Coping with Chaos Series: Frayed

 The last few days have been cold and damp-ish, with deep wind chill factors, keeping me from enjoying a good walk outside.  Those walk-at-home videos get me moving, but they don't include fresh air, the crunch of gravel or snow underfoot, and chickadees at the bird feeder.

I need to force myself outdoors when the weather's like this, but I'm finding it harder to do the older I get.  I spend time in my sewdio, and I knit.  I listen to music, and to the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral reading The Wind in the Willows, but it's not enough.  In this COVID time, though I've been trying to manage my news intake, there's added anxiety hovering about.  In my dreams, mainly unremembered, the people are wearing masks.

You may recall that in the first few months of this time, I couldn't make an original piece of work.  My first one showed up, at last, in June.  Then all of the piecing I'd been doing, and the playing with crumbs, resulted in two more pieces...

I continued to make crumb blocks with the idea of making a set built to 8" square, and assembling them into a top, probably with sashing, to give away.

Then I spilled my coffee.

It was on and under the cutting mat on my cutting table, dripped a bit onto a basket of yardage (from my "inheritance") that was sitting below the table, and was absorbed, at least in part, by a stack of these squares.

With less than charitable language, I cleaned up the mess -- all the while thankful that I drink my coffee black, so there was no sticky sugar or milk to worry about, and thankful, too, for that box of yardage, because nothing landed on the carpet!

I bundled the yardage into the washer, along with some other clothes that needed washing, and added the 8" blocks, stuffed into a net lingerie bag.  

All the fabric came out rumpled, of course, but otherwise none the worse for wear.  

I gave the blocks a quick iron and put them to the side again, resuming work on the other projects at hand -- the mystery quilts and the Christmas knitting etc.

But yesterday, in between assembling the "Frolic!" quilt (Bonnie Hunter's 2019 Mystery) and units for Clue #2 of "Grassy Creek" (the 2020 Mystery), the 8" blocks began to call my name.  "Do something with US!"

There were 17 of them.  I took four and assembled them into a four-patch.  I did the same with another four, and another, and another.  I was about to put all four four-patches (!) together, when during pressing, I noticed the back of one of them.  The washing had resulted in significant fraying of many of the fabrics -- not really surprising, as these were crumbs and scraps, small enough to fray easily.

I liked the look.  It expressed how I'd been feeling lately -- especially as the days are getting ever shorter here in the Northern Hemisphere, and ever colder, and as our Province's mandated health measures took a deep dive into increased isolation as of the end of last week.

Frayed.  As went the fabric, so have my emotions.  Grief is a very close companion, and my coping skills are being severely tested.

On Thursday afternoon I listened to the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Linda Nicholls, in conversation via video with Shawn Branch of the Diocese of Fredericton.  Somewhere in there, as she was talking about coping with these COVID-time experiences and feelings, she said something like, "Watch out for the 'strong ones'; they need support too."

Well.  I come from a long line of folks brought up to be "strong" in the face of adversity -- and they lived through much: the Great War (my father was born in 1904; my step-father, in 1914, and my mother in 1916); the Great Depression, WWII, racial and linguistic and other unrest in the nineteen sixties.  

Family deaths, miscarriages, financial worries.  They were of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" generations: practical, nose-to-grindstone, "mustn't grumble" people.  

And for a very long time, I was one of their ranks.  In the last years of my husband's life, my strong demeanour was beginning to crack, and immediately after his death, I was a mess for some years -- but now, 14 years on, I thought I was getting stronger.  Regaining my intestinal fortitude.  Being strong for friends and neighbours and my kids during this time of challenge.

But...yesterday, as I looked at those blocks, I had to admit that I wasn't as strong as I might appear.  So I put them together to show the forces wrestling within me.  There's the Strong, Competent, Can-do Person who feels good, stays fit, shovels her own snow, cleans her own eavestroughs, makes lists and crosses them off, makes do and mends, puts forth her creativity and enjoys making gifts for others out of fabric and yarn.

Then there's the Frayed, Grief-haunted Soul who gets achey and tires easily, hates fighting the wind chill to take a walk outdoors, is easily irritated and short with others -- and knocks  her coffee cup over on whatever flat surface it's resting.

The latest in my COVID & Chaos series:

Frayed: Watch Over the Strong Ones
- Side I

Frayed... - Side II

Frayed...Side I - Detail

It won't be quilted.  It may or may not end up with a sleeve -- or sleeves -- as I want it to hang so that both sides can be seen.  I may use clips, or add tabs; I'm undecided as yet.

Today, I'm allowing my frayed edges to breathe a bit.  I'm determined to walk to the Post Office, if not farther, and to get back into the sewdio.  A dear friend and his wife have just become grandparents for the second time -- and it's a girl!  A baby sister for a big brother.  Because her Baba knits, I'll make a tummy time blanket.  Baby is only 12 weeks old right now, so there's a bit of time to do so.  "What colours?" I enquired..."Oh", her Baba replied promptly, "She's a pink girl!"  I have just the right fabric -- in cotton -- from the "inherited" stash.  I'm on it.  

It's just the tonic to enable me to Keep Calm and Carry On.

And because I still can, I'm linking this post -- as I did the last one -- to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday. -- and to WIP Wednesday for Dec. 16, over at the Needle and Thread Network. 

Til next we 'meet', may you be well, stay safe...and do what you need to do to keep from fraying at your edges. 

Inheritance

 It's not been my habit of late to post weekly...but here's another one -- linking to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, once again just under the wire!

I know that somewhere in the last 8 months I mentioned that I lost an elderly friend in January.  She was in her 90th year and had been unwell for some time, with a "dickey" heart.  We met over a decade ago when I first moved here and was volunteering at the local lending library.  She, like me, enjoyed murder mysteries.  She was a fiesty Brit, from Yorkshire area, and we "clicked" and became friends.  At the time we met she was still quilting a bit, but had taken up card-making, which eventually took over as her main interest.

She also had several grandchildren and eventually great-grands, so she knit for them.  I would drive her out to the local farmer's market(s) and was the one who took her for her cataract surgery down the highway a couple of hours, when her children were unable to do so because of work commitments.

As she got older and went out less, I continued to visit her every week or so for a chat.  A few years ago (maybe 3) her daughter moved to our hamlet, bought a wee home not far from my friend, and arranged to work remotely from home.  She and I became friendly too, and we both kept an eye on "Mum".

Before she died, my friend told her daughter that she wanted the contents of the "cubby" under the stairs to be for me.

This morning was THE morning.  Daughter and I spent close to 2 1/2 hours on the contents -- sorting, tossing, re-directing...and I still came home with three (count 'em!) unsorted tubs of fabric.

It's been a very full day...and I've managed to launder two loads of the 'treasure'.  I'm a casual member of a local group of quilters, and have two good friends who quilt, so have put the word out to share the stuff.  There's also a fair amount of garment fabric, which will go to the local thrift store (a charity shop).

I'll still end up with some wonderful fabrics for backings, for scrap quilts, a bit for landscapes, some embroidery supplies and some glorious knitting magazines and books.  Am I spoiled?  Yep!  Am I grateful?  You bet!  

Here's just some of my "inheritance"...

The first sorted darks & lights,
with 2 of the special knitting books.
I have the earlier edition of "Folk Socks" --
but this is the updated one!

More sorted fabric and a basket of goodies.

On the left: "I'll do something with these";
on the right: polycottons -- light and dark.

 

A set of KnitPicks Rainbow Wood dpns (yum!), 
a bit of yarn, and a bag of baby caps to give away.

I've been asking the Good Lord to live long enough to use up my stash.  Today, I added a century or so more to the request!  Even with all I hope to give away, I'll have plenty to use up for charity quilts...till the cows come home, or Jesus comes back, whichever comes first!  😉

As mentioned, I'm late linking to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, and  WIP Wednesday over at the Needle and Thread Network too.  Have a great week!

Where To?

It's a new year; we're on the way in to a new decade.  It struck me this morning that a mere twenty (20!) years ago today, many of us turned on our computers with 'bated breath, wondering if they'd crash!

It seems a bit silly now, with so much water under the bridge since then, and so much more roiling and churning beneath our bridges nowadays.

That said, with every new year comes the hope and promise of a better, brighter era.  That has some folks pondering a 'word of the year' -- but this year, I've seen very little of that.  Perhaps it's a fad whose time has come and gone.

Ah well.

Last year, I didn't want a word -- but I 'got' one.  Like it or not.  That word was "MORE" -- but not as in "stuff".

Prairie Quintet -- the Wall-to-bed
Project - September 2019

How did it play out for me?  Let's see...

• More peace. More quiet. -- some;
• More time in the studio. -- Yes!  Including that "Wall-to-bed Project" that had me working in the studio very solidly for three months!
• More fruits and veggies. -- maybe...
• More water. -- yes!
• More rest. More sleep. -- well, more rest in the form of sleep -- I went to bed early most nights, and I think I may have even taken more naps!
• More giving (away). - Yes, actually -- including three quilts for a refugee family and one more for a neighbour burned out of his house, and a collection of paintings by artist Wadim Dobrolige to the Kuhl Centre in Edmonton.
• More fresh air. More long walks.  -- hard to say.  Our relatively mild winter is meaning more walks in recent months, but perhaps that only offsets our rainy summer that saw me indoors more than I'd like.  
• More poetry. - Yes -- I even wrote a bit!
• More finished projects.  I think so -- especially with respect to knitting UFOs that are now finished: two sweaters, a Shetland shawl and two pair of socks -- not counting new things started and finished this year.
• More connections with friends and family. - Yes -- largely due to a visit home to Quebec in

  

  Presenting CVR High School
   graduates with a family-founded bursary
  -- 50 years after my own graduation
  June 2019

  June, a visit to friends south of Calgary in August, and seeing my kids a bit more often.  
• More love. -- hmmm...well, I've felt loved more often this past year...and I hope I've shown it as well, but that's hard to tell.
• More forgiveness.  - probably not. 
• More patience. - maybe...
• More kindness. More gentleness. - well, let's just say I made more of an effort to be kinder and gentler.  And that took patience! 😉
• More self-control. - a bit.  But only just.
• More people remembered. - I hope so. 
• More letters written. - Not by hand...but perhaps by e-mail.
• More sweet memories made.  - Well, there were sweet memories made -- this last Xmas being part of that -- but more than before?  Let's just say, "more than in the last two years" -- and leave it at that!
• More joy. - not sure.
• More prayer. - Definitely!
• More contentment. - a bit, yes.

So...where to for 2020?  Is there another word following me around, nagging at me to be spoken into the new year?  A word, yes, but it expresses an attitude, one that I want to live into in 2020:

HOPE.

I choose to live in hope.

I want to weave me some sunshine into every day...

And then perhaps more of what I sought last year will appear

in my life -- and in yours!

Happy New Year, Gentle Readers...

Let's join hands and go forward in hope.*

*Sending New Year's wishes to my friends and fellow-makers on WIP Wednesday over at The Needle & Thread Network.  

And So It Goes...

I promised in my Thanksgiving Post that I'd share news from the Sewdio soon.  So...this post has some of this, that and the other!

The Bookshelf Quilt got finished and is now happily (I think) ensconced in its new home.

Since then, I've made a top that will be a gift for a friend (no photos; she might read this post) and finished (except the binding and sleeve) a commissioned hanging for another friend (again, no photos as this is a gift for someone who might read this).

J's Xmas Socks 2018

I'm working on Xmas socks now for my neighbour E, wife of J.  His socks are finished.  These two are so very good to me all year -- with advice, sharing garden seeds and veg, house-watching etc., that they are regulars on my Christmas gift list, and this year it's socks!

If you're curious, they're made with 6-ply sock yarn from Online, and the pattern is my adaptation of the Yarn Harlot's Sock Recipe, found in her long-published book, Knitting Rules.  (Lest you're wondering, E's socks are in reds. Same yarn source; same pattern source.)

And...I've actually managed to create an original piece!  My contribution to the 2018 "100@100" fundraiser for the Alberta Society of Artists was mounted on its artist's panel today and is ready to ship as soon as I can find a box that will accommodate it -- without being too big!

I call it "Blue Pot", and it's taken from a photo of the geraniums I have over-wintering indoors in my sunny back room...in a ...well, that should be obvious!

Inspirational photo

Blue Pot (C) 2018 - 10" x 10"
Machine piecing and fused applique,
machine quilting, faced and affixed to an artist's board

Blue Pot - Detail

I got to play with the free-motion quilting on my new machine for this one, which set me up to do FMQ on the commissioned hanging (mentioned above).  I still have to practice to get really good at it, but I certainly appreciate the features on my new Pfaff Performance 5.2 and the 'hovering' darning foot.  I may explore a more traditional spring-loaded foot as time goes on...we shall see.  For now, this does the trick!

Mosaic Wrap - first panel

Outside the Sewdio, I've been working on a mosaic stitch 'wrap' for myself from stash yarn, using a pattern found in the Vogue Knitting magazine -- Holiday 2016 issue.  It's a simple construction of two panels, sewn together and bordered in a 'tweed' pattern.  I'm now on the closing border of the first panel, and manage to do a few rows a day.  No rush!

I'm able to do this because, outside the above-mentioned socks, I'm making fewer knitted gifts this year.  I've made one (a small scarf in exquisite yarn) and am building a long, cable-trimmed hooded coat for my daughter -- which she knows about because fittings have been involved -- but that's it.  There will be the Annual Xmas Boxer Shorts, of course...but they're not quite on the radar yet.

This has freed me to work on some embroidery kits I purchased long ago -- in another life, it seems -- which I've offered to donate to the gift table at our annual church Bazaar and Bake Sale.  The kits even include frames, and they're turning out quite well, so I hope they will find new homes!  Each one is a tiny gem -- no more than 4" to 6" square -- in simple cross- and half-cross stitch, so a bit of time stitching each morning with my coffee and reflections...and two of the three of them are now finished.

Meanwhile, my Sewdio Assistant keeps me company...

And my leaky 13-year-old hot water tank is on Permanent Vacation (awaiting replacement on Wednesday!)

So...ca vien bien!  (It goes well!)...

How have you been, Gentle Readers?

Linking very late to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and hoping she's well too!

And because this post is that sort of late re: last week, it's early enough to be shared with the Canadian-based Needle and Thread Network for this week -- so I'm linking to that too!

Have a good week -- what's left of it!

Into the Mystery

I'm out of sorts, "tetchy", at loose ends.  The weather, unlike yesterday when it was clearly miserable, is uncertain.  It's by turns snowy and less snowy, and the roads are unpredictable.  The wind rises and falls.  There are ice patches on the highway at the edge of town.  I had some errands I wanted to run (because I couldn't, yesterday) and just when I think I might risk the highway, the snow and the wind both pick up.  😣  Sigh.

I've worked on some knitting (gifts-in-the-making); I've stitched on the third SJSA block; I've sorted some more of my Scotland photos.

I shovelled (including my driveway), commiserating with my neighbours and Miss Pookie, who pranced delicately about in the footsteps dented in the snow, rather than risk an all-out gambol.  I went to the Post Office (no mail).  I ate some lunch, and caught up on blog reading.

Bless Bonnie Hunter!  As I was reading her latest post -- and commiserating about her late night at the Emergency Vet's with her beloved pooch (all shall be well now but it was a long evening!)...I remembered.

The annual Mystery.

It's that time of year again -- and she's recently posted the introduction to this latest quilt-along.  Why not take a look at it?

Who am I kidding?!  I didn't participate last year (the use of templates is just not my idea of a good time), but maybe this year...?  My current commission is stalled -- temporarily.  I need more of one particular fabric, and while my LQS is holding some for me pending inspection, I can't get there because of the questionable road conditions.  A Quiltville (Facebook) Community colleague in the U.S. is putting some in the mail today with the hopes that it's a match...so between those two sources, I am hopeful. 

But while I wait...I'm antsy.  I finished another small canvas yesterday...but I don't want to do another today.  Yes, I'm an art quilter, but my hands want to piece -- so I printed off the 2017 Mystery intro and took it into the sewdio.  Cutting and piecing is rhythmic for me; it might just relieve the tension of waiting for the weather to clear.  Why not at least audition the fabric?

It didn't take me long to notice, though, that there in a series of Styrofoam trays on the floor under my ironing board was...um...an Unfinished Mystery: "Grand Illusion" from 2015.

Well, then!  I could hardly start a new one when that one was in pieces on the floor, could I? (rhetorical question! 😉 

"Grand Illusion"
Clue #2 units finished

Clue #3 units finished

I did a quick check of where I was -- counting out finished units -- and realized that I'd finished up through Part III of five "clues".  Two more, and I could put together full blocks.  I can do this! 

And I've just enough time to work on it today and to pick it up over the coming weeks, even as I (finally) finish that commission, and those knitted gifts, and perhaps a few more canvases.

The realization was just enough to reignite my Quilting Mojo -- and that, Gentle Readers, is the blessing, the miracle and the mystery of the creative process.  Onward and upward!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network, and gettin' back into the sewdio.  I've fabric to cut!

And Now...the End is Near...

No, I'm not referring to my view of the world now that Mr. T. is ruling the U.S....that's a topic for another time and place.  ;-)

I'm referring to the status of several of my projects.  In other words, I'm on a finishing frenzy!  Yep; this week I've been working on facings, labels and sleeves.

Two pieces are now completely finished...

On the way to the finish line!

Another six have sleeves awaiting attachment -- and two of those need their facings (long in place) sewn down before that can happen.

Thus...much work to do yet to get them show-ready -- and by that I mean for possible touring with my 15 x 15 Group, or at the Lacombe Art Show and Sale at which I hope to have a booth again in April.

Still...there has been time for a little bit of play -- to whit, some snow dyeing with my friend and SAQA colleague, Mary Wilton.  She'd not snow dyed before, so a couple of weeks ago she spent the day here with me, doing exactly that.  The snow was still a bit powdery for my liking, but beggars can't be choosers when it comes to weather, and as it was a fair day, with slightly warmer temps (minus teens rather than minus thirties Celsius), we worked with what we had.

I did two tubs -- one with blues/reds and one with blues/yellows.  I was aiming for skies and fields.

Perhaps we could have left the batches longer, but Mary had a time limit (getting home before it got too dark as the highway conditions were tricky), so we left them for only about 5 hours.  For my part, the results I got were mixed.  The blues/reds turned out like this:

Fabric: heavy-weight cotton

Fabric: a scrap of medium-weight cotton

Fabric: a poly-cotton blend

Fabric: white-on-white quilting cotton

Fabric: bleached muslin

Fabric: more of the same medium-weight cotton
(as above)

There were also three small pieces of poly cotton blend that came out such pale shades of blue that I couldn't photograph them well, but they'll make lovely skies for "minis".  :-)

As for the blues/yellows...the results were so mixed that this past weekend I "snoverdyed" them!

There's been no fresh snowfall since Mary's visit.  Instead, there's been a warming trend with day-time melts and night-time freezes, so the snow is now "older" and more crystalline.  I still left the tub for only about 5 hours, but I like these results much better:

Fabric: heavy-weight cotton

Fabric: medium-weight cotton

Fabric: bleached muslin

There was a fourth piece -- medium-weight cotton -- which I'd deliberately folded for the first snow-dye, and which I decided to leave folded for 'snoverdyeing'.

Medium-weight cotton, folded for dyeing

I'm not partial to fabric manipulation as a rule, but in this case I threw caution to the wind...and have to admit I rather like it.  I will probably cut it up and stitch on it as I can't (at this point) envision it in a landscape...but one never knows, does one?!

More play is on the way as my Academy of Quilting class with Elizabeth Barton starts Friday...and I've purchased yet another Craftsy class -- "Inspired Modern Quilts" with Elizabeth Hartman -- to give me a foundation for designing them, using some concrete "patterns" (more like guidelines for fabric selection, quantity and placement).  I've plenty of fabric so hope I'll find the right stuff without having to do much (if any) shopping.  If I get the samples made, I'll have some nice pieces to give as gifts...

And knitting continues: one pair of Harry Potter House Socks half-finished, and these also under construction...

Yarn: Paton's Kroy Socks 4-ply
 from my stash
Pattern: "Yin Yang Kitty Ankle Socks"
by Geena Garcia (free on Ravelry)
modified to be made top-down, using
the "Rose City Rollers" pattern
by Mara Catherine Bryner
(also free on Ravelry)

Yes; the pattern calls for the second sock to have its colours reversed... ;-)

Now...it's time for some exercise, but before I go I'll link this up to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network -- and wish you all a great afternoon!

Sometimes You Can Walk on Water

On New Year's Day, my daughter posted another stupendous photograph on her blog.  I was immediately smitten.  I could see it in fabric.  I asked for -- and received -- her assent to use the photo, even when entering the piece into a show.

Why?

Well, the Ailsa Craig Quilt Festival in Ontario this year is focusing on Canada -- because of our 150th Anniversary of Confederation (and 150+ as an entity, if you go back far enough with our First Nations founders)...

I could just see this piece in my mind, fully formed -- BUT (there's always one of those, eh?!)...

• The entry deadline is January 31 at 11:59 p.m. EST (that would be 9:59 p.m. here in the Mountain Time Zone); and
• The piece must be a minimum of 30" x 30".

Goodness!  I have nothing on hand that's large enough; I've only twice made any art piece that large (or larger) and those pieces are in private hands (not mine).

And there's this wonderful photo:

Walking on Astotin Lake,
Elk Island Provincial Park, Alberta
Photo by Gina Blank, 2016, used by permission

Monday I awoke in the wee hours with it on my mind.  I'd have to dye the sky; did I have a large enough piece of white fabric?

I found a very large piece of heavy cotton -- rather like duck -- that Gina had given me some time ago.  I think it was a blind from IKEA in another life.  I cut it in half, put it to soak in a soda ash solution and went back to bed.

When I got up I put it into a low-water immersion dye bucket with "Sky Blue" dye solution (Dharma Trading, MX dye) and left it till the evening.  Rinsed, washed with Synthropol and machine dried, it looked pretty good.

Tuesday I worked at the shop.

I woke this morning knowing it wasn't quite the right blue.  I'd have to over-dye it with some turquoise...so back it went into a new soda ash soak and then the dye pot for a few hours.

While it soaked, I worked on plans for my next donation to the now-annual Spotlight Silent Auction at the up-coming SAQA Conference in Lincoln, NE at the end of April.  I'm not going but I can still contribute.  I decided to make a mini of the piece I'm entering into Ailsa Craig...so I prepped the background and chose thread with which to quilt the sky:

I also did a bunch of paperwork and took a walk to the Post Office...Not long after lunch, I decided to take the fabric out of the dye pot, rinse, wash and dry it...and then...mount it on the design wall.

Goodness!  It takes up the entire thing!  And I have to quilt that!  ;-)  

Miracle of miracles, I found some thread in the right colour for the sky, and will do a practice run on some of the fabric that I'll trim off one side.  I'm a bit concerned because it's heavier than quilting cotton.  I might keep it simple and use my walking foot for wavy lines and large swirls.

I also knew I'd have to enlarge the figure and the island/shoreline in the background.  This took some work with my light box and my scanner/copier, which blessedly enlarges up to 400% -- and I used every bit of that!  After several attempts, I got the entire figure together, and the island/trees...for this mock-up:

Hopeful finished size: 40" x 32"
Working title?  You guessed it:
Sometimes You Can Walk on Water

Of course, the figure and the island/shore won't be white... Just in case you were wondering...!  ;-)

Even if it's not accepted into the show, I'm thinking that if I can get the quilting right, it's going to be a wonderful piece!

So...that's my Work In Progress this week, which I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network.  Time to take a break and do some knitting!

Ciao!

Eeney, Meeney, Miney, Moe...

The 17th Annual Lacombe Art Show and Sale is just over two weeks away, so I'm bolstering my inventory of minis.  This one's been sandwiched for a couple of months, I think...just waiting for stitch.

Inspired by the memory of a 'moonset' I saw in December while driving in to work one morning, it's background is a piece of hand-dyed poly-cotton sheeting, on which I painted the pale setting moon using some Shiva PaintStik (R), and some fabric paints.  I covered this with a piece of Extravorganza (R) -- printable organza -- on which I'd printed a photo of one of my favourite stands of trees. (The organza is fused to the background fabric with MistyFuse.)

I decided to stitch some of the tree trunks, using dark grey silk thread (YLI)...but found that the "hazy" look created by the organza overlayer meant it was hard to see what I was doing.

Aha!  (That's the light-bulb going off in my brain.)

I have a small clip-on magnifying glass for embroidery.  I found a way to clip it to the edge of my sewing table...et voila!

Using my trusty walking foot, the stitching went quite easily.  The matting is more of a challenge.

I'm undecided.  I have two mats that might work.  One is a very dark grey; the other, more blue.   So...Gentle Readers, here are two shots of each.  I'd like your opinion, please!  (Remember, each piece is 5" x 7", matted to 8" x 10".)

First, photographed in full sunlight on a counter in front of a window:

Mat "A"

Mat "B"

Next, photographed outside on a white background, but out of the bright sun:

Mat "A"

Mat "B"

Any thoughts?  While you ponder my dilemma, I'm linking this up to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network, and going out for a jog.  See you later!

A Typical Day...

There's a wonderful series on YouTube produced by Art Documentaries, entitled "What Do Artist's Do All Day?"   Each clip is short -- 15 to 20 minutes, mainly, though some run to half an hour; sometimes there's more than one part to the story of each artist.  The artists come from a variety of media: music, photography, painting, sculpture...

I've yet to see one about a textile artist, but I've not exhausted the series, so perhaps one will turn up.

Then there's my own work...an 'artist' who carries that moniker with some reluctance, because, well...I struggle with the reality of it.  It's the old "pretty versus pointed" debate rearing it's ugly head again in my consciousness -- likely as a result of a great deal of time to reflect since I've not been held in thrall to the distractions of Facebook since Ash Wednesday.  :-)

The thing about the artists in "WDADAD?" is that you don't see them doing anything unrelated to their work -- making it, shipping it, flogging marketing it to galleries, supervising installations.  You never see them cleaning the cat's litter box, or walking the dog...vacuuming, dusting or doing their laundry or the dishes...making a meal, mowing the lawn or shovelling snow...washing the car or cleaning their eaves-troughs (gutters)...

My days seem far more mundane; at least, in part, because I have to do those things or perish!

Waiting for me this morning.
I'm the dish-washer!

Before you go pouring a cuppa and settling down with some stitching to watch the "WDADAD?" series...here's a glimpse at a typical day in this erstwhile artist's life.

4:30 a.m.: Wakened by the cat, who wants to be fed and let out -- unless the weather is terribly inclement; in which case, she comes back to bed with me.  I'm there doing my Morning Pages (bless Julia Cameron!) -- two or three pages of all-one- paragraph-in-a-stream writing to clear the head.  This is followed by quiet time -- part of my faith practice, which includes prayer -- usually by candlelight.

5:00 a.m.: Handwork for an hour, usually to the background of The Road Home, "an hour of music and spoken word" produced by broadcaster Bob Chelmick on CKUA radio, and available through streaming as well...HERE.  Currently I'm working on my tunic top for my "MOG" (Mother of the Groom) outfit, and the first of a series of stump socks for MOB III, giving them equal time as far as possible.

Stump sock cuff
Pattern: Knitted Stump Socks
from Yarn Lover's Room (no current URL);
Yarn: Sock It to Me! Collection "Esprit" 
from elann.com (discontinued)

6:00 a.m.-ish: Another hour in bed, but with the computer, checking e-mail, answering or initiating correspondence; doing online banking; and ....playing a set of challenges in MicroSoft's Solitaire Collection...my idea of fun instead of Sudoku or the crossword.  I also have breakfast...which I generally take back to bed so I can read some of the blogs I follow while I munch.  Pookie-cat spends this time stretched out on my legs, so I can't go anywhere anyway.  :-)

7:00 a.m. -ish: Up, washed/dressed, to my desk to do "real" computer business -- blog posts (like this one), or hard-copy stuff, or an online class (in season)...or to do chores (dishes, laundry, etc.)  I might also use some of this time to wrap items being sent away to a show, or to a volunteer for MOB...

9:00 a.m. -ish: Into the sewdio.  This week that includes work on my piece (12" square) for this year's SAQA Benefit Auction, piecing blocks for the Japanese taupe quilt (also known as the JTQ or the Wedding Quilt or the WQ) -- work that has to be done involving my cutting table, iron, and sewing machine, or working in my "messy room" doing painting or mono-printing.

11:00 a.m. -ish: Break for the mail -- I have to walk down to the Post Office for it -- and a bite of lunch.  Generally also check e-mails (and Facebook, in the 'regular' season)...If it's snowed, I shovel at least the front walks, which are en route to the P.O.

Noon-ish: Back to the sewdio or in the living room, which is where I like to do my hand-work.  Currently I am piecing the rest of the background for my next 15 x 15 piece, and doing sashiko-style hand quilting on the WQ.

Hexie background - WIP

2:30 p.m. - 3:00 -ish:  This time varies by the seasons, but during the fall/winter, as the days are short and cold, this is usually the ideal time to set the stitching aside and go for a jog.  I'm out the door around 3:00 for a good 45 - 50 minutes.  If I deem it too cold and windy, I'll put in an exercise DVD that takes about the same amount of time.

4:00 p.m. -ish: Winding down.  I check e-mails, read blogs, start dinner, and sit down with more stitching and perhaps a glass of wine.

5:00 p.m. -ish: Dinner time!

6:00 p.m. -ish and afterward...depending on my energy level, I do more hand-work or simple quilting (i.e., piecing), accompanied by an audio-book or one of the afore-mentioned art clips from YouTube.  I also enjoy Bonnie Hunter's "Quilt Cam", episodes of The Quilt Show, the replay of a Craftsy class (Joe Cunningham's my favourite), or Craft In America (either on PBS Videos or YouTube).

Pookie likes to watch too...

8:00 p.m. - ish: Generally, to bed with a cuppa (decaf) and a book (usually a cozy mystery) and lights out when I stop following the words on the page...pretty much always before 9:00 p.m.

By the repetition of "-ish", you can tell this is a pretty flexible schedule.  Today, for example, those dishes still await...and I have a parcel to wrap for the P.O....and this blog post isn't being finished very early in the a.m....and so it goes.

Tomorrow's another day at the shop, and Friday?  An Artists' Date with my friend and SAQA colleague, M.  There are two exhibits in Edmonton we want to see (Tom Thomson and The Group of Seven at the Art Gallery of Alberta and X3 -- a collaborative exhibit which includes the fibre artists from Contextural Fibre Arts Collective  of Calgary (my friend arlee barr is a member)  in the Feature Gallery at the Alberta Craft Council) -- landscapes and textiles...who could resist?

Now if you'll 'scuse me...I'm late for the sewdio!  Before I go, I'll link this to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network...and see you later!