Daryl's Blog – Page 151 – The World from a Weaver's point of view!

What Day is this?

I found myself asking this question often…

I will say, after two nights uninterrupted sleep, I am actually starting to feel human. And today, for the first time in quite a few days, I felt like my brain was working on all four cylinders. I felt organized in my thoughts, and felt like I sort of made sense while I was lecturing. Everyone seemed enthusiastic, and wanted to try out all of the techniques I showed them. Today’s topic was basic sewing skills and all sorts of Seam and Edge Finishes.

I love the sound of purring sewing machines, and had all sorts of bias strips, nylon tricot, press bars, lopi yarn, and other oddities for the students to play with. My favorite seam finish of course, is the Hong Kong, and I provided some lovely pink acetate from a bolt I will never finish, to create bias strips for making the Hong Kong finish. I don’t have all my production photos in this computer, so I can’t actually show you the finish, but I think you can find it in one of my previous blogs. I also taught them to make piping, and I love to stuff the piping with soft Lopi yarn, every fiber enthusiast has a skein of that floating around in their stash. It makes great stuffing for piping and I had a ball for them to play with.

One of my other favorite seam finishes was a product called Seams Great. Sadly this product is no longer available. In essence, Seams Great was a nylon tricot bias cut strip, about 1 1/4″ wide, which encased a seam allowance beautifully, with no weight and lots of flex. So I found a source for 15 denier nylon tricot, and offer it to my students, to cut their own bias, and showed them how to use it to encase handwoven seam allowances, and to make curved shirttail hems a breeze.

I also showed them how to make bias tubes with press bars, I use a 3/8″ wide duct fastener, which looks like a cable tie on steroids. We did all kinds of interesting things with them.

When the class was winding down today, Bettie Bahen from Ann Arbor, MI, who had taken a jacket making class when I visited Ann Arbor last year, came in to show me her blouse. It was really pretty, and it looked great on her, and she proudly told me that she had used my jacket pattern to draft the blouse pattern! I was soooo impressed. She said it was the best fitting pattern she ever used, and that made me feel great! And I loved the print!

One more day of class, then I get to judge the fashion show! Tomorrow, Closures…

If it’s Tuesday it must be Michigan…

Tuesday…

I am beginning to exhale, I am sitting in Terminal A of Newark airport waiting for my Continental Express Jet flight to Grand Rapids. Looking back over the last 36 hours I have to think that things turn out the way they need to, and not necessarily the way I think they should.

I did catch my Frontier flight out of Durango late last night, arriving in Denver around 9pm. I have a cousin in Denver, whom I haven’t seen since Convergence 2004. She had twin girls last year, and just before she gave birth, her mom, my aunt, was tragically killed in a car accident. I would normally never have been able to connect with Becky, but since I was stuck in Denver overnight, I took a chance she was home and would open her home to a stray. She was such a breath of fresh air, in such an impersonal couple of days. I got to peak at her two sleeping angels, throw in a load of my dirty clothes from the Durango conference, and sit and visit with her, sharing an album they did as a memorial to her mother. I was able to look back over our childhoods, family gatherings, see photos of her brothers and their families, who are scattered all over the US. And I saw some wonderful photos of her mom. It was such a gift to be able to spend a few hours with her.

I left her house at 4:30am, boarding a shuttle bus for the trip back to the airport. Once I was in Continental’s jurisdiction, with my Elite status, everything started to go the way it should. I boarded the plane to Newark, we got in 20 minutes early, I was off the plane in 10 minutes with my bags, looking for my husband who was waiting for me at the parking garage with the suitcase I needed to exchange for the Michigan conference. My daughter packed it last night for me, using a computer printout, and going over every line item on the phone with me while I sat in the airport, and hopefully between the two of us, we got it all correct.

My flight to Grand Rapids is so far, on time. We will be boarding shortly. I am actually more rested than I thought I would be since I haven’t been able to return home between conferences. All I’ve done is sit in an airport or on a plane for the last 36 hours…

Wednesday…

I made it. The flight to Grand Rapids was uneventful and on time. I arrived semi comatose, but my chauffeur, Paula, in a GMC pick-up, managed to get me and my bags, all accounted for, to the college, got me registered, and the conference staff took all the instructors out for a lovely dinner. I have little recollection of what I ate, just that it was delicious, and very needed, and I actually drank two bottles of Stella Artois. It has been one of those weeks.

I taught the first day of the Garment Construction and Finishing Techniques class today, the first day was all about fit and altering patterns. I love my class, they are talented and interesting, and all tried on my jackets and now have a pattern that fits them and they can go home and weave up a storm.

The food here at Hope College is considerably better than the salt and fat explosion I ate at Fort Lewis last week. And I slept a whole six hours straight last night. My brain isn’t working on all four cylinders, but everyone is supportive and telling me I’m doing a good job, so I’ll get to bed early tonight, and try even harder tomorrow to get the brain in sync…

Tonight we had a gathering of the conference attendees in the auditorium, and each of the seven instructors did a presentation of their work, history, motivation, inspiration, or whatever they wanted to talk about. All the presentations were interesting, and I always learn and am inspired by these mini glimpses into another creative soul.

There was a major eclipse tonight, and I’m hoping with the passing of this planetary oddity, that my life will get back on track, and I won’t have to deal with so many silly stressors. My kids are reporting in, my son apparently doesn’t have mono, but a major bacterial throat infection, and saw the doctor again, and is now on another antibiotic and doing considerably better. It is hard to be away when your kids are sick, and they really need you, and you know something is wrong, and you are helpless, and stuck halfway across the country in an airport. Even that far away, my instincts were good, I knew there was something additional wrong with my son, and I’m glad he listened to me and got himself back to the doctor.

And happily, I have an Ethernet connection in my room! So I’ll try to report in nightly. Stay tuned…

Finale on Sunday

Sunday was an intense day, a piece of cake after the first two of the conference, but the last day of a jacket making class is always hardest. Everyone is rushing, everyone is exhausted, and everyone makes big mistakes. Tweaking of the fit, last minute bailouts, getting everyone far enough so they can finish on their own, is always a big stressor. But in the end, a very happy group of women modeled their almost finished jackets. I’m in the middle of the bottom row… (note, there were quite a few missing sleeves, but I have every confidence they will be attached in the coming weeks…)

This was a great experience, even though I had such a tough start. I was really hoping for an uneventful return. The vistas here are breathtaking, and the weather was spectacular. And the conference staff and participants couldn’t have been more enthusiastic.

So I would love to say there was a happy ending here, but alas, the reason I have been able to update my blog, for the last four days, is because I have been sitting in the tiny Durango terminal since 8am this morning. My 10:00am flight was eventually canceled, due to mechanical problems with the plane, and of course, all the remaining flights were oversold and the earliest I could get out on United was maybe late tomorrow or Wednesday. I start the Michigan conference on Wednesday. I managed to procure a seat on a different airline, again for a hefty price, so I’m waiting for a 7:40 flight this evening. My plan if all goes well, though there seems to be weather delays now coming in from Denver, is to arrive in Denver around 9, and meet up with my cousin, whom I haven’t seen in years. She had twin girls last year, and I hope I can take a peek at the sleeping angels. I have a very early flight confirmed on my airline of choice, Continental, and I have an hour and half turn around to head out to Michigan for the conference. I have no clean clothes, and have to figure out how to get my family to pack the remainder of what I need for that workshop, and meet me in Newark to exchange bags. I am so beyond stress at this point I just want to run away and never get on a plane again. Rest assured I will NEVER fly Mesa airlines, the United Code Share partner who caused all the problems last Thursday and today. I am beyond exhausted, and am glad I have the blog to vent…

Stay tuned to see if I make it to Michigan…

A Great Saturday

In spite of my exhaustion, and all the past couple days’ events, the workshop went really well. I had a terrific group of 14 women, 13 of whom had actually handwoven their fabric for their jackets. They were all so supportive, and eager, and talented, and I was privileged to work with them. They worked so hard, we kept each other going, they were as tired as I was, so it became a real group effort! And we all rose to the occasion.

Each of the fabrics was so unique, and it was great to see how each of the jackets progressed, students’ confidence grew, old habits were broken, and new skills acquired.

We broke for dinner, and on the way across campus to the student center, I passed a lovely installation between the trees, hand dyed warps drying on the line.

I found out from the conference community that I had won a door prize. Apparently all conference participants’ names and those of the faculty had been entered. I won a beautiful silk scarf from Lantern Moon. I looked at it as a new raw material, and spent a couple minutes draping it around my body to see what the fabric would do.

Then I quickly dressed into my Frosted Florals Gown, and headed to the concert hall for the fashion show. I was the moderator.

The figure to my left, was a vintage handwoven garment by the late Mary Pendleton, an icon in Sedona, Arizona. She founded the Pendleton Fabric Craft School and Studio, which became a mecca for fiber enthusiasts from all over the world. Two of her garments were loaned for the fashion show, and one of them kept me company while I moderated the show. One of the highlights of the fashion show for me was the trio of students from my pieced vest class from two years ago. Three of the garments worn came from or were influenced by techniques learned from my class. Each had a story and the artists modeled their own work. The commentary had been written for me by Margaret, the hard working fashion show coordinator. And what was even more fun, was the addition of items like art quilts, and non wearable items. We all laughed and clapped, and had a great time. Three of the garments had actually been previewed at the Convergence Fashion Show in Tampa last summer. This is a talented bunch!

Stay tuned…

Fiber Celebrated!

Friday night at the conference featured the opening reception of Fiber Celebrated, a national juried show, located in the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, hosted by the Intermountain Weavers Conference.

I was exhausted by my last two day’s adventures, and there were so many people who had heard of my misadventures, especially the locating of the missing box at the Home Depot in Durango, that it was hard to actually get to see the show. Everyone wanted to hear the story. I felt like a celebrity!

I waited until the show ended, and the awards were announced, and I grabbed a quick couple of photos of the installation. It was a beautiful show, a lot of southwestern themed works, but a great cross section of fiber mediums.

Enjoy the show…