Art Quilts, Anyone?

It's hard to believe that it's been two weeks since the Lacombe Art Exhibit and Sale.  Time has passed in a bit of a blur -- recovering my energy after that very full weekend, and then it was Easter, and now -- it's month-end!  I have been back in the studio, though.  Honest.

• At the show itself, I finished stitching and binding two little pieces that I began as part of the activities in Module 3 of my City & Guilds programme.  Given our long winter, and the fact that we Canucks are almost exclusively defined by our weather (!), I've named them thus:

Ice

Snow

• This past week I focused on finishing the 3 quilts I'd begun in March, for the relief effort in Japan.  This was accomplished, and I delivered them to my drop-off contact in Red Deer on Wednesday.  (Sorry, no photos!)

• Then I worked to finish a small piece I'd had percolating for some time and eventually hung on my design wall till it could be quilted and completed.  It's only 12' x 14", and I've finished it with a facing...and once again find myself uncertain how to mount it.  I'm beginning to wonder how I get myself into these situations!  Anyway, I rather like it, the third in what I loosely call my 'Sprit' series:

At the Foot of the Cross

Here you see it lying on my cutting table, which is stark white.  I may just add a small sleeve to it and leave it at that.

• Next I submitted two pieces for consideration by the jury of the forthcoming SAQA Western Canada show, "Connected Across the West".  These two didn't sell in Lacombe, but drew many positive comments and as they reflect the area around where I live, I thought they'd work for "Connected".  I'll hear for certain in a couple of weeks:

Nobody Here But Us

Aspen

• I've resumed my C&G activities and finished two bits in my sketchbook, experimenting with "void" or 'negative' space, and I'm currently stitching a tiny (5" x 7") sample.  Photos eventually!

• And...I have an idea for another "Spirit" piece, based on Mary Oliver's poem, "Logos"...but it's just in the sketching stages.  :-)

• On the knitting front, I've made the first mitten in a pair of fingerless mitts using the single skein of Noro 'Blossom' that I had in my stash, I've made some headway on a top-down pullover (child-sized) for my church knitting group, and I'm well into a prayer shawlette for a dear friend who's just had a cancer diagnosis.

All that, and I've managed to rake the mulch and leaves off my back yard, too!  Spring has arrived -- albeit with cool (sometimes downright cold) breezes and even snow (in Calgary today, for example)...but I am so delighted with it that I am forging ahead.  I've planted some poppy seeds indoors to see if I can give them a leg up.  They were given me last year by my neighbour, E, and the ones sowed directly into the flower beds didn't show up, so I'm trying again.  It's too cold to put my geraniums out yet but soon...oh, soon!

And 3 weeks from now, God willing and the airlines co-operate, I'll be in Denver with SAQA, meeting a good number of the wonderful friends and colleagues I've met in cyberspace in the past couple of years.  Whoo hoo!