not used those features, but theoretically, a book could be loaded onto a flash drive and plugged into the player. I bought it at Sam’s Club in the store. I don’t think it’s listed online.

We finally have sunshine today! This may continue for several days (Here’s a toast to THAT!). I’ve been trying to look back and I think we’ve only had a couple of days of sunshine in about three weeks. It’s still really cold, but with sunshine it’s more bearable.

View yesterday, February 11, 2010

View today, February 12, 2010—After 12 inches of snow, a record in our part of the world. The picture on the right is zoomed in. Notice the tree branches are ON the chairs.

Below is where I had to park after my driving adventure yesterday. The one on the right is a close-up. Those branches are usually 6 feet off the ground. I worry that they will crash to the ground on top of my car, but I can move it, and if I could move, where would I go? My poor car is not used to this kind of treatment!

David Wharton, my photographer, called and said he had made it to his studio, so I went in earlier than planned. It was exhilarating to not only have these pieces finished, but to have their pictures ready!

As I left, the snow was coming down harder, so I made only one other stop, and headed home. The streets in my little neighborhood had not been traveled, so the going was tough. In front of my house the street is fairly flat, but then starts a hill going down. My driveway is close to the bottom of that hill. I misjudged everything (remember, this is Texas; we’re not used to driving on snow), and couldn’t slow down enough for the turn into the driveway. So, I turned the corner and couldn’t get up the next hill. I backed down, but was afraid that I’d end up in a ditch. While in the process of calling a tow truck, a kind lady stopped and guided me in backing up so that I could make a wide circle around a couple of blocks, then park in front of my house. This kind person used to drive a truck and was very helpful.

This snow-driving kind of put a damper on my exhilaration, but it’s still nice to have all that work over with and the pictures made.

Now for another hard part—thinking of titles. But at least that is something that sits in the mind while sitting at the loom.