Sherri Woodard Coffey

I saw some rugs that were woven with cut up sweater strips. They were very think, but I don’t know about absorbency. Wouldn’t that be dependent on the fiber content?

All my life, it seems, I have been trying to find balance between all the things that should be done and those that want to be done. I had a really long list of things to do for last week, and I’m pleased to say that most were crossed off the list. Plus, I wove or worked in the studio for 4-6 hours daily. Not too shabby! Of course, this is the day that the new list gets compiled…oh, well.

Right-Sunset on the Platte at Pahuk, the workshop location.

Above-Tall grasses

For those of you who might be interested, Mary Zicafoose is having a fall ikat workshop. Here is the link. This is the same workshop I took in May, except that it is longer, so there can be more exploration. Mary is a great teacher, the location is ideal, and the food is superb. I wish I could go again. The tall grass prairie in fall will be lovely; something else for me to see  someday!

The current piece is moving right along, probably faster than anticipated. I am now adding more butterflies all the time, something I should think about before starting a project…maybe.

The other pieces that are now residing at Weaving Southwest are below.   

Before I left for Taos, I got my warp ready to weave for my return.  Yesterday I balled up all the yarns needed for this project, then did the knotting and wove the first few inches to reach the tapestry section. I’m weaving a spiral and have been somewhat concerned about weaving the circular shape. However, this spiral is not planned to be evenly circular, and so far, it is going very well. To plan this piece, I just freeform cut out a spiral of paper, plopped it down on paper, and then cut out other freeform shapes. I arranged them all on the background color until they were placed in the places that appeal to me. I took the whole thing to Kinko’s and had my cartoon made by enlarging the plan to the size that I want to weave. The cartoon is fairly large, so I cut it into sections, placed the first section under the warp, attached it with some bulldog clips, and marked the area with permanent markers. That is my guide for weaving. The color that looks blue is actually a pretty intense purple, but as this picture was taken with the phone, well … The real camera is still in the car.

Finally home again after driving from Amarillo to my part of Texas. Posted several days of posts at once, which, for those interested, requires reading from the bottom up. It’s good to be home, but the grocery store calls. One must have the basics like milk.

Peruvian Mask             Purple Ikat

Both now at Weaving Southwest

Today I drove from Taos to Santa Fe, even though I didn’t plan to actually do anything there. I just like that beautiful drive. From Santa Fe I drove back to Amarillo and back into Central time. It was hard for me to keep up with times since I never changed any clocks, etc. So, only 5 hours to get home tomorrow. I’m ready. By the way, on the way out I listened to a book on CD by Lisa Gardner called The Neighbor. I usually prefer to read, but for road trips I need something to keep my attention. Don’t know whether it was just me or what, but this book REALLY kept my interest. It’s a mystery, so if that doesn’t interest you, don’t bother to check it out.

In the “only in Taos category…”

The usual traffic abounds in Taos today. There was a traffic accident to which two cops responded, one a motorcycle cop. There he is in full uniform and…a do rag! Where else would you see that?

Another surprising observation: Taos must be the Prius capital of the world. I have never seen as many Priuses gathered in one place as in Taos.

Exciting news

I sent my portfolio to Weaving Southwest in Taos a couple of months ago. Just about the time I was gutting it up to make a follow up call, Theresa called me and said that they would like to have five pieces. A couple of weeks after that I received the paperwork, and after checking shipping prices, I decided that the shipping money could be better spent with me delivering the pieces myself. That way I could meet Theresa, ask my questions, etc. Besides, who doesn’t want to go to Taos?  This is the time of year for afternoon thunderstorms, with lightning in the mountains and thunder bouncing, echoing around. Wonderful!

Theresa had me unwrap and unroll everything. They seemed to like all, and Theresa appreciated my organization. I’m glad I spent all that time making the wrappers, labels, sleeves, and hanging instructions inside the tubes.  She said that they were going to change out the gallery next week, so at least one of my pieces will probably be on the wall!

Decisions

Now to decide where to go tomorrow. I’m really thinking about driving home, but I could drive to Santa Fe. I’ll see how I feel when I wake up tomorrow … I do have that new warp tied on the loom.

I love traveling through Texas. First the rolling hills, then the flat flat flat west Texas landscape. If I go south, the hills are even more interesting, the foliage is different, the landscape is wonderful. Going east takes one through the pine woods, a more closed in landscape. Today I traveled west. It’s been a while since I’ve been in this direction and a while since I’ve seen the wind farms. Just past Abilene, before Sweetwater, there’s a fairly distant plateau with its flat table top covered with windmills. Further west the windmills are ubiquitous. From what I read in the newspapers, you can lease you land for these windmills and have an income equal to what the oil industry brought to the land owners in years past. I support “greener” power, but I’m not sure how I like looking at all the wind farms in the countryside. Ran into a little rain, which I know is desperately needed in some parts, but it was raining so hard I could only see the white road stripes directly in front of the car. Seriously considered pulling over and waiting it out.

After driving all day, I finally got out of Texas and into New Mexico. Another change in scenery close to the border, and then everything changes. I think my GPS wanted to take me a different way, but I rebelled and went the way I wanted. After all, my goal was to break up the trip into manageable portions and find a decent place to stay for the night.

Not a very exciting picture, but here they are. It looks like there’s only four, but there’s one kind of hiding. It’s good to have these organized and ready to go on a moment’s notice.

It’s actually raining here! A nice steady rain for the last couple of hours. I love working in the rain. In fact, I just love rain. And the temperature is only 74. Yippee!

Still working on getting those five pieces on their sleeved tubes, wrapped in their brand spanking new wrappers. Re-steaming, rubbing with the lint remover, etc. Will have news about this project soon.

Then it will be on to tying the warp on the apron rod, and doing the finishing on the magenta piece.  So far, it is titled Untitled. How many Untitleds can one have?

A picture A picture for inspiration: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/arts/design/16stadium.html?_r=1&ref=design I love the colors and lines here.