what's in your pocket?

I'd love to say it all started here...

England's Lake District, a year and a half ago

having such a habit begin in a place such as this would surely make it far more respected than if it began in almost any other place on earth

for in this landscape, which is steeped not only in an unparalleled beauty in nature, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, steeped in a history of poetic and artistic observation, one could easily be forgiven for gathering just about anything if it inspired one to write or paint or draw... 

but I just can't say that...

stuffing things in my pockets has been a lifelong obsession

 sticks and shells and leaves and flowers and heaven knows what else

an unusual colour or shape of an everyday thing that catches my eye

anything that strikes my fancy or sparks an idea is sure to make it's way into my pockets or handbag - whatever us handiest

several years ago I broke down and bought a gathering basket...

an ingenious contraption with a strap for putting it around your waist or over your shoulder

a hinged lid for easy emptying

a small hole in the side for easy stuffing any bit or bob that comes my way

the trouble is, I never have it with me when the really interesting stuff captures my eye... but I almost always have pockets

the stick and stone and sheep's wool followed me home from a walk in the hills above Ambleside 

I have no plan for them other than to look at them any time the mood strikes

and each time I do I see something different, even though they've sat like this, on a dresser-top, since the day I came home

a few weeks ago my son suggested we go to see the Adams River salmon run

we took my mom and step-father and it was a grand day

such a beautiful place...

though you could see the fish well enough in the deeper water, it was in the streamlets where they were most visible

As we walked toward the river I saw several birch trees downed

already cut into smaller lengths, most with the bark curling away from the trunk itself

naturally I peeled some off and stuffed it in my pockets... interesting driftwood and rocks followed suit

by the time we got back to the car and my son held out a bag he found in the truck, my pockets were bulging, and as I emptied handful after handful, his laughter grew... shaking his head the whole while

back home, I washed the bark and then pressed it, between sheets of drawing paper, weighted down with a stack of heavy books

{I had to improvise as my flower press is still full from foraging whilst in the Yukon in August!}

and last week I read about making twine by twisting the leaves of day lilies, irises and cattails

day lilies and irises are in my back yard, cattails, just down the hill at the little lake...

these are my day lilies

I've been mucking about, experimenting with how to preserve them 

after twisting, I want to weave with them, but as they dry they'll shrink and become brittle

I first thought of rubbing some kind of oil into them but plant-based oils might go rancid, and petroleum-based ones just seemed wrong

then I remembered some roses I had bought many years ago that had been preserved with glycerin

they looked dried but were beautifully soft

information online was sketchy at best so I've been experimenting 

it's kind of a goldilocks sort of thing... you don't want them to soak for long or they'll be oily, nor for too short a time or they'll be too brittle

it has to be just right - soft, but natural

I think I've just about worked out a method I'm happy with that yields the results I want

this is just one of my twisted twine - I still have to snip off the bits where I've added a new leaf, but it's coming along just fine

soothing and addicting

the irises are just about ready to pick and soak

cattails are in a bowl soaking as I type this

and there isn't a plant out there safe from scrutiny

so much fun...

and my pockets are empty and ready to go

oh christmas...

christmas eve... the quiet hour before dinner

time to pause, breathe, gather thoughts, anticipation

it's interesting, getting older...

it always surprises me how differently i see things as the years slide by

when i was young i was enthralled with the story of st. nicholas... "santa" was who i believed to be the bearer of gifts but in grade five i read a book about the story of st. nicholas and i loved it

i thought then, and do still today, that it was a better story, a truer belief and something we could all aspire to, every day

to give what we can to those who need it more than we do

to think about others before we think of ourselves

a few years ago i made a "wrapping cloth" in one of karen ruane's classes - she spoke of a wrapping cloth being a cloth you make in honour of a person, to symbolically wrap them up and keep them safe. stitching your love for them into every part of it

i made mine in honour of christmas and all the love and memories i have of those early christmases of mine

of my mom who did everything she could to make them special, of my brothers and my friends, the importance of loving and giving

of sharing

of the year my oldest brother went out after we younger ones were asleep

he cut down a tree, set it up in our bedroom, decorated it and put presents under it - what a grand surprise that was!

 

  

there are stars on it like these. for the wishes that need wishing

and hearts like this one, for those who need loving...

christmas, with all it's beautiful layers of meaning, might seem like an odd thing to want to keep "safe"

but sometimes this world would like to drag us down a different path

and the love and joy the season brings, and all that goes with that, need a helping hand

 

plodding along...

a day, a week, a month and then two

i wouldn't have believed it if you'd told me

this month especially has flown by

the leaves are yellow and red, glorious against the bright blue sky, falling at the barest hint of a breeze

winter is not far off...

fall is without doubt my favourite time of the year, especially when it's slightly damp and there's a wooded area to walk through... smoke curling in the sky, peek-a-boo views that have been hidden since spring

i try and get out for a walk every day and though i easily managed that in the summer, this month tells a different tale

it isn't daily right now but it's as often as can be and i love it

i do my best creative thinking when i'm walking outside - just need to start carrying a pen and paper with me so i can jot some of that "brilliance" down - ha!

stitching time has been all about little pieces, tiny bits that are fiddly beyond belief but give very satisfying results

i am making cards these days, to sell at the shop where i work part-time, and have been experimenting with a few different things

below is the first one i did and though i love it, i won't be making them to sell there - for what i'll get paid, this takes way too long to do so i'm working on a simplified version

i do love little houses though, especially those made out of fabric so i'm working on a re-vamp of the design, simplifying it, wanting something equally as charming but a little quicker - maybe one house will do the trick?

I'm also wanting to make some abstract ones, cards that aren't necessarily seasonal or occasion-themed

art cards i guess

that idea is still percolating but has been fueled by something else i made a while back

the piece below is all sorts of tiny scraps of silk and lace, loosely stitched with a simple grid and now cut into three pieces

i've done a bit of stitching on one of the pieces already but am thinking that it might be worth trying out a few ideas on one of the two remaining

i love the colours and all the textures, the looseness of it all

and how fragile they feel in my hand

stitching on them is a huge challenge but i am reluctant to try and stabilize them in any way as I just don't want to detract from that soft fragility

careful experimentation then, with a light hand

i will be back, with more to show, and sooner rather than later...

tales of childhood

when i was seven we moved to our newly built house in a completely different area of whitehorse

having lived my whole life in the downtown portion of the city, being out in the country was a new experience... businesses and sidewalks gave way to houses on large lots with loads of trees

the new school was one block away

and no longer would i leave school every noon hour to go to my grand-parent's house for lunch

i loved lunchtime

my grandfather "papa" came home from work, as did my mom - they, my grandmother, and us four kids made for a pretty lively lunch hour... i was going to miss that terribly...

but my mom had a plan and it involved the lady next door

she had three small daughters, and was very young herself... a stay-at-home mom who loved to sing whilst she worked... cooking and cleaning, baking her own bread, washing and ironing... i can never, to this day, do housework without singing "scarborough fair"

we went there for a hot lunch five times a week and again after school until mom and dad came home from work

one day she was hand embroidering on a piece of the softest flannelet... it was the yoke of a nightgown for her middle daughter... three little heads, full of wavy hair, each one different...

as she stitched she sang the poem

"wynken and blynken and nod one night sailed out on a wooden shoe..."

i never forgot it, nor have i forgotten how i felt about what she was doing... a nightgown with an embroidered yoke for a three year old? 

i knew even then that wasn't a commonly thing done, even if it was 1968

devotion - and not just to her daughter, but also to the making

this poem then, for me, is all wrapped up in a beautiful telling of the imaginative workings of a child's mind, and the devotion of a mother, in time and thought in an artful practice

 

i've long wanted to make something inspired by that most wonderful of poems and now i've finally begun

i'm stitching the story, the poem "wynken, blynken and nod", making a little cloth book, complete with text and illustrations of my own design

 it's taken me a long time to work out the construction details but i finally have a plan that i think (and hope!) will work

one page with the text written out along with a few stitched details

and a facing page that illustrates that portion of the poem

it's a bit of a challenge as there aren't really many "scenes" but i'm making the most of every nuance in the verse

the details are tiny, time consuming, repetitive

but i don't mind

some of the applique is needle turned but much of it is just overcast along the edges

it'll rough up a bit as it's handling but i'm ok with that - i think it will just add to the tactile nature of the book

the pages will be about 6' square so just the right size for little hands to hold and turn

and a nice size for a scene - simple illustrations, fun with the details

i'm not just stitching a story though... i'm stitching a memory

a lasting memory of a very special person who has had a great influence on my life, and even more clearly, on my work

 

little girl, little girl... where have you been?

 i've been to london...

london from primrose hill

 my favourite city in all the world

{not that i've been to very many but even if i had i know i would love london best}

i've had trouble transferring photos from ipad to my laptop - i think it will be a long slow go but for now i have a few from the very first days of my time in the uk

in advance of the embroidery workshop with karen ruane on saturday april 1st, three of us went on a little shopping expedition of all things creative in a few of london's most charming of shops

we started at shepherd's bookbinders...

shepherd's

walls and drawers and tables full of amazing papers

i practiced a lot of restraint here, and the khadi paper on the table in the image above being the most foolish of all - i bought just two sheets of it, wishing now i had bought twenty...

shepherd's

one of the most beautifully presented shops i've ever been in, chock-a-block full of inspiration, i came away with a few new tools and supplies which will hopefully help me to improve my book-binding skills and a few lovely sheets of paper to inspire

more shepherd's!

 we wandered through a vintage button shop, a specialty ribbon and trim store, "the cloth house" on berwick street, lace stores and several silk shops in soho

the cloth house

 the windows of the cloth house were entrancing with the little textiles strung across them on  clotheslines

the cloth house

new cloth, old cloth, new buttons, old buttons... lace

i had a budget and i stuck to it though goodness knows how

 

the cloth house

inspiration at every corner, in every shop, and the kindest people

the best day

that is, until the next day...

saturday was my embroidery class with karen ruane

nine of us gathered in a lovely space in covent garden for a day of stitching, tea, cake and chatter

i'd been waiting for that day for months; the chance to meet karen, see her amazing work in person, meet people i had come to know a little during our online courses - just be there

below is what i worked on during that most wonderful day

my project

 karen made workshop packs for us filled with several surfaces to stitch, tear, stitch, and tear some more

workshop kit

 she gave us graph papers and bits of lace and trims to play with as well

workshop kit

 the metallic lace in my work was a gift from sue, shopping tour guide extraordinaire

i don't have much to show for six hours of stitching but i have a very good reason that - tea, cake, chat, tea, cake chat... look through karen's ledgers, stitch a little and then tea and cake again

we called it the "london cake day"

 

i've pulled this out a few times since coming home, thinking i should work on it some more - today i decided it will stay as it is and i'll be able to look at it always and say "i made this in london"

latest work

hard to believe it's already a month since we left - the only consolation then is that it's one month less until i get to back again...

worth the wait

an old expression that - "worth the wait"

 to do with anticipation, just rewards, fulfilled longing... many reasons for it i suppose

today i have a few of my own...

saturday at 1:00 o'clock i finished sewing the final border on the christmas quilt

you can't imagine the relief i felt - what a long haul that was

i started that quilt back on march 11 - that's how long i'd been working on my last list of five things, and it took such a long time to get through

so many times, especially during the final week, my mind kept wandering to the next list... i even tempted myself a little, thinking perhaps i could begin the process of listing and choosing even though there was still a border or two 

but i didn't do it

there was a sweet feeling of truth in the wait, knowing that when i finally did sit down to do it it would be because i was free to, free to dream and plan, free to choose

one thing i'd been yearning to tinker with was a log cabin runner using both silks and cottons - no measuring, just random cuts  of random widths at even more random angles

it was the first on the list of twenty-five and the first chosen for the final five

i wrote it down as a runner but half-way through the first block i wanted it to be a bed quilt

i don't know if that's at all possible - i have plenty of the cotton fabrics, but many of the silks came in a small silk bundle from delectable mountain cloth and i have very limited amounts - we shall see

i gathered together all my bits and pieces ranging from grey to beige to deep chocolate brown, and then a little minty green

beautifully patterned silks

two are antique kimono silks from the "in the beginning" quilt shop in seattle {long since closed}

- they were bought for me by a friend from the yukon and i have been hoarding them for many, many years now, waiting for the right thing - they are absolutely perfect for this project - a light beige tweedy plaid and a deep, dark, chocolate brown with a fine gold stripe - every scrap and trimming is carefully set to the side

i'm not wasting a scrap!

the "deciding on the fabrics jumble" quickly gave way to a more orderly layout - decisions are easier made when all the choices are easily seen

chocolate and mint

{oddly enough - i do not like that flavour combination at all but lately i have been loving chocolate brown... after this combination i want to try my hand at chocolate and mauve - elegant, don't you think?}

the log cabin block is one of the first i ever did, and is still a favourite

but this business of randomly cutting and piecing with no rhyme or reason was spurred on by my latest research interest - the quilts of gee's bend

a fabulous story of women and what their quilts and quilt-making mean to them

using every precious scrap of cloth, almost all from worn out clothes, pieced together by themselves in a manner pleasing to them and then quilted as a group

when i first learned of these quilts several years ago, i wasn't much interested - i've always been a rather "precise" quilter and they were a little too "irregular" for me

but lately i'm finding myself fed up with the commercialism of quilting - the fabric manufacturer's have created an industry from that which was once borne of necessity and then a pleasant hobby

nowquilting is big business; they crank out dozens of fabric lines every month, complete with free patterns so the quilt shops can easily make kits, all packaged up with everything you need so you can easily buy it and then go home and without thinking a lot, easily make a quilt that will look exactly like hundreds of other quilts, all around the world... and next month they hope you'll be ready to do it all over again because they've cranked out yet more fabric and even more free and easy patterns... yuck

that's not what i want quilting to be for me

i've done many of my own quilt designs over the years but lately i've wanted to let go of the things i have thought to be true of quilting and explore a different way of going about it

a kind of making it up as i go kind of thing

and so i've started here, where i first began, with the log cabin block, re-visiting an old friend but learning a few new things about it as i go

the women of gee's bend didn't have fancy fabrics, nor even store-bought fabrics to make their quilts with but they made them beautiful with what they had available to them

and in that vein, i'll do the same

i'll work with what i have - silk to denote the richness their quilts have brought to the world, cotton, in reference to the beautiful, wonderful textile that has come to me through the literally back-breaking work of people around the world... cotton truly is the fabric of our lives...

i'll let the shapes come as they do, without pre-planning, nor trying to organize it in any way

i'll take my precious scraps and sew something that brings light and joy and colour and warmth to my world... i'll take my time, and i hope it will be worth waiting for

gather ye rosebuds...

that poem came to mind, not because of this first image, but for what comes after...

i'm afraid i might be a one-hit wonder

remember my banana painting?

it came out much better than expected - i guess maybe i thought i might be alright at painting and sketching - i've had a bit of a comeuppance i think...

blow to the ego and all that

these little rosebuds are comfort food - a little reassurance that it's possible for me to draw and paint something i like

 what gave me grief today was this -

 the very kind lady at the flower shop down the street gave me a lovely bag stuffed full of flower petals

to practice painting with

 when i was working on it i couldn't figure it out - now i think i was busy trying to capture every little detail, every single nuance of colour

i ended up with a very blended blob

i've sharpened these images but not messed with colour saturation or contrast - the one above is closer to how it really looks than the one above it - that one is very washed out

below shows the image after i added a little detail with my trusty brown pigma pen

i'm addicted to them - have one in each size, in brown

a few other colours in random sizes, but all the browns

it's kind of like my embroidery - i never ever use black, always brown-black

{same with my mascara!}

weird huh?

i'm much happier with it since adding the pen but still...

 

 i think i need to capture the essence of the colours rather than the literal???

i was already to put my paints away when i decided i needed a little reassurance

so i sketched a row of rosebuds

quickly drawn, the pen lightly scratching the page - a hint of colour

 

i adore them - it's like they want to take flight

rose-bugs?

 i looked at a few images online and decided to define the shapes a little more - it's time to go back to botany school - i remember calyx but that's about it

the little leafy tendril things that encase the rosebuds - they needed to be a little more pronounced 

 i sketched a larger one, made it blue and added some creamy yellow, realizing too late they would make green

ah well, i don't mind it after all

poetic license...

finally, i deepened the pink of the first rosebud, intending to add the dark just at the base but it spread quickly and enveloped almost the whole bud

i like it anyway

i actually like them quite a lot

and if i may forever tarry, i think i'll be quite content if i've a paintbrush in one hand and a pencil in the other