July 2 at Lillian Smith Center

Just heard a rifle being fired in the woods nearby... wonder what that was all about?

I went into Clayton today to see if I could find a shipping box for the tapestry I'm to send to the Eye Dazzlers exhibit for Convergence in Albuquerque... but, no luck. It's got to be there before July 15 and here it is now, July 2 and I'm trying to get it sent. And it's 4th of July weekend, as well! Timing is not my best quality, I think. At home, in my studio, I have at least two perfect boxes... but here at the retreat... none! So this afternoon I've worked on cutting down a packing box from the local W-M--to no avail!! Oh... there were more sounds in the distance just now... pop, pop! And pop, pop, pop... so probably the sound I though was rifle fire was really a larger fireworks at some early 4th of July party.

Anyway, here's the piece that was accepted for the Eye Dazzlers exhibit--now I've just got to get it shipped and that will have to be Monday or Tuesday.

I can hardly believe I have about a week remaining here! I've been so overwhelmed with tasks that I don't yet feel I've "retreated" but hope to achieve some of that during next week. What I was working on as first priority when I got to the retreat was completing the working paper of the presentation I'll be making as part of a panel chaired by Mary Lane, for the October Textile Society of America symposium in Lincoln, Nebraska. I've been making progress on the paper for several months but had to tie it all together and get it off by July 1.

I've also been working for the past couple of weeks on weft-faced samples in anticipation of my class at Penland School of Crafts that's coming up next month. I wanted to complete a few more samplers and got those off the loom yesterday... the loom, by the way, was borrowed from my friend, Peggy McBride. She let me use it from ECHO School for the Arts; it is a 22" Harrisville--an just fine for what I wanted to do... some pick and pick and then a clasped weft sampler.

This at the left is all clasped weft, even though looks like hatching.

I also was able to try out something totally unexpected following my trip to Oriole Mill in Hendersonville last Tuesday. I'm calling this "faux" rya since it's got the shaggy look of rya but is really just plain weave with a couple of picks of the false selvedge from the weaving machines at Oriole Mill alternated with a couple of picks of wool weft. It's sort of like a large chenille yarn, I guess... but longer strands. Interesting effect and I want to experiment a bit more with this.

The false selvedges are cut off as pieces are woven with a particular type of yarn insertion method... here's a detail of the selvedges being cut and moved to the bin at the side.

Amazing process!

Now, for other things at Lillian Smith Center... it was overcast this morning and for most of the day. The sun sort of came out in late afternoon but I don't think the temperature got above the high 80s. I didn't turn more than the ceiling fan on until late this afternoon... in fact, I was wearing long sleeved shirt over my t-shirt for most of the day.




The red door was quite muted this morning in the gray light...

but the light helped the intensity of color of this daylily when I photographed it.

I was looking for red, white and blue today--in anticipation of the 4th of July. Here's the best I could find in one spot together:

The subdued light this morning caused me to look up as much as down... and this pattern of leaves and limbs caught my eye:

Finally, today... the little yellow mushroom is really moving on... drying up; perhaps its purpose was fulfilled quite nicely.