Colorado and Home Again

What a journey!  My outbound flight was perfect as was the timing of everything else from Boston to Colorado.  I arrived in Loveland early afternoon in my bright yellow Chevy Camaro rental to find such a quaint and adorable downtown.  The temperatures had increased 30 degrees from Boston and after missing some rain earlier in the week, Loveland was a beautiful and sunny 80 degrees.   

The drive from the airport was an easy one and the Rockies were on my left as I drove north.  Most of the landscape consisted of farms, RV sales locations, groupings of residential life and lots of highway with a 75 mph speed limit!!!  Perfect for the Camaro as I found myself comfortably cruising at 80 mph with an annoying beep coming from the dashboard telling me I was above the speed limit.  I didn’t dare risk trying to figure out the cruise control going that fast.  As it was, trying to figure out the A/C was just as risky.  

Helen and Vivika were busy taping Barbara Schneider’s DVD when I finally found them in the basement studio of the building across the street from the Interweave offices.  Wen Redmond had taped the morning time slot and unfortunately I didn’t get to see her taping.  (Little did I know she was staying in the hotel room right across from me.)   I did run into her with Vivika the next morning on the way to my taping and am so glad I got to meet her.  Wen lives in New Hampshire, just a hop, skip and a jump away and I’m hoping to get up to her studio for a workshop!  Wen was so friendly and had a lot of great information regarding SAQA and of course creates some of the most beautiful fiber art I’ve seen! 

I was super hungry as I was two hours off from East Coast time so I went in search of food!  I settled into a great little pub called the Pourhouse on the main drag.  If there had been a lunch rush hour here, there were certainly no signs of it.  I ordered up a very tasty dish with capers (my favs), lemon and chicken and an abundance of garlic.  I knew I had enough gum to last me a month so I took the risk. LOL  This restaurant was fabulous with a really interesting offering of dishes and sandwiches with flavors I hadn’t thought of pairing together.  Great quality and a nice refreshing change from the norm.

I was able to see most of Barbara’s taping as I returned to the studio after lunch.  Barbara’s friend, Cheryl, had come along to view the taping and I enjoyed the afternoon chatting with her and marveling at Barbara’s sculptural leaves that adorned the two walls of the studio.  She was demonstrating how she created her layered leaves wall sculptures and I was fascinated!  I was so excited to meet her in person being familiar with her work.  She was a total sweetheart as was Cheryl.

Watching Barbara’s taping and being able to hear her presentation was extremely helpful before going in the next morning to tape my own Mini Canvas Thermofax Screens for Surface Design, but it wasn’t enough to prepare me for the challenge of my own taping.  I think I could have basically thrown my script away as I couldn’t completely get on track with it.  I was surprised at how much I blanked out on when it finally came time to roll.  I feel like I was a total challenge for the two guys running the cameras as I had to start and stop, regroup and deliver again.  The good thing was that they were taping from 3 different cameras all at the same time so there is plenty of footage to cut and paste LOL.  Garrett was amazing in directing me and helping me get the important stuff out in smaller blocks relieving the pressure of trying to deliver the exact words from start to finish.  I know that when I see the final DVD, it will all come together because of their skills and expertise.

Vivika and Helen were equally so supportive, encouraging me to keep going and helping me lay all the materials out and providing their recommendations.  They were a fantastic team and I couldn’t have done this without their special handling and extraordinary patience.  I felt like I was the problem child and required lots of extra help LOL.  They were very happy with the delivery as once I got going on a roll, I exuded confidence and delivered a clear and meaningful instructions.  Phew!!!!

I am not a drinker and once in a blue moon go for a Margarita or two, but I ran straight for the Pourhouse for a great lunch and a great drink to celebrate my making it through.  This was so much harder than I thought it was going to be!  I kept thinking that it would be better to lead on my own without the prompts of an interview-type setting like it was in Cleveland on QA TV.  This was not the case.  I think that I had so many expectations for myself to deliver all the important points that I began to feel sort of helpless as the clock was ticking away.  That didn’t help the blank mind problem.

After my celebratory drink and sandwich (cranberry Aioli is sooooo yummy) I went back to the studio to watch Cynthia St. Charles tape her DVD.  Can I tell you, to see these amazing works of art in person, up close, is like nothing else!  Cynthia created a whole-cloth art quilt using her own cut block prints and I must have been drooling the entire time they were filming just hoping to get a chance to see her beautiful quilts up close!   I was so glad I had the chance to meet Cynthia as she is such a nice person and an amazing artist! 

All in all, it was a great experience!!!  I would do it again, if asked, and I would do it better!!!!  It’s always easier the second time around.  I’m writing this post from the airplane as I cruise at 35,000 feet.  My Jet Blue flights have been awesome and I’m anxious to get back home, sleep deeply in my own bed and wake up thoroughly refreshed to begin finishing the pieces for Creating Personal Imagery 101.  Hang in there, it will be worth it, I promise!  Thanks for standing by!!!