Skagit Weavers Guild Meeting

Last night was the meeting for Skagit Weavers Guild. The guild is one of two that I attend that have night meetings. This is wonderful for those weavers who work outside the home or have kids. It can be tough on some who find it more of a challenge to get out at night. This time of the year the sun stays out late so that even at 9:00pm or 9:30pm there is still a bit of light in the sky.
One of the benefits of living in the Pacific Northwest is that we have an incredible and skillful pool of local fiber artists to draw from. Many of these people teach all over the country and even internationally. Our speaker last night was no exception.
Our program was given by Linda Malan who is a weaver, teacher, international artist and specializes in tablet weaving. The bands she brought to show us were exquisite. I had a hard time taking my eyes off the two tablet woven necklaces she was wearing! I thought they had a very contemporary and clean modern look to them and yet the pattern in the woven bands gave a sense of history. Hard to explain, they just looked "right" and satisfied the eye. They also dangled an incentive to explore tablet weaving myself, after I am through with the current challenges on my plate of course!
Speaking of challenges, I stood in front of my storyboard yesterday with a notepad and started to rough out my first day of dyeing. Now, I know this is not a project that will be easily done overnight or in one weekend. I mentioned before that I am a visual person and I like storyboarding because it organizes everything visually. One of the drawbacks to that is it puts everything in your face, literally. That can be overwhelming. I should also mention that the storyboard is 5 ft. 1 1/2" tall x 5 ft. wide. Yes, I measured. I am 5 ft. 1 1/2" tall as well (the doctor measured) so I am looking at a project outline that is as big as I am! Yesterday, as I was standing in front of the storyboard, the sheer amount of dyeing time it represented reached out and slapped me in the face. It looks like I will be dyeing for three solid months, every day!
After I recovered a moment from the amount of work I was looking at in just the dyeing alone, I also realized it represented an incredible learning opportunity. The work will be satisfying and I know it will take me to places I didn't expect. So there is nothing to do but roll up the sleeves and go forward. I am grateful and feel very lucky I get to do this project. I am going to seize the moment and run with it.
What are some of the unexpected places your projects have led you to?
Off to roll up the sleeves again. -Renee