Sunday Snapshots

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I am having such a fun weekend.  On Friday night I went to my great aunt's (tante's) book launch.  It was nice to sit around in the bookstore and listen to everyone speaking Deutsch.  Her name is Waltraude Stehwien and she does the old German art of 'Scherenschnitt' or black & white silhouette paper cutting with GREAT detail.  Her book is In Black and White: A Stroll Through Canadian Landscapes.  I am so proud of her!  You can read more about it HERE.

That was the same night that 'Little Gems' opened which I chose to pass up for the book store.  Saturday morning, my youngest and I headed out to the annual Saskatoon Spinners & Weavers guild sale.  Ooooooh ... heaven!  We had so much fun.  My daughter made these at the craft table.

made by my 7 yr old.  xo

!  Adorable!!  Then as I shopped she headed to the next table to create these little weavings.  They told her they were 'god's eyes' but she misunderstood and presented them to me as 'goddess eyes' (which is equally awesome).

god's goddess eye

Later at home, she took out her popsicle sticks and showed me how to make them.  VERY fun.  With the exception that we suddenly became very hungry, we would have stayed all day.  Women were spinning on such gorgeous spinning wheels.  Some were weaving on floor looms, some on inkle looms.  sigh.  : )   And the scarves and cloths and bags and shawls around the room were incredible.

I bought stuff.

yup.

...spoiled myself.  No more presents for me.

I also headed to the SK Craft Council to renew my membership and was WOOHOO!  surprised to see that Dimensions is already up!  I really like where my piece is placed.  I nearly cried.  I was so embarrassed I had to get out quick.  lol  I still can't believe my embroidery is part of it.  The reception is at the end of the show, in January 2014.

I headed across the road to Handmade House to see Terry Lindsay's paintings that are currently featured there and fell in love with nearly every hand crafted item in the place.  I am blown away by people's crafts.  I find that I'm developing a real soft spot for other people's fibre art.  So, to add to my handwoven mobius shawl (WHICH I WILL LOVE FOREVER thank you Alison Philips), I now have this lovely charm floating and spinning in my sewing room.  Her name is Judith.  She is literally swinging from my chandelier.  She is fantastic to watch as she slowly twirls her magic in my studio.

created by Shirley Taylor, purchased at HandMade House, Saskatoon

Thanks to Barbie, I have never liked dolls.  I absolutely hated them as a child.  Now that I'm all grown up, I finally found a doll to call my own.  She's my favorite ever.  If you know Shirely, PLEASE tell her how much I adore Judith.  : )))

So there it is... a very happy Sunday.  I'm off to 'Little Gems' today to volunteer from noon to 4ish, then off to yet another art show & sale.  Enjoy your weekend!

Counting Sheep.

I feel like I've been neglecting the blog.  My goodness, WHAT A WEEK.  I thought after getting the show up, that I would have a couple days off.  No such luck.  Our household ran amuck with sick kids: stomach flus to colds and coughs.  Goodness.  I haven't done this much laundry since spring when everyone is muddy all the time.  I haven't lost this much sleep since my first baby (a.k.a Mister Colic).  I must admit that my children and I were extra thankful that I now work from home.

In between massive amounts of housework and nursing duties, I thought I'd revisit the idea of making up some embroidery stitch samples.  I had every intention of starting up "Saturday Stitches" again, but I didn't get as far as blogging about it until now (1 am, everyone is asleep so I have time to get some art work done).

couching samples

I played around with a few different styles of hand couching.  I stretched some thick woven cloth onto a square stretcher.  Oh my - I love square/rectangle hoops!  I must get a better one.  This one is only 6x6 on the inside.  In the meantime I have some giant binder clips that I can use on a canvas stretcher.  I have stretcher bars of all sizes, so that will make for some interesting work!

In the mean time, I checked out images of sheep and started to think about how I would stitch them.  I did some sketches in various poses.

sheep study

Then I dug out some yarn for the body, and dark thread for the rest.  I just stuck them on my sampler for future reference.

itty bitty sheep

p.s. I have a plan for these sheep... (shhhhhh)

In the mean time, if you are interested in purchasing any of my recent thread paintings, nearly all are for sale.  You can view them at the end of the "Fibre Art" page tab at the top of this blog.  The sold ones are marked as such.  If you are at The Centre when office hours are closed, email me (mysweetprairie@gmail.com) or call 306.979.3519 in Saskatoon, Canada.  Shipping is on me.

Happy December : )