Bending in the Wind

 Nearly there

And so happy to have taken the trouble to remove the messy wind of before!

When you look straight on you hardly notice the wind at all now.

But....

....moving around and looking at angles

the wind can be seen a shimmering there.

 A few leaves are dancing

all that's left.

The winds have been strong here these last few days

We lost a couple

Snapped off half way down

Contemplating whether to enter the woods

where trees are blown over

on windy days just like this

but

out in the meadow

 lean into the wind

or be blown to and fro

like rag dolls I fear.

 Back at the car it's sheltered thank goodness

And back home there's a couch for

pooped Rusty Pups 

to collapse on!

Inspiration for Some New Beginnings Perhaps

I am finding the landscape the Beavers have left behind fascinating

Sometimes the Rusty Pups and I

visit the old Beaver territory on our morning walks

Because they are no longer here to maintain their dams

the water had receded

Revealing chewed off stubs of trees and bushes

Jutting up and out at every angle

I love the randomness

Back at home this Groundhog boldly

walked across the front of the house

right under excited Rusty Pups watching his every move 

from the safety of the kitchen window.

Apologies for the photo

it took me ages to find the camera and so got his backside!

Exhausted mighty beaver hunters

and groundhog observers!

New beginnings don't happen suddenly for me

I have to absorb and ponder

and understand 

before I can decide what story I want to stitch

but there is a point, as Meister Eckhart says,

when I do dive in and trust the magic

of new beginnings.

And suddenly you know:

it's time to start something new

and trust the magic 

of new beginnings

Meister Eckhart

Some People Know I Used to Use Colour!

Shorelines

I loved texture then.....still do.

Seven or eight layers of cloth stitched together 

(by machine in those days)

Then I took the scissors to it

and gave myself carpel tunnel problems for years afterwards!

I loved her weight

her drape

and her texture.

I love that she now lives with Judy Martin on the shores of Georgian Bay.

Sixties Groove

Also made at least twenty four years ago

Way before blogging!

Made for a Connections Show on the theme of Hippies.

I can't imagine now how I assembled all those curvey sections together.

This piece still makes me smile.

Memories it evokes

like my simple act of rebellion

painting my bedroom furniture pink and orange.

My cousin had ginger hair and the family always

said she should never wear pink.

But now we know differently don't we.

I am finding it quite calming to look back at past works

In these days of isolation, days of suffering and loss for so many families

my mind is scattered

my heart breaks

I cry

my blood boils

my spirit fills with admiration and gratitude 

for the heroism

 of those working on the front lines of this pandemic

Thank you.

The colours I am drawn to for the past twenty years

since the turn of the century are quieter and softer.

The lines I seek out now are those irregular

meandering lines created by Mother Nature.

I hope you have a happy and healthy day.

Feeling Unstitched

Since this all began

I've been stitching windy gusts around my windswept tree

happy to have work at the stage

when rhythmic stitched meditation can take over.

After a day's stitching

an important part of my process

is to pin the piece on a design wall

take a quick look and react.

Usually this means trying out bits and pieces of cloth or thread colour

and leaving them there overnight

to react to them first thing in the morning with fresh eyes.

On Monday night however

my immediate thought was

Oh, my goodness, I have to unstitch all that wind!

.....

I went to bed.

Next morning my reaction was just the same.

So I started unpicking.

How much unpicking you may ask

....well....

I started first thing Tuesday morning

Handy Hubby then decided he had to

vacuum all the rugs

and then

shampoo all the rugs.

He did that by lunchtime.

I unpicked for two days!

The Rusty Pups thought it was pretty boring.

I found it quite calming.

Once I have made a decision like that

I commit fully.

I should tell you why....

That Monday night

it hit me that my beautiful elegant tree

was being overwhelmed by those messy winds.

When I started the wind was an important part of the story

Now I am relegating it to background noise!

So today I will start calming the wind down

and feel secure in the knowledge that I have done the right thing.

Perhaps my windy stitching didn't work

because

for the past few weeks I should have been

with these two little monkeys

whom I haven't held in my arms for ages now.

Usually I get to visit them at least twice a year.

I wonder when I will see them next

in these days of uncertainty.

I know many of us are wondering the same thing.

Love my little honeybunches

See you on FaceTime tonight!