Action on All Fronts!

 Here we are with only a week left in March!  

I know spring is supposed to be here but it's taking its time arriving in central Alberta.  There's still lots of hard-crust snow, melting only around the edges, and there's lots of ice on sidewalks in areas that don't get enough sun.

While there are buds on my lilacs (well, at least on the one I can see without clambering through snow pack), there are certainly no other flora attempting to peek out of the ground!  There are, however, more birds around too -- cedar wax-wings, pileated woodpeckers, a crow or two and maybe even some nuthatches have been spotted.  I'm not a birder, so except for the obvious calls (magpie, crow, chickadee), I really can't tell who's who -- but I love to listen to them call to each other and carry on their conversations:  "Hey! Hi!  Howarya?  How was your trip back?  Interested in shacking up this year?"  You know; that sort of thing! 😉

I've even managed to sit outside in the sunshine for 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour on a couple of afternoons this past week -- with knitting in hand -- just to enjoy the sunny atmosphere.

Given that the Art in the Park 2022 exhibit launched in Revelstoke a couple of weeks ago, I've turned my attention to preparint for the Encore! Lacombe Art Show and Sale, which takes place April 14-15.  I've given an interview to the Lacombe Express (though I've yet to see it in print) and I'm meeting with the current coordinator of the show on Tuesday for a video taping that will be published on Facebook etc.  Ack!  I've never done that before, but will try my best to appear confident and interesting.  I'll be taking some small pieces with me as illustrations of my work.

I've also managed to take one last small piece to my framer, and she is working hard to frame it and to mount two other rather 'experimental' pieces in time for the show.  I'll go back in early April to pick them up, plus others from the Gallery that I'll exhibit (and hope to sell!) there. 

Speaking of the Gallery, d'you see that rather large QR code in the left margin?  If you have some sort of gizmo that can scan it or whatever, I'm told it takes you to my artist's page at Curiosity Art & Framing.  I posted it on my 3F page on FB and a friend said it worked, so if you try it from this blog, please let me know if it worked for you or not.  

Most of the new work I've been doing is "soft", meaning it's not mounted on canvas and framed.  This past week I struggled to give birth to a new piece that I'd been carrying in my heart and mind for several months.  Here's the story:

I love to walk on the roads around the hamlet in which I live.  For decades, there was a large field at the edge of town -- only a couple of blocks north of me -- owned by a farmer named Jim.  On the southwest edge of the field, bordering 50th Avenue (the main street, paved) was a laneway.  Part-way north, it curved west, but there was also a path that continued north a bit farther before it turned west into a small wood -- trees on either side, wildflowers, and the occasional critter could be seen wandering about (skunk, deer, birds nesting).  It was pleasant to walk through, but only from spring through snowfall.  This made it a particular treat, because you could only enjoy it for a few months at a time.

Well, Jim's gotten older, like the rest of us, and has no children -- so in the last year or so he sold the field.  I didn't realize this until my first walk in the spring of 2022.  I walked up the laneway and kept going up the path to where it was supposed to turn into the woods. 

Instead of this: 

April 2021

I saw this...

May 2022

I started to cry.  Inquiries confirmed my suspicions: Jim had sold his field to a big crop producer who didn't want the north bank of trees to interfere with its ability to grow as much crop as possible.

That said, over last summer, the jumble of ploughed-over trees remained (they're there to this day), and I don't know what was planted -- maybe green manure.  It certainly wasn't canola, but it was cut down in late summer.  Heaven knows what will appear this year.  

But it lead me to make a piece.  

I've not made a 'proper' landscape since before Covid.  I really can't do it any more -- but I wanted to honour the death of this small, beloved wood.  So I tried.  I made this:

Background sandwiched for quilting

Quilting completed; thread painting of "ghost trees"

Close-up of trees

But it didn't look right. On waking one morning a few days ago, I knew what I had to do.

I did this:

Requiem for a Small Wood: A Diptych
(c) 2023
Commercial and hand-dyed fabrics.
Fused applique, collage. 
Machine quilted, thread painted;
 accented by Sharpie marker.

It's not my best-ever landscape, to be sure, but it says what I wanted it to say.  I've faced it, attached sleeves, and will hang it in the show -- but I've not put a price on it for sale.  Who can put a price on a destroyed woodland habitat?

I'm supposed to give the City a piece for its permanent collection.  I was going to give this, based on a location driving east from Lacombe to my home:

It's Still About the Sky (2015)

But maybe...just maybe...'Requiem' might be more important.

What do you think?

Meanwhile, I've been getting other 'soft' pieces ready to hang -- sewing on hanging sleeves. I've got 3 left to do.  Then comes "The Cutting of the Dowels" -- cutting dowels to fit, and inserting eye hooks in the ends of the dowels for hanging.  I picked up a good selection of dowels at the hardware store last week, and will ensure that I prepare them in time -- in case I need a couple more!

In the "utilitarian front" -- i.e., comfort quilts, cross stitch and knitting -- I continue to soothe my soul with assorted projects.

My "Triple Treat" units are up to 57 -- with 7 more to go to make 64, all on the 'browns and golds' theme.  It takes 4 units to make a full block, so 64 will make 16 blocks, 12 1/2" square (unfinished).

I've added a few more blocks to my postage stamp quilt block collection, and am working on another crumb block or two.

I've also decided that after a decade (or two!) of waiting, it's time for me to use a glorious piece of yardage for a "One Block Wonder" quilt.  I have the fabric, the instruction book and the 60-degree angle ruler...so stay tuned!  I'll be using the book by Maxine Rosenthal from 2006.  See?  I told you it was from over a decade ago!

In cross-stitch, I'm focused on three pieces, one of which is a new start.  The "start" is a small piece designed by Jeannette Douglas, which I began on March 21 as an homage to spring:

Design: "Chubby Bird"
Designer: Jeannette Douglas
Fabric: DMC 28-count 'toile a broder' linen,
coffee-dipped to produce a creamy colour
Threads: mix of called-for fancy floss and DMC 
-- all from stash

The other two pieces are on-going -- and one I can't show you because it's a gift for someone who reads this blog.

I have, however, made progress with "Here Be Dragons" -- for my son's June birthday.  I've finished the wide borders on the top half!

Design: "Here Be Dragons"
Designer: Modern Folk Embroidery
Fabric: 28-count white Lugana
Thread: "Gomez" hand-dyed cotton from Roxy Floss Co.

I'm hankering to start the central design, but conscience says I should finish the lower half of the wide border.  Thoughts?

Aside from these three, I've my Sunday Stitch -- "Keziah Campell" and...well...others...but these are the priority for now.

As to knitting, I've finished the first pair commissioned by my friend:

Pattern: "Simplicity"
Designer: Janel Laidman
Yarn: Gathering Yarn One-Shot Wool/Nylon Fingering

And I'm well away on the first sock of the second pair she wants.  I've finished the leg, turned the heel and I'm making my way down the foot:

Pattern: "Simplicity"
Designer: Janel Laidman
Yarn: Patons "Stretch" in the "Licorice" colour-way

And I finished that second dish cloth, and started a third -- in a solid colour, a lovely burgundy.  Soon my linen closet won't know what hit it!

And so it goes. 

These tasks -- plus walks in the sunshine each day -- are what's keeping me sane as I wait for Spring to really arrive.

As usual, I'm going to leave you with a link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she's been Spring Cleaning her studio.  Me?  Not ready yet!  But as the racks that hold the baskets that hold my fabric will have to be available for my booth at the up-coming Lacombe Art Show & Sale...well...Spring Cleaning will happen soon enough!

Take care, gentle readers, and may your spring (or autumn for readers south of the Equator) bring you many blessings!

Till next time...

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!

Happy Spring, Happy Quilting!

In my back yard earlier this week...

Tulips peeking through the leaf mulch - south side of the house

My daughter's Edmonton street this morning...

And outside my front window right now, Mother Nature's undecided: "Rain? Or snow? Or maybe a wee bit o' both?"

Ah...but Eastern Canada's had it MUCH worse this week... I feel for my cousins in SW Quebec and New Brunswick...

Meanwhile, though most of today was "SAQA Day" (correspondence etc. on the computer), I managed to take 90 minutes or so to play with "Green Fields" (working title) for EBMC and the "Line Project".  I now have nine blocks mocked up in fabric on my design wall, including hints of purple to honour the humble prairie crocus:

I replaced the too-blue strips with a combination of more yellow-green/spring-green strips and some with hints of lilac/mauve a la crocus...And I'm letting it "percolate" a bit before I commit to sewing 'em together.

While they 'perc', I'm linking up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and doing some hand work.

Have a great weekend, eh?

Thinking Along the Line(s)

I've been seeing 'line(s)' everywhere this week.

• In my e-mail I got something from or about Deidre Adams (can't find it now, of course!) and her "Facade" series;
• On the way in to work at The Shop I see the lines of snow melting against the hills...fence lines...the inevitable power poles and lines...;
• On my periodic jogs around this wee hamlet, the roads are corrugated strips of melt-slicked gravel, mud and slush...

And so on.  :-)

Meanwhile, I'm working away at hand-stitching the lines I see in the small piece of snow-dyed fabric that is becoming my contribution to the "Spotlight Silent Auction" fundraiser at the SAQA conference in Portland.  It's nearly finished now...

LTFS: Roses I - WIP (c) 2015

Oh...

And yes, EB got back to me.  Blocking out my design is next, so stay tuned! 

Meanwhile, let's hop over to The Needle and Thread Network for WIP Wednesday -- and see what other Canadian stitchers are up to, eh?  :-)

What We Value

You learn a great deal in a short time when you are no longer able to "connect" in the way our culture has encouraged us to do.

1. You learn that you have friends all over the place who are willing to help you with support, encouragement, advice an anecdotes about their own struggles with the same issue.
2. You learn that you can reconstruct documents and save them outside your hard drive with ease.  This morning I re-created a document in Word Online via the library computer, saved it online in a "cloud" and also on my memory stick.  It needs more work, but I have saved it and will be able to get back to it when I need it.
3. You learn that those data files you thought "might be useful someday" can be turfed as easily as the books you've bought and never read, the clothes in your closet with price tags still on them, the dried up and dusty craft supplies you no longer use, etc., etc.
4. You learn to trust online data storage -- just in case a crash happens again.

In short, you learn what you value:

1. Friendship -- whether "in person" or across cyber-space;
2. The love and generosity of your children (my daughter offered to lend me an old laptop);
3. The kind services and help offered by your local public library; 
4. Time to work in your studio without the distraction a computer can afford.
5. Time to take long walks in the spring sunshine...and give thanks for all the above.  :-)

Pussy willows budding - Mirror, March 2014

Odds and Ends...and the Red Deer Quilt Show

The ends, literally, belong to my knitted sleeveless turtleneck top.  I spent the early part of today listening to Bach and sewing them in left, right and centre.  It was the perfect activity, as the latest snow-freezing rain session (last evening and overnight) made the roads too nasty for travelling into town to church.  Sigh.   As someone on Facebook pointed out today, "It's a lovely Winter we're having this Spring."  Maybe we've all stumbled into Narnia.  Perish the thought!

And the odds?

Friday, I finished dyeing the last of the 50 metres (!) of silk ribbon that arrived on Tuesday from Dharma. Who knew one could use it up so quickly?  Never mind.  I have enough to get me started (and perhaps finished, if I am discerning) with "Waiting for the Train" (the grasses and cat-tails):

"Waiting for the Ribbon Train"

Also on Friday I finished beading 'Wonder'.  That said, the piece is not yet...um...finished.  There's a wee bit of seed stitch to be added.  Here are a few shots:

Beading Detail 1

Beading Detail 2

Beading Detail 3

Beading Detail 4

Seed Stitch Started

I'll be working on seed stitch this evening as I watch a re-run of....something.  :-)

Yesterday was almost entirely taken up by the Central Alberta Quilters' Guild Show at Westerner Park in Red Deer.  A bit smaller than last year (my favourite vendor, the fellow from Copperfield's Books, apparently took ill on his way to the venue and had to cancel!  We are all praying it's nothing serious!!), I found less to 'ooh' and 'ahh' over, and (believe it or not) I came away without purchasing anything!  There was one merchant whose wares I will definitely be exploring more closely for a future project, though: the wool-dyed cottons etc of "A Threaded Needle", which specializes in Japanese-style handwork and sashiko.  The books, samples and supplies she carries make my mouth water!

Here were the pieces in the show that tickled my fancy:

First, prize-winner Mary Vanson:

"Been There, Done That #4" by Mary Vanson

Another by Ms. Vanson -- "Been There, Done That, #?"

In her Artist's Statement for "Been There, Done That", Ms. Vanson, who is from Red Deer, wrote, "This si #4 in a five-part series of "Been There, Done That".  Hand appliqued, quilted pictures of some of our 'Excellent Adventures' across Canada and in Costa Rica".  Great fun!

Next, 

"Hearts" - Wendy Greber

Believe it or not, Ms. Greber did this as a practice sample!!

Another prize-winner, this one from Chris Sisson -- exquisite applique, machine quilted by Cheryl Whitten:

Rminiscence - Chris Sisson & Cheryl Witten

The blanket stitch on the above quilt is all hand-done.

Outside the prize-winners, my pick for 'Viewer's Choice' is this one:  'Star of Mexico', made by Debbie Becker Mathie of Innisfail, Alberta and quilted by Karen's Quilts.  Believe it or not, Ms. Mathie made it in "five long days" and adapted it from wall-hanging to medium-sized bed quilt!

Star of Mexico - Debbie Becker Mathie & Karen's Quilts

"Star of Mexico" Detail

It should come as no surprise to you that I'm attracted to pieces with trees, and there was one lovely one this year - an original design based on photos taken near the artist's home:

Winter Silence - Cathie MacDonald

And yes, there were some hexies!  This piece was actually part of a display honouring the memory of a member of the Central Alberta Quilt Guild who'd died in 2012, Mary Ann Raivio:

In addition to the flower garden-style quilt, there were several other examples of Ms. Raivio's work, including this charming red-work piece:

I find it a comforting thought that wherever there are groups, associations or gatherings of textile artists, there will be people who will find a way to preserve, treasure and honour the work of those who have gone before, expressly for the enjoyment and enlightenment of those who come after.

Sweet Sunday

And I'm not talkin' chocolate!  ;-)

We have sunshine here (when snow was the original forecast), and there's lots of melting and muddiness and grass showing through the snirt (that's snow+dirt).  After church, friends took two of us 'widder ladies' out to a buffet lunch...so a walk is definitely in order before the end of this afternoon!

And I have been stitching.

The Atlantic Seaboard Sampler has two more light-houses (5 of 6 finished now), and my turtleneck is almost...well, a turtleneck!  I managed to get it over my head, and it's going to fit nicely -- and look smashing with black pants or white capris this summer.  After the disaster of the camisole, I'm both relieved and  happy!

Since last Wednesday's post, my 12" square contribution to the 2013 SAQA Online Benefit Auction has progressed by leaps and bounds...but not without a couple of heart-stopping moments along the way.

My quilted sample with metallic threads worked out, so I sandwiched the piece, using on the back the same white-on-white cotton print (snowflakes) that I'd used for the background of the top.  The quilting went well and I was pleased.  

I've titled the piece "Wonder", and decided I wanted to embroider the word along one side of the centre motif, using YLI Candlelight metallic thread in "Rainbow" (it's really white; why they named it 'Rainbow' is beyond me).   I have a Husqvarna Lily 555, which I adore, but I don't have the special bobbin case for bobbin work with this sort of thread, so I knew I'd have to do it by hand.  Thanks to the advice I found online at the Indus Ladies embroidery forum, I decided to use a simple back-stitch rather than try to stem-stitch this fragile, slippery, tends-to-shred thread.

First I dug out the package of Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy I bought a couple of months ago -- and had yet to try.   It has paper on one side, and if I wanted to, I could run it through my printer.  I can also trace on it, which is what I did, using a font from my MS Word program, set at its largest size.  I used water soluble marking pen to make the tracing on the non-sticky fabric size of the stabilizer:

I removed the paper to reveal the sticky side, and stuck it in place on the border of my piece.  Then I embroidered it down...and followed the instructions to dissolve the fabric and wash away the water-soluble marker.

That's when the colour of the central motif went from this pale blue:

To this not-quite-so-pale blue:

I decided to live with it.

Then I bound it...and discovered that in the quilting something from my sewing table (which I thought was clean) had rubbed on the printed snowflakes on the back and they were showing up as grubby grey spots!!

So...after the binding was hemmed in place (the label was on by this time too), I washed it a second time -- this is the photo you see above.  In stead of clear water, this time I used a gentle soak with Synthrapol added, and a gentle rinse.  It didn't alter the blue any further (phew!) and mercifully, the back is now white as...yep: snow.  Double phew!

All that's left to do is add some of these tiny seed beads -- and a sleeve -- and it'll be ready to take with me to Santa Fe to deliver to the Benefit Auction curator.

All the silence, the sunshine, the sampling and the stitching have brought a special sweetness to this year's Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.

I hope you were equally blessed!

Happy Easter!  Happy Spring!

Not Long Now

This little fellow was after the remaining berries on my ornamental fruit tree in the front yard this afternoon...despite two dumps of snow in four days.  Can Spring be far behind?

The Robin is the One
That interrupt the Morn
With hurried — few — express Reports
When March is scarcely on...

'828' - Emily Dickinson

To Everything There is a Season

My knitting friend, Alice H, died last night.

Today, I planted seedlings.

Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes -- and Basil

"To everything there is a season,

and a time for every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; 

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted...

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance..."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, 4 - KJV

Alice, we'll miss you.

What a party!

The Cedar Waxwings been partying heartily in my yard for what seems like weeks now. First, they flocked to munch all the dried old berries off my Mountain Ash and decorative plum/cherry trees. Now they're working on the ones they missed on the lawn. The partying goes on as they come in droves -- even in the rain and even late in the evening.

I figure they must be making up for lost time. The berries, for the most part, have been on the trees since last summer -- but we had an early frost and snow, scaring the birds off till this spring. Now they entertain me, as I watch their activity and their antics, and I cannot help but smile as they go about their hunt for new nibbles.