This summer The Bowie News is featuring some of Montague County’s unique artists through a series of stories.
By BARBARA GREEN
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Susan Moody’s studio is filled with colorful spools of thread and yarn every shade of the rainbow on shelves and in baskets. It is a cozy spot where a wall of windows allows her to look out on the beautiful North Texas countryside while she works.
This spring morning the birds were chirping and her dogs were lazily resting outside the screen door. As this hand weaver showed off her studio it was easy to see how she “dances with the loom” in this tranquil place.
Blue Dog Moon Fiber Arts is located north of Saint Jo on a 32-acre ranch she and her husband Dennis call home. The pair operated Ancient Ovens pizza restaurant on the property for 13 years, after Dennis retired from the Navy. She commuted several years to Keller where she was a history and economics teacher, and when it took off she found a teaching job at Sacred Heart.
“One day I started talking to him about starting something entrepreneurial and this was after he had started building the ovens. The economy went down in 2008 and we thought about selling the ovens, but then the folks at Arché asked us to cater a lunch for their grape pickers. One thing lead to another and the idea took off. We always had a full house at the restaurant Friday-Sunday, but then we cut back to Saturday and Sunday. We finally decided to pursue other things as I thought about weaving back when I was a teen. You are never too old to go into another career,” laughed Moody.
Her next act is Blue Dog Moon Fiber Arts and at the age of 62 she draws on textile skills she learned at the hands of the women in her family. In the studio hang photos of her grandmothers and mother who taught her early on how to sew, knit and crochet.

Read this full feature in your weekend Bowie News.

(Top photo) Susan Moody at her Saori loom in her North Montague County studio. (Photo by Barbara Green)