(Sorting them into color families. One snippet at a time.)

If you have a jar full of yarn snippets, both hand spun and mill spun, you might wish to make something of them. In the past, I have used them to stuff little knitted creatures and to create art yarns, spun from the snippets being carded into colorful merino. The latter is calling to me, as I have snippets that are far too small to weave with and I seem to have difficulty throwing them away, especially if they are snippets from yarns I have spun. Dear me.

(All Sorted. Excepting a small pile of “whites” not pictured. :)

But you could also weave a little tapestry with the mound of snippets, which I have done so for years now, enjoying the limitation of just what comes from the snippet jar, as well as the hum of my creative brain on such a stimulant as delicious colors of wool and cotton. Oooohwhee! So so fun!

(Version 1 commenced.)

The last time I dumped out my snippet jar, two small mushroom tapestries leapt onto the loom. It was to be an exercise in a few tapestry techniques but it soon morphed into mushrooms. This time, the snippet jar yielded many flowers, as if they had been poured onto the table from a basket I had just brought in from the garden. 🌸

While I am certainly not rivaling the Mille Fleurs tapestries of old, I do like the idea of weaving a thousand flowers, and it is possible that I could be content to weave flowers for the remainder of my days. Alas, my snippet jar will not last that long, but it does seem to be holding up fairly well for a second version of the same cartoon.

(Version 2 as it is at this moment. Choosing colors is a bit more challenging as my options are now even more limited due to dwindling snippet jar piles.)

How I love interpreting the same lines into different color versions. I find myself sighing at the loom - not from weariness or boredom, but simply from the enjoyment of placing small lengths of leftover yarns into warp threads that result in flowers. 💐

(Version 1 close-up of deliciousness of colorful yarns. 😜)

They are not intended to be realistic or even to resemble specific botanical flowers. They are my own version both in the drawing of them and the weaving of their colors, the latter defined by what is sitting on my tray/palette of snippets I sorted into color families. Have I said how much fun this is? I’ll say it again….sooooo much fun!

(Another close-up of Version 1.)

And so I have interrupted the parade of videos about my children’s books (of which there are two more coming, videos, not books) to scatter these flowers out into your field of vision. I do hope they bring you some joy today. Tapestry weaving continues to be a thread running through my days, always. And I do hope it will continue, however small these tapestries be.

(Weaving complete on Version 1. Now for a bit of embroidery for leaf veins and wee stems.)

In considering how to “sign off” today’s post, I feel like blowing air-kisses whilst repeating “mille fleurs”……”mille fleurs”…! May a thousand flowers grace your path today and every day!

With gratitude for your presence here,

Jennifer

In this video I’m sharing an overview of how these books have come into being. Everything from how I found time to make the drawings to what I’ve used to create the actual book in digital form so that it can be uploaded for publication. There are a few other things I’d like to add here, that aren’t in the video.

(Sketch of me working on the computer, designing my book with Affinity Publisher. There really should be steam coming off the top of my head as I try wrapping my brain around this type of creative work. 🤯)

When I embark on illustrating and making a book, it requires a different set of tools than when I am just making a single painting or a small tapestry. An illustrated picture book or chapter book has many phases, from writing it, to making lots of preliminary sketches and possible storyboards, to beginning to pencil in the illustrations, then ink them, then add the color. Of course, if one is creating digital images there are steps for this as well. And once you have the illustrations and the written words locked in, then you have to assemble it all into Affinity Publisher or In Design or whatever software you might wish to use. The latter has its own list of phases and steps to follow in order to achieve the look and design you want for your book.

It is all quite brain-bending for me. I tackle the mountain of steps by breaking each step down into very tiny bites that I feel I can actually do. And then I start to do them, one or two each day, slowly - ever so slowly - working bit by bit on the small steps until I find, at long last, that I have made it to the top of the mountain! 🙌

This has been the single most helpful thing for me - breaking down the overall task into the smallest bits one can possibly do. Then purposefully, day by day, doing one or two of the small bits, keeping my head down (as in focused and locked in on each small thing) until I’m working on the last bits and phases of the work.

This has also been the way I tackle tapestry weaving. I break down the entire process, from sketching to cartoon creation, deciding on a sett and size of the tapestry, to warping my loom, to choosing a palette of yarns, and then beginning to weave, one little section at a time. 😃

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I hope this video and these words are encouraging for you as you tackle creative projects that you might be wanting to achieve. Thank you for purchasing my books! And for sharing them with friends! All the best to you today dear Reader!

With gratitude,

Jennifer

I thought I would try something a little different for the next few posts. Instead of writing about my newest children’s picture book, I’ll just tell you about it in a little video.

In this video I talk a bit about where the inspiration came from for Genevieve and the One Thing, plus the common feature in both of my picture books which is to offer instructions for making something. For this book, there are instructions to make your own Thing!

Just a sock and some bits of yarn, ribbon and fabric! I will be writing up instructions for a crochet version of Thing (you’ll see it in the video) for those who enjoy crocheting, and I also have a knitted version in the works. I love the idea of gifting a fun stuffed creature along with an accompanying book!

Thank you for being here and please stay tuned for more videos! In my next video I will discuss the “how” of making my books. In the 3rd video I’ll share more about another recently published book, The Spinning House , and the inspiration behind it. And the last video will feature Genevieve and the Kite, which is being renovated at the moment and will have a new look very soon! Same story and illustrations, but re-created to bring it up to date, as it was made 13 years ago!

Thank you to everyone who has taken Genevieve and her world into your hearts, or at least into your home libraries, or given to a friend! I most sincerely thank you!!

With gratitude,

Jennifer

Consider this a postcard of sorts…brief but filled with excitement over the completion of a long awaited thing-in-the-making!

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My second children’s picture book is now published and available on Amazon. I am pleased and delighted and oddly unable to craft words for what it means to have brought to a finish, TWO books this year, both written and illustrated by my own hand. 1

(Back cover to Genevieve and the One Thing)

This new book, filled to the brim with colorful illustrations, is perfect for ages 3-10. As I did at the end of Genevieve and the Kite, which included instructions for making a kite, this book has easy instructions for making a Thing. I will share more about this book and the making of it in upcoming posts. I just wanted to share my happy news with you!

With gratitude,

Jennifer

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In February of this year, I published The Spinning House: Stories to Light the Way. It is a children’s chapter book with black and white illustrations on the interior pages. I have more plans for this book…to offer and audiobook version of it, and a coloring book of the black and white illustrations. Stay tuned for so many more adventures in stories!

Many years ago, a friend of mine died too early from cancer. I so wished that I could have been with her in her final moments, singing favorite hymns to her as she crossed over to that Beautiful Land. I wrote a short poem and stitched it into an embroidered piece, as I was enamored with the mediums of fabric and stitch at that time, about ten years ago.1

I’d like to go in a singing boat

carried along by voices that float…

and harmonies pure ringing me home

to that distant shore. No more to roam.

-jpe

Talitha Koum. Cotton Warp. Hand spun yarns. 8” x 7”.

I have now completed the weaving of a fourth small tapestry. I consider this tapestry to be an addendum to the triptych titled Her Sacred Rite of Passage. As I wove the previous three tapestries, it occurred to me that the swirls in the ocean could very well be woven as musical notes suggesting that the music of the spheres swirls around even as one is pulled onto the shore of the Promised Land. I love the idea behind this tapestry and am pleased with how the colors and imagery for this final work turned out.

The title of this tapestry is Talitha Koum, which is an Aramaic phrase Christ spoke as he healed Jairus’ daughter and raised her up from where she lay dying.2 I have often imagined this to be our own future experience as we are welcomed into heaven. The endearing term resoundingly whispers of His love for his children, and certainly my mom is one of them! Here she is guided to shore wrapped in a white robe with her overalls underneath. How tenderly He cares for us, even in our dying/rising to Life.

I’ve loved weaving water in such a way as to depict each image of the four tapestries all on this one loom. This tapestry needed a much lighter value of waters and it is such a joy to pick out hand spun yarns for the job!

As I’ve been weaving and thereby spending a fair amount of time contemplating death and a vision of mom’s passage to the beyond, there has been quite a bit of life happening in our family. Our fourth grandchild was born a little over a week ago, the first boy amongst the four. I also visited with my mom in her memory care residence and I find myself once again, trying to hold both the beginning and the ending of life while I stand somewhere beyond the middle of it.

With this fourth tapestry finished, I can remove all four from the loom to do the finishing work and to begin something new. I am planning to return to weaving another Cat & Mouse drawing I made a couple of years ago, but this will require I learn how to create a continuous warp on my loom. I know the “how” of it. I just haven’t ever done it. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, I am awaiting Proof copies of my newest children’s picture book titled Genevieve and the One Thing! I can’t wait to see it in actual book form rather than illustrated sketchbook pages of paper and a digital compilation. I may need to make changes to the interior or to the cover once I have an actual copy in my hands, but I hope that the final publication day is in the very near future! I can’t wait to tell you all about it!!

Thank you once again for your time in reading The Golden Thread! I am so glad you are here!

With gratitude,

Jennifer

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Here is that embroidered fabric collage. I really enjoy rough edge appliqué, choosing to leave frayed edges and layering fabrics of varying textures to stitch through. Many embroidered works lay quietly in a Tupperware bin and it is lovely to visit them every now and then. I talked with a friend who loves counted cross-stitch and who makes them one after the other and then places them in a drawer. Only a few of them are framed or given. I loved how she said that it didn’t matter what would be done with them, if anything. The important part is the process, to be continually making. I heartily agree!

I stood at the ocean’s edge four years ago in June. I had just had a meaningful conversation with my sister-in-law as so often happened when our families gathered for a week at Oak Island. I told Cathy my utter distress over having to move mom into a memory care community one week following the beach trip. The vision that unfolded before me as I stood where breakers meet sand, was a second gift to the first gift of her words to me.

(Relishing weaving the water in this final tapestry of the series. Trying to lighten the value.)

Sometimes life hands us difficulties that pull apart the straining threads we’ve been trying desperately to keep together. Cathy’s words to me were like new threads, perhaps even strong ropes, tossed across the shredded chasm, weaving a way to navigate what was ahead in this excruciatingly long journey of mom’s Alzheimer’s. Cathy named the years of this debilitating disease as mom’s Sacred Rite of Passage. She said that when someone is given a terminal diagnosis, they enter their Sacred Rite of Passage home. For some, that passage is of short duration. For others it is achingly slow and lasts a very long time. My family and I had been accompanying mom for about five years at this point of needing to place her in memory care. We had no idea how much longer the passage would be. Indeed it is still ongoing even as I write this.

(Super pleased at this point with how the light of the sun bleeds into the waters.)

Words hold incredible power to mend, heal and bring hope. Something about Sacred, Rite, and Passage, opened a door to seeing what once was rife with struggle and confusion as a broad expanse of ocean leading out to the Promised Land beyond. After our conversation, I walked along the shore to sort out the new perspective, wiping tears as I went.

(Her Sacred Rite of Passage #1. The stormy sky reflects the churning of the waters as mom tries to remain standing.)

I didn’t get very far before my freshly cleared eyes could see that mom was, and had been for so very long, standing where the waves break near the shore. She was struggling to remain upright, could still see us as we tried so hard to help her. Waves were crashing all around her, one after the other, tossing her about, sometimes knocking her over, as memory and delusions undulated with force and sometimes fury.

(Her Sacred Rite of Passage #2. The sky lightens a bit as mom enters calmer waters. This is where mom is currently. She seems more content, in her own world, deeper into the ever moving waters of Alzheimer’s.)

But then the vision shifted as mom was out beyond the breakers, still able to stand in calmer waters albeit with difficulty. But she was turned away from us, less able to recognize who we are or what her connection to us is. She looked out to that land beyond and I could see that it was closer to her now and the sliver of light, rising on the horizon, was growing brighter. There was also a boat, which I had seen in the first image but now took note of it as my eyes took in as much detail as I could. In the boat was a man robed in white. I knew Him at once and she did too - her Savior and Friend coming to meet her.

(Her Sacred Rite of Passage #3. Bright sky, light on the waters, as Jesus takes mom the remainder of the way home.)

The vision shifted once again, and I could see, though still standing on sand, that Christ had caught her up in His boat to take her the final leg of her Sacred Passage home. The sky was brightening as the morning sun rose, and the Promised Land seemed to grow larger as they rowed to its shore.

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I swiped at the waterfall on my cheeks while trying to lock into my mind and heart all that I had seen there at the ocean’s edge. I would have shed my shoes had I been wearing any, for surely this was hallowed ground.

To call these years Sacred, lowers my anxious shoulders, reminding me that the veil is thin for mom - that God is walking with her as disease runs its course in her body. To know this as a Rite, assures me that this is the way of all flesh, to one day make that crossing from this life to the next, however short or prolonged it may be. It does not diminish my desire however for it to be as short as possible. But that is the nature of a Passage - whether it be by boat, rail, or on foot. It is a walk, or a boat ride, through the valley of the shadow of death. I need not fear evil. For Jesus walks alongside us, guiding our boat, to take us home.

May it be soon. Especially for my mom.

With a heartfelt ache,

Jennifer

P.S. It is with much relief that I have now completed these small tapestries 1(8” x 7” each). I am weaving a fourth, which I consider to be an addendum of sorts. I had created the cartoons for the triptych nearly three years ago but got derailed in my ability to weave them. They were to be included in an Almond Tree exhibit, and since I did not have the time to weave them, I painted them in watercolor. Somehow the final image was drawn with mom actually in the boat with Jesus taking the boat to shore. This is the image I am weaving currently, but wanted to share the main triptych as it was originally granted in the vision I had at the shore. Below you will see the three watercolors created for the art exhibit and be able to compare and contrast as you might wish. Mediums are so different, allowing for more or less detail, greater or lesser color and texture, etc. My heartfelt wish in sharing this story and resulting artworks is that it might be of some encouragement to you. Cathy, my dear sister-in-law, would wish it too. 💖

Between the ending of one creative project and the beginning of another is a gap that has the potential to trip me up, cause a long pause, or - in some cases - derail my efforts altogether. Have you ever found this to be so in your creative life?

(On the home stretch with this second tapestry in a series titled Her Sacred Rite of Passage. I loved weaving the sky with this hand spun yarn, naturally making a lovely striated sky!)

Over the years of drawing & painting, knitting & spinning, and now weaving tapestry & illustrating children’s books, this “little” gap has presented numerous challenges. I’ve discovered a few tricks for navigating this gap, to keep it from becoming so wide and deep that I fall in, flailing around to get back up again and begin something new. Having a few tricks to bridge the gap between endings and beginnings, feels like having a rope bridge to string across the gap. The quicker I mind the gap, the less time is spent having to crawl my way across, and the easier it will be to begin the new project.

(A favorite illustration from my upcoming children’s picture book, Genevieve and the One Thing.)

Some examples of these gaps -

1. The end of a day of creative work to the next day’s session whether it be an hour or three hours of drawing & painting illustrations, or weaving tapestry.

2. The end of knitting the first sock to the beginning of the next in a pair of socks. The challenge is to complete the knitting of two socks, and not just one (Second Sock Syndrome).

3. The end of one stage of a long process (as in self-publishing a children’s book or in weaving tapestry) and needing to enter the next stage. Current Example: Illustrations are now complete, but need to be scanned in so the book can be created. 1

4. The end of weaving one tapestry. Then starting the next one. This gap, just like the previous three, can expand to such a degree that one falls right into the black hole of nothingness and it becomes very hard to climb out.

(Here I have just woven the footer and the golden thread that starts all my tapestries. 💗)

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I’m sure there are more places and examples of where this gap occurs in our creative ventures, but they are just as important to navigate as the actual doing of a project.

How do we get from one project to the next one, from the end of one day’s work to begin the next day, to remain in some kind of flow so that the gap between projects is as small as possible?

I’ll offer my tips and tricks and then I’m hoping you will add your own in the comments below. I’d love to hear your gap-minding tools! I’m listing these as Possibilities, since I tend to use whichever one suits my needs in the moment, and none of them are “must-do’s” . I prefer to have possibilities sitting around to take hold of when I need them.

(Sometimes I save weaving the header for the next day, as a way of easing into the time I’ve set aside for weaving.)

Possibility #1 - End with Easy for the next Day

Years ago, a read a blog of a fellow painter (I so wish I could remember her name 🤷🏻‍♀️), who said that at the end of her day or painting session, she would purposefully stop working on the painting in the middle of a fairly easy, simple and straightforward passage. This allowed her to step into her studio the following day knowing that what she faced on the canvas would not be too intricate or taxing. She could just ease into working and face the more difficult passages once she was warmed up. I have loved this bit of advice and I now employ it all the time, especially with tapestry weaving. This artist also said that if she is nearing the end of a painting, she will stop just shy of finishing, so that the next day begins with work she knows how to finish and this gets her warmed up and ready for starting the next painting.

This works beautifully with tapestry weaving. If I only have a little bit left to weave on a tapestry, I will save it for the very first thing I do in the studio the next day. This little bit of weaving eases me into the flow of working and once the tapestry is finished, then the creative motivation to begin the next one is much easier to call forth. This is especially important if I leave on vacation or am going to be away from my looms or a couple of days. If I leave myself a simple passage to weave, or just a little left to weave on a tapestry, then I can step into flow much more easily when I have returned to the studio.

(The Golden Thread. ⭐️)

Possibility #2 - From Complete to Begin the Next in 0-2 seconds.

If I do complete a tapestry, or finish knitting one sock, then I will dive right into the next one, doing the set-up work for the next tapestry or cast on for the next sock. This propels me into the next project so that the gap between the previous work and the new one is minimal. I am much more apt to pick up and knit a pair of socks if the the cuff has already been cast on, and a few rows have been knitted. In the case of woven tapestry, if I am able to warp the loom for the next tapestry, or weave the footer, then I’m able to weave much more freely when I return to the loom.

(Cute little Things aren’t they? 🤩)

Possibility #3 - Breakdown Big Projects into Small Do-Able Steps

In the case of long-term projects, such as illustrating a book I’ve written, or weaving a tapestry, there are many steps involved in these types of creative work. Breaking down the entire project into as many small steps as possible is SO VERY HELPFUL, as it reduces the mountain that is the finished illustrated book, or the completed tapestry, into small little hills that are far less daunting than the mountain. Some days, it is encouraging to just be able to say that I added watercolor to ONE illustration. Or that I just gathered some yarns that might work in the next tapestry. No matter that I haven’t woven the entire thing! What counts is that I have taken one step, no matter how small, toward the completion of a project, and that is forward movement!

(A lovely way to “sit in the gap”…💗 This yarn will likely become something I weave into a tapestry one day!)

Possibility #4 - Productive Procrastination

Sometimes a gap begins to widen farther than I would like. This can be due to life events intervening, or other needs presenting themselves in either creative or personal work. At times, the gap between projects opens up due to feeling that I am not equal to the task ahead, overwhelmed with either the skill required, the time needed, or the technical ability. I will dilly-dally and dawdle for quite a while before I dive into the computer work that is necessary for making the picture book illustrations actually come to life on paper. At times like these, a bit of Productive Procrastination is helpful. I will turn to something else - a bit of knitting, sketching in my sketchbook, spinning some wool - as I camp out in the gap for a time, before my motivation ramps up again to tackle what may seem daunting. At least I am moving forward in something! Even if it isn’t exactly the task at hand, the long-term creative project I am working diligently toward.

(The first two tapestries in the series. Each are 8” x 7”. Two more to go. The Triptych will have a fourth. Is that a Quartych? 🧐)

How about you? What tips and tricks do you employ to ensure that you keep on keeping on? Are there ways that you navigate the fateful Gap that can yawn wide and derail you from beginning your next creative work? Thank you as always for being here!

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With gratitude,

Jennifer

P.S. In case you missed it, you are still able to register for the Tapestry Talk I gave on Zoom for the Damascus Fiber Arts Group. Here is the link to register. They will then send you a link to be able to listen/watch the presentation. You’ll get to hear about The Golden Thread and what it is! 💖

As I weave this tapestry triptych, I am enjoying the challenge of weaving water. There are sooooo many kinds of water - a running river, a still lake, a churning sea. The story of these small tapestries takes place at the ocean. That, in and of itself, presents numerous options, yet I am wanting to depict a slight shift in the waters from the first tapestry to the final one. My goal is to depict the ocean waters progressing from choppy waves close to shore (Tap #1), to the area beyond the breakers (still moving but not calm in Tap #2), and the final one (Tap #3) will be calmer waters as it approaches the land in the distance. I will share with you the entire story of this envisioned triptych once I have woven them all. It is possible I may be weaving four of these, as I am being pulled, like the ocean’s undercurrent, to create one more. We shall see.

(Current state of Tap #2 in a series titled Her Sacred Rite of Passage.)

For now, let’s talk about weaving ocean water. I have watched once again, The Weaverly Path, a favorite film I purchased several years ago.1 It is a film about the renowned tapestry weaver Silvia Heyden who, for a time, lived in Durham, North Carolina. It was part of her daily practice to visit the Eno River and she was fascinated by the forms she saw therein. Silvia had been weaving tapestry for many years and her mind and fingers worked together without a need for a guiding cartoon (the drawing behind the warp). She could “feel” it in her hands as she sat at her loom and held the wool. I marvel at her expertise, at the deep level of creativity which she had gained over many, many years of dedication to one craft…the art of tapestry weaving. Would that I too could have years ahead to learn and gain this kind of intuitive weaving skill.

(The appearance of a dark color for that swoop of a wave was surprising. I let it be and have decided to weave others in this manner - from light to dark, or all dark.)

So I have been asking myself what the ocean feels like in each of these three stages of water activity. I have first-hand experience from going to the beach each summer of my adult life, thanks to my in-laws who rented a house on the ocean for a week for all the kids and grandkids to have a beach week every summer. I know what it feels like to be tossed by the choppy waves at the shore, to not be able to stand up very well, to be knocked off kilter by incoming waves expected or unexpected. I also know what it feels like to be just beyond the breakers, where the water is still moving and swelling but isn’t crashing over you so much, driving you into the sandy shoreline. I do not however have a personal experience of swimming in deep, deep ocean waters. But I can imagine. It must feel expansive, huge - an awe-inspiring calm, yet still very much alive. I have yet to weave this last depiction of the deeper waters away from shore. It will be interesting to see how this progresses.

(The swirly goodness of hand spun yarns undulating and moving across a grid of vertical warps. 😍)

It is likely universal to think of the ocean as wavy, undulating, and even swirly. I guess that is where my curly lines and small waves of color come from as I ask myself how water feels. When I’m actually in the water, it seems that it indeed curls around you, swirling in wavy arcs up, down, and all around. Near to shore, there is always foam and spray and a sense of frothiness. Yarn seems to have a unique way of communicating these things and tapestry is just the medium for its expression. I’m sure there are as many ways to depict ocean water as there are artists who paint and/or weave tapestry. What an entrancing2 endeavor!

(Tap #1. You can compare and contrast this one with the first image above of Tap #2. I’m not sure that I have achieved my goal of Tap #2 being calmer. There are fewer defined swirls. I’m going to let that be as it is. 💖)

Well, I have gabbled on about water and the challenge of weaving it. What remains to be determined is whether or not I will actually achieve this sense of the ocean waters growing a bit calmer with each image. The second tapestry might not seem significantly calmer than the first.🤷🏻‍♀️ It is possible I needed to weave the water in the first tapestry with more churning in the waters. As I wove the second tapestry, I happened upon the idea of weaving some of the swirling lines in a dark color. At first, I wasn’t sure I wanted this. But I decided to give it a chance - to see if my hands were indeed choosing to weave what my mind and heart were dictating for the story that was unfolding in these images.

Now that I am nearing the “end of the ocean”, before weaving the sky and land beyond, I see the darker swirls as a nod to these “middle to late years” of Alzheimer’s that my mom has been in. Dark and light, bad and good, painful and beautiful, all in one swooping wave albeit smaller and less frequent than those early years of confusion and resistance. Perhaps even I myself cannot fully understand why I choose the shapes and colors in these tapestries…I am in many ways just letting my eyes and hands do the work, letting them leave on the warp what they think is best in the moment.

Next time you are near a body of water - be it river, lake or ocean - take notice of what forms you see, how the light interplays with the moving or still water, and consider how you might depict it in yarn or paint or collage. Surely water is a never-ending fascination one could weave over and over again. Just as Silvia did.

With gratitude,

Jennifer

I am happily ensconced in the first of three small tapestries (each 8” wide by 7” tall) and am enjoying the rich color and texture of hand spun yarns, delighting in their interplay and softness. The last two tapestries, the Cat & Mouse ones, were mostly woven with cotton and linen yarns, with just a bit of wool for the cat’s body. I really enjoyed working with the cotton and linen yarns and as I am now weaving in the warp ends, I can see how well they hold the shape of the overall tapestries, nice and crisp edges all around. 🥰

But the hand spun wool is much easier on the hands as one weaves, especially when I go to weave an end (using a small needle) down into the previous wraps of yarn. All of my cotton and linen yarns are mill spun, since I only spin wool.

I had thought I would use all hand spun wools for this triptych, but when I got ready to weave the overalls my mom used to wear in the earlier to middle years of Alzheimer’s, I simply had to dive into my stash for a suitable cotton or linen, to mimic the canvas-like fabric of her salmon-colored overalls.

Even the color of the cotton yarn I found in my stash works perfectly within the overall palette of color. I sometimes wonder if there is a little yarn fairy watching over the Tupperware bins of both my mom’s and my own yarns. She watches over the hoard, but unlike a dragon, she happily shows me right where to go as I search for the perfect yarn to add to a weaving. Hmmm…I think I need to draw this! But I digress…

All of this is to finally get to my point today, which is that when I am searching for yarns for tapestry, I am looking for just what might “communicate” exactly what I want to “say”. This goes beyond what happens when I paint, as the paints I use are a fairly fixed lot in my palette, and can only change depending on mixing, or brand of paint chosen. With yarn, there is so much more to consider - not only color, hue, temperature (as I do in paint), but also texture, feel, and appearance (as in knobby or smooth, matte or shiny, dull or sparkly. I have been sensing this inherent “language” of yarn quite keenly as I weave this image.

To say that this language is “hidden”1 isn’t quite true. One can “hear” what the yarn is saying just by looking at it, feeling it, holding it up to one’s skin, or to the cartoon or drawing one is weaving from. But the yarn seems to really speak up once you begin to weave! It all but shouts at you, talking about whether it is happy with the yarns you have woven it alongside of, or showing you that it just does not “fit in” here or there.

It tells you when a particularly knobby yarn you spun a few years back looks absolutely perfect for the froth and foam of waves at the shore. It can also tell you that you need to weave the knobby yarn with sumac so as to make it even more frothy! And when you weave in the cotton salmon colored yarn chosen for the overalls, it tells you with great sighs of satisfaction that yes, THIS is just the right yarn for the job! It makes worthwhile all the attempts with lovely woolly yarns which just groaned at me with discontent at being squished between warps in order to depict overalls of all things!! I mean … the nerve I must have to think that wool would suffice for depicting overalls! 🙄

Well. Lest you think I have gone completely round the bend, succumbing to strange voices from yarns whilst sitting at a loom, it is precisely this dialogue that keeps me coming back day after day. I feel I can trust their voices to guide me in what will eventually be an overall image to communicate a story about my mom. I will unpack that story more in upcoming posts. For now, I will just enjoy the banter between the yarns and me, listening to their hidden language, so that the story might be told just the way it needs to be! What a thrilling thing to “hear” this language between hands, eyes, and yarns, be they hand or mill spun fibers.

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Here’s wishing you a summer of hearing the language of yarn and paint, trees and flowers, the ocean, cats, and even mice! 🐭

With gratitude ,

Jennifer

P.S. I am also happily working my way through watercoloring illustrations ⬆️ for my next book. I’ve committed to working on one Illustration per day, in the spirit of the title of this book - Genevieve and the One Thing. 2Well, yes, I know. I AM weaving each day AND watercoloring one drawing each day, so technically that’s two things. 🤷🏻‍♀️😍

When Summer hits, and my part-time work is suspended until school starts up in August, my creative brain goes a bit haywire, popping off in every direction, all at once. Now some folks who know me well, think this is not just a summertime situation. I might have to agree, just a bit. But when summer comes and the last day of work is in the books, and I get to go on a magical vacation for a week, I feel like a kid who runs out the school doors headed for the woods to make fairy houses, swim in rivers, jump into lakes, climb trees and draw them too, and eat mounds of ice cream and popsicles until the fireflies are out, and the cicadas are lulling me to sleep every night. Oh glorious summer! So many hopes and dreams, all here buzzing around in my head and heart. Is this your experience too? (Please say yes! 🤪)1

“When the Cat’s Asleep, the Mice have Tea! “ 16” x 16”. Cotton, Linen, Wool.

The above things listed from childhood summer capers actually do coincide with my very grown-up-yet-still-a-kid hopes for the next two months. “Fairy houses” corresponds to a current tapestry for which I have just completed the weaving portion. There are still some embroidered embellishments to do once I have cut the two weavings free from this loom. They are both 16” x 16”. They both feature the same cat. The previous tapestry has one mouse sitting atop his back while this tapestry has three mice in festive mode during a tea party.

One mouse is precariously attempting high-wire walking along the banner draped from the table’s edge. Both tapestries were from drawings in a sketchbook from a year or so ago and there are at least two more drawings in the series. The other two are double the length, so I will need to work out how to extend my pipe loom (or get a loom that allows for a continuous warp…? 😍) Both of these tapestries need the embroidered embellishing before I can call them “finished”. Whiskers for the cats and mice; titles on a book or two in Tap #1, eyes and pink ears for the small mice in Tap #2; etc. Can’t wait to complete the finishing work and then get ready for the next smaller tapestries, a triptych I’ve been wanting to weave for a long time.

Live Oak Allee, Brookgreen Gardens. 8.5” x 11”. Oil Pastel on black paper.

“Climbing trees, drawing them and swimming in rivers” corresponds to where I was on vacation last week.2 At my age, I don’t exactly climb trees, but I do marvel at them and draw them. I also don’t swim in rivers, but at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina, I gazed into reflection pools and stood in awe of 250 + year old Live Oak Trees dripping with Spanish moss.

“Enchanted Umbrellas”. Watercolor, gouache, collage. 9” x 11” Ohuhu Sketchbook.

Enchantment was so palpable I had tears in my eyes for much of the evening of Summer Lights where gourds glowed with pin-hole images and lighted umbrellas floated in the massive Oak trees. Oh my heart belongs in that beloved place I love visiting every year! It is a place where I feel at once as if I’ve crossed over into a magical foreign land and have also arrived home. 💖3

“Eating ice cream and mounds of popsicles” could be the equivalent of spending time watercoloring the illustrations I have for my next children’s picture book! They are about half way completed and I am so eager to finish them and then begin the process of creating the book in Affinity Publisher. I am over the moon to have completed my chapter book, The Spinning House: Stories to Light the Way, this year and to work on another picture book to accompany Genevieve and the Kite.

Completed illustration from Genevieve and the One Thing. To be published late 2026.

This new book is titled Genevieve and the One Thing. Of course I will need more than one ice cream cone or popsicle to help me in the making of this book, but still - it’s such a treat to have these books to read to my grandkids and to offer to others!

I feel as if I could write mounds of words about each of these summery pursuits so perhaps you will hear from me a bit more often than usual. I do hope I get to “see” a few of you tomorrow June 13 at 1 pm EST, as I give a Tapestry Talk via Zoom through the Damascus Fiber Arts group in Oregon. I am so excited about it! (And a little nervous. But it’s okay!) Please do register if you are able. It’s just $10 and you can watch/listen at any time in the next two months, even if you aren’t able to join us tomorrow. 😍

Views of Debordieu. I drive the trolley (golf cart) around and park when I find a spot to draw. Watercolor & Aquabrush.

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I hope you are happily creating with your hands this summer…either spinning mounds of wool or knitting up summery tops, filling your sketchbook or weaving something delicious. Here’s wishing you dancing fireflies all summer long!

With gratitude for your presence here,

Jennifer

Recently I’ve stumbled into a Joy minefield! I thought I’d share with you so that perhaps, you might also be able to find some of these joy mines. Sometimes we come upon them unaware. Other times I think we can intentionally step into a field that appears promising. Here’s how:

If you by chance write and illustrate a book, you’ll want to ask around for some willing kid’s to listen to it.

And if you happen to find two classes of 5th grade students1 who are willing to listen, then you might give them an illustration to color in as they listen.

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And as you begin tentatively to read the first few chapters, you might notice their faces begin to engage.

And then it happens! Joy explodes inside of you as you hear them tell you what they’ve heard, as they articulate questions they have about what might happen next or things they are curious about. These precious children have opened their hearts to the Spinning House world that you love so dearly, and they are getting to know Genevieve and her grandmother Nonni, the mice - Macy, Purl, Marisol and Eleanor. And they are looking forward to you coming back to read more!

Afterwards, I think I floated out the door, down the hall, out to the parking lot. It’s a wonder I found the right car! I was overjoyed! 🎉 I’m so looking forward to Monday when I get to read more of my book to them. I did not expect to experience such a joy explosion in this!

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And if you sit with your sketchbook and pens at the end of a long day and put it in your lap as you sit with whatever is on the TV, you just might start to draw what you see around you. (This is a kind of joy bomb in and of itself…just the act of drawing.)

And if you draw what you see around you, little stories might begin to emerge about the goose named Mary on your mantel, or the large stuffed sloth we named Kolo2 and the crazy squawking and musical rooster (we named him Rosco) that your mother-in-law gave your husband for his birthday. 😂 (Another joy bomb as objects that sit around your house seem to take on a life of their own!)

And the next morning, with freshly drawn pages from the night before, you just might add gouache and markers and anything else that brings the drawings to life. (Yet more Joy exploding as color leaps off the page at you!)

It is my firm opinion that joy mines are everywhere in our daily lives. Some of them require very little effort other than looking out the window at the light falling on a tree or the lawn or the neighbor’s house. Other joys seem to require that I step into them, make the effort to create a book, to read it to children, to sit down and draw, then add color to the drawings. Ordinary things that sit around me, seem to come alive when I draw them!

I hope you are able to step into a field of joy mines this weekend friends! If you see me next week, after reading to the 5th graders, I will likely have exploded into a zillion stars and butterflies. Oh my heart!

With gratitude for your presence here,

Jennifer

P.S. Yet another joy bomb has been the recent addition of a beautiful new grandbaby girl named Lucy! I think this photo of me says it all! Welcome to world little sweet pea!

He said - “You can smell the barn, can’t you?”

I looked up from my loom with a quizzical look and said to my husband, “Ummm, sorry?”

“You’re nearing the end…you can smell the barn!”

Still in the dark, perhaps due to the concentration of trying to weave spiral lines within balls of yarn, I just couldn’t make out what he meant. Had something gone bad in the refrigerator? Was this a veiled compliment? Did I forget to wear deodorant? I decided to ask outright, and he told me this -

“It’s an expression. It refers to when you’re nearing the end of a project, you have a tendency to work faster and more often since you can see the end in sight!”

Aha!! Why yes! I suppose I am smelling the barn, or seeing light at the end of the tunnel, or however one might express that lovely feeling of being so close to finishing! I do think it is pulling me forward - though the smell of a barn would not do that, I don’t think. 🤔

And yet. With tapestry, one “smells the barn” for quite a while before all is said and done. A few more days of slow and deliberate weaving. Then some embroidered touches for book titles and cat whiskers. And in this case, I will not be able to cut it free from the loom until I have woven on the other side of the loom, where a fresh warp awaits the next in this Cat & Mouse series.

Once I cut both tapestries free, then there will be the braiding of the warp ends, cleaning up the back, and deciding how best to hang the tapestries on a wall. Yes there is quite a lot yet to go before this tapestry can truly be laid to rest in the barn, or hung on a wall. 😍

I have been working on this tapestry for a few weeks now, after having figured out how to enlarge a drawing I made a couple of years ago in my sketchbook. I have a few of these whimsical settings with a cat and a mouse, or several mice. They are not exactly the characters in my recent book, The Spinning House - Stories to Light the Way. But any world, where mice and a cat play and hang out together, is ja delightful thing to imagine and draw. I also enjoy working out how to translate my illustrations into tapestry.

Canva was a great help in enlarging my 7” x 7” drawing to a 16” x 16” size. Getting the cartoon set up with the right size for my pipe loom led me then to choose colors and textures from a variety of cotton and linen yarns. This is a favorite step - the color choosing! I did get a bit bogged down in what palette I wanted for the tapestry knowing that other tapestries in the series would likely have similar colors. There were just so many options! I finally decided on a few basic colors for the cat, the carpet, and the wallpaper. Then I dove in, knowing I would make other color decisions along the way.

That green ball of yarn was my first brain-bending puzzle. Prior to that, I spent a crazy amount of time considering whether all my lines should be evened out and “regularized”. I really wanted to somehow maintain some of the freshness of a sketch, the wonkiness of wavy lines in wallpaper that are not in perfect symmetry, and shapes that are not exact for a cat or a mouse or anything really. I did, however, end up leveling the lines of the shelves. I just felt that at least there I could have straight, level lines. Or at least try.

And “try” is what I feel I am doing throughout any tapestry. Perhaps someday I will have a sense that I am confident in what I am doing. For now, it is all trial and error. I try this and that. Does it work? If not, I un-weave. The big thing I “tried” was the textural weaving within the off-white cat fur. This was a technique I had seen other tapestry weavers employ and I thought it would be fun to try it myself in hopes of adding interest to an otherwise large expanse of just one color. I love it! And will certainly weave chevrons and diamonds and such in other tapestries.

I am needing to wind up my post today as it is getting quite long. Thank you for hanging in there with me! But I wanted to tell you about something crazy exciting for me! I was invited to share what I love about tapestry and how I came to be weaving tapestry on the Damascus Fiber Arts Tapestry Talks. Mine will be on June 13th at 10 am PST/ 1 pm EST. I would love to have you there on Zoom with me as I share lots of visuals in my presentation and then have a Q & A afterwards. If you are unable to be there on that actual day, you can still register for it and watch it anytime after that for up to two months. It costs only $10 to register. Sometime closer to the date in June, they will send you a Zoom link. Please join me!1

Well I must get back to the loom…that barn smell is calling to me! 🤣 I hope whatever creative projects you have going are soothing the frayed edges, bringing joy, and leading you forward in life!

With gratitude,

Jennifer

Have you ever been asked why you spend so much time making what you make? If you knit, have you ever had someone ask you why you don’t just go to the store and simply buy a pair of socks or a sweater since it would require so much less of your time and money? If you spin wool into yarn, have you ever had someone ask why you would do such a thing when you can purchase yarn from a big box store or order it online for an even easier experience of acquiring it? Has anyone ever said to you who paint, or play an instrument, or write… “you must have a lot of patience!”

I have heard all of these questions, statements and more of the kind. And while they are innocently asked, what I hear in my head is someone else’s version of a tiny hissing whisper from the recesses of my own mind…”does any of this really matter?” “is it foolish to spend a life creating and making?” “am I crazy that spinning, knitting, weaving and drawing bring me such joy?”

In Dappleland, Nonni and the mice who live behind the walls of her cottage, spin a special fiber called Fool. This word is pronounced in the same way we pronounce Wool. There is no long “oo” sound. It is the same pronunciation as “full”. The fiber is from a special breed of sheep which live on the Island of Pure Delight. It is very much like wool, but has a way of shimmering in some light, and especially in shadows. This glowing property to the fiber is hard to describe in words. The mice who spin and work with Fool, know that this fiber, from which so much of what their daily life is comprised, contains Light of some kind. They also know where the Light comes from as the story of their great-great-grandmother Eleanor is passed down among the generations of mice.

(Reading to Macy, Purl, and Marisol , the mice whose stories you can read in my recent book, The Spinning House: Stories to Light the Way)

In writing about this Fool, I wanted to “say without saying” that this life as an artist can appear to be a foolish endeavor. It does not bring in loads of money or prestige or achievement. It is, however, a very rich and Full life, one which I would not trade for the world. The fiber I spin as a maker (and the “yarns” that I write and illustrate) carries this double meaning…a fool’s endeavor and a full endeavor.1

The work we do, spinning whatever it is we have been granted to spin — be it fiber, stories, drawings, weavings, music and the like, spins Light into our world. In a very real way, it is through these creative endeavors that Light shines into our own lives, our families, our friends and beyond. I do not often see this in my own work as a maker, but I definitely see it in the creative works of others, as I am encouraged, delighted and uplifted by what they make. If you have a niggling thought that your creations are just foolish whims, I hope you’ll think again, and take hold of the fullness and delight in creating things with your hands. In making things, joy and delight starts to bubble up and before you know it…sparks will fly!

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Keep spinning the Light!

Jennifer

We all love them! We watch them on television. We go see them on the big screen. We read them in books. Libraries are filled with them. Book stores too! We have them on shelves in our homes, and in digital form on our kindles and phones. We listen to them being read to us. And we read them to our children and grandchildren. We love to be caught up in a good story and see it through to the end. Stories enchant us, inspire us, teach us and guide us. We find ourselves in stories that are not our own. And we are shaped and formed by the stories that are living in us.

The stories of our own lives range from sweet and happy stories all the way to excruciatingly painful ones. How do we make sense of them? Especially the difficult stories we have lived through — do we merely shove them aside and hope we don’t ever have to face them again? Do we brush them off with simple platitudes? Do we get stuck inside the destructive fallout of our stories? Is there a way to somehow face and uphold the stories that are part of us, and also search for nuggets of truth and goodness within them to hold onto for the road ahead?

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I believe we can. It isn’t easy. Some of our stories need unpacking in the presence of dear friends or even professionals who can help us move through our storied lives with eyes open to what is there for us to glean. And once we have trekked through the debris, how do we then speak of these stories? How do we share them in such a way that does not downplay their significance, but honors what they have given us in wisdom, insight and light for our stories that are yet to unfold? And furthermore, how can we pass on this light to others, to our children and grandchildren for their benefit?

I once told a friend that, for me, thoughtful children’s literature offers me a way to view the hard stories of my life through a more comfortable lens. Instead of being accosted by details and realities of what actually happened in the author’s story, I am able to step into a made-up world, filled with enchanting characters (human and animal) who are dealing with difficult stories unfolding at their feet. From George MacDonald to C.S. Lewis, Margery Williams to Kate DiCamillo, and so so many other incredible storytellers, children’s books have a profound ability to offer hope and light to anyone who may find something of their own story within the pages of their books. From an author’s viewpoint, it is a wonderful way of “telling it slant”, as Emily Dickinson would say.1

My recent book, The Spinning House: Stories to Light the Way, is my own attempt at telling it slant. Though it is not on par with MacDonald or Lewis, it is nevertheless, a way for me to pass down to my kids and grandkids some of what my stories have brought to me. The three stories within the overall storyline of the book, were each given to me following difficult events in my life. As painful as they were to live through, I sincerely desire to honor them as they are a significant part of myself and my family. Planting these stories within a world of mice that live and work behind the walls of a grandmother’s cottage, allows me to speak about what happened, not in harsh details, but in a way that can be heard and absorbed by a child’s heart and mind. To be honest, even my 60 year old self, is still in need of stories that tell it slant, rather than a stark confrontation of horrendous details. In some odd way, telling it slant is more profound as my imagination inserts my own story into the story I’m reading.

This sharing and passing down of our stories is so needed. As I read the stories of others, I receive light and grace for what I am currently going through and for all that may come. That is all I can hope for as I offer my stories out into the world. If you have purchased one already — I heartily thank you! And I’d encourage you, dear reader, to share your stories with others, even if it is just one friend.

With light and gratitude,

Jennifer

I could begin any number of ways. The thing is — I just can’t believe it! My new book is now published and available to hold and to read. I’d love to tell you about it! To shout from the rooftops (or whisper into the etherwebs) that after 30 years I now have this little chapter book complete. Illustrated in black and white drawings throughout the book, it is a story which holds inside of it, three other stories about the characters which are mice. Well, there is also a human grandmother and her granddaughter Genevieve, a young girl whom you may have met in a picture book I wrote and illustrated over ten years ago.

A thriving community exists behind the walls of the grandmother’s house, spinning a special fiber into yarn and selling it at market. Macy and her cousin Purl, both mice, work alongside various other animals who love to spin and prepare the luscious hanks of fiber for market. One of the mouse characters, named Marisol, lives as a shepherdess over on an island off the mainland where the grandmother’s cottage is.

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I don’t want to give too much away, but all the characters, both human and mice, love to spin yarn and make all manner of things with it. Genevieve and her grandmother also draw and paint and knit and weave — living life with creativity being a thread that runs through all their days. The stories of their lives, some passed down through the generations, others current and ongoing, give them hope and encourage them to keep going, to continue making beautiful things with their hands - or paws. 🐭

There is so much to share about the making of this book. For now, I will simply allow this post to be the announcement that it is finally here and available to you if you wish to read it. Though I write with children in mind, it is very much a book that adults will glean the most from the stories. It will appeal especially to folks who love to make things with their hands; who love gardening and spinning yarn; who love mice and their world; who love stories and how they shape our lives. I will return with more on the making of the book, where the stories came from, and the delightful characters who really do live here in my studio.

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With gratitude,

Jennifer

P.S. Should you purchase a book and read it, I would love to hear from you! Thank you for welcoming Macy, Purl and Marisol into your hearts!

As January draws to a close, I’m wondering where it went, yet also grateful for its gifts. Perhaps it is the gift of snow and ice slowing down my daily rhythm. Or maybe it is nearing the finish lines of two long-term projects, only achieved by small and consistent efforts over a long period of time. One of these is the weaving of twelve rabbits. The other is writing and illustrating a book. Daily drawings celebrate home and time spent with family.1 And the cherry-on-top was a podcast, that I had been interviewed for in November, coming out this month. I hereby dub January “delightful”!

I’ll start by sharing the podcast, in hopes that if you too are snowed in, you might have a listen as Becky Gehrisch, whose podcast is The Origins of Creativity, interviews me asking some really lovely questions. We get into how tapestry weaving came to be in my life, its therapeutic power alongside spinning and drawing, how teaching has been a gift, the ways fiber arts ties us to history and other cultures, and how slow creative work teaches one to be in the moment. Becky and her husband have a heart for encouraging creative people of all kinds and I do hope you will enjoy all the other interviews — such fascinating artists and helpful points to glean from them. The link to listen to my interview is here.

We have now had a week of “snow” days. Well, what came through our area almost a week ago was more ice and freezing rain than snow, but it has lingered due to very cold temperatures and has caused schools to shut down. We are expecting more “weather” this weekend, so we might have even more snow days. The up-side of this has been more time to work on my book The Spinning House: Stories to Light the Way. I am closing in on the fine tuning of designing the book in Affinity Publisher and I’m encouraged that I might actually be able to meet my deadline for the book to be out sometime in March; perhaps early March instead of late. It has been a very loooong timeline from start to finish.

A Year of Rabbits - August, September, October, November

I have also been able to weave my tapestry rabbits2 this month in a fairly consistent manner. The last time I posted about the Rabbit Tapestries here on Substack, I think I had completed August. Now September, October, November and December are done! Well, at the time I’m sending this out to you, I only have the embroidered details left to do on December’s holly-toting bunny. I am truly sad to see this series end! But I’ve got plans for what is next so please stay tuned to see!

I’m not certain what I’d like to do with these twelve bunnies. One friend recommended that I write a children’s book to go along with them. They would indeed make for unique “illustrations”. Another friend through that a calendar with each bunny representing their month. I love this idea and may actually do this for a 2027 calendar! I’ve also thought of selling them off one by one. But for now, I have a heap of finishing work to weave the warp ends in place and have them ready for framing. Two of the twelve have already been framed, so only ten more to go! Ha! 😬

I thought I’d leave you with a little snippet from my upcoming book. There are three stories within the overall storyline. One of these stories is about a great-great-grandmother mouse named Eleanor whose work is to spin fiber for sale at market. Her spinning wheel is a curious thing. Here’s a description of her wheel —

“Eleanor always knew there was something unusual about her spinning wheel. She noticed it would continue to spin during the day whenever she set her hands to another task in the room. She often needed to write her words down in a little book. For as she sat spinning, her thoughts would also spin until she felt she might burst if she didn’t pen them down. There, with paper and pen instead of Fool in Eleanor’s lap, the little wheel continued to whirr, spinning up the same brilliant thread even as Eleanor wrote. On other occasions, when the colors she saw in the iridescent thread would sparkle and dance, she just had to record their beauty in her sketchbook. And as she painted, the little wheel kept on spinning as if to say, “thank you!” Even when she picked up some of the loose ends of spun Fool to knit a pair of mittens for a friend, the wheel continued making thread from the Fool in her daily cache in the wall.”

I have a feeling all spinners would love to have a wheel that continued to spin no matter what we were doing, no matter the interruptions to our day, or the responsibilities we have, or other creative things we enjoy.

The “Fool” mentioned in this excerpt is a fiber much like wool in many ways. The only difference is that Fool (pronounced the same way as Wool) sparkles or shimmers in a unique way that iss hard to describe. Some might say it iss iridescent, others that it glows. In some way the Fool fiber seems to contain and emanate Light. It is this Light that the mice in the Spinning House spin. I hope you will want to read more about this enchanting world! 🐭

(Recently spun “Frost Series”. Blended them all with a generous amount of sparkle! I used the pale ice blue for the background yarn in the December Rabbit tapestry. 🥰)

Well friend, I’m off now to do the final embroidered bits on the December Rabbit. Wish me luck! I hope wherever you are in this big world of ours, that the work of your hands is whirring and twirling into good things!

Spin On!

Jennifer

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A highlight of Christmas was seeing our adorable grandgirls wearing their matching outfits that my husband and I had given to them, plus the hats I knitted for each of them from Susan B. Anderson patterns. They play together so well and give each other hugs — this Nonni’s heart just melts!

(That’s Macy on the right and upper left, in her red cape. :)1

And when the mouse, whose name is Macy, steps back and admires her drawn self as well as the tapestry, she will start pestering nagging encouraging you to finish the book illustrations. She tries not to be bossy but goodness me she is persistent!

She is actually a very unassuming mouse…content to spin and work with the other mice in the Spinning House as it is their happy work, day in and day out. Other mouse friends, like Purl, knit as well as spin. And there’s Marisol, who knits and also weaves. 2They all live and work in Dappleland where their benefactor lives in an old cottage near the sea. The mice love to tell their stories and pass them down to the generations who continue the work of spinning Fool 3 into yarn.

Despite Macy’s quiet nature, she is super excited about these stories being written down and compiled in a book. She encourages me to keep at it and she knows that with the holidays, time will be a bit limited for making drawings or weaving tapestry. She also reminds me that time spent simply sitting and reflecting on the reason for the season (as she is doing in the tapestry) is just as important, if not more so, than all the making.

Macy and I wish you a most merry and bright holiday in whatever way you celebrate! I am looking forward to being with our children and grandchildren, savoring the goodness of God’s gifts to us. If there are any mice in your world, feel free to send them over to Dappleland…Macy will be happy to show them around and might even teach them to spin. 😍

Merry Christmas!

Your friend and fellow maker,

Jennifer

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I will introduce you to each of these mice in future posts so I hope you stay tuned. Purl and Marisol will likely also want to be in a woven tapestry. All of these characters actually live in my studio. It is a delight to work alongside of them making yarn, tapestries, drawings and stories.

Macy and Purl 💖

What would you say to bunnies and mice gallivanting around in your studio or home? Well, that has been the state of affairs for a while now with rabbits being woven on my pipe loom and mice being drawn in my sketchbook. While you may think me a bit nuts, this is a happy meeting of species, even if they are in different mediums and for a different outcome.

The bunnies are actually a continuation of a project I started back in 2023 which was the Year of the Rabbit. I began the year with every intention of weaving a bunny for every month of the Year…same bunny but holding something different and having a different color palette each month. I made it to March. «squirrel » 1

So I have picked up where I left off and have worked my way through August. I now have September’s cartoon ready to go, the freshly warped Pipe Loom (on which I can get 4 woven rabbits on at once) and «squirrel». Again.

I’m okay (sorta) with this weird glitch of mine that prevents me from finishing one course of action and propels me to begin another, or to pick up where I left off on some previous large creative endeavor. At least I think I’m okay with it as I am just as happy as Doug, with my tongue gleefully lolling about, ready to go off on a different adventure.

(Sneak Peek:)

But this time I am really trying to keep the tapestry thing going. First, I have a sweet commission which is to weave another Mushroom Tapestry2 in a different color palette. I am nearly half finished with it even as I work on the new (old) project of bringing a chapter book into the world with black and white illustrations.

It is titled The Spinning House- Stories to Light the Way. I am SOOO excited about this and I have a game plan for completing the drawings and publishing this middle grade chapter book in March of the coming year! 🎉

There is a small bunny in the Spinning House, but she is only a mention, as it is the mice who are the main characters, along with Genevieve3 and her Nonni. I may begin sharing bits of this story and some of my drawings in upcoming Substack posts. It is a book for children but also adults…and will especially appeal to those who spin, weave, knit or do any kind of creative work. Life enriching themes are subtly ‘woven’ into every story. There are three stories housed within the one overall story…and well…more on all of this later!

Once the Mushroom Tapestry commission is finished and framed, I will definitely return to the September Rabbit tapestry to continue weaving the remaining months of the year. I simply do NOT want to get out of the tapestry habit…I just love it so! I love sitting down to the loom and weaving even if it is for only a bit one day, and a larger bit the next.

I am feeling the wind in my sails with completing the drawings for Spinning House and I am on my guard against any other squirrels trying to pull me away! You may not realize that your kind encouragements in the cheering section (comments) really spur me on in the marathon. I sometimes type them up and pin them to my cork board here in the studio as I endeavor to draw daily and not give up until I cross the finish line. Even beyond this ‘finish line’, I want to keep going as I have other children’s books I’d love to see in self-published form so that our ever-increasing number of grandchildren might enjoy them one day!

That’s the plan at least. Ha! I think I will need to wear blinders, like horses do, as I am already dreaming up the next tapestries…larger ones than what I typically weave…and it is so hard not to go running off after this shiny new idea! Does anyone else deal with this? I’d love to know I’m not the only one. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I hope you are enjoying whatever creative project (or projects!) you have going on currently! Do tell me about them so that I can cheer YOU on in them! And if they are of the bunny and mouse sort…may they all behave and get along nicely wherever you go! The bunnies and mice here are doing pretty well at the moment. 😁

‘Til next time dear reader! Thank you for being here!

Jennifer

I looked it up…”how does a mushroom begin to grow?” and this is what I read:

“Mushrooms grow from fungal spores that thrive in damp, dark conditions. They require a medium that is high in decaying plant matter.”1

Well. The sampler I was intending to weave, to practice all sorts of hatching, color gradation and eccentric lines using all leftover bits of yarns from the previous two tapestries, was NOT the “damp, dark, decaying plant matter” environment for these mushrooms to burst forth! Nay…the environment of tapestry is only partially plant matter with the cotton seine twine warp and only a few bits of cotton and linen snippets. Most of the weft is decidedly animal matter being wool or alpaca, and impervious to decay. The only dampness would be whatever moisture the air in my sunroom studio contains.

So these must be some very special sorts of mushrooms, defying the typical conditions in which to thrive. Yet thriving they are! I love how the underside glows with a sense that they might just be magical night lights in a world where the colorful undulating land beneath them gives way to a purples-and-blues mountain range with a bursting sky above!

Did I intend this? Not at all.2 And that is what I love best…the evolving of a storied image which one did not at the outset have any clue about, but was nevertheless revealed when one said yes! to the journey and set out for unknown adventures.3

I definitely think “sampling” is something I will continue to do as it has so often yielded a surprise flower or landscape or tree…somehow growing up from the depths of a snippet jar where all the cast off bits of hand spun yarns are stored. Perhaps the snippet jar itself is the “dark” environment where the snippets consult with each other as to what they will conjure up next when I start to weave with them! I like to think they do, and that I am merely serving their purposes by laying them over and under a cotton warp, with no decay or dampness but rather air and light and love at my fingertips!

These mushrooms made me think of a world where three bunnies live and which I had woven a couple of years ago. Now is the time to go weave more rabbits holding various items in keeping with each month of the year. Stay tuned for that unfolding! Unless of course, the yarns have other ideas for me, in which case, I shall have to succumb to their wishes since they seem to know where to take me!

With gratitude for the glorious mess you see here and for you dear reader…

Jennifer

It never ceases to amaze me that whatever I’m making, winds up being more than I originally intended, or at least something “other” than what I envisioned at the outset.

She Still Loves Ice Cream. 8” x 12”. Woven Tapestry.

This tapestry had been lolling about in my head for some time. A sketch made from a photograph taken of my mom in her memory care home a couple of years ago, still spoke to me as something I would enjoy weaving. It was only a small line drawing, rather hurriedly penned from a picture of mom relishing an ice cream cone.

My intention was to weave the drawing I had made with colors that spoke of ice cream, mostly pastels, cheerful colors one might find in an ice cream shop. I also wanted to convey something of the childlike innocence shining through as mom enjoyed her ice cream. I decided to use cotton and linen yarns from my mom’s stash that I had brought home a couple of years ago as she would not be needing them. It has taken a while for me to feel up to diving into those yarns and selecting any for knitting or otherwise.

This was to be my second attempt at weaving a face, though the first one (see previous post) was a profile and not a front-facing image. I also knew that I was not after realism, but rather a more simplified approach, a fairly flat treatment of color and shape, without a lot of modeling (shading).

I gathered yarns in colors and textures I thought would work together and began as I do every time I begin a tapestry…with a hefty amount of “I have no idea what I’m doing so I’ll just dive in”. I knew I wanted to weave this on its side so as to allow for more graceful lines for the arms, legs, etc. Yes, this would work nicely. Surely the face would not be too difficult. Once I got to the face however, I realized I could not weave the eyes in the same way I could have done had I woven with the image straight up and down! I kept looking at Rachel Hine’s woven portraits to see how she weaves their eyes and it dawned on me that she is able to weave them with the cartoon oriented up and down and not on its side as I was weaving this one. So I wove in some white for eye sockets and left the rest to embroider after the weaving was complete.

And here is where my original intentions continued to give way to other realities I did not foresee. I was struck with the desire to add the bright orange watch on mom’s wrist. This was a curiosity in her early months in memory care as she wore this neon watch, and sometimes one or two other watches right beside it. I began to see an interplay with the watch and the clock on the wall behind her as a nod to the altered reality of time in the life of a person living with dementia.

The whole “ice cream shop” idea began to take on an odd tone as this photo was taken of mom in the dining area of her memory care home, not nearly as cheery or light-hearted as an actual ice cream shop. Perhaps my own desire for mom to be freed from having to live in this place was being channeled into creating a more appealing environment for her in the tapestry.

Though mom’s hair is indeed beautifully white, she always had it cut short and chic. This photo was taken as her hair grew out while living in the new place, not as neat and tidy as she would have kept it. Somehow though, the overall effect is more childlike and carefree…things I have always wished my mom could have enjoyed more in life.

I am glad that art is not dependent solely on my own ability to make decisions at the outset and carry them out to the letter. It is exciting that there are things the artwork itself wants to say and somehow makes itself known as one weaves (or draws or paints). I’m glad that though my tapestry skills are not what they might be in five years, that even in simplicity, a lot can be conveyed, whether I have intended it or not.

“I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.”
― Vincent Van Gogh

This is what keeps me coming back for more…to keep weaving so that I can continue to learn what art-making wants to reveal to me and in turn perhaps to you also. You may see more in observing another person’s art than even they intended. That is as it should be.

Until next time! With gratitude for your presence here!

Jennifer

I found myself weaving and unweaving quite often in the process of this tapestry. Even though I had a colored version of my drawing, to help guide in color choices, I found that the cone color needed to be changed. But this was after I was nearly 4/5 of the way finished! So I tried my hand at unweaving a section right out of the middle and re-weaving it with a different color! A nail-biting process for sure, but one that achieved a better result. There are still things that I might alter…the eyes perhaps. But I need to gain in skills before being able to get it “just right'“, if that is even a thing. 🥰 Below is the previous cone color being unwoven. And then the new, preferred color (more yellow, less taupe which was nearly the exact same color as the skin of her neck area). I still wonder if another color might work better. Perhaps I am getting pickier as I weave images. 🤷🏻‍♀️