Inspiration for Some New Beginnings Perhaps

I am finding the landscape the Beavers have left behind fascinating

Sometimes the Rusty Pups and I

visit the old Beaver territory on our morning walks

Because they are no longer here to maintain their dams

the water had receded

Revealing chewed off stubs of trees and bushes

Jutting up and out at every angle

I love the randomness

Back at home this Groundhog boldly

walked across the front of the house

right under excited Rusty Pups watching his every move 

from the safety of the kitchen window.

Apologies for the photo

it took me ages to find the camera and so got his backside!

Exhausted mighty beaver hunters

and groundhog observers!

New beginnings don't happen suddenly for me

I have to absorb and ponder

and understand 

before I can decide what story I want to stitch

but there is a point, as Meister Eckhart says,

when I do dive in and trust the magic

of new beginnings.

And suddenly you know:

it's time to start something new

and trust the magic 

of new beginnings

Meister Eckhart

Some People Know I Used to Use Colour!

Shorelines

I loved texture then.....still do.

Seven or eight layers of cloth stitched together 

(by machine in those days)

Then I took the scissors to it

and gave myself carpel tunnel problems for years afterwards!

I loved her weight

her drape

and her texture.

I love that she now lives with Judy Martin on the shores of Georgian Bay.

Sixties Groove

Also made at least twenty four years ago

Way before blogging!

Made for a Connections Show on the theme of Hippies.

I can't imagine now how I assembled all those curvey sections together.

This piece still makes me smile.

Memories it evokes

like my simple act of rebellion

painting my bedroom furniture pink and orange.

My cousin had ginger hair and the family always

said she should never wear pink.

But now we know differently don't we.

I am finding it quite calming to look back at past works

In these days of isolation, days of suffering and loss for so many families

my mind is scattered

my heart breaks

I cry

my blood boils

my spirit fills with admiration and gratitude 

for the heroism

 of those working on the front lines of this pandemic

Thank you.

The colours I am drawn to for the past twenty years

since the turn of the century are quieter and softer.

The lines I seek out now are those irregular

meandering lines created by Mother Nature.

I hope you have a happy and healthy day.

Feeling Unstitched

Since this all began

I've been stitching windy gusts around my windswept tree

happy to have work at the stage

when rhythmic stitched meditation can take over.

After a day's stitching

an important part of my process

is to pin the piece on a design wall

take a quick look and react.

Usually this means trying out bits and pieces of cloth or thread colour

and leaving them there overnight

to react to them first thing in the morning with fresh eyes.

On Monday night however

my immediate thought was

Oh, my goodness, I have to unstitch all that wind!

.....

I went to bed.

Next morning my reaction was just the same.

So I started unpicking.

How much unpicking you may ask

....well....

I started first thing Tuesday morning

Handy Hubby then decided he had to

vacuum all the rugs

and then

shampoo all the rugs.

He did that by lunchtime.

I unpicked for two days!

The Rusty Pups thought it was pretty boring.

I found it quite calming.

Once I have made a decision like that

I commit fully.

I should tell you why....

That Monday night

it hit me that my beautiful elegant tree

was being overwhelmed by those messy winds.

When I started the wind was an important part of the story

Now I am relegating it to background noise!

So today I will start calming the wind down

and feel secure in the knowledge that I have done the right thing.

Perhaps my windy stitching didn't work

because

for the past few weeks I should have been

with these two little monkeys

whom I haven't held in my arms for ages now.

Usually I get to visit them at least twice a year.

I wonder when I will see them next

in these days of uncertainty.

I know many of us are wondering the same thing.

Love my little honeybunches

See you on FaceTime tonight!

We visited the Beaver Dam

A few days ago the ice was breaking up around the abandoned Beaver Dam.

Brrrr!

Today the water is free of ice

I wonder if beavers ever return to places they have abandoned?

The Rusty Pups found it a useful bridge to clamber their way back to me.

It is still cold up here in the North so the ice might be back.

Brrr!

I wondered if I should have put puppies on top of

Beaver Moon Dreaming...

....or perhaps some paw prints!

Bending in the Wind

We are all bending in the wind of dramatic changes at the moment.

Our individual worlds are shrinking.

This week I should be packing to present at the SAQA conference in Toronto.

Instead Judy Martin, Miranda Bouchard and I

are going through a steep learning curve in order to do it online.

So sad but necessary

There is nothing like talking to a roomful of textile artists

but SAQA is doing an amazing job of adapting

and we will get through this.

Stay safe

In between computer sessions
work is progressing on what I currently call Windy Tree.

We have lost so many trees to the wind this past year.
And this piece is about the time walking through our woods
.....but I've told you that already!....

I spent one day pinning stones and rocks in various positions

but

no....it was making the piece to weighty

I wanted to place emphasis on the wind.

So in between a few scattered stones I stitched

the messiness of the ground on a windy day.

It felt like a dance of needle and thread

Stitches dancing in the wind!

Then I climbed up the tree a bit

adding bits and pieces of windblown twigs

I didn't want to forget the big rock caught in mid air

Then as usual the Rusty Pups felt the need to interrupt

and bring in their favourite toy

They can keep themselves amused with this one for ages!

So all three of us had to have a tug of war.

Be safe

Trying to Fall in Love with Navy Blue

It struck me one morning as we walked toward the basin

that it was a navy blue sunrise.

My least favourite colour.

Navy blue was the colour of my school uniform

I hated school.

Never worn navy blue since!

So many people tell me blue is their favourite colour.

I resolved that I would face my feelings about Navy blue

and so

Pinned all the blues I have on the design wall.

I'm actually thinking I like these and should work them

into a blue piece.....

I will!

You never know I might turn from greys and browns

and have a year of blues!

They are beautiful aren't they.

I have always loved aquamarine

And a bit of rusting always helps doesn't it!

I will carry on working my way

towards a blue beginning!

Hope you have a sky blue day.

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.