Barbara Schutzgruber – Storyteller & Weaver

Variety is the Spice of Life
This certainly has been true for the month June as each week has involved VERY different projects!

First week of June
I received a phone call at 11pm on May 30th from the National Storytelling Network that I was receiving an ORACLE Award for Regional Excellence – North Central Region!! Regional Excellence Awards recognize the creativity, professional integrity, and artistic contributions of tellers who have greatly enriched the storytelling culture of their region. To be given such a prestigious award from my peers is an honor and privilege.

The ORACLE Award Ceremony and Performance were scheduled for June 6th and 7th as part of NSN’s annual conference. Because of Covid-19 this year’s conference was held completely online as a Virtual Conference and Festival. 

Being thrown into the deep end of the ‘Zoom’ pool with 1 week to figure things out and practice speaking to the computer camera instead of live audience members certainly was a learning experience.

Second week of June
With temperatures in the mid-high 70’s F (24-26C) this next week was spent outside working on some needed changes in the stone edging and weeding in our back garden area.

Third week of June
This week was spent as a final push to finish washing the rest of the fleece I’d been working on last month.
[see last month’s post “It’s free..do you want it?” for the full story]

I am extremely happy to say I am FINALLY done with the first stage of cleaning the wool from one sheep! Some needs further washing; all of it needs to be combed and carded to get all the bits of plant fibers out, THEN I can do some felting with it!

Fourth week of June
I have offered to weave an item for the National Storytelling Network’s online summer auction scheduled for July 14-21 so it’s back to loom! In celebration of our Supreme Court’s momentous decision this month in favor of protecting L.G.B.T.Q. people against workplace discrimination I chose a color spectrum/rainbow inspired warp to weave a Celebratory Gamp Shawl! 

And so the month of June comes to an end.
I wonder what July will bring…