What I Got Up To Yesterday...

Our parish priest at St. Cyprian's Anglican Church in Lacombe, and St. John's Anglican Church in Olds, Alberta, became very proficient with videography over the years of COVID lock-down. He came to the Encore! Art Show & Sale in Lacombe yesterday and made use of his talents, making this beautiful video of my special exhibit as Featured Artist this year...I am thankful and feel truly seen and blessed. Thank you Robert!

Linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday...before I go off to the second day of this two-day event. Have a great weekend!

Prep, Prep, Prep

 It's a bit unusual for me to post at the start of a week, rather than on the weekend, but needs must these days, as I've been very busy getting ready for the Next Big Thing.

The First Big Thing was the opening of the first venue of the Art in the Park 2022 Artists' Exhibit, which ran for a month at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre in Revelstoke, B.C.  The show ended April 2 and all of the artists are waiting to see where it's going next.  This was the first of three Big Things in my life that were postponed in 2020.

There'll be a Third Big Thing happening at the end of this month, when I travel to Toronto for the 2023 SAQA Conference -- also postponed from 2020.  

This happens every year but this one -- THIS one is very special, for a couple of reasons:

1. It's the first IN PERSON conference since 2019; and 
2. It's the FIRST IN PERSON CONFERENCE OUTSIDE THE USA.  (Note: Oceania Region -- Australia and New Zealand -- hosted it in 2021 -- but online only.  They deserve kudos for being the First SAQA Conference Hosted Outside the USA, though.  Well done!)

But the Second -- or Next Big Thing -- for me is the First In-Person Lacombe Art Show & Sale since 2019 -- and the first time that a Featured Artist has been one who works in textiles.  Yep; that would be me -- and many of you Gentle Readers know, from my emotional roller-coaster ride on this train since COVID hit -- how special this is for me!

The last while has been full of preparations.  

First came the interviews.  A few weeks ago, I had a phone interview with Mark Weber of the Lacombe Express -- a small, free paper delivered in hard copy around the small city of Lacombe, Alberta, but also found online.  The article was finally printed in the April 6th issue, which you can read HERE (use the right-hand arrow to turn the page; it's the 2nd page in.)  An acquaintance of mine from church brought me a hard copy clipping, which will be put in a page protector for Posterity!  😉

The second was a video interview with Christina and Todd from the City of Lacombe.  It's now on YouTube and you can see it HERE.  

Second -- preparing the hanging apparatus for the 'soft' pieces; that is, ones not on stretched canvas and/or framed.   I had several sleeves that needed to be attached, so I did that...and then...

I had to buy some dowelling...

Then I used my reciprocating saw to cut the lengths to fit the pieces:

Then I had to drill the ends to attach eye hooks for hanging.

Here are several pieces, "all dowelled up"

I also went to Curiosity Art & Framing in Red Deer to pick up my framed pieces.  The timing is perfect!  The shop/gallery is moving closer into the centre of the city in May, so I'll have all my pieces for the show and store any unsold ones until after the move.  A word of thanks is due to Andrea, the owner and a dear friend -- and her team -- because they posted the video interview on my Artist's Page on their website, and they created a QR code that links to my page on their site, so people can see what I have showing with them (well...once the Lacombe Show is over...)  You can see that code here on this blog -- in the left side bar.

Here are the framed pieces...in my kitchen...waiting to be packed into the car...

Today's job was paperwork -- ensuring there's a price tag for each and every piece!  There were many new ones to create because...well...it's been 4 years since the last show.  That's all done now, and my Show Inventory is fully up-to-date.

So...have I been doing anything else?

Well...I finished the second pair of socks for my friend and client, DH, and they'll go in the mail to here tomorrow:

Pair #1

Pair #2

Yes, they're both from the same pattern -- "Simplicity" by Janel Laidman, from her book, The Eclectic Sole.  I'm always fascinated by the difference a yarn selection makes in the interpretation of a pattern!

I finished a second hat for charity (no photo).  

I finished 64 units for the "Triple Treat" scrap quilt that I'm making for charity as well -- this one, in brown tones with pops of colour.  The blocks require four units each, so there'll be 16 blocks, finishing at 12" each in the quilt, and the quilt will be four rows of four blocks, plus borders.  Here are the first 8 blocks (not sewn into rows yet):

Yes, the photo is slanted.  I was standing at an angle!

And I finished my red sampler, "Ruth Gibb 1882".  I'll have it framed -- eventually!

Pattern source: Hands Across the Sea
-- a reproduction sampler

I'm still plugging away at "Here be Dragons" -- just about finished the bottom of the wide border -- and finished a little square piece from Jeannette Douglas Designs, but more about that will have to wait for another day.

With all that hard work...well, it was time for a break, so to celebrate, a friend and I went to Camrose on Saturday to fondle fibre at the Rose City Fibre Festival.  We ran into yarny friends and had a wonderful time.  Of course, it goes without saying that each of us came home with some goodies.  Here are mine:

Jacob (breed) single-ply in "Lilac" (NOT dyed)
Hill & Down Fingering
from Kalea the Luddite

A blend of
80% Camrose Alpaca
and 20% Prairie Wool
DK/Sport weight from
Gormalou's Fibre Den

and...

A small merino batt from
Nomad Fibreworks 
in the "Meringues" colour-way

Yes, I want to do more spinning this summer!

And so...it goes!

Tomorrow, I begin to dismantle my fabric rack in the studio, in preparation for taking it to the show as part of the hanging apparatus.  Each fabric-full basket on the rack will come off and (eventually) be sorted and refolded -- and maybe culled -- before it's all put back together after the show.  While it's down, there will be vacuuming of carpet and other assorted Spring Cleaning in the studio.

I've left this post too late to link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday -- and by her next post, I'll be in Lacombe enjoying this latest Big Thing.  All for now, Gentle Readers -- and wherever you are, whatever you're up to, have a blessed week.  There's Life in the Making!

P.S. In answer to a reader's question about how my pieces hang on the wall:

Re: your question: I don't attach wires at all.  I hang the pieces on gridded racks using 'S' hooks.  If a piece is sold, I instruct the purchaser to put tiny nails -- ones with a bit of a 'head' on them -- into their wall at the position of each eye hook -- and the piece simply hangs on the nails.  The piece then looks like it's hung invisibly on the wall.  This is because the dowels/rods extend beyond the sleeves to the very edge of the piece, and the eye hooks extend just a tiny bit beyond that. (You can see this if you look closely at the photo above, with the caption, "All dowelled up". 😊)

Action on All Fronts!

 Here we are with only a week left in March!  

I know spring is supposed to be here but it's taking its time arriving in central Alberta.  There's still lots of hard-crust snow, melting only around the edges, and there's lots of ice on sidewalks in areas that don't get enough sun.

While there are buds on my lilacs (well, at least on the one I can see without clambering through snow pack), there are certainly no other flora attempting to peek out of the ground!  There are, however, more birds around too -- cedar wax-wings, pileated woodpeckers, a crow or two and maybe even some nuthatches have been spotted.  I'm not a birder, so except for the obvious calls (magpie, crow, chickadee), I really can't tell who's who -- but I love to listen to them call to each other and carry on their conversations:  "Hey! Hi!  Howarya?  How was your trip back?  Interested in shacking up this year?"  You know; that sort of thing! 😉

I've even managed to sit outside in the sunshine for 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour on a couple of afternoons this past week -- with knitting in hand -- just to enjoy the sunny atmosphere.

Given that the Art in the Park 2022 exhibit launched in Revelstoke a couple of weeks ago, I've turned my attention to preparint for the Encore! Lacombe Art Show and Sale, which takes place April 14-15.  I've given an interview to the Lacombe Express (though I've yet to see it in print) and I'm meeting with the current coordinator of the show on Tuesday for a video taping that will be published on Facebook etc.  Ack!  I've never done that before, but will try my best to appear confident and interesting.  I'll be taking some small pieces with me as illustrations of my work.

I've also managed to take one last small piece to my framer, and she is working hard to frame it and to mount two other rather 'experimental' pieces in time for the show.  I'll go back in early April to pick them up, plus others from the Gallery that I'll exhibit (and hope to sell!) there. 

Speaking of the Gallery, d'you see that rather large QR code in the left margin?  If you have some sort of gizmo that can scan it or whatever, I'm told it takes you to my artist's page at Curiosity Art & Framing.  I posted it on my 3F page on FB and a friend said it worked, so if you try it from this blog, please let me know if it worked for you or not.  

Most of the new work I've been doing is "soft", meaning it's not mounted on canvas and framed.  This past week I struggled to give birth to a new piece that I'd been carrying in my heart and mind for several months.  Here's the story:

I love to walk on the roads around the hamlet in which I live.  For decades, there was a large field at the edge of town -- only a couple of blocks north of me -- owned by a farmer named Jim.  On the southwest edge of the field, bordering 50th Avenue (the main street, paved) was a laneway.  Part-way north, it curved west, but there was also a path that continued north a bit farther before it turned west into a small wood -- trees on either side, wildflowers, and the occasional critter could be seen wandering about (skunk, deer, birds nesting).  It was pleasant to walk through, but only from spring through snowfall.  This made it a particular treat, because you could only enjoy it for a few months at a time.

Well, Jim's gotten older, like the rest of us, and has no children -- so in the last year or so he sold the field.  I didn't realize this until my first walk in the spring of 2022.  I walked up the laneway and kept going up the path to where it was supposed to turn into the woods. 

Instead of this: 

April 2021

I saw this...

May 2022

I started to cry.  Inquiries confirmed my suspicions: Jim had sold his field to a big crop producer who didn't want the north bank of trees to interfere with its ability to grow as much crop as possible.

That said, over last summer, the jumble of ploughed-over trees remained (they're there to this day), and I don't know what was planted -- maybe green manure.  It certainly wasn't canola, but it was cut down in late summer.  Heaven knows what will appear this year.  

But it lead me to make a piece.  

I've not made a 'proper' landscape since before Covid.  I really can't do it any more -- but I wanted to honour the death of this small, beloved wood.  So I tried.  I made this:

Background sandwiched for quilting

Quilting completed; thread painting of "ghost trees"

Close-up of trees

But it didn't look right. On waking one morning a few days ago, I knew what I had to do.

I did this:

Requiem for a Small Wood: A Diptych
(c) 2023
Commercial and hand-dyed fabrics.
Fused applique, collage. 
Machine quilted, thread painted;
 accented by Sharpie marker.

It's not my best-ever landscape, to be sure, but it says what I wanted it to say.  I've faced it, attached sleeves, and will hang it in the show -- but I've not put a price on it for sale.  Who can put a price on a destroyed woodland habitat?

I'm supposed to give the City a piece for its permanent collection.  I was going to give this, based on a location driving east from Lacombe to my home:

It's Still About the Sky (2015)

But maybe...just maybe...'Requiem' might be more important.

What do you think?

Meanwhile, I've been getting other 'soft' pieces ready to hang -- sewing on hanging sleeves. I've got 3 left to do.  Then comes "The Cutting of the Dowels" -- cutting dowels to fit, and inserting eye hooks in the ends of the dowels for hanging.  I picked up a good selection of dowels at the hardware store last week, and will ensure that I prepare them in time -- in case I need a couple more!

In the "utilitarian front" -- i.e., comfort quilts, cross stitch and knitting -- I continue to soothe my soul with assorted projects.

My "Triple Treat" units are up to 57 -- with 7 more to go to make 64, all on the 'browns and golds' theme.  It takes 4 units to make a full block, so 64 will make 16 blocks, 12 1/2" square (unfinished).

I've added a few more blocks to my postage stamp quilt block collection, and am working on another crumb block or two.

I've also decided that after a decade (or two!) of waiting, it's time for me to use a glorious piece of yardage for a "One Block Wonder" quilt.  I have the fabric, the instruction book and the 60-degree angle ruler...so stay tuned!  I'll be using the book by Maxine Rosenthal from 2006.  See?  I told you it was from over a decade ago!

In cross-stitch, I'm focused on three pieces, one of which is a new start.  The "start" is a small piece designed by Jeannette Douglas, which I began on March 21 as an homage to spring:

Design: "Chubby Bird"
Designer: Jeannette Douglas
Fabric: DMC 28-count 'toile a broder' linen,
coffee-dipped to produce a creamy colour
Threads: mix of called-for fancy floss and DMC 
-- all from stash

The other two pieces are on-going -- and one I can't show you because it's a gift for someone who reads this blog.

I have, however, made progress with "Here Be Dragons" -- for my son's June birthday.  I've finished the wide borders on the top half!

Design: "Here Be Dragons"
Designer: Modern Folk Embroidery
Fabric: 28-count white Lugana
Thread: "Gomez" hand-dyed cotton from Roxy Floss Co.

I'm hankering to start the central design, but conscience says I should finish the lower half of the wide border.  Thoughts?

Aside from these three, I've my Sunday Stitch -- "Keziah Campell" and...well...others...but these are the priority for now.

As to knitting, I've finished the first pair commissioned by my friend:

Pattern: "Simplicity"
Designer: Janel Laidman
Yarn: Gathering Yarn One-Shot Wool/Nylon Fingering

And I'm well away on the first sock of the second pair she wants.  I've finished the leg, turned the heel and I'm making my way down the foot:

Pattern: "Simplicity"
Designer: Janel Laidman
Yarn: Patons "Stretch" in the "Licorice" colour-way

And I finished that second dish cloth, and started a third -- in a solid colour, a lovely burgundy.  Soon my linen closet won't know what hit it!

And so it goes. 

These tasks -- plus walks in the sunshine each day -- are what's keeping me sane as I wait for Spring to really arrive.

As usual, I'm going to leave you with a link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she's been Spring Cleaning her studio.  Me?  Not ready yet!  But as the racks that hold the baskets that hold my fabric will have to be available for my booth at the up-coming Lacombe Art Show & Sale...well...Spring Cleaning will happen soon enough!

Take care, gentle readers, and may your spring (or autumn for readers south of the Equator) bring you many blessings!

Till next time...

The Art of Utility and the Utility of Art

 It seems I can't manage to post more often than every two-to-three weeks these days; I'd rather be making!  And so it's been since I last wrote for you, Gentle Readers.  Life remains good, though there are days when the Sorrowful Demons try to nibble at the edges of my equilibrium, and sometimes succeed.  Often a walk or a session with my online Essentrics Classical Stretch class will break the ennui, and I feel more like myself again.

On the Art Front, "Art in the Park" opened yesterday in Revelstoke, B.C.  It's at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre, and will be there through April 2.  Earlier this week I received a series of photos from Meghan Porath, the Director at the Centre, showing how they'd hung my pieces -- from the ceiling!!  This took me quite by surprise and gave me a real thrill:

(L) to (R) suspended in the centre:
"Rails & Ruins", "Pretty Poison", "Meadow Impressions"
and "Fallen Log"

Because of the perspective in the photo, the "Meadow" piece looks a great deal smaller than it is -- but that's only because it's hung farther back!  Similarly, "Pretty Poison" appears larger, but that's just the angle at which it's hung.  The pillars under each piece carry my labels about each one in turn, plus the front one has my Artist's Statement about my Residency Experience (I think!)

Once my pieces were shipped to B.C., I turned my attention to what needs to be done to prepare for the first in-person Encore! Lacombe Art Show & Sale since 2019.  I've submitted all my info to the coordinator, Christina, including an outline of my Artist's Talk, which will take place at 2 p.m. on each afternoon of the show -- April 14 and 15.  I've examined my pieces, finished making hanging sleeves for the newer ones, and now have some hand-sewing on those to do.  I also will need a few dowels for hanging and will pick those up at the hardware store in the next couple of weeks, along with some more eye hooks.  

Yesterday I had a phone interview with Mark Weber of the Lacombe Express weekly newspaper; I expect the article will come out next week.  One of the first questions he asked me was why I make art (a common question, as y'all probably know!)  My main reason is this: it gets me out of my head!  

That is, it helps me express myself: what's on my mind and in my heart.  It could be through a landscape piece; it could be through an abstract one.  I don't make a great many political or social statements in my work, but sometimes the message is hidden, as it is in "Back to the Garden" from 2013, which was inspired by lyrics from Joni Mitchell's song, "Woodstock": 

Back to the Garden (c) 2013
15" x 15"
Hand-dyed whole cloth, machine quilted,
hand embroidered and beaded

One of my newer pieces (made in 2020 during the COVID pandemic shut-down) is "Order Out of Chaos (or Chaos Can Be Colourful)": 

Order Out of Chaos (aka Chaos
Can be Beautiful) (c) 2020-2021
Assorted commercial and self-dyed
cottons, machine pieced and quilted

This one will be at the Lacombe Show next month, along with some others that aren't statement-oriented.

And I've an idea floating around in my brain right now that may present as a landscape, but still make a statement.  These ideas often take a very long time to come out into the world, so stay tuned!

In addition, of course, I'm still working on comfort quilts.  The "Keep it Out of the Landfill Project" continues apace!

Some weeks ago now I used up all but the few charm squares I own by putting them into a crib quilt:

Pattern: "Chandelier"
a PDF from Vanessa Goertzen

I've had the pattern for a while -- I'm pretty sure it's a freebie, but it was originally published in Ms. Goertzen's book Charm School: 18 Quilts from 5" Squares.  The version I made is considerably smaller than the suggested 60" x 60" size; it's 37" by 57" and that's largely due to the borders!  I had 4" squares, and only a certain number of them went together well enough to produce anything.  In the end, I discovered that, given the horizontal layout of my design wall, I'd laid the blocks out so the "chandlier drops" look more like crystals hanging from an old-fashioned lamp (maybe something from Tiffany) than long droplets hanging from a ceiling-mounted chandelier! Ah well; whatever baby ends up with it won't mind, I'm sure! 😆

In my last post I mentioned that I'd started Bonnie Hunter's "Triple Treat" to use up my 1 1/2" squares and other scraps.  Each block is a 6 1/2" unit, and you need four units to make a full quilt block (12" finished).  I now have over 40 units made -- but there are more to come, as 40 units makes only 10 blocks, and that's not going to get me a throw-sized quilt.

I've laid finished units out on a recycled Styrofoam tray, with the dominant (dark) corners stacked according to their print.  

More often than not there are neutral squared from corner to corner in the centre, but not always.  I went through all the 1 1/2" squares I had, and have cut more from bits and bobs, along with the squares and rectangles needed for the "L"-shaped corner sections.  I decided as I went along, that these all have to have contrasting corners in browns, so that there will be some unity.  On another tray, I've started to collect a different palette -- reds/blues/purples with white or off-white as neutrals.  

And still the scraps keep piling up!  I have bags of "bricks" in light and darker fabrics, 1 1/2" x 2 1/2", using Bonnie's Scrap User's System, and have been longing to find a way to use such small pieces.  Enter Bonnie to save the day!  I found a "Butter Churn" block she's designed in the current (!) March/April issue of "Quiltmaker" magazine.  Ta-DA!  That one will be come a leader-ender project for "Triple Treat", which I used as a leader-ender-project while working on "Rhododendron Trail"...and so it goes!

At the same time, I've returned to assembling units for a postage stamp top which I think I want to make in sections to fit windows as curtains, in the style of Kate Jackson of the Last Homely House, to whit:

I've measured the windows that I want to cover, and well recognize that I've a long way to go before I get there..."many miles before I sleep", as Robert Frost said long ago.

No matter.  It's an easy project, fun to do, and eventually the blocks will add up into larger pieces.  And yes -- keep the fabric out of the landfill -- at least for now!

It seems to be all about "stash-busting" this year in the Knitting World too.  Certainly, I've been very aware of it, and feeling a bit guilty that my knitting mojo has been a bit low.  The baby socks, of course, have gone to their destination -- and now I've been commissioned by a good friend to make her 2 pair of socks, just like ones I made for her a decade ago that are finally wearing out.  I started the first pair about 3 weeks ago and am well down the foot of the second sock.  Here's what the first looks like, made from yarn in stash in a colour that my friend happens to favour:

Pattern: "Simplicity"
Designer: Janel Laidman
Yarn: a "One Shot" from Gathering Yarn,
superwash wool and nylon.

The second pair will be in Paton's North America's "Cotton Stretch Socks" so they can be worn even in warmer weather, if desired.

And inspired by a newly-arranged casual MAL (Make-Along) set up by Selma of the Little Big Knits Podcast -- under the title of "Scrappy Stashy MAL" on Ravelry (and also on Instagram, I think, but I never go there!), I'm dipping back into my other knitting WIPs that fit the bill -- like the hats I've been making, and the Sock Knitter's Sweater...and now, after far too long despairing of my sad and sorry dishcloth collection, I've dug out the cotton yarn in my stash and am making a new batch of Grandma Black's Dishcloths!  The only modification I'm making to the pattern is to knit to 49 stitches before I decrease, as I like my cloths a bit larger than suggested in the pattern.  I work on these when I'm in bed, reading (with an audio book or a book on my bookstand), as they are mindless and soothing projects!

And yes, there is still stitching!  I've taken to working on a red sampler on Thursdays -- in the manner of Sarah from Sarah's Stitch Spot flosstube -- and so am closing in on a finish with my "Ruth Gibb" sampler, started almost a year ago on Mother's Day, to honour my mother Ruth and her mother, Margaret Gibb.

My Sunday Stitch is now the "Keziah Campbell" sampler that my friends Mary D. and Sha gave me for my birthday last year.  I'm still on the border, but I'm almost finished with it.  It's on 40-count linen, so a bit slower going than other counts.  It's a Scottish-style sampler, and I'm going to personalize it -- i.e., use initials from my family -- when I finally get to the alphabets and motifs!

I've finished a Lizzie Kate design for a friend who's having a birthday soon -- but I need to fully finish it...

And I'm making good progress on the "Dragons" piece for my son's June birthday:

Pattern: "Here Be Dragons"
Designer: Modern Folk Embroidery
Fabric: 28-count white Lugana from stash
Floss: "Gomez" from Roxy Floss Co.

Since that photo was taken earlier this week, I've finished that top wide border and begun to go down the side -- about 3" of that done now.

And on that note...it's time to return to any and all of the above -- before the day gets away from me completely!

It's been snowing lightly all day thus far, and it's forecast to continue on and off through tomorrow, so I've got no excuse to waste the wonderful indoor hours I've been given.  It's time to return to colour and creativity in the Art of Utility...practicing the Utility that is Art.

I'll leave you -- as I regularly do! -- with a link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she's talking about 'bad sewing habits'.  Do you have any?  I know I do, but I'm not ready to 'fess up just yet! LOL! 😆

Have a great weekend -- safe, dry, cozy, cool, with those you love, doing what you love.

'Til next time...XXXOOO

Life is Good

Indeed!  And moving right along these days.  It's been a full and rich time around here for the last couple of weeks -- on all fronts!

The baby socks are *all* finished.  I played "yarn chicken" with the Patons stretch from the first pair -- managed a 3rd sock but not a fourth, so will send along the extra one "in case one gets lost".  With that, I cast on a second full pair out of a cotton-wool-nylon blend (no 'stretch' feature), and finished those today. 

Pattern: "Baby Socks"
Designer: Kate Atherly
Free pattern on Ravelry
Yarn: Meilenweit "Cotton Fondo"
Colour #6507

Pattern: Baby Socks
Designer: Kate Atherly
Yarn: Patons Stretch 
in the "Kelp" colour-way

Both pair need to be washed, and then will go into the mail on Tuesday (Monday is a holiday here in Alberta).  And yes, the ends have been sewn in on both pair now! 

The Art in the Park 2022 pieces have all been shipped to the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre in B.C.  Canada Post Tracking says a Notice was left -- for pick up (2 boxes) on Feb. 14 -- so I can only hope they've been picked up and are safely at their destination!  (If you want to see what the pieces look like, check my post from January 28. 😊)

Or...you could just check out the "Up-coming Exhibits" page from the Gallery itself...where you'll find THIS!!!

"Meadow Impressions" is in the upper left corner!!!

As if that weren't enough...I had a phone meeting with Christina, who's in charge of the Lacombe Art Show & Sale this year.  All is in readiness, as I sent her several photos for publicity, as well as an outline of my Artist's Talk for the Show.  She's been under the weather (hence the phone meeting instead of in person) but we hope to meet soon to do a short publicity video too.

All of this activity had me thinking that maybe I really am an artist -- still -- so I bit the bullet and took out a 1-year 'Basic Membership' in Artists in Canada -- you can see my slot HERE.

As for more utilitarian quilting...I finished the comfort quilt for my neighbour in hospital:

And I finally finished the flimsy of "Rhododendron Trail" -- Bonnie Hunter's 2021 Mystery quilt.  I made it 3/4 size (or so) and it's still a twin-sized 70" x 85"!  

For the outer border, I made a decision: I was not going to use a template in the centre of each border, to allow the "geese" to change direction.  That was okay but...I ran out of geese -- so the decision became irrelevant! LOL!  I got the long sides done -- but on the shorter top and bottom I had to "cope" and add orphan blocks from who-knows-where -- just ones that had suitable colours.  It's okay.  It looks fine and I'm happy with it, and that's all that matters!  It'll go to my local favourite long-armer later this spring, when I find enough backing fabric and $$ to pay for her work!

With one finished bed quilt top, it's time to clear out more stash with another -- so I'm working on Bonnie's "Triple Treat" -- the "leaders and enders" project for 2022-23.  Each 'block' is made up of 4 smaller blocks, so I made test blocks this week (the dark brown in the corners is all the same fabric; it's the photo that's wonky):

I've lots of 4-patch supplies; it's finding fabrics for the larger sections in the corners that is a bit of a challenge -- but I'm working on it!  Each group of 4 smaller units makes a 12" finished block, so I should be able to make a throw-sized quilt without too much problem,     quilting it myself...and it will be to give away.

In stitchy news...not a lot I can show.  I'm working on another birthday gift for a friend; it's tiny, so I'm almost half-finished.  I decided to follow Sarah of 'Sarah's Stitchy Spot' on FlossTube, and designated Thursdays as 'red sampler' days, so I can finish "Ruth Gibb" and move on to others I want to do.  And this week, the chart and Roxy Floss Co. floss arrived from Evertote.ca so that I can start a new piece for my son's 38th birthday in June:

Pattern: "Here Be Dragons"
Designer: Jakob DeGraaf of Modern Folk Embroidery

My son's a long-time dragon afficionado (even has a tattoo of one on one arm) so...I'm hoping he'll like this!  The fabric is from my stash -- a 28-count white Lugana.  I got enough floss to do 2-over-2, but will change to 1-over-2 if I don't like the look.  It's a pretty good-sized stitch...so I'm starting now!

That's all the news that's fit to print -- for now.  I'll leave you with wishes for a happy, cozy, stitchy, quilty, knitty, artsy weekend -- and with the usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday where, this week, she has multiple projects on the go too!  Proof positive that creative action keeps us young, imaginative, and vital!

Blessings, everyone -- all for now!

After the Show Indoors and Out

In my last post, I was about to show my work at the 20th Annual Lacombe Art Show & Sale.  Here's how the booth looked just before the doors opened:

From the 'front' (as seen from the door)

From the 'back' (as seen going toward the door)

It was an interesting time.  I really enjoyed connecting with artists I've met over the years, and from seeing new work by new entrants.  The "Paint-off" Friday evening was fun; I was rooting for an oil painter who was worried about how well he'd do with acrylic paint in the contest -- and he nailed it with a beautiful still life of irises. He wasn't the fastest painter, but I liked his piece the best.  (Sorry; I didn't get photos!)

Can you sense there's a "but" coming?

Abbey Echoes II - SOLD!
to a good friend at the Art Show & Sale

Yes...there's a "but".  There was a great flow of people through the show on both days -- despite a nasty spring snow storm Saturday morning that made travelling to the show a white-knuckle experience.  There was a lot of interest in my work -- and I sold one large piece (to a friend who'd been eyeing it since December at the "Shamrock and Thistle" exhibit) that more than covered my show fee.  There were more men interested in the work than I'd hitherto experienced.

But other than that...I sold only four pieces: two minis, and two small framed pieces -- and one of each of these went to other artists in exchange for pieces of their work.

And I had more "silly" comments about blankets and 'grandma used to do that sort of thing' than I've had since 2016.

Well...God willing there will be next year!  As Featured Artist for 2020, I'll have more booth space, an honourarium, a chance to speak bout my work...and other Good Things.  So...

Onward and upward!

Since the show, I've been busy in the yard and garden, cleaning up after the winter (yes, it eventually stopped snowing last weekend!), and planning out some improvements for this year.
One of those was extending the narrow bed on the east side of my garage, so I could plant lettuce and still find it when the rhubarb goes full tilt!

See that bit at the front of the photo?  The green clump is the burgeoning rhubarb.  The bed used to end just in front of the plant, but has now been extended to the end of the garage.  No more trying to wield the lawn mower into a narrow corner!  And yes...there will be lettuce and mixed greens growing at the very front of the bed.  (Lest you wonder...the land at the right side -- about 18" or so to the right of the bed -- isn't mine.  It's the empty lot next door, which is for sale.  I'd buy it but I can't afford it!)

I've managed this week to open the Outdoor Studio for a bit, and outfitted my not-so-comfy new bench with an old (but unused) quilt wrapped around some old bed pillows.  I tried it out last evening and it's not too bad for sitting...

I found the quilt when, in the course of sorting and sifting after the show, I opened my blanket box for the first time in years.  I'd forgotten I had this one.  It's about a twin size, hand quilted, and made by my late Aunt Alice some time in the eighties -- mostly poly-cotton, I think.  It's in pristine condition, and is stored away in the bench when not in use.  The fun thing about the quilt is the Prairie Point border all around -- except at the top edge.  I recognized many of the miscellaneous fabrics used in that border, because they were scraps I'd given my aunt to use, left over from the garment sewing I was doing in those years when my kids were small:

See the centre triangle?  It's a bit of wool fabric,
that clearly felted a bit in the wash!

This sweet and colourful memory was celebrated by three new faces in the flower bed that's just under the window of my "messy room" on the south side of the house:

 The yard work continues!  Some years ago a wee spruce seedling cropped up in the rock garden in the front of the house.  It had planted itself about a foot from the blue spruce -- my son's Grade IV transplant from Calgary, now almost 25 years old.  And there it stayed until last week, when it moved next door.  My neighbour had removed several old and rotting willows that had grown in a line between our properties, and was replacing them with young evergreen saplings.  My little green one was just right for a spot at the front near the street -- so I let him take it.  I was able to replace it with another sapling that had planted itself (with 2 others) in a large, unused flower pot near my shed.  So here's the new tot in the rock garden, in the shadow if Big Blue Brother Spruce:

He's got some growing to do!

I'll fill in that black patch with a bit more flox or other perennial ground cover, later this week. A trip to the local nursery is in order!  On the list: manure/loam/soil mix (bags), a few annuals for my pots, and the aforementioned ground cover.

In the evenings and early mornings my hands have been busy with MORE knitting finishing.  I finally got the two panels for the Mosaic Wrap done, and am now beavering away on the end borders, of which there are two.  The two panels will be sewn together to make a long wrap, and then finished off with borders on the other two edges.  The challenge of mosaic knitting is that you knit and knit and knit and knit and don't seem to make much progress -- and then, bingo!  Done!

Panel 1

Panel 2

I resurrected the centre of a 'Hap' shawl (Shetland style shawl) begun years ago, which needed its borders.  The first of four sides of a wide border is finished, and the second well underway.  After the wide border, comes a lace edging.  In addition I've finished a small neck shawlette for the church charity tree, and am working on a lovely cowl in a yummy alpaca and silk blend.  Photos will follow eventually!

Today I'm off for an over-night trip to Calgary to see friends -- and my friendly dentist (annual check-up).  Once back -- more gardening!

Linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday...where this week she's finishing her book review posts about Strong Women based on a book by Amy Morin (which I've not read).  One of the things such women do is boldly reinvent themselves.  My son said to me a few months ago, "I've watched you reinvent yourself [since Dad died]..."  I hadn't really thought of my life that way, but it's true.  My life now is Artist, Colour Lover, Grower, Maker, Occasional Volunteer, Friend and Mom.

Happy Mother's Day to all who are mothers or mother-figures in the lives of those around you.  Have a great week!