Janet and Susan outside NW Yarns in Bellingham Washington
Window display, NW Yarns
Colors!
Knitted 3D Piece by Textile Artist Ann Maki – on exhibit at Social Fabric, Bellingham Washington, March 2017
Janet and Susan outside NW Yarns in Bellingham Washington
Window display, NW Yarns
Colors!
Knitted 3D Piece by Textile Artist Ann Maki – on exhibit at Social Fabric, Bellingham Washington, March 2017
Start your day with this beautiful photo of Spring in Ireland – a contrast of green and yellow – thanks to Sarah Rubalcava of Rubalcava Horticultural Services.
Sarah’s mom (and my friend) Magda Rubalcava is an award winning internationally renown tapestry weaver – wouldn’t this make a spectacular tapestry?
I have spent a rather frustrating day, off and on, trying to get the scanner to work properly and transfer some simple images to the computer – work that the scanner usually does quite easily but today I just couldn’t seem to hit the right buttons. But now, at last, it seems to be working and I have scanned a couple of not very old photos.
According to the date stamped on the back of this photo, it was taken on May 12, 2000. That date might be approximate but I know for sure that it was taken in the gardens at Airfield in Dundrum, Dublin, Ireland. Note all the pretty bluebells (if that is the right term). Well here we are in midMay 2011 in Seattle and everywhere I look there are bluebells like these. It’s such a pretty flower – and profuse.
My other test photo for scanning doesn’t have a date stamped on the back of it but I know it was taken at Airfield also.
would this field of daisies been later in the year? One of my favourite flowers.
I miss Dublin but Seattle is wonderful and the month of May is great for so many colourful flowers coming into bloom. The azaelias are especially spectacular.
these were actually orange blossoms, the photo was taken last night around 5:30 p.m. I was on my way up to the Greenwood Art Walk, and particularly The Fiber Gallery, a local yarn store, where a fibre artist friend was exhibiting her work.
my mode of transport – my bike. That hill in the direction toward which by bicycle is pointing is steep. Needless to say, I walk the bike when I am going up to Greenwood. My destination was The Fiber Gallery. (For readers in the wider knitting world, The Fiber Gallery is where Franklin gave one of his workshops when he visited Seattle a few months ago. I didn’t know at that time how close The Fiber Gallery was to where I live.)
Ann Maki and her lovely knitted tapestries. The photo doesn’t do justice to the work but you can get a hint of what it was like. This is her website. at the Finnhill Fiber Art Studios. For my Irish textile friends, think of Gerda Teljeur years ago although here weren’t exactly knitted. Three dimensional textile art. I think the 595 Group would like Ann’s work.
Back to the more mundane, I miss the discipline of going to Kilternan Market each Saturday morning in Dublin and the rhythm of the seasons according to the flowers, fruits, and vegetables that were brought to the Market each week, or not as the case might be. So instead of the Market today, what did we do? We went out and bought a car – more on that anon.
In sorting through my various papers, I’ve come across a bit of correspondence that I had back in June-August 1976. We were in Fiji at that time. I was just getting into serious weaving. Wool was not readily available so far as I knew. So I must have thought of writing off to Norway to get some samples.
the envelope which contained the reply – note the stamps
the samples of the different types of yarns which the company stocked
tne price list in Norwegian kronor
and the accompanying letter describing the different types of yarns and their uses and the postal rates by weight and destination. I don’t know what the exchange rates were at that time nor how the prices would compare with prices and exchange rates today
Searching for the firm on the internet today I find that their main business is fabrics for technical use, they employ 1-10 people, and they are still in Grimstad Norway. A nice photo of their yarn is on Flickr. Now I must check my old labels and see if I’ve used any of their knitting yarn recently. I do like Norwegian knitting yarns.
And looking at the Google map, I find that Grimstad is located in a very southern part of Norway, south of Bergen, south of Stavenger, and near to Denmark.
Before I write about a recent expedition, in the lashing rain, to the Burke Museum here in Seattle, I want to give a link to a 48 piece jigsaw puzzle, Sciurus carolinensis, the common grey squirrel, the type who frequents our garden. link to the puzzle. (Incidentally, I did this puzzle in about 6 1/2 minutes, slightly a minute more than the average.) I haven’t been able to get good photos of our squirrels so this jigsaw puzzle will have to do for now. Our squirrels certainly get up to some funny antics, stretching like trapeze artists and swinging upside down on the bird feeders. They nibble away at all the food I put out for the chickadees and tits and stellarjays. Lately I’ve been putting out cracked corn in hopes of attracting some larger birds. This morning I had a fleeting glimpse of a medium sized bird (about the size of a thrush in Ireland) – the bird had white underneath, red on its head, a dark back and it had a beautiful glide and distinctive wing flapping to get to the very top of a tall fir tree nearby.
Now for the textile exhibition. The Burke is The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture and it is on the campus of the University of Washington here in Seattle. The main campus itself is lovely, even in the pouring rain. My cousin and I trudged along and found the Burke building. We didn’t know what was going on there, just that we wanted to visit that museum. Well, were we ever pleasantly surprised to find that a major exhibition of textiles had just opened. Textiles have been assembled from 13 countries around the Pacific Rim and these garments and wall hangings and rugs have been magnificently displayed. link.
map showing the countries around the Pacific Rim from which the textiles were chosen
I wish all my weaving friends could come to Seattle to visit us and see this wonderful exhibition. It was just fantastic. I wasn’t able to take photos, photography in the museum was not allowed, ……. but now I read that as of November 4 there is a new policy at the Burke and photography is allowed. I’ll have to go back.
I have been to 2 Exhibition Openings this past week. Both events are showcasing textiles by artists working in Ireland. And each event was excellent. My only disappointment was that I had nothing on display since most of my recent work is now in Seattle. Nevermind, the shows gave me a lot of inspiration and I am eager to get weaving again. And they also gave me a chance to meet up with many dear friends whom I had not seen for a long time. Plus, it was especially heartening to receive comments like, “Oh Janet, hello, I still have one of your rugs………” which I like to interpret as meaning I like your work and have fond memories of you.
The Exhibition Opening on Wednesday night was that of the Irish Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers, held in Dalkey Castle Heritage Centre. Here are a few samples from the Exhibition.
by Patricia Gellon
woven wall panel, paper, cotton by Monika Auch
woven tapestry, cotton, wool, silk, hemp, viscose by Terry Dunne
On Thursday night, the second Exhibition Opening took place. This Exhibition was put on by the 595, aka 510, Group. This Exhibition is in Dun Laoghaire and featured not only textiles but also ceramics and wire and art work in other media. The Exhibition is in part retrospective and included a number of works which had previously been exhibited elsewhere.
Orange Peel flowers, in wire by Magda Rubalcava
Mother and daughter woven tapestry, wool & cotton warp by Magda Rubalcava
Welcome Mat, handwoven rug in Mary O’Rourke’s handspun hand dyed Irish wool
I almost missed the article in the Irish Times this morning about the SAARC Summit. SAARC=South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation, Member States Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. Most of my regular readers will probably wonder what this is all about. Well, 25 years ago, when we lived in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, this organization of South Asian countries was formed. I worked as a United Nations Volunteer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I was a speech writer for the King! What an interesting job it was. And I am so happy to read that the organization SAARC for which I wrote so many pieces is still going strong.
Does this have anything to do with my craft interests? – Only in that spindle spinning and weaving and dyeing were such an integral part of Bhutanese life and I was surrounded by beautiful textiles. From my office I could occasionally hear the regular thump of a weaver working in her home nearby. One of my favourite textiles was an unusual one – not a traditional kira or ko garment but rather a colorful bedcover in a rya style – it looked like 4 strips of colourful rya blocks sewn together. I would see it occasionally hanging out to dry over a wirefence near our home. When I get back to Seattle I will my photo of it and post it on this blog.
In the meantime here are a few of my husband’s photos, some textile-related, from that beautiful and fascinating country