Resting at Low Tide

Last week I also finished another mighty rock piece

Resting at Low Tide.

It has been waiting for the final finishing touches for ages.

Sometimes that is how the process goes.

But, you know, these works often carry on telling me their story

after completion

and it could potentially want to add to the story!

It is a piece about the rocks resting on the mudflats in these parts

only revealed at low tide.

It is a companion piece to....

....Resting Between Night and Day

so named for my early morning walks with the Rusty Pups.

Sometimes we would walk the dyke

with the sun rising in the East

and

the moon still hanging around the Western horizon.

It seems my work is really journalling!

May your day in the studio be memory filled.

Whisperings

I filled the background with crosses

Why

I do not know

It felt right

Perhaps it was that magnificent Snow Moon

on a cloudless night that led me to thoughts of stars.

Perhaps it was the piece itself

talking to me of generations whose voices have travelled through the ages

to tell us they too were here.

Of course, as usual, before trusting my thoughts

I did try out other background stitches.

It seems I often do that before settling!

Love the ruching too

Will have to explore that more often.

So

Whispering Cairn is finished

It's story complete

I am sad

but happy to have it close for a while.

Today I love how the sun is really shining

on that snow covered rock.

Looks like a Polar Bear wandering through the stream beyond!

March came in quite gently with a layer of snow

but today the skies are clear

I suppose that means it will go out like a lion

Hmmm.

Hope not because

this week we will run out of wood!

Stitched in the Faded Greens of Fall

I returned to a piece once thought finished

Adding more stitches

Layering Textures.

Walking past feathery elephant grass
I realized how the greens around the marshlands
matched the greens I had been stitching that day.

 Walking around water's edge I noticed
Canada Geese still up here way past their fly south date.

 As I passed by
some ducks scooted away so fast they left a trail behind.

and some just drifted away.

Some carried on eating with bums in the air!

Surprisingly some just snoozed the afternoon away
resting before a long flight south.

After the wind and rain we have had this week
I wish I could hitch a ride with them!

Circling The Mind

This piece is in my hands again after a long break.

An important break.

In the beginning it was simply a big circle of a rock

resting at sunrise or sunset

but

if life is a circle

perhaps it is more.

Perhaps it is a life

split into the person we are in public

and the one we keep for when we are home alone in familiar surroundings.

There again if a story is a circle

Perhaps it is a life circle

filling up with a thousand small stories....

....Small stories that make up all our lives.

Stories that rest on the foundation of our life experiences.

I have been told several times in my life

that my fascination with rocks

is from a need for a solid foundation

which I picture could be both physical and mental and emotional.

And then a circle, or a rock, or a life, or a stitching

always has a hidden side

a side that to me is less perfect

more spontaneous

and therefore more beautiful.

Talking of life circles

I do hope we have filled the Rusty Pup lives with rich stories.

Rusty Pup Shandy still jumps into the car

but Rusty Pup Kayla waits patiently for a helping hand.

Just after taking this photo I stumbled

trying to lift her into the car and we both nearly ended up

head over tail in the dust.

Made me realize how trusting she is.

I hope your life is full of many stories.

Returning to an Old Friend

This week I picked up an old piece and popped it into the hoop

it is like welcoming back an old friend

Feels good

A few months ago I had decided it needed a rest.

The excitement had gone out of our relationship!

I had lost interest

and there I had other commitments for the show in Yarmouth.

This week it called out to me

and I am happy to be involved again.

My ideas for this piece and stitching in general

 have evolved over the last few months.

Taking a break has done us the world of good!

As a result I am thinking it will be a much better piece.

Our relationship is strong again.

Wishing you a close relationship with your fabric and thread!

Happy Birthday to Handy Hubby!

Gee whizz

both of us nearly forgot.

Resting Between Night and Day

  'Resting Between Night and Day'

43" x 50"

2016

Hand stitched on Natural dyed silk & linen

with discharged black cotton.

We packaged it up and sent it off

to Gallery Stratford

for the new Connections Fibre Artists show

'Running with Fibre'

Connections Fibre Artists

is a group of amazing artists and friends

that I have had the privilege of being

a part of since I started this journey into stitch

way, way back.

As I photographed this piece 

I noticed all the small pebbles stitched into the

body of the large rock.

Working every day

threaded needle in hand

Cloth either stretching out flat on the table

or stretched in a frame on my lap

is what I do

and love to do.

It is hard to send a work like that far away.

I wonder if I will see it again

for it is like an old familiar friend

after months of stitching.

'Running with Fibre'

will run from July 15th to September 24th

at the Gallery Stratford, Ontario, Canada

with opening reception on July 14th 7-9 pm.

Walking Woodland Stones

'Walking Woodland Stones'

2017

Natural dyed and printed silks and cottons

Threads of cotton and wool.

Running stitch

straight row upon row

Higgledy piggledy

Loose and lumpy

but running stitch all the same

Couching travelling the edge of stones.

Imagining the footsteps of insects and small critters

marking pathways across the stones.

The woodland canopy keeping the land beneath cool.

Touching the edges of rocks.

Can a rock speak of what it is feeling inside?