Love Getting Started on New Work

Starting new work

Pinning bits and pieces

Here and there.

Sitting down to ponder on how I feel about these combinations

A book of Egon Schiele landscapes catches my eye

I pick it up

It opens to a painting Autumn Tree in Turbulent Air

Which takes me back a few years to a walk in the woods

When I came across an uprooted tree lying across my path

It's roots swirled and curled six feet into the air

A rock still held tightly within their grasp

At about eye level.

Amazing

Exciting

Synchronicity

And so the story begins

The strip of fabric on the right

is silk velvet

with the texture of tree bark

I started by rusching it onto a pre-felt base

Treated it very badly in the washer and dryer.

Once dried I unstitched the rippled velvet

from the pre-felt

and....

....voila!

Lots of work but worth it in my opinion

Meanwhile out on the dykes

our morning walks have been pretty dramatic

Not that the sunrise is of any interest to the Rusty Pups

They prefer to have their nose to the ground

Or look into the distance wondering how far we will go today!

 I hope your new beginnings are exciting to you too.

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.

Deciding on a Softer Touch

Another hag stone

A stone with a hole through it

A stone from Dorset.

This is how my cloth stone ended up

but it started like this.....

.....To me it looked heavy handed

so picked out all the stitching

and decided on a softer touch

or perhaps a more minimalist touch.

Speckled pebble

Found hanging out in my curio shelves

crammed full of precious things.

Just love it.

It's only an inch wide.

Mapping marks with one strand of DMC.

A gift of thread from Betsy

helped me decide on

how to interpret these smokey markings.

A speckled rock gift from Nancy

but the scrap of silk I chose was way too beautiful to cover over!

A wrapped stone gift from Nadine.

My goodness me I have received a lot of gifts this week!

Nadine lives down on the French shore

and five of us met at her place

where we ate mouthwatering lobster,

planned for our upcoming show

and played with photo manipulation.

Another gift of a stone from Nancy.

Thank you girls for all your gifts.

How lucky am I.

Blessings.

The Flora of Brier Island

At the Westport Cove lighthouse

much to our delight we found a rusty gate.

It had shed much rust

which we gathered in paper bags.

The sea had left behind

a long tree of stitching inspiration.

As usual the rock forms drew my eye.

Beach pea was everywhere.

and the sun shone on huge areas

of cinnamon fern.

We couldn't identify these little waxy red leaves

but don't they show great promise for

natural dyeing!

We didn't pick anything

Most of Brier Island belongs to the Nature Conservancy.

Wild lily of the valley

The amazing pitcher plant.

Wish I had better pictures of it's underside

and the pitcher leaves.

Such a glorious day finding wild plants in bloom

all over the cliffs

and of course the pitcher plant

was in the bog inland from the cliffs.

Exploring Brier Island

Diane and I decided to take a trip down to Brier Island
As it happens we picked the very first warm
windless day. 
We drove down the Digby Neck
and caught the Petit Passage ferry to Long Island.

We drove the length of Long Island 
and caught a second ferry to Westport
the small village on Brier Island.

First we went to Peter Island Whitehouse

The water was mirror-like
except where it turned the corner on this little headland.
The currents in these narrow passages between the islands can be
treacherous but we watched cormorants
ride them with gay abandon.

Seagulls were everywhere

on rocks and seaweed

on cliffs

and even on stunted trees.

If the rocks weren't covered in seagulls
they were alive with cormorants.

Basalt rocks
always so geometric
jutted through seaweed.

 Seaweed also clung to the rocky edges
beneath the water's surface.

Ida ducklings were escorted
around the rocks by caring adults.

And the rocks
oh, so much inspiration

for future stitchings.

Walking the Beaches of Inverness

Our B&B was close to the beach in Inverness

We made sure we found time to walk the beach

at least twice a day

and what a treat that was.

The waves roared in across the Gulf of Saint Laurence

and some days the wind was quite something

but there is nothing like sea air to clear the cobwebs of the mind!

On one windy cloudless morning a juvenile eagle

flew right over us

and was already down the beach by the time I focussed the camera!

I found several pieces of sea glass

and some beautiful driftwood which I agreed to leave behind!

A boardwalk runs between the beach and the golf course

which Handy Hubby would have loved to play

.....perhaps another time.

Moody clouds scuttled over the beach one day.

I think we all love a beach

and the rhythm of waves and tides

Every evening

the sunsets were amazing.