Recently, my friend, Gwen Blakely Kinsler wrote a wonderful article for Pieceworks Magazine about her collection of Mexican textiles.
The combination of weaving and embroidery is dazzling.
When I saw the photo of the embroidered doll figure in among the spectacular flowers, I was intrigued.
This enigmatic little figure makes me wonder: Is she a Day of the Dead figure? Is that a skull or just an elegantly simplified face?
Is that skirt a spider’s web?
And, where is her other arm?
Anyhow, I knew that I just had to share Gwen’s article with you…. the colors and textures and patterns  of the handmade dresses and …read more

Here are 2 more wonderful contributions to the Face of Joy challenge:
Susan’s Joy Piece:
Susan wrote:

Hey Noreen,
Here is my first entry! I had a great time making this. First time all around! I chose a butterfly because they are signs of renewal and Spring is all about renewal of trees, flowers, everything! So I call this Renewal of the heart.
I made the square out of Bamboo Yarn on my Hazel Rose weaving loom 4 inch, followed by my colorful butterfly which I spool knit and the antennas are chenille stem with lil black beads. So as not to attract away from …read more

My dear friend, SaoriWeaveMeister, Terri Bibby
sent me the link to the Thread Project , which is all about creating tolerance, compassion and building a  community of hope and peace.
It’s truly wonderful.  Please take a few minutes and click through the photo album.
Tears of hope, inspiration and  “Y E S !“  rolled down my cheeks as I looked at the pics and read the captions.
Here’s their press release:
 
Photograph copyright The Thread Project
Some say our world is hanging by a thread. I say–a thread is all we need. � Terry …read more

My dear friend, Terri Bibby, teaches people how to weave with Saori looms, & with these  little hand made looms About a dozen years or so ago,  there was a guy who lived just down the road. He reclaimed scrap materials that were being tossed on building sites and sold them for reasonable prices. I bought some acrylic, and made neat little ‘invisible’ frame looms:

They’re very nice little looms to weave on, but I’ll never make more of them! The acrylic was just murder to work with! I’ll stick with wood and metal!
But, it was still a successful recycling/reclaiming/weaving project, even …read more

The neatest sequence of events unfolded recently….
My dear son-in-law knows that I have been questing for a square Lily Speed-o-weave loom for ages.
He IM’ed me, saying: Hey…. there’s one on eBay……
I went and looked. Kewl!
But, the vendor wouldn’t ship it to Canada
So, I emailed the pic to my wonderful sister-in-law. She works close to the world’s best second hand store. She has found all kinds of nifty things there, and says most everything goes through that store at sometime or another…..
She popped over to the shop, sent me an email, and said:
They only have a hexagonal one.
I emailed …read more

Well, last night, I got all fed up with trying to figure out some of the ‘alternate flight plans’ of the strange little instruction booklet that came with one of my really old Lily Speed-o-weave looms.
So, today, I decided to give myself carte blanche on the second side of the hemp bag that I am working on.
It was exhilarating! After all, I am covering most of the mesh with spoolknitted figures and buttons and other bits and pieces….. so it was time to get playful!
and I did…….

Permission to be playful.
I gave it to myself, and here’s a permission slip for …read more

I’ve been getting a lot of questions from people, asking for help about how to substitute one yarn for another. They want to know if a different yarn than the one that is listed in a pattern will work or not.
Well, there are a couple of ways of figuring that out.
First one: WPI: Wraps Per Inch.
This is a weaver’s trick:
The pattern calls for one particular yarn.
But, what if someone else has a cupboard full of something else?
What will the pattern look like in one of those yarns?
Are they compatible with the pattern?
Here’s where the comparisons start:
Take a ruler, and wrap …read more