A little background

It occurs to me that I should include some background information on both myself and this project.

Personally, I was born and raised in Canby, MN. I graduated from SSU in Marshall, MN with a BA in FiberArts. I then moved to Colorado and went to work for a fast food restaurant to pay the bills while trying to weave on the side. Many years (and lots of experience) later I took a job as manager of the local yarn store, which was expanding rapidly. I moved back to Canby in 2000 and opened my own yarn store in my family home. We moved Briar Rose Fibers downtown 2 years later and are enjoying a storefront location next to PK Egans restaurant. Part of the space is set up as my weaving studio and the rest is yarn store. For more info go to my web site at www.briarrosefibers.com .

Project: I have been working with the tapestry subject ideas for some time, but never got off the ground as the loom I have is small and a bit clumsy to weave on. Things started to come together when Lucy came into the store to check out what I was up to. As we talked about fibers and weaving, she mentioned that she had a very nice tapestry loom that she hasn't had time to use, and would sell to me. I then checked into the SMAHC grant, and of course the annual deadline was the next week. So I managed to put together a grant proposal, complete with .jpg images and 2 letters of recommendation and got it to SMAHC just on the deadline. They then had a review committee which I met with for 10 minutes (the allotted time) to talk about my work and answer any questions they had. All this caused no little bits of anxiety on my part (I wonder if I missed the deadline, I forgot to mention/talk about this at the interview) so when I got the letter of acceptance, it was quite a relief!

Current news: I spent some time at the store yesterday spinning Mohair from a lovely soft adult roving. I have both white and a medium natural gray and am planning on using them both separately and combined to create a nice range of neutral colors. Here is a picture my daughter took of me spinning on the Schacht wheel. I did mail in the original copy of the contract yesterday, so that should be taken care of. Now I just have to wait for the check! I have a busy May schedule in the store and will be out of town for the next two weekends hosting a booth at shows (again, see my web site "New Events" page for more details). Remember what I said about time management? Sometimes I find that the more I have to do, the more I get done. Let's hope it holds true!