Okay, I got so involved with everything that I forgot to watch the actual inauguration, but I tuned in as everyone was heading to the luncheon. Wow! I had tears in my eyes just seeing that huge crowd of people. And later watching them walk part of the way to the White House! I don’t know why I found that so moving, but I did. Obama really has a great knack for bringing people together. As I’m watching and listening, I’m wondering what I can do to help, along with all the thousands of others who were listening. Here’s hoping that all of us stick with our new-found service aspirations. And here’s hoping that our congress can work together instead of continuing all the backbiting, ugly disagreements, etc. Tom Brokaw was saying how people in Washington who disagreed politically used to talk and be friends (way back when!). Now, it seems they stay on separate sides of the room. All of that “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” stuff. How can people make decisions without discussing the issues? I’m ready for some reasonableness–is that a word?
Category Archives: Uncategorized
To Do List
A picture of the piece I recently took off the loom, with its warp ends woven in. The colors aren’t accurate. I was wrong; that IS orange before the yellows start. Funny what you see when you start doing the finishing. They are all shades of red below the ikat part. After the reds come shades of gold-y yellow. You can see the warp ends here.
The numbered list below is what I originally started out with, but I decided it sounds too much like whining. So, here’s what I actually got done today:
- yarn store to check out fixtures (and yarns, of course)
- box for box tapestry weaving
- tray to put into mailbox (postman puts mail way in back where it’s hard to get out)
- nap
- started on printer, but had to walk away in frustration–will finish tonight (I just finished with the printer installation for one computer. Hope to get the other one to find the wireless printer tomorrow.)
- worked on paper weaving to use for letters to boys
Here’s my to do list for the week. Ridiculous. I know the list won’t get completed, but I still keep adding to it. Maybe a few lines will be drawn through items by the end of the week.
- Finish dyeing 5 colors of wool, plus charcoal.
- Weekly housework
- Laundry
- Whiteboard for Gary-finished
- Letters to the boys-finished
- Arrange for new roof date
- Block purple ikat-finished
- Hang pieces at Stage West-postponed by them
- Set up home network with new desktop, laptop, printer-finished
- Plant onions
- Fill bird feeders
- Plan menus-finished
- More needle weaving
- Visit parents
- Yarn store closing-check out fixtures-finished
- Call about insurance on work that’s hanging in a show
- Call about intermittent merchant credit card processing
- Join American Craft Council-finished
- Design–I’m feeling a really strong urge to deisgn–why I don’t know since I have a commission piece to finish.
- 4x4x5 box for box tapestry-finished
- Change oil in car, or rather, have it done!–finished
What to Hang
Stage West
I went to Stage West today to see the location where they’ve asked me to hang several pieces. The wall is RED! I came home and tried to play around with pieces that might look good on that wall. But it’s RED! Anyway, here’s what I’ve come up with so far. I think I’ll continue thinking about this. So many of my pieces have red, and I just can’t picture those red pieces on that red wall. Right now, I’m kind of leaning towards the first picture. Tomorrow? Who knows.
Computers
On the computer front–I’ve got my laptop almost back to normal. My computer guys seem to think that it was a complete failure of Vista (not a virus or hardware issue), but now I live in fear of crashing again. Even if you’re totally backed up, you’re without a computer for days while everything is being fixed, so I bought a desktop that runs XP. It’s wireless like my laptop, so I’m hoping I can set up a home network and have mirror images on each computer. Gary gave me an all-in-one printer, copier, scanner, and fax, which is also wireless. I plan to have everything connected together–someday, somehow, some way.
Procrastination
Everybody knows we shouldn’t procrastinate, but we do it anyway–some of us more than others. I’m paying for procrastination right now. I have a laptop computer that I love. The last time we went on a weekend trip, I put the laptop in one closet under some stuff, and the backup drive in another closet, cleverly disguised on a shelf. When we returned, I got out the computer and used it for 3 months without ever getting the backup drive out of the closet. Yes, I thought to myself, “You really need to back things up”, but did I? Of course not. I even had a reminder come up from my calendar 2 or 3 times, but still I did not backup. I’m paying for it now. My computer crashed last week. It’s been in the shop since last Thursday. They can’t figure out what’s wrong. First, we thought it was Vista. Then maybe the hard drive. Then maybe the motherboard. Nothing is behaving like it should. The good news is that I will be able to rescue most of what is on the computer. Then we will re-install the operating system, but probably XP this time. Even if all of that works, I still have the job of installing software all over again. Time, time time! Then you have to tweak everything to get it back where it was. I keep remembering things that need to be backed-up–things like iTunes, a database program that has pictures and names that I have collected for years. There’s a program called One Note (part of Office), that I use as a big filing cabinet. Instead of printing, I just send it to One Note. That has to be saved. It’s amazing how dependent on our computers we can become. Scary, right? I know, everyone is attached to their computers, so, all right, I’ll stop whining. But, remember, BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER!
Oh, and I’m grateful for a friend who will let me borrow a computer for a couple of days.
I finished needleweaving all the warp ends back into the fabric on two pieces. I’ll try to have pics for the next time I have a computer.
Needle Felting
This is a close up of the needle felting. First time I’ve done this. When I get the piece finished, I’ll post a photo of the whole thing–probably weeks from now since pics won’t be made until I have several pieces ready.
Maybe I’ll try some wet felting on something as an experiment. I know that felt rugs are made in other cultures. Hmmm….
Not Much
Today was a gloomy, icy, cold, rainy day. I had a fire and worked on my list for the day. Really kind of a dull day, both inside and out. I normally enjoy these cold days and weaving with the fire going. However, today I was not working in the studio, but on the dining room table. I found it difficult to settle down and did a lot of stuff on the computer–necessary stuff, but still …
Choosing Work
Stage West, a local theater in Fort Worth, asks artists to to hang work in their lobby. Three to four of my pieces will be hanging beginning January 29. What to choose? Which ones do I hang? I really don’t think that my work actually GOES with the theme of the play during this time, but what do I know? There is mention of something supernatural in this play. Would Peruvian Mask be suitable? All My Exes…? Decisions, decisions.
Goals for Today
Today’s work went pretty well. I did the needle felting on a piece that I finished months ago and started weaving the warp back into the body of the piece. I like the needle felting. It kind of blurs the edges and gives a softer effect. I don’t have a photo of the whole piece, maybe something to think about setting up here at home. As it is now, I wait until I have several pieces finished and then take them to a photographer. Takes a whole afternoon, but the pictures are worth it. If I did it myself, I’d probably need a better camera and lights with diffusers. Not sure I want to go there. It was cold and icy today, so I didn’t attempt to go out and dye. But I did get all the skeins weighed and labeled. Also got all the formulas in my dye sheet, so it’ll be a go as soon as the weather improves. I did not get any yoga in, though. Maybe tomorrow…
Words
I’ve been toying with words, like so many others, and am having a hard time deciding. Last night the word reveal came to me, along with embellish. I’m still rolling them around on my tongue and in my head, since other words have also sounded right. To me reveal is probably like clarity, but more. I’m hoping that I will be able to reveal to myself what my next steps should be and why I still have so much trouble with certain things. I’m pretty happy with the path that I’m on, but still think that it can be embellished. Not sure that word feels right. I tried abundance, but … I even wanted to try wealth, but that seemed so crass. On the other hand, do I care if other people think that? Maybe accomplish would be better. Will have to think more, try out more words, maybe have a drawing!
Finally!
I tried the drawing, but just couldn’t get into it. I’ve gone back to release and have added courage. To me, release means a freeing from fear, from experimentation, old anger and resentment, and maybe even hidden agendas. Then you have to have courage to face all of that, to act on the knowledge, and to try new things.
Happy New Year!
New and Old Years
I know there’s all kinds of gloom and doom around us, but I feel really positive about the upcoming new year. Not sure where this comes from, but I’m grateful for it. I have looked back on the previous year and have a nice list of accomplishments. Lots more weaving is getting done, but that needs to increase if I’m going to build up that inventory to where I want it. I still have a stack of pieces that need to have the finish work done–the part I hate! But I have a couple of friends who have volunteered to help in order to have the opportunity to learn. There are also some ideas that are kind of “out there” that I want to try out. All in good time. I DO have a couple of pieces that I don’t like on which I may do some surface design–one with dyes and one with felting.
Word(s) for the Year
I’m not quite ready to actually declare my words for the year. I think I need to make myself sit quietly and say the words to myself and see what happens. From experience, I know that my spirit is able to speak to me when I allow it. Therein lies the problem….
In Conclusion
Even though the economy has me a little spooked, I am excited about the two shows I have coming up this year. I have been doing some things for the business side that are proactive, which is pretty foreign to me. But this is what I want to do with my life, so I’m going for it!
Now, if I could just get this next section of weft-faced ikat to weave up like it’s supposed to!
Websites and Weaving
Purple yarns tied and ready to overdye.
The bottom of the weft-faced ikat part on the loom
Website Portion of the Day
Today I worked on websites–my guild’s and my own. Thankfully, I had some help because this website stuff is a whole ‘nother language. Turns out that I had no index page on the ftp. But it’s done now, revised, and online!
Weaving Portion of the Day
Then I got to weave. Started the weft-faced ikat part today. That always goes a little slowly at first, just to get the design to line up correctly. I had to take out the first few rows then rewind the weft from the opposite end. That did the trick, and it’s working now. I only got about six inches done today, but tomorrow I’ll be able to start right in first thing in the morning.
Setting Intentions for the Year
I’ve been thinking a lot about choosing a word for the upcoming year as a way of setting an intention for the year. This is to take the place of New Year’s resolutions, which I gave up years ago. But I like this idea of having a single word to set the tone for the year and kind of use as a mantra. The whole idea came from Christine Kane, so check out her blog. The problem, though, is choosing THE one word. I think I’ve narrowed down my choices to two–release and clarity. If I can’t make the final choice between the two, I’ll go with both.
Tomorrow is the day I get to weave again. Yeah! I also have a to-do list a mile long. Since I have a tendency to try to put too many things to do in a single day on my list, I am making a master list and choosing 3-4 items from the list for the next day. But first thing tomorrow I will build a fire in the stove and weave. After a few hours of weaving I can get out the list and start checking them off.
One thing I have done in the last week is to make an inventory of my accomplishments for the past year, and I feel pretty good about that. For a list of questions to jog your memory, check out Alyson B. Stanfield’s newsletter. I’ve accomplished more than I realized in the way of making art and taking care of the business of art. So, I am acknowledging myself and celebrating, a la Alyson.