Warming Breath

 

Always thrilled when the red tulips bloom along the stream

Always thrilled when the first warm days arrive.

The only red I have in the garden

Must get more.

And of course

because I showed an interest

the Rusty Pups had to investigate.

Meanwhile back to Blue

I hope you have a sky blue day.

Blue on Blue and a bit of Rust

Blue on the design wall

 Pinned over lots of colour waiting for attention.

Rusted blue linen tablecloth

My old denim dress torn into strips and couched down into rocks

Rocks are circles

Blue shibori moon

Moons are circles.

Moonlit rock circles

Loving the shibori moon

Need to do more of that.

Blue

Rocky shoreline

Beneath full blue moons

We are circled by rocks

We have a coastal community in Nova Scotia called Blue Rocks.

Rust can always be found amidst shoreline rocks.

It needs to rest right now as I decide

if more stitching is needed.

I am a fan of excessive stitching!

Whether to stitch inside the rock circles

or

surround the rocks with stitch.

Don't know yet.

But for now I've had my fill of blue!

I hope you too can play with a colour you you never use!

Walking on Stoney Ground Again

Yes, working with stones again

Stones sitting on stoney ground

We walk gravelly paths every day

the Rusty Pups and I

Young pups just fly over any rocky impediments

I, on the other hand, at my silver-haired age

have to carefully navigate my way over such obstructions!

Working with needle and thread is a commitment in time

It is like bringing up and loving a child

It all takes time but not only time

It takes love and patience

Loving the back as well as the front

Loving the mistakes as well as the perfection!

And so it flows

The colours of nature are sheer perfection

At this time of year here we get final burst of colour

Winter will bring whites and greys and soft blues

and happily Spring will bring us young greens and bright daffodil yellows.

 The Rusty Pups don't care what colour anything is

They just want to smell it....

 and eat it if we let them!

Walking Muskoka Woodlands

Walking Muskoka woodlands 

Rustling layer upon layer of Maple leaves

The grand girls filled the woods with giggles and brightness

Fallen trees criss-crossed the ground

Nature at work

I wasn't the only photographer

and

 I wished I had bright yellow boots too!

Lakes are strewn all over this land of trees

Rocks too

Magnificent rock walls can stop you in your tracks

One thing for sure you won't find either one of these

in Muskoka!

But you might come across a few of these

And you will for sure come across folk with a sense of humour!

Water is never far away

And big sticks abound for small dogs to test their strength with!

Learning to fish is a serious business in this family!

Ashley actually caught a fish
and used the occasion to practice her big fish tale technique!

Brett and Amber have chosen a beautiful environment to call home.
Thank you both.

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.

A Whole Lotta Rocks and a Grateful Heart

Two days at a house on a beach

soaking up the sounds and rhythm of the waves

Walking barefoot in sand and water

 Marvelling at Mother Nature's artwork

Finding lines of stitch and....

....weathered holes

Marvelling at grey on grey textures

Discovering two rocks so different from the rest

Wondering why barnacles have started to grow on seaweed

Imagining the waves on stormy nights

carving their images on smooth rocks and ....

....pounding down to create seams and crevices

Thank you to Diane and Harold who gifted me this time

and

thank you to the golden who sat by my side and wanted so much to be petted.

Thank you to so many of you who loved the Rusty Pups

You raised us up with your beautiful words of sympathy.

And thank you Miranda for your beautiful rusty gifts

I will indeed wear them and think of my pups.

Working the Beginnings of Two Pieces

On a beautiful piece of onion skin dyed silk noil

I have begun wrapping around some tucks.

I think they will be trees

on a piece honouring the totem tree the local woodpeckers

have created across the pond.

I look at it every day as I stitch in the studio.

When the tree died

a heron used to sit atop it

keeping an eye on the Rusty Pups.

This is an old photo of just one pecked hole

but today all that bark has gone.

Another rock piece

is up on the wall

for me to test what thread colours to use.

No, no, no

Those stitches just won't do.

Wrong colours

Wrong stitches.

They will all come out.

Always have a few false starts before I get into the flow pf a piece.

Taking time to consider the options is important to me at this stage.

I have to say I am a bit nervous over the puffiness

of using a quilt batt for the first time in years.

Not nervous about stitching it

Nervous that I won't be happy with the effect

of dimpled stitches.

But I am committed.... I think.