A Funeral and a Wedding, Remembering Peter Gomes

I'm going to a funeral tomorrow. I know this is an odd title for one of my posts but I lost a dear friend last week.  It was sudden in that everyone expected him to recover from the stroke he had in December.  That was not to be; so today I remember my dear friend Peter Gomes.  I've only know him for 5 short years but he wormed his way into my heart with that "twinkle in his eye" that made you know there was more to the story. I know that countless others around the world are missing him too as he was known and loved around the world.  One of my early encounters with Peter was when he shared the paint color for his kitchen with me.  That color became the color in my office and one wall of the studio.  Check out the blog post http://studiojottings.blogspot.com/2006/09/day-80.html#comments.  I talked a little about painting the studio Pusey Room Red in that post.  Every time I look at the paint in my studio I will think of Peter and smile! I remember wandering around his basement to find the paint can so I could take it to the hardware store and have them figure out the formula for me.  Now if you knew Peter, you know that wandering around his basement was not something he normally did and painting was definitely not something he did. As he said to me when he first said I could use the paint, "Have your man talk to my man to get the formula".  I replied, "Peter, I am the man!"  That led to the wandering in the basement!  But we found the paint and I got the formula and the studio office was painted "Pusey Room Red". Peter stated that he and I would be the only people in Plymouth to have this color in their house! 

There are so many Peter stories. We had the great pleasure of having him officiate at our son's wedding this past July.  It was a glorious event in Newport, RI and Peter did such a wonderful job. He was all decked out in what he called his "God" clothes, a beautiful red robe.  He kept telling Jeff and me what a great couple they were and how much he enjoyed working with them on the wedding.  WOW!  The added bonus was that  they both graduated from Bates College, his alma mater.  Peter loved to do Bates Weddings! I will always cherish the wonderful time we had with him at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. 

He was quite a loveable character.  While he loved working at Harvard, Plymouth was his home and First Baptist was his church.

So, Peter has come home, not only to Plymouth where his church family will celebrate his life and mourn his passing  but also to the God that he loved so much and the Word that he shared all around the world.  Well done, good and faithful servant!  You are loved and will be greatly missed. I know God will love hearing all your wonderful stories and seeing that "twinkle in your eye"!

   

This and That!

The bookshelves are back up and the books are on the shelves! Putting the books away gave me a chance to get reacquainted with my books. I have a lot to inspire me!

So, the only thing left to complete the clean up of the bookcase debacle, is to replace the under cabinet lights which were broken in the fall and the drawer system next to the desk. That also was broken in the fall! Someday it will be complete but right now I need to concentrate on getting ready for my fall shows.

I've completed 3 scarves using the collapse weave technique. It is an interesting technique and can be explored many ways. My scarves are woven using a 1/3, 3/1 twill structure. The yarns used are Zephyr 2/18 wool silk and HABU wool crepe. The wool crepe must be woven very loosely in order for the yarns to move and cause the collapse. It does not collapse until it is washed and fulled. Here are pictures of how it looks on the loom and right after taking off the loom.

You can see how loosely woven it is.









Here's a picture showing the size of the yarn. The sewing thread is on the left. The HABU yarn is next to the arrow, and the Zephyr is on the right. The Zephyr actually is thicker than it looks here but not much thicker. You can see how thin the HABU wool crepe is next to the thread.




















Here is the scarf after it comes off the loom. It still looks very open and flat.

After gently washing the wool crepe shrinks up and the scarf collapses! Here are 3 finished products. What's the verdict! Do I have a designer scarf on my hands?

Update

Well, June has been a whirlwind of a month! We arrived home from the wedding, went to a Boston Pops concert (which was great), helped with the decorating for our church's 200th anniversary (First Baptist Church of Plymouth, MA), hosted friends from Sweden for 6 days, and hosted my weaver's guild picnic in the back yard. Whew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm tired writing about it! But it was fun!!!!!

However we had a slight disaster in the middle of it all. My bookshelves in my office fell off the wall! Yes that's right. They fell off the wall! We had been out to the church's anniversary celebration (thank goodness I wasn't home or at my computer) and when I came home and went into my studio, the books and cases where everywhere except where they should be!!!!!!!! What a mess! Books were all over the floor and the bookcases were precariously sitting on top of my flattened monitor and desk! My monitor was damaged along with several other office items. Fortunately the computer itself was safe. Of course the only book that was damaged was the most expensive one, "Memory on Cloth" by Yoshiko Wada, which she had signed!

(At this point we had dismantled the bookcases and picked up some of the books. Believe me it looked much worse!)

Set backs are hard to rise above! It has been a struggle to get the business going again since moving to New England. This year has been difficult. The loss of a whole box of my inventory along with the loss of sales due to a bad economy have been hard enough. Now the damage to the studio which home owner's insurance will not pay is sometimes more than I can deal with at one time.

It does make me question what to do next. It does make me question if I am doing the right thing. It does make me question the work that I produce. I know this is my artist insecurity speaking and I sometimes feel like Scarlet O'Hara when she said, "I'll think about that tomorrow!". But, since this work is so much a part of me, I must also like Scarlet build again and "never be artless again no matter what"! (I took a little free license with Scarlet's words but the meaning is the same)

So the beginning and building process starts all over again. Stay tuned for the rising!!!!!!

Studio Open House

The Open House was a success! The theme for the opening was "Dwell in Possibilities". I am thankful to all who came and shared this day with me. It was a wonderful feeling to officially say that the studio was fully operating. Having a formal opening gave it a solid grounding and I feel like I can finally begin again and see all the Possibilities before me.


Weavers were here, the architect was here, the people from First Baptist Church in Plymouth were here, artists from the Plymouth Art guild were here, and friends were here.

It was a joy to know that these have been the people who have cared and helped me get re-established in my new setting. They are an important part of my life and I thank them.
We had budding young weavers here as I pulled out my pot holder looms and helped them learn the basics of weaving, over and under.

As part of the celebration I gave away a handwoven scarf as a door prize. It was won by Carole Raymond who is a friend from the art guild. Wear it in good health Carole!

A dear friend of mine has taught me that in any endeavor the gift of giving and passing on the blessings received is a blessing in and of itself. As part of my gratitude for this space and passing the blessing along I presented a handwoven shawl to The South Shore Women's Resource Center. First Baptist Church has a active ministry of giving shawls to individuals as an expressions of God's Love. It can be for a celebration or as a comfort to someone in need. My hope and blessing in passing this on is that some woman may find strength, courage, and hope and dwell in the possibilities that will help her to be the person she is meant to be.

Marilyn Gentry received this on behalf of the Women's Center.

So I'll end this entry with an excerpt from the blessing time for those of you who read this and could not make the Open House.


"So, this is a Celebration!

It is a Celebration of New Life, of the Gifts the Creator has Bestowed on me and everyone here (or reading this blog). It is a Celebration of the use of those gifts. It is a Celebration of the act of Creating. It is a Celebration of "Dwelling in Possibilities".


It is a Celebration of the Blessings the Creator has Bestowed. May the studio Dwell not only in Possibilities but also in Blessings."

Dwell in Possibilities

I'm having a Studio Open House this week. It is a celebration of the completion of the construction and all the finishes that needed to be done. It is also a celebration of the new life that is starting in this studio in this new area of living for me. It represents so much of who I am and who I shall be. My gift of the use of my hands in order to weave and work with fibers comes only from the Great Creator. My gift to see and understand the use of color comes only from the Great Creator. I am created in God's image and therefore I create. My theme for this studio is "Dwell in Possibilities". I even stencilled it on the stairs to the studio to remind me everyday that possibilities are everywhere.


The ground breaking for the studio was on Pentecost, 2006.


It is only fitting that the celebration for the official opening of the studio is one week before Pentecost, 2008. Pentecost being the celebration of the beginning of the church. New beginnings are always to be celebrated and blessings for the gifts we receive are in abundance.

As I celebrate and thank God for the gifts that I have received, I hope all of you will consider all the gifts in your life and feel blessed by them. And remember to "Dwell in Possibilities"!

I build furniture too!

I've been working on trying to organize my office. I transferred books from another room in our house to the office. I very methodically arranged them by subject. It was fun rediscovering books that I had not used for a long time, books that I purchased and have not looked at yet, and books that have been put on my TO READ list! I consider books friends and like friends I haven't seen for a long time, it was great to reconnect. Needless to say this made the process take longer than if I had just moved the books and put them on the shelf!

Part of organizing was putting together a desk that I purchased from IKEA. It has been sitting in my office for several months. I have become an expert at putting together pieces of furniture. I also constructed my file cabinet and computer desk! Here are the pictures.

And the finished product - TA DAH!!!!!!

Pusey Room Red

OK, who remembers the color I used for the office wall in my studio? Anyone? If you guessed Pusey Room Red you were right. Well today I got to see the original Pusey Room at Memorial Church at Harvard. The walls are painted this beautiful red color and the portrait of Dr Pusey hangs on the wall. I only wish I had my camera with me to take a picture for the blog. Next time I'm at Harvard I'll be sure to get a picture.

So in case you are wondering and I'm sure you all are (!), there are only 3 places that this color exists, at Memorial Church at Harvard, at Peter Gomes's (Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard) home in Plymouth, and in my studio office! Thank you Peter for sharing the color. I love it!

Unpacking

I've been unpacking the yarn and putting my looms together. I've found some warps that were packed away ready to go on the looms. Yeah! I'm hoping that maybe next week I can get one of them on the loom and start weaving. Of course I still have loads of interior painting to do but since I am doing a show in Connecticut on May 19 and 20, I need to start weaving some inventory. It is a slow process getting everything organized and unpacked.

Last weekend I took a class with Carter Smith of Shibori (Tie Dye) textile fame. I came away with 3 beautiful silk samples of this dyeing process. It was an interesting day and left me inspired. Those of you in New England area check out Carter's exhibit at The Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA. His fabrics are amazing!

Here are pictures of my samples from the workshop.

Moving Ahead, Hopefully!

The "plaster guy" was here last night until 10 pm fixing the walls where the new shelving will be installed. Another mess to clean up!!!! Will it ever be done?

I learned that the "plaster guy" and his uncle were the original builders of this house 10 years ago. Small world, especially in Plymouth! He approved of our additions!

The new shelves will probably be installed next week. Meanwhile I continue to prep and paint!

The Studio Blues

Ok, we are in a "holding pattern"! The "plaster guy" was sick and hasn't shown up yet. The "shelf guy" can't do anything until the "plaster guy" is finished. I can't move in until the "shelf guy" is done. So we are stuck for the moment. But there is always woodwork to paint!!!!!!!

My frustration over this not being finished mounts!!!!!!

Two Steps Backward!

I returned from a lovely vacation in Florida refreshed and ready to paint the woodwork in the studio. When I started to work on the shelves I noticed something "funky". They were warped, some up, some down! Now I know that weavers are sometimes warped (!) but I did not expect my shelves to be warped.

Long story made short, they removed the old shelving and it is being replaced with a California Closet type system. This actually will be better for me as it will be more flexible shelving. The warping was a blessing in disguise. However it does mean more mess and another round of delays. On the positive side, I will not have to paint the book or yarn shelves as these will already be finished.

Tomorrow, hopefully, the "plaster guy" will come and finish the wall.

So we are back to ..................



















I was supposed to be in my studio happily weaving by now. Another month has gone by. The Open House is set back again ---maybe April!?

New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!
The only resolution I have made is to get my studio up and running and my business back on track. It's been a looooooooooooong time!
The final inspections have been done and all is well. Thank goodness! We passed!!!
We have moved most of my weaving things from the bedroom to the studio. All my books and office things are still in the bedroom. This becomes interesting when working on the computer in the studio and needing something in the file in the bedroom on the other side of the house. It's down a flight of stairs and up a flight of stairs and back! Good exercise!
We still have a lot of painting to do, mainly trim and shelves - the FUN STUFF!


Anyway, I thought I would post a few pictures of what the studio looks like just so you can understand the state of chaos that everything is still in. Some day I will be all moved in and things will be organized.


Look for the open house sometime in March or April.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a good start to the New Year!

Progress Update

The studio is basically done! Yeah. There are still a few details which need to be finished. The final inspection will be on Dec. 27 hopefully. Jeff and I had to put the interior painting on hold in order to prepare for Christmas. We will get to it in January. All the Christmas decorations are finally up and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Jeff's sister and our two sons. My Mom is also here with us until the first week of January. I feel so blessed to have family here for the holidays.

It was fun to decorate a new space. We put a tree in the entryway area and decorated it with lights and ribbon.




So from our house to yours, we wish you a Very Merry Christmas and hope that the New Year is full of many blessings.

Day 113

Well, we are almost double the number of days we were told it would take to finish this project. I do believe we are almost finished! There are just a few small things to do and the final inspections.

Last week they installed the floor in the kitchen/living room areas. It is Brazilian Cherry and it is beautiful.


I will be so glad when I can get everything back in order. We had to clear out the furniture and all the things that were stored in the island and cabinets that were going to be moved. Just to give you an idea of what life has been like for the last 5 months, here are a few pictures of the state of affairs at the Jones' house.


I feel like I am living in an overcrowded antique store!
We've had a few more glitches. The fire inspection did not go well as the electrician neglected to bring the existing house up to code concerning replacing smoke detectors and CO detectors. The smokes in MA have to be hard wired with battery back up and one in every bedroom plus the hallway. We had one in the hallway but none in the bedrooms. None of the hard wired had battery backup so we had to replace them all. The electrician should have know this! I have made it a policy to not "dis" anyone on this blog but I will be happy to share the name of this electrician if you ask so that you can stay clear of him! I would NOT recommend him!
The bamboo floor needed to be replaced due to scratches that were put in the floor during construction. I have my suspicions how they got there and let me just say, I do not believe that it was the contractor but one of the sub-contractors. Figure it out!
Anyway, we are getting down to the wire. The closet guy has pneumonia so he has not been able to install the pantry closet. All those closet items are sitting in the dining room. Thanksgiving dinner may be interesting this year!!!!!
Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had over 12 turkeys march through our yard on Sunday! What a sight that was!!
So I will leave you now with a picture of the completed kitchen/living room floor. We love it!

Day 107

I love the landscaping! They finished up the brick walk and laid the flagstone entry. It looks awesome!!! It will look even better when the trash can is out of the way!!!









They added this cute little lacy evergreen. It has a really long name and I can't remember it's common name but it is perfect for the spot.





This ground cover is called Arctostaphylos uva-ursi "Massachusetts". That's a mouth full! It gets pinkish-white flowers which become red berries in the fall.






Small plants such as Woolly Thyme (how appropriate) and Pink Pussy-Toes (for all you cat lovers) are planted in between the bluestone. Some of these small plants give off a scent when walked on. I love this look. It is so "cottage-y".


And the "piece de resistance" (read it with a French accent!) is the herringbone brick walkway to the front door! Now this is where a weaver lives!!!!!