Snowy Boughs Again

Never been able to stitch on black 'cos I can't see what the heck I'm doing.

Stitching on white is not so easy either.

I can see what I'm doing but...

...the fear of marking it or dripping blood from my pin pricked fingers

is daunting!

There is also the urge to rebel and throw in some bright colours...

I'm being very disciplined

and satisfying that urge with delicate

threads of colour that will only be seen on close inspection.

And for B over at Aracne...

it will be one free standing tree just like my red one last year.

Snowy Boughs

Working in the studio on white tree shapes.

Machine stitching on Egyptian Cotton

or perhaps animal tracks on snowy ground.

Buttons from Grandmother's button box

or perhaps pearly tree ornaments.

Winter's Heavy Hand

On Monday I walked the dyke coatless and photographed long willowy grasses.

On Tuesday I bundled up and photographed icy puddles.

Yesterday I couldn't even get to the dyke.

It snowed

and snowed

and snowed all day long.

The rusty pups and I played outside.

taking a chance on not becoming snow-pups or a snow-woman.

For if we stood still long enough we would surely have been buried.

Inside the studio things are also very white.

I have to make another Christmas tree for our

Community arts Centre fundraiser.

I nearly forgot.

This year I decided on a white tree and time is short.

Winter has Arrived

It was cold on the dyke today.

Things are icing up.

The random lines are interesting to me.

There are potential stitches in those frozen puddles.

Thinking out Loud

As I stitch another layer onto the back of the rusty gate...

 I arrange my new fabrics on the wall and ponder what to do with them.

There seems to be two definite families.

Perhaps they belong together.

Perhaps they don't.

Is there one large piece here or many small ones?

Is there something completely different to be done with them?

But then there is also the feather piece I need to start

and this lovely rusty piece from a while back...

...which could be a fading Queen Anne's Lace.... perhaps.

So many ideas

Not enough time in the day to tackle them all at once.

Up the Quarry Road

The rusty pups and I walked up the quarry road.

It's way too windy for the dyke walk.

At least here the trees protect us a bit.

 Before going for walks we usually frisk Rusty pup Shandy

checking for tennis balls she might smuggle along on the trip.

I missed this one!

 

We stumbled upon some rusty stuff.

I tried to pry it loose from a mountain of rocks

but it held firm.

Wonder if we have wire cutters large enough to free up some.

A Special Delivery Day

Winter arrived yesterday.
But after a cold and blustery walk along the dyke
my heart warmed with excitement...
...there was a parcel waiting for pick up
...and it turned out to be
a marvellous piece of Judy Martin's work
that I am now thrilled to be the custodian of.

 'Heart to Heart'

It is a piece with two sides and two titles.

Each side a poem in it's own right.

 'Mother Canada'
If you know how Judy works
you know that it is heavily stitched...
even the white snowy land around 'Mother Canada'
is covered in stitched leaves of white.

If you know how Judy works...

you know that every stitch is a thoughtful meditation.

If you know Judy's world...

you can feel the caring embrace of her mother figure.

For me Judy is a major voice in Canadian art today.

For me she is a poet who writes her poems in stitch.

I know Judy loves this piece

and that there is a small piece of her within it's stitched textures.

I'm honoured and thrilled to provide it a home.

Thank you Judy.