Binding the cow and starting a rock cliff

After lunch, my husband and I went for a little drive a d a shirt amble at the beach about 10 minutes from here. He’s now gone to the golf course and I’m sitting on the deck with some hand stitching.

The binding on my cow is almost done.

These are my hand stitching tools - a finger cott and thimble for pulling and pushing  the needle. The finger cott grips the needle nad makes it slide like butter.

Scissors made for arthritic fingers and a thread holder.

All the while I’ve e been thinking and working on a new piece.

It’s basically a huge rock wall with foliage and flowers growing out of the cracks. I thought at first that I’d use fabric and paint but it wasn’t inspiring me until I thought of cutting up the pieces and laying them on top of the base piece with the darker fabric of the cracks underneath.

And it’s working!

Notice the gridded masking tape? It’s working to discourage the robin from attacking its image.

I’m happy with this now I just need to keep building.

And making more thread lace foliage.

Leaves hooped with solvable sulky and free motion stitched.

The soluble sulky is rinsed out.

Supper will be easy with homemade chicken noodle soup and  some leftover pizza, so I can enjoy my deck with my stitching. 

Happy Sunday! 💜

Robins, Mariner’s Compass quilt, the cow, and some knitting

The foliage here is just beginning to show green. There is still lots of grey bur it’s slowly changing. 

Turkey’s Foot lichens.

I’m not sure what this is though it is a tree,

Fiddleheads. Do you love them?

We’ve had a bit of a standoff with a male robin who sees himself in my studio and window and thinks he’s defending his territory but smacking his breast against the reflection. 

Nothing worked to dissuade him until my husband put up a masking tape grid on the window where he was hitting and so far it’s working.

Shaking his tale in warning.

This afternoon, I’ve been sitting in my studio watching podcasts and stitching the binding on the Mariners Compass quilt that I started many years ago. It feels so good to get it done. I think I’d like to give it to my son and wife who live in Lunenburg, NS.

Some of it is quilted with the utility stitch and also a Greta deal with a regular finer stitch in the center.

I’m resting after having driven the hour to Campbellton this morning to have another spinal injection done. There’s no driving for 24 hours and resting. For 24 hrs which is pretty easy!

We’re having a few things in our kitchen changed. A couple of cupboards, a new counter top and painting. The painter was in this morning to do the trim and the back stairs. He left when we got home. I can’t wait to see the new peachy color that will go in the kitchen.

We had the over the fridge cabinet changed to come out further and it will have metal dividers for trays and pans.

This is a new little cupboard added in the dining area which will be white and left open for a few collectibles that I still use.

Yesterday I did most of the background quilting on the cow so it’s almost done.

I’m knitting on this cotton blend sweater for the 1 yr old grand son, Gussie. Top down and pretty simple.

I hope wherever you are that things are looking up or will be soon. How is your week going? 💜

Some knitting and more baby quilts

My fiber art pieces lay waiting for me. Sometimes for a week or two I feel a slight apathy with no creative energy. I’m up and down. Do you feel it too? I suspect part of it has to do with my physical health and another part to do with the times as I do feel some stress with everything occasionally. It all just gets to you I think. When  I’m having lows I do more traditional no brainer quilting like the 9 patch baby quilt that I just finished.

Then, I had a bag of these semi circle off cuts left over from the drunkard’s path that I made. I chose a two color border for each piece which will be sewn into circles. Nothing too taxing.

When finished, I’ll have 1 girl quilt and 2 boys quilt tops. Next then, I’ll be thinking of a girl’s quilt top. I have lots of nieces and nephews in my family and there’ll still be more babies to come I’m sure.

It’s actually snowing at the moment; it has been all day and we’ve got a couple of inches which I know will melt but still!

My current knitting projects are still a pair of socks for my husband and a pretty summery lap robe which I’ll send to my mum who spends her days in a wheelchair.

It’s made with a cotton blend, Caron’s cotton cakes and I love the feel of it. 

Tomorrow, a salesman is bringing me 2 mobility scooters to try out and I’m rather excited to see how they feel with my hip.

Another baby quilt, birds, plants and a SAQA acceptance

I was notified yesterday that 2 of my pieces have been juried into the SAQA Atlantic show Commotion which will open in June in Sidney Cape Breton and will travel for 2 years.

Tangled Wildflowers




Birches in Fall  Petticoats

 

It’s been a busy week, as always; I keep my projects going to pass the time and ease my anxiety. 

I’m taking an extended learning course through NSCAD in Halifax, NS called Outdoor Art and Documentation. We have a meeting and class on Monday nights and then there is homework. I needed to document an outdoor spot, recording feelings, sounds and sights so I went over to the trail near my house. I could have used my own backyard but I had something in mind on the trail.

A colour palette

Tree patterns and pussy willows with a short verse

Having been a couple months since my last hip injection, the pain is worsening. I kept my steps to less than 500 on the trail but even that proved too much. Last night was pain filled and today I’m recovering. I’m going to get referred for another injection although I’m not sure how long it will take.

My seedlings continue to grow under the light and I’m hoping I can soon get some of the cooler weather ones moved out. I do have a portable hothouse that we’ll put on the deck and one of the raised beds is ready. We’ll add hoops and plastic over it to start.

Something really exciting and hopeful is that my husband suggested a mobility scooter and we are looking at them. It would give me so much more freedom and would change my life. 

I’ve been working a bit after supper since it’s light now and I’ve sewn the blocks for another baby quilt. It’s looks like black but it’s actually a navy blue.

This is the finished twined quilt top.

I sat down this afternoon to add the final grasses and dandelions onto the cow piece. These are some bits of the thread lace ones I made using free motion on hooped netting and solvable stabilizer which I then cut apart.

I’m ready now to add batting and a bit of quilting. My new iron has decided to quit so it’ll have to wait as it needs pressing. I buy cheaper irons because I can be rough on them with my mixed media work but they usually last a couple years at least. This one is at most a couple of months old.

We are missing our grandsons and really hope things will open by summer. We haven’t seen them since September and as they do, they are growing and changing so much.

Ollie 4yrs

Gussie 13 months