My Hidden Passion

For color, texture and fiber

I have a hidden passion for all of the beautiful colors of nature.

But particularly, I love how colors blend together or appear adjacent to one another.

I am a color designer, as my weaving Professor described me.

This is my home weaving studio! Each plastic chest of drawers house a color, and

within each drawer is a lighter, medium or darker yarn of that color.

All of my weavings are unique, original designs of my own. I don’t even

try to make one of my wall hangings look like another I have made.

My Weaving Studio

My first profession was as an art teacher. I have loved weaving from the start and took three courses in Ìt. I wove occasionally, but during 2020, when Covid appeared and we were supposed to stay home, my calendar was wiped clean, and I got back into weaving wall hangings. I sold my wall hangings at a local high end silversmith shop and gift store. My husband, Tim Billy, sold his beautiful exotic wood jewelry boxes and charcuterie boards there as well. Since then, I have woven over 60 wall hangings!

Tranquil River” below was commissioned by an over 55 community for their meditation room.

Tranquil River

In this wall hanging, the river becomes more three dimensional as it comes closer to the bottom in the wall hanging. I used the slit technique, braiding and overstitching to imitate different colors of blue in the river and areas where the water over flowed its banks. I also used overstitching to suggest mountains on the left hand side. My husband made the beautiful cherry rod for this wall hanging.

This is “Loving Family Ties” woven for my niece who gave me free rein over how I would weave it. She dictated the colors to match her rug and wanted the hanging to be 2’ by 4.’ I wove this wall hanging with the smaller side forward in my loom, of 24”. I could never really see what the whole weaving looked like at once, nor was I sure if the left or right side would be the bottom! But amazingly, Ìt turned out very well. My niece was having her second child by the same man who finally moved in with her (after she moved 7 hours away) when she was pregnant with their second baby and they are a constant family now. I am so happy for them. The rod, made by my husband is of exotic Sapele wood.

Loving Family Ties

This wall hanging below, The Rhythms of the Ocean is one of my very favorites and is in my private collection, Ìt is very large, 24” wide x 45.” I used thick and thin braiding, looping, and a curved wooden stick to insert when beating back the yarn to make curved areas. I also used wool roving in areas.

The Rhythms of the Ocean

This is “Silver Moon,” the first wall hanging I wove in April, 2020. Ìt is a particular favorite of mine and woven with some soft angora yarn in the aqua sections and wool roving in the center with a looping and bubble effect. I would have loved to keep this one, but my dear friend Kathy Toseland wanted it, so I sold it to her ½ price! I knew I could still see it when I visited her. The rod, made by my husband is of, is light maple.

Silver Moon

Below is Moon Rising. It is unique in that the fringe is purposely slanted up on the right side.

Moon Rising

This is an unusual attempt to create a landscape, using twining to suggest a line of trees, puffs of roving within a circle for the moon, and braided areas to mark off fields. Ithink Ìt is a very serene wall hanging which I like very much. I used the curve stick to make the curved lines. The rod is a walnut rod made by my husband.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my pride and joys! I have given two wall hangings as wedding presents,in the past. I do wall hangings by commission. I actually love to do wall hangings for other people. If you are interested, please direct inquiries here or to @ Jacqueline Billy. They will get lost in my message box.