When Stones Take Over Your Life!

This strange Winter's pattern seems to be

three days of snow accumulation

followed by

One day of rain that melts everything.

Meanwhile I have had a busy week indoors.

Rocks have been sewn in pathways

pinned to the wall

removed from the wall and unpicked

rearranged and sewn back together again.

Despite the duct tape threads are everywhere!

When the week started I had thirteen pathways.

That always bothered me.... there are twelve months to a year.

By the end of my rearranging frenzy

I have twelve!

Let's hope the gallery walls are tall enough.

Next came was the decision on what to do next.

So I did some tests.

Tried stitching through quilt batting and a muslin backing.

Just doing that small sample was a problem for my old hands.

So that won't work.

For one brief second I considered machine quilting.

After creating all these stones by hand that is definitely a no no!

So I removed the batting and tried again....

Better

but still my hands would not survive the thousands upon thousands

of needle pulling stitches through that muslin.

Finally I went back to my original idea of

simply backing the stones with 

a lovely old damask tablecloth.

Aaaah...just like butter.

That will do.

 I was interrupted with a request from

The Lucky Rabbit

for Valentines Day Cards

These are very small

but even that small

I felt guilty

I should be back at my stones!

So far I have only managed three.

Have to get back to those stones!

 A pathway pinned to a strip of tablecloth.

I settled down in front of the fire

and basted them down

as invisibly as possible.

Something I learned from Jude about ten years ago.

Thank you Jude.....you are such an inspiration.

For the moment I an loving my stones.

I come downstairs every morning

turn the heating up in the studio

and immerse myself in the process of bringing them together.

I hope I can do them justice.

I hope your work inspires you today.