What happened was that my mum and I were on a visit in Kristinestad/ Kristiinankaupunki in Finland. We went to my grandmother's cousin Imbi's house, where she was weaving as usually. And what an adventure. I was allowed to touch the loom. And look my eyes are closed while cherishing the strength of the loom. This day made up my mind: I had to learn how to weave to survive.  Strange thought isn't it especially in our modern society when I should have chosen something like engineering  to make a career. But I can't get away from it, I don't want to leave my universe of rag rug weaving. 

About  30 years ago I made a logo for myself and have used it since that.  The logo depicts a sheep in who's ears the shape of my first two letters are marked. A and M. You have to look closely to see that.   A shuttle is placed with the sheep.  I am a great lover of wool and admire sheep and in those days I didn't realize that most of my weaving would be with cotton rags. The Icelandic  word vefari  means  weaver in English.

Photographing Rag Rugs is fun. And to show close ups of them too. 

A Rag Rug is depth. The closer you get the more different hues you see and texture. 

Sometimes the aim, when weaving, is to make a field that seems even to the eye when you are in a certain distance.

But seeing it from near is always a different adventure. That is the fantastic, great fun thing in creating them!

November 1st - 5th there is the annual Art and Craft Fair in Reykjavik. This year I applied and have been granted a stand. I will take my Rag Rugs along and see if I can charm the visitors :) If you want to see more about the fair I think the best option is to look at their website . There is a lot to prepare for such an event. Not just the pieces but also pictures, chair, table  ( how high, how wide etc?), brochure or not, visiting card what size and so on. 

This also forces me to scrutinize myself, how I present myself and my work. I am very lucky to have a friend who will aid me with these arrangements. Her name is Þuríður Helga Jónasdóttir, she is an interior architect  and she has a website .  Her website  is in Icelandic but if you press on the different options on the index bar you will see pictures and they describe what she is doing. 

This picture on the left might be one of the pics that I will show at my stand at the fair. This is myself weaving. 

I think I have succeeded with an autumn piece. Look. I set it up in the garden with the grass that is still green and the leaves of the birches that are the colours I was looking for. Also the colours are in the blueberry bushes that I told you about before. The spring piece is also out of the loom, blue and cool with the faint colours of the spring life contemplating getting out of the winter slumber into the embrace of the sun. 
I am pleased. I hope it doesn't sound like bragging, I hope it sounds like being simply pleased with many days thinking, toiling, wondering, hesitating and making decisions. Being a creator. 

If you look further down this blog you can see photographs I made during a spring hike that was the inspiration for the spring piece. The blue of the sky and faint colours of the earth and plants.