Wednesday 25 November 2015

Gosh it was Cold!


We went down-town Annapolis Royal
Gosh it was cold and windy
Winter is coming


Ashley could not understand why she couldn't just
walk right into that cold, cold water!


A scallop boat was being repaired
and as usual I was drawn to things like
stained wood


and rusted metals.


Mmm.....Murky markings


Ashley is interested in everything


She loved the feeling of swinging through the air
and Grandpa loved helping her achieve that feeling


Dad explored the rest of the playground


and Mom enjoyed the swings too.
But boy, oh boy, my fingers and toes were frozen!

Tuesday 24 November 2015

Playing Around With Leaves


Diane and I died this huge sheet.
We laid it in my stream for days
Just loose
absorbing tannin


Then we bundled it with leaves


Steamed it


Some leaves left just speckled outlines
Like tiny running stitches


We aren't the only ones who like scratching around in leaves.


Twenty fibre artists met at Gaspereau Valley Fibres last Friday...


....as this rooster and his hens scratched around outside.
This beauties irregular speckles really caught my eye.


Monday 23 November 2015

Quiet Scratching


The house is very, very quiet now that we are alone again


Quietly choosing cloth and stitch


I remember being fascinated years ago
with pulled thread work


More variety could be achieved than I expected
but still very modular


I have always liked treetops against a skyline
and now Mark is now painting tree tops
though they haven't made their way onto his web page yet!


Play with feather stitch....
You can see when I did this years ago
I was still trying to keep the stitch very orderly!


Herringbone stitch too.


How many moons do we have?

Tuesday 17 November 2015

Family


Donna and Ashley and Mark came for a celebration


and of course uncle Brett too


Ashley played with new toys


Father and daughter made sweet music


We all ate lots


Ashley helped decorate for Grandpa's seventieth
and even managed to stay up late
to party with all the adults


Sometimes we just kicked back


and sometimes the fourteen month old helped the septuagenarian
climb the stairs


and what goes up must come down!


Ashley decided RP Kayla needed some beautification....


with Stickers carefully placed for best effect


Job done to her satisfaction
she sat back admiring her handiwork.

precious memories
precious family time 


Saturday 7 November 2015

Autumn on the Basin


There are layers of colours between us and the North Mountain


Look the other way and the dairy herd is grazing on the flatlands


Rusts and reds bring life to bleached grasses


Turn another corner on our path
and the colours are softly waning.


I have a friend who likes dots
I like them too
especially when made by Mother Nature.


There are so many berries and rosehips this year
winter food for the deer and the birds


Turning back home
a yellow streak of silver birch
shows up against the mountain.


Friday 6 November 2015

Did I Tell You We Stayed in a Caboose?


On the way home from Cape Breton


we took a detour to Tatamagouche
on the Northumberland Strait.


We thought it would be fun to stay in a caboose


Ours turned out to be about 100 years old


I haven't been on a modern train for years and years
but it was great going back to the time
when the railways were a vital part of the
development of this country.


Thursday 5 November 2015

Colour Choices


The threads I have been drawn to lately
are the colours of nature's last fling before the snows.
Quite a change from the


beiges, greys and blacks


of recent months.

There are still several greys and neutrals pinned to the design walls
waiting for stitches
but with winter coming on
perhaps another warmer piece will be asking to come to life
alongside the neutrals.
Hey...
...perhaps next year's daily scratchings.
But I still have time for decisions like that.