"It's Exactly What I Want"

One of the spinners at our spin-in two months ago mentioned to me that she really wanted one of my Georgian Bay blankets. She visited my studio in early June and we went over the colours for the rows of water, rock, trees and sky. I wanted to ensure there were no shades that she really didn't want, and that her blanket reflected her own memories of Georgian Bay.

She added some sandy light brown for beach and wanted a touch of light green for deciduous trees and reds for maples in the tree layer. And grey around the cloud edges at the top to show an approaching storm. At the bottom, we agreed that I'd add a little wool/mohair I had left to make the whitecaps stand out a bit - they actually look a little frothy and very authentic.

Here's the finished blanket with, I think, fifteen colours in total.

I always say to anyone who's ordered something that there's no obligation and they have to love it before they buy it. I like to have the item ready for presentation and on display on a special rack for the person's arrival and viewing. After a short silence as she admired it, I heard:

"It's exactly what I want."

Nothing more needed, I was thrilled (and a tad relieved). We had fun looking over the blanket together and talking about it.

Even though we'd chosen colours and discussed the blanket design, I was still winging it a bit and drawing on my own memories. So to hear that this blanket will be enjoyed and appreciated by someone else with special Georgian Bay memories is wonderful for me.

Feedback on a Georgian Bay Blanket

After my interview with Sheryl MacKay on CBC Radio's North by Northwest in late October (starts at about 1:45), I received an order for a Georgian Bay blanket. The one that Sheryl was admiring in the interview sold by noon that day, but I planned to make another on my next blanket warp anyway. And off it went to a CBC listener in British Columbia, who grew up on Georgian Bay and knows and loves it well.

Georgian Bay blanket - Water below and rock with lichen above

Georgian Bay blanket - layer of trees with sky and clouds above

I was really touched by the buyer's comments in an email:

WOW!
The photos do not do your weaving justice. The richness of the colours, the touch of the fibers, the textures created and the amazing patterns have brought your vision of the bay into reality. I think that you've truly captured many senses experienced by being there. This will certainly be a focus in our home and a topic of discussion for years to come. Thanks for your dedication to detail.

Thank YOU!  (And I know my photos aren't great but I'm not trying to be a photographer also. :-) )

Jan. 2018 update from the owner: Well the blanket is permanently located in the living room for immediate use and visual enjoyment. All family and friends truly appreciate its beauty and your workmanship.

I hope you enjoy your blanket for many, many years.  I think you will.

A New Georgian Bay Blanket

My latest presentation of new wool blankets omitted the last one which was waiting to be fringed and finished, but it is ready to show now. This one depicts the colours and scents of Georgian Bay, a special place for all my family as well as many Canadians and others.

The blanket's design emulates the blue waters with whitecaps, the grey rock with orange lichen, Georgian Bay's windswept white pines, and the deep blue sky and puffy clouds above.

SH187 | 100% wool | 175 cm x 127 cm (69" x 50") | Sold

SH187 Detail | Water and rock in the Georgian Bay blanket design

As with the other six blankets, the blanket's weave structure is lengthwise stripes of plain and advancing twill which give a nice contrast of distinct and wavy lines.

My Georgian Bay blankets and towels have been much-appreciated and admired in the time I've been making them. They remind the user of those special fragrances of the sun-warmed granite and white pines, and many carefree summer days.

A Georgian Bay Blanket

Last year I began applying my love for Georgian Bay in my blankets and towels. Previous blog posts can be found under the "Georgian Bay Collection" label on the right - this is the fourth.

A fellow British Columbian bought one of the Georgian Bay blankets for her aunt, then couldn't resist one for herself. They are quite different, but both are in twill blocks and have the same theme of water, rock, trees and sky. Those blankets are described in one of those blog posts.

Rock with lichen, trees, lower sky

Top of trees and into the sky and clouds

The aunt is clearly delighted with her blanket. Here's what she wrote:

It makes my heart pound.
Maybe I'm seduced by the Georgian Bay moniker, but I love [the blanket's] hand, the gentle colours, the cleverness of it, and the merest of warm colour.  So real, so true to the inspiration.  My heart swells.  Thank you.
Every time my eyes land here, I smile and I feel warm even without being under the work of art. 

Her last line "Every time my eyes land here, I smile and I feel warm even without being under the work of art" - now that is eloquent and really original. I was really touched - and inspired - to receive this feedback, and just had to share it.

Georgian Bay Towels

My Dad truly loves Georgian Bay and everything about it, and so I made him a Georgian Bay towel for a milestone birthday earlier this year. He was so thrilled and delighted that he ordered three more to give as gifts. It was pretty weird to send my wonderful Dad an invoice with his order, but he was expecting it and I added a second gift towel for him. :-)

My Georgian Bay towels are designed to show the water with whitecaps, rock with orange lichen, evergreen trees, and big sky with cumulus clouds.

And then one of my Dad's friends who received a towel requested six Georgian Bay towels to also give as gifts! I was about to plunge into making more towels right about then, so I added this order to the project. Each towel is differently designed but has the same motif of water, rock, trees and sky. (Some of the sky in the towels below is hiding behind the railing.)

These are going in the mail on Monday. I'm looking forward to carefully packaging them up and sending them on their way - to another Georgian Bay fan.

Georgian Bay Blankets in North Vancouver

A friend of a friend of my sister was very interested in the idea of Cariboo Handwoven blankets from the Georgian Bay collection. We had a lovely email exchange for a few months (and got to know each other a bit in the process) and I designed and created two blankets for her.

Each blanket begins with shades of blue with whitecaps, then into grey granite with that bright orange lichen, then the evergreens - clumps of cedar and those beautiful solo windswept white pines, and then blue skies with puffy cumulus clouds. That's the sequence from one end of each blanket to the other.

One blanket is pure Shetland wool:

And the other is mixed with handspun mohair - I did the handspinning over the last long while and found lots of suitable colours from my archives:

(Both photos show the water, rock and tree sequence and miss all the sky.)

The blankets arrived in North Vancouver today and here's what the buyer emailed to me:

I confess to high expectations, but must say that the finished product has exceeded them - I am thrilled beyond measure. The online photos do no justice to the colour saturation, nor to the texture of your work.
I will give you some respite, but you have not heard the last of me as a customer. 

I was so thrilled to read her wonderful response!

I know I need to post better photos and I'm working on that, believe me. And, I have a new policy that anyone ordering from me can receive a full refund if what they receive is not to their expectations and they contact me right away and return the item quickly and in good condition. That means they can take the risk and only pay the shipping to and from their location. 

Anyway, feedback like that means a ton to me!  Thank you so much!! :-)))

Georgian Bay

Georgian Bay forms a big bulge on the eastern side of Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes.  It's a special part of Ontario, Canada and even the entire world to some people I know. I spent my early summers there, running around on the smooth, glacier-scoured grey granite, and swimming and boating in the cold water, while the magic of Georgian Bay unknowingly sunk into my bones.

I wove a Georgian Bay towel for my Dad and he loved it.  To portray a profile of the water, rock, trees and sky, I started with shades of blue broken with lines of white to represent whitecaps, then into grey granite, bands of greens for the white pines and cedars, and then lots of sky at the top. Now I've made more of these towels for a special order.

As always, no two are identical, but they share the same pattern and design. The orange among the grey rock is that bright, piquant lichen.

I'll soon be back weaving Shetland wool blankets, and I'll be using this motif for the Georgian Bay collection. And I'll be back to Georgian Bay itself for a few days this August - looking forward to it!