Winter Confinement

As we have been confined inside

from the flu

Snow has also kept us indoors

And outside the wind has played

shaping our world.

Too deep for the Rusty Pups to go out the front door.

Stitching Winter

Finally painted the stitched canvases...

Sticking to soft gentle colours of winter.

I've been couching every day.

Well actually one day I unpicked most of it....

....It had started bulging outwards.

Going round and round in circles can have that effect on cloth!

I nearly gave up.

But spiralling round and round in greys and soft blues

is speaking volumes to me at the moment.

So I persevered and am now more able to control any bulging.

In the beginning the cotton strips

rolled themselves into tubes.

Then in my mind I thought pebbles on the Fundy shore....

....and I started creating lumpy bumpy couching....

....then I decided to make the strips lay flat and wider.

Working in cloth takes time

time which allows the mind to relax and wander.

In it's wanderings thoughts turn to 'what ifs'

and your hands simply follow.

This is why I choose cloth to work with.

I need time and reflection.

Oh, and this is going to be a large piece

so I will have a lot of time with it.

Now I need to go back to the dye pots

and create more greys.

Scratching The Deep Mid-Winter

Handy Hubby caught a coughing flu

Thought I was immune

But no such luck.

As it happens when you have the flu

you create the ugliest stitching ever!

Red, white and blue...not my colours at all!

We felt so much better

celebrating a birthday.

Whilst on the mend

I returned to gentler, softer colours of winter....

for we are certainly having a snow filled winter.

So What Does One Do On A Snow Winter's Day?

Stay inside in the warmth

and prepare for some Shibori.

Make sure the birds are fed.

Examine wildlife tracks.

Sit and wait for your mistress

along a neighbour's driveway.

Find beauty in simple things.

Look out at the world through treasured cloth.

Find beauty in snow crystals... 

that covered the trees...

down by the Basin one cold and crispy morning.

Snow Days

Probably a blue jay

 took shelter n the front porch

Snow shoeing around the garden

catching the morning light.

A day of sunshine in a Canadian winter

always lifts our spirits.

Especially this year

when the snow keeps coming and coming....

....and coming.

The snowblower can't cope

but it did manage to make a path down the driveway.

Behind me is a mountain of snow about nine feet high

and twenty feet deep.

The driveway is getting shorter

and narrower!

But still it is beautiful in nature's simple honesty.

Scratching White

We are wallowing in snow.

And still more is coming.

Even the Rusty Pups can't manage

the depth of snow in the garden.

They stick to the cleared driveway.

The local wildlife must be finding it hard to find food.

A bobcat walked right across the garden

then over the frozen pond

heading into the woods

and the mountain behind us.

Snow Smothered Scratchings

The snow...and the wind...

just won't let us be

Monday was the day we had to go up the valley

Monday was the only day it didn't snow.

Lucky

Mountains of snow building up in the garden.

Snow-shoeing round the garden has been the only exercise this week.

Had to cancel play day with Diane

but fooled around with weaving.

Boring!

Getting ready for Super Bowl party all day.

Weaving was the most fun.