Except for a quick run to Annville to mail out an order and stop at a roadside produce stand and a very nice meat market next to it called Laudermilch’s Meats, we were busy at home all day yesterday.
After dealing with the usual morning load of e-mail, I parked myself at my desk and stayed there most of the day. I wrote stories for and then laid out seven more pages of the new issue of the Gypsy Journal. After I finish every issue, I say I’m going to write a couple of stories a week for the next one so a lot of it will be done ahead of time. And every issue I get busy with other projects and procrastinate and it doesn’t get done. That’s the procrastinator’s code, right – Why do today what you can put off until next week?
While I was doing that, Miss Terry got a lot of work done on her current weaving project. This photo only shows a small portion of what she has done already. There are a couple of feet that you can’t see that are already wound on the front apron.
And here is a close up of the pattern. The actual diameter of the thread she is using is no bigger than a heavy sewing thread.
This project is a multicolored shawl made with tencel thread and much more complicated than anything she’s tackled yet. She’s still in the learning curve as a self-taught weaver and hit a couple of stumbling blocks before she figured things out and it began to flow for her. I love seeing her smiling when she masters some new technique, but I know Terry enough to know that there will always be another challenge to overcome, because she loves learning.
Quite a few readers have asked how to get an autographed copy of her cookbook, Miss Terry’s Kitchen. While you can order the book in printed or e-book format from Amazon, up until now most of the autographed copies have been sold in person or at Escapade back in Goshen. But we have a small supply on hand, and if you want one we can mail it to you. Cost of the book, including shipping, is $19.45 and you can order it by logging onto www.paypal.com and making payment to editor@gypsyjournal.net or by sending a check to Gypsy Journal, 1400 Colorado Street C-16, Boulder City, NV 89005. Please include a note telling Terry who you want it autographed to. Because we are on the road and have to wait for our mail to catch up to us, if you order by snail mail, please allow up to three weeks for delivery.
Have you entered our latest Free Drawing yet? This week’s prize is an audiobook of Longnecks & Twisted Hearts, the third book in my friend George Weir’s excellent Bill Travis mystery series. To enter, all you have to do is click on the Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.
I have several great books to tell you about today from some of my author pals. There’s good news for science fiction readers this weekend. Bestselling author Saxon Andrew has just released Taming a Planet, book two in his Trapped in Time series and it’s already climbing the charts and looking like another blockbuster hit.
Stephen Arseneault just released AMP The Core
Two other guys that impress me are Billy Kring and George Weir, and they just published a new steampunk book, 1889: Journey To The Moon, about eleven people on a trip to the Moon in a strange steam-powered anti-gravity spaceship.
And as always, folks, the best thing you can do for an independent author is to leave a review. It really helps us market our books.
Thought For The Day – Experience is the one thing you can’t get on the easy payment plan.
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Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
I love the colors! Did Terry pick them out too?
Nick, with 1000 Trails how far out do you make reservations 1-2 years. Especially Flordia? I’m At Redmond OR at FMCA.
through a discounter I just purchased a Platium membership, 21 days then move. .No times out. The transfer takes 3 weeks, may try and use in CA or NV home is OH.
Thanks
also I’m not finding the blue link to the drawing, I don’t see how to get to that page. Penny
beautiful color and pattern, cannot wait to see the final outcome.
Penny, it depends on your membership. We can make Thousand Trails reservations 180 days out. Some memberships are 120 days. The links are bold and may not stand out on some screens. You can also click the Free Drawings tab at the top of every blog page.
Jan, yes Terry picked out the colors.
Does Terry take orders for her work? I have twin daughters that I’d like to have shawls made for their 30 birthdays September 1. Could she have them done and to us by then?
Alice, Terry doesn’t take orders at this time. But if she did, it would take longer than two weeks to produce two of her shawls and have them to you. It’s rather time intensive. Just setting up the loom for each project takes at least two days, before she ever starts the weaving process.
I’m sorry I thought that would be enough time. Even at 2 days each to set them up and a day or so each to weave them I was thinking a week at most then shipping time.
Awesome work Terry!! Love when Nick posts pictures of your work. Of course, Nick you do good work too……writing work!! Keep it up both of you.
Very cute title today Nick!! The Wordsmith and The Weaver!! LOVE the shawl….such gorgeous colors!! Thanks for keeping us up on how it is coming along…really great to see that!!
Regarding Miss Terry selling her handwoven shawls:
When people ask me why I don’t sell my quilts, my answer is usually “You couldn’t afford it!” Even at minimum wage, the hours and hours that go into the designing, planning, and crafting of one of my smaller, simpler bed quilts probably approaches $500–$800 not including the materials. Also, when I am working for someone else, it’s not fun any more. I like being retired.
I think that most of us crafters tend to undervalue our time and effort both financially and otherwise. We don’t see ourselves as artists adding beauty to the world around us, each in our own way.
Nick, reading your blog I get the impression that you’re always writing a bunch, or eating Miss Terry’s good cooking, or going places. When do you have time to read all the books that you recommend and still have time for your blog?
It’s like anything else, Charley, you have to set priorities and make sacrifices. In my case, I gave up diet and exercise.