Meet Nancy

Nancy Stallings Lee

 Last spring, my sister got a call from a distant relative who asked her many questions about herself and all her siblings, hinting that another distant relative had died and we might be inheriting something from her.  We'd never heard of either the caller or the deceased, and didn't think much of it.  A couple of months later, we received a letter from the woman's lawyer, listing us as one of her beneficiaries.  Here she is, Nancy Stallings Lee, of Brownwood, Texas.
  My father was born in Brady, Texas, to William Robert Davidson and Rosemary Stallings Davidson.  Brady is 61.3 miles from Brownwood, but I don't remember anyone ever talking about Nancy, or Nancy's family when I was growing up.
  Nancy was a school teacher and rancher in Brownwood, and died in October of 2009.  She was a patron of the arts, and an animal lover.  She requested that any donations in lieu of flowers be made to an animal shelter.
  I'm glad she was my relative, because it enabled me to buy the newest loom in my studio, which I will name for Nancy.

Nancy Lee

If you're a regular reader of our blog, you know that most of us name our looms for the previous owners, but I think Nancy is a perfect name for this one.  It has been at the Center so long, even Carol doesn't remember who donated it.  It has its Center tattoo, 11, on its side.  Mom bought it from the Center last summer, and bought many replacement parts for it.  But she decided it took up too much space in her house and wanted to sell it.  I have the parts, an apron and some texsolve tie up cords, and will be putting her back in working order soon.
  It's an Artisat from 1978, a year older than my other Artisat, Jenny.  Jenny is a good, sturdy, dependable loom, and I'm hoping Nancy will give me the same good service.  She's a little rickety and dusty, but has beautiful wood.
  In the meantime, I've been on vacation for my birthday, and have been taking care of the stuff I dyed last Tuesday.

Before

After

The cloth strips that looked so vibrant at the Center have softened to just be pink with a little brown.  I'm not sure where the green went, but maybe it was just too weak, with all the urea water I put in it to make it pastel.  I'm not sure about it becoming place mats now, since it's so very pink.  It might end up as tote bags or rag rugs.

Before

After

 The bamboo warp for our shawl challenge came out just right.  It faded some, but still has some vibrancy.  As you can see, the green didn't hang around too much in it, either, but I can live with that.  I will weave it with white as the weft, anyway, to mute them both down.
  This warp will go on as soon as the white on white shawl is done.  That's about halfway through right now, and I'd show you, but it looks exactly the same as it did before!  And the same mistakes keep popping up about every second motif.  There's something not quite right about the tension in the middle of the warp, but I don't notice the skipped threads until I'm about 6 throws into it.  Ah, unweaving!  A lovely way to spend a hot summer afternoon!  I hope your weaving only goes forward!
Maggie