Gosh it was Cold!

We went down-town Annapolis Royal

Gosh it was cold and windy

Winter is coming

Ashley could not understand why she couldn't just

walk right into that cold, cold water!

A scallop boat was being repaired

and as usual I was drawn to things like

stained wood

and rusted metals.

Mmm.....Murky markings

Ashley is interested in everything

She loved the feeling of swinging through the air

and Grandpa loved helping her achieve that feeling

Dad explored the rest of the playground

and Mom enjoyed the swings too.

But boy, oh boy, my fingers and toes were frozen!

Playing Around With Leaves

Diane and I died this huge sheet.

We laid it in my stream for days

Just loose

absorbing tannin

Then we bundled it with leaves

Steamed it

Some leaves left just speckled outlines

Like tiny running stitches

We aren't the only ones who like scratching around in leaves.

Twenty fibre artists met at Gaspereau Valley Fibres last Friday...

....as this rooster and his hens scratched around outside.

This beauties irregular speckles really caught my eye.

Quiet Scratching

The house is very, very quiet now that we are alone again

Quietly choosing cloth and stitch

I remember being fascinated years ago

with pulled thread work

More variety could be achieved than I expected

but still very modular

I have always liked treetops against a skyline

and now Mark is now painting tree tops

though they haven't made their way onto his web page yet!

Play with feather stitch....

You can see when I did this years ago

I was still trying to keep the stitch very orderly!

Herringbone stitch too.

How many moons do we have?

Family

Donna and Ashley and Mark came for a celebration

and of course uncle Brett too

Ashley played with new toys

Father and daughter made sweet music

We all ate lots

Ashley helped decorate for Grandpa's seventieth

and even managed to stay up late

to party with all the adults

Sometimes we just kicked back

and sometimes the fourteen month old helped the septuagenarian

climb the stairs

and what goes up must come down!

Ashley decided RP Kayla needed some beautification....

with Stickers carefully placed for best effect

Job done to her satisfaction

she sat back admiring her handiwork.

precious memories

precious family time 

Autumn on the Basin

There are layers of colours between us and the North Mountain

Look the other way and the dairy herd is grazing on the flatlands

Rusts and reds bring life to bleached grasses

Turn another corner on our path

and the colours are softly waning.

I have a friend who likes dots

I like them too

especially when made by Mother Nature.

There are so many berries and rosehips this year

winter food for the deer and the birds

Turning back home

a yellow streak of silver birch

shows up against the mountain.

Did I Tell You We Stayed in a Caboose?

On the way home from Cape Breton

we took a detour to Tatamagouche

on the Northumberland Strait.

We thought it would be fun to stay in a caboose

Ours turned out to be about 100 years old

I haven't been on a modern train for years and years

but it was great going back to the time

when the railways were a vital part of the

development of this country.

Colour Choices

The threads I have been drawn to lately

are the colours of nature's last fling before the snows.

Quite a change from the

beiges, greys and blacks

of recent months.

There are still several greys and neutrals pinned to the design walls

waiting for stitches

but with winter coming on

perhaps another warmer piece will be asking to come to life

alongside the neutrals.

Hey...

...perhaps next year's daily scratchings.

But I still have time for decisions like that.