Birches, snow dyeing and a surfing piece

What a beautiful February day! Lots of snow but very bright and sunny. The days are getting much longer and I’m able to get out snow shoeing later in the afternoon without getting the chill of impending dusk. Since my bout of back and neck pain with cervical vertigo, I’ve been taking it easy, going to physio and neck massage. This week I’ve eased back into snow shoeing. I so love to be out on the trail where there is silence and fresh air. I love to stop to breathe deeply and to commune with the birds.

Yesterday, I spied this little nest for the first time. It is very small. I’m not sure about the bird. Some sort of finch or small bird.

The pilliated wood peckers have been to work on this dead tree. I love  the circle patterns!

I’ve got some Procion dyes that are quite old and this week I decided to try a little snow dyeing to use it up.

 

Magenta and blue loosely pleated:

Yellow, blue and a touch of magenta, loosely pleated:

The soft pleats suggest landscapes to me. Water and trees.

Scrunched, magenta and blue:

There seemed to be a lot of color rinsing out so I stopped and dried them. I may try rinsing again just to be sure.

In my sewing time, I’ve been finishing my birch trees. For now, it’s tacked up on the design wall for pondering. There are still a few touches to add in the foreground.

In the meantime, I’m slowly cleaning out my storage closet. I found this piece of a winter surfer friend of my son’s in Lunenburg, NS and decided to finish it. A couple of years ago, I did one of my son. The pieces were all laid out, so I cut an interfacing and started stitching in the sky and the background water.

I still have leftover pieces of thread lace that I made for the waves and spray. Maybe enough to do it.

I’m feeling pretty satisfied to be finishing some things tat have been languishing in the closet. Pieces that I’m not so fond of, I’ll pass along.