Postcard Fun, Take 2

Yesterday, the cold wind blew in and the day became rather blustery.  Still no snow, but you can finally feel things changing.  I had a postcard workshop in my home studio yesterday.  Because my fabrics were still divided by warm and cool colours, I went with the theme of Hot & Cold once again for this group.  It was a little vague for a first time theme, but I think folks enjoyed the fabric play nonetheless.

hot and cold theme

These (above) were made by two women at opposite ends of of the classroom.  The first was about staying warm in the winter, and the maker spoke about her fond memories of cross country skiing.  She said they would stop to build a fire and heat up some hot chocolate.  I love that story.  What a great experience!  This card isn't quite finished but the feel of it is so magical.

The second card (above) is so cute how she has one tree decorated!  She worked to use hot and cold colours.  She did quite a lot of couching with the warm coloured yarns.  How clever to use them as strings of light!

high contrast colours

The card above is pictured here in progress.  She was wanting to stay in Autumn mode since winter isn't really here yet... but she went all out using hot and cold colours in her fall leaf scene.  You can really see how the cooler greens and blues recede and the hot reds and orange come forward and visually pop right off the background!

The nest one made me laugh.  It's 'naked snowmen on a beach'.  hahhah  Yup.  So she used the hot and cold in her image as well as her fabrics.  Every time she said 'naked' I yelped and covered my eyes.  lol

soaking in the sunshine

This last photo is too cute.  I think she started out abstract, just piecing very different fabrics together, some warm, some cool.  Eventually, she realized it looked like a camera.  So that's what she did!  It even has a strap attached.  How creative!  She added black plastic for the shiny viewer, and buttons for the buttons!  : )

Say Cheese!

Thanks Ladies!  I'll see some of you soon again as I get ready for the Threadpainting Class this afternoon.  : )

Threadpainting Class

Driving to Innisfree last Wednesday was so wonderful.  It was raining and dark in Saskatoon, but as I hit the border, the sun was shining.  The drive was 4 1/2 hours, and I ended up tuning in to CBC radio to unexpectedly listen to the entire ceremony and swearing-in of the new Prime Minister of Canada and all the cabinet members.  I got to listen live to the aboriginal boy drumming, as well as the two little Inuit girls who performed the traditional throat singing.  My, my.  What an amazing time I had - I felt like I was right there as I flew down the highway.  I sang along, I cheered when the crowds cheered.  I'm sure glad I didn't miss that!  It was incredibly refreshing and uplifting.  I'll admit I'm surprised to having a case of 'Trudeau mania round 2'.  It's quite invigorating.

The ceremony came to a close just before I arrived in Innisfree.  I was a little early arriving, and so I stopped to snap some photos of this gem.  It looks SO solid.  The moss was such a crazy colour!  And yes, we are snowless in November.  That is very out-of-the-ordinary!

I really wanted to go peek in.  The door is open after all, isn't it!?  It is so stately for an abandoned building.  I suppose houses are built a little better than barns and sheds though.  Take this one, for instance.

The drive across the prairie is always fun when you see these squishy looking structures.

The class was a good size.  I think there were eleven women, including the Mayor!  : )  I didn't know that until we all had supper together.  So now I can say I dined with the Mayor too.  I was surprised when I asked the class, 'tell me about your experience with free motion sewing.'  Only one had tried it before.  None of the other quilters had!  So I started at the very beginning with them, and away they went.

We do about an hour of intro & warm up exercises, and then we get straight on to the project.  In my classes, I supply everything so that all you need is a machine and thread.

It's a fairly long class at 4 hours.  Not everyone gets finished, so it's totally appropriate for a full day workshop.  Still, most were pretty close to having it all done.  They did so good at making their machines work for them.  This lady finished, and even added some embellishing yarns for the branches.  : )

How very sweet!  I teach them to work in the way that I do - with the photo nearby.  I think it's important to get past colouring in photos on cloth and trust yourself to look and understand what you are seeing.  Very nice work everyone!  Thank you all so much for the great meal, company, and laughs we shared.  : )

Maybe I'll come back in the spring with my Postcards workshop!  That would be fun indeed.

ps - I can take one more participant for my Saskatoon class on November 17th.  It's not quite full, but almost.  : )  Send me an email if you are interested:  Monika@MySweetPrairie.ca

Teaching Time!

Now that the shows are over and the galleries are stocked, I'm shifting over into teaching mode once again.  First, I am heading west to Innisfail AB to do a Threadpainting class for a quilting group there.  After I come back home, I head east to run a day long Postcards Workshop in Foam Lake, SK.  While I have all my supplies out and ready, I figured it's a great time to slot in some classes in my home studio.  If you are interested, Postcards will be the afternoon of Monday, November 16 (3 hrs, $30+kit) and Threadpainting will be the afternoon of Tuesday, November 17 (4 hrs, $40=kit).  Email me if you want a spot.  Monika@MySweetPrairie.ca  Monday is more creative and adventurous.  Tuesday is more technical and skill based.  Extra classroom machines are available for a $5 rental to cover maintenance.  : )

Janomes in my Studio

Right now, I'm getting the details prepared for a two day workshop I'm doing in Olds for the Fibre Pot Pourri weekend in the Spring of 2016.  It's a handwork / embroidery event and so I'm creating a new workshop for it based on what I's very excited about at the moment.  ; )  It will be all about going from Sketch to Stitch.  I took out some supplies and sat and waited for inspiration to come.  I thought, ' hmmm....  LOVE this bison photo I took several autumns ago.'

I love the sunlight on them.  And so I sketched it out with some horribly messy oil pastels.

I chose a group of five of them.  I dislike the sky, but I adore the grasses and the beasts in the sun.  And so with that positive experience under my belt, I did a couple more all based on personal photos I have kickin' around...

You likely know that one.  It's the 3 sweet shrubs at Cranberry Flats that I've stitched out many, many times.  I totally want to stitch this one with fat yarns on black.  I think it would be a blast.

My idea is to sketch out natural scenes like they were to be patterns for embroidery.  The lines are fairly thick and lend itself well to stitching.  Then I have all these Noro yarns which totally rock.

With just one ball, you get so many colour variations!  This is how I worked the Birch trees that sold at my open studio.  I'm so excited to do more and share it at the Workshop next spring.

Well.  Writing this post out is enough to inspire me to make more Noro embroideries!  I'm a tad addicted.  Linking to The Needle and Thread Network.  Now off to stitch : )

Have a lovely day,

Save the Date! There's Twice the Fun!

I am looking forward to Saturday, October 17th very much.  Check it out!

I am so there.  I love lining up in the morning and poking around through all the supplies there.  If you are unable to attend, you can donate a couple days before that.  It's great incentive to destash and help out a good cause.

Later that day...

YAY!  I am really excited to host another open studio.  It wasn't too busy but steady all day last year.  Again, I will have art for sale, from $ to $$$ and everything in between.  I will have cards, threadpaintings, snowglobes, hand embroidery, some prairie postcards too.  There's a good chance my children will greet you with their own handmade sale.  My 9 yr old makes earrings, and my 12 yr old makes leather crafts.  I'll be sure to leave out a guest comment book if you'd like to offer kind words in lieu of shopping.  We'll have munchies and bubbly, coffee and tea, smiles and hugs and music too.  You are welcome to pop in any time between 1pm and 8 pm.

We hope to see you!

The Morning Light

This weekend as I was packing up for my trip to Weyburn, I came across some art I had forgotten about.  Doesn't that sound ridiculous?   I kind of didn't forget about it.  I just wasn't sure how I felt about it.  It's based on a sunrise from Christmas morning a couple years ago.  The sky was deliciously ON FIRE.  I love our fire skies, and so I made this.  The towers are all hand stitched.  I loved it, but I wasn't sure about it.  It's very, (how shall I say this?) very ORANGE.  lol  It's SO orange!  Yes, it is, isn't it!?

It's deeper orange than you are seeing on your screen, but every time I deepened it, the matting went grey, and it's not.  I's white.  So here it is, bright and fiery.

It's going to hang in Investors Group in downtown Weyburn for the whole summer.  Maybe, just maybe someone will connect with it.  I titled it The Morning Light and had it matted and framed in a warm dark brown wood.  You might have seen this partially done many times before, but I finally finished it up!  So, what do you think?  This next image is much closer to the true colour.

The Morning Light, 2013 (completed 2014, framed 2015) available art

Woo!  It's vibrant but very quiet at the same time.

See you later in the week!  I'll be posting on facebook most likely while I'm away : )

Winners Announced, & One More Giveaway

Thanks for all your guesses!  I gathered all my postcards up - I'm sure I'm not missing any.  I counted... There are one hundred and six that I own from other people.  You thought there were way more than that?  I swapped madly for 2 years but then fell out of it as my art life began to boom.

Congratulations to Terri (yay!) who guessed 100, and to Andy Lloyd Williams (woohoo!) who guessed 111.  You will be getting a one year digital subscription to Canada's own Quilter's Connection magazine!  I'll need some info from you to pass on the people at QCmag.  You can email me at Monika@MySweetPrairie dot ca, and I will get your contact info at that time.

AND NOW...

IF you happen to be on Facebook, look me up at My Sweet Prairie Studio there.  

I'm having another giveaway there.  This time it's for a signed copy of the issue I was published in, along with a bundle of fibre art goodies for making postcards.  

To win, you'll need to guess the number of cards that I have made - ever.  

That would be all of the swapped cards plus my Wish You Were Here series and a few more here & there.  

See ya there!

It's All In Progress

Today I am finishing up the first big commission.  It's the view over Jackfish Lake from the little Meota highway.  This is a retirement gift, 8x8" that will be framed to 14x14".

There's a lot of hand work in it to get the shading I need.  I still need to add some foreground and fence wires by hand.  It's getting there though.  The 'ugly' phase seems to have passed.

Also - I realize I haven't posted good, full images of my home studio.  Here is one from the entry room...

It's the room of my dreams.  It's still a wrok in progress. We have window casings and entry room baseboards to add still.  But isn't the light terrific for a basement!?

The room is 24ft long by 13ft wide.  At the back there behind the shelf wall at the right, there is a bathroom.  It's awesome.  The far back door leads to the furnace room and storage.  The entry room on the left is the bottom of the stairs, and has chairs and a table for food breaks when I'm teaching.  There are 3 big banquet tables for the classroom.

By request - here is a couple 'before' images of my space!  (EW)

What else is in the works...  Right now I'm planning another threadpainting class which is full already.  We just have to juggle a time.

Oh !  I have a good friend who is heading toward a career in sexuality & health for women.  She found images of colourful embroidered vulvas in little hoops on the net and wants to have a stitching night - women only.  I'm giggling but fully embarrassed at the same time.  I wasn't even sure if I should blog it (oh what a prude I am).  But after I told her about all the rich batiks fabrics I have and the amazing fibres and embroidery threads, her excitement for this class was contagious.  So - we have a date set. She wants to hang her finished pieces as ornaments on her tree!  : ) I already told her she doesn't need to pay a class fee, but she had better bring wine!  lol

What do you think about that!?

And... I have some interest in a silk ribbon class.  I'll try to figure that one out too.  I have loads and loads of ribbon.  I'd love to get back doing that again.  I would have a couple spaces available there (Saskatoon, SK Canada).  It would be daytime and you can email if interested Monika@MySweetPrairie .ca

In progress - pretty much everything!  Linking to WIP Wednesday at TN&TN.

Openings and Opportunities

Saturday was awesome.  There weren't more than a half dozen people at any given time, but a steady flow came all day without a break.  It was so great to see familiar and new faces.  Pretty much everyone who came bought art - it was an incredibly successful day that way!  I don't feel guilt anymore about giving up the December show.  So, thank you for that!  : )  And thank you also to all those who sent a sweet message with regrets.  You all made me smile and I appreciate you so much.

Monika & Verna - she's only drinking pink ginger ale : )

I personally love the smurks on our faces.  : )

The interesting parts of Saturday were when two guests were really interested in purchasing some of my stash!  lol  I had some of my Etsy shop stock and so they had fun picking their favourites.  I had someone fall in love with a handstitched piece I had on the display table.  I hadn't planned for it to be for sale because I didn't have it finished / mounted.  So, we talked about how she would like it displayed in a wrapped canvas style with no framed.  I'll show you a photo once I have it all put together.  That was a nice surprise!  I'm glad she asked for the piece she really loved the best.  Another woman spied a prairie rug hooking on a lower shelf in the room and ended up going home with that one.  : )

On Monday, I ran a 4 hr Beginner Threadpainting Class.  There were 5 in the classroom.  I had capped it at 4, but I got an email from a woman in Manitoba who happened to be coming this way.  Of course I added her too!  What great timing.  I have a friend name Lauren from my mom's group who came to try it out.  She had never free motioned before - 110% beginner.  SHE DID SO AWESOME!  So I have to show her off just to prove that I don't need my students to have any experience whatsoever, and you really will amaze yourself.

There she is on my machine.  We had some issues with jamming on hers and so I wanted to get her going.  (p.s. Lauren, your manual was left behind here.)

And then I spent some time refilling stock for the Etsy shop as well.  The postcard supplies were dwindling.  I have yet to upload those pics but I'll do that next.

OKAY - on with the BIG commissions.  I have one more going to Australia, the USA, a couple for Canada, and even one headed to Africa.  WOWEE.  But for the moment, I think I am quite exhausted and will take today off.  I don't remember the last time I had a good rest and me-day.  Talk soon folks!  Thanks for everything,

My Open Studio & Art Sale Saturday

It's official.

I already announced it on Facebook and now people will come.  

Save the date!  My 'Studio Warming' (like a house warming) will be this weekend!

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~ Studio Warming ~

&

Art Sale

at the home of Monika Kinner-Whalen

351 Crean Crescent in Saskatoon

* Saturday October 25th, 2014 *

11am - 4pm  &  6pm to 8 pm

** We will be closing from 4-6pm for our family's suppertime **

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I'm thinking if you want art, you might want to come earlier.  If you want to catch up and drink wine, you could come later.  I really have no idea how busy it will be.  I suppose it depends on the weather.

Please be aware that my new space is down one flight of stairs.  I know that's an issue for two important people in my life.  Also, we have a dog in the house, but he is terrified of stairs and has never been in my studio.  The studio is pet free.

I need to announce here as well that this weekend's Art Sale at my home will replace my December Solo Show & Sale at the Centre Mall Galleries.  It would have been my 5th annual exhibit.  That's a big deal and a little bittersweet.  However, with building the studio over the summer and having stacks of commissioned art to complete before the holidays, I felt this was the right decision.  It's all good though.  I have handed over my December booking at the Centre Gallery to my friend Elizabeth Cuming.  She is an award winning established quilt artist who focuses on historical buildings around the province.  I am sure you will enjoy her work very much.

See you on Saturday - I guess I had better get prepared!

Good Memories & a Lesson in Patience

My little class went really well last week!  I got great feedback on the studio, on offering stitching insights, and (ahem) rave reviews on my coffee (just fyi).  The coffee was very impressive apparently!  The class I held was autumn-themed Postcards.  I really enjoyed that day.

Standing in the room by myself later, I remembered how my mother worked from home.  She knew it was a busy day by the number of lipstick-stained cups left on the tables.  It was an interesting moment when I could say the same for myself (though not everyone wore lipstick here).  Still... there's a distinct memory about a woman leaving her mark like this.  It made me smile.  "I did it," I thought.  "I had people in my home, and they left happier than when they arrived."  My mother was a hairdresser, but I feel like I enjoyed the same satisfaction.

I look forward to having people here more.  I'm less afraid of an open house.  I think having these women over really helped to put me at ease.  Nearly every day, my 8 yr old comes home from school with a different friend.  She's brings her classmate downstairs and lets her look into my studio.  Each little girl has the same reaction - "Oooooh!  It's sooooo pretty!!!"  : )  They say it all the same way, like they are walking into a magical space.

I suppose it is.

Late in the week, my pal Michelle brought over some Chai tea and a friend of hers who wanted to talk about commissioned work.  Out came the tea cups.  I feel so good doing that!  (Kari, if you are reading this, you have to know what a great gift these were!)  It was so nice to have a good space to sit and meet about work.

I'm happy to say that I will have two more pieces off to Australia!  I have a fair number of requests ahead of her's though - including a big order of postcards.  Still, I am thankful to be deep into my work.  Every once in a while I can take a break and offer a class.  It's so great.

In my plans to wrap up things with curating for the January show, I ended up abruptly sidetracked yet again.  This time, one of my children broke their arm.  After several visits for x-rays, a splint, more x-rays, having his bone reset a couple days later at emergency while being put under, and now wrapped in a cast and back home (it never ends), I will likely be taking my work with me when we go to have turkey with the family later this week.  Anyone waiting for their contract will likely see it in November.  I knew it would be late fall, so no worries.  Everything is still basically on track.

It's all good.  It a lesson in patience.  The funny thing is that while in one of the waiting rooms, an elderly woman chatted with us for a while, and then handed me a photocopy of her favourite Catholic prayer.  It was all about patience.  I'm not Catholic, but the reminder to be patient and let things happen the way they are meant to was a good one.

Before she left, she offered me a breath mint.  ! lol !  (That was the funny part.)

Well, I hope you had great weekend.
Talk soon,

Oh Happy Day

It's getting colder out, and it's getting darker too.  But it does not bother me one bit.  I have my she-cave and it feels amazing. 

Everyone loves that little office divider.  It's a plastic hanging stencil from the dollar store.  This is my view from the back of the classroom, where I sit and blog and load photos and say hi on Facebook.  : )

Of course, my creative charmer is here. 

She fits just great in this room!  She makes me so happy.  I love how she clears the air when she turns.  She can be distracting though.  I think she hypnotizes me. lol   More happy news:  all my stuff is more or less moved in and sewing has begun!

I have a funny story.  While reorganizing of my old space, I discovered... (o my this is embarrassing) ...a sewing machine I forgot I had!  Not.  Even.  Kidding.  It was Fiona!  How could I have misplaced Fiona!?  She's the center machine there in the blur - a basic Kenmore I named Fiona because she looked like an ogre but was really a princess.  Penny is my Horizon because she's red and cost a pretty penny.  Bea is named for Plan B - though she quickly became my main machine.  She's a Janome 3160 - only 12 pounds with auto cutter.  LOVE.

Now I have an extra basic machine.  Fiona is not great for threadpainting, but she's good for postcards. 

Oh!  Postcards!  Speaking of which - we're on!  Wednesday, Oct 1st from 11 to 2, I'm holding my first Postcard workshop here.  It will likely be autumn themed.  I have some wonderful fabrics to play with and the class is cheap as classes go.  ($10 per hour plus small kit fee.)  I can add one more person - maybe 2 - if you want to email me for a last minute addition.

my girls - Fiona, Penny, and Bea.

So I've decided to go ahead and take the plunge.  I'm setting a date for my 'studio warming'.  I feel super nervous just thinking about it.  Not all the renos will be done, and the house won't be perfect... but let's do this before the snow flies! 

Of course, this weekend we are busy. 

The weekend following is Thanksgiving. 

I suppose the weekend after that will be the magic moment.  I'm thinking Friday evening the 17th, or Sunday afternoon the 19th?  I'll make an official email announcement and try my darnedest not to chicken out.  There.  Date set.  : )

Have a great day!