When friends come together "In the Middle of the World"

 

Judy Martin's exciting larger than life pieces

Reflections on a lifetime living in beautiful rural Northern Ontario

My heavily stitched smaller pieces

Reflections on years of living close to nature in beautiful Nova Scotia

The walls of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

An aged record of time past

In a way all three connected to the passage of time

Every year as the seasons move towards Winter

the undergrowth in our woods dies down to soft greys

All that remains are the deep ever greens and waves of red berries

Life giving berries for the creatures and birds of these parts.

Our winters are harsh here.

In the depth of winter swarms of robins with their white eye markings

descend on the wild holly bushes and eat to their hearts content.

The berries are all gone before winter's end.

 

The older trees whose bark is weaker and less resistant to insect invasions

soon become scarred by pecking woodpeckers searching for supper.

Did you know their tongues wrap around the back of their brains

protecting them from concussion as they hammer away at those holes?

This is the sort of information that comes out of my Handy Hubby.

The practical thinker in the family

Thank goodness one of us is!

I would wrap both arms around Judy's bundles and hold them close.

In the background is "Winter's Edge" my response to Autumn fading into winter.

The season when warm hugs are needed.

We both used warm autumnal colours

I can imagine Judy's repetitive motion while wrapping her wool strips around and around each bundle. 

I remember well my repetitive tearing of strips and couching them down over and over each other.

They are connected as we are in friendship.

My thoughts were to fade the colours into the sky

ending with a barely visible weakening sun

that is really only visible when you stand close to the actual piece.

Right from the days of childhood embroidery

Repetition and rhythm have been my favourite creative principle

Repetition of simple stitches

Rhythm in the physical movements that create the stitches

And I try to create flow and rhythm in my pieces.

Always exploring and still learning.

And this is the mess of all beginnings!

And finally one more friend who is such an important part of this project

A young curator who's dedication to this project is unbounded

A wise, thoughtful person working very hard in the background on our behalf.

Miranda Bouchard

I am full of gratitude for these two amazing women

We are sharing quite a journey.

And thank you to Judy who sent me her photos of the show for me to use since I could not travel.

More to come!

Getting Back into the Rhythm of Stitch

What a glorious Summer we had here in Nova Scotia

A Summer to remember

Everything grew and grew and grew

Wild apple trees drooped under the weight of apples the size of grapefruits.

Rusty Pups discovered they were delicious!

Bright, bold Dahlias grew as big as dinner plates 

Dancing through my flowerbed

They took my breath away

And were still going strong until Jack Frost put them to rest. this week.

Wanting to remember and celebrate this Summer

For me that is through stitch.

It will be a piece of joyful memories

Giant balls of colour and stitch.....

.... will dance across my piece with companions of every size.

And of course they will come to rest on the soil

which they will enrich in preparation for next years Summer.

The cycle of life.

I am content

I am joyful

I am dancing along with the dahlias in memory of this Summer past

and settling down to new stitchings with anticipation.

It is what I do.

When the Rusty Pups come and plonk themselves in front of me as I stitch....

,,,,and even shove their noses into my cloth as I stitch....

....informing me they feel neglected

So we stop for a cuddle

Or a walk

Or a meal.

They are very patient but there comes a time when they feel the need to interject!

I hope your companions of every kind allow you the time to create today!