Random Updates…

My daughter came home for the weekend last night (she is a lifeguard for the summer at a girl scout camp in NY State), it was so good to see her, to inhale her drama and enthusiasm, I realized how quiet it has been with her gone…  There is a frenzy today to get her car serviced, and check out banking options for when she will be at college (we will need an account she can access at school to funnel thousands of dollars a month in the financial hemorrhage of college tuition costs…)

Probably won’t get a whole lot done today in the studio.  That’s OK…

I finished my first online class yesterday through Weavolution.com and what a terrific experience.  I was worried going into it, I am accustomed to reading students faces for understanding, and using their energy to fuel my own animated teaching style, what would it be like talking to a webcam?  The experience was different yes, but in many ways almost better.  The equipment worked perfectly on my end, and after some audio adjustments for one of the students the second session, all seemed to work fine on their end as well.  I taught a beginning inkle weaving class over the course of two days, that would be 2 hour and a half sessions.  I was able to send via email the presentations ahead, and we could go through them slide by slide on their monitors.  They could weave – a – long as we worked.  When necessary, I could switch to a live demonstration, and the detail my webcam picked up, was amazing.  Better than if I was actually working directly with a student.  I could count threads the detail was so clear.

What amazed me about the whole thing is how global it all was, I had a student from the US of course, and one from Canada, and one from the UK.  How incredibly cool is that?

Anyway, I have so many lectures that are already good to go, and I’m looking forward to adding many additional sessions.  I already have another Inkle Weaving class scheduled for Sat/Sun June 16-17.  The classes are inexpensive, and I am so far impressed with this vehicle for learning.  If anyone is interested in exploring this type of learning opportunity, there is a free open house scheduled at Weavolution.com, Tuesday morning at 10:00am EDT.  Sign up and take a tour of how web conferencing works, test your computer and ask questions.  If you miss that open house, I’m sure more will be offered. And you can check out the Weavolution forums and online help.  And the best part is you can take classes in your pajamas…

For those who live in the northern NJ/NY area, last call for the fiber boot camp I”m teaching at the Newark Museum next Monday-Thursday.  It is a four day class, the most fun you’ll ever have playing with fiber, we cover spinning on a drop spindle, microwave dyeing with food grade dyes, plaiting, Japanese braiding (kumihimo), wet and needle felting, inkle loom weaving and tapestry loom weaving.  This is an especially great class for those with ADD, every three hours we switch to a new technique!  We need a couple more people to actually run the class, so if anyone happens to be available next week, the museum is bright and cheery, free parking vouchers for a secure lot right by the museum are available, and I provide almost everything.

I sat down the other night to just sew.  What a lovely evening.  I love garment construction when I just follow the directions step by step, sort of like life, one footstep at a time, and suddenly you come to the end of the project.  I love the blouse, and the silk jacquard fabric is so delightful to work on.  My only dilemma is the buttons.  I don’t like the buttons I stuck on the front for the photo.  They are too large.  I went to the opening of a new Joann’s yesterday in Paramus, NJ, and all I found there was plastic garbage.  I do in fact have a lovely button here in the studio, three of them actually, that I bought at Webs last month, but I really need five. They are etched silver metal. I’ve take a photo and emailed Webs to see if I can get anymore.  Note to self, you should have bought five, not three…

I’ve been slowly updating my classes on my website, adding in new options for lectures and workshops.  I’ll continue to do that over the weekend, hoping by Monday to have everything all up to date.  I came up with a bunch of new ideas when I applied to Convergence 2012 earlier this year, and I am posting what they didn’t select.  And I will finish up writing the prospectus for the “Weave a Memory” class I’m developing for a two day class in weaving the photos on silk I’ve been doing throughout this blog.

Thanks to all who sent me poems and inspirational writings from newsletters, and your own thoughts on managing the balance between the big and small stuff in life.  It all made me smile and move forward with a lighter load.  Know I read every single comment posted, they are like little postcards that come in the mail when you least expect it, like hugs from a friend.

Stay tuned…