blue

2 new shows are opening at the newfoundland and labrador craft council gallery this afternoon from 2- 4:00. i have a couple of my new felt pieces in the "blue" show in the annex gallery.

starting small. again.

every winter i start buying cut flowers at the grocery store to bring into the house for colour. large bouquets of carnations and daisies and freesia and lilies. but when spring comes, i put away the big vases and pull out my collection of small vases. i bring tiny flowers in from the garden. a single miniature daffodil, a few sprigs of forsythia. a tiny bouquet of anemones.

soft landing

i've worked hard all week (long hours) and finished off the "wildly colourful" order that's going to sheep's clothing in cape breton.
so yesterday afternoon, as a reward, i started work on a new felted piece. i plan on incorporating some of the gorgeous silk chiffon that i got in san francisco into it. and some embroidery. very excited.

head down and moving forward

yesterday was a tough one to get through. i was tired after staying up so late watching election results. and i was depressed and frankly horrified by the results (a conservative majority). i dyed and spun all day and in the late afternoon i had a 2 hour nap (unheard of). when i woke i went out into the garden and noticed how much the garlic has grown in the past few days of warmth and sunlight. and decided not to dwell on what was out of my control.

orange but blue

yesterday (election day in canada) brought with it a roller coaster of emotions. i spun up this large orange skein in the afternoon. orange is the colour of the ndp (new democratic party). sending well wishes to all it's candidates. and well they did - becoming for the first time in canadian history the official opposition party. this was partly due to the youth vote and i find that overwhelmingly encouraging for the future. but in the mean time, the conservative party was re-elected. stronger than ever and this time with a majority. and it terrifies me to think of what stephen harper will shape this country into.

lots of slub and bling

often the orders i get call for specific colours. like the one to banff that wanted only natural colours (greens and browns) or the one i sent off last week to quebec where they called for kits with just reds and blues. today i start spinning for sheepsclothing in nova scotia and the directions on the order are" "wild, funky, jewel tones, bright colours, lots of slub and bling". so all weekend (in and out of the garden) i've been dyeing up bright colours. and even had a go at mixing the colours in the pot (i usually mix my colours as i card the fleece. i guess the difference of mixing colours on the palette or mixing them on the canvas). this will be a fun order...

stanley plum

a month after my first grandson was born (11 years ago), my son planted a plum tree in his honour. "stanley" became almost a member of the family. we marvelled at his blossoms in the spring. i sat and read under him for shade in the summer. and we got baskets of plums from him each fall. in the winter we watched the birds at the bird feeder that we hung from his branches. but half-way through his short life we began to notice black rot (a disease pervasive to fruit trees in this area). we cut off limbs that were infected. each year there was more and more and we realized that it was also up through his trunk and probably in his roots (when you leaned against him, he tottered). i didn't want to watch his blossoms come this spring and then cut him down. so yesterday keith hauled him down. his roots were so diseased that it was no problem getting him down without even chopping. the yard seems empty without him. we'll plant another plum tree on the far corner of the yard and this time try not to get attached...