Studio Update

 One must have a place to sit occasionally in a studio. In my perfect scenario it would be create/nap create/nap ad infinitium. This napping place is often used by Frisbee who is very creative in her demands for snacks all day.

Here you can see the other trees that I've put on the wall behind the loom. I actually have something on the loom I will show you soon. There will be a show in September at the Gallery where I will show new handwovens. All very exciting. These pieces are made from cotton/rayon that is all hand dyed.

Summer Solstice

Blessed Summer Solstice! As a lover of cooler temperatures and shorter days I am always happy to see the summer solstice arrive since it means that autumn is just around the corner if I can be patient. The heat in the desert has been pretty intense this year with most of the days in June being up over 100. By the end of next month the monsoons will arrive and create a little diversion from the cloudless skies and scorching winds. This turning of the seasons is always a cause for celebration.

The construction in the studio continues apace. I now know all the workers on a first name basis. We put in the new flooring last Sunday and the space no longer looks like a converted garage. Yesterday I put up a tree in the corner. There are woods in my mind if not in my immediate surroundings.

This weekend I will be attending the third annual Santa Fe Fiber Festival at El Rancho de las Golondrinas - June 23 and 24. If you are in the neighborhood please stop in and say hello. The Rancho is a living history museum and there will be border collie demos as well as indigo dyeing. The hacienda is a lovely place and easy to find off the interstate between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Harper's breeder is on the list of vendors so any of you who need to pet the angora rabbits should definitely stop in. Shelly Loveless raises the most beautiful rabbits, goats and alpaca around.

Studio Expansion

This summer seemed like a good time to expand the existing studio where I work. The fiber studio that my sister and I put together last November has outgrown its space quickly. That part of the room will become a dye kitchen soon and what was the garage is becoming the fiber and weaving studio. For the people who take drum carding classes with me it means more room to move around and a better space with more light in it. Here are some of the early pictures:

The garage door where a new wall is going in.










The new wall with the helper inspecting the floor.













More pictures soon, the drywall guys are coming any day..........

May Knitting

Some new knitting projects are in the works using hand dyed ribbon and art yarns available in the etsy store. Both of these projects knit up quickly and use size 50 knitting needles (made locally here in Las Cruces - email me if  you want a pair). With this kind of knitting the yarn and ribbon do most of the work of looking spectacular for you and the pattern is incedental. It is a great time to get a headstart on your autumn wardrobe or holiday gifts. Email me if you want special colors and kits put together just for you - the pattern comes free with an order. Hope your May is starting out well.

Spring in the Desert

 People who live in places where there is rain and green growing things often ask me what spring is like here in the desert. Here in the Mesilla Valley it is pretty green from this time of year until about November when fall happens all at once in about three weeks. We have pecan orchards here and a lot of agriculture along the Rio Grande so things do grow a lot. This looks like a year when most of the yucca around will bloom. In my own yard there are plenty of flowers from iris to roses -

With our climate and lack of rain any and all flowers are very appreciated. We have had our share of brown sky days this spring where there seems to be more dirt in the air than on the ground and the winds blow 50mph or more. Today there is a turquoise sky and the flowers seem happy for a lack of wind. Wherever you live may your spring be a rare and wonderful thing.

Weaving Revisited

It has been a long time since this blog has talked about weaving. Spinning and dyeing have taken over for several years, but just recently weaving came back into my life. I began to think about how colors would play together in a warp and weft. The big loom is in storage so the smaller loom is having to do duty until I can find more space. The wonderful studio my sister helped me set up back in November is packed with all my fiber production from roving and spinning to sock yarn dyeing. Here are some pictures of where I'm working:

In this bottom picture you can see one of the new weavings that I will be taking to the Ramble this Friday at the Studio off of Water Street here in Las Cruces. (From 5-7 in case you can't remember - at the Quillin Studio and Gallery behind COAS bookstore)
This is a better picture of the art yarn and drum carded batt that is currently on the Ashford Country Spinner - what a great workhorse that spinning wheel has been.

For those of you who took my class in Corespinning last summer at the Retreat in Sacramento, NM - we will be having another class in using drum carded batts to create art yarn with lots of locks and novelty yarn this summer. It is the last weekend in July up at the Methodist Assembly Camp (contact me for more info).
And finally for those of you who wanted to see the weavings I'm just finishing up - they are a celebration of color and texture for spring.

May your days be full of creativity and warm sunshine. Blue vest is sold. Contact me through email if you are interested in the pink one. Thanks.

Bunny Valentine

How does a Bunny send a Valentine? Harper stays pretty busy around the house redecorating the bookshelves and the yarn basket. He decided to do his own recycling this year with the old calendars and this is what he came up with all by himself one day.

He is just doing his mid-winter molt and there is a lovely bag of angora just waiting to be spun.