Distracted in the Desert
Hello Weavers,
I apologize for postponing part 1 of my Twillogy post, but I have been on a high desert adventure, away from my studio and distracted by the wondrous sights and sounds of west Texas.
“Texas history is a varied, tempestuous, and vast as the state itself. Texas yesterday is unbelievable, but no more incredible than Texas today. Today’s Texas is exhilarating, exasperating, violent, charming, horrible, delightful, alive.” – Edna Ferber
Giant Red Velvet Mite emerges after some dramatic rain storms in Marfa
A Javalina pal looking a little annoyed by our presence
Long shadows cast by the rising sun.
This not-so-wee fellow was moseying across the road on our morning walk.
Iconic!
I do want to talk about some new textile adventures as well though. I am in the process of posting a new pattern called Sunny Side Shades. My textile adventures and my desert adventures have a common theme, and that is SUN! These shades are happy and decorative additions to our house in Massachusetts, but would be fabulous necessities in west Texas where the sun is mighty and fierce. In Massachusetts we draw the shades at night for privacy, but in Texas the shades are drawn during the day to help keep the houses cool, so colorful shades can become a central element of the decor. Simple to sew with a few bits of hardware, these shades are easy to weave on a 4-shaft, 36″ loom.
With a project this wide you might need to beam over the shafts of the loom if your heddles are taking up too much space. (I dress back to front, but beam with a rough sley through the reed).
shade yardage (shadage?)
Ready to go to work brightening up the room and offering some privacy from voyeuristic squirrels.
All supplies easily available from helpful Etsy shops and the Sailrite store.
In addition to the shade pattern, Plain Weave is very proud to announce a new pattern by glorious color wrangler and collaborator, Véronique Perrot (@petitchenefibers). Véronique has created a bright, happy baby blanket pattern called Sunspots in Summer & Winter weave on 8 shafts, using easy to warp and weave 8/2 cotton as warp and tabby weft along with Gist 3/2 organic cotton Beam as pattern weft. The colors and texture are sure to bring bring smiles to the faces of baby and parents alike. I am in love with the happy colors and dotty joy of this pattern. Available now 
in the Plainweave Etsy shop.
The theme of my west Texas adventures, my Sunny Side Shade project and my collaboration with Petitchenefibers, seems to be “the sunny side”. We all need a little help staying on the sunny side (particularly those suffering in the extreme heat on the west coast who need a little more shady side this summer), but I hope these patterns will bring joy, provide some shade and possibly wrap a dear wee one in happy colors and soft cottony love.
Jill Staubitz
Thank you Elisabeth for another wonderful article. Your sunny colors are a breath of fresh air! What beautiful work!
Elisabeth Hill
Thanks Jill – so nice to hear from you. Weave on the sunny side! (easy in the desert . . . a little harder in Western MA!)
Carla Cay Krull
Oh my goodness! You were right in my neighborhood, as I live in Terlingua! We could have met up and that would have been so awesome! I hope you enjoyed my West Texas – heat, bugs, desert critters and all! I hope you gathered much inspiration from your visit. I’m curious as to how you ended up all the way here from out East? And where did you stay? And I also could have shown you the former home/weaving studio of my Elizabeth Hill, who is also a weaver!I’ve discovered that BIG Bend is a small world! Loved the article and pictures.
Elisabeth Hill
Hi Carla,
Wow! We need to set up the “tiny town weavers guild of the west”. I had heard that there was a weaver named Elizabeth Hill in the Marfa region, but it seemed too much of a coincidence to be true. I would have loved to see Elizabeth’s studio, and if you are amenable, maybe I can reach out next year when we return . . . talk Texas, weaving and the inspiring landscape of the high desert. Small world is most definitely an understatement. I stayed in Marfa, where we have a wee 1930’s bungalow, and where I am hoping to set up a small studio. I have a weaving buddy in Marfa, and we have hosted one week-long weaving retreat, but hope to do more in the future. Thank you so much for reaching out. I think the Big Bend small world, and the weaving small world should meet!!
Anne Ryan
I just came back from a trip to West Texas, so if you do host weaving retreats, please let me know! I live in Kerrvile-it is only 4 hours, which is nothing in Texas