red sky at night...

remember this? i started this piece way back last july and stitched away on it quite a bit until it was nearly completed. i hadn't know quite what i was going to do when i started stitching the red, pink and orange strips together, but then felt something developing as i had a rippling sea and a tiny little boat. then my original binding idea didn't work out as i wanted, and i put it aside for a little bit. and so it has sat for about nine months, until yesterday i decided to pick it up again. once i got going on this white cotton binding, it was just a matter of carefully stitching away until it was finished up today. i think the wide white binding really helps the rich colours of the piece pop,



"red sky at night" plays on the old nautical saying, "red sky at night, sailor's delight / red sky in the morning, sailor's warning", showing a little sailboat working it's way across a gentle swell with a fiery sky behind. it is completely hand stitched, including the binding and two loops on the back for hanging. a mix of fabrics in shades of pink, red and orange make up the sky, stitched in a circles in several colours of thread. the "ocean" is folded and rippled like the real sea, with pinky red yarn stitched to show the reflecting evening light on the surface of the water.



"red sky at night" will be available in the the shop later this afternoon. while i'm still working on my other big hanging, i'm realizing i haven't made any animals for a little bit and i might try and do a few this week. i bought a new reference book last week just for whales, which has been giving me lots of ideas for some of the lesser known species. shop work may be somewhat waylaid by the semi-promising forecast this week though, as i've been spending too much time nestled into the couch. i need to try and get out on my bike, tear up some trails and remind myself how out of shape i am!

saturday ramblings...

saturday is a good day for puttering. A is away until monday night, so i'm hanging out with me. (although the new upstairs tenants and their three small children mean there is no peace to be found - boo.) as mused the other day, i have started building squares for my new quilt. i'm making half square triangles, which are fast but pleasing. i'm thinking of a layout like this one.



a new idea i'm playing with. i actually started constructing this ship months ago, but i'm finally getting back into it. thank (or blame) captain cook and the royal navy. the trick is trying to translate into reality what i have constructed in my head.



i got some beeswax at the farmers market this morning, so i tried out this recipe for homemade moisturizer. i used coconut oil as the oil. it worked out pretty well, although my blender wasn't fully cooperating, so i feel like it could have been a bit more creamy. still, i'm happy with the result, and it's so much better than all the chemical-filled lotions from the store. i also tried to use a bit of my favourite aromatherapy spray, although the lotion mainly smells like beeswax. i'll still give a little plug for my friend Mia who is an amazing artist as well as essential oil mixmaster. my current favourite is her scent of the west coast (are you surprised?), a refreshing mix of cedar, pine and fir, with a hint of clove that i love.



and some bread fresh from the oven. i've been making bread for years, but although i've made lots of good loaves and found many recipes i like, i never seem to find a final loaf for me. i think it has something to do with my tendency to always play with recipes, trying different seedy add-ins and ratios of whole grain flours. i thought it was about time i found a good book that would give me a better understanding of how bread works, so that i could play to my heart's content.

the river cottage bread book is looking very promising so far. i just made the basic loaf (customized with half whole wheat, and some flax, chia & sesame add-ins) but the loaves turned out very well, despite being a little too brown on top. this was also the first time i tried using steam in the oven to build a better crust. the result was pretty tasty, and the writing and pictures in the book are very clear. i'm excited to try further variations, not to mention the other intriguing recipes and options (sourdough starter, anyone?).

guess i should make some dinner as it's now fully dark out. always hard to motivate myself for a real meal when i'm alone. i'm going to curl up on the couch and watch sharkwater. hope you're having a good weekend so far.

heading south

this piece was finally delivered today, a very late christmas present for my parents. i finished up the stitching on it this week. it's possible i could continue to stitch away on it, but it felt like a good time to call it "done" for now.



"heading south" is all hand stitched, except for a a little bit of the border. i forgot to measure it before i gave it to them, but i think it is roughly 3 ft x 4 ft. definitely the biggest piece i have done so far. it is a mix of cotton, denim, linen, silk, wool, and other mixed fibres, layered over a bamboo batting and with white cotton stitched on the backside and a navy cotton border. a mix of new and repurposed fibres.



this was definitely a labour of love, and i hope my folks will enjoy it. my dad has a strong love of the ocean, and worked in various capacities on it for large portions of his life (he is now retired). my mom is not so big on being on the water, but i know she enjoys the view from shore. my parents immigrated from denmark in 1970, shortly after they were married, and i think they feel great love for this corner of the world they have called home for over 40 years. we lived just across from the beach when i was a kid, and i spent long hours at the shore with my friend and our sisters (remember when kids could just roam freely through the wilds, as long as you were home by dinner?). the tall beach grass was thick around the large logs of driftwood as we made forts and played our games.



when i was young we lived in a log house, and my dad had carved wooden plaques that hung over each window downstairs. one featured a line of three seaspan barges moving along. i think this is a big part of why i love the red barges so much as they move up and down the waterways here, and why i wanted to make sure and include them in this piece. they also indirectly led to the title, as the tug and its charges march south against the backing of the coast range mountains.



now where they live, the bottom of the driveway is marked by another sign he carved, with three gulls in flight above the street number. they also bottle their own wine, which is aptly called "three gulls" with some labels i designed. i made sure to include three seagulls in this piece for them. in this case one is perched on a rock while two float nearby amongst the gentle waves.



when i was taking photos of the quilt this morning, i hung it from the cherry tree outside, incidentally from the same branch the suet feeder hangs from. all was quiet when i went out, but shortly i became aware of a flurry of chips and cheeps descending on me, and soon a crew of chestnut backed chickadees had popped down to see what i was doing. they were very brave, resting in the tree just feet from where i stood. soon enough, they were on the feeder, unperturbed by the quilt hanging next to it. they only darted away at the sound of the camera shutter, but then came back again quickly for another bit of seed. funny little birds, made my morning.

the sun shone brightly today after yesterday's snowfall. the snow has stayed around and tonight is very cold, but we took a nice walk at the beach today in warm sunshine. i will share some photos tomorrow. hope you are all having a good weekend!

finishing projects...

i've been cleaning and organizing my little craft corner this week, trying to make some sense of the mess. it's always interesting to see fabrics and other things i've completely forgotten about, or maybe just a little sad that there's so much stuff and it is so badly ordered. but i'm working on that, fresh start and all. this has also inspired me to finish up some projects that have been stagnating for far too long. first up are my yellow socks, started way back in november. it took me two months to do the first sock, but once i got motivated, i knit the second sock in a week.



this is kelly porpiglia's interlocking leaves pattern (for more info see the rav link above), and i think it was a good fit for the indigo moon yarn. with that yellow colour, i can't help but call them my autumn leaves socks, even when finished in the middle of winter. i think the stitch pattern is really beautiful, although i did find it took me until well into the second sock before i could remember the pattern without regularly checking the chart. i wanted to make these socks nice and long, so i actually weighed the yarn beforehand and split it into two balls, so that i could get the most out of it. i did decide to finish up with still a little bit left over, but they are a good length nonetheless.



the string quilt front of this pillow was made so long ago. actually i just checked through my flickr and it was at the same time as these ones, so that was all the way back in september 2009! anyway, i had a spare pillow form sitting around, so i finally decided to attach an overlapping canvas back, and now it has found a new home on my red chair. funny how things can sit around for so long, and then take only a half hour to finish.



i apologize for the poor lighting in these photos. dark is coming fast this afternoon, and it's raining heavily. i might venture outside to go rent a movie for the evening, so we can curl up on the couch when A gets home from work. or i might just turn to itunes. but now to get back to the big pile of fabric that needs sorting through...

a small cloth for a new year

at work on thursday morning, the idea for this piece popped into my head. it stitched away in the back of my mind all day, and when i arrived home i was more than ready to play with real cloth. i started with a 10.5" x 17.5" rectangle from an old sheet, wonderfully soft, torn so the edges had a soft fray. i'm noticing an increasing trend toward raw edges in my work. i wove together strips of denim, linen and cotton for the sky, and then began to overlay a soft blanket of snow. snow snowy trees rounded out the tiny landscape.



along with the blue and white thread i used, i stitched in some gold and silver for a bit of sparkle, as any winter night should have. there are many layers of stitches everywhere, a meditation of sorts for me as i sit in the dark evenings.



there are four words stitched on the snow - calm, still, pure and new. i may add a few more, but i like it like this as well. these words led to the title of the cloth - "mind of winter", as i contemplated the cold days, an old year coming to a close, and the new year coming in.



above is the label on the back - my first piece of 2011! i was happy with how quickly this piece came together, and think i might try some other small pieces soon. i'm not aiming for fast work when i hand stitch, but i do like how much easier it is to keep focus on smaller cloths. with this shot of the label you can also see all the stitching on the back - there is no batting in between the layers, so it is a thin, delicate piece. it was also a bit of practice to keep my stitching on the "wrong" side as tidy as possible.



i have hung it on a piece of found driftwood from one of the beaches nearby, just as with my other hangings. while this piece seems a bit of departure from what i've been working on so far, i liked branching out a bit. i owe much inspiration to the stitching of jude hill and ger, two lovely ladies who constantly wow me with their stitches. here's to continuing to stretch myself this year.

year's end

hope you've all had a restful wind up to the old year, and are ready for the new, whether you've got big plans for tonight or just a quiet evening in. i think ours will be a fairly mellow evening, a few friends over for a bit of eating and drinking, maybe a wii competition (wow, that sounds lame). we'll see how it plays out, but i have zero expectations, so it can't go wrong. the weather has been very cold and clear the last few days, the ground and plants crunchy with frost. in contrast, i thought i'd share some photos taken during a christmas day walk with A and my mom.



the days leading up to christmas were a bit, er, stormy, to say the least. however, there was a bit of a break the next day that allowed us to get outside for a bit. moisture clung to everything, as the earth and every bit of surface was fully saturated with water. i love the way the drops hang amongst all the branches, little mirrors floating in the air.



the winds and waves had done their work on the beaches, piling up carpets of driftwood even on the sheltered side of the beach. in the photo above it's a bit hard to see where lands stops and the sea begins. we were walking at rebecca spit provincial park, which is a finger of land poking out into the ocean.



on the more exposed side of the spit, the driftwood pile-up was much the same, with the ocean showing a bit more energy as the wind started to pick up again. the clouds hung low over the nearby islands, completely obscuring the high mountain peaks of the coast range beyond. we watched as a bald eagle swooped in circles overhead, from the open space to the trees and back, avoiding the pestering gulls who chased after. i was too in awe of his power to remember the camera in my hand.



i love the many variations of moss and lichen to be seen, even on just one small branch.



lastly, i wanted to share what the big cloth finally looks like. this is the gift that did not get finished in time for my parents. above my mom is holding it in place where it will hang when finally completed. it is all handstitched. i'm glad i didn't rush through it though, so i have the time to think on it a bit and make sure it ends up how i wanted. much stitching still to go, but it's definitely taking shape. i was also glad to get a good look at it in daylight too - never being home during the day and many evenings spent stitching meant i had kind of lost the real colours and dimensions of it. this gives me a good regroup to see what i still want to do.

wishing you and yours and happy end to the old year and all the best for the new! i'll be back this long weekend with another post or two.

miles to go before i sleep...

when i woke up this morning, snow was mixing with the rain coming down. it increased to a heavy wet slush that never settled but kept coming down, keeping the day cold and dark. eventually it went back to rain. the trees started moving too, tops swaying back and forth and branches bending as gusts past through. i was just as happy to stay inside today.



my current gift project is becoming a bit of an obsession, as i continue to hope that by some miracle it will be done by next friday. i'm not really sure that will happen though, so i'm trying to prep myself to avoid disappointment. it seems quite likely i will be gifting it, only to reclaim it to take back home for a few more days of work. i've never made a piece this big before, and under such a tight timeline. my hands and my back are stiff and sore. only for family would i probably make this effort. i'm still on the fence over how it's progressing, but i have high hopes.



it's very blue at this point. but really, how can you have a west coast landscape without lots of blue? i'm working on adding in some brown and other colours right now though, so finally it's starting to evolve into a more complete look. so many stitches to go...i think tonight will be a late one. but i'm taking tomorrow off - going to give my arms a rest and use my legs instead (which have been underused recently as i sit and stitch) and go up to the ski hill, strap on my board, and get in some fluffy white turns (i hope!).



in the grey and brown that predominates lately, the rosehips seem to be the one bright spot of colour. little globes of orange red popping out between branches.

if you are still looking for quick make-it-yourself gifts, i am going to share something tomorrow that i also made today. nothing nearly as labour-intensive as the above, i promise. and hopefully they'll be a hit with the recipients. please check back...

finding a rhythm...

since returning from our little trip to central washington, i've been trying to coax myself back into the rhythm of daily life. i've been restless and unable to sit and focus on a project, stitching, etc. since thursday i think the restlessness has been exacerbated by the fact that most of our valley is on a boil-water advisory due to e.coli in the water supply. a untidy house just fuels my distraction, but it's even easier to avoid the dishes when water has to be boiled first, not to mention the pots of water crowding up the stove. A has also been painting some molding, which means the dining area where i normally sit and work is in disarray.

nonetheless, i've been playing around with some string quilting to try and inspire the flow, and i'm seeing some promise. i think these could evolve into a new quilt for our bed, a mix of denim, cotton, and linen, much of it recycled from old clothes, or scraps leftover from clothes i have made.



a few days of rain and the season has definitely changed. walking through the damp woods today in between rain showers, signs of autumn were everywhere.



the banana slugs were constantly underfoot. although they are generally very common around here, i was having to watch my step even more than usual, which was hard since many a spider had strung her web across the trail, and i was trying to avoid those as well.



another red-legged frog crossed my path, jumping out in front of me but then pausing on the other side of the trail for a quick photo shoot. the woods were quiet but for the rushing of the river running alongside, a quiet sunday for reflection. i was happy to emerge with wet cords after pushing through many sword ferns, and a camera full of shots. i recently acquired a pair of bean boots and i've been so happy with them. i guess i'm shamelessly promoting, but they are much more comfortable for long walks and more supportive than my usual gumboots. if they get me out exploring more, all the better.



ps - you may have noticed that i've changed my header, and also the name of my blog. i've been thinking on this for awhile, and wanted to incorporate the coastal landscape that inspires me so heavily. i'll also be using this name when my shop is up and running.

changing...

ah, august. can you feel the almost imperceptible change in the air? it hints at cooler days to come, a growing crispness that i'm longing for. yes, i do feel a bit of guilt about it. summer was so late in arriving, june was ridiculously wet. but now after nearly a month with not a bit of rain, i am ready for the cooling freshness of the clouds opening up. i love the shoulder seasons, especially fall which i'm sure i've mentioned many times before. the bright sunny days still but a clarity to the air that can't be found in the heat of summer. and the rainy days too.

i've been doing more fabric weaving, as you can see above. the other one is still in progress. it's waiting to have a border attached of some kind, and so it sits in the pile with another piece i'm also working on.

but i had an urge to try something else (something like startitis, affliction of many a knitter?). it is much farther along than when i took this picture. now it sits as a long rectangular piece, stitched and stitched in to a solid piece. i'm thinking now of cutting it in half and making two pillow covers from it. soon. i've been recently playing around with something more three dimensional, but it hasn't evolved into something worth reporting on just yet.

hmmm, was this post about anything? guess i'm just checking in. hello! more things to share soon, i hope.

approaching fog, 15" x 30"

it's funny, how these things go. i have been contemplating, percolating, if you will, on the idea of art/landscape quilts for several years now. i'd seen ones my mom had done, or admired the one on the wall at the medical clinic, and so on, and thought, "someday i should try that". but it was really just in the back of my mind, my head already full of knitting plans, and sewing, and all the other crafty things that i probably spend too much time thinking about. i would try it eventually, when i got around to it.

well, apparently, i've gotten around to it (i'm using a lot of commas today, aren't i?), and i may have been completely taken over by it. the first one very quickly led to the second one, which has even more quickly led to a third, but more on that soon. let's focus on the second one, shall we?



after trying out techniques on "point holmes", i was feeling more confident and ready to experiment even further. "approaching fog" was entirely hand stitched. fabric was warped and twisted, textures and fibres layered on each other, many many stitches holding everything in place, adding further layers and elements. i could have stitched indefinitely, probably. i loved playing with yarn as well as regular thread, and adding the bits of raw fleece to add further dimension. i think that's why i'm enjoying these so much - i love all the incarnations of fibre and fabric, and this is allowing me to play with them all at once, incorporating many techniques. i'm scheming how to add more too - perhaps some weaving or knitting? i'm also a sucker for texture, so all the layering and building is really fun.

i'm noticing a bit of a sea change lately. in the past few years most of my crafting has been focused on "useful" items - clothing, quilts and other items that are physically used, or serve some "purpose". i've had little use for something that would just hang on the wall, for unknown reason. recently though i seem to be embracing art for its own sake. i've been doing a lot more drawing, and these art quilts have been a great exploration without thinking what will happen with the final piece. i've also been exploring a lot of other great artists out there. it's hard to put into words, as it's not so much that i didn't recognize the value of art for art's sake before. but my priorities are changing. maybe it's as simple as going from a product to a process knitter (extrapolated to other things than just knitting). or maybe i'm just redefining my definition of useful...

i'll have to think on this a bit more.

snippets

lots more stitching to go on this one, but i am beginning to see the final product in my mind's eye. whereas the last piece was largely a monochromatic affair - as many days on the coast can be - i am trying to incorporate more shades into this one. i'm also having fun experimenting with further materials. remnants from my yarn stash are perfect for starfish and mussels, and raw fleece from a friend's sheep is working well as wave foam (and fog, not seen here).



after i took these shots i started incorporating some barnacles into the mix (of course) and am debating what other creatures can join the melee. above these rocks i am building the forest edge; the raggedy, wind-beaten west coast trees. an eagle might find it's way up there, but it's currently just sitting in my thoughts.

more to see soon. the recent, tenuous reprieve from all the rain we've been getting has given me the opportunity to sit outside after work and do some stitching, which my eyes appreciate compared to my dark living room. until then, let me leave you with a shot of a recent delicious meal: shrimp, chickpea and avocado salad. yum.

point holmes

it's finished. ...and i want to start on another, right away.

this first attempt at landscape quilting was a big experiment in every sense for me. i didn't buy any new fabric for the project, and large parts of it are recycled items such as denim from old jeans, cotton from an old sheet. the other parts are a mix of cotton, linen, wool and silk, all scraps from other projects; hemp and cotton yarn that i had on hand. okay, the quilt batting is new - i did buy that just for this. it's not really that i was specifically trying to make this without buying new items, but i do have a lot of random fabrics lying around and finding a use for them was definitely rewarding. i am always happy to be less of a consumer, and the rough, worn appearance of reused fabrics lend the perfect textural quality to a landscape recreating some of the rough, worn, west coast. the piece itself is only 2 feet by just under 3 feet, but i thought it was good to start small.



quilting all these different fabrics together does have its challenges though, which can be seen in the above pic with assorted puckering (especially in the water), and i have made some mental notes for next time. this piece was mainly machine stitched, but i would like to incorporate a lot more hand stitching next go round. only the small accents are hand stitched here - the barnacles, the feathers, and the sailboat, and my appreciation for those little bits reinforces my plans for more work by hand. as well, thanks to Caro's great tutorial as an addition to Heather Bailey's binding tutorial, I think I did my best hand-sewn quilt binding yet.

the name for this piece comes from beach close to my home, with beautiful views of the strait of georgia and the coast range mountains behind. while my quilt is not geographically correct, a view of what inspired me can be seen here. i am constantly inspired by my surroundings here on the island, but to translate it so literally into a piece is new, and i am excited to explore this more. this weekend i am headed out to the real "west coast" on the other side of the island, and i know i'll be taking lots of photos (what's new?) that may become ideas for new pieces.

inspiration on a beach walk...

on saturday A and i went for a walk at point holmes. A was hunting for driftwood (he has big furniture plans) and i am always happy to mosey along the shore, beachcombing, exploring, absorbing everything around us. we were greeted as soon as we got out of the car by the enthusiastic barks of sea lions just off shore. the herring are running right now, and the seals and sea lions were driving the fish in to the shore for a feast. feasting too were the gulls, swarms of them eagerly snatching up the fish and roe that washed onto the beach. above us, quite a few eagles were surveying the scene, floating easily on thermal currents high in the air.

there was a slight haze overhead, and the wind was light, leaving the world around us in soft shades of blue and grey. i've been thinking about trying my hand at building a landscape quilt for some time now, inspired by the ones my mother has created over the years. recently i've also been inspired by the use of recycled materials and hand stitching, creating organic pieces that stray from the perfect cotton quilts in modern fabrics that populate my flickr faves (don't get me wrong, i still love those quilts too!).

so the beach got me thinking, and a few pieces of debris gathered in my big straw basket at the beach - two small dried crabs in near perfect form, a few feathers, a small piece of driftwood or two - got me started once i got home.



i cut a rectangle from a piece of grey quilting cotton, and began to add layers of denim from old pairs of jeans (lovely the many shades of blue you get), scraps from an old blue bedsheet, and strips of silk and linen. the dimension and texture from the different fabrics is pleasing so far. some of the fabric is new, admittedly, but all of it was already sitting in my stash, leftovers from other projects. and i'm liking where it is going. once i have the basic scene, i'm hoping to add layers on top with additional machine and hand stitching, incorporating yarn for more texture and possibly adding on my little beach finds to really give it life.

stay tuned...

have a seat...

gift knitting continues in all it's madness. thankfully, i seem to be getting on top of it, but then again christmas isn't here yet, so i shouldn't get all cocky about yet, should i?

these seat cushions were requested by my sister after seeing some of my string quilting experiments. i hope this is what she meant! handily, we have the same style of dining chairs, so that helped with the measurements, but i think in the end they are a bit smaller than i would have liked. should still work though. the backs are a lightly patterned blue, and make the covers easy to remove from the foam for ease of washing. i did quilt the tops to one layer of batting as well to give at least a slight "quilted" look.

i also finished two toques this weekend, which you can check out here and here. both quickie projects for my nephew and dad, respectively.

we are gearing up for our first real snowfall of the year tonight - a light dusting covers the ground outside my office right now, but we should get quite a bit more tonight. definitely helps the christmas spirit, even if i did end up having to come in to work instead of having the day off to go snowboarding as was planned...

trying to be unselfish...

the new toast catalog arrived, and has me dreaming of being wrapped in woolens and tweeds and traipsing around the scottish countryside, or at least some ideas for new clothing to make. i want a new toque for snowboarding next weekend. and some new fingerless mitts to wear in my chilly office. and a new scarf...well, you all know how it goes. but i heard there's a little holiday fast approaching. not to mention a birthday in a week. so i am pushing aside (for the moment...) what i want, and trying to do a little gift projecting.

my sister requested some medium serving bowls for her birthday, which was easy to take care of, but they needed a little personal touch. so i made these quick potholders for her, out of assorted green cottons with a natural linen binding. i was impressed how fast they came together - just an easy evening project. now who else needs potholders...?


second up (hey, they get compiled until weekends when i can take photos, daylight being such a scarce commodity around here) is probably my biggest holiday project, which is happily completed nice and early. i have been planning this quilt for my niece since the summer, and had originally planned it for her birthday in october. when that didn't come together, i was determined for christmas, and thankfully it came together pretty quickly this month.

i kind of want it for myself...but A is not so hot on us putting a pink and purple quilt on our bed. hmph.

i've got a few more projects in the wings, maybe more photos for you tomorrow. i'm working on a cute little sweater vest for my littlest nephew (aka nephew #3) and i've promised myself if i complete it this afternoon i can spend the evening on something for me. if you're looking for projects for yourself or a quick gift for a stylish friend, martha is very kindly offering a free pattern for a cool origami wrap, i haven't had a chance to take photos of the one i made yet, but it's quite cozy. i also like to wear it wrapped in front and belted.

as always, more pics to be seen on flickr