And Here is Week Sixteen of Crumbs From the Cutting Room Floor

A blue sky week.

To me a very French looking week.

Perhaps in sympathy with what has been going on
 in France and Belgium this year.

It was Rachael who suggested the sword stitch

would be ideal for this year's cruciform theme.

So here it is.

A Sense of Play is Opening on Sunday

I think this is our third show.

Just in case you don't remember...and why should you!

The Artists Way Collective was formed a few years ago

after having studied Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way together.

One feature of each show is always one communal piece.

This time we took three canvases

Nadine, one of the painters in the group, taped them together

We all descended on her lovely spacious studio

on the shores of St. Margaret's Bay.

Sherry had selected our palette.

I was supposed to be in charge of design

and they all know I hate being responsible for anything!

To get us started we took pieces of string and rope that happened to be lying around

and traced around them.

Then we picked up paintbrushes and went to town

with A Sense of Play of course!

Our first go at it was not that great design wise

so we came back for another day of play

and superimposed the leaf design all over the whole thing.

By the end of the second day I think we were all pleased.

It is not that easy bringing a show together with people

who are so different both in personality and artistic bent

and who use such different media.

As far as I am concerned I believe we have all learned

to listen....really listen to each other

and talk things through.

We always seem to be able to reach a compromise.

An impressive group.

Thanks Nadine, Grace, Sherry and Giselle.

Fifteen Weeks

The fifteenth to join the group

A crossroads amidst tiny scraps.

I do enjoy sewing those wee bits and pieces together.

The white crossroads looked too stark to begin with

so I thought back to my sun piece of a few years back.

My response then had been to fill the sun with blanket stitch

so I decided on the same stitch here.

Not a very good image

but the only image I can find at the moment.

Surely I took more pictures of this piece.

I hope so because it now lives somewhere else.

Obviously you can never take enough photos of your work!

A Rusty Pup Day

A Favourite playtime

for Handy Hubby and the Rusty Pups.

Several times a day HH practices golf shots using tennis balls.

RP Shandy's obsession is to not allow that ball past her.

She would have made an excellent goalie.

Whereas RP Kayla would rather wander off

using her nose to discover what critters had wandered through her garden....

....or sometimes just keep me company.

When the tennis balls stop whirling across the garden

RP Shandy still keeps an eye on HH

to make sure she's not missing a ball retrieval opportunity.

If there is no chance of ball catching

I swear she drops a ball beside the pond

and waits to see how long it takes to roll into the freezing water

so that she can whine expecting me to dive in and get it!

I tell her that ball is her responsibility therefore her decision to jump in not mine.

Patchwork Crumb

This time a patchwork of tiny scraps
worked themselves into a tree.
A tree sitting upon a pile of pebbles.
Most everything around me sits on rocks and pebbles.

The tiny scraps are left over from tiny 3" blocks.
For some strange reason this year I decided to add the 365 challenge to my list of commitments.
Well actually I know the reason.
I have been looking for a project to reduce my bags of scraps
and perhaps end up with something useful like a beautiful quilt.
I am indeed enjoying the challenge though might not be able to keep up 
because of my embroidery commitments.

Frayed edges live alongside neatly turned edges

The feel of this one is interesting

I stitched the background with a very firm and bouncy machine thread

It really stands up on top of the cloth.

When I gave it a crown of leaves
that is when I thought of Jude's patchwork creatures
and thought I would give you a link to her lovely collage of beasts.

What a difference a Day Makes

Saturday morning the Rusty Pups and I

Took our first walk on the dyke....first this year....and it is already April.

Despite the fact that it was very grey

we were very excited....we thought Spring must surely have sprung.

The grasses were weather worn and flattened

but still beautiful.

I was a bit slow

luckily the RP's were happy to wait patiently

We three thought it would be the beginning

of our daily walks....our meditation.

A time to check on low tides and high tides

A time to catch up with bird and critter activity on the Basin.

But when Sunday came along

 Things looked a bit bleak again.

Two steps forward

One step back.

We will get there.

Going Bigger For a While

It was only after photographing the pinned layers on the design wall

that I fell in love with the little colourful dots.

It sent my mind a wandering

Perhaps I should consider

combining some discharged pebbles 

and black walnut dyed linen

with

tiny colour filled dots.

Finally I have made a start on this piece

Two layers basted together

and first embroidery stitches have been made.

 It is very big for me

Bigger than I usually work

Perhaps that is why I seem to have found every excuse

in the book

to delay the start of stitching.

Though from pinning cloth together on the design wall

and the start of started

is always a long period of time for me.

I seem to need to absorb what the cloth is telling me

whether to go this way or that way

with colour and stitch.

Things need to percolate

before I get my grubby little hands on it!

Rusty Gate Will Soon Be On It's Way To Ontario

I have been stitching new sleeves to Rusty Gate

in preparation for mailing it to the SAQA show

My Corner of the World - Canada

This piece is a favourite of mine.

It is nice to have it on my lap again.

There are lovely vague shapes down one side

which must have been touching

a row of triangles on the actual gate

when I wrapped this cloth around it.

This one is perhaps a bird.

Perhaps a bell

or a mushroom

or a lady in a ball gown.

Some are near perfect triangles.

What could this be?

It is fun to work out how you interpret shapes

and perhaps record them in a sketchbook for future use.

I am tempted to draw a wee face beneath this cap.

Surely it is a little person with big winter mitts on!

One of my favourite ways of edging pieces
is to fold the top layer edge and the backing layer edge
so that the raw edges end sandwiched between the two layers.
The backing layer is always slightly larger than the top.
I feel this gives a nice hint of a frame
Not too obvious.
(did I describe that well enough?)

Sometimes one just has to go around in circles

circle the wagons

or play

Ring-a-ring o' roses,

A pocket full of posies,

A-tishoo! A-tishoo!

We all fall down.

The cows are in the meadow

Eating buttercups,

A-tishoo! A-tishoo!

We all jump up.

Now that my little Baby-Grand is fast approaching two

I had better remind myself of all those nursery rhymes

from long ago and the new modern ones too!

Crumb Thirteen From The Cutting Room Floor

This week I decided to challenge myself

to use one of my least favourite stitches.

Solid areas of chain stitch....

....have created a wonderful tactile piece

soft to the touch

Perhaps I have found a way of using chain stitch

in a way that I like.