Spring is coming!

Yes, I really felt it today! My back deck thermometer says 6C, the first day above 0 in quite some time. My friend and I went for a nice long snowshoe (I required a bit of an ice pack once back home). It was worth it; what a beautiful day.

It put me in the mood to sketch tulips, and at least I could do that with my feet up! It's definitely  time to move from winter scenes to spring scenes. I picked the tulips up last week;  they are pretty wilted, so I did a quite gestural sketch.

Yesterday, I was determined to finish my Tetagouche Hill piece, and I did. It surely helped that I didn't have to stop to make dinner being on my own this week.

I got it done (I'm calling it done, making myself stop), backing and binding on. All that remains is to hand stitch back the binding and add a label.

Here is a look at the back before I sandwiched it, finished the quilting and added a backing. A lot of thread.

 In my kitchen today, I have my sprouts ready to eat, chick peas cooked (they are so much more tasty than the canned ones) and some pea shoots just sprouting.

I will use a few of the chick peas, freeze the rest and take a them out as needed. It's the first time I've tried growing the pea shoots;  now that I see how easy it is, I'll do more. They're delicious on a salad and oh so much more appreciated when you've grown them yourself!

A good start to the week. I hope your Monday is just as nice as mine.

I know it's not for a friend of mine who has come down with the flu/cold. Take care, feel better soon.

A cushion, some thread painting, applique

I know the title doesn't sound much like I'm paying attention to my word for the year and staying 'focused'! However, my interpretation of the word means that I want to focus more on the moment, trying to be present when I'm creating (that's easy), when I'm eating or exercising, or basically doing anything. No more burnt pots!

I started the day intending to paint the trees onto my newly painted sky for the rocky hillside piece. I did go into the studio this morning and cut out pieces for the background hillside and some of the snow.

I like to draw my pattern onto freezer paper which I then iron onto the right of my fabric which has fusible already ironed to the back. This way I don't have to worry about reversed pattern pieces and I can see how it's going to fit as I go along.

I've laid it out with some of the pieces of the snow on the shrubby hillside part with the sky fabric in behind.

I did not paint the trees onto the background fabric after lunch because I wandered into my studio with my cup of tea and got lured to the sewing machine. That is the joy of having a studio where you can leve everything set up. Everything is sitting there waiting (calling) to you.

I added some fir trees to the background of my little shanties piece.

My thought at the time was that I'd just add some firs and then I'd go paint on my other piece. Of course I kept pulling out more thread colors and one tree led to another.

 I finally had to stop for my afternoon snack.

I had pomegranate with cottage cheese, my favorite! 

I'll make a cup of tea now and go sit down in my new happy place with my knitting and a bit of Downton Abbey.

I've set out one of the new cushions that I finished even though I find the pillow form a little too full. I'm going to open it and take out some of the stuffing.

You might notice that I've tried out a bound edge just like on a quilt-- an idea I came across somewhere on the net.

 Now, for my cup of tea before dinner preparations.

Fiber art--the rocks

This morning after the big storm yesterday, all the birds flocked  to the feeders. I didn't catch the chickadees who flit about so quickly, but I watched the nuthatch on the suet and the flock of goldfinch on the feeder and in the apple tree. It is all endlessly fascinating to me, akin, I think, to being mesmerized by fish in an aquarium.

The nuthatch

Goldfinch

I went out this morning to shovel a bit more off the front step and walkway. Even though it had turned to rain, there was still lots of snow. I had to rest afterwords.

After my lunch, I stayed at the table and put most of the finishing touches on the small watercolor I'm doing as a gift. It makes me a bit stressed as I don't do them usually outside my sketchbook. I'm very critical of all the little details. Even looking at it now, I think I need to touch up the color in the water.

I want to take it tomorrow to have a mat cut for it.

I thought that I might paint a couple of sky fabrics today; however, I didn't have the energy, so I went into  my studio, where I cut out a few more rocks and a fabric that I may use as the background under the rocks. Most of the fqbric will be covered or cut as I add more pieces, iron them down, and cut around the shapes at the top.

I wanted to use a dark fabric so that I won't have to cover every little space. It will all be integrated with thread painting later, or that is the plan.

I'm saving all the tiny fused scraps to add later if need be.

Puzzling together some rocks

A large snowstorm has caused many cancellations here today. I would normally be out for most of the day, but I'm never against some found studio time. I did a few chores this morning and I made a batch of granola.
After lunch, I headed into my studio. This is the view through my window.

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If you look carefully through the grey haze, you'll see the bluejay that made a few attempts to land on the snow covered suet before he managed it.


I've been thinking about how I want to approach my next fiber art piece. It's a little different for me in that it has some rather intricate rock pieces in the foreground that need to be cut and fit together. I've started there because it will take me a while to get the pieces all drawn and fit together and I haven't got the background done yet.
I started by drawing a master pattern on white paper and numbering the rocks. Then I traced them onto the paper side of freezer paper.

I cut each rock from the freezer paper and ironed it onto the right side of my fabric which has fusible ironed to the back. I've laid a few pieces out to see how they'll fit but I won't take the paper off with the numbers until I'm ready to iron it all together.

I'm not completely sure how I will do the background  yet, but I have a couple of ideas which both involve some paint. I will be home again tomorrow and I may just get some time to paint some fabric.
 I think this project is going to keep me busy for a while.

My daughter's visit, an indoors day-- finishing the seahorse fiber art, a mug rug

Yesterday, my daughter and her boyfriend left after a couple of lovely days staying at my brother in law's cottage at the beach. My husband took a day off, one of the hottest this summer, and we enjoyed it too. My daughter's boyfriend brought his kite boarding equipment with him and we were treated to a demonstration. I've never seen anyone doing it here before, but there were 2 others out that day.

It was windy and really warm. It looked like such fun!

 I think they enjoyed their time-- a little break before it's back to work and university classes which start next week.

They left yesterday morning, but I didn't have much of a chance to be sad as it was my day to head to the local craft shop.
In the evening, it was cooler, and I took my bicycle along with my camera out for a spin on the trails. I've been frustrated since I haven't been able to walk the trails due to my hip pain.we find ways to compensate and adapt.

Nights are cooling, dusk is setting earlier, and look at those leaves! Fall is slowly encroaching.
There is always something fascinating to photograph.

Only a few blossoms clinging to the fire-weed. Most of them are done. When in full bloom, the fields are ablaze in a swath of pink. I love the spiky designs once the petals have fallen.

On my bike ride last week the fields were full of those delicate spikes, but by last night they had turned to fuzz.

I've just looked it up. The fluff is a type of down which bursts from the spike capsules and aids in seed dispersal.
One of summer's last blooms, I couldn't resist these delicate little white wood asters.

Do you love it when there has been a stretch of hot sunny weather beach weather, followed by a rainy day? That's just what we've gotten. My sewing studio window is open and I'm listening to the rain and the gusty wind waving the branches and leaves on  the backyard trees. It doesn't deter the goldfinches from chasing each other noisily in between eating from the finch feeder in front of my window where I sew.
Oh dear, I was waxing on about how lovely it was when I heard a noise and my power went off. It was only off for about a half hour and I was pleasantly surprised to find my post saved mid sentence.
This afternoon, I added the backing and binding to the Seahorse. I will need to photograph it again when the sun comes back out.

I've sold my mug rugs that were at the shop, so I pulled out my scrap bins and came up with this combination.

I left it ready to quilt in my next session in the studio. I found lots of interesting bits that would make great mug rugs. It's a great way to use up the extra printed bits (this one is a resist screen print) and pieced scraps from quilted projects.

Sea weed, seashell sketches, trail, seahorse borders

After doing my watercolor sketch of the nest yesterday, I decided to go for a short walk to the trail last night with my camera. I wanted to check on a nest that I've been watching for a few years. It hasn't been used in that time, and is in a state of decomposition, so I decided to bring it home. When my husband saw it, he said, "you're not taking that inside too, are you?" Of course I will, but for now it sits on my little table on my deck where I can see it form my kitchen window.

 My son tells me it could be the nest of the red vireo which I corroborated on line. I've never seen one but he says they're hard to see once the trees are leafed out. The song sounded familiar though.
The deck plants are recovering nicely from the big storm on the weekend (Arthur).

 You can just spy the new wood post behind the deck. That will eventually be the width of the expanded deck. It's coming along in between golf sessions. I don't mind waiting. Gord works hard and deserves a little playtime too.
Even though it was a short walk, I spied a few interesting things. There seem to be many plants that grow in this star burst formation. I've never noticed this one before.

I didn't manage to get the camera to focus on them, but rather the background leaves. This is something I learned how to do in a lesson last week. Without my notes I couldn't remember
These tiny clusters of berries caught my eye. My goodness, I don't have time in the day to look up and identify everything I see!

Sometimes it is enough just to have spotted it and absorbed the beauty in the colors and tiny details.
This little patch reminded me of stardust.

Today, I was really good, doing a sketch after both my breakfast and lunch! Here is the breakfast one done with colored pencils. I looked it up on line and I think this might be called sea lettuce.

And this is the lunch time one. A small bit of sea weed root and a mussel shell.

My goodness, I have so much to talk about! Better here than to my husband though. I make him sound like he wouldn't listen, lol. He does try but I can go on a bit at times. And then at other times he tunes me out. So, you get to listen (read).
This afternoon, I added the final curved borders to the seahorse and then a final border. I was quite happy to find something in my stash that I thought worked and I quickly added the final batik border. As an after thought iIwonder if maybe I should have also added it with a curved seam as well.

I'll think on it tonight.
Tomorrow, I will be going out to put in my hours at the shop downtown. I plan to bring my basket with my cosmos piece, some perle cottons, ribbons, and beads. Hopefully, I'll get it finished up and ready for the binding.