Deciding on a Softer Touch

Another hag stone

A stone with a hole through it

A stone from Dorset.

This is how my cloth stone ended up

but it started like this.....

.....To me it looked heavy handed

so picked out all the stitching

and decided on a softer touch

or perhaps a more minimalist touch.

Speckled pebble

Found hanging out in my curio shelves

crammed full of precious things.

Just love it.

It's only an inch wide.

Mapping marks with one strand of DMC.

A gift of thread from Betsy

helped me decide on

how to interpret these smokey markings.

A speckled rock gift from Nancy

but the scrap of silk I chose was way too beautiful to cover over!

A wrapped stone gift from Nadine.

My goodness me I have received a lot of gifts this week!

Nadine lives down on the French shore

and five of us met at her place

where we ate mouthwatering lobster,

planned for our upcoming show

and played with photo manipulation.

Another gift of a stone from Nancy.

Thank you girls for all your gifts.

How lucky am I.

Blessings.

Moving on Like a Rolling Stone

Funny how some of us are

are bedecked and bejewelled

and beautiful

Some of us are plain janes

and beautiful

Some of us are a bit ruffled

and beautiful.

This rusched piece of silk

caught my eye

very textured and very floppy

but I wanted to make sure the edges were smooth

so stitched it to a light-weight background

pinned a strong linen on top

and performed reverse applique.

Some of us are blotched

and beautiful.

This photo doesn't give any hint of

the stone's pale shape

but it's there

and I took great pains to choose the tiny piece of silk!

Some of us bear scars

and are beautiful

Some of us like cake

and are beautiful

Some of us try to make ourselves into copies of others

....not so beautiful!

I haven't yet mastered those stones

with beautiful smokey  markings.

Perhaps next week.

Happy Victoria Day Canada!

Pups and Ducks

If there is a ball in the mouth

you know it is Rusty Pup Shandy

Every year a pair of black ducks nests across the pond.

We love observing them

They are quite comfortable with the Rusty Pups

Several times a day the male escorts the female onto our lawn

and stands guard as she feeds

two of them come and feed

on our very damp lawn.

This morning was different

the female just sat as still as she could 

in another part of the garden.

I was worried

didn't let the dogs out

but she eventually wandered back to the pond

so the RP's and I followed.

This morning she stayed on the pond

and the male was at the other end of the pond

This is different

So we assume she must have had her babies yesterday.

Now, when we get to close

she quacks at us

and if she is really worried

the male takes flight and circles overhead.

The babies must be close by.

soon they will be in the water and shepherded down the stream

past the beaver lodge and into the Annapolis Basin.

There they will grow up

and finally fly south when the days shorten.

I must say I would like to follow the sun too!

Rusty Pup Kayla 

will keep a close eye on them

but we often miss seeing the babies

float downstream huddled together like a raft.

The thing is their colouring really camouflages them

against the dappled brownish water.

That's enough wildlife for the day, Mom

Can we go in now?

Pleease let us in

it must surely be time for another meal.

Brownish

Greenish

spiralling energy

wishing those ducks safe travels.

Pink Rocks!

One

This is the fourth piece for a show this summer

It has been up on the design wall for about a month!

All of a sudden, one day this week

I knew what to try.....Pink!

A discharged fabric with hints of pink was ripped into strips

and pinned up into rock-like shapes.

I like that.

So then.... more pink.

That little scrap of silk

a rare pink from natural dying last summer.

Two

Decided the rock shapes looked too perfect

so cut out a section.

Three

 Then.... a day later

after discharging all morning

the new discharge had to be auditioned.

But the pink was overwhelmed....

....so got removed.

This one I like.

But let's take it a bit further

Four

 Let's try even more discharge.

Nope....to much weight on the left side now.

Going back to version three.

No pink in sight.....

....but I do have pink thread!

So I am stitching

Six more rows of pink

then it will go up on the design wall gain

to see what is needed next.

As I mentioned this is the fourth of five

Last one soon.

They need to be finished by the time I go and visit

these two little munchkins

Happy pink days!

A Forgotten Stone

Mmmm....a slice of pizza perhaps.

Well, my version of this beauty....not the handsome agate!

Must have food on my mind this week

because I thought walnut coffee cake!

Tracking across the surface

Tiny footsteps

A beautiful and fascinating stone

a gift from Diane

all the way from the Baja Peninsula

I need to go back in and add those pink specks.

Plain Jane

and quite small

You don't really get an idea of how big or small

some of these are until

you see them all together.

A bit late for Easter!

And this is the 'forgotten' stone

because as I photographed it I realized

I hadn't stitched any of the markings.

Will have to go back into this one too.

I just love this little pebble

just because of the fabrics and tiny lumps of stitches

being perfect in my mind's eye.

Happy Mother's Day!

Garden inspection

We were out inspecting the stream before the rain.

And just for Lillian....

Wait for it....

Over we go....

Aaah, that's better!

Listening to What the Stones Say

A gnarled and wrinkled stone

 silk noil seemed just right

Simple and nearly round

One of my favourite pieces of dyed silk

It took me a while but

I surprised myself and cut into it.

Oh, such courage!

This little interpretation could have been more subtle.

I always seem to prefer a gentler change in colour.

Of course pink for Thursday

when baby Stevie Ray was born!

I think I need to take another look at pink

now that both my grandchildren are girls!

So now I am in the fifth month of Stone Pathways

and am wishing I knew a bit more about

each one.

How it was formed

and

what it is made of.

Another piece of precious silk

this had been scrunched and pressed for another project

but now it's speckled nature

is sitting here for a beautiful speckled

smooth stone.

I didn't have the heart to iron out my silk!

Four months of stone pathways

are now pinned up on one of the design walls.

It is about 7ft long by 29".

I need time to sit and reflect.

Do I want to continue in this format?

The seams are curved

Do I want to change to straight seams for the next four months?

How many layers does it need? 

A quilt batte and a backing or just one layer of backing?

What stitching marks bring it all together?

These are some of the questions I will be asking myself

as I stitch on into May.

I am smiling because I was trained to have everything

resolved on paper before starting

before wasting materials.

But that has never suited me

I need to have the freedom to change my mind

to change the direction of a piece.

Basically as stitchers we spend a lot of time with our work

and it changes with every stitch

every mark

and I work best if I take the time to listen to what it asks of me.