I have no personal connection....

to this book, but I suggest you take a good look at it.  The author, Malka Dubrawsky, does great things with colour in her quilting; I guarantee her work will bring a smile to your face!  Scroll down the page and look at the short video interview she has with Quilting Arts Editor, Pokey Bolton.  There are close-ups of the pieces in the book.  And yes, it would make a great Christmas gift for any quilter you know!  Tell your friends!

Face and Form

The quilting is complete on "God, of Your Goodness", and the binding has begun!  After that, some handwork (beads), attaching the hanging sleeve, a label and a gentle wash -- et finis!

In Deep Mid-winter...

There was more ice fog this morning, and though not as thick as this photo -- taken last week -- shows, there is hoare frost on the trees again today. This is the time of year when everything is white and silver: sky, snow-covered ground, trees, my Diesel-tabby... When I spend most of each day indoors, cozily writing or knitting or stitching under cover of a colourful throw, a cup of steaming black coffee at my elbow and sparkling classical or soothing soft jazz on the radio.

In winter

all the singing is in

the tops of the trees

where the wind-bird

with its white eyes

shoves and pushes

among the branches,

Like any of us....

...I don't know the name of this bird,

I only imagine his glittering beak

tucked in a white wing

while the clouds ---

which he has summoned

from the north ---

which he has taught

to be mild, and silent ---

thicken, and begin to fall

into the world below

like stars, or the feathers

of some unimaginable bird

that loves us,

that is asleep now, and silent ---

that has turned itself

into snow.

With thanks, from Mary Oliver (Why I Wake Early: New Poems, Beacon Press, Boston, MA, USA, 2004)

Diesel-cat knows how to while away his hours while I stitch. This is the perfect pose for a mid-winter's day -- or evening, for that matter!

And I have been stitching. I've finished the first piece in my "Nature" series, including its mounting on covered, stretched canvas. I am part-way through the next one, working on beading. It's taken me some time to get used to the fact that my style calls for time-consuming hand-work, and to decide to "live with it".

My third project, well underway, is a more traditional piece -- but with some contemporary fused applique -- which will be shown in the exhibit of Canadian Chapters of The Applique Society (TAS), as part of Quilt Canada, 2010. I'm calling it "Ivy for Faithfulness", and it looks like this (so far):

On the knitting front, I finished the socks promised to my daughter, and took them to her in Edmonton this past weekend. Done in Berroco "Comfort", worsted weight (left over from the "Sweet Tee" that I knit last year, they looked enormous -- but fit perfectly, and will be terrific as extra boot socks when she goes snowshoing.

The day is brightening a bit, and a wee breeze has come up, but the temperature seems to be holding steady at about -10C -- just perfect for a good walk. It's time to re-load my iPod with knitting pod-casts, lace up my track shoes, bundle up and set off. I've been entirely too sedentary lately, and that needs to be remedied!

Sunday, Lovely Sunday

When I'm doing well and feeling good, Sundays can be such a delight. I begin with my usual morning routine -- dark, hot, rich coffee and my Morning Pages, cozy in the early dark under a quilted throw, with a candle lit on the table before me and a good lamp burning brightly over my right shoulder. I follow these pages with a few notes in my Gratitude Journal. There was a time when I thought both of these tools were silly, touchy-feely, New Age-y things, but as I 've made a habit of using them, I've come to realize how good they are for my mental and emotional health. In them I first release all the worries (petty and not-so-petty), all the drivelling and snivelling I tend to build up inside, and then I take a look at my blessings, which are, really, what's most genuine and important in life.

After the Writing comes the Reading. Right now I'm working my way through a daily devotional that is simply reflection on a series of related scriptures, a different theme chosen for each day. I follow this with a short excerpt from an inspiring book; right now this is First Light by Sue Monk Kidd.

Today I began the chapter entitled "Simplicity of Spirit" which, by its very title, is both a reminder and an inspiration. Like Sue, I have come through life events that are "...exfoliating. They shuck me down to some place that is thick with luminosity and resilience, an enduring inner ground." In other words, when we endure trial or come through a rigorous program of spiritual discipline, we come to understand (rather like The Velveteen Rabbit) that which is real. Kidd writes, "It's as if the foreground of life, where we spend the majority of our time, fades away, and we are left in the great background that is God, against which all life exists."

All I can add is, how right she is! And when I glimpse Real life, I find myself, like C.S. Lewis, surprised by joy.

Today is such a day. I went to church where I worshipped, studied, learned, celebrated, communed with God, shared food and drink and good conversation. Now I am home, listening to the most beautiful music (the CBC's Sunday Afternoon in Concert has been featuring that of Mendelssohn and Schumann in their bicentennial years), and catching up with my online reading and correspondence. I am in that place of beauty, joy and delight in all that is in my life, and it would take a great deal to shake my equanimity.

In Knitting...

Part of the celebration of this morning was giving my dear friend, L, the prayer shawl I'd made her for her Ordination to the Transitional Diaconate (Anglican) next week. The pattern I selected was the "Seven Sacraments" shawl from The Prayer Shawl Companion by Janet Bristow and Victoria Cole-Galo. I have been

knitting like mad for the past 6 weeks -- ever since we learned the Ordination was going ahead -- and I finished it last night, laundered it, and added the fringes this morning.

Some shawl patterns can be very boring and monotonous, but to date, I've found that the patterns in this book are not so. This one was easy to memorize, but used a combination of threes and fours -- garter stitch, seed stitch, stocking stitch, and a simple lace -- that was both fascinating and spiritually meaningful. Like those yarns that are self-striping, I wanted to keep knitting to see what the next section of the pattern would bring. I measured my progress according to where I was in the pattern, assigning partial or whole sections to be completed in a given sitting, which made working to a deadline much more enjoyable.

Knitting Notes: For this project I used "Sonata" from the Endless Summer Collection, available once upon a time from elann.com. It knits up easily, and is completely machine launder-able, coming out soft and light, all of its pre-wash stiffness gone. I also used a 5 millimetre circular needle; in this case, Addie Turbos. The only tricky bit in the pattern is the "YO, k2tog*" section. If you, in haste, drop a stitch in this section, be prepared to frog. There's little else you can do because of the nature of that hole-y lace pattern! (I know this from experience on this project!!)

On Other Fronts...

I've been working in my studio, creating a series of small quilted pieces based on the natural sights and sounds of the countryside around me. I have been journalling this on my wiki page at The Visioning Project, under the auspices of SAQA University; I'm not ready to share this work here. However, I am also investigating website development, and when that comes to fruition there will a link, never fear.

Now I am in the thick of constructing Christmas gifts. Because my DD reads this blog, that's all I'm going to say about that... except to add that I love to give a combination of commercial/monetary gifts and handmade ones at Christmas. It gives me a chance to put my heart into the season in a deeper and richer way.

My DS has arranged to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, and will be making the trek up here -- 5 hours' driving each way, not counting stops. That alone is a gift for me, as he accompanies me to church on Christmas Eve and we revel in the old hymns and the glorious story of the Incarnation. My DD will be here for The Day, and I am hoping my sis can join us too. Diesel-cat will make a fuss over the tree and the treats he might find under the table. Whatever the weather, we'll be cozy inside. I hope for and look forward to a rosy glow of family feeling, good food, happy memories and much laughter, followed by a good night's sleep at the end of the Very Best Day of the year.

This week my American friends experience some of this early festive, ward-off-the-dark, count-your-blessings season, as they celebrate their Thanksgiving. Best wishes, all of you, for safe travel, for happiness and health, and for the gift of giving and sharing the holiday with others -- the discovery of that which is Real. :-)

It may have just let up...

It's been raining almost continually for the past 3 days and, much as we need it, right now I'm longing for some sunshine to balance it off. I don't know about you, but I seem to run out of energy more quickly when the skies are dark and gloomy. If's certainly easier to fall prey to my "demons" when the rain can't seem to let up. To compound the sense of darkness, the sun is already rising a lot later the past few mornings. I mean, I figure if I get up at 6:00 a.m., the sun should be there to greet me!

But enough Pity Party-ing. What have I been exploring to keep my spirits up? Well... something old and something(s) new.

First, in honour of the First Annual Sock Summit, which I'm not attending, I'm knitting...er...a sock! Sorry; no photo. It's a variegated greens-and-browns, the second of a pair, being knit up for C, a friend from church. She chose the yarn, which is always a nice thing -- knitting without having to buy the yarn, that is. Actually, this pair of socks is simply one of the five pair I have on the go.

Second, on Monday I went to a local "U-Pick" farm -- Billyco Junction -- for Saskatoons. A fairly new operation, their Saskatoons won't be ready until next year, but I did pick five pounds of strawberries! As a result,

This... Became this...

Which became this... And finally, these...

It's been a few years since I've made strawberry jam, and then, it was always from store-bought berries. The quality, the scent, the sweetness of these fresh-from-the-patch is so much better! And when the rain lets up...I'll be off to find similar bounty in the form of Saskatoons!

Third, on the quilting front, I've been playing catch-up with my online class, "The Quilter's Palette", from Annie's Quilting Stash. The main reason? Fear of paper piecing! Yep, I've tried this technique several times; I've attended

demonstrations of it, a full in-person class on it, and still...it makes my brain hurt! This time, though, the quilt I'm making is so gorgeous that I just had to sign up and give it one more try. I continue to find paper piecing a real challenge -- particularly the first 2 pieces. I get easily turned around and tend to transpose pattern pieces and fabric. This time, I took even more time than usual to figure things out, and ended up ripping out a few times -- and tossing fabric into the scrap bag! -- but I persevered. What helped most was the detailed notes I took from the class, combined with remembering the simple fact that the paper side of the piece is the wrong side. I've managed to finish one (of eight) "Sunburst" semi-circles and two (of four) pieces of the "Thistle Blossom Block" -- and I'm pretty proud of myself!

What's next? Well...I'm waiting for my painted Tyvek (R) to dry...and then it's off to apply some heat and some stitching. This is all part of my Lesson 1 homework for my latest online class: Tyvek Explorations at Joggles.com. More later!

How's Your Summer?

Mine has been very busy so far, with 3 guests between June 9 and July 9.

First, there was my cousin J from Scotland. I took him to see the Columbia Icefields near Jasper, where we walked on the Athabasca Glacier. I hadn't been there in years, so the Interpretive Centre, hotel and gift shop were all new experiences. We both learned a great deal, and were totally bowled over by the beauty of the fields. Now *this* is what is meant by "awesome"!

A week after J left -- he was touring north-central Alberta on a Rotary Friendship Exchange -- my friend, P, arrived from Montreal. Our friendship dates back to our university days, and she was one of the bride's maids at my wedding. Here we are in the beautiful butterfly garden at the Ellis Bird Farm, which is only a few miles from my home. My friend B joined us (she's taking the photo), and we enjoyed a delightful tea at the tea house there. Hint: The Saskatoon berry scones are to die for!

P was with me a week, during which we visited Sylvan Lake, Rochon Sands, the Bashaw

Farmers' Market (yummy tomatoes and B.C. cherries!), slept, read, walked and talked a lot. Although we e-mail and speak on the 'phone frequently, it isn't quite the same as having a face-to-face conversation with someone so dear. Between P and B, I'm truly blessed!

Another week flew by, and then I welcomed Sr. Jessica, SSJD, into my home. She is one of the Sisters of St. John the Divine, head-quartered in Toronto for 125 years -- but she's been living at St. John's House in B.C., and has become a dear friend and mentor. I took her to the bird farm too -- for a delicious lunch -- and she met some of the other critters there!

During her visit, she gave a talk at my church on the Sunday and the following day, led a Quiet Day that was very well attended. It was a gift to us all.

On July 9th, I took Sister up to Edmonton to visit Associates of the Order there, and got ready for the third annual dye-in weekend with my friends, the Free Spirit Artisans -- at C's farm west of Calgary. No photos to show you yet, but I'm pleased with my items over all, especially the parfait dyeing and rusted fabric.

In a similar vein, I finished my first commissioned piece -- a crazy quilt block designed to showcase a few of the hand-dyed silk ribbons available now at Addie's Creative Fabrics, designed by Annette of Nature's Colours in Red Deer.

Here's a wee bit of block detail. The ribbons were in 3 widths and 3 colours -- but just 1 of each. The

shop carries an absolute rainbow of them, in all three widths -- yummy! I do confess that the red ribbon -- only 2 mm wide -- was the toughest to work with. I managed to do some spider roses with it, though, and then some seed stitch. The laying tool was a must to work with it, as it was so narrow.

While I was dyeing fabric, my DD was returning from Nova Scotia, where she spent a week with close friends of hers who moved there last year from Edmonton (the former parents of my Diesel cat). During the visit, the gals got up to Shelburne to see the SAQA exhibit, "Synthesis", in which I have a piece. My DD was gracious enough to take photos. Here, she's indicating the size of the piece! I can't tell you the thrill of seeing my work actually on display in a gallery!!

I haven't done a great deal of knitting lately; we finally have heat this summer, and with 25C

to 30C days, it's been too hot to think about it -- spinning, too. I'm makeing my daughter the

"Sweet Tee" from Interweave Knits, Spring 2009, and am about ready to do the waist decrease. This is my second approach to the waist. The first time, I got about 6" finished (of 9" -- my daughter likes her tops longer than called f0r), and discovered I was knitting a mobius! AARGH!

This is due in large part to the fact that the garter stitch trim

at the bottom is knit back and forth before you join to knit the

body in the round. Sigh. To prevent a second occurance of this

problem, I got an idea. I pinned a pretty brooch -- one that had

belonged to my mother, I think -- on the garter stitch band to

hold the ends together and keep them from twisting while I

joined the round. Nice accent, don't you think? And useful, too!

I have now knit up past where I erred in the first place, and all

is well. If I can, I'll have the top finished so she can wear it back

to work in the fall.

Come October 1st, I'm going to be very busy with SAQA University's "Visioning Project", in which I am participating. It's a 12-month project designed to help SAQA members identify and accomplish specific goals. My goal is "to build a cohesive body of work that can be proposed to a gallery for a show". Consequently, I am currently trying to clear out of my studio all sorts of quilting and stitchery projects, to make way for this focus.

Another part of this process with be the development of a website, so watch this space for more about it in the coming weeks and months.

It Opens Tomorrow!

At the Cumberland Gallery in Ottawa, Ontario...The 'flip side' of the SAQA Synthesis exhibit.
The "original" exhibit opens later this week in Cape Breton; there are two because the Cumberland wanted the exhibit in its gallery at the same time.
Solution? Get as many of the same artists as possible to provide pieces for the Ottawa location too. There are 22 of us; my piece,
"In the Beginning" will be there -- and I am thrilled to bits!

Ready to Send Off

Earlier this year, those of us who'd submitted a piece in the "Synthesis" exhibit, organized by SAQA - Canada Region, were invited to submit a second piece. This was due to the fact that a gallery in Ottawa wanted to show the exhibit during the dates it was being displayed in Nova Scotia!

I couldn't turn down this opportunity, and I had some items given to me in my art quilt group's Christmas Brown Bag Exchange...items that were calling to me. The result is a 16-1/4-inch square piece entitled In the Beginning:

The first two shots are front details; the third, a full front view. You'll note that I still have to work on my photography skills! The colour of the background piece is closer to photo #3, while the colour of the smaller 'striated' fabric is closer to that of photos 1 and 2. The centre photo shows the piece of leather scrap appliqueed on, as well as the millefiore beads and a bit of other beadwork. The piece is not heavily quilted; the background quilting is done by machine with either silver metallic or invisible threads. The beads are sewn by hand, and there is hand quilting along the striations of the centre piece of fabric, using a perle cotton. I had fun doing it, and almost didn't want to let it go.

Hunkerin' Down

Snow. And blowing snow. Storm warnings south of here. Here -- mostly blowing. The walk I shovelled yesterday noon is now almost filled in again. That's okay, though. In this weather, no one's going to be visiting -- certainly not on foot!

I managed to get into Lacombe yesterday afternoon for banking, the Post Office (sent off a Christmas parcel), the Library (brought home a VHS tape and 2 DVDS), and groceries. I think now I'm home to stay...at least till Tuesday, when I am supposed to go in to Calgary. "Weather permitting" has become my current favourite phrase!

So yesterday evening, making it back just as snow and wind were starting up, I worked on a wee art piece -- this month's challenge for my art quilt group, the Free Spirit Artisans. The theme was "Favourite Book, Movie or Song". Can you guess what this represents?










Here's a closer view:

On the agenda for today: applique and a the start of a new pair of socks!

TTFN!

MMS Continues

...And I'm lovin' it! Just picked up some more MistyFuse at my LQS; I found it on the roll there, at $5.95 per metre, so I bought 1 m. in black, and 2 in white. My box for Lesson 2 will need the white, but I thought it might be fun to have some black around for projects using dark paper/fabric.

Here are a few photos from the balance of Lesson 1:

This is the cover of my torn paper/fabric book. Materials used: muslin base; MistyFuse; torn pages from an old book; cheesecloth; diluted turquoise dye, painted on with a 1 1/2-inch flat brush; hot-fix angelina fibre; cut up hand-dyed cord; medium grey tulle; grommets.

This is the inside of the book. You can see that I've lined it with fabric. On the right side is a sample from my tissue paper piece, earlier in this same lesson. I've done a bit of free-motion machine embroidery on the right-hand side of the sample, which you can see if you click on the photo to enlarge it.

On the SAQA front, last night I attended my first mentoring group, in the form of a conference call; the speaker/mentor was none other than Caryl Bryer Fallert! It was an interesting 90 minutes or so, moderated by Lisa Chipetine out of NYC. Callers had signed up from all over North America, and most of us had submitted questions for Caryl to think about in advance. She went through them thoroughly, and took auxiliary questions as well. There's enough for me to think about to fill two more blog postings, at least...so stay tuned.

One of the key bits of advice she gave, though, I'll tell you right up front: if you want to make your art to share outside your family milieu, you need to:

- Make it your focus;
- Make a plan to develop a body of work so you can...
- Exhibit, exhibit, exhibit!

For Caryl, who has always been an artist (paint was her first medium), it's been a case of "Do what you love; the money will follow". I think that's the ideal way to go about it. Do it because you love it; share it with the world and the money (i.e. sales of your work) will follow. Certainly, for me, it's worth a try!