It's a blue week...

But it’s a happy blue! Last week featured a lot of blue sky and the days were hot. When the Bloomington summers heat up, I spend more time in the cool of my basement art studio. I launched into a new weaving to take a break from the detailed needle felting effort needed to finish the grapes. Green is so last week. Anyway, to cool off I popped open my blue box to find the colors for a cool northern lake under a blue sky. I drew a few sketches to get the feel for how a few paper birches would fit in and I set to work. I first constructed the green foreground of grasses and weeds using a sumac weave. That was early in the week when I was still green. Then I eased onto an uneven shoreline and onto the cool blue lake. I found that some deep blues that had glittery material woven in, and I used some synthetic blue raffia that I got from Opportunity House. When I bought the material I couldn’t imagine how I might use it, but I thought it had an interesting texture so it came home with me. Now the background is almost done and the birches are ready to step forward and be counted. Three, I think, if you’re wondering.

It was also a big blue week, as in picking blueberries from Bray’s. The boys and I hooked up with Karen Like and her three boys, Alexander, Noah and Thomas and the seven of us went on an adventure. The boys forged two teams and had a competition that ended in a tie. It was a lot of fun, but it ended up being more expensive than we planned, since we came home with 41 pounds of blueberries between the seven of us! Now the freezer is filled with individually frozen little blue gems that are slated for pies, muffins, bread, and pancakes. I haven’t informed the HoA (husband of artist), but I think it’s time for a new freezer. He’ll like that.

The last news of the week involves preparation for a weaving workshop at McCormick’s Creek State Park this Sunday, put on by the Friends of McCormick’s Creek. I’m not sure who will show up or even how many, but the class is limited to 20 people. Preparation meant a stop at Sherwin Williams for stirring sticks for paint, which were sanded into submission using my belt sander. I love my power tools! I also pulled out some yardsticks and cut them into footsticks and sanded them to make shuttles for weaving. For the actual weaving I picked up leftover thrums of yarn from the Textillery and some material from a neighbor who was having a yard sale. She’s a sad salmon out of water who used to live in Alaska and is heading, with family, to Texas. They don’t have a lot of use for warm fuzzy hats in Texas so she’s selling her supplies. So now I’m ready for a crew of 20, and my family will help me set up. I’ll weave and teach while they explore the creek beds in the park. It will be a good day all around.

Until next week…