Too Pretty? Too Precious?

I've worked "small" for some time now...and seem to discover my niche with the creation of 5" x 7" "miniatures" since making a piece for the first "Spotlight" silent auction SAQA fundraiser at the Santa Fe conference in 2013.

I've lost track of how many I've made since then, but suffice it to say it's been a few dozen...and I'm currently making another few pieces for a local gift/antiques/collectibles shop that has agreed to take a chance on me.

Today I finished the one I had under construction earlier in the week.  Clearly the original, nearly-finished version needed something --  and I didn't think my machine could do it so I turned to hand stitch.  This took several hours.  I blended two strands of DMC floss in two different colours to get the effect I wanted.  Then, once the 'branches' (or twigs) were in place, I could see that the impression of bush needed to appear in the background and again, I knew my machine couldn't do it; I had to do it by hand.  This is the result:

Wishing Pond - (C) 2014

I have one more piece in the "nearly-finished" position -- "Winter Dinette".  It emulates "January Afternoon" from last year -- but has berries on the trees for a pop of red.  I marked the 'pops' out with red marker and then realized...no.  Tiny beads were needed...and so I have begun:

Winter Dinette - WIP (2014)

Winter Dinette - Detail (2014)

I began to wonder if I was taking too much time over these pieces, which will sell for no more than $35 retail, and of that, there will be commission to pay...

And so I went for a jog to clear my head and relax my body -- and I listened to a podcast -- "Writer's Almanac" with Garrison Keillor.  In the entry for October 28, Mr. Keillor read this poem...

I Love all Beauteous Things*

I love all beauteous things,

      I seek and adore them;

God hath no better praise,

And man in his hasty days

      Is honoured for them.

I too will something make

      And joy in the making;

Altho’ to-morrow it seem

Like the empty words of a dream

      Remembered on waking.

*Robert Bridges (1844-1930)

..and I knew I was doing the right thing by taking time and attending to details.  It's all about the process, eh?  :-)

P. S. Linking to Off the Wall Friday over at Nina-Marie's, because it's been too long since I've done so.  See you!

At the End of the Day

It's been a full day here in the studio -- posting, editing, stitching, and posting again.  Here are the two little pieces from yesterday's design wall, stitched and ready to go into their matts:

On Forever - 5" x 7" view

This piece consists solely of commercial cottons, with hand quilting for the sky (back-stitch, actually) and machine quilting for the prairie, and hand embroidery for the lines on the highway.  Seriously; coming home from Lethbridge up Highway 23 in October, this was my view!

Autumn at the Slough - 5" X 7"  view

This view I pass regularly as I head home (east) from the city of Lacombe at least twice a week.  I see it best early on Sunday afternoons, and this was one such day when I took the photo inspiration for this piece.  All of the fabric is commercial cotton.  Can you tell that the brown is the same fabric, seen from each side?  :-)  Never discount the reverse side of the fabric!  In art quilting there is no 'right' or 'wrong' side!

Here's a detail of the stitching in the lower corner:

I was blessed to find pre-programmed machine stitches that worked beautifully for the water and the lower grasslands, but I added hand stitch for the grasses in the water.  I must thank my daughter for the turquoise scrap that created the water -- she sent it to me just a little while ago and it is perfect!

And yes, I have succumbed to labelling my photos.  I may forget from time to time, but am trying to make an effort so that when Google steals these images, at least the source will be identified.  (If you right click on it, apparently, my URL will show up, which is a Good Thing.)

Till we meet again, "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch." -- Garrison Keillor, "The Writer's Almanac".

P.S. Did you realize that for Canadians, today is a palindrome?  13-02-2013 is the same backwards and forwards!

Captivated

When I run/jog, I like to listen to my iPod.  (Best Mother's Day gift from my kids -- perhaps ever!)  One of my favourite programs is Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac.  Each five or so minutes long, I listen to them in clusters.  At the end of each clip he reads a poem; this morning I heard the one for July 20 -- "Porcupine at Dusk" by Ingrid Wendt.




The second-last stanza held me captive:

              "...[the porcupine]...disappears at last into cattails
                                      and rushes, sunset, a vespers
                                      of waterbirds, leaving me
                                      still unwilling to move."

I came home and made this:

"Vespers" - 9" x 9" (c) 2012

The Writer's Almanac

I subscribe to a podcast from The Writer's Almanac, featuring Garrison Keillor, and sponsored by the Poetry Foundation in the US.   I love to listen to it while I walk...or on these bitterly cold, snowy days, while I knit.  Tonight I was catching up.  My listening included this gem, from January 9, 2011 -- the poem for the day by Gary Johnson, which contained these lines:

"...Like the home caregiver who comes daily at eight

a.m. to wash and dress the man in the wheelchair

and bring him meals and put him to bed at night

for minimum wage and stroke his pale brown hair.

He needs you.  "Are you all right?" "I'm all right."

he says.  He needs you to give him these good days, 

you good worker.  God's own angels sing your praise."

We had a home caregiver once -- actually, more than one -- over the years of the Lost Decade...A, who is now a student in central Ontario was one of the more memorable ones...and S, for the last two years...She did just that: came by 8 a.m., three days a week, to get H ready for his day at the hospital: physio (perhaps) and dialysis (always).    That last day she knew he wasn't himself...he didn't enjoy her eggs as he usually did.  But he needed her then...as did I.  And neither ever minded that I was there, but not doing her work.  They each understood.  May God's angels continue to sing their praise!