Uncle Dickie…

…was one of a kind.
A big heart and a sense of humor to match.
He was my mother’s younger brother and he was a hellion.
I’m afraid he drove my Grandmother crazy with his antics.
If I started to describe any of them, I wouldn’t know where to stop. So instead, I’ll share this photo of my uncle when he was a boy. My Mom was an artist so perhaps she drew the figure. This shows Dick’s spirit quite clearly:

Unfortunately, Dickie died the day before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. We all miss him.
It makes perfect sense that as one force of nature leaves another arrives!

Buttons!

I was up in my studio last night when I heard my husband say “She’s upstairs” which got me to wondering who my approaching vistitor would be.

It was our friend Mark, hauling a huge bag in his hand.
Mark is an incredible antique collector and finder of very cool things.
He and his brother, Ernie, own a farm in the Berkshires that’s straight out of Country Living magazine, complete with a river and several out buildings.
Ron and I were recently there for a visit and admiring Mark’s personal antique/collectible shop. He mentioned that he had some buttons he could give me, knowing that I enjoy sewing.

Well, I adore buttons- especially vintage era ones. I have a good stash but have been lamenting the fact I didn’t know how I would replace them as they get used. Not a problem anymore!

Mark’s bag contained this bucket loaded with old buttons- my favorite kind.
As I was profusely thanking him when he casually mentioned that he had more that he could give me. A button lover’s dream come true.

I just started cleaning them (dusty!) and they’re just lovely.

Now, I need to weave him some dish towels or a nice scarf to thank him.

Can I Buy a Vowel?

One morning last week, my lovely daughter called and said “Do you want tickets to see Wheel Of Fortune”?

Heck yeah- I’m always up for an adventure!

She couldn’t attend the taping so my adventuresome brother and I headed into the Boston Convention Center.

Chances of me attending a conference are pretty slim so going inside that huge building was an added bonus.

Once we found area B2 and passed through security, we were in.

There was a snaking line that slowly but surely entered the taping  area.

The stage was colorful and bright. It was a smaller version of Boston, complete with the old North Church (one if by land…).

The fellow with the straw hat may be left over from the 2004 Democratic Convention that was in Boston.

We were warmed up and instructed. Turns out as an audience member, you have a job to do. Lots of clapping and groaning when bankrupt came up on the wheel. Also, laughing when the contestants couldn’t pronounce their “R’s”. Hey, we are from Boston!

During the commercial breaks they played rock and roll music- pretty good stuff actually. That was also our prompt as to when we could talk and when we had to zip up. Vanna White and Pat  Sajak would change their outfits between episodes and a new show began.

There were three shows taped while we were there and they’ll air in November.

All in all, it was a lot of fun!

False Start

In my attempt to begin a weaving blog, I jumped the gun by placing it here. Blueberry Lane’s a great place and I’ll continue to post my life related observations here.
But for weaving related stories and adventures, I’m going to move them here:
www.twillweaver.wordpress.com

It makes sense to keep things sorted by content to some extent.
I even registered a site for my illustrations but I’m trying to come to terms with plagiarism issues. Perhaps there’s times when it’s better to keep original content private…

So, non weaving things here,
weaving things there:

www.twillweaver.wordpress.com

Actually, some weaving stuffs bound to sneak over here…

Sorry for any confusion.
I confuse myself sometimes!

Special K

The only other thing I’ve done longer than the fiber arts, is to paint and draw.

My mother says I was drawing from the age of one and that sounds just about right. I’ve never known a time I wasn’t drawing!

I’m extremely fortunate to be represented by Portfolio Solutions LLC. owned by Bernadette Szost, who’s also a dear friend.

Cece and Ellen run the office flawlessly and are a joy to talk to.

You can see our website here:

www.portfoliosolutionsllc.com

Check out Kathie Kelleher!

I’m going to share a lot more of my work but thought I’d leave you with this, my initial.

Weaver’s Swap 2009

I recently had the good fortune to have been in a Weaver’s Swap that Dave Daniels (www.TheWeavingStudio.com)
and Benita Story (www.basicallybenita.com) created.
The challenge was as follows:
Weave a cotton fabric, choosing our own pattern draft and colors.
The fabric was to measure two yards by 12″ to 18″ wide.
Mail this fabric to our swap partners.

Then:
Each participant was to cut off a yard and keep it.
Just keep it for what ever we saw fit to use it for .
The other yard of hand woven fabric was to be fashioned into some type of bag- tote, knitting, overnight… you name it!
We were encouraged to add interesting lining fabric, buttons, pockets and even to weave straps.
Once done, the bag would be mailed back to the original weaver.

This is what I’d call a win-win swap.
My partner was the much talented weaver, Benita.
We had such a good time dropping emails back and forth.
I made a new weaving friend and received a beautiful bag back.
Here it is!

I love this bag!
Benita really nailed down exactly what kind of bag I needed and did a class act in putting it together.
I call it my “Goldilocks” bag because it’s just right.

Now that Benita’s received her bag I can share the photos of it here:

Benita’s lovely fabric really inspired me. My best “light bulb” moment was when I decided to make it reversible.

Here’s a link to Benita displaying the final product. The look on her face is priceless!
http://www.basicallybenita.com/

Check out Dave’s website to see all the participant’s finished bags:
http://theweavingstudio.com/archives/1712

This was such an enjoyable swap!

I can’t wait to see what next year’s challenge will be.

Than you so much Benita and Dave!

Blueberry Lane, Avon

Yes there really is a Blueberry Lane and it’s in Avon, Connecticut.
You have to drive down a lovely country road (actually named Lovely Street!) to get there. If it this sounds idyllic, it is. Or more appropriately, was.

That’s were my three brothers and I grew up. Building forts, swimming in the brook and occasionally,  accidentally setting the woods on fire. Fortunately, that wasn’t me. It was as if there were two Blueberry Lanes; the girl’s version and the boy’s version.

My version included playing in the fields and woods near our house. Miss Wheeler’s farm was behind us and she had horses which we tried luring to the fence with outstretched hands holding carrots. They always came over.

Occasionally we’d stop into Miss Wheeler’s farm house and she’d give us oatmeal cookies that she had baked in her wood fired stove. To this day, I’ve never had an oatmeal cookie that can compare to them.

My brothers also went to Miss Wheeler’s, often picking a bouquet of flowers from her garden on the way to her door. She knew but didn’t care- she loved their visits. Once again, the cookies were a draw but not the main reason for the visit. Miss Wheeler had an amazing house with a Victrola phonograph with the old 78 records and framed photos of Avon scenes that have long since vanished. She also shared her stories of World War I and II and what is was like growing up in the early 1900′s. When she reached her nineties, she would take her cookies and visit the “old folks” in the nursing home. Miss Wheeler was special and we were fortunate that the tract of land for our neighborhood had been part of her farm and she was our neighbor.

Here are some of the photos of the woods we basically lived in all summer long.

These were the waterfalls where we drank water from. Don’t know if I’d do that today but we survived!

Then there were tremendous outcroppings of rock. The glaciers deposited some very interesting geological specimens in our backyards.

Finally the trees, lots of trees, My favorite was this one. We named it Grand Bras which means big arm in French. I guess it just sounded more exotic.

So, that’s a bit of introduction and a trip down memory lane.
It also explains the Avon in “avoncalling” and the Blueberry Lane heading.

Let’s Get This Party Started!

Okay- I started this blog eons ago and never did much with it. Truth be told, it was a back up option when I was doing the THING A DAY project *. I wanted another place to post photos of my contributions in case I couldn’t get the TAD site mastered.

I did figure their site out and this one languished.
Not any more!

I have numerous pursuits and interesting. Sometimes, too many it seems.
My overriding arc has been fiber related. Sewing, knitting and now weaving. I feel like it’s all come full circle.

One of the major benefits to my weaving adventures, are the people I’ve met and the education I’m receiving from them. I’m learning a lot from my teachers and a lot from friends. Of course my teachers are my friends and vice versa.

So, I’m going to make an investment in my newly resurrected blog.
Let’s get this party started!

* You can check out my Thing A Day contributions here:

http://www.thing-a-day.com/?author=321