A Snowy Rainy Crumb - Week Fifty-One

The snow came early this winter

It came deep

The cold came along with it!

Then the rains came and washed away all the snow.

Then everything froze!

And Winter hadn't even officially started.

Days of Rhythm

At the moment I have a rhythm to my days.
Mornings are spent at the sewing machine
but I can't be showing you that right now.
It is practical work
Piecing a bed quilt
that unfortunately won't be done by Christmas.
But if I can keep up this rhythm I'm hoping for early in the year.
Boy am I stiff after those morning sessions!

It is after lunch that I pick up my hoop
and get into a new rhythm.

A rhythm of repetition
repetition of movement
stitch after stitch
row upon row.
Building up a symphony of texture.

A time for mind wandering thought
Contemplation
Meditation
Until a thread comes to an end
and it is time to focus on rethreading a needle
 time to lay a hand on the growing areas of texture
time to smooth the cloth
time to move the hoop
then back to the rhythm of stitch upon stitch
and wandering thoughts return.

A Little Bit of Red - Week Fifty

....but mostly black and white.

White on white might have been more appropriate

for we are living in a snow globe again.

One day I am going to make a huge black and white piece

with a tiny but important red mark.

That has been brewing for a coupe of years now

but too many ideas

too few hours in the day!

Small stitches and finer thread melding two layers of cloth

together....

such a different feel to last week's

huge stitches with thick, thick thread.

There is no rhyme or reason

no planning ahead.

Rummaging around in a basket full of scraps

is enough.

This time a small piece of kantha caught my eye.

Stitched in a Dorothy Caldwell class years ago.

Stitched on two layers of Kona cotton...

not easy for my ageing hands!

If I embarked on a larger piece 

it would have to be on turban cotton or harem cotton

or perhaps an old worn damask tablecloth.

Stitches Piled Atop One Another

Just Three more Crumbs to go.

What to do next year?

I am thinking....

daily stitching again rather than weekly.

It seems more appropriate 

for recording the passage of time.

If it's daily it has to be simple.

I like the continuous scroll of the four years

covered by the Daily Scratchings project.

Hundreds of things catch my eye on our daily walks

including pebbles.

What if I take the outline of a pebble each day

and appliqué it to a six inch square?

Each month of squares would become a wall hanging.

I've even been working out the various ways of

organizing the different months.

But it doesn't seem quite right for me.

I am not a square type person!

Perhaps strips of fabric covered with a pebble a day.

Or

perhaps a larger scroll than the 6" Daily Scratchings

and a simple row of stitch a day.

Or

Whatever else pops into my head!

Still have time.

A Little Scrap of a Tie - Week Forty-Nine

Wrapping Christmas presents

left the kitchen table strewn with lovely papers, silvery ribbons, and 

Santa Claus gift tags.

Seemed appropriate to photograph the Crumb against a

Christmas background.

But this week's Crumb does not yet reflect Christmas.

It reflects the Chiku-Chiku work of Japanese artist Akiko Ike

whose work I have been looking at lately.

She uses thick, thick thread in her work.

So this week I chose the thickest threads I could find in my baskets

and then I went to Judy's Journal

to find that she had used thick thread and large stitches

for her beautiful Stumbling Flag quilt.

Quite amazing.

The thread I chose was so very thick it took pliars to pull it through.

Won't do that again in a hurry unless I find some looser weave fabrics.

As I stitched I realized the little scrap of olive green and black tie

was well over twenty years old.

It took me back.....

....back to the early nineties when I made

 bears covered from head to foot in embroidery.

This, the first one I ever made was called

Woodland Bear.

And this glamorous girl was called

Bajan Bear

Those were the days when everything had to have a bit of glitz...

Silk ribbon and shiny beads

doodads

and flowers galore.

Not a toy, but

I might have to make one for the baby-grand when she is older!

 Hope your Christmas preparations are going swimmingly.

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.

Fallstreak Cloud Formation

As we walked the dyke one Sunday afternoon

this cloud formation was right overhead.

I have never seen anything like this

but Bonnie Baker, a local artist,

also spied it and knew it's name.

A Fallstream Cloud Formation.

What tickles me pink 

is that it also has a cross going through it

and for me this year is the year of the cruciform.

So now my aim is to stitch that amazing sky

onto this soft grey

cotton dyed in tea and rust.

Perhaps an indigo would be more appropriate

but I don't often do blue.