Snow Blushed

It snowed most of the day.

Thick heavy flakes that stick to everything.

The skies began to clear at the end of the day

and the clouds blushed gently.

Raw Materials

Neatly stacked

all prim and proper

ready for the kids to arrive.

Nature's soft colours

and subtle markings

and the seductive feel of flowing silk

So much potential

so many ideas

Can't wait to work on them

but first a lovely family week.

X's for You

Made years ago

 I thought of this piece

as a wave of emotion

but today I think of it as kisses on the wind.

 Kisses of every size

and colour.

Today it's my birthday

Boy do they come around faster and faster!

So today I'm blowing you kisses

in thanks for

your friendship

across the windy internet.

House Cleaning

Little chatterbox dangling on my suet ball.

Not much in the way of creativity going on here lately.

Son Mark and his beautiful Donna arrive on Monday

so cobwebs are being swept away

dust bunnies are being shooed out of corners.

All the graffiti I've been able to write with fingers on dusty tabletops

have to be erased.

To me this housework business is a chore to be suffered through.

But some folk express their creativity with housework like that.

Just a different way of being an artist.

Not my |Favourite Things

It rained.

Not cats and dogs but daisy stitches.

Have to say the daisy/chain stitch is my least favourite.

My least favourite sketch so far.

Shadow of the Sun

Stitching row upon row over the sun

the title of this piece revealed itself as

'Shadow of the Sun'.

Wrapped running stitch might do for the rays.

Hopefully that lumpy bumpy thread will behave itself.

Evening grosbeak dining in the crab apple tree.

Looking closely at the photo a small white feather revealed itself

and would have to be included in any stitching.

Tracking Transitions

Water on sand from Friday's post

presented a challenge that I decided to try out.

how to stitch it.

Really doesn't look like water

more like a contour map.

But that lead me to think about transitioning from one stitch to another

and decided to try from blanket stitch to straight stitch.

One way

and then another.

More work needed.

The rows of daily scratchings are lining up one after the other.

Snowshoe hares have been laying tracks behind the pond.

and because I've seen one wandering around

I reckon this must be muskrat tracks.

They dig homes into the side of the pond. 

Human and rusty pup prints crossing the stream

which is frozen over

and yet I still seen the heron visiting this spot.

Beachy Texture

Grains of Sand gathered on the lee side of

Anything the wind couldn't move.
And some thoughts on stitching
French knots
Bullion knots
slits with threads popping through from underneath.

Nearer the water
looking more like a reptilian skin

or bubbling nuno felting
Smocking perhaps.

The transition from wet sand to water
fascinating from a stitching point of view.
I see blanket stitch transitioning to straight stitches
perhaps on a sheer over a piece of boro mending.

A ruched landscape

or a million little kantha stitches.

Corduroy
tucks and folds
blanket stitch 
Just thinking out loud.

Rhythm

There is a strange rhythm to this particular winter
yesterday was above zero again
Not a day to stay inside, 

so

with a packed lunch in hand

we drove to the beach
heads bobbing

as we grooved to the rhythm of songs from our youth

Row upon row of windswept waves
marched towards the shore.
Boy was it windy.

We walked smooth windblown sand.

Then turning the other way we walked a moonscape

marked by rhythmic tides
Some unpredictable and chaotic

others most organized
even regimental perhaps

Row upon row like a military tattoo.

These two have rhythms all of their own

wagging tails from the joy of life
panting breath

anticipating the next flight of a tennis ball.

Walking Solid Land or Stitching Above the Surface

We walked the rock bound woods

I love this place

and walked the rocky shore of a frozen lake.

The rusty pups walked on water

well, frozen water that is.

They were following coyote tracks

that disappeared across the ice.

Luckily those pups were happy to return when called.

Stitching on that sun was such hard work on Sunday

decided to explore stitching above the surface

with ladder stitch in a natural silk noil.

Daily sketches are still going on

but I have thoughts about that commitment

that I need to sort out.

A bright Sunshiny Day

Sunshiny cold

Tracking through the snow

two people and a couple of rusty pups

but someone crossed our path

a porcupine I think

and one pup veered off to follow that delicious scent

Standing beneath echoing walls

wondering who might be watching

from the safety of those cliff tops

a gentle haze of trees

a wall of solid rock

Faster than me

the others stop and wait every now and then.

I drop a glove

and only realize half way down!

But everything's good on a bright sunshiny day.