Wrapped for the Winter

On our woodland walk the pups and I came across a fallen silver birch and hauled it home to wrap. It is now wedged in the old apple tree for the winter. As I tore up my grandmother's sheet and wrapped it around trees, I wondered what she would think. I feel she she would think me pretty strange and wasteful as well. She was a teacher of home economics and would not only patch her sheets but also cut them down the middle and resew the outer edges back together in order to get a few more years wear out of them.

A wrapped hemlock deep in the woods. The snow is usually deep back there.

And finally a wrapped maple.

Rusty and Watery and Stitched

The first rusty leaves have speckled the stream.....

and the lake hides behind rusty maple leaves....

and the stitching on my rusty water piece progresses.......

Forest Floors

Rusty pups picking up woodland gossip.

Wouldn't trust those pups near this forest floor..been stitching it for about a year now!

The base is tweed from a rug hooking friend. I needlepunched a mess of leaves and things all over. Now that fall/autumn is coming, might be time to pick it up again and add to the story.

Spiralling into growth

How much energy and effort does it take a shell to grow?
How long were they in the sea before they ended up with me?

Stitching with the Robin

Oh happy day....finally time to stitch and it was this Robin, started in Jude's workshop, who asked to be worked on. I thought it was finished, but apparently borders were needed and more leaves too. As I emerged from sleep this morning my brain was saying "Twixt fallen leaves and floating feathers, still the robin sang". However, the openness of the sky is appealing to me and right now I'm thinking I will extend the tree branches into the new borders and change the thought of "floating feathers" to "open skies".

First Burr of the Season

It's that time of year again when burrs think they can use my dogs as public transport systems!
Gosh I need to get back to stitching....it's been a long two weeks away from my needles and thread.

Rusty Cloth and a Rusty Pup

On golden pond ....don't you agree! It was loosely wrapped around that rod.

Rusted from that bit of flotsam that has a lip around it's edge. The first day nothing happened; so once again I painted the bundle with my vinegar to get better contact and now I have a very large dot or perhaps solar flares!

Didn't have to rust this pup...she came like that!

We have our pond back....we think

We believe he comes to visit when the water gets low up the mountain, because torrents of rain came down for a couple of days and we haven't seen him since. But on the other hand perhaps he comes to get away from the "kits"! Anyway, we don't mind sharing our apples and our trees if our pond is only a vacation spot.

Rust from Rebar

This piece is about the same size as the fence imprint. I wrapped it around a rebar pole with string. If I was smart I would have used something like Perle Cotton that could then be threaded through a needle! Anyhoooo, I like the idea of combining this piece and the gate and stitching away.

Rusty Gate Imprint

I can never resist rust. So no surprise that a wrought iron gate has ended up in my possession. This was the week I finally took the plunge and tried to get an imprint of the pattern.... I think it was quite successful. After one day nothing much was happening because there really wasn't enough contact between the rust and my cotton; so I painted more vinegar over the cotton where it should have been touching the design and then things started to happen!

A Whale of an experience

Yesterday we took the brother whale watching....

and were treated to a wonderful display...

of tails...

and mighty width!

Another eco print

A piece of cotton that was bundled with seaweed and some rusty bits. I think I see a face. I suppose now that I am aware of faces, I might see them everywhere!

A result of playday with friends

This is what hapens when you play with flowers and leaves and rusty bits with friends. We made bundles on mordanted cloth and then steamed. The textures from eco prints are great but it might be a while before I can decide on how to stitch this.

Spirals

Spirals fascinate me and have obviously fascinated many of us since the beginning of time. Think I will make it a project to photograph spirals I find about the place.

Warming up to Faces!

My work has never involved face. Studying with Jude Hill is bringing the storyteller out of me. To my surprise I really enjoyed sitting down with my morning coffee and filling pages with faces for beasts.