book binding, lilac logging and word weaving

apparently an alliterative week...

So as you can see from the title, there are three things I want to write about today —

—but for the life of me I can’t figure out how to flow elegantly from one to the next.

So here on Tuesday morning as I crunch a delicious piece of toast (seeded sourdough from local bakers with a slightly mushy backyard pear on top), I’m going to stop trying to be fancy and just make a list.

Up first is the New Diary which happily came together very quickly (I’d neglected to think ahead), and feels important both because I always tell you about my diaries, and because this one chronicles almost everything else that happened this week.

Well, I guess I did think ahead enough to return to the aspect ratio and size (6” x 4.5”) of two books ago (as suggested by comic Sarah), and to cover it with a pre-stained scrap of sail cloth (a kindness to future Sarah), which made it feel lived in before I even began. Like paint from the basement, used coffee filters and compost-pile milkweed, that scrap of cloth says “No worries—go ahead and mess around to your heart’s content. I’m up for it.”

I also filled the book with nice cold press watercolor paper (vs the mixed media paper of the last few), and my paint is sooo happy. I think it has been waiting for me to get with the program.

The result is a fresh and usable diary: so pleasant to work in, and with so much elbow room, that I find myself looking forward to my daily drawings more than ever. Who knew?

Of course the thing about creating all that light and space is that I suddenly wanted more of it. After the blue room with almost nothing in it, and a luscious big open sketchbook, I was drawn into doing a bunch more sweeping and tidying and then, heaven help me—

—it was finally time to do a thing I’ve been thinking about for over a year: start logging the lilac forest around the house.

Beryl did not care for this turn of events. At least at first.

Nor, indeed, did my hands.

But by wearing hand braces, limiting myself to one truck load of branches per day —

—bribing Beryl with post-logging adventures—

—and accepting the help of a dear friend —

—I yet had the wherewithal and hand strength, to do the thing I really wanted and hoped to begin this week, and even film a bit of it—

—funny faces, frowns, warp squints and all. ¹

One might think that I’d remember to smile when shooting a video (in a mirror no less), but apparently I’m so in the moment while weaving that I notice neither my grimaces at the fell nor the knot in the supplemental warp that makes it look like I have a giant stitch in my lip.

But so what?

Weaving my life into tapestry is a blast even when I look grim.

And maybe it is (or could be), for you too?

NOTE: in the next few paragraphs I talk about tapestry and the upcoming YouTube Live. If you’re up for that rabbit hole, read on. If this is not your cup of tea, feel free to leap over the paragraphs on either side of the tiny house photos for bit of Beryl content, and then head off for the rest of your delicious day. Or just head off right this second, because, why not?

Now, back to the tapestry rabbit hole. Do you have questions? Quandaries? Queries? Because this, the third of today’s topics, is where I get to say once again how excited I am that the amazing Rebecca Mezoff and I will be doing a live chat on YouTube the day after tomorrow, on Thursday September 7th at 11am MT. This is free and streamed on YouTube HERE. You can line your time zone up HERE. You’ll be able to ask questions during the broadcast, so come ready to learn and ask—and maybe even see a dog nose or two.

Rebecca is an extraordinary tapestry weaver, teacher and author.

The Art of Tapestry Weaving is fantastic; her online classes and in person workshops have been delighting weavers at all levels for years. She’s generous, inspiring, kind—and also a total HOOT. You can see recordings of her weaving live on-line in Change The Shed, the weaving-in-the-moment YouTube show she began in March of 2020 (so we could be in company even as we all retreated to our houses), and has continued since. That’s two and a half years of live tapestry—astonishing.

Last week she also wrote an adorable and flattering blog post about my work that makes me blush—and feel ever more lucky to have her as both friend and colleague.

On Thursday we’ll talk about whatever comes up (remember to bring your questions), though will likely focus on the Fringeless technique so if you want to look into it a little more beforehand, there are a couple videos you can watch for free right in the class.

The class preview is HERE and if you click on the steps labeled WATCH: Introduction and WATCH: What is four-selvedge weaving?, you can watch those videos. They are the second and third step in the course in the Introduction section. You can also see all the steps in the course before you register.

The live YouTube will be a first for me (if not for Rebecca), so it helps to know you might be there. I mean golly, you’ve seen me typing in the altogether in the wee blue room, so what do I have to worry about? I totally trust that you’ll tell me if I have granola in my teeth, right?

For now though (because it is lunch time), I’ll go eat lettuce with abandon and let Beryl be the star that she is. On a dusty trail, covering me with hair or greeting the dawn, she’s a gem.

Remember to comment with the button above rather than by hitting reply for if you choose the latter I won’t see your lovely words. Thanks.

1. When I took everything about of the blue room to clean (paint) it, I plunked this mirror on my work bench for safety, and only belatedly realized what an excellent vehicle it was for photos and video —esp of words, for of course I am weaving the word from the “front”, but the mirror reverses the mirror writing of the back, making it perfectly legible. How fun is that?