A Day at the Beach is Good for One's Health

There is nothing quite like spreading a blanket on the sand.....

and relaxing in  cool sea breezes....

or perhaps anticipating the throw of a yellow tennis ball....

or just watching the tide come in.

Pond Princes

The Bullfrog chorus lasts all day

except first thing in the morning when 

the Heron is here looking for breakfast.

My grandmother loved frogs.

Come to think of it,

when a bullfrog takes a leap

it is into the unknown.

I'm sure he can't see where he's going.

Threaded Dimples

Able to stitch on the weekend,

I returned to my starry piece

for the finishing touches.

A third and final backing has been added 

and I'm quilting the layers together.

Love those undulations.

Some stitches will be more raggedy...

less like a quilting stitch.

Even back in the beginning of my stitching life...

I couldn't resist filling in every speck of space with stitch.

It's the texture.

Those little dimples sinking into cloth.

Stitching in Circles Just Like this Darned Flu is Circling Me!

Went out outside to photograph my

first stitching in over a week....

but luckily came across another Blue Jay feather.

Way more beautiful and lively than my dismal stitching

which obviously reflects how this darned flu is affecting me!

A Shot of Blue

A gift that only reveals it's true colours

when you twirl it and the sun catches

that thin streak of blue. 

Weaving Threads

Finished this weaving last week...

just before the flu hit me.

My second weaving.

Very addictive......watching textures grow with each woven line.

My rusted string is of course a favourite.

Who the heck gets a flu in June?!

And it seems to be one that won't let go.

No stitching being done in my house.

Darn it....

I'm back to bed!

Apologies for not being on-line and communicating.

A Rest Day with no Voice

Yesterday my voice disappeared....

both physically and....

creatively.

Had to send regrets to a meeting.

Attempted work in the studio

but found I couldn't make a decision on anything!

So I accepted a day of rest without speaking or voicing creative purpose.

Unwrapped my woollen bundles from eleven days ago.

Didn't expect onion skins to be quite so effective.

Found that the outside section of each bundle had turned a dull grey in every case...

The bottom half of first pic and the top half of the above were the outer skins of the bundle.

Love the dots created by my round teabags.

A piece of cotton was included ..... not very successfully.

This poor piece of Grandma's sheeting had spent 7 months

wrapped around a maple tree.

Not a speck of colour!

Every critter in the woods had had a good old tug at it though.

Snuggling up in June?

We seem to be spiralling back into winter in these parts.

I snuggled in my winter woollies 

and stitched a blue, blue spiral.

It's been so cold, I'm worried about the Humming Birds....

Haven't seen one for a few days.

Usually at this time of year a male sits below the feeder and

chases away anyone but his female friend.

Let's hope he too is snuggled up in a nest keeping warm.

Anyone for Wrapping!

How about wrapping this huge rope into a nice big bowl!

Lovely knots....and perfect wrappings.

Unfinished Business

A little piece of homework done for City and Guilds many moons ago.

.....It's about time I put the finishing touches to this.....

Gossiping Beneath the Bird Feeder

At the office we used to joke about gathering around the water cooler to gossip.

The critters in my garden gather beneath the bird feeder

for a bit of he said she said.

A pigeon from what we call the Bomber Squadron started it all

with little miss chipmunk.

Then a Blue Jay clown joined in...

and Mr. Cardinal and Red the Squirrel came to put in their two cents worth.

The Bullfrogs in the pond have been adding to the conversation this week too.

Can you see him?

I sat on the bank, camera poised, finger on the button, 

trying to capture a mighty croak...

but every time I missed!

Where the Herbalist Worked at Habitation

There is something about this photo that warms my heart.

It was taken in the herbalist's room at Habitation (Port royal).

I can just picture someone carefully crushing herbs with that pestle and mortar on the table....

Leaning back on a chair made from the trees outside and a skin from a hunting trip.

If that someone was me they would have discarded the clogs for a few minutes of foot freedom.

Apparently they wore clogs.

I didn't know the French (for it was them who landed at Habitation) used clogs.

Clogs clutter the floor in every room just waiting for visitors to try them out.

There might be a stitching in these three photos some time in the future.

Atop his Observation Tower

From his vantage point high above the pond

he surveys the garden

making sure those pesky rusty pups

really have been called inside

so as not to bother his fishing expedition.

The same colour as the dead spruce beneath him

you have to know he's there to see him.

Mother Nature is the best artist of all.

Fooling Around with an Iris

A Bearded Iris is such a showy flower.

Having a bit of fun with the Iris and sandbar stitching.

A day of Beachcombing and Steaming

When Egyptian cotton has become even more impossible to stitch through because of rust...

A stitcher has to find other ways of adding texture.

Needle weaving and thread wrapping seemed like a good idea.

When I started I was thinking that starfish would surely bask 

on a sandbar amid the flotsam and jetsam.

But after Yvette mentioned "fairytale" in her comment yesterday...

I began to think there might be fairies on my sandbar.

Bundled wool wrapped around choke cherry bark steamed all day.

Doesn't look very exciting yet, but let's hope

patience prevails and I can leave them untouched for a couple of weeks.

Holey Water Coming Along

I reckon water would hit a sandbank with more force on the ocean side  so...

I've done a bit of needle pleating to create a band of turbulence.

Then the new band of water asked for some holes like the leeward side.

I refused the holes but...

decided on stitching buttonhole circles to apply over the ripples.

As I wrapped circles of thread around fingers and buttonholed for a few hours,

I thought it might be something like tatting...what do you think Deanne?

Anyhooo, the holey water or sandbar piece is beginning to look like this.

Peggy's Cove

Another foggy day.

The clouds hovering over the smooth rocks of Peggy's Cove.

This is on the Atlantic side of Nova Scotia.
On my side, the Bay of Fundy side, the rocks seem more rugged and wilder.

The lighthouse stands tall on the highest rocks
proclaiming to be the king of the castle.

And the Atlantic ocean laps deceptively calmly around the rocks today.

But on a stormy day this is not the place to be.

Nestled in behind the lighthouse is the small protected cove.
There are so many beautiful spots nestled in among the coastal rocks.

Shrouded in Fog

The fog was so bad we couldn't even see the beach
let alone the ocean.
We climbed the dunes and walked towards where the sea should be
following rusty pup paw prints...my goodness they are big..like lion prints!


We only saw the sea when we were nearly upon it.
Even shrouded in the fog Mavillette beach amazes me.

Slowly but Surely

Sand can now be found beneath the holey water.

There will be a rusty sandbar rising between watery blue.

Decided to try snipping lines of bobbin stitched threads to create more textures.

Not my idea.

Saw a sample done by Nigel Hurlstone in "Machine Stitch Perspectives"

by

Alice Kettle and Jane McKeating.

Hand stitching and more sea textures still to go.