The Wedding Tapestry

I wanted to weave a tapestry for our wedding. I wasn't able to focus on this project until March. The wedding was scheduled for July 14th (and we just couldn't push it off for the sake of art). It became apparent after a few weeks of hard work on design and color choice that I couldn't possibly realize the large project I had envisioned before the end of June.

So this was what I made instead.  I still like to call it the wedding tapestry, but it is clearly not tapestry at all. The origami forms are cranes. Watching the sandhill cranes in various parts of the west has been a favorite activity of mine ever since I ran across a pair accidentally on a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon in 2003 (no, I wasn't supposed to be walking there during nesting season, but honestly it was a mistake. The fish and wildlife guy who drove in to tell me to get off the refuge until nesting season was over couldn't get out his spiel before I was interrupting him--yeah, I'm sorry, I know I'm not supposed to be here, but what are those big birds with the crazy call!?). I folded cranes for my mother when she had cancer and for myself when I was going through a rough patch. It was such a rough patch actually that I folded 1000 and made a large mobile out of them which hung in my house for a long time... only recently retired as I didn't need it any more. Cranes are healing and peaceful and fascinating. So for our wedding, I folded cranes. Quite a lot of them as it turns out.

The idea was to create a sort of art installation that was comprised of pieces that could be sent home with our guests. They were asked to hang the crane strings in their homes as a way of supporting us for the first year of our marriage.

 

Each of the crane strings had a marker with our names and the wedding date on it as well as a charm at the end which was chosen specifically for each person.

At the end of the weekend, each crane strand was taken off the copper display rod, packed in a round box, and sent home with our family and friends.

The whole project was rewarding and I realized how powerful adding a lot of similar pieces together can be in a work of art. It was kind of mesmerizing as I was close to finishing it. A curtain of cranes.

Good Commons

Our wedding events (except the ceremony) were held at a place in Plymouth, VT called Good Commons. This beautiful place is run by the amazing Tesha Buss.

The food was cooked by the amazing chefs Matthew Wexler and Martin Howard (who is a pastry chef--the wedding cake was unbelievable). It was outstanding and I was so glad we had Good Commons do the food. They did a lovely Friday "rehearsal dinner" (there was no rehearsal, but the dinner was wonderful) of grilled chicken and porchetta. Desert was s'mores and they were the best thing ever. I hated s'mores as a kid. I think they were too messy. These were fantastic. Gluten free version for me and I could have eaten a plate of them. The wedding dinner was  marvelous Asian fare.

This was Sunday brunch which included these baked goodies and three amazing egg dishes. I can't recommend these two gentlemen enough.

Tesha uses her wonderful house (which she rehabed from basically bedrock with her Dad) to hold retreats, weddings, escapes from NYC... She has the Good Bus to schlep people around. She makes runs to the city (that is New York City) and picks people up for the weekend. She is a woman who makes things happen and her house is lovely. Her mother was visiting the weekend of the wedding and a big shout out to Nancy for all her help! I can see where Tesha gets her spunk.

Martin made to-go cookies for the guests. They were gone in a flash.

We greatly enjoyed our weekend at Good Commons. Thanks so much Tesha, Matthew, Martin, and Nancy! You made our wedding so special.

The Wedding

This blog is intended to be a place to write about fiber and mostly tapestry weaving. Some days my life creeps in much more than I intend. The most important event this year was my wedding to Emily on July 14th. I also don't intend this blog to be any sort of political statement. I am sorry that my wedding even CAN be a political statement (and no, I won't engage you on the Chick-fil-A mess). I am overjoyed to say that I met the partner of my dreams and she agreed to marry me. We had a wonderful ceremony surrounded by supportive family and friends.

In the state of Vermont we are legally married and that was very important to us. The marriage license was waiting for us when we got home. It means something. I can't describe to you why it is so important, but it is. We chose Vermont in part because it seemed like a place that wouldn't back out in the future... that the piece of paper would remain valid. We chose to get married legally because it meant something to enter into something that is meant to be permanent. Please don't debate me in the comments. If you don't agree with gay marriage, that is your path to walk. Leave me to mine.

For those of you who celebrate our wedding, here are a few photos and words about the experience.
We saw a lot of Vermont in our search for a wedding site. We found a beautiful place at Coolidge State Park near Plymouth. And there we got married on July 14th, 2012.

We got married in Vermont because we wanted a state where two women could get married legally and we didn't want to go to another country (Canada being the logical choice). Vermont was the state of the list that we were most attracted to. So we made our families travel (no one lives anywhere near Vermont) and we had a small wedding in Plymouth.

photo: Cornelia Theimer Gardella

Note: Wedding photos were taken by Cornelia Theimer Gardella, an excellent friend, an amazing tapestry artist, and one great photographer. We haven't seen the rest of the photos yet, but they are going to be amazing.

This was one of our favorite wedding gifts.  The Maria-bugs (Marienkafer) came from Germany and accompanied us on the rest of our road trip making frequent stops and cameo appearances, some of which you may witness here.

Our friends and family were wonderful coming from all over the country and world. There were lots of kids and babies and great food and croquet playing and hot tubbing. It was marvelous and difficult to leave when the place was empty again.

Another decade gone...

Today is my birthday. One used to be able to keep birthdays a secret, but with the advent of Facebook, nothing is sacred anymore and I can no longer pretend I never age. In general I don't get too worked up about birthdays. What would be the point? They're great if you're 7 and get to wear a paper hat, but once you're past the balloon and streamer stage, birthdays are mostly just good for getting a great chocolate cake for desert. Today was low key and wonderful (except for the 30 seconds after I realized I was now in my 5th decade of life which seems rather old to me). I feel okay saying that I am now 40.

On my 30th birthday I was hiking with my sister in California and she took this photo on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). As I used film back then (an ice age ago in digital time), this is a photo of the photo that has been hanging on my refrigerator (or various refrigerators) for the last decade... its intended purpose at the time still remains--to inspire me to hike (whether I hike the 2,655 miles from Mexico to Canada or not).

And today I went hiking with my sister again--and her husband and baby and Emily... in Colorado, and we ended up on the Colorado Trail. In 2002 I was dreaming of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (which I have not yet done) and in 2012 I was celebrating 40 years and the fact that I at least DID hike the Colorado Trail in 2003 (with my sister and dog Cassy end to end, 500 miles. Yep.)

Now there is a tiny niece and hikes have to be shorter and it can't be too hot and my life is busier. But I still get immense joy out of being in the woods looking at or climbing 14ers, watching for moose or deer or grouse, daydreaming through sweaty days and starry nights, and dreaming of long days and weeks and months on the trail.

40 years is the blink of an eye and there are still many more adventures to come. I have so many interesting things to do at the loom and in the woods and with my family. I am grateful and still very very lucky. Happy Birthday!

Lucky.

Emily and I made it home yesterday evening. This is what I can say about the last month.

I'll give you a quick overview of the trip and later I'll fill you in on a few details.
We drove through 17 states and 3 Canadian provinces for a total mileage of:
[Editing note later in the day: One of the Canadians among you--thanks Trish for being kind--pointed out that Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick are actually three separate provinces, so we visited 5 total. Perhaps I should have Emily proofread this blog from now on.]

(States and provinces were: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ontario, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Maritimes [Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick], Quebec, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. We went through some states and provinces twice.)

Most of the country was suffering under a heat wave when we were nice and cool up north... we did buy a lot of ice for the cooler and the last few states were a little rough. When we hit Colorado Springs yesterday and it was 100 degrees I started to despair. But in Alamosa it was 75 degrees. Elevation helps.

We visited some great national and provincial parks including Prince Edward Island National Park, Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia, Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Wind Caves National Park in South Dakota... we bypassed Rocky Mountain National Park as the call of home was too strong and the pile of dirty laundry too large.

Canada was lovely. The Maritimes were so much fun.  And Canadian money is clean. I don't want to wipe my fingers after handling it (though likely it is still as germy as USD)... and I like the queen's picture. I also like that their big coins are called loonies ($1) and toonies ($2)... though I didn't like having so much metal in my pocket and kept looking for the one dollar bills.

We did some hiking in the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Tracked down (and I don't have a smart phone!) multiple yarn stores and visited many of them.

I was able to spend a lot of time with family from all over the country including this little stinker:

These two kids belong to my oldest friend (we met in preschool). They were playing with rocks at Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick.

And this sweet thing belongs to one of my new sister-in-laws. You make me smile too J!

There was all the camping. We tried to find a camping spot in Quebec.  They had a huge book of campgrounds. The province seems to be littered with them. The book was in French, but I was proud of myself for figuring it out mostly (it was fairly graphic). We ended up needing to make some time and opted for a beautiful hotel in Quebec City. This modern, very European Best Western was courtesy of one in Maine which had some issues (they gave us a gift certificate).

Camping in Vermont was lovely--we opted for shelters after a big storm though.

Camping on the ocean, Cape Breton Nova Scotia.

I was able to see this amazing show in Minneapolis at the American Swedish Institute (much more on this later, never fear):

But of course the most important thing was that I got married.

I am the luckiest woman alive.