A Whole Lot of Friday Finishes

It's Friday!  I am happily off to Handmade House.  I love working there!  It's the highlight of my week.  These minis have been fun to make - I always have a half dozen available there.  The fit in the palm of your hand at only a couple inches in size!

It's time!

The shows are on in Weyburn!  Fibre Art is alive and abundant there.  From yesterday until the end of August, that city is loaded with it.  Jaynie has everyone yarn bombing too since I left!  lol  Art Walk is up with all the folks involved at the many venues.  Check it out.  There are some super fabulous names listed there!

click to view larger

The group shows are all in place including Join the Thread at Signal Hill Arts Centre.  There are over fifty entries of 12x12" fibre art pieces at that location.  This is one of two that I put in to the show.  It's an art quilt!

Yeah!  I made some art quilts.  I made the first version of this for my good friend Kari who worked with me a couple summers ago.  Her piece is softer and a little more surreal, dreamy.  This one here has more solid colours and is quite vibrant.  I thought it would make a good eye-catching piece.  It's based on photos I took of a nearby herd a couple years ago.  I really adore the lone bison on the prairie.  In reality, there were fences and many, many of the huge beasts.

There you have it.
Have a great day!  If you do head to Weyburn or through Weyburn, spend some time.  You could make an entire day or two out of it I'm sure!  : )

All Over the Map (but then again, it's March!)

Here is my Work-in-Progress post.  Now, there may be no handstitching in this piece, but bear with me.  If you have been following me on Facebook, you may have heard me whine about how I can't paint/don't paint...  I really crave to make something large scale.  I wish I was a painter sometimes, but I much prefer fibre.  I have been really drawn to a particular style of painting where you can see large brush strokes of blended colours.  It's a bit impressionistic, though I often see this style in landscapes.  I've been intrigued at the notion of enlarging my little prairie postcards, using those compositions as seeds for larger wall pieces.  I am not an art quilter.  I think I've made 2 art quilts.  I tossed aside the batting a long, long time ago and with a passion for handwork and detail, I took on the label of 'embroiderer'.  After 2 months of non-stop hand work, my blogger friend Holly McLean (Through My Window) suggested the very same idea to do my postcard-style fabric art on a larger scale.  With that, I cleared a table and began something big.  I thought about collaging like I do with my postcards, but with more little pieces that might emulate a painter's brush strokes.

Here i go!

I do not like to fill in existing pictures or templates.  With this landscape, it's pretty straight forward, and so I begin with a big blank slate.  It's about 20" x 40".  There is my monitor in view, with an image of grazing bison I took in 2013 on my way back from teaching out of town.  THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL.  It was Spring.  With spring so very close on the calendar, I was very drawn to recreating this.

I snipped and I snipped.  I tried to pull out colours that I could see, hidden within the photo.  I am telling you I honestly did see orange and purple.  : )  I have bags and bags of hand dyes and batiks.  I typically use them for classes and 4x6 fibre art, but this time I thought they would make great paint palettes!

20 x 40 inch 'puzzle painting'

It was fun!  I have no idea how to stitch it.  I certainly enjoyed the process.  I spent all weekend placing diamond shaped pieces.  It was like sitting at a big table, working on a puzzle at the cabin.  That's exactly what it felt like!  I was relaxing while assembling a giant puzzle.  I was totally focused.  "Hmmmm... where does this piece go?  Ah!  There."  "Hmmmm... where does this piece go?  Ah!  There."  Over, and over again.  It's cool because that is how I taught the children to do fabric landscapes, like a game of matching or I Spy with bits of cloth.  Stepping back to check on the big-picture progress was so rewarding.

* * * Don't mind my ADHD, but after 2 days of saturating myself with creating, I realized: OMG I have Gardenscape Art Show & Sale to produce for!  And I have to prepare for classes and a lecture for a Spring Weekend Retreat 4 hours away.  Isn't it tax season too?  Needless to say, this whole new project is now set aside to the back burner.  It's not that I shouldn't have started it.  I certainly needed to get that out of my system.  However, there are so many things coming up fast and I need to prepare for those.

Every year on this blog, I have had a post titled, 'March: in like a lion, out like a lion.'  It's a good thing the longer hours of sunlight also bring on a big surge of energy and productivity.

Late last night, after my whole family had gone to bed, I couldn't sleep.  Maybe it's that big bright moon.  My head and heart were swimming with ideas, still in creation mode.  I knew I wasn't able to let it go, so I headed back to the studio around midnight.  I thought I may as well since I had all my 'paints' out.  With some left over pieces, I assembled a 12x12 inch top for an art quilt.  I'm so glad I did!  I love this!  It's simple, but it's enough.  It's such a good memory of a beautiful moment.

work in progress

After all that, I had a good night's sleep.  I'm ready for you, March.  : )

linking to WIP Wednesday @ TN&TN

End of Summer - Catchin' Up with You : )

Oh, it's the end of summer.  I have mixed feelings about that.  The days are good and hot (REAL hot), yet the sunshine is crawling further across the floor of my home every afternoon.  Today was a big work day.  It was Kari's last day of summer employment.  **Notice I didn't say last day period.  I have really enjoyed her companionship over the summer.  I think we have a long friendship ahead of us.  (Thank you Molly for the match-making.)  I'm writing this at 8 pm and still not done revamping the sewing room.  What a big job of sorting and organizing.  Look what she brought me this morning!

Yes, it's a little brownish-charcoal colored ball of yarn, quite small in the palm of my hand.  (wool?  yarn?  What is the right term?)  It's a very special little brownish-charcoal colored ball of yarn.  It's BISON hair!  It's the natural color as far as we figure.  It's especially sweet since I stitched a few bison onto a postcard this summer.  That turned out to be a big hit.  I want to stitch more of that beautiful beast.  Now I have this yarn!?  How authentic is that!?  COOL.  Kari - you rock.

You know that when most bloggers disappear, it's because they are up to something BIG.  Not me.  I just tended to home and family and school supply shopping.  ; )  I did finish up my little silk ribbon floral though!  I think I'll lace it and frame it up.  I don't know if it's perfect, but I sure love, love stitching with ribbons.

about 7x9"... hand dyed silk ribbon & yarn.

: )  If you follow my facebook page, you might have seen the photo of this in progress.  I was working on it outside.  As I threaded up another ribbon, I looked over to see a giant dragonfly had landed on the flower petals!  I clicked a crappy cell phone picture and posted it.  I thought that was a good omen.  Isn't that neat?

This commission is nearly done.  There's some finished touches I have planned, so this is still Work-In-Progress.

work in progress...  about 6.5x9"

It's looking pretty lush in the foreground, so I don't know if I want to put birds in the sky to balance it or not.  I will add a bit of yellow poking out from behind the buildings to pull it all together.  I've stopped stitching into the skies on some pieces.  I can't decide on that either.  To FMQ or not to FMQ?  hmmm... I'll wait and see what she says.  : )  I can't wait to photograph the final piece!

I should take this time to let you know about upcoming classes in Saskatoon as well.  If you sign up to my blog via email, you probably aren't aware of the running announcements at the top of my blog page.  Here you are:

* * * TEACHING * * * @ Creative House in Saskatoon. Call 306 652 0455 to register.
Creative Quilted Postcards Workshop Monday Sept 9
Handstitching 101 Wednesday Sept 11
Beginner Threadpainting Monday, Sept 16

I believe the maximum class size is larger now as they can seat up to 12 students instead of 6 or 8.  That's good news!  I likely won't be running anymore Saskatoon classes until the spring.  Also, please note that Creative House is open Monday to Thursday only unless you make an appointment via telephone.  So, if you are calling to book for those classes, you should avoid calling on the off days.  : )  If you need more information about the classes, you can find that in the "Workshops" tab at the top of my blog as well.

Okay!  Have a great week.  I'm linking to WIP Wednesday @ TN&TN.

(and WHOOPEE the blog has hit 500 followers!  Thanks everyone!)

Sunday Snapshots (on Monday...)

I'm a little late, but I have a great 'excuse'.  After the longest winter of our lives, it's practically summer all of a sudden!  I've been doing loads of yard work and spring cleaning.  The winter wear has been bagged!  As I type this post, we are preparing for our first thunderstorm of spring (and so I am back inside for now).  I am SO ready for a good rainstorm!  Around here, the first big thunder and lightning show happens regularly on my birthday (5/5).  That's when I was in Manitoba - so how awesome that it held off 'till I got back.

My physical surroundings are really in need of serious change.  I just can't stop spring cleaning - mostly because now I have the time to.  My sewing space is calling my name AGAIN.  It's time for some sorting and a brand new inspiration wall.  I've had old pictures and sketches up for so long.  I'm ready for something new.  I'm craving to stitch, but in the mean time I am holding myself back from fibre art in order to tweak my skills at 'domestic art'.  After 4 months of hardcore creating, I must say I have a LOT of catching up to do around the homefront.

Here's the photos as promised - some different views of the prairie.  Enjoy.

this side of Winnipeg - a flooded ditch full of willow

Can you believe these colors!??  

Willow west of Winnipeg

Arriving in Saskatchewan... nearing home, I stopped to photograph an abandoned building in Chamberlain overlooking a valley.

detail of the shingles - lichen and popped nails

how these remain standing as long as they do...

underfoot - the old and the new : )

I looked around some more - I heard the crocuses bloomed while I was away.  Sure enough!

one sweet little bundle just waiting for their photo

Across the highway - beautiful bison grazing.  HUGE creatures.  Silent.  Majestic to behold.

beautiful beasts

I hope you enjoy today's pictures.  This spring is the first real use my new camera has had.  I think I'm going to have a great year ; )