Monthly Archives: July 2014

On the river

Yesterday, my husband and I, and our son and his wife and her sister, and our daughter and her husband and their son and her husband’s parents all had a blissful ‘staycation’.

Here’s Jim and me with our beloved little grandson, watching the world go by, thanks to the gigantic paddle wheels.

copyright Chloe Findlay-Harder

copyright Chloe Findlay-Harder

We had a magical ride on the Edmonton Riverboat Queen, which paddles up and down the North Saskatchewan River in the heart of Edmonton, Alberta.

I have driven, walked, and biked over the river.  I have walked along it, and even dabbled my feet in it, but I have Never. Been. ON. it.

Jim and our son and his wife have all canoed and kayaked it, but not me.

I am a ‘fire’ person, not so much, well, not at all, a’ water’ baby.

But, oh, my goodness! I really got it about how wonderful it is to be ‘messing about in boats’, as Ratty in Wind in the Willows always says….

It was ‘time out of time’, and I had a whole new sense of the history of the city, as we saw how the original people of this land would have seen it.

And, also, how the Voyageurs would have paddled their gigantic loads up and down it.

The rain had been pelting down, so it started out cool and overcast, but in typical Alberta summer fashion, the sun soon poured through and layers came off.

We topped off the afternoon with a wonderful picnic, and the singing of variations on birthday greeting songs, as many of the family are summertime babies.

Truly a magical day, filled with beautiful times.

I am blessed.

🙂

 

 

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Woven Women- Edith’s Song

I’ve just finished weaving a new piece that I have called: ‘Edith’s Song: No Regrets’:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

For the last 3 weeks, I have been weaving away, loving working on a sampler for Part One of Rebecca Mezoff’s online tapestry weaving workshop. LINK to her course outlines.  (Love the course, highly recommend it!)

While I was weaving it, I got inspired to weave the last section in 3 panels- one for the torso, and 2 for the arms.

I shaped the upper edge in a semi circle to be the neckline of her bodice, and left empty triangles at the elbows so I could shape bent arms.

I pulled the warp strands to bend the arms and to shape her torso.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

I chose to leave the slits unstitched in the lower panel so I could weave in narrow bands that I had previously woven on my double hole rigid heddle loom.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

I also used the narrow bands as the hem and other embellishments.

I cut the head, hands and feet from 1/4 inch plywood.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

The wings were a serendipitous thrift shop find.

The beads around her face are a peyote stitch tube that I made a couple of years ago and have been waiting for the perfect project.

Woven on my 16 inch Mirrix loom, using Paternayan tapestry yarn that I inherited from my mother and handspun from my daughter in law.

She makes me feel happy.  🙂

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Mirrix loom, tapestry, weaving & handwoven, woodwork, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Juerga Flamenca at the Works Festival June 2014

Last night, my wonderful husband, Jim Findlay’s flamenco trio, Juerga Flamenca, played at the Works Festival in Edmonton Alberta Canada.

Juerga Flamenca means a flamenco gathering or ‘jam’.

The players are: Jim Findlay, guitar, Clint Pelletier, guitar, Dean Pierno, percussion – master players all, and three of the loveliest, most wonderful men you could ever imagine!

Jim wrote all but one of the tunes that they played…. it was just so wonderful!!!!

Sorry about the wobbly shakiness of the video…. I forgot to bring a tripod, and sitting still is not my strong suit!

Oh, bliss…. I LOVE Jim’s music!

 

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Tapestry diary June 2014 -Doorway

Having committed to weaving a tapestry diary for the year of 2014 has been a wonderful experience for me.

As I have been experimenting with my diary pieces, I have come to a huge ‘aha’ about the ways that I love to work.

I have found that weaving tiny tapestries, 3 inches/7.5 cm by 5 inches/12.5 cm truly makes my heart sing.

Here is my completed tiny tapestry for the month of June:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com

I wanted to show the small size of the tapestry by placing it in the context of my studio, and I inadvertently included  a little self revelation that made me flinch when I first saw the  pic.

My little rock with ‘good enough’ in chalk….. not feeling good enough has been a life long struggle for me, and it’s rather ouchie to have my little ‘good enough’ rock in the photo.

BUT, I figured that I am not alone in this struggle, so, what the heck…. if it feels too uncomfortable to leave the pic as is, I can take it down… but… maybe it could be helpful to someone else who navigates that particular minefield, too, so, I’ll leave it for now.

To be honest, the weaving in this piece does have aspects that are not good enough.

But, as I have lived with now for the few days since I finished it, I have decided that there’s more to it than meets the eye, and I like how I have had ‘aha’ moments with it- finding new meaning in it.

One of the rules of the tapestry diary that I have made for myself is that I have to ask myself:

Where am I right now? What am I working on?

And, then do a drawing that feels like it has possibilities to show me more about that.

When I began my June drawing, I was deeply grieving the death of one of our beloved little dogs, as well as several other losses.

It made me really aware of how those we love do come and go, and how tender and precious life is….  and that’s what came up in the drawing and the weaving.

On the other hand, my daughter in law thinks it looks like something out of Star Trek or sci fi.

LOL!!!!  That works for me!  I say: If you see something in it that I didn’t, then, YAY! that’s a win.

….. and that’s good enough for me…..

🙂

 

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, weave along, weaving & handwoven