syne, tula and frida ~

Last night was fun at the Whatcom Weavers Guild's meeting featuring Syne Mitchell as the presenter who spoke to us about Weavecast & Weavezine.

I have to admit that I started to play with my camera and take some pictures ~ I know it wasn't kind to do that during Syne's talk, but I wanted to catch a few actions shots.

Hands, yes! Syne does certainly talk with her hands ~ something one would never know while listening to Weavecast.

Also, I was sitting next the Ms. LS who became the goofy subject of a couple of shots.

Ms. LS gave me a surprise last night too! Tin type Tula! A lovely young woman in her prime. Most likely she came on the steamer to Seattle from San Francisco to join Bobby Sherman and David Soul on Here Come the Brides. Did she work in the saloon with Lottie? Or was she Biddie's cousin who "missed the boat?"

Surprisingly, Tula and I have a history. I've seen her lonely uni-brow gaze many times in a local antique store. Yes, I've known Tula for a few years ~ she's been waiting for her suitor to come back from the logging camps west of Seattle. But no ~ no suitor plucked her from the shelf in the antique store ~ but it was Linda Sue who thought she belonged with my....shall I dare say....collection of old photos of ugly women.

When Linda Sue gave Tula to me last night, I placed her on the seat next to me and looked down at her. Then I realized I was wearing my Frida Kahlo bracelet (bought last summer a the SF Museum of Art when I got to see IN PERSON the wonderful Frida Kahlo traveling exhibit).

There is it was ~ the bracelet filled with Frida images ~ uni-brow royalty. Ms. Tula Tin Type found her family!

There is NO DOUBT in my mind that they are related. Take a close look.....if you really want a close, close look, just post a comment with an e-mail contact and I'll e-mail the morphed image below in a size that really shows the reality of their connection.

chocolate chip blues ~

When I'm a little blue, I like to bake cookies. If I'm really bummed, I just mix 'em up and eat the raw dough. I think I have salmonella today.

Warning!

wool socks for spring ~

Yes, it is true. I've finished knitting up some socks just in time for spring....the color emotes the season, but the wool content begs for winter.

The wool is a variety of breeds and consists of whatever was sitting around. There's also some mohair and sari silk mixed in too. This is a four-strand cable yarn that was on the bobbin back in my post from March 20th.

And this is drop spindle spun "crud" from the fiber I flicked and posted on April 1st. As I flicked the staples I saved the discard and spun it while sitting on the couch watching Lost. I was using my first ever spindle ~ the one I bought at the Whatcom Weavers exchange/swap sale about four years ago. The woman I bought it from said she got the spindle in Wales while traveling. It's an odd spindle ~ heavy, short and stubby (hmmm, sounds just like me).

And lastly, this is quickly spun from the bats I bought up in Abbotsford. It is all Romney and the colors are a mix of browns (which you can't hardly see in the photo) and rainbow tones. This is begging to be a hat.

Craigslist ~

MARIGOLD to brighten your day! :)

I have a little three budded marigold two-colored who would like to move to a home bigger than its home now- a plastic drinking cup. I live in a small apt with no yard. If you would plant this marigold somewhere in your garden email me soon it’s been in this cup for days already.

Above is a Craigslist listing I just read. It is adorable and full of the spirit of spring.

I wish you all a MARIGOLD to brighten your day!

Sun, Christianson's & Pink ~

Sunshine, sunshine, sunshine ~ Yes, the sun arrived for the weekend (and has continued today too!). I convinced my sweetie to go down to the Skagit Fair Grounds to a flea market (should have been advertised as a "flee" market since we did flee after a short visit).



It was a lovely day though and I bought a couple of small things including kettle korn. The short walk to the fairground gate was nice and we past by this wonderful lavender Easter egg house. I've always wanted a pink or purple house!


We lunched at a Mexican restaurant across from a daffodil field. Beginning on April 1, Skagit County's tulip festival (sans tulips) is the happening event. It's still a bit early and has been too cool for the tulips to bloom, but they'll be out soon.



Dear Steven wanted to go to his favorite nursery, so we headed down toward La Conner. Christianson's is on the Best Road ~ just down from a tourist swarmed daffodil field peppered with "DO NOT TRESPASS" signs. Did people read? No! They were scattered around the field.

At Christianson's, I found a new friend. I called him Buddy ~ he enjoyed our conversation, but really didn't want to be disturbed....until....I found some catmint! I asked him if he wanted a taste ~ hmmm, yum, he ate it all.






Here's a photo of Dear Steven and the last glimpse of his sunglasses. They are either somewhere on the ground near the blueberries or ceanothus plants ~ or maybe someone picked them up at the cashier's counter thinking they were theirs. Oh well, Steve had these for at least two years which is something like 30 years in Steve time....he loses everything!

I visited the cacti and succulents ~

Pink was the color of the day ~

I've said for years, "I want a Gunnera". Steve tells me to build my own swamp. The Gunnera at Peace Arch Park are huge and Jurassic Parkesqe.

I hated Geraniums growing up ~ but now I appreciate the fact that the don't take much care and are drought tolerant.

And the Camellias ~ they were all in a greenhouse. Camellias get all water spotted and icky outdoors around here, but oh, they were so lovely in the greenhouse.

bury it ~

The other week I blogged about an estate sale I attended which consisted of the clearing out of a local politician's lifetime of stuff. Barney Goltz lived down the street from my family home. I always knew who he was, but I doubt if he knew me.

After my dad's retirement from Boeing, he became more active in community groups including neighborhood organizations, park board and miscellany. Barney, also long retired, never quit being active in the community, and dad became one of the locals that made sure Barney had a ride to and from the many meetings they all attended.

I'm sure by attending the Goltz estate sale many people had the same desire as we did ~ to find a small token by which to remember Barney's political contributions.

There were oodles of buttons, plaques and other memorabilia ~ somewhere in the pile of stuff I found this treasure.



From what I remember, Lummi Arts & Crafts items were made and sold on the reservation near the Lummi Island Ferry dock. I had known about the wonderful basket making, carving and other crafts made by the Lummis, but I didn't know they made and tourist trinkets.

I know there has to be some wonderful story behind the handwritten caption ~ "let's bury it!" ~ on the tag. Did Barney give these away or did the Lummi Nation folks give it to Barney after some type of political struggle?

I'm always amazed how our perception of things has changed over time ~ do you think little wood hatchets would still be made today as tourist items?

rocks ~

Grandma Mabel use to make the most wonderful cookies. Her gingersnaps were to die for! I also loved her oatmeal "rocks". These weren't her normal fancy type of cookies, but they were lumps filled with oatmeal and raisins ~ mmmmm, yummy!

This afternoon, with the depressing rain, I needed a pick me up. So I decided to make rocks. No raisins in the house so I substituted with dried cranberries.



I know they don't look as good as they taste. But ten or so have constituted as my dinner tonight...I know, bad, bad, bad...

I do love these rocks, and honestly, I have a passion for other interesting rocks I've found during beach combing adventures.

I've become quite the agate hunter over the last ten years and have a small bucket full of 'em. I've also found other treasures including a passel of bones that are weathered and bleached white from the beach and sun. I also have a few other "special" rocks that I didn't know what they were until someone told me.....


The one above is most likely an oil lamp possibly used by coastal natives. Here's a link to the Burke Museum in Seattle that has similar items in their collection.



This one is surely a fishing net weight used in fishing. Again, this is a different link to the Burke's collection showing a net weight. Here's a link to yet another Burke net weight.



Here's one last net weight ~ it's condition isn't as refined.

I love my rocks, and I love the beach ~ but only rocky beaches. Those crazy white sand beaches are boring. I need stinking seaweed, hopping beach bugs, clam shells and washed up dead/rotting sea life for my beach combing beaches.

So other than making "rocks" today, I've been knitting and spinning. I'm spinning some of the Romney that I bought up in Abbotsford the other Friday. I bought some big bats a fiber and am spinning it for a hat.


The other Romney I bought was still in the lock formation. I finished flicking it out the other day and will be spinning it up next.



The dyed fiber was wonderful! The colors were bright and vibrant. I bought it from a wonderful vendor who gave me a 25% exchange rate on my US currency. I ended up only spending money at her booth.



This is one very green lock flicked into heavenly fluff.



I want to roll around in these flicked locks ~ delicious! The crimp, too, is tasty!

stolen ~

Stolen Embroidery

from the Maiwa Store on Saturday March 14th.

KMVS Wallhanging 48" x 60"

A large hand-embroidered wallhanging with dense stitches done in the Jat style was stolen from the Maiwa Store on March 14th. This is a magnificent piece from the Maiwa collection. Textile enthusiasts are alerted to be suspicious of anyone offering this piece for sale as it is stolen.
Maiwa is asking for the help of the public and is offering a reward for information leading to the recovery of this textile. If anyone sees an embroidery like the one pictured or has any information that could lead to the recovery of this item please contact us at 1-604-669-3939.

This piece is valued at $3500.00.

See our website for more information on the KMVS cooperative and its embroiderers.

solmate ~

VV Alert! (Value Village for the un-hip) Just bought a pair of brand new Solmate Socks (yes, of course the tags were still on ~ I could NEVER buy a pair of someone's discarded stinky socks.).

Price you ask? $2.99 instead of regular retail of $20! They sell these socks at the local Food Co-op, and they are made from recycled cotton. Their website says ~

"Also, from the very start, our cotton socks have always been knit using recycled cotton yarns. These yarns are recovered from the production of other cotton products (mainly t-shirts), and re-blended with other fibers and spun into yarns for Solmate Socks."

Solmate Socks also has a fundraising program for 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organizations. Gosh, it makes so much more sense to sell cool socks than wrapping paper, cookies, or candy. Can't you just picture it? A non-profit childcare center selling kids and infant socks as annual fundraiser ~ what a perfect fit!

Clipped from their website: "This picture was taken in Benin, Africa in April 2007. A church in South Strafford (where Solmate Socks is headquartered) spent a year raising money through sales of Solmate Socks, in order to fund the building of a cistern in this village."

the fest ~

The pest...Marcel. This was taken yesterday as he intruded on my spinning. I've been home a lot lately and he's come to realize that he must stick to me like GLUE ~ not Elmer's but the "Super" kind. He won't leave me alone to do important fiber things.

This is what I was trying to finish up before he barged in. This is bobbin #1 ~ a conglomerate of fiber remnants and event door prize winnings. Bobbin #2 is finished and I am currently plying them. I plan on cabling the yarn, so the next step after making it a two-ply is to spin it again creating some "wicked twist" as Judith MacKenzie McCuin called it. By spinning it again in the same direction, more twist is built up so that the cabling doesn't create limp and lifeless yarn. You need that "wicked twist" to be able to take the two-play yarn and ply it again ~ back the other direction. The end product will be a four-strand cabled yarn.

This photo is just to show off the Lois Meyer painting I bought at an estate sale yesterday.


Lois was a local painter ~ can you guess the time period? The colors just kill me ~ these are "MY" kind of colors! The "estate" belonged to a neighbor of mine growing up ~ I lived just up the street. He was a former senator who travelled quite a bit. I was always impressed that he and his wife remained in a middle-class neighborhood filled with young families when they could have "moved up" as the senator's career advanced.

Underneath the painting is a Polish tapestry I also bought ~ it too is from the 1970s. I haven't done any research on it yet, but it was bought in NYC a long time ago.

Speaking of tapestry! I took a journey across the border this afternoon to FibresWest (originally called FibreFest) in Abbotsford, BC, Canada. I've gone to this event for the last five or so years and enjoy the chance to see and buy a few things.

Today I planned my trip so that I could enjoy the mid-day lecture presented by tapestry artist Ruth Jones (http://www.ruthjones.ca/). I've visited her website a few different times and was very interested in seeing and hearing her speak.

A pretty good size crowd ventured over to the lecture area, and I saw that there were a number of young women from Capilano University in Vancouver. Capilano is one of the few schools around here that has any sort of textile program (http://www.capilanou.ca/programs/textile-arts.html).

Cleverly, Ruth began her program with a joke. I kind of had a few Brady Bunch flashbacks ~ remember when Peter became the "comedian". Although, starting off with a joke also struck me as a nice ice breaker that leveled the playing field for the lecture.

Speaking about her background, interests and weaving, Ruth was able to share a few gems of wisdom which define her process. She tries to express herself in as few colors as possible ~ using seven to 10 colors maximum. By limiting her palette she is able to focus on her technique of blending color by using specific weaving techniques. (For more information go HERE to read about medieval tapestry techniques.)

The image above is a tapestry remnant that Ruth shared with the group. At about 350 years old, it is a remarkable example of a restrained use of color. The color is derived from natural dyes including lichen and weld.

Like many artists, commissions are important to keep busy and money flowing. Ruth shared her process of creating small tapestries as "sketches" to submit as samples when working toward gaining commission contracts. Like a maquette, her small scale tapestry shows the intentions of the final piece and allows her commissioner to approve of her design. The image above and below are two of Ruth's maquettes.

By presenting slides and sharing her actual pieces, Ruth gave the audience a wonderful opportunity to listen, learn, see and touch tapestries.

The three images above are all details of Epiphany & Co, 30" x 40", hand woven silk and wool tapestry, 2000.

Above is the The Golden Spruce, 43" x 84", hand woven silk and wool tapestry, 1999.

The final piece above will remain without a proper title ~ I can't seem to find it in my notes. Ruth did speak about the concept of milles-fleurs ~ translated as "thousand flowers"~ in medieval tapestry. Symbolic flowers often filled the background of these tapestries.

It was such a pleasure to have the opportunity to attend Ruth's lecture today. With any luck, I might be able to persuade her to present a similar program to the Whatcom Weavers Guild next year. When I asked her if it was possible, she seemed quite amenable to the idea.

She also shared with me that she had once shown a piece in a group exhibition at the Whatcom Museum of History and Art (my old workplace for some 11 plus years!). Sadly the touring exhibit she was a part of was in the early to mid-1980s prior to my tenure at the museum.

So there you go, and EXTREMELY long post due to not posting for a few days. I could go on and describe the fiber I purchase, but that's for another day.

In closing, here is another Ruth Jones tapestry that I saw in person today.