Wow, it's been a while since I've posted an update! It's Monday, the day after Color Connects, the Association of Southern California Handweavers (ASCH) conference in Riverside, CA. It's the first day in a very long time that I haven't had a major deadline, or two or three, hanging over me.

And so I can blog.

Since my last post, I had a solo exhibition in Florida in November.

This is the auditorium & exibition space at Brooker Creek Preserve Environmental Education Center, with some of the new work I did in 2008 for this show.

After coming back from Florida and a bout of kidney stones, we were into the holidays. Sammy came home for her semester break and we had our usual two holiday parties.

I turned 50 in January. But I had projects I needed to get done early in the new year.

One of them was my submission for the Surface Design Association Members show for the upcoming conference in Kansas City at the end of May.

Another was my annual project for Designing Weavers, a headpiece I was making to go with a chief's mantle blanket that my friend, Regina Vorgang was making. By the end of January, Regina had already finished.

In the meantime, I was still the chair of an EcoArt group, there was an RFQ for artwork for a library project I wanted to submit for, I was leading a workshop on February 14 & 15, and Regina, Trish Lange, and I were the organizing committee for Celebrate Color, the fashion show at Color Connects.

So I was working on the headpiece, but I put it aside to prepare for my workshop. I worked on it some more, then I put it aside to get the library art submission done; then I needed to get the SDA piece in the mail by March 1st. By last Monday, I was almost done. I was going to Riverside on Thursday.

On Tuesday I finished the construction of the headpiece, and began adding beads and crystals. I continued beading on Wednesday, and I lost my thimble.

Thursday I packed my car and left home at 3:15, I had wanted to leave at 2:00. I pulled into the driveway of the Riverside Marriott at 6:00 pm to find the Designing Weavers heading out for the Dream Weavers exhibition at Riverside Communittee College. After I checked in and changed, I found Brecia Kralovic-Logan walking up the driveway. We headed down to the college, and it is a great show. We were glad we made the trip. Then we came back to downtown Riverside, parked at the convention center, and walked over to the Riverside Art Museum to see the Designing Weavers exhibition. We began running into people we know, and people started congratulating me.

Brecia and I walked back to the convention center to see the Spectrum exhibition, and more people made comments about how happy I must be. And as it turns out, I was. I won first place in the basketry, non-traditional material category for my Footed Cottonelle Jar. I won first place and the Juror's Award for my Desigining Weavers annual project from last year, Behind the Cotton Candy.

This is very thrilling. For a long time I thought of myself as the person who never won the awards. Now I guess I have to think something new. I feel very honored to be recognized this way, especially when you realize how excellent all the work in these shows is.

Brecia and I had caught up with the rest of the Designing Weavers at the convention center, and we all vacated to the bar at the Marriott. Friday was set up day for the Fashion Show. We unpacked our cars and hauled garment racks, dress forms, and mirrors into the meeting room that was to be our back stage dressing area.

I got set up for garment check-in, and everybody who said they were going to help began showing up. I parked myself at a table and took up the beading of the headpiece again, without a thimble. Trish had made fabulous corsages for all the Fashion Show entrants, and they each picked one after checking in their garments. I kept working on the headpiece until it was time to go change for the evening and the keynote speech. After the speech, they gave out doorprizes, and I recieved a $25 gift certificate from one of the vendors. Several people said I should buy a lottery ticket.

On Saturday I attended Daryl Lancaster's workshop on photographing your own work, or as I called it, the finishing the headpiece workshop. I finally finished adding the last bead sometime after 3:00, and started sewing the crown to the hat frame. At 4:00 everyone assembled in the Raincross Ballroom for Fashion Show rehersal. It was exciting, everyone was really into their jobs, and was having fun. I took my place in the dressing room and continued sewing. I finally finished the headpiece, with some very sore fingers, sometime after 5:00. Trish let everyone go to dinner at 5:45, and we reassembled at 7:30 for makeup.

And the show was great. Two years of planning, meetings, lots and lots of work all paid off. Everyone loved it. Trish and Regina, as the co-chairs did the lion's share of the work. I did the smaller share of the job.

I had Jackie Abrams's basket making workshop on Sunday, leaving early for garment check-out. We broke down, repacked the cars, and got out by 5:00. It was a great conference. I look forward to 2011 when we aren't doing the planning.

This was a great weekend. I so love hanging out with this group of people. Being part of Designing Weavers, Southern California Handweavers Guild, and this whole network of fiber artists is one of the greatest joys of my life.