The Criss Cross Show Has To Go Up This Week

 

One of the jobs Handy Hubby and I will be undertaking this week

is hanging all 53 of the Criss Cross pieces

in the Mym Gallery at 

the Annapolis Royal Community Art Centre.

I know exactly how it will go.

I will just want them all up on the wall.

On the other hand

my practical, engineering Handy Hubby

will measure and calculate

nail things to walls

and make sure everything is level. 

...that reminds me....

I have to write a statement about the show

and the process 

of creating a small piece every week for a year.

Each piece had to include a cruciform.

Some of which ended up as focal points and others barely visible.

Wish us luck!

Of course it will get done in time

for the opening on Sunday, February 18 from 1-4 pm.

A Farewell to 2016 Crumb - December 30 and 31

It's been quite a year hasn't it.

Perhaps as I stitched this one I was thinking

or trying to think of the blessings

rather than the negatives

of this very strange year.

My goodness

as I write this I realize it is already 2017 in Australia!
2016 is fading into history.

Thank you for supporting my writings about the work I do.
I am happy to share!
Just a reminder that if you post a comment
I respond via email
simply because that is the way I have set things up
and it works for me.

See you in 2017!

Perhaps an Arts and Crafts Crumb - Week Fifty-Two

Stitching together bits and pieces

resulted in this.

Made me think Frank Lloyd Wright

I added stitches

but did not like the results

Nearly decided to remove them all

or perhaps discard this one.

But Christmas is a busy time.

A Snowy Rainy Crumb - Week Fifty-One

The snow came early this winter

It came deep

The cold came along with it!

Then the rains came and washed away all the snow.

Then everything froze!

And Winter hadn't even officially started.

A Little Bit of Red - Week Fifty

....but mostly black and white.

White on white might have been more appropriate

for we are living in a snow globe again.

One day I am going to make a huge black and white piece

with a tiny but important red mark.

That has been brewing for a coupe of years now

but too many ideas

too few hours in the day!

Small stitches and finer thread melding two layers of cloth

together....

such a different feel to last week's

huge stitches with thick, thick thread.

There is no rhyme or reason

no planning ahead.

Rummaging around in a basket full of scraps

is enough.

This time a small piece of kantha caught my eye.

Stitched in a Dorothy Caldwell class years ago.

Stitched on two layers of Kona cotton...

not easy for my ageing hands!

If I embarked on a larger piece 

it would have to be on turban cotton or harem cotton

or perhaps an old worn damask tablecloth.

Stitches Piled Atop One Another

Just Three more Crumbs to go.

What to do next year?

I am thinking....

daily stitching again rather than weekly.

It seems more appropriate 

for recording the passage of time.

If it's daily it has to be simple.

I like the continuous scroll of the four years

covered by the Daily Scratchings project.

Hundreds of things catch my eye on our daily walks

including pebbles.

What if I take the outline of a pebble each day

and appliqué it to a six inch square?

Each month of squares would become a wall hanging.

I've even been working out the various ways of

organizing the different months.

But it doesn't seem quite right for me.

I am not a square type person!

Perhaps strips of fabric covered with a pebble a day.

Or

perhaps a larger scroll than the 6" Daily Scratchings

and a simple row of stitch a day.

Or

Whatever else pops into my head!

Still have time.

A Little Scrap of a Tie - Week Forty-Nine

Wrapping Christmas presents

left the kitchen table strewn with lovely papers, silvery ribbons, and 

Santa Claus gift tags.

Seemed appropriate to photograph the Crumb against a

Christmas background.

But this week's Crumb does not yet reflect Christmas.

It reflects the Chiku-Chiku work of Japanese artist Akiko Ike

whose work I have been looking at lately.

She uses thick, thick thread in her work.

So this week I chose the thickest threads I could find in my baskets

and then I went to Judy's Journal

to find that she had used thick thread and large stitches

for her beautiful Stumbling Flag quilt.

Quite amazing.

The thread I chose was so very thick it took pliars to pull it through.

Won't do that again in a hurry unless I find some looser weave fabrics.

As I stitched I realized the little scrap of olive green and black tie

was well over twenty years old.

It took me back.....

....back to the early nineties when I made

 bears covered from head to foot in embroidery.

This, the first one I ever made was called

Woodland Bear.

And this glamorous girl was called

Bajan Bear

Those were the days when everything had to have a bit of glitz...

Silk ribbon and shiny beads

doodads

and flowers galore.

Not a toy, but

I might have to make one for the baby-grand when she is older!

 Hope your Christmas preparations are going swimmingly.

Crumb for Week Forty- Eight

Just four more weeks left.

2016 will soon be history

Can hardly believe it.

I've been looking back over the year

and find that some Crumbs just don't have enough stitches on them!

I think I will have to rectify that.

This month not only do Diane and I have a show at Sissiboo

but we also have our Community Art Centre Member's show

So I was a bit short of work

and decided to quickly frame a few Crumbs.

As a result I have decided to collect 52 old photo frames

of various sizes

remove the glass

respray them

use them to frame my 2016 Crumbs 

and show them as a grouping in one of next year's shows.

Colour Mixing on a Crumb - Week Forty-Seven

Running stitch

Kantha stitch

Quilt stitch

Do you remember being told that the best quilt stitch

would be ten stitches to the inch...

...or was it more?

Certainly no perfection here

but quite a few crosses or near crosses on top of crosses!

Crossing Lines - Week Forty-Six

Another scrap of discharge

has worked it's way into a Crumb

perhaps with a shooting star?

But no, a shooting cross!

I am still playing catchup since my visit to Ontario.

Bringing Colour Back to Discharge - Week Forty-Five

A swirling, energized week

I was surprised at the colour of the threads that ended up

through the eye of the needle.

Marking Cloth and Canvas - Week Forty-Four

An old family napkin

dyed

ripped

marked with stitch

A not so old painter's drop cloth

dotted

spotted

marked in play

Even when painting I can't get away from 

simple shapes

soft greys and browns

and of course

marks that could be stitches

Not so many layers of colours here

but what I learnt

was that I prefer the marks to be a lighter value

rather than darker

An old acrylic painting completely covered

then marks were made by

scraping into the top layer of oils.

I'm trying to teach myself to paint with oils

Exploring mark making with oils

Most of the time I end up with mud!

I am still a stitcher!

All Caught Up Crumb-wise - Week Forty-Three

Handy Hubby has always thought that stitching the cross

or cruciform for a year was a pretty weird choice....

....that is because he associates it with religion.

But to me I think of the more ancient symbolism.

To the Celts it is the meeting place of divine energies.

Ancient Greeks used it to represent the four elements.

The Hopi used it as North, South, East and West

the four points on the horizon.

And in the Middle East it also represented the four winds.

I am sure there are many more meanings.

Red on the other hand is the colour of

blood and fire

love and passion

Joy and strength

Courage and Vigour

not to mention rage, danger and stress

but also

action, vibrance, radiance and determination.

Handy Hubby, the Rusty Pups and myself

are getting back in the routine of walks along the dyke.

That day the tide was coming in

and it wasn't long before this seagull lost his rocky island.

You can see him still perched there on the waters

beneath the North Mountain

which protects us from so much weather that travels up

the Bay of Fundy.

Basalt rock protects the dykes from wear and tear.

It was quarried from the North Mountain.

The tides are still pretty high.

Haven't seen a low tide mudflat since I got home.