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.

New Beginnings On The Wall

Paytime on the design wall

Finding older bits and pieces that have never found a home.

Just the right companion fabrics are surely somewhere in my stash.

It might be time

I never know

But it is fun pinning bits and pieces up there as I contemplate

what unfinished pieces appeal to me after years of neglect.

Piece on the right is a new piece

put together mainly with glue!

I can't believe I'm doing this!

"Rock my World"

Beneath the design wall there is no lack of scraps waiting to join in the fun

and Rusty Pup toys also waiting to be played with of course.

"Rock my World" is to hang outside in the woods.

Not a stitch in sight....

....well, just a few!

What will become of it out in the woods....I do not know.

Ten years ago I wrapped trees with cloth hoping 

to get at least some colour.

All I got was critter and mushroom activity like this!

The elements and wildlife can be pretty vicious around here!

Freezing rain kept us from our walks for a few days this week.

But when we did walk Ginger's mission was apparently

to drag this branch along with us for a few kilometres!

I hope your day is warm and cosy

no matter the weather.

Winter's Edge

I sewed a sleeve to the back

As usual I like the back better than the front.

I need to do more work stitching from the back.

I did exactly that in parts of 'Chasing the Moon'.

It is always striking to me that the back can look so unselfconscious

 so spontaneous

 yet the front is quite controlled.

It might surprise you that I try vey hard to make my fronts look less controlled

Really I do!

Not very successfully I fear!

I am, however, a very messy creative

Threads are piled high right next to where I'm working

As a matter of fact 

every surface, floors and tables, are piled high with fabric and thread.

I frequently start clearing the decks

but never finish

because....

....as I start trying to take control

picking up some piece of cloth or skein of thread

sends me off exploring another idea for a new piece

....and here we go again!

The beginnings of new work are always the messiest of times.

Before sewing on the sleeve

our dining room table was occupied for several days

as I pinned and blocked 'Winter's Edge'.

It is now on it's way to the Wellington County Museum in Fergus

for a Connections show called 'Collections' February 20 - July 4.

If you're in Ontario you have to see this show.

It is such a privilege to be a part of this talented group of fibre artists

whose work is amazing!

And the Wellington County Museum is very impressive.

Worth the drive to Fergus

Covid permitting of course.

Stay safe