Damask Blocks

Weaving block damask tablecloth

My tablecloth fabric is coming along nicely, as you can see above. I love the image that contrasts the simple block pattern on the loom with the Uzbekistan ikat on the pillow I am sitting on while weaving. Isn't cloth amazing--the most inspiring visual media in the world and it can be functional too! I am using Borgs Bomullin (50% cotton and 50% flax) for both warp and weft--the warp is natural and the weft is bleached. It never fails to amaze me that a weaving builds, line by line, from bottom to top, and that all these individual elements become a strong, and sometimes beautiful, plane.

Personal shrine with Poppies

You may have noticed that I removed my silent auction weaving. It was a disappointment--not one bid. I am left wondering if my weavings are truly awful. Since my ego doesn't like that thought, I have decided that people like my ideas and writing (I do have almost 9000 hits on this blog), that I am respected as a teacher, and well, yes, my work is appreciated because I am invited into lots of exhibits. Apparently my blog is reaching this audience (which I appreciate, believe me, I love seeing the number of readers increase), but you must be different than the collectors' group. I am going to take a workshop this weekend, sponsored by The Vermont Council of the Arts, called Breaking into Business. Hopefully I will learn how to reach the collectors, as well as you, so I can continue to go grocery shopping and do my weaving. In the meantime, since I liked having an image of my work in the top right hand corner of the blog, I have decided to post a monthly detail from one of my weavings. Poppies, which was a generic version of the birthday weaving I made for Liz Billings, says "Poppies gently swaying, whispering happy birthday 2U." Right now it is hanging in our kitchen (personal shrine area) reminding us that spring is just around the corner.