The Mighty Rock Work in Progress

Summertime stitching carries on with this large piece.

As I stitch my thoughts turn to

The leeward side

The sheltered, protected side colonized by moss and lichen.

This piece also reminds me of my need to for a strong, firm foundation.

I like to have my feet on terra firma both physically, 

emotionally and creatively.

Therefore my rock balances comfortably on another.

The sunlit side, the side that faces the world,

is bold and confident.

The leeward shadowy side more subtle and retreating.

Perhaps full of secrets and surprises.

Early Morning Life on the Basin

As we walked along the dike

a heron came in to land flew on the marshlands beside us.

Looking down at the salty puddle

 I realized two herons were there.

Can you see one nearly hidden behind the tree?

And then just beyond the puddle I saw there was a third.

Perhaps Mom and Dad teaching youngster the art of catching breakfast.

The morning sun glistened off this one when they eventually decided

it was time to leave.

Unfortunately at the end of our walk I was unable to entice 

RP Kayla into the car.

We had to phone home for Handy Hubby to come and assist!

Poor Kayla's Lime Disease seems to have returned 

despite all our precautions.

She is aging faster than her sister because of these last

two summers.

Early Morning on the wharf 

where I go nowadays after walking the Rusty Pups

to do Tai Chi with a group a lovely group.

They do it in all types of weather all year long!

Don't forget this is Canada!

Gentle Giant

An injured flicker spent time in the garden

Rusty Pup Kayla found it fascinating

and examined it from every angle.

A Frayed and Jagged Crumb for Week Thirty

Everyone has weeks in the year that are more difficult than others.

Weeks of Jarred irregular stitches

Frayed edges

And somber moods.

A Summer Green Crumb for Week Twenty-Nine

Woven summery green

And always beneath everything that grows in our garden

the pebbles.

Some silk crosses marking meeting places in the garden.

Remembrance

Remembering Steven

Holding you close in our hearts

Shadow Hands

I have also been working on another piece.

Lots od couching and cretan stitch

running away from a gathering of graffiti.

The sun was bright

my hands kept getting in the way

so why not have some fun!

In there I intend adding

something

but what is not quite clear to me yet.

Stitching spontaneous graffiti-like squiggles

is a favourite of mine.

"From the manner in which a woman draws her thread at every stitch of her needlework, any other woman can surmise her thoughts."

Honore de Balzac

An Anniversary Crumb - Week Twenty-Eight

Since we both forgot to celebrate our 47th wedding anniversary this week

I thought I had better stitch it into

this week's Crumb from the Cutting Room Floor!

The cream cloth was once my white wedding dress.

In the nineties I tore my precious dress apart

and since then a scrap of it has appeared in much of my work.

My dress was made by my grandmother, Robin and my mother, Ray.

I love that the overcast stitch on the left

and the seam on the bottom

are still there

to include them in this small piece.

Week 27 done

For those who weren't here at the beginning of the year

I am doing one of these for every week of 2016.

The size is 4 1/4" x 6".

Because they are made up of scraps

and for that reason I call them

"Crumbs from the Cutting Room Floor"!

Two Little Treats

Do you see him?

His mother had just crowd the road

and as we crept forward hoping to catch another

glimpse of her

this little head popped up!

Of course it popped right back down again 

when he spied us.

But we decided to stay put and wait.

Eventually he grew brave enough

to make another attempt.

So tiny

so healthy looking.

Then all of a sudden there were two!

A precious moment.

My second treat of the day...

...that morning I had to stop 

for two tiny spotted fawns to cross

another road and join their mother.

It's That Time of Year

I am cooking up black Walnuts

and fighting off the squirrels

who consider them a great delicacy.

Hanging on the bird feeder to dry are

an old doily

some overdid pink linen

and cheesecloth.

I like to remember to put in a piece of cheesecloth

in my dye pots

because I often stitch it to the back of my work

so that people can just get a glimpse of the 

stitching on the reverse.

Diane and I have also been pressing leaves

and steaming them amidst bundles of papers.

This one...a bit yellow for me

but love the blue curve.

I tried to keep notes but can't remember!

Now, this sheet is my course!

Love it.

I remember the tiny leaves were blueberry leaves.

Do you see the Maple keys?

Nice clear prints of them and the Japanese Maple Leaf.

Deep in the Tobiatic Wilderness

Diane and I took a trip to her and Harold's cabin deep in the Tobiatic.

We drove over logging backroads roads..more rock than road

then walked a woodland trail

then came to Sixth Lake where we canoed

across to get to their lovely remote cabin.

first things first...We took tannin water from the lake

and got some fabric soaking.

Next we went exploring the forest floor

for leaves and flowers

such as Cornus Canadensis or Bunchberries

Monotropa Uniflora or Indian Pipe

Coptis or Golden Thread

named for the threads of gold yellow roots

that lead from one plant to another.

And we found so many more.

That evening we canoed to the marshy end of the lake

and watched three rare night hawks

and some not so rare (in these parts) beaver at play.

 The lake was like a mirror

and covered in pollen

which of course is making it a fun year of allergies for moi!

In the morning we woke to a beautiful stream of mist

travelling along the lake.

Despite the temptation of taking another canoe trip

we got straight to work

wrapping bundles

steaming some

and dyeing others.

A great two days of discovery.

Mighty Rock

Those of you who have seen this before

know it is a mighty big piece.

I have been working in the shadowy

Leeward side of the rock

and now that section is done.

The leeward side where I imagine

moss and lichen take root.

Today I hung it on the design wall

and stood back to take it all in.

I needed to square it up and

decide how to stitch the background that surrounds the rock.

Funny... I suddenly realized that my mighty rock is in fact

balancing on another rock.

An area that, when I started, I took to be water.

Me thinks it is telling me it has to be another rock

giving my mighty rock something to stand on.

The discharged dots that divide this piece into sunshine and shadow

represent the pebbles that are everywhere in this part of the world.

Back to work on bringing to life the new rock.