slowly she turned

Living the Slow life in North Carolina

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  • Saturday morning coffee pot post

    First, I gotta say, please come out to the Hand-to-Hand Market at and ABOVE the Green Bean in the heart of downtown Greensboro on South Elm St. It runs from 3-10 p.m. and my work is for sale upstairs on the shelves. There will be live music, demos, and TED-like talks on food and sustainability. A lot of my friends have said that they are going to be there so you will also get to hobnob with the coolest group of people EVAH.

    I am undecided at this point whether I am going to continue with my Etsy store. I’m just not comfortable with selling my books online – I want my buyers to pick them up and look at the pages and the bindings. I can take payments through Paypal on this blog, but at this point I want face-to-face sales. We’ll see how things go.

    The estimated opening for Elements Gallery will be May 1 – HOORAY! So I will have a gallery again, and this time I will be a member of an artists’ co-op, a item on my bucket list. I should have a nice selection of handmade books by that time and then I want to concentrate on weaving for a while – make a bunch of scarves and runners for Christmas.

    I feel optimistic about my healing because I got a steroid injection on Thursday, and it was not bad at all. If it helps, I won’t mind doing it again, unlike that horrible hip injection that I got almost two years ago. I just hope that it helps. The doctor told me that it would take until today for me to feel a difference, and so far I haven’t felt better, but my mantra this year is “patience.” If this doesn’t do the job for me, then I will go ahead and have surgery after my trip to Focus on Book Arts in late June. I need to get this Dupuytren’s nodule removed from the same hand anyway. I’m determined to do what I need to get this fixed now. It’s been years of dithering over it off and on, hoping when it goes away that it won’t be back.

    Sandy has gone out in the country with his macho friends to target shoot, so I have the house to myself until I go downtown. It is a beautiful day and it will be hard to stop myself from grabbing some clippers and going to war with the ivy and other vines coming over the fences and walls from my neighbors’ yards. There are fruit trees and bushes that need pruning, weeds to be pulled, and in a few cases, eaten. I’m going to try to do a little cleaning and laundry inside and then go out to the studio and resume warping the loom for the project that I began about exactly a year ago. I finally got most of the stuff that fell on the floor when my shelves came crashing down picked up – so nice to have the cat-free space back!

    The small amount of planting I did during the last couple of weeks reminded me that the biggest challenge I now have with gardening is not my hands, but the @#$% critters that dig everything up and carry off seeds and eat my green tomatoes! The cherry bushes and pear tree are in bloom and it is lovely out back, although bare on the ground, mostly.

    I’m off – going to gather some handmade paper for Tristin to make origami cranes with this afternoon. We are also taking donations and selling some items to benefit the people of Japan.

  • More new books

    Okay, I’m not a great photographer these days. Guess you’ll just have to come see for yourself!

    Mica dragonfly book with handmade Spanish moss paper by Susanne Martin, my handpainted papers, old print of dragonflies, mica layers.

    Wee journals for the small customers.

  • New books from Slow Turn Studio

    This is another which I completed the painted covers and pages at An Artful Journey and bound with a herringbone stitch after I came home. The painted pages are interspersed with blank white Stonehenge printmaking paper, so they’ll take just about any medium you want to use on them. It is small – 2 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches. The cover was stenciled with gesso and painted with acrylic paint.

  • Sunday morning coffee pot post

    Coffee makes everything better.

    I went to the farmers’ market yesterday morning, proudly carrying my Friends of the Market logo bag, and I did feel better for it. I bought coffee beans, ground beef, stew beef, pork chops, milk, soap, a parsley plant to replace the ones I lost in the mulching project this past year, and a stalk of brussels sprouts, which I intend to roast in the oven with some olive oil today. Miss Lucy was the lucky recipient of the stalk after I cut the sprouts off. She gnawed on that all day. She is one green-happy cat.

    One thing that make me feel happier and energized was that I ran into Tristan, one of the organizers of the Hand-to-Hand Market. Her enthusiasm and information about this new group made me feel both validated and eager to participate in their events.

    I came home and bound several books that I had prepared over the last few weeks, some of them in California. I learned/re-learned a couple of things. I hate glue. And I should back off from the temptation to separate my mica sheets in order to get a more clear surface. I spent hours down an OCD rabbit hole last night flaking off pieces and layers of mica off the covers I prepared. I think that I’ve finally got several of them down to the bottom thin layer. I’m going to try to paint these with clear acrylic medium to stop any more flaking, and start over with some more mica covers. These time, no pulling apart the layers. The layers are what make mica appealing, but I didn’t realize how flaky the sheets would be in the middle. Ah well, these should turn out lovely, really. It’s just that I have mica flakes all over the dining room now.

    Sandy is finally recovering so we went to M’Coul’s last night and had a couple of drinks on the upstairs deck. He ate lamb stew and I had pita bread with baked goat cheese, a roasted tomato, spinach, with a sweet balsamic vinegrette at the bar. We love M’Coul’s because of the friendly bar staff and their awesome beer selections, which includes Smithwick’s, of course.

    I’m going out to my friend Steve’s shop this afternoon. We are doing a bit of a barter – he is helping me frame my work and I’m helping him set up a website/blog for his framing business. I’m going to stop by Kohl’s and use my 30% off coupon to buy new jeans for the year ahead – mine are nearly worn completely out and I can never find any my size that I like at consignment stores.

    Next, a few photos of my new books. I’ll publish these a couple at a time.

  • Saturday morning tea cup post

    Because I’m out of coffee and I need caffeine just to get out the door.

    On a morning like this, having awakened to still more terrible news in the world, it’s important that I stay positive about my corner of the world and what I can do to make it better. In the past several years, a big part of that has been the Greensboro Farmers’ Curb Market. Doing my weekly food shopping there first has been a huge pleasure for me and actually was one of the big factors in healing my agoraphobia. So I could always count on the Market to make me feel safer and better about the world. I would come back to this computer with my goodies and crow on this blog about the wonderfulness of it all.

    Heavy sigh.

    Now, even though I try very hard not to let the actions of bullies to make any difference in my actions, I have to work up an enormous amount of energy to counteract all the bad feelings I will face when I go. I’ve been sick and out of town a lot during the past month, so it has been weeks since I’ve done what used to be a highlight of my week. I waver between pushing past the dread and going anyway to shop from my favorite farmers and cooks and bakers and soapmakers, or just saying the hell with it and shopping at the other market off I-40.

    That would be letting the bullies win, right? So I guess I’m going to the curb market after I finish this tea. There is a local roaster there who sells light and medium roast coffee beans, which I love. And Zaytoon, who sells the most delicious dips and spreads and flatbreads and desserts. I’d like some ground beef from local grassfed cattle, and pork from humanely-raised pastured pigs. Fresh hydroponic salad greens.

    There are a few vendors that I used to routinely buy from that will never get my business again. But, for the most part, the market is filled with good, honest people, and I’m going to try to focus on them.

    Yep, I’m going. But I doubt I’ll be effusively singing praises afterwards any more. That’s what happens when you do nice things for people and get abused for it. You don’t feel very enthusiastic about your endorsements.

    Sandy came down with the flu this week, even though he had his flu shot. This flu was really contagious and spread like wildfire whether you were vaccinated or not, so that made me feel better about my decision not to get a flu shot. I ended up staying out of work Monday and Tuesday, and have been really scrambling to get caught up on my work.

    Went to PT on Thursday and was told that if I didn’t find a way to make this tendinitis better (i.e. wear my brace all the time and rest my hand as much as possible) that I am probably looking at surgery. I have nodules on the tendon that are getting worse. I see the doctor on Tuesday.

    So this weekend, I am bookbinding as much as I can, with my brace on. I bound three books last night, and hope to get several more finished before the end of Sunday. This is activity that I love, that is healing my bruised spirit. I just have to be smart about it. Photos later.

  • New books from Slow Turn Studio

    This book is the only one that I finished at An Artful Journey. I plan to do a lot more with color-washed pages.

  • Sunday night update

    Well, I took a swift slide to a real low point after the last post, even as I was writing it, but at 9 p.m. Sunday I am on the other side of this flu. Yay! It always takes getting the real flu to remind you that it is different from a bad cold. I’m able to sleep and my temperature is under 100. It’ll be another day in bed for me, but I am grateful that my life includes a job with health insurance and sick leave; a husband who drove me to the doctor, ran errands, and took care of me and the cats; no kids to worry about; a comfortable, warm bed to sleep in; a friend who dropped off chicken soup; a wireless laptop that I can watch TV shows and movies on; a book of short stories by Wendell Berry; and the knowledge that I will live to see another day! A friend on Facebook recommended astragalus, and another friend recommended zinc. I can’t say for sure that they specifically helped, but they sure didn’t hurt. All this in only three and a half days. Wow.

    You never know what is coming around the corner. It’s helpful to be reminded of that.

    So, I’m in good spirits. Mama is going to call to reschedule her colonoscopy in the morning and I should be able to go down there in a few days and help her. According to the CDC I won’t be contagious 24 hours after a tylenol-free normal temperature, so I still need to get to that point. Then I’m gonna fire up the sewing machine, tear up some fine handmade and Stonehenge papers, and make some books for sale.

  • Saturday morning coffee pot post

    Gah. Down widda flu. The students where I work have dubbed this the “history flu” because it has run rampant through the department.

    It was a super busy week, mostly spent all my energy at work and watched DVDs and Hulu when I came home. One night Sandy and I went to Sticks and Stones, which has amazing pizza. One of my physical therapists got through to me about wearing my brace and resting my hand, so I’ve been trying to be good.

    My art papers finally came from California, as well as my orders of a stainless steel “draftsman’s straight edge,” which is a wonderful tool to use for tearing paper pages, really good double-sided adhesive tape, and ten colors of dye ink! I had planned to tear signatures and put together books this weekend, then bind them at my mother’s house in Marietta, where I was going to spend a couple of days helping her out while she has some medical tests. Now that’s out because of my flu and she will have to reschedule for the following week.

    I plan to put my books, if I ever manage to get any made, in the Hand to Hand Market on March 19. Then Elements Gallery is planning to open in April. You can see why I am frustrated at the obstacles put in my way. Now I am going to try to get some sleep.

  • Saturday morning coffee pot post

    I am on my second little pot of coffee. I feel the need for extra caffeine today – my energy level has been low all week.

    The Back Forty has been calling me and I have done as much as I can, which isn’t much. The weather is beautiful this weekend. I pulled up English ivy around the redbud tree in front of my studio and laid down all the cardboard that I have been collecting this winter, then Sandy covered it with pine needles. He has constructed a very ugly raised bed out of 2×6x8s and wooden stakes over the area where my beans and leeks and garlic and several herbs and flowers were last year. I dug up some of the leek volunteers and replanted them in the raised bed I have claimed at the side of the house, which wasn’t hard because the soil is loose and easy to work there. I bought some High Mowing calendula, mesclun mix, and sage seeds at Deep Roots and planted a few of them among and beside the garlic coming back from last year in the “fertile crescent.” Also moved some coreopsis that I found coming back from an ancient planting that I thought was gone to this bed. I let all the lettuce mix in the winter bed go to seed last year so I hope to get a lot of volunteers from that bed.

    Since my priority mail box with my papers, books, and supplies has not yet arrived from California, a situation that made me regret this decision, I had to scrap my plan of putting together several little books this weekend. But I had lots of errands to do and laundry so I guess it is just as well. I finally heard that the art co-op gallery will not be ready to go in March and the new target date is April so I didn’t need to do a bookbinding blitz. Sandy and I need to start getting together our tax information since we will have to itemize this year. I plan to get the sewing machine out and see if it really does work now.

    I picked up enough of the mess in the studio that about 2/3 of the floor is uncovered – leftovers from my disastrous shelf crashes from six months ago. I know in my heart that I really should pull up a couple of large garbage cans to the door and start tossing stuff but so far I can’t bring myself to do it. Maybe next weekend.

    Today I am going to put a ham roast from Cornerstone Farm in the crockpot and will probably serve it with a pineapple glaze that one of the students canned and gave to me for Christmas. I am looking for easy meals to prepare that don’t require much chopping. I did peel and cube a big butternut squash and it is destined for a soup and for a chicken curry.

    Deep Roots Market is trying to raise money from its owners for expansion plans downtown. They are asking for owner loans with a minimum of $1500 or you can buy extra shares in the co-op for $100 a share. I would gladly give them a loan if I had the money and didn’t have to buy a new furnace/air conditioning unit this year, so instead I bought an extra share. I love Deep Roots, and now that the situation at the farmers’ market has thoroughly depressed me I will be doing a lot more shopping there. Deep Roots has been working hard to offer as much local organic as possible, and with the expansion will come a deli and much more space to offer many more goodies. My energy will be redirected to them again, if I ever get it back.

    Sandy and I have been watching the first two seasons of Breaking Bad from Netflix. A strange and really well-written show, although it is gory. We are hooked to find out what will happen next at the end of each episode. And I’ve been watching Portlandia on Hulu. That is a hilarious show.

    Since I have been back, Theo has staked out my lap and it seems like he has to be on top of me every minute I am in the house. I love him but it is getting tiresome. Miss Jazz seems to be doing so much better and has gained a little weight, as has Guido. I am still clueless as to why Miss Lucy is so fat. She often turns her nose up at food and races around the house with Guido or Theo in the Kitty 500. She is a sweetheart too but she always seems to be an outsider to me – I don’t know why.

  • Puget Sound tapestry progress

    The clouds at the top of this piece are going to prove to be the most challenging. I may need to dye some silk. But I’m going to try to go back in with a little dark grey on the tops of the bottom clouds and mix in a little more light grey on the top clouds if I’m not happy at the end. I’m enjoying this piece a lot but I have to stop myself from working too long at a time because of my tendinitis. Holding a needle is not good for me these days!

    About half of this silk weft was handspun by a group of women in the mountains of, I think, Colombia. It was a project sponsored by a US group to set a community up with a legal and sustainable business in an area where lots of coca is grown. Unfortunately, the US also blasted them with paraquat so I think that they were not able to continue. They were raising silkworms and learning, so some of the silk was badly spun. But I was happy with it for my purposes, because I like uneven textures and it was perfect for a cloud tapestry. I dyed much of it myself and rest of the silk is commercially dyed silk floss from Treenway Silks in British Columbia, on a cotton warp.