Of Stitchings and Log Piles

If it is Monday

it must be time for another crumb from the cutting room floor.

Couched circles and a darned cross.

This year's twenty second Week I believe.

The Pileated Woodpecker

thought he might find a breakfast of grubs on the wood pile

He pecked away on top of the pile

but unbeknownst to him

he was pounding on the roof of a family of squirrels
 who live within the wood pile.

All he succeeded in doing was bringing the two babies

up to find out what all the racket was about.

Visiting My Munchkin

 Smiling faces greeted me on a cool but sunny day.

Our first outing was to the Y

where Ashley found a school bus slide

then discovered a car to drive

Because driving is such a serious business

it is important to take breaks for dancing at windows.

 It is also important to take time for liquid refreshments

on Mama's lap.

Walking round the gym with your BFF

....what could be better!

These two have been friends since birth!

Catching Up With Cutting Room Crumbs

Whilst I was away week nineteen crept up on us

Tiny pebbles and fringes.

Week twenty occurred as I was in the air homeward bound.

The fabric scraps came rom a favourite piece of fabric

used as a wipe-up cloth during a dye session years ago.

Must have been years ago

because there are soft indications of purples and pinks

Haven't used them for years.

Looking back over a string of weeks.
How will I bring these all together into a meaningful piece?
That is what is ruminating in my mind now.
Will they be more meaningful assembled on a scroll
like the Daily Scratchings?
Will they better suite a large rectangular shape?
What about a book?
Or a concertina type format?
How about just hanging them in a long row of individual pieces?
Endless possibilities.
Decisions, decisions!

Week twenty one brings the Crumbs up to date.

A cruciform with a woven heart
on a quiet dotted background.

Have a great Victoria Day, Canada

Homecoming

I have come home

Home to the ever changing waters of the Basin

Where Rusty pups blend with rusted pillars

and herons fish in the salt ponds hardly noticed

by inquisitive noses.

I say noses because I wonder if their eyesight is fading just a bit

for they are old maids now.

Where springtime blossoms abound.

Looking inland a thin line of last year's bullrush heads

catches my eye.

ideas for marks or stitches on a future piece immediately come to mind.

It feels good to be thinking that way again.

Two weeks with the little munchkin and never a needle and thread

picked up....

For when a toddler goes down for a nap

grandmothers do too!

I didn't realize two weeks away would have the effect it did.

Eagerly entering the studio on my return

pieces on the design wall and fabrics gathered in bundles

looked foreign to me.

What had I in mind when pinning these beginnings on the wall?

It has taken me four days to get back into the groove. 

This piece, this huge piece

had already begun to take shape before I left home

and is now telling me with great conviction what it needs.

It feels good to have cloth in my hands again

Threaded needle being pushed and pulled through layered silk and linen.

Living again with thimble on one finger

and finding it still there as I go to do other chores about the house.

It just becomes a part of you

so familiar that you don't even notice it is there.

Being away has confirmed that, for me at least,

it is so important to immerse myself in the creative process....

To live it every day.

There is no way I can create and grow

just by dipping into it every now and then.

So I am grateful for living far from the madding crowd

close to the woods and tidal waters

that inspires me

and draw me into a window-filled studio every day.

Having said all that

the little munchkin inspires me too

and I will of course be sharing tales of my visit

 after a bit more catching up at home.

Eighteen

This week's scraps are from half square triangles.

Birds migrating up here for the summer

though the osprey and others must be in shock

at how cold it is!

The crosses this week are tiny

hardly seen at all.

Have a lovely day.

Seventeen

Rusts and blues....perfect partners

Little made-up cross stitches

above spirals....perhaps shells on a beach.

Talking of beaches

I wish beach weather would arrive in these parts!

A tide is coming in

perhaps to cover my spiralling shells.

A Change of Medium

Took last weekend off

to spend it with the amazing artist Wayne Boucher and

a group of painters at our Community Art Centre.

The medium used was oil sticks

but I learnt so much more.

Wayne emphasized the importance of our work

being a continuation of the work we had done before.

That made it much easier for me

My paintings would have to reflect the marks of stitchings.

I became enthralled with finding marks and tools to make the marks.

As a complete novice I felt a wee bit overwhelmed

but Wayne was great and encouraged me as I explored my mark making.

I think I need to spend many hours learning this new medium

and mixing colours.

This large piece is what inspired that first painting.

It has been resting on the design wall

because I am in one of those moods.

The mood that brings me to wondering why the heck I do this!

Life might be easier if I wasn't so driven to create in stitch.

But my weekend painting must have been renewing

for I walked in the house, went to the studio

and fell in love with those lines of stitch that reach out beyond the main body of stitch.

This piece might not end up as planned just because of those lines

if not this piece

certainly the next one.