Sheila has a new series of hand jacquard weavings with natural themes. There are seven striking images to date in this series. The first one, California Dreamin', depicts the silhouette of a large valley oak at sunset. The second in the series, The Grape Escape, shows a verdant scene in California's Napa valley near Calistoga. The third, Blossom Creek, is a lovely springtime scene of blossoming trees in the foreground and rolling vineyards in the background. The fourth is an autumn-hued, tree-lined lane from the heart of the Napa wine country entitled Autumn in St. Helena. Sheila wove a variation of this piece titled St. Helena Reflection by mirroring the image three times horizontally resulting in a larger format piece. The sixth in this series is Ceago del Lago, an architectural study of a magnificent new biodynamic winery built by Jim Fetzer on the northeast shore of Clearlake. The seventh and latest in this exciting series is a view of Mt. Konocti through a natural fiber veil of shoreline reeds, titled Konocti Calligraphy. All these pieces are part of Sheila's experimentations with the TC-1 and AVL-TIS jacquard looms, which allow jacquard weaving in a small format. This represents an exciting new direction for Sheila's designs, far more detailed and photo realistic. This is a limited series. Please go to the Market page for details.

The latest addition to Sheila's studio is a second hand AVL jacquard loom with 672 hooks. This loom came to Sheila through the amazing generosity of Mim Wynne in Arkansas. Lake Biwa the first tapestry Sheila wove on her new loom is featured in the November/December 2008 issue of Handwoven, pages 60-61. There is also a full six page article on the web at Interweave.com where you can find the complete drafts and more pictures. Find Handwoven Magazine and look for the link to the New Web articles. Lake Biwa can also be seen on Sheila's Marketplace page.

<<<Sheila’s latest new project is creating exciting interpretations of Edward Curtis photogravure prints taken in the early 1900’s. These public domain images take on a new tactile presence as very popular lush tapestries. “A Pomo Girl” was the first image she brought to life in classic sepia tones. See the Market Place page 3 for other images and click here to read an article about the whole project.