Belated Happy Birthday

Born on Halloween 2007

The Rusty Pups have been our constant companions

for seven years now.

They have been very attentive....

.....and happy to wait for us when their four legs

travel faster than our two!

Happy Birthday girls

Breaking Patterns

This week four of us from the Artist's Way Collective

drove down to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Yarmouth 

and hung our show

"Breaking Patterns"

Sherry, Giselle, Nadine and I worked very hard that day!

Oh, yes, and Handy Hubby came to help too.

It was he who came up with the new way we hung my Daily Scratchings.

Because of restrictions at the gallery

we realized it could not hang it had in Annapolis Royal.

Richard had to come up with a new system

and I think it is a huge improvement and

much easier to hang.

So surprised was I to read Judy's hanging of her lovely piece

at The World of Threads Festival in Oakville.

Great minds think alike!

The continuous loops lend it a feeling of flow and continuity.

Two and a half years recorded in stitch.

117 feet of days gone by.

Hopefully it will be much longer by the time it is finished.

It is so very nice to see "Daily Scratchings - A Stitched Journal" hanging as a unit.

At home it is rolled up in small scrolls

in a basket

a beautiful basket

but not the best way to view it.

Nadine did a series of paintings about her alter ego Rosina.

Giselle hung many portraits.

Sherry hung her flower gardens.

And we all hung Grace's contribution of textile pieces.

We all had to do several paintings for this large collective piece.

So many colours

So many different styles

But I think it works.

When I got back home seven hours later

boy was I tired

Could hardly keep my eyes open after a simple meal.

The opening is on November 7th at 6pm.

All are welcome!

Last Week's Scratchings

Getting back into the groove...slowly

We were swept along the dike by strong blowing winds

beneath dark grey clouds

Tuesday started early with blood tests....tai chi...grocery shopping

followed by a grey wet day.

Drove across the province in heavy rain

on puddled roads to attend a FAB meeting where we played with glue guns.

Got back from yoga on Friday to swarms of grackles in the garden.

Stitching in an attempt to brighten up a grey rainy weekend.

McMichael Gallery Autumn Sale

 Massasauga Pine

It's that time of year again

when

 Cliff Twilight

You will find Mark and his paintings

 Algonquin Island Sunset

at the McMichael Gallery In Kleinburg, Ontario.

 Killbear Pride

My favourite gallery in the whole wide world.

Moose Bay Sunrise

My favourite artist in the whole wide world!

And so October Begins

October first means the beginning of a new scroll.

I do that every three months.

Scratched up to October 19th.

Surrounded by baby images.

Visitors arrived with ribbon wrapped gifts

and alligators patterned some things

Then it got too busy to do anything more than rows of stitch.

Those pumpkin looking things represent bouncing

on the yoga ball which was great at soothing fussy times.

On Saturday Claire and Mike and Peggy

invited Mark and Donna and baby

Handy Hubby and I

and Brett

for Thanksgiving.

A lovely evening it was too.

After three weeks we tore ourselves away and returned home.

Our first days home have been crazy days of playing catchup.

So many things to do and errands to run

I felt a bit loopy....and so invented a loopy stitch!

I hope we still have time to admire the autumn colours before the leaves fall.

Sunday was drawing class again.

Breathe....relax.

Scratching September's End

Three weeks ago

 Way back on September 22nd I was binding a quilt in dotty red.

On the Tuesday morning RP's chased a raccoon into a salt pond

where the brave little thing turned and faced them

not moving another inch.

I flew to Toronto and up to Collingwood on Wednesday.

Finally I was able to hold my first grandchild

such a precious little thing

I think my stitched feet are larger than hers!

She loves her vibrating chair.

Think I could use one of those!

They have a lovely old fashioned pram.

Then life got busy.

Grand Babies are Grand

The reason for my silence

three glorious weeks away meeting this little honeybunch.

At times she sleeps as peaceful as can be

but not necessarily.

Just like her Dad, even in her sleep she can be

A bundle of wriggling muscles.

So serious was she as she studied everything around her.

when I arrived she looked at light and contrast.

By the time I left she was looking at our eyes and faces

and the smiles were beginning to be real.

Tiny hands would wrap into fists

Arms would stretch out relaxed over Mama's shoulders

The yoga ball was used to soother at fussy times.

Both parents would take it in turn gently bouncing with babe in arms.

I didn't trust myself to do that

but could have done with one back in the seventies!

Uncle Brett came to meet his niece.

Handy Hubby became an adoring grandpa.

Butterfly babe

So many thanks to Mark and Donna for allowing 

me to share this precious time with them.