What's Important.

This weekend saw a nice break the heat wave.  I got in a few amazing morning runs, several long walks with my kids, and my kids even got a morning of fishing.  Fabulous!  I spent one entire blustery day reorganizing and cleaning my creative space.  Oooh all that clean space is inspiring.  This was completely finished and all ready to go!

Boundless II, 2011 (commissioned / sold)

up close

I had a quick talk with Jesica and we both thought it would be great to stitch the wildflower border in a variegated thread.  That would bring it all together I think.  So that will get worked on this week.  I just need to go out and find the right thread to go with all the colors.

her grandmother's fabrics

I can't stop thinking about Saturday night.  The kids were in bed, and I was out for an hour watering the back & front yard, and the gardens and the beds... it was our night to turn on the taps (long-running mandatory water ban here).  The sky was darkening, the clouds were darker, the fresh cool wind came up, and I did not want to go back inside!  I stood at the window looking in at my husband watching TV, and I said through the glass, "I want to stay out here!"

where I run, where I breath, where I clear my head, where I get my energy

That's where my soul is fed - out in the open.  I think that's why when we bought a house here, I needed to stand in each room to see what it looks like out the windows.  That was the first thing on my list - BIG windows.  Even my machine is at a BIG window.  I need to see the sky.  That's why I had to move back to Saskatchewan.  I need to see far.  Then my soul feels unconfined.  That's when my creativity just pours out. 

(I know - you've seen this soooo many times, but LOOK!  It's limitless.)

my photo taken from the car window on highway 7 last summer 2010.

What is it for you?  What stimulates your spirit and unleashes your creativity?  Whatever you name... you should do that more often!

~Monika

Stitching Summer

First, let me get this out:  O M G it's been HOT.  Please rain, please rain...  It's been twenty degrees first thing in the morning, and wayy too hot for me to run.  Then it nearly doubles for the whole day.  Needless, to say, we've been either in the water or hiding inside with the A/C on.  I'm definitely a spring/fall kind of woman.

heading out to stitch under the shade tree

ok.  Thanks for listening.  : )

I am very happy to say that I made it to the Bridge City Needle Arts stitch night!  They meet weekly through the summer.  My husband actually told me to get out of the house because I was getting bitchy about all the housework (though I still did laundry and dishes into the night as usual).  The stitch group was terrific and I got 2 solid hours of handstiching done on 'Boundless' from my photo of the post surrounded by dandelions.  I spent yesterday doing another several hours, and I think it's done!

Boundless II, (detail) 2011

If you look really close, there is alfalfa, dandelion blooms, dandelion puffs, blue aster, and goldenrods.  I am really happy with this one!  The dandelions look like dandelions.  It's going into a dark grey woodgrain frame that really brings out the blues & the post in this one.  I'm not sure who is getting this one.  It is being purchased as a birthday gift for a loved one.

inspiration for Boundless.  photo by me, 2010

And more great news!  Some lovely woman left a couple of embroidery scroll frames up for grabs at our local quilt shop.  I now have one for my landscapes.  (Thank you!!)  What great timing with all this hand stitching I'm doing.  I bought a small rectangle one from a garage sale earlier this year.  It has the felted work on it.  Now I have a really long and narrow one which is just fantastic for my landscapes.  While I was with the Bridge City NeedleArts group, I was able to find out how to attach the work to the frame.  'Stitch it on with unwaxed dental floss!' said one.  Smart. 

I have one last thing to show you.  Now that the mail is moving, look what my mother sent me!!  I have it pinned up on my inspiration wall.  She knew I was looking for a flax field.  A friend of hers took this photo.  This is the view from the highway. 

view of Jackfish Lake / Day's Beach SK

You will see (bottom to top) blue flax, blue lake, blue horizon, and blue sky.  Isnt' that hilarious?  There's no sense of up or down or depth in this with the exception of the tree tips to anchor you.  I'm not sure I'll do this entirely, but I'll use features of it in an art piece.  I might crop it vertically for a long panel and play up the blue & green with lots of distinctively different texture.  It is an amazing sight!

Now to take a day off and re-organize this mess!  How did that happen so fast?

See you Sunday,
~Monika

Works in Progress Wednesday

I'm still workin'!  Here's what's up right now.  I have completed this custom order via my Etsy shop!  I'm so thrilled to have completed it.

It's a bit bigger than 2x3 feet.  I added the tabs yesterday.  This is for Kate's new home, far away from the prairie.  I hope she just loves it!!

border, binding, tabs.

It was a big project!  So there you go - I finished Mandy's AND Kate's.  I haven't done much at all on Jesica's quilt except for plan things in my head.  That counts.  I just don't have photos to prove it.  : )

I put together a kit for Emma to make the Snips n Snails quilt from the Summer issue of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine.

Okay... I have to show this again for the WIP wednesday gang.  ; )

I'm on the cover!  It's starting to sink in now... WOW!

Emma is the woman I met in the fabric store, magazine in hand, trying to gather the fabrics for this quilt I designed.  We met by "accident" or serendipity, more like it!  She's making this quilt to send off to Australia later in the year!  Isn't that cool?  Even stranger... she had no idea this was me, or that I was even in the same city as her.  When I met her in the store, I thought she bought it because she reads my blog.  Totally not.  She just liked the quilt.  I told her, "so you are a real fan!?".  She was as thrilled to meet me.  It was quite funny.  If i see her again, I'll ask her for her autograph.  hehe

Our mail is up and running after 2 weeks!! WOOHOO!  I hopped online and ordered the fabrics that I used for this quilt.  They are all 70's solids and I just love the way they look together!  I'll have some kits ready as soon as that box arrives.  The kit includes assorted buttons and embroidery floss as well.

'coppertone summer' colors picked by the editor of ANPT

Then I headed straight out and mailed these postcards to various places around the planet.  I love postcard swapping so much!  I can't wait to see what shows up in my mailbox.  i love snail mail.

off to New York, Ontario, California, Dublin, and Saskatchewan : )

I am about to rework this piece as a commission from the last show.  It sold before the exhibit but I thought I would display it anyhow.  I figured it was a good one.  The person who bought it knows I'm reworking it and that's okay.  I was sure to ask first, because, well... you know.  It's art, and everyone wants an original.  But each time I make something, it's never identical, and I learn more about what works and what doesn't.  I look forward to this, it was a lot of stitching that was quite loose and free.  I really enjoyed it.

barbed wire & dandelions

Other than that, things will go slow for the summer.  All the kids are home and one has some homeschooling to do to catch up before September.  Thank you everyone for your input to Tips on Tuesdays.  I will be taking the summer off from that particular posting.   There were a couple requests for thread painting to be covered.  Hang tight!  I will be doing that and it will be quite thorough hopefully, as it's part of a group blog effort.  More on that later...it's a surprise.

See you all tomorrow!  To see what other bloggers are up to, go to Lee's at Freshly Pieced, and Esther's Blog too!

~Monika

Another New Home

Boundless (detail) 2011 by Monika Kinner-Whalen SOLD, a photo by My Sweet Prairie on Flickr.

'Boundless' - my prized fencepost and dandelion field has sold after much inquiry. Thank you everyone! I spent a long time dreaming this one up from it's original photograph. This little photo is a teeny spot of detail under the post. The whole piece is framed in a dark grey washed-wood frame. It looks great - but do you think I can get a good photo without glare!? (nope)

If you come to the Saskatoon Forestry Farm House tomorrow between noon and 5 pm, please do say hi! My 2 sold pieces will be on display plus I still have a half dozen pieces for sale.  There are nine other truly amazing artists selling their wares as well. Refreshments are being served as part of the fundraising. See http://www.FFFH.ca for more details.

Have a great weekend,
~Monika

Tuesday Off Topic

Spring on the Prairie III (detail) 2011 by Monika Kinner-Whalen, a photo by My Sweet Prairie on Flickr.

Hello! I've been busy busy and unable to get a Tips on Tuesdays post done for this week. It was a well lit day for me to get all my photography done before putting my eight new art pieces under glass in their frames.

I'm done! I have uploaded my 4 favorite shots of each piece into my flickr online photo album. To see them all, simply click on the photo in this post, and it will take you to my flickr set. From there, simply click "older" over and over to see everything I've just uploaded. ; ) That 'newer/older' button should be near the top corner of the photo when you go there.

easy?
You'll know you're done when you see my old stuff from Gardenscape.

p.s. All pieces are for sale and will be in A Needle Pulling Thread Magazine next year.

Have a great day!
~Monika
...who REALLY feels like she's accomplished great things!!

Monday Auditions

This weekend was pretty productive.  I managed to finish all eight pieces and cut twenty four mats.  I tried to photograph them at high resolution before putting them under glass, but it was one of those days where there was sunshine, a giant cloud, sunshine, a giant cloud, sunshine... you get the idea.

This time around, I got a variety of frames and a variety of matting colors.  I got to mix and match to get the best look for each piece. Here are some snapshots of how I audition the mats and frames.

"Boundless", with pale stained wood and matching double matting

"Spring on the Prairie" with a barn wood frame and double matting

I really love that barn wood frame.  It has just a hint of denim blue in it's grain that looks so good with that dark storm and those blue knots in the field.  Honestly, I think all my pieces looked so good in that one!  It was pricey though, so I only bought one.  I'm choosing to put Spring on the Prairie in it because there's something so real and loose about it that worked well with the country frame.  It has a very natural feel overall.  It's also very texturous, which the art is also.  : )

"Poles Along Highway 7" looks so fresh in this blonde wood & double mat

I particularly like how the wood of the frame corresponds with the wood of the power poles.  And the bright white outer mat makes the clouds shine.  It gives that quirky composition a more contemporary feel.

"Linen Moon" looks s good with sage matting and a coffee colored frame

The moon will go on last!  I still have to do that.  I ended up adding some single stitch lines in that sage color just below the canola field.  It really helped to soften the landscape and give it more depth.  It also blends well with the outer matting.  You can click to see them closer.  I thought I would want more blue surrounding this one, but when I auditioned it, it just made the whole piece very silly.

Well there you go!  Hopefully it will be more sunny for me to take the rest of the photos tomorrow.  See you then!  : )

~Monika

Works in Progress Wednesday

What am I working on?  I've been plugging away at creating fibre art landscapes for the group exhibit I'm part of on Sunday, May 29th.  Here's some of what I've accomplished so far.  All will be for sale.  All will be printed along my article as the featured artist in A Needle Pulling Thread magazine, Spring 2012!

work in progress... lots more to free motion stitch on here.

the beginnings of Field of Flax, featuring french knots in periwinkle

finished!  Saskatchewan, my home.  Based on my photos.

Deep Summer.  done!  : )

Boundless, based on my photo of dandelions and a barbed wire fence

I think I may have enough time to create one more piece before I begin to mount, mat, and frame all my work.  I also have to prime and paint the display board I have.  The exhibit is a fundraiser for Friends of the Forestry Farm House, and the upcoming event was showcased in the SUN this past weekend.

the quilt shown is by Elizabeth Cuming who makes incredible art featuring heritage buildings

This Spring Art Show & Sale will be from noon to 5pm on the last Sunday of May, out in the Superintendent's Residence building there, which is a beautiful old heritage site at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm, Park, and Zoo.

click HERE for a list of the artists involved, and details of the event.

Thanks for stopping by!  To see what other quilters are up to, head on over to Lee's at Freshly Pieced.

Have a great day,
~Monika