Breathe

The woods are breathing in the warmth.

I'm breathing in the Joy that sunshine brings.

Finally!

Up at the pond my beautiful magnolia

is bursting into bloom.

And Rusty Pups can now lick morning dew

from fresh young grasses growing along the pond's edge.

I'm stitching fresh air into my blue background.

Some paler blues....

....and some darker blues.

There is a lot of untamed texture on this piece.

This piece started as a challenge to use blue....

....my least favourite colour.

The more I stitch the more I like it!

I thought to call it

"Holding Deep Memory"

referring way, way back to my schooldays

where my dislike of blue started

but it also refers to rocky inlets on Georgian Bay

a place oh, so close to my heart.

I hope you have a place that fills your heart with memory.

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.

Making Colour

Before lockdown started here yesterday

Diane and Grace and myself happy spent Tuesdays

playing with dyepots.

Madder was one of our first choices

Black Hollyhock surprised us with a deep dark smokey blue.

I actually liked it!

We are very excited to have 

a brand new grower of pant dyes in the Annapolis Valley

Vibrant Acres

I think it was their Black Coreopsis

that gave us a very nice green.

I know

I should keep better records!

I can understand some folk wanting to do nothing but dye.

The magic of reaching into a dye pot 

and pulling out a new colour

is very addictive.

Yummy!

I hope you there are lots of colours in your day today.

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!

Bits and Pieces

 

April is coming to an end and yet still it snows

But loving the dots created by dripping trees as the day warms up

There is proof, however, that nature's critters 

know summer will soon be here.

One critter, Handy Hubby, 

had the foresight to build a shelf in case the robin's returned.

He thought they would prefer to use his shelf

A shelf is surely more comfortable than a hose

which we really need to use in the summer!

Hope you can see his very smart shelf!

For several days just a pile of straw sat on the hose

but several days later

a perfectly formed bowl appeared!

Looks like our Robins will bring us a new family.

I love my old Matriarch tree

She has been shrinking for seventeen years now.

Riddled with woodpecker holes

Not a scrap of bark left to protect her

Yet still she stands.

I really must stitch a piece about her.

My beautiful Rusty Pups and I love our break of dawn walks.

They always have to share treasures with me

 Treasures discovered in the woods....

....even rocks.

Sometimes they just wanna say hello

or show off the holes they have dug.

Our very messy front lawn is even messier nowadays!

I hope your walk inspires you today.

The Edges of Things

 

The snowdrops hug the warm edges of the house.

They worried me when they broke ground way back in December

It seems they still survived.

The Rusty Pups don't think of edges

just sizes.....

Their sticks are getting bigger!

There are melted edges of ice on the stream today.

I am on the edge of finishing these two.

'Walking with Dogs'

Each one 53"h x 12"w

Frayed edges.

Rusty Edges 

Rocky edges.

Leafy edges and rocky edges

We see the Sun and the Moon

We walk at the break of dawn.

The Sun in our faces

The Moon at our backs.

 I am on the edge of starting a new piece.

Leaning towards a yellow piece this time.

Hoping perhaps for more sunshine

It seems we could be on the edge of defeating this Covid invasion.

Let us hope so.

It's That Time of Year....

When the Stream can look like this one day.... 

....and like this the next.

When Rusty Pups can sniff at grass one day....

....and walk on frozen ponds the next.

A time of year when....

....my colours really reflect with the world outside.

Two new pieces nearly completed.

Lots of work being done in this second year of Covid.

Wishing you a passion for some creative outlet in these difficult years.