One of Catherine’s kick-ass “Everywoman Tote Bags.” And what do I use this one for? To carry all my meeting paperwork, of course. Come see all the colors she makes them in at the High Desert Studio Tour Saturday!
Like I mentioned last week, I’m kind of slammed for the next couple of weeks in my own personal Fall fiber frenzy. This Saturday is the High Desert Studio Tour on the east side of Albuquerque. I’ll be at Stop #3 on the map below (if you click, you’ll get a better one) where Dagmar Beinenz-Byrd runs her ZiaWoolz business. Each year she generously offers me space for the event. This year Catherine Wies, another multi-talented Adobe Wool Arts Guild member, will have her wares there too: all kinds of versions of her “Everywoman Tote Bag.” I may have to buy another one to put Dag’s hand-dyed yarn and project bags in. Yeah, I’ll spend more than I’ll ever make. But the goods are all worth it. Plus we have a lot of fun. Stop by!
Meanwhile, I’m busy hooking away for Saturday and next weekend too up in Santa Fe at the Fall Fiber Fiesta. Then there are the meetings: guild (I told you I’m president now, right?); next year’s Fiber Fiesta here in ABQ; the Fiber Arts Council’s Education Committee; the food pantry I deliver to, and Susan’s Legacy. All this with a cold that won’t quit. I swear that between us, Tom and I can incubate it till next spring…
I hate meetings, but they’re a necessary evil for worthy organizations and causes. And if you have any interest in Fiesta or the Fiber Arts Council, click on those links above. Regarding Susan’s Legacy, if you’d like to help women trying to help themselves out of mental health and addiction disorders, see our website. Disclaimer: I’m a Board member, and such troubles have run in my family.
Info on the annual High Desert Studio Tour this Saturday in Albuquerque. More info on the website, www.highdesertliving.net. Remember, three of us will be at Stop #3. Follow the purple balloons!Tynan whores for a treat brings you this week’s “What’s on the frame?” As you can see, there are actually four little rugs on there right now. I’m low on mug rugs which make excellent and unique gifts for the holidays. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Check out our Etsy shop. There may be one or two there right this minute. If not, give a yell and tell me what you need.
Hope to see you this weekend in Albuquerque or next in Santa Fe. Remember: Mention the blog post and get 10% off any rug. It’s part of spreading the gospel of rug hooking and buying handmade this holiday season!
November in New Mexico is the time to turn on the fireplace. (Still not used to that coming from a house where we burned wood in our fireplace.) Still, the “Tree of Life” looks great in front of this “new” one. Bet it would look even better in front of your fireplace.
Today is November, the start of the holiday season. Really. I can’t believe it either, but yesterday was Halloween, so it must be true. Which means that I better get a move on. High on Hooking’s got two big events in the coming weeks:
Guess what? I’m not ready for either. There are several rugs in the house here in various states of (in)completion. Yep, I’ve got days of work ahead of me till November 19 comes and I can breathe. (We won’t even talk about how I’m hosting Thanksgiving here and have to plan for that too.)
Tynan and I enjoying the grass and fall weather somewhere on a Missouri highway.
I might have been further down the road with the rugs I need to still finish, but real life got in the way. Tom, Tynan, and I were gone for just over two weeks driving back east for the first time since moving to New Mexico back in 2015. We’re tired now, having been on the road all that time, moving between Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts to see family and friends. But it was well worth it. There was lobster, colorful foliage, a trip to the beach, and on and on. Tynan even provided a travelogue for our Instagram page for all but one of the days away. If you didn’t see it, pop on over there.
Not the usual “What’s on the frame” this week. Though, technically, the rug is still on the frame; one of many. Actually, this is what I accomplished on the road. One rug started and one crocheted shawl finished.
Must head back to the hooking and sewing now. Hope to see you at one of our events this November. Mention the blog and get 10% off any rug.
After a super busy two months of fiber art shows and vending, spending a slow three days at Casa San Ysidro last weekend demonstrating and attempting to sell gave me some down time, a chance to think, to come to a few epiphanies.
This was the kick-ass set-up that Cathy and I had at last week’s Heritage Days and New Mexican Fiber Crawl, both happening at Casa San Ysidro in Coralles. They were very generous in providing us space; what a change for us! Though we both made sales, we hope that next year there will be more vendors and better publicizing of our location in the Crawl.
Hooking and husbands Cathy Kelly and I would have a wicked hard time (yes, there’s still some New England twang left in this now Southwestern girl) vending without our husbands Bill and Tom. (Sorry, never got any pics of them Sunday evening.) Between my recent RA flare-up and Cathy’s emergency appendicitis (the same night as our last vending gig!), those display grids were not going up or down by themselves. Thank you, Bill! Tom, unfortunately, has been suffering his own autoimmune failure – gout – for the last two or three weeks, but he gamely showed up with iced tea and helped with break-down. Hooking – it’s best when it involves a village, but it’s nothing without a helpful spouse.
Living or reading about living?
During last weekend’s New Mexico Fiber Crawl, we were at Casa San Ysidro from about 9:15 to 5:00. Those were three long days, and we didn’t see the traffic we expected. But what a great place to hang and hook! By the time I made it home each evening, though, my laptop was the last place I wanted to be. So, I wasn’t. Lo and behold, the world didn’t cave in because I didn’t share as much on the three Facebook pages I manage (my own two and the guild’s). Don’t get me wrong. I managed to do most of my daily computer and email “toilettte” on my phone as I sat enjoying the weather and the ambiance of the old casa’s courtyard. But I didn’t worry much about passing anything further down the information highway. Sure, if a blog or Facebook post came along that had an easy share button, I’d click it away to others. If not, oh, well…
Here’s how “Zinnias” looked finished. Now to get them up on the Etsy shop.
This got me to thinking about how tethered I am to seeing info and, more importantly, passing it on. Which I generally think is a nice thing to do for everyone. But it takes time, time I want back. Summer is perfect for letting go of the self-imposed idea of me as the town crier. After this weekend’s Rail Yards Market, I’ll have a couple of months with only one gig each before fall festivals and such heat up again. I have products to make, a BIG rug on the Anderson frame, a friendship rug to finish, and a whole slew of new ideas running through my brain after I turn off my light each night. And…I think it’s finally time to try some weaving. Starting with a triangular loom, but it’s a start.
So…actually working, playing, and experimenting more are on tap this summer, less so reading and passing on other folks’ work, play, and experiments, much as I like to do all that. Don’t take it personally, anyone. And thank goodness that Instagramonly requires pressing that little ♥ button. We won’t even mention my late night Pinteresthabit right now.
Change happens
Awhile back I mentioned how I really wanted to get back to writing short fiction. I spent years writing and even had some bits published. It was creative and incredibly challenging. But emotional family issues got in the way making it difficult to access the place in my head where
Not about writing or even hooking. Just about freeing your time up to do the things you want to do, making a change. I was getting pretty testy; with everything going on, Tom and I hadn’t managed to plant anything this spring. We live in New Mexico; it all could’ve gone into the ground or pots over a month ago! Finally did some today like this mini-succulent garden. We managed it without the usual domestic squabbles that crop up when we do this kind of thing. Even after another very prickly cactus kept biting us.
stories came from. Hooking showed up too, gradually taking up more and more of my available time. Frankly, making rugs, visual art, is easier for me, and it’s been quite healing. Still, every few months I’d beat myself up and drag out the pen and paper. It’s part of who I am I’d tell myself. After countless false re-starts, though, sometimes we have to grasp that CHANGE REALLY HAPPENS, and I think I’ve finally gotten to a point in my life where I can admit that writing short stories is more about who I was. It’s a hard thing to admit, but it’s where I am NOW. And it’s rather freeing. Fiber art’s it for me right now. I’m happily looking into things to become better at and new techniques to try. Maybe I’ll even pick up my journal again now that I can ignore the guilt monster. Even better, it gives me more time to read. There are so many great books out there just waiting for me!
Like I said , ramblings… Nothing earth-shattering; in fact, most is stuff I already knew, but so often we need a good reminder about just those very everyday things in our lives. Three quiet days can give you that, can remind you of the life you really want to live.
Happy Memorial Day, all! Remember those who should be remembered. And enjoy this first summer weekend.
Tynan’s back with this week’s “What’s on the frame.” It’s three mug rugs destined for Sunday’s Rail Yards Market here in Albuquerque. After that, I’ll have a bit of a break and finally be able to clean up all the clutter-piles that have collected around the house these past two months. Tom’s been very patient, but don’t tell him I said that. Usually, I’m the clean one.
Just stopping in for a brief update as I’m not feeling so well today. If you’re a local or coming to visit New Mexico (as you should, it’s a kick-ass place!) soon – as in this weekend – you simply must travel at least a bit on the 2nd annual New Mexico Fiber Crawl. It runs Friday through Sunday. Download your passport(and maps) and head for your vehicle. As I mentioned last week, Kathy Kelly and I will be vending and demonstrating at Casa San Ysidro in Coralles. We hope to see at least one or eight of you. Maybe margaritas afterwards???
So, say your big New Mexican adventure has you here the week AFTER the New Mexico Fiber Crawl. No worries! Come visit High on Hooking during our first Sunday at Albuquerque’s 2018 Rail Yard Market. There you’ll find…us!, yummy food, music, farm-fresh produce, and other artists selling their wares. What? Your dog is with you? No problem! Dogs are always welcome. Come get a doggie biscuit at the High on Hooking booth. Remember: Dogs love rugs!!!
“What’s on the frame?” is, unfortunately,Tynan-less this week. Sorry, but the slug was napping with Tom when I had to take the shot. “Zinnias” is all hooked. Getting ready to steam it so’s I can hem it in time for Friday’s New Mexico Fiber Crawl fun. Uh oh, I spy some holidays that must be filled!
For now, though, enjoy the aforementioned eye-candy from the Water shows.
Where you can find fiber arts eye-candy till June 3. Go now!“The Gorge/Water Cycle” by Judith Roderick. Hand-painted silk art quilt. The picture can never do this justice, but note how the bird is also part of the gorge.Close up of “Blue Water of the North/Feng Shui Series” by Donna Loraine Contractor. Wool on cotton tapestry.Oops! How did my own piece slip in there? 🙂 “Memory of Water” is hooked with plastic bags on monks’ cloth.
“Leaves and X’s in the Ice” by Nancy Wohlenberg was made using a discontinuous tapestry technique; four selvedge technique. Love this!Heidi Anderson felted alpaca and merino wool to create: “”Water is Life Seed Pot” on the right and “Olla” on the left. so cute!Part of “Germinating” by Linda Rael. Dyed fabric, stitching.
A close-up of Linda Rael’s “Water is Life.” Dyed, painted, stitched, and found objects.
“The Day Begins” by Linda Rael. Hand-dyed and recycled fabrics, found objects. This crane really “stood out.”
“Mayordomo” by Linda Rael. Mixed media. “Mayordomo” is the guardian of the acequias or the water ditch master.
A close-up of “Rain Dance” by Linda Rael. Stitched, beaded doll.“Mountain Snow,” a handmade felted coat created by Vicki Anne Evans. Lovely, but I put that on, ketchup will drop from the sky right onto my boob.
“Novena for Rain” by Catherine Kelly (and my friend and Adobe Wool Arts guild mate. Multi/fractured piece of traditional rug hooking, felted wool, yarn, and beads.
And lastly, though not the best shot, Cathy and myself in front of her piece. Perhaps we’re really the fiber arts eye-candy… Regardless, I still think that they should’ve had wine at the opening reception. Your thoughts concerning beverages at art receptions: wine versus ice water with stupid lemon slices. Let me know in the comments.
