Chiengora Tapestry and Catching up

We sold our home along the shoreline last year and moved farther north to be closer to my husbands job in Massachusetts.  In the process of getting the house ready to sell, experiencing a hurricane and a weird and wild early year snow storm, going thru the sale of our house and the move out process just before Christmas, moving into a rental while we tried to figure out where to live next, buying a new home and moving in the week after I turned 50 - I've neglected my blog.  I thought I'd post a short update today as I am trying to settle into the new place (translation - I can't face unpacking another box today, so I am playing on the computer).

On the fiber front, my newest passion has been tapestry weaving.  I am fascinated with some of the tapestry diaries I have seen online.  Some of my favorite examples are found on the Weavolution blog. I tried to do a tapestry diary of my own, but I found my weaving skills needed a little more polishing before I could enjoy working on a diary.  So I decided to to do a sampler of sorts instead.  Using many of the little skeins of yarn from my early chiengora spinning days, I sat at my loom and wove something everyday.  My approach was a bit random, just weaving whatever I felt like and with whatever color I chose at the moment,  sort of a Saori weaving technique.  As I wove my chiengora yarn into the tapestry it was fun to think about the many years I spent as a volunteer at the Fidelco Guide Dog foundation were I met many wonderful people and dogs who taught me valuable life lessons.  Here is the final tapestry just off the loom:

I was not trying to create a scene or picture of anything realistic in the tapestry.   I was random weaving with whatever cheingora yarn I chose at the moment in an effort to gain a better understanding of some basic tapestry techniques.  However, after the weaving was complete and I took a moment to let it set in my mind, I saw mountains and ocean.  Most of the first 3 decades of my life I lived in mountainous states in the western US. The past two decades I have enjoyed living along the shoreline in southern Connecticut.  My memories of hiking in the mountains and walking at the beach are a huge part of me and have come thru in the tapestry.  I love that my first tapestry is wove with many of my early hand spun yarns and that the yarn is mostly German Shepherd Dog and wool blends from an amazing decade in my life.  The final result of having so many of my years of living represented in the final piece is a wonderful entry for me into the world of tapestry.