Dorothy Caldwell workshop

I was so fortunate to take Dorothy Caldwell's human mark making workshop last week. We were under a big tent on the grounds of Langs Pioneer Village-it was so idyllic! Stitching, painting and chatting for three days, while listening to sheep and crowing roasters. 

Dorothy is a gentle, enthusiastic and generous teacher. And she produces wonderful work. I am trying to make sense of what I learned-how to move the ideas into my work. It was such fun.

finger prints on paper-but look at the grey pebbles around the paper-that's a quilt!

Dorothy showing us a piece created by students from the "blindfold stitching" exercise we did.

close up- random marks are the blindfold stitches, surrounded by Kantha stitch

A small table besides Dorothy's sewing chair-where she does ALL her stitching.

Surprise in the greenhouse

During a recent Ottawa greenhouse tour-amongst the beautiful plants were signs of little people at play. It was a surprise and so much fun to find.

a greenhouse visit with surprise creatures

isn't he cute

...and his buddy close by

oh how I love succulents.

course with Penny Berens

I took a course with Penny Berens, organized by the Kingston Fibreworks group. Penny had us zero in on a detail of a picture and experiment as to how we might represent that detail. I made a few coloured versions before I cut into my fabric. Have yet to finish it- but a very fun process.

Pennys wonderful hand applic

pennys work

     

my small colour renditions

this is the one I picked

here is the start of my work

Fibre Art Award

I am thrilled to say my work "Three Spoons" was chosen for the Fibre Art Award in the 35th Annual Insights Juried Exhibition, a presentation by the

Elora Arts Council. They received 390 entries and the work on display is terrific. The show is on now till August 31st, 2014 at the Wellington County Museum and Archives, Fergus, ON. Great day trip: visit the gallery and linger in Elora for lunch and a little shopping!

Grandmothers group fibre show

What a wonderful exhibit-organized by the Waterloo Omas Siskona (Grandmothers of Steven Lewis foundation) The show titled Creating Futures-Threads of Hope for African Grandmothers is a real beauty.
The City of Waterloo Museum staff did a fantastic installation job. The show is on now till Sept.28th and than will tour till May 2015.

my work titled We See You

printing on organza sheets.
thanks to Margo who gave me fabric from Uganda.

course with Susan Carlson

I took a fun class with Susan Carlson organized by the York Heritage Quilts Guild. Susan is the author of Serendipity Quilts and has a wonderful sense of tonal colours and shading. She offers some wonderful retreats at her home studio-looks like a lot of fun.

Susan's work.

one of the many patterns Susan gave us to work with.

Susan's book.

my piece

detail of my work.

Goose out of water?

As I drove thru an old parking lot- I came upon this interesting fellow.

Right in the middle of curbs and concrete- Do you ever feel like a "goose" out of water? I do when I have to pretend I know how to "art talk." I recently read a review that described the artist work as deskilled. Work that is meant to confuse and disgust the viewer. Wow-that sounds like bad art to me! but I don't know "artese." Wonder if you can take a course on that one?

QR Quilt

Happy Good Friday. Little bit of sewing, little bit of cooking, tiny bit of housework. Finished my QR Cambridge quilt. It reads- try it!

Lorraine Roy, Dundas, Ontario

I took a collage course from Lorraine Roy last weekend- it was great.
Lot of fun working with fabrics - even the ugly ones. 
www.lroytextileart.com 
Here's the start of my three projects and a couple of my classmates work.
I'll post a picture of my work when I am done. 

my classmates work

my classmates work

It all started with a bag of wool scraps. First I made wrist cuffs and than I used the scraps in a piece of work. Adds a nice dimension, easy to hand stitch. Called Density.