Since I wanted the girls to get right to the weaving, I also wove a selvedge and got everything ready for them so they wouldn't get hung up before having the fun of putting colors together. I gave them each the same cartoon from which to make a small sampler. It included horizontal-vertical, diagonal, and circular shapes to teach them how to work with each. This exercise was very useful and showed the girls such things as the importance of weaving with a loose hand. However, I soon realized that it was too complex. It took some of them almost three of the five weeks to complete it. I had originally planned for that part of the curriculum to take one week, or a week and a half, max. It didn't leave enough time for most of them to finish their own cartoons, at least not with lots of help from me.

From the start, I urged them all to think of what they would like to do for their own cartoons. I showed them pictures of possible subjects, etc., etc. Half of them did tell me what they wanted to do and Yuiko freehand drew a charming fish with seaweed and rocks. For the others, I found some clip-art that resembled their pets, and they were thrilled.

So how did they like the class? I was delighted when not only some of the girls themselves, but one of their mothers told me that it was their favorite class. There were a couple that may not have felt that way, but all-in-all, they seemed to enjoy it. Often when I announced it was time to go to their next class, they protested.

Although I took a few of my small tapestries to show them, the most meaningful connection for most of them came via Monique's tapestries. I had shown them a picture of Monique and me kneeling on either end of her most recent commission, the 9x7-foot work done for a hospital in Pontiac, Michigan. Then, during our last week, she was most generous to bring some of her other works from home to show them, including her 3x4.5-foot self portrait. I think most of them were so overwhelmed they didn't know what to say. Except 9-year-old Phoebe, who is never at a loss for words, asked "How many strings did you use for that big one?" And for the remainder of summer school, 12-year-old Tiffany could talk of nothing else but Monique's invitation to participate in the 911 Memorial Tapestry.

The whole experience was delightful, and I look forward to next summer's "Summer Spree."