"Time it was, and what a time it was it was..."

 The content of this post references "Bookends" from Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel...but only in a very general way.

On August 24, shortly after my last post, I had a test for COVID -- and the next day it came back "+ve", as I pretty much suspected it would.  I hinted as much then...and I was right.  (I have my suspicions as to where it invaded...i.e. the hardware store in a nearby village, where at the time I and 1 other customer were the only ones wearing masks, and I let my guard down briefly...just long enough for the delta -- suspected because I was fully vaccinated x 5 weeks -- to grab hold.)

There followed a couple of Very Miserable Days, with incessant coughing, nose-blowing, fever and chills.  That said, by the evening of August 24 I was feeling much better -- and paid for the privilege by having my senses of taste and smell disappear!

There's something really weird about not being able to taste the toothpaste when you're brushing your teeth!  Just sayin'!

I recovered gradually over the course of the next week-and-a-bit, so by the time I'd finished my designated isolation period -- the morning of Sept. 3 -- I was well enough to go into town to run some errands.  

By Labour Day Monday (Sept. 6) I was ready to go-go-go -- and in that week mowed all my lawns (east and west) and dug sod for a modest 'wildflower island' bed.

But in between and every day...as I recovered and past that...there's been a wide assortment of quiet crafting going on.  I'm going to try to summarize it, because it's easier that way...

Starting with the yard/garden -- a few "autumn approaches" photos.  

I ordered some seeds for native (that would be Alberta) wild flowers (see wildaboutflowers.ca if you're interested) -- and I chose the "Wildflowers for Bees" mix, because the mix for birds and the one for butterflies, and the one for all three at once didn't quite suit my purpose or my plan for a gradual approach. 

At the same time, I knew that these seeds would have to be planted this month, because they need to over-winter to get started in their germination, so I created this wee bed at the base of the Big Old Willow(s) -- part sun, part shade, depending on the time of day:

Wildflower bed created around a two-trunk old willow

I also researched online for options re: dealing with the sod, and found that my instinct to pile it up -- upside down -- was pretty good...so I added to the "bed" you see behind the "island" in the above photo, and then put down a new "bed" (sod upside down) at the base of the small Mountain Ash (Rowan in the UK) across the way.  It needs to be covered with newspaper and mulch over the winter; in the spring I'll remove the mulch, put a good layer of topsoil over it and go from there!  

I bought a special pack of wildflower seed for this bed -- the "Wildflowers for Kids" mix (😉) because it includes some "instant gratification" seeds that should flower next summer.  The mix for bees is for perennials which -- with respect to wildflowers -- can mean several years before anything much appears.  I knew that I'm just enough of a "kid" to want to have some "immediate" results in order to be encouraged and motivated to continue this project!

Sod bed created at the base of 
a young Mountain Ash

The seeds arrived Friday in the mail, and yesterday (Saturday) I was able to get them planted.  I have yet to prepare the sod bed, but that should happen later today.  Then there's cutting back the spent perennials and so on and so on and so on...

But is there stitching?? (I can hear you asking.)

Yes!  When I was recovering and in isolation -- but before I had my full energy back -- we were blessed with abundant pleasant, not too hot, not too windy weather.  

• I added more motifs and borders to "What Remains is Love" -- but took no photos.  Sorry!  
• I got Serious September Startitis: Knitting Edition.  This means I...
• Finished my Socks from Stash August socks, mentioned in my last post, which will be a gift to my daughter for Xmas (yarn colour approved);
• Decided Sweater Weather was approaching and started -- not one but TWO -- pullovers:
• "Turtle Dove II" from L'espace Tricot, in Gathering Yarn's "Haynes Creek Heathers Aran" in a glorious teal -- purchased at The Crafty Lady in Lacombe before she took her show on the road.  (NOTE: Lori -- TCL -- still carries Gathering Yarn products, which can be ordered online at her shop HERE.); and
• "Ranunculus", designed by Midori Hirose -- yes, I fell down a rabbit hole!  I've been pondering this pattern for months -- ever since I heard a fleeting mention of it on a YouTube 'cast from The Woolly Thistle.  

When I went to Edmonton to visit my daughter (more about that another time), I stopped in at The Fibre Nook (a favourite shop of mine there) -- by appointment due to COVID.  I was the only customer, and boy! Was I treated well!  I had a wonderful hour with the young man who was serving me -- and I bought 3 skeins of the most beautiful yarn -- BC Garn 'Bio Shetland' GOTS (now discontinued) -- in a dark navy, the last 3 skeins available.  In the shop there was a Ranunculus pullover made of yarn in a similar weight, which confirmed that I had enough in the 3 skeins to make one of my own. 

 About 10 days -- or so -- ago, I stumbled onto Selma and her Little Big Knits 'cast on YouTube.  She's Canadian -- from Ottawa, a place that has many special memories and meanings for me.  And she's made multiples of this sweater...and has been running a Knit-ALong (KAL) on the "Little Big Knits" group on Ravelry.  Well, then.  That's when I fell.  Hook, line and sinker.  So...I'm on the yoke now.  Fingering-weight yarn on 6 mm needles...with a top-down pattern that's simple but challenges the mind.  It definitely rivals the "Turtle Dove II" for a spot in my current affections...

 

The start of my Ranunculus pullover

It doesn't look like much -- yet -- but I'm having fun with it and it's going to be great!  😊

Of course, there are always socks!  This month's theme at the Socks from Stash group on Ravelry is "Food and Drink"; I'm making "Lollipop" socks in a self-striping, marled yarn in shades of purple and blue, with a bit of grey:

Pattern: "Lollipop"
Designer: ela m.
Yarn: Queensland Collection "Perth" in "Royal Blubell"
(yes, that's how 'bluebell' is spelled on the ball band!)

One finished September Sock

And...in yet another "Startitis" knit...I'm making a pair of fingerless mittens for a cousin of mine (late DH's family) who had a bad fall a good 18 months or so ago.  She sustained nerve damage that particularly affects her right arm, and her right hand is always cold.  A while back, when I still worked part time at The Crafty Lady (who still stocks the Queensland sock yarn, above), I was given a sample skein to bring home.  It's lovely stuff, and there's just enough of it to make these mitts, with perhaps a bit left over.  The first one is finished now:

Pattern: "Reciprocation"
Designer: Michelle Hunter
Yarn: Mirasol Sulka Legato in colour #13
- "Purple" -- for obvious reasons! 😉

The cable pattern is really cool -- and will be the mirror image on the right hand!  The yarn is 60% wool, 20% alpaca and 20% cashmere, so I think my cousin-in-law will love these as much as I love 'em.  (I have another ball -- a different but equally lovely yarn -- so I think I just might have to make myself a pair too!)

In betwixt and between, I've been sifting and sorting yarn and fabric.  This has resulted in a purge (pretty much 100%) of anything "bulky" in my yarn stash -- i.e., anything requiring needles larger than 6 mm...and even some of those.  A bag-full went to the local charity Thrift Store earlier this week.  Photos were taken of yarns being kept in my stash, and stash quantities have been up-dated.  To ensure I kept on track with Things I Want to Make, I put yarn(s) and patterns together in storage, so that I can grab a "kit" and immediately cast on a project.  I also ensured that WIPs/UFOs also had the patterns and notes that I'll need when I come to finish those projects.  A couple of "I'll never finish this!" projects were frogged!!

A labour of love, to be sure -- but at least now I know where I stand!

With respect to fabric...

I've cut up a batch of bits-and-bobs into squares and rectangles a la Bonnie Hunter -- i.e. her Scrap Saver's System -- and bagged them.  I found I had a batch of left-over half-square triangles (HSTs) from "Frolic!", so I turned them into this year's "Leader and Ender" challenge -- "Fish School".  Of course (Murphy's Law of Left-over Quilt Materials) I don't have enough to make anything significant, but at least there's an idea started...

My "Grassy Creek" top went to Sylvia-the-local-long-arm-quilter this week, to be quilted.  Here's my version -- before quilting.  Miss Pookie approves!

And here's the back -- mostly polyester, from my "inheritance", clinging to the rails on the back stoop (it was starting to rain and there was a breeze!)  My late friend Joan, who supplied most of the fabric in this quilt, was the "Queen of Polyester"!

There's been a bit of artful play, too.  While I was recovering, I dug through my magazines, and found an article in Quilting Arts -- April/May 2018 issue -- featuring the practice of Canadian Maggie Vanderweit of Ontario.  I decided to play with plant and rust 'bundling', and so created a couple of bundles from two old white tea cloths.  

• I soaked one in the water from cooking purple cabbage (I ate the cabbage; it was from a friend's garden and it was delicious!).  I'd added a bit of powdered milk to the soak as a mordant.  
• I soaked the second in the milk solution only.
• Then I bundled the "cabbage" one with outer leaves (removed from the cabbage before cooking and saves for this purpose), some 'rusty bits' (I have a collection) and some assorted red and yellow onion skins (ditto).
• And I bundled the "plain" one with more 'rusty bits' and more onion skins.
• I steamed them for several hours, and then put the pot aside in my back room to cool; I left it there for 3 days.
• Then I unbundled everything, threw out the leaves/skins, put away the 'rusty bits', rinsed the cloths and hung them to dry:

I think the one on the right had the cabbage soak.

These are now dry and ironed lightly, set aside for the moment when I'm inspired to work with them.  I expect they'll be cut up into smaller pieces and worked by hand, but one never knows.  It'll be up to them and the Muse!  

To wind up the past month* (!), yesterday I joined Joe Cunningham for another "Quilt Freedom Workshop".  This session, the topic was "Secondary Patterns" -- how the use of colour, block placement and other design elements can create movement and interest by leading the eye to more than one pattern in the same piece.   I dug out 3 fabrics from my stash, none of which I'd used nor had any idea what to do with, and came up with this:

 I call it "Secondary Rhythm"
and no, it's not perfectly rectangular; it's
a bit wonky!

I'll quilt it and face the edges, put a sleeve on it and see where it takes me.  The process has given me an idea for my strings...

And there you have it.  *I counted, and yes, it was really four weeks since my last post.  No wonder there's been so much to share in this one!  If you've read all this way, then I thank you, Gentle Readers -- you are more than patient with me!

If you want to read more, you can follow this link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday blog, where I'll be sharing this post, too.

Here in Alberta we're in a Public Health State of Emergency because of a Comedy of Errors and Egos (too much to go into here!), so we're all trying to cope with a return of public health protocols, dealing with Rebellious Nay-sayers, Vaccine Refusers and others, and just trying to manage with as much patience, kindness and civility as we can muster.  Our health care personnel are exhausted, overworked and underpaid.  So...it's good to work with one's hands out in the yard and garden, and inside in the studio -- and to be able to share it with you.

Take care, stay safe, remember your manners and healthy practices -- and I hope to connect again soon!

P.S. One more thing!  My SAQA Benefit Auction piece comes up for bid in Section 3 -- you can see it and all the wonderful pieces available by going HERE.  You need to have a (free) account to bid, but you can look and enjoy without one.  Thanks!

Always Be Humble and Kind
(C) 2016

Slip-sliding Away...

 I've lost count -- but I think we had four long heat waves, interrupted by brief bits of cooler weather (a day or two) and then...BANG! We're in "mid-September".  Except that we're only just finishing the third week of August.   Not even close to Labour Day.  Not.  Even.  Close.

Sigh.

It's been a tough summer -- especially for those in wildfire areas, such as British Columbia, Oregon and California.  To top it off, we're all still in the midst of a global pandemic, making fire, flood, earthquake and tornado rescue even more perilous -- especially for those who insist they won't get vaccinated (even though they're eligible) and "You can't make me!!".  

Sigh.

So...all of this noise has been rather dispiriting.  It's certainly put a dent in my "Get up and go!"   What's a person to do???

I decided on a few options -- all designed to "spark joy" with colour and freshness.  It's the only way to go when the skies are grey -- literally and figuratively -- as they often are these days.

• Yard work.  We're in a drought here, so my rain barrels are low, but I've managed to carefully, judiciously use my watering cans with my hose to manage the flower/veg beds.  (I don't water my lawn; I'm not growing a golf course.)  And so...at least some of the plants have come through and produced veggies!  

You can (almost) always count on zucchini...

And sometimes you can find beans...

And broccoli...

And even raspberries...

and of course, more zukes!

I had leaf lettuce too (now finished -- the photo below was taken 2 months ago...)

So it's been a pretty good year for the garden.  (We won't talk about the cherry tomatoes, started from seed in early March, and only just now producing tiny still-green fruit.)

• Long walks.  If I've not worked out in the yard (mowing -- which has slowed considerably as the grass isn't growing in the drought), I try to walk 45+ minutes on any given day.  During the heat waves, this would be about 6:30 a.m., when it was just daylight enough, and definitely cooler, but nowadays, it's more like mid-to-late afternoon.

On these walks I continue to encounter new-to-me wildflowers.  These are a couple of the ones I came across in the last week or so, and need to identify.  Both resemble clusters of tiny daisies -- and I've seen a yellow version of this too:

Whatever they are, their tiny points of colour in the aging grasses is very cheering!

• Quilting.  Not much of this lately...but I've returned to "Grassy Creek" (the Bonnie Hunter Mystery for 2020)...and am making slow but steady progress in putting the 4 rows together, with all of the complex sashing.  (I'm making it approximately 2/3 the size of the original).  Here are a couple of shots;

Last 2 rows on my ironing board

Close-up of a block/sashing combo

I also finished a small (maybe 30" x 40") quiltlet for charity -- without a home as yet.  It was a UFO from a pattern in an almost-forgotten quilt magazine (I found the magazine after I finished the top) and it turned out rather well, considering its chequered past!  😉

Pattern: "Beautiful Batik Leaves"
Designer: Debby Kratovil
Quick Quilts #52 - 2005

Quilting detail - photo taken after washing,
so all the quilty goodness shows! 😊

• It's been harder to activate my "art mojo", but I did spend some time playing with paint, stretched canvas, 'canvas paper' and a recycled plastic window blind!  I was inspired to do this when Soraya Silvestri, a colleague in the Artists in Canada Art Facebook group posted about "Dip & Squish", a fun technique she was using with acrylic paint and ceramic tiles.  (The link is to her YouTube clip about it.)  I decided to try it out -- with fabric! 

First, I poured a few colours onto a recycled Styrofoam "plate":

White background, red-orange next, then blue,
then a bit of Jacquard Lumiere in metallic copper.

I then took two 4" x 4" stretched canvases -- one at a time -- and "dipped and squished" them into the paint until I got the 'look' I wanted:

This was fun!  So...I cut up a canvas page from a pad of it I bought a while back, and I cut up a piece of textured, recycled plastic window blind and dipped those (all close to 4" square).  This was a bit tricky because they weren't attached to stretcher bars or any sort of backing I could hold, but I managed:

Here they are on my design wall

And some close-ups:

(L) on plastic recycled blind; centre and (R) - on canvas

(L) on canvas; (R) on plastic recycled blind

More on the recycled blind

And on a strip of the blind

Except for the pair on stretched canvas -- which I've signed and propped up as home decor, I really have no idea what I'm going to do with these pieces yet.  I have some card stock I could use to mount them; time will tell.  For now, they remain on my design wall, where every time I look at them, they make me smile.

• In the embroidery department...I've set aside the little Glasgow roses I was cross-stitching, because I fell in love with a sentiment.  It was on a sampler designed by Blackbird Designs especially to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of one of my very favourite stitchery shops: Traditional Stitches, just west of Calgary.  I don't do much of this sort of design nowadays, but I couldn't resist; I was smitten with the text:

 "What remains is love"

Photo from Traditional Stitches

I had a piece of hand-dyed, 28-count linen from some long-forgotten, never started project, so I ordered the pattern and the hand-dyed cotton threads:

I began to stitch 10 days or so ago, and am farther along than this photo shows, but it gives you an idea.  (The fabric is darker in colour than the photo shows.)

Working on this is very rhythmic and soothing, especially with some quiet music in the background.

• And of course, there's always some knitting!  Right now my focus is on the Socks From Stash August Challenge -- "Knit a Free Pattern".  I'm making a pair of "Thermal Weasleys" for my daughter (a Harry Potter fan) for Christmas, in a hand-dyed merino-nylon blend from the "odd lots and one-of-a-kind" folks at Gathering Yarn -- sold by my friend and former employer, The Crafty Lady. I've finished the first sock and am well away now on the leg of the second.

"Velino" hand-dye from Gathering Yarn

#1 sock finished -- longer leg; no ribbing on the sole!

Pattern texture close up; easy to memorize!

I'll be happily working on all of these 'fabric, fibre & floss' items over the next little while -- as at last we've had some welcome rain, and I'm lying low indoors with what I hope is only a cold (sore throat, cough, sniffles).  A test for What Shall Not Be Named is booked for Tuesday afternoon.

So I'm linking this up with Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday, and wishing you all a good week or two as we slip-slide into September.  Hugs!

It's a Colourful Life!

 This month is all about colour!  Gone (most of the time) are the grey days of February, and spring is definitely in the air!  

This week I've found two bits of greenery poking through the leaf mulch on my garden beds, and was taken completely by surprise by a sprout on a plant I'd been over-wintering and had pretty much given up for dead!  I don't even remember its name -- I bought it at the Wal-Mart in Sylvan Lake late last spring, enticed by its glorious pink blossoms.  

Eventually the blossoms died and it took the rest of the summer off, producing a few more blooms in the early fall.  I decided to see if it would last the winter and brought it in to my sunny back room (south-facing).  Eventually the leaves dried up and fell off, but I kept watering, having no clue if it would work...but it has!

By the end of the weekend, with temps forecast as high as 8-9 C (high forties Fahrenheit), I'll have planted my seed pots to get a head start on a couple of veggies -- zucchini and broccoli.  (I still have some brussels sprouts seeds from last year but they're slow-growing and were attacked by those darned cabbage worms/butterflies -- so all I got was chewed leaves.  In the fall the deer ate those, and I didn't begrudge them!)

Aside from greenery -- and potential greenery -- I've been enjoying colour elsewhere in the house too.  

Online I've been enjoying this year's SAQA Seminar* which is all about colour. The video interviews have been very interesting, and I've played around with a couple of the exercises, and had fun with the colour quizzes, which have engendered much conversation in the SAQA Members Only Facebook group.  

*These Seminars have been an annual event -- usually in the fall or winter months -- free as part of a SAQA membership.

Of course, I continue to work with colour.  The "Traffic Jam" top is now finished, sandwiched and pin-basted -- ready to be quilted.  Here's the top out on my back stoop before sandwiching; it measures about 57" square:

"Traffic Jam" designed by Pat Sloan

I plan to quilt it fairly simply, with wide cross-hatching, and hope to get it quilted, bound and washed within a week or so, as I want to send it to an elderly soul I know in need of a wee bit of comfort following the loss of her husband a few weeks back.

Meanwhile, "Grassy Creek" is in the slow-and-steady assembly phase...with a couple of blocks and some sashing up on my design wall. 

I'm finding it a challenge because -- as you might be able to tell from the photo -- the edges of the blocks appear to "run into" the sashing, and it's hard to find where one leaves off and the other begins.  Because of my tendency to get units turned around, I have to take my time, checking and double-checking as I go!

For play-time, I've been planning a few new art pieces (nothing to reveal yet; it's all in my head thus far), while playing with crumbs and strings.  I've a stack of 5 1/2" blocks composed of these scraps, all in blues, plus a growing stack of the same in the ever-popular "whatever the heck colour I have" variety.  

And I've signed up to take yet another Quilt Freedom Workshop from Joe (the Quilter) Cunningham.  This Saturday morning I'll be studying "String Theory" with Joe and his friend, quilt collector and historian, Julie Silber.  

To prepare for the class, and to make sure I had at least a few inches of space on my sewing table, I've decided I have to deal with THIS:

So...this morning I began to sort the longer strings by colour, putting them on hangers.  I began with the greens and greys, left from making the string-pieced sashing for "Grassy Creek" and followed that with purples, just because they happened to be there:

Next up will be reds and blues.  This sorting, though, won't include the Carefully Curated Collection of Strings in Assorted Colours that are stored below my ironing board...

(Pay no attention to the piles of fabric or the basketful on the floor...😉)

There's still knitting, of course.  My March "Socks from Stash" have been languishing in favour of finishing the comfort wrap for my friend with cancer.  I'm on the last of five skeins of the yarn, an alpaca/silk blend, and it too needs to be finished and in the mail soon!

Pattern: Simple Comforts Wrap
Designer: LIsa Santoni Cromar
Yarn: Diamond Luxury Collection "Tafi"

I'm still working (a bit) on the baby sweater for an expected cousin Back East (no news yet), and have offered to make socks for yet another baby boy (3 weeks old yesterday)...as well as a little guy who's now 4 years old, the son of a couple of bit Edmonton Oilers fans, who himself is gearing up to play hockey...

Left: "Oilers" colour yarn from "Hat Trick Yarns",
exclusive to River City Yarns, Edmonton;
Right: Schoeller & Stahl's Fortissima Socka Colori
in colour #9096 - "Blau Wei"

And then there's the impetus to dig out yet another UFO -- this one, barely started before it was set aside -- inspired by Kate Jackson's recent Last Homely House video over on YouTube, in which she, too, is sifting and sorting fabric and yarn scraps, with a view to (eventually) clearing it out...

Mitred Throw
Pattern: "Knitted Patchwork Recipe"
Designer: Martine Ellis

There are several patterns for this sort of thing on Ravelry; I just happened to use this one, but have also used this resource from Georgie Nicolson, as I really appreciated the clear layout photo.  I'm making mine in sock yarn left-overs, using 3 mm needles (somewhere between a US 2 and US 3).  Like Kate, I prefer to use double-pointed needles for these squares, especially with this weight of yarn and working with only 32 stitches at any given time.  You can use any weight of yarn, of course, and adjust your needles accordingly. 😊

Anyway, I dug it out and started again...and will pick it up and put it down as the mood strikes.  Given it's in fingering-weight yarn, it will be a never-ending project...and that's just fine!

Tomorrow will be filled with the Quilt Freedom workshop, so I'd best get a move on and get the rest of that Pile o' Strings and Scraps taken care of.  It'll give me a better idea of what I've got to work with -- and more space in which to do it!

I'll leave you to take up your own colourful projects.  If you need more inspiration, I'm linking up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week, her own colourful journey continues as she studies with the wonderful Rosalie Dace.  Have a great weekend!

A Bit More of Everything

 I'm still working on Everything All at Once -- but never fear, Gentle Readers -- I am pacing myself!  😃  And of course, what comprises "everything" is evolving over time.  

First, what's finished?!

"Frolic!", that's what!  Yes...I've finished the top for the Bonnie Hunter Mystery from 2019.  It's double-bed size -- 86" square -- and I'll have it quilted by my long-arm friend, Sylvia Sawyer at Windwood Long-arm Quilting just up the highway.  I found the perfect location from which to photograph it on Monday this week, in the February sunshine:

I'm rather non-plussed that it turned out so well, but then again, Bonnie's patterns always make my shoddy piecing look fabulous.  One goof: I applied the borders with the blue side of the arrowheads next to the top itself, rather than the pink.  It made positioning the corner-stones a challenge, but...I just went with what pleased me, and in the end, it'll all work out!

What continues?  

Well..."Grassy Creek", Bonnie Hunter's 2020 Mystery -- but now I have 9 blocks finished and 1 nearly there.  That's more than 1/2 the number needed for the size I'm making.  

And..."Traffic Jam", that scrappy free pattern from Pat Sloan  that my friend A. shared with me.  It now has enough 6-patch units for borders on two sides!

Shown here: centre block plus layout for border on right side.

It takes 11 of these units to go down each side, and each unit has six 2 1/2" squares.  Then there'll be the top and bottom borders -- each of which will take 11 units PLUS "corner-stones", which are really 9-patch units...so that's a lot of scraps!  Of course, because of how they breed, I'm not really noticing much difference in the sewdio...Sigh.

Sock knitting continues too.  I'm well on my way down the foot of the second sock for the February Socks from Stash challenge, but I Must Knit Faster to ensure I finish by Sunday evening!!

And what's new?

In the Knitting Department, I've cast on a Comfort Wrap for a friend who's recently been diagnosed with cancer....

Pattern: Simple Comfort Wrap
Designer: Lisa Santoni Cromar
Yarn: Diamond Luxury Collection "Tafi"
-- 60% alpaca, 40% silk
Colour-way: 7594 - "Mesa" (red on red)

It's a simple enough pattern repeat, but somehow, every once in a while I drop a YO (Yarn Over) here and there; I've already had to TINK (KNIT backwards) at least twice to get it right!   I really must slow down so I can finish this faster... 😉

In the Art Department...this week there's a new "finish" and a second piece underway.

For several weeks I've been 'auditing' a class in mark-making on paper and fabric, taught online by Canadian textile artist Susan Purney Mark.  I've met Susan and took a short session with her in person at a SAQA Western Canada Regional Retreat a few years ago.  Before that, when I was a Co-Rep for our region, she taught a workshop for us in Calgary. I enjoy her work and have one of her small pieces  in my home.  

Her workshop,"Cloth to Codex" (usually taught in person but not this year!) has been an interesting program.  Even though I am not fond of working on paper or making books, and not an enthusiastic 'mark maker' either, the substrate of the work is inspiring.  One of Susan's practices is asemic writing which I really like -- but I like *actual* cursive writing even more and so...

On Tuesday I dug out a stretched linen "canvas", and made this:

The Thing with Wings II
8" x 10" (unframed)
Pitt Pen, machine thread-painting

I reprised my piece for the SAQA Benefit Auction in 2020, entited The Thing with Wings, inspired by the poem on hope, written by Emily Dickenson.  First, I wrote the poem out on the "canvas".  Next, I sketched the tree on the back of the 'canvas' and outlined it in free-motion thread painting. That took some doing, because in order to get the stretched piece under my needle I had to remove the foot and the needle from the machine -- and put it all back together in order to stitch!  

I cut a piece of mat board and inserted it in the back of the stretcher bars to support the linen, and will have the piece put in one of my favourite 'floater frames.  I like it very much, and have hopes it will show and sell at the Lacombe Art Show and Sale this year, which is booked for the last weekend in May.

Then yesterday (Thursday) I started another new piece.  It's inspired by a photo taken by my talented daughter, Gina, which she included for the month of February, in a 2021 calendar she gave me comprised of her photography.  A few years back she purchased a glass 'ball' that she uses in her work, and she used it to take a photo of a tree in the vicinity of the High Level Bridge in Edmonton, Alberta, where she lives.

I took inspiration from that round image, blue on blue, and from some thoughts I've been pondering in recent weeks, about the 'little blue planet' on which we live.  The tree in her photo inspired my creation of a similar 'Tree of Life' image, and the circular image, my creation of a kind of globe.  The working title is "And She Saw That It was Good".

Here is my first draft:

I looked at it, let it sit for a bit, and decided it required a bit of tweaking.  Here's my second draft.  

Can you tell what I did?

Self-dyed and commercial cottons
Fused applique
Approx. 15" x 23" before quilting

Here's a close-up of the motif...

There's still quite a bit to do to finish it, but I'm letting it 'percolate' now.  Eventually it will be finished with a facing as a soft piece with a sleeve-and-dowel hanging system.

It was so warm earlier this week that I found myself outside on my back stoop, stitching in the sunshine!  I put a cushion on the little chair I keep out there, and wore my Harris Tweed cape over a couple of layers, and was fine.  My hands didn't even get cold!  

I spent most of that time stitching down the facing on the back of "On the Straight and Narrow".  Now all it needs is a sleeve!

Today, however, we're right back into February weather, with snow flurries and gusty winds.  It'll be a good day for assembling those 6-patches into a border and attaching them to "Traffic Jam"!  

Later on, I'll curl up with some of my knitting, and -- oh yeah!  -- do the suggested reading for an online Lenten Retreat I'm taking online at 2 p.m. tomorrow, and for the following 2 Saturdays.  Whether you're registered for a spiritual retreat or one that will find you exploring new artwork, as Nina Marie is this weekend, it pays to be prepared!  I'll leave you with a link to her Off the Wall Friday -- and wish you all a weekend filled with creative blessings.  😊