Sherri Woodard Coffey

I don’t know about you, but I think if I was the artist for this piece, I’d’ve gone spotty myself. Or maybe that’s dotty. And that’s what is happening to all of us who live in Texas this year. Just in case this news hasn’t made it to a TV station everywhere in the US, we’ve had between 60-70 days of 100 degrees or higher. No rain, trees losing their leaves, regular old coastal hay is selling for $165 per bale or more. There’s no forage for the livestock, so… kind of scary for agriculture. Okay, enough of that!

In other news, I have actually done a newsletter for the first time since, oh, I don’t know, maybe January. But with the guild show coming up and the pieces coming down at the Doss, I thought it was time. And, I have been weaving, always a good thing.

The one time that I was in DC, the Textile Museum was closed, so I didn’t get to do what I really wanted to do. Just recently, I noticed that they are having a symposium related to the exhibition Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa. Sounds interesting. Maybe a little trip?

I very seldom travel to Dallas—for me it’s like going to another country. Long ago, back when the children were young and a reliable car was unaffordable, I would always check the oil and other fluids before making a trek to Dallas. Even now, the traffic is something to dread, but I’m considering sucking it up and going to the Dallas Museum of Art. There are two exhibits that look really interesting to me: African Headwear: Beyond Fashion and Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. The Fort Worth StarTelegram had a good piece on the African exhibit, with lots of pictures, worth checking out. Here is a quote from that article—the highlighting is mine. See, this does relate to weaving!

Several of the headpieces on display are protective in nature, shielding the head from all manner of dangers, such as spears, as well as things that could fall out of trees, such as snakes and poisonous insects. Some are made of thickly woven fibers, others are brass-plated. But they all carry some form of decoration: cowry shells, feathers, fur or beads. One large headpiece from the Democratic Republic of the Congo that looks quite regal is actually meant for an infant. The woven conical hat with a long tapering brim in the back would shield the baby, who was carried papoose-style on his mother’s back.

We made several stops driving from Santa Fe to Taos. The chicos that I mentioned before were actually before Dixon on the drive. Love the rocks on this building that houses the Metier Handweaving studio. The town of Dixon is home to many artists, who open their studio doors every fall. Check it out here.

I always love looking at the layers in the formations along the road. A purely gratuitous picture below of a church.

Several weeks ago I posted about a change in palette.  Below is a picture (again) of the yarns.

Here is a pic of the work in progress. Not sure much can be discerned, but I cut out all of the loom/butterflies distraction, and this is what’s left.

The other day I mentioned a sign for chicos.

Chicos

Chicos: Corn kernels, horno-(oven-) roasted or dried outdoors, chicos are less common than posole but are a treat when available. Often chicos will be served in chicken or pork stock on their own, or added to stews, soups, or calabacitas.

Calabacitas

Calabacitas – A summer vegetable sautéd with slices of summer squash, zucchini, or similar squash. Often green chile, and/or corn, will be mixed in and perhaps tomatoes, green beans, or other garden vegetables.

horno

The above came directly from New Mexico Magazine, where I first learned of chicos. I read that they lend a somewhat smoky flavor to the dish to which they are added. If you’ve driven in New Mexico, you’ve probably noticed how many hornos there are. Here’s the Wikipedia link. You can also find directions on building one for yourself. And then you can get your own ears of corn and dry them in your own horno.

At the Santa Fe School of Cooking, chicos are sometimes available and come in the attractive tins seen here. I learned that chicos are very seasonal, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. Here is their recipe for Calabacitas and chicos. When I followed the chicos sign and drove up that narrow, dusty road to buy them, I was asked if I wanted yellow or white chicos. Yellow is good with pork and the other, well, I don’t remember. I got yellow.

The drive from Santa Fe to Abiquiu is beautiful. The picture above was taken from the dirt road that takes you from the main road to the visitor center at Abiquiu. We later spent some time in the gift shop at the Abiquiu Inn and had a wonderful meal in the restaurant. I ended up buying some note cards with great drawings on the front, and a piece of pottery, all the time saying, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

A friend sent me this postcard to the Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery, so a little trip there was in order. It happens to be just up the street from Pasquals, a popular restaurant. Both places are a feast for the eyes. The pottery is beautiful and comes from many pueblos. Pasquals has many eclectic items around which makes for interesting viewing while waiting for your meal, like this papier-mâché. And the coffee is great!

If it wasn’t so difficult to stop and take pictures of things seen along the road, I would have pictures to post here of signs seen along the way—signs you NEVER see in Texas.

• Caution signs warning of wild horses crossing in New Mexico
• Caution signs warning of bears crossing along I 25 in Colorado
• A small wooden sign about chicos being for sale on the low road to Taos. It said they were available in house #8. To get there, we traveled a narrow dirt road. The sign on the door said that if you were there for chiles, to continue up the road to the house with the red roof. I love this! Got a 1 pound bag of chicos for $9.95. Evidently these are very seasonal. I was asked did I want the white or the yellow. Did I know? Of course not!

My friend Pat Souder (check out her new website) and I drove to New Mexico last week. We had thought that we would be getting away from the record high temperatures in Texas, but we seem to have brought the heat with us. They were breaking records all over New Mexico, with a humidity of 3%. Evidently that is also extremely unusual, since this is the monsoon season.

I have been to Tierra Wools before, but this time we arrived right after a dye session. I was allowed to take pictures, so that’s what I’m sharing today. Their dye pots put my measly two to shame!

Aren’t the colors beautiful? They use churro wool and natural dyes.

The official New Mexico Fiber Arts Trail will take you to many fascinating small villages—well worth doing. I would like to get into the northwestern section one day where one can find Two Grey Hills. A trip like this always makes me anxious to get to work, filled with inspiration.

These actually may be the oldest of the five that got themselves finished. I think that I may have continued with the square theme after finishing the commissioned squares. Oh, well, they’re done now! And, as usual, have not titles nor measurements for now.

A simple gradations piece. It goes from a pale orange (less than 1% dye) to purples. And, as usual, needs a title.

As mentioned earlier, there were seven pieces that were off the loom, waiting their turn at my finishing table. The one pictured above is the oldest that was sitting in the pile. I think the one below was the next to be woven. If only they didn’t still need titles. They also have not been measured yet. Later …

With all the finish work that needed to get done—I found seven unfinished pieces!—the plan was to work in the studio weaving part of the day and work on the finishing part of the day. For some reason, that just doesn’t work for me, and it’s probably time to just accept that. I found that I had to just do all the finishing, which included the following:

• needle weaving ends or hemming
• steaming and pressing
• cutting cardboard tubes to fit
• pressing the hems on the muslin wrappers
• sewing the hems on the muslin wrappers
• sewing twill tape ties to wrappers
• printing labels for wrappers
• using the sticky stuff to iron on labels
• rolling everything up in a neat, wrapped-in-muslin package

By the way, the wrappers are done differently, so they no longer look like a piece of candy with the twisted papers on the end. The extra muslin is folded over so that there is not excess on the end. By the way #2—I bought 48” long tubes, thinking they could easily be cut. Storage is an issue. After cutting 5 of these tubes, maybe it’s time to get a shorter size????

They are ready to go to the photographer, after which I will experiment with my camera and photograph them again. That is, five pieces are ready. The other two will just have to wait their turn.