In and Out of the Sewdio

Have you missed me?  😉

I can't believe it's been three (count 'em!) weeks since I last posted.  Oh well.  Time flies when you're having fun!  And we are, aren't we?

As long as we don't get caught up in the international news of the day hour minute!  I've been engaged in a great deal of textile therapy in order to keep sane, sensible and loving.  It takes work, I tell ya!  It takes work!

When last we communed, Gentle Readers, I was in the throes of "Piecer Madness".  I'm still working at the edges of that so-called "malady", but there's been progress!

First, the TQS Block of the Month for 2018 -- my "Barn Quilt That's Not" -- is finished.  At least, the top is!  At 72.5" x 82.5", I've tucked it away till I can get some wide backing for it -- likely from Hamels' Fabrics when they're at the Central Alberta Quilt Show in the spring, when they have deals on the stuff and I can pick it up in person.  I finished the final 2 strips of blocks and added a zinger and a border, thus:

The Quilt Show BOM 2018
with alternate centre motif, no applique

In matters of All Things Pieced, I've moved on to try to finish the "On Ringo Lake" top -- Bonnie Hunter's 2017 Mystery Quilt.  It seems only fitting -- as she just launched the first clue for the 2018 MQ!  😉  I don't know as I'll do the 2018 one -- I find I'm captivated by neither the theme nor the colours -- but time will tell.  Meanwhile, I've finished the first five rows (on point):

"On Ringo Lake" - Bonnie Hunter Mystery 2018 - first 5 rows

As you can see, it's a large top!  And the second half is taking shape on my design wall:

Would you believe that both of these projects have emerged entirely from stash fabric (except for 1/4 metre of red for the "zinger" in the TQS BOM)?!  I swear my scraps breed in the night!!

What I've not told you, Gentle Readers, is that between my last post and the work just described, I created a new piece in time to answer the Call for Entry from the Alberta Society of Artists for it's themed show, "Nocturn".

I had this photo (with permission) from my daughter, of a full moon taken in August of this year up in Edmonton, showing the colour of the moon/sky altered by the smoke that had travelled from wild fires in British Columbia (to the west) and from northern Alberta.

First, I had to audition fabric for the sky, and create samples of the moon.  I tried removing colour (using "Decolorant") but it did nothing on the commercial fabric I wanted to use for the sky.  Thus I knew I had to paint in the moon.  I tried several combinations of acrylic and fabric paints, till I got what I wanted:

NOTE: the spots on the printed photo (Inkjet) are water spots,
not stars!!

I also had to do some copying, enlarging, tracing and cutting to create the 'tree' template:

"Contour Drawing" of the photo

Stages of creating the tree template
and cutting it out of fusible web

I found a wonderful batik for the tree fabric, which didn't fray (much).  I then marked out the finished size of the piece (which I planned to wrap around stretched canvas) and laid the "trees" out on the "sky":

I sewed down the edges of that 'tree' fabric and then I added the moon:

Then I sandwiched the piece for quilting, and machine quilted around the moon and then through the sky.  Finally I used seed stitch by hand in a toned-in blue silk floss to add texture to the trees, and needle-felted in a bit of roving for the clouds, before wrapping it around the 1/2"-deep canvas.

Fire Moon (C) 2018
16" W x 12" L - wrapped around stretched canvas

I entered the piece online on Monday, and yesterday I took it to my framer's in Stettler for mounting in a floater frame, giving it a bit more 'polish'.   I won't find out the jury's results till December 10, and if accepted, it won't go up in the exhibit until March or April (TBD), but I want it ready for whatever happens.

That's because...I have applied for a spot at the new Homestead Artists' Collective for the months of either a) April through July; or b) August through November, 2019.  And the Call for Artists for the 20th (!) Annual Lacombe Art Show & Sale has just come out (it will be near the end of April, 2019).  I'll be hitting the ground running to make new work come January...

But for now...

Time to finish Xmas gifts!!

Like the second sock of this pair for my neighbour, Edna...

And the finger-less gloves for my friend Peg in Montreal...

Pattern: Pianissimo Mitts
Designer: Becky Herrick
Yarn: Estelle "Watercolours" DK (discontinued)
Colour #27

And this sweater jacket for my daughter, long in the making...

Pattern: Dubline Cardigan
Designer: Marousa Gallagher
Yarn: Berroco "Vintage" (worsted weight)
 Colour #5181 - "Black Cherry"

Oh...and the fabric for the Annual Xmas Boxer Shorts has been purchased and washed, and the pattern located.  Just need to pick up some more elastic for the waist band and...well...make them, of course!!

Thirty days till Christmas Eve?  Travelling up to Edmonton in 29 days?  I'd best stop writing and get knitting!!

I'll leave you with this link to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday -- having counted my blessings: friends, family (especially my kids) and The Ability to Work with My Hands.  Have a great week -- and "see" you again soon, I hope!

Piecer Madness!

I don't know about you, Gentle Readers -- especially those of you who are art quilters -- but (as I've undoubtedly mentioned in the past) making Original Art can be exhausting for me. For most of my life I've been known as a very organized, detail-oriented, orderly person.

It would seem, however, that sometime around the age of 50, my persona took a sharp turn off the Straight and Narrow and onto a much more winding road.  I began to move away from Following ALL the Rules to listening to the beat of my Inner Artist.

But.

But what?

But for a period of time each year -- usually between projects and very often in the fall -- my brain becomes too cramped to create unique-to-me work and I find myself following Other People's Instructions (OPI).

And that's where I've found myself for the past couple of weeks -- ever since I sent "Blue Pot" off to the Alberta Society of Artists for its 100@100 fund-raiser.  (This online sale goes up in the ASA Shop on November 15 at 9 a.m.: 100 artworks -- 10" x 10" each -- for $100 each. Stay tuned!)

Yes...there is art brewing.  I've been laying out fabrics and making notes for an ASA Call for Entry, for a Sacred Threads Call for Entry and for a new series that I want to showcase in the spring. A new Artists' Co-op is opening up and I've been mulling over the terms of the application to participate in that next year.

But...at the moment I am working my way through an assortment of other projects -- mainly pieced -- and there's no stopping soon!

I got the Rectangle Quilt -- a top finished a few months ago -- quilted (long-arm quilter up the road is very good, and reasonably priced!) and bound and off to a new home -- a gift to a fellow who lives nearby and whose home recently went up in smoke due (it's suspected) to the deterioration of or a faulty join in the chimney pipe from his self-assembled wood stove.

I've had another top quilted -- a gift for a friend's birthday -- and I'm now sewing down the binding.  (No photo; she might read this!)

Both of these are around 60" W by 70" to 80" L, as is this third top, ostensibly for my bedroom, replacing at least one of my collection that's wearing out...

Here it is, getting its second-last border...

Here's the top on my bed (not quilted yet)

The fabric is -- as you can see -- wildly coloured, and it's printed with a sewing theme.  I fell in love with it over a decade ago and finally got it together.  Yes, there's a pattern -- "Summer Citrus", designed by Nellie Holmes and Christine Baker, for the Spring 2009 edition of the Canadian magazine, A Needle Pulling Thread.  I'm not sure my fabric selections were ideal for this pattern, but the resulting top is growing on me!  😉

Then there's the 2018 Block of the Month from The Quilt Show.  But...I didn't want to do either the central 'barn' motif or the applique borders.  Blessedly, there was posted an alternate central motif:

Pattern: "Twinkling Star" - Barbara Brackman #2165
Originally published under the name of Nancy Cabot in the 1930's
Above created by Barbara Black

I modified mine by choosing a solid border instead of a Saw-tooth, and using a white print for the background instead of a more solid white:

Ms. Black goes on to create another border with the applique border motifs from the original Patchwork Barn pattern, and turned the whole piece into a wall hanging -- very pretty, but not my cuppa!

Here's how mine looks once I began to surround it with sashing and the 6" (finished) blocks that form the body of the quilt:

And here's the top lying on the guest room bed.  You can see that it needs a couple more rows -- one on each side -- to make it wide enough.  Then there will be at least one solid-colour border to finish it off.

So... I am creating 18 more of the original blocks, and 4 that are different.  Here are several of those additional blocks, stacked and ready to sew into rows:

The good news about this, is that I'm really using up my red, white and black fabric scraps -- along with a bit of a dusty pink and some grey.

The bad news is...that I might run out of "darks" (red and black) by the time I get to the outer borders!

So...it's true.  You can work hard to use up your fabric scraps, but you usually end up adding to them because you have to buy more fabric to finish the project!  (The same goes for knitting and crochet stashes.  Sigh.)

This quilt is destined for my guest room...but, like the sewing-themed top (above), it'll take me a while to have them quilted.  These tops -- IMHO -- didn't lend themselves to a "quilt-in-sections" approach.  While my new machine has a wider harp, I'm still loathe to quilt a top this large here at home.

Besides the actual quilting, my other stumbling block is trying to sandwich anything this size in limited floor space.  In the summer, I can make large sandwiches in my Outdoor Studio, but at this time of year...there's just no room!  Thus these two tops will have to wait till I either can afford the long-arm again OR June rolls around and I can assemble them outdoors and quilt them myself!

What's next?  More piecer madness?

Well...Bonnie Hunter's next mystery has just been announced, so that will take some consideration.  And I still have to finish last year's -- "On Ringo Lake".  All the blocks are finished; it's just assembling the top that's needed.  And that one is very large, so it definitely will go under a long arm!

But in the thick of this, one of those Calls (the ASA) has a fast-approaching deadline, and there are Christmas gifts on the knitting needles so...

As soon as I sign off, you'll be finding me in the Sewdio.  For ongoing encouragement and inspiration, I'm linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday -- and I wish you a happy weekend!

More About 'Them Books'

I love books.  I began to read around age 5 -- as did each of my children.  My father's sister -- a K-2 teacher -- used to say "Readers are Leaders".  I dunno about that, but I know that I agree with Emily Dickinson...

There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away,
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry – 
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll – 
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a Human soul.

All the homes I've owned over the years have been filled with books.  I have a bookshelf in the kitchen (mainly cookbooks), my bedroom (five, if you count the self built into my headboard and the two built into each side of my desk), one tall one in the guest room, two in the studio -- not counting the boxes of magazines and pattern booklets -- and then there are those in the shelves in the base of the coffee table in the living room, and still others in a basket beside the love seat, art books stacked on an antique round table in the front window, and the art/craft magazines in the wooden rack next to an over-stuffed chair.

And did I mention the stack(s) on the pass-through shelf from the living room to the kitchen?  Or the ones on the top of the coffee table at any given moment?  What about the ones on the 1910 pine pedestal table next to the computer desk?

No?  Oh well...   😉

I had a birthday about 10 days ago -- and now await eagerly the two books I bought from my Chapters/Indigo 'wish list' with a gift card from my son and his wife:

Brand new...just out!
Textile Landscape - Cas Holmes

 and

Ten years old but speaks to me now...
the art of felt - Loumange Francoise Tellier

Both should be in my hands by early October.  Yummy!

Meanwhile, I've spent the last four days finishing the Bookshelf Quilt.  

Five of six rows joined together

What the back sashing looked like
before it was hand-sewn down

Quilting Detail - bottom

Quilting Detail - side

Quilting Detail - top

Ready for binding

Label Detail
You Can't Tell a Book by Its Cover

I confess it's taken me much longer than I expected -- due in part to the customized quilting and then again, in part due to my learning curve involving adding borders to the centre six shelves (a 'medallion' of sorts).  I am so thankful for my new Pfaff (Performance 5.2) that has enabled me to finish it up with even stitch tension etc.  😊

I'm on the home stretch...and soon my friend will have her throw.

As for me, though the application for a solo exhibit at the Leighton Centre didn't pan out for 2019, I've got a 10" square panel to do up for the 2018 Alberta Society of Artists 100 @ 100 Fundraiser; I have a piece coming up on the block in Section 2 of the 2018 SAQA Benefit Auction -- next week; I have more features of my new Pfaff sewing machine to explore; and I have more ideas and experiments to play with in the coming months so...

All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.

-- Dame Julian of Norwich

Here's to books -- and here's to a great rest of the week!

Back at It

It seems that blogging has become a 'Sunday-kinda-thing' for me lately.  ;-)

I've been home from Scotland just over two weeks now and finally -- for the most part -- I seem to be 'back to normal' (what 'normal' is for me, that is).  The jogging has been a challenge -- sluggish and slow -- but I persist!  The weather's been pretty good this past week, so I've pushed myself to go out and plod along.  There are a few 'Scottish pounds' that have to be removed!

I must admit I took it slowly and started back in the Sewdio with a commission I wanted to finish by Thanksgiving (Oct. 8-9 here) so I could save shipping costs.  My sweet sister has a dear friend (I know her too) who's becoming a Young Great-Grandma in November, so sis commissioned me to make a crib quilt in a rail fence -- in a selection of blue fabric because, apparently, the baby is to be a boy.

Here is the top when I finished it just before my trip:

Here it is just after my return -- sandwiched and ready to quilt:

And here it is, finished -- full front and back, followed by detail shots:

I really lucked out with the backing, which I also used for the binding, because I found it at Wild Flower Creations, the LQS in Lacombe -- on the 50% off table!  And doesn't it echo the Rail Fence motif perfectly -- in 4 shades of blue, no less!

Primed for the Next Step

Once I had the quilt finished -- using my trusty back-up machine, a Pfaff 1222E -- I was ready to move outside my Comfort Zone...to meet a deadline.  I picked up my Husqvarna Lily 555 from the "spa" (Red Deer Sewing Centre), put her back into her sewing table and moved forward...

This past year I joined the Alberta Society of Artists as an 'Associate Member'.  I have no idea how many textile artists there are in this fine organization, beyond two SAQA colleagues -- Barbara J. West and Ilse Anysas-Salkauskas, both of whom have BFA degrees and are Juried Members of both the ASA and SAQA -- but I figured it would be an interesting group to join.

It's been a while since I surrendered my position as a Co-Rep with SAQA, and I was ready to do a tiny bit of volunteering, so I offered to participate in a fund-raiser: "100@100" -- where 100 artists volunteer to produce a piece of work on a 10" square wood panel, to be sold for funds to support the organization.

You may recall that I picked up my panel from President Mail Doktor just before I prepared to leave for Scotland.

Thank goodness for the trip, but...when I got back, I had to think about it.  Get back to the idea of trying to do something with an 'artist's panel' or 'artist's board'.

My dear provender of mats and frames, Andrea Hatch at Cabinet of Curiosities in Stettler, got me a large piece of 'board' which I cut in two (badly, because I don't really have the right equipment), and upon which I began to play.

I knew I needed to prepare the wood with gesso so that it would be sealed, and not damage the fabric I planned to apply to it...so I painted one coat on an almost 10"-square section of the board.  I was inspired in part by the work of the wonderful Louise O'Hara from Northumberland, UK, whose work I first discovered in a tiny shop at the ferry dock at Malaig, Scotland.  I bought a card with this image:

By the Fireside - (C) Louise O'hara

She does work with textiles and paint on board and canvas...which thrilled me to the core...and so I persisted.

On the bus -- near Inverness

Inspirational photo (above -- the second one I'd tried) in hand, I tried painting with acrylics on the sample board I'd prepared...and failed miserably.  It was stiff and stylized and not at all what I wanted.

I did some more internet research and found I should prepare 'board' by applying at least three (3) coats of Gesso, sanding with fine paper in between each application.  So I did -- both on the sample board and on the board Mali had given me for the final piece.

I still wasn't all that thrilled.  Then it dawned on me: I've always felt more comfortable with watery acrylic on canvas -- or with water colour altogether.  Perhaps I could try water colour on 'board'?  What did I have to lose?  In the immortal words of my first art quilt teacher, Anna Hergert: "It's just a sample."

So...I sampled:

Water colour on board (sample)

Whoa!  It worked!

Now, you need to bear in mind that the 'sky/mountains' is only the background.  I also had to fill up the foreground.  And that...that was being done as needle-felting.  The base was a piece of wool felt I bought from a vendor -- Quilter's Quarters of Longridge -- at the Scottish Quilt Competition, on the outskirts of Edinburgh.  I bought 3 pieces all told, for 7.50 GBP (about $12.75 CAD).  I got three shades of earthy greens, which work just right for this work.

And in the end, after auditioning and auditioning and adding wool roving bought at Fibre Week (Olds, June 2017) and fleece self-dyed over the last couple of summer, in jars in the sun...and using my embellisher...

This is what I got:

Oh! Those Highland Hills!

Detail (1)

Detail (2)

It will go into the mail in the next few days, once I get a box that can fit it.  I hope it brings in a good price for the ASA fund raiser.

As a sort of  'palate cleanser' after this...I painted a wee canvas (more on that later) and finished another that hadn't had its foreground done.  This time, instead of needle felting, I went with quilting:

Fifty Shades of Green (C) 2-17

I'll have this one put in a 'floater' frame like the others of its kind...and keep going.

Now you're pretty well caught up with the work...so I will leave you linkin up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and wish you a wonderful week!

Primed and Pumped!

In my last post, I mentioned that I was going to visit with Mali Doktor, current President of the Alberta Society of Artists...and with Andrea Hatch, owner and star framer at her shop, Cabinet of Curiosities in Stettler.

Well, those meeting happened -- and left me with heart pumping, eyes shining, brain spinning in a gazillion directions about the pieces that need to be and will be made in the next several months.

First, the ASA.  Mali gave me my 'board' (resembles a canvas except that it's made out of wood) on which I'm to mount/create something "in [my] chosen medium".  It's 10" square.  The finished piece will be my contribution to a fund-raising auction event entitled "100@100".  That's me in the pink (!) with Mali in the right-hand photo.

I've never worked on a 'board' before so have to pick one up on which to practice before I make the final product.

I have it in mind to do something similar to what I've been doing on canvas -- in a much smaller size (5" x 7").  I picked up the first three finished ones from Andrea (my trusty framer and mat-cutter) yesterday.  Here's just one example:

She can produce 4 of these frames (with a bit left over) from one "stick" of moulding; the same would be true if they were 6" square.  Thus she could get two out of one "stick" if they were 12" square...and so on!  At the price she is giving me, I would be foolish to try to reproduce them myself.  What a blessing she is!!  Once I'm back from my Scottish holiday, I hope to create a good supply of these over the winter, for sale at the Lacombe Art Show in the spring (April).

Meanwhile, Bonavista Fine Art in Sylvan Lake is having its close-out sale, and I've given permission for a modest discount on my work.  Anything not sold will come back to me after September 30, when its doors are closed.

There's a bright side to that...because I've been booked by the LQS in Stettler (where I generally buy my backings and batting) to do an Artist's Talk and Trunk Show on the Saturday afternoon of a quilt retreat weekend.  Caroline, the owner of Homespun Seasons, has wanted me to do this for some time now, and seems to think that though Stettler is in the heart of what I call "Bed Quilt Central", there will be an interest in the whole process of coming up with original designs.  As for me, I look forward to any opportunity to show my work.  She wants me to include MOB I and my books...and will permit me to sell the books, given that the proceeds go to JDRF and Diabetes Canada.  So...one can only hope!

You can see I've much to think about and prepare for in the coming months...but my focus right now is getting ready to leave for the Celtic Quilt Tour to Scotland!  I fly out of Edmonton with my friend and colleague, Mary Wilton, on September 11 and will be touring there through the 28th!!

I decided that being away from the sewdio would make this the perfect time to take my Husqvarna Lily 555 in for her annual "spa treatment" at Red Deer Sewing Centre...so that will happen on my way to work at The Shop today.  That said, I just had to keep working her till bed-time last night...putting together blocks for what I'm calling "My Quilt".

I've now managed to create six rows of six blocks each. My design wall accommodates only three rows of six at a time; here's what the second set of three rows of blocks looks like:

All in all, I plan for it to be 8 blocks per row x 10 rows (i.e., 80 blocks each finishing at 8" square) -- plus borders.  I doubt that I'll try to quilt it myself, but I've had fun playing will all these brights, knowing full well the finished top will look nothing like the original pattern.  The goal is to have a fresh new quilt for my bedroom, and in that, I think I'll succeed!  😊

Continuing my Utilitarian streak, I've now finished two dishcloths from stash cotton and have cast on a third, aiming to replace my sad and sorry collection with at least a half dozen new ones.  The patterns are all mysteries from an old Ravelry KAL (2009/2010), so I never know what they look like till they're finished.  Here's the first one -- from a pattern from the middle of September 2009:

Side One

Side two

Yes, it's reversible -- and yes, it's a diamond...

or rather, diamonds within diamonds!

The yarn is Nova Four Seasons Cotton from Diamond Yarns (I'm not kidding!) in colour-way #25.

And that's all the news from the Sewdio for today.  I may squeeze in one more post before I travel; we'll see.  Meanwhile I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network, and wishing you a great rest of the week!

Utilitarian

It's been well over a month since my sewdio work focused on art.  Not that it's been far from my brain; it hasn't.  I still have ideas swirling around in there, but my hands have wanted no part of those.

While this is on the design wall...

(L) - tree rubbings - under construction
(R) - Wall (c) - July 2017

These are ready to go under the needle...

3" blocks waiting
to become 1/2-square triangles

And these have already been assembled...

7" square, 1/2-square triangles

They're going to come together with a stack of waiting rectangles, like this...

Pattern: "Summer Citrus"
Designers: Christine Baker & Nellie Holmes
Upper Canada Quiltworks Publishing
from A Needle Pulling Thread
Spring 2009 edition

Yes, that's 2009.  That's how long that faded purple sticky note has book-marked that pattern...and pretty much how long I've had most of that fabric -- with a sewing-related theme -- just waiting to be put into use.  Recently at lunch, my friend C gave me two fat quarters of similar fabric -- in a completely different colour palate -- and I was spurred to add it to the stack and get going on (Heaven forfend!) a quilt pour moi.  Heaven also only knows how long it will take for me to get it quilted (it will likely be large enough that I don't want to do it myself)...but the top is far enough along now that it should be finished this fall.

However, I was in Utilitarian Mode long before I started to put this one together.  I finished the third quilt top (crib size) for the B.C. fire effort...

Lest you think, "I've seen this before!"...well, it's the same fabric I used for a throw-sized top.  Originally, the kit from which they came called for it to be all one quilt...but I thought it might be more useful in two smaller ones instead.

All three tops were boxed up and sent to Coleen in Peachland, B.C. on Wednesday.  Now there's a fire threatening nearby Kelowna...so I hope she is safe and gets the package in good order...so that she isn't interrupted in this good work for the thousands displaced earlier this summer.

Also mailed out: the wee "Oilers" toque and a pair of "wristlets" -- fingerless gloves -- for the up-coming 65th birthday of a friend from high school.

Pattern: "Queen Vicki's Wristlets"
Designer: River City Yarns, Edmonton, AB
Yarn: Peruvian Baby Cashmere from elann.com

Here's what they look like on my hands:

Left Wristlet

Right Wristlet

A knitting UFO was crossed off yesterday, too, when I finished a side-ways knit garter-stitch (knit every row) cardigan I began in 2012.  I dug it out in June, figuring it would be ideal to wear on my up-coming quilters' tour of Scotland in September.  I started where I'd left off...and soon went off the rails.  It's shaped with short rows, using 3 stitch markers...but which was Marker 1? 2? 3?  I thought I knew -- till I finished the back and found the neckline had become woefully misshapen.  Sigh.  I turned to Ravelry for help, and sure enough, there was a 'help group' for the pattern.  One gal in particular set me straight.  I frogged back to where I thought I'd begun to go astray, and started again.

Now it looks like this:

Pattern: "Corinne Cardigan"
Designer: Crystal Urb Junkins
Yarn: Patons "Venus"(Vintage)

Back
The apparent 'gathers'
smooth out when on the body.

Neckline detail.  See the short-row shaping?

The pattern calls for four buttons, smaller than shown, but I wanted to show off this one I bought years ago at my then-favourite LYS in Calgary, The Knitting Room.

Pretty Button!

I found out earlier this week that a friend from university days and her hubby became grandparents for the first time at the end of July...so now a wee pair of socks from some cotton-blend stash yarn is on the needles, and will likely go out later this week.  I started them last evening in the Outdoor Sewdio.  It got a bit cool, so I put on my new cardi.  Perfect!

So there you have it, Gentle Readers: several weeks spent satisfying a hankering to create beauty, but not the kind one puts on one's walls.  It seems to come from a combination of wanting to Use Stuff Up, to Keep Hands Busy, to Enter the Creative Zone without too much strain on the brain, and to Give Something to Others at a time when there is great chaos, anxiety and turmoil in the world.  

All I know is, these projects have kept my hands touching textiles, fulfilling a purpose, finding meaning, and creating calm -- at least, in my wee corner of the world.  They've soothed my soul even as the summer sped by, and enabled me to spend time reflecting on the year ahead -- but that's a subject for another post!

Today I'm off to meet Mali Doktor (Vargas) the young woman who is the current President of the Alberta Society of Artists...and who's going to give me a 'board' on which to create something for an ASA fund-raiser.  It's my first contribution to the organization since I became an Associate Member several months ago, and really the easiest and most practical way for me to 'volunteer' for a group that is based a good 2 1/2 hours' drive southeast of here.  I've never worked with 'board' before, though, so it'll also be a learning experience.  Who knows?  I might just find another avenue for my textile ideas!

Monday I expect to drive over to Stettler to get an estimate on some floater frames from Andrea at the Cabinet of Curiosities (she's the gal who cuts most of the mats for my minis)...

So you see?  Art's been happening, is happening, and will happen here in the sewdio for the foreseeable future (God willing!)

Linking this up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday -- and wishing you all a wonderful weekend!