Sunday Snapshots

Photos from my teaching trips across the prairie last week...

Dark Sky, Light Field

Light Sky, Dark Field.

Everything is mixed up!

Mustard flowers in bloom only 6 weeks before Christmas.  HUH!?

Then the prairie sun begins to go down.  That's something you can always rely on.  Sun up.   Sun down.  You can see so far, it's all sky.  Here are some old sheds you can see through.  It's such a beautiful silhouette!

Again, I have to pull over to take photos.  It just never quits!

the sky on fire

Happy Sunday : )

Sunday Snapshots

Between here and Melfort...

It was a beautiful drive.  There was less water in the fields than a month ago.  Things are looking greener.

when i see prairie, i see thread.

There's an unbelievable number of abandonded buildings on this drive.  I drove down this one grid road and I totally got the creeps!  There was a house I could see through the trees, and after I drove past the trees I looked back and the house was not there!  I drove past again to see it.  Then a little further again and it was gone. It was a total perspective and camoflauge illusion, but still...  alone on a grid road where there's lots of tree cover...  lol  I must admit I got a little nervous!

those trees just say 'KEEP OUT;

I tried to spook out that photo above so you can feel what I felt.  This wasn't the building I'm referring to, but it was on the same road.  Here is the same barn presented in a different light.  : )

Two photos taken from my van out on the road - look at the different moods you can create!  Isn't that great?

: )

And after bringing home all the work left of Ken's and mine, I enjoyed some lovely maple tea in the most beautiful teapot.  This was made by Ken Wilkinson and happily resides in my kitchen.  : )  THANK YOU KEN.

Finished it Friday Once Again!

WOOHOO!!  I am done.  This commission is now complete!  I have it mounted on mat board and ready to ship.  As with every commission I have ever done, there was a point where I was thinking, 'oh dear.  This isn't going to work.  I should stop.  Next time, no more commissions.'  The truth though, every time I push through and face my fears, I surprise myself.  I never fail to come out of it having learned a lot.  It is a huge challenge to get the fibre art to match what my expectations for the piece are - each and every time.  It's always worth it.  It's a learning experience.  Learning = growing as an artist.  All good.  I love this piece.  : )

"?"  name suggestions appreciated.  : )

Hmmm.  Still no name.  We loved the title, "Red Silos" but we quickly learned they aren't called silos.  hehe.  They are granaries.  I don't know if that word flows nice of the tongue.  I'm going to think on that a bit more.

I need to thank YOU Heather Lair (if you are floatin' around in quilter's heaven, listening over our shoulders...).  Heather, in one of her famous joyful generous moments gave me packs of her favorite sewing machine needles when I stayed with her in June.  She was so excited while telling me about the virtues of microtex needles.  She said I MUST try them.  Because they are so fine and sharp they don't leave those giant puncture marks that the 90/14 topstitch needles do.  It doesn't matter to me much except when it comes to skies.  I never want to punch holes in the big blue prairie sky.  In fact, I had stopped doing any stitching into the sky on quite a few of my pieces because I felt it would not enhance the scene at all.  I bit the bullet with this commission and decided to try Heather's size 70/10 microtex needles with my rayon thread.  Wow.  Sure enough,  you can't even see the holes!!  It's fabulous.  WOW.  Thank you Heather.  That was some extremely useful advice.

Come to think of it, everything Heather Lair has ever said to me was 'extremely useful'.  : ) 

Heads up!  This weekend is the Broadway Street Fair.  If you head down there, you must step inside the Saskatchewan Craft Council to see what is in that gallery right now!!  Oh I could have dropped to my knees.  It is one of the most beautiful and breathtaking shows I have seen there.  That's all I'll say.  You have to go see for yourself.  : )

Tonight, I am off to a friend's sewing studio for a night of fun projects!  I promise to show you tomorrow.  Aren't you curious!??!  (hehehe)  After all is said and done, there will be a give-away involved in the next post!  Yipee!

See you then,

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 ; )

Never Say Never

When people ask for commissions, I lay down the line. "No people, no buildings".  I just can't go there.  I'm too scared.  This photo of the little abandoned building at Bergheim is just too sweet not to try.  So I did.  I tried.  I think I actually pulled it off!  I stitched a few lines...

so far so good.

I got pretty excited that it was working!  Just the right shades of grey here and there and the building is now officially done.  : )

omg - i did it

I hand stitched some more grasses with thread and hand dyed silk ribbons.  It's nearly done now.  I can't wait to show you the luscious foreground!  I showed the building to my husband and he said it creeped him out.  "What!?" I asked.  He replied, "Zombies!  It looks like buildings in the Zombie games!"  haha.  Leave it to a gamer...

I still have eight more pieces to make for Winnipeg.  Crunch time!  I am running out of sky, so I popped in to Periwinkle for some solids I thought I might try to paint with the Jaquard dyes.

I stayed up late after the kids were in bed and dyed some silk ribbons for the Bergheim piece.  Dying ribbon is so quick & easy.  I dye ribbons that are already colored and they turn out so natural looking.  I love the results.

Stitch - stitch - stitch ... see you soon!  Linking to WIP Wednesday at the Needle & Thread Network.