I've been Sick

My only excuse for not posting is having a bad cough with aches and pains the last few days and having overbooked myself for several weeks.  I know the "being busy" just feeds into the feeling we all have of "What's new?" 

My main worry was the video class that I had agreed to do.   I ended up putting off my regular classes until the video class was over, but it really overwhelmed me.

It was fun, I will probably do one again, I learned that I need to have more of my stuff organized and printed ready to go, and make sure that I don't plan anything else when you are getting ready.

I had planned to go on a camping trip the week before (my DS had reservations for the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park), but at the last minute I sent DS and DH to have a guys trip and I stayed home to get ready.  They had a wonderful time, and I mostly got ready...a good result all around.

One of the days that I was filming, I got a call (I didn't take it) to have a loom ready for a film set.  (I dealt with that after the filming was done.)

In the video set it was very interesting, these people really know what they are doing and I am glad to do a video with them instead of trying to do one on my own.  I do not want to learn the necessary things to get it right and they really had all that knowledge.

Setting up the cameras

They had overhead cameras and were able to do a pretty good close up on my hands and what I was doing.  I had my sister watch the show so that I would know how it looked.

Warping area and baby wolf loom

I still have some things to catch up on with this new way of teaching, but I think I can get it under control...or at least mostly under control.

As soon as the video was finished I had to figure how to get a loom dismantled just enough to get out of a three foot door and still warped enough to have it set up in a reasonable amount of time for the film set.  Since the loom was an old Hammet and not able to fold up, I spent some time mentally dismantling it and turning it on edge to get through the door.  The film crew bundled it up for moving and I followed them to the set to get it working.  It ended up looking good and I found time to go back down, dismantle it again and get it back up to the weaving studio.

The weather has been Spring...rain, sun, and snow all in a day or two.  My DH has been doing wonderful things to the yard.  We have a garden and lots of things coming up...I hope to have fresh peas to make some spring soup and maybe, french radishes for sandwiches.  Our radishes are often too hot, and the long french ones are great in sandwiches, so he planted some for me.  When we stayed in Aix-on-Provence, I had fantastic radishes from the markets and enjoyed sandwiches on a baguette.  I would love to have some of that here to remind me of that great time.

I got a call to have my Swedish art weave pillow in a show.  The dates that I thought I needed it done were in the fall, then a call comes that they need to pick up the pillow the first part of May!  It has to sit in a super freezer for a couple of weeks before they can put it in the museum!  The only problem was I had woven panels, but no pillows made.  I had made decisions about what I wanted the pillows to look like, I knew how the construction needed to be done and that the ultimate background fabric needed be black linen.  I had wanted to weave a small band to go above and below the panel, but now I did not have time to do that.  A quick trip to the local fabric store, and I found exactly the fabric that I wanted to use, then I spent four days sewing them up.  

All four finished pillows

After the first seams, I realized that the band would have been over-kill.  The patterns on the panels were busy enough.  I decided that the third pillow that I had woven was the one I wanted to put in the show.  It has all five of the patterns on it.  Next week is the opening and I am excited to see what else is in the show.

Pillow # Three

My cold is getting better.  Today I decided to not take any of the medications that I had been taking for it.  Yesterday the medications were making me fill groggy and worse than the cold symptoms.  Now I have a bit of congestion and an occasional cough...I can handle that with cough drops and ibuprofen.  I am still taking it easy, when I was working full time, my colds would last for months because I never gave my body time to heal.  Now I know better and have the ability to take time off.  An extra nap in the afternoon, and some quiet time reading each day to give my body what it needs...sounds like the good life to me.