PATHWAYS Exhibition at Mississippi Valley Textile Museum/More miniatures/singing with Shout Sister

Autumn in Stoney Swamp from PATHWAYS Exhibit

Everything is completed for my upcoming exhibition, I have delivered my work to the museum, completed price lists etc and now I just need to sit back and wait till the exhibition opens next Saturday (see Exhibitions page).  It will be a thrill to see all my hard work displayed in the Gallery.

The last couple of weeks was spent preparing some small items for the gift shop at the textile museum, a variety of art cards -printed, photo and fabric ones - and bookmarks.

 I also spent some time completing some small works for a show I took part in on Thursday at the Rideau Tennis Club in Ottawa.  It was a wine and art show.  It was quite a novelty to have servers coming round with platters of appetizers throughout the evening.  A little wine was drunk as well.    A show with a difference. 

 Here are some of the fused miniatures I have been working on - quite a break from sewing.   The pieces are tiny - 3" x 5" matted and framed to 5" x 7".  Starting at the sky, I cut the pieces from fused fabric and place them onto light interfacing.   When I am satisfied, I iron them down, cover with a backing, then mat and frame them.   Sometimes the scenes are made up ones but these were inspired by photos.  The first two were scenes from Parc de la Gaspesie.  I believe the third was from a photo taken near the Tablelands in NL, and the fourth was inspired by Salmon Pool in Cape Breton.   The tree trunks were cut from fabric that a friend and I 'rusted' one summer.  In fact there is a post on this blog describing the process (July 31, 2010).   The fabric art cards were completed in much the same manner as these miniatures but were inserted into window cards instead of mats and frames.

I have also taken time out for a wonderful choir experience with my SHOUT SISTER choir.   We had our annual concert last night to a sold out audience and it was just great! We were 100 women singing together.   What an awesome experience for us!  It was very hot but the enthusiastic audience didn't seem to mind too much and gave us a standing ovation.   The concert raised money for Harmony House, a second stage shelter for women and their children.   Shout Sister choirs exist all over Ontario and are the creation of musician Georgette Fry.    Our chapter of the choir is directed by Jody Benjamin (from Ball and Chain).  We sing wonderfully uplifting music (from Carole King and Mary Chapin Carpenter to Bob Dylan and Billy Joel) in several parts.   This summer all chapters of the choir are having a picnic get together in Kingston Ontario where we will be over 600 strong.  We were wondering what is the biggest choir in the Guinness Book of Records.  Maybe it could be a goal of Shout Sister.......

Birds and Ducks and Geese and Butterflies and Turtle - Spring

Splish Splash

I'm takin' a bath

The longest bath ever

My Turn (I thought he'd never finish!)

You're not planning to drink that bathwater are you?

Yummy fresh spring flowers!

Did you hear something?

Duck (mallard)

Duck (momma)

Duck (eating feathers)

Goose! (and gosling)

Isn't this the cutest little fluff ball?

Posing for the camera

Butterflies have invaded us this spring, yeah!

Can anyone identify this one - maybe a Myrtle's warbler?

This very social goose accompanied us down the trail

My favourite sighting - a colourful wood duck

Must not forget - many, many painted turtles

More from the back yard

Lots of white crowned and white throated sparrows in my backyard this spring

Fresh buds in April

View through my bevelled glass door- trees would make a fun fractured quilt

In case you think that all I do is make quilts here are some photos of spring in the swamp, the forest and my back yard.   Birds do the darndest things.  Like the goose following us down the trail, the grackle who was mesmerized by the purple flowers in my backyard and then there is the story behind the duck eating feathers.  A few minutes earlier there was a confrontation and one goose took a bite out of another leaving a clump of feathers on the the wooden bridge. This duck sauntered over and ate them. Hmmm.  I'm sure there's a reason for everything that happens in nature.    A few of the photos are not perfectly clear but were interesting sightings nevertheless.   The ones that got away - two rose breasted grosbeaks in my backyard and several gigantic wild turkeys out on the trail.  Next time.......

Down the Garden Path: Friendship is a Garden - Artwork Framed

I have been really busy working and have had little time to post but I wanted to share a photo of my latest piece after framing.   After mounting the' Garden Path' on a stretched canvas last week, I found it looked very busy and really needed framing.  After much searching,  I was lucky to find a lovely frame for it at a framing store.  It was assembled on the spot and is ready to hang.  It is not how I pictured it (I was looking for a natural colour narrow frame) but I think this frame really does justice to the work and brings out the colours.  It's all ready to be wrapped in bubble wrap and I didn't want to remove the corner protectors but here it is.  It will be part of my PATHWAYS exhibit which is rapidly approaching.  

My Final Wallhanging for June Exhibition

I am working long hours these days and have finished stitching my final piece for the exhibition (see under exhibitions page).    But I still need to decide whether to wrap it over a stretched canvas, frame it or bind it.  It has so much applique and  hand stitching that I don't want to quilt it but when I wrapped it over the canvas I felt it needed something to rein it in - like a frame or binding.  I am having difficulty finding a float frame large enough.  I had thought of doing it as a diptych but didn't think it would work.   Anyway here are some closeup photos of the hand stitching on this piece, which is a collage of florals called Down the Garden Path: Friendship is a Garden.   I used some fabulous floral fabrics with dyed cheesecloth for the pathway and sun prints for the background (see March 2012 post for Sunprints) then I wrote all sorts of comments on it with permanent pens.

And we're having a heat wave........

Fibre Fling and Tea

We had a good turnout at our Fibre Fling and Tea at the end of April.   Twenty-four artists from out fibre arts group Out of the Box displayed more than a hundred great pieces.  Friends and I attended the lovely dessert tea on the Friday evening and everyone was blown away by the work.   Saturday was a very delicious high tea which was also well attended.    I helped with the set up and take down and got to see the work close up.   What a talented group!   It was also fun to get to know some of my fellow members better.   I took some photos of the work but some members are understandably reluctant to have their work displayed online so I won't be showing them here.   I had eight pieces in the show and one of my pieces was purchased.  It was my Tribute to the Unknown Sailor piece which I had just completed in March.  I struggled with this one, especially the hand painted sky, but did not abandon it since I loved the stitching on the rest of the piece.  I finally resolved the sky colours and I am glad that it has made someone else happy.

Now I am focusing on finishing the last piece for my June exhibition - furiously hand stitching flowers.  Hope to post parts of it soon....

Quilt Retreat at The Barn

I am so behind in my posting.   It's over a week since I spent the weekend with a group of quilters at The Barn near Wakefield QC.   It was a very relaxing weekend.   My work table was set up by a window with a view of fields and trees, just the way I like to work.   I spent the weekend working on a couple of pieces, one of which I'd like to have finished for my show in June (if my arms and fingers don't give out) - hours and hours of stitching involved.   I also made more bookmarks and fibre art cards (it's my break from the intensity of embroidery and applique).  I was there with a group of machine quilters and was amazed how much work they produced over the weekend - and what lovely quilts they were!  I was also interested in the methods used - choosing colour combinations, the laying out of pieces, moving them around for the best combinations, lots of advice from the rest of us.   When we weren't quilting, we ate great food, drank a little wine (I've been warned - what happens at The Barn stays at The Barn), had some interesting discussions, watched quilting videos, and went for walks.  I've taken several photos so you can see the variety of the work.    It was my first time at the retreat which has been going on for many years.  It was great fun and I met lots of interesting folks.

Maggie's baby quilt - great colours

close up - so delicate

Shirley is hard at work

cutting and placing strips

making progress - I love that fabric!!

View from my work table

more bookmarks

Kathryn's very interesting memorabilia piece

Debbie is taking it easy while hand stitching

Ingrid's lovely appliqued block

Linda finished an elegant table runner

We all have some advice for Alison

Alison's beautiful quilt - making progress

Organized chaos

So much fabric - so many machines

Miyo's sampler of embroidery stitches

Ingrid's beautiful batik quilt - delicious colours!

Here's a little corner of my garden piece

Penny's quilt - wow!

close up - can you see pineapples?