This will be my last post for a week. I'm going on a much-needed vacation, spending it with my family who live in McKinney, Texas. It's a celebrate-nephew's-birthday-and-Christmas kind of vacation. It turns out that the Canton flea market is taking place while I'm there and we're planning to go.

Be well.
Be safe.
Be happy.

With so much turmoil in the world, I'm grateful to have my work; in fact, the more turmoil, the more I want to make beautiful things .

Take a scrap of silk........see a shape in it.....stitch.

On the street where I live.

Two cottages, recently vacated by their occupants, an extended family of Elves that has gone to the North Pole for the season. In the meantime, the houses are migrating to my Etsy shop.

This book has been on my amazon.ca wish list all year.I was pulled in by the title, and the cover illustration which echoes one of my favourite paintings, Reverend Walker Skating. Looking inside it, I discovered a world I can relate to. It's the kind of notebook (you could say journal, but it's not quite that) that I really like.
I think I'll give it to myself for Christmas. As soon as a certain paycheck arrives.

Barometric pressure.
Headache.
Resting.
At home.

Vol de Nuit

I've been drawing birds. Since they're for a magazine assignment, I can't show them to you just yet. But I can show you this. Is it a bird or an airplane....? I drew it in my scrapbook. I had good intentions with this scrapbook; I started gluing things in it, but it ended up being a sketchbook. Reverting to my true nature... the moral of which is be who you are.

I was thinking of St-Exupéry's book Vol de Nuit [Night Flight]. The Little Prince is his best-known work, but Vol de Nuit is what sticks in my mind. 

 

 

He slept here (Quebec)

Art is our memory of love. The most an artist can do through their work is say, let me show you what I have seen, what I have loved, and perhaps you will see it and love it too.-- Annie Bevan

I've been slowly filling up my Etsy shop for your holiday shopping pleasure, one of the items on my To-Do list as I'll be away the first week of December visiting my family. One "to-do" down, three more to go.

Silent Sunday

I like the "silence" in this small painting.


Acrylic on canvas. Available. Please contact me if interested in purchasing.



More channeling of my BFF Lynn. The floppy bunny ear, though, is all mine. When learning from another artist, the idea is not to reproduce their work, but to strive to make it yours. I started with a wonky bunny ear....

Swell. She's doing the ear thing again!

Friday's child

As you can see, I'm back to normal...

Une femme mal parfumée est une femme perdue -- Chanel
[Rough translation: There's no hope for a woman who is badly perfumed]

For my Chanel peeps: Beth and Claire

*With apologies to Monsieur Calvin Klein*

Silver Bella Postscript

God is in the details. Jackie of the soft smile and generous heart gave me this as a gift. I have drawn and painted pears for years so I loved it, but it was a detail that caught my eye: a shrink-wrap version of one of my rubber stamps, Vintage Blouse.

A little more fun -- and then, back to work, an assignment and a lot of housework.

Using Lynn Whipple's kit, I made this. But first, I rushed off to Fabricland to get a tracing wheel (it cost under $2). The tracing wheel was a tip that Lynn shared in her class, and it's one of the best. I visited towards the end of her last class, and was entirely smitten. I adore her Ninnies, so you can imagine............

"L'Etat c'est moi." One of the quotations from history class in elementary school that came to  mind. Odd what sticks in one's mind... This will be a Christmas gift for someone special.

And another thing...

There is a huge bonus to Silver Bella for someone like me: meeting the other instructors. Most I knew by reputation, one I knew from little chats via our blogs. Hats off to Teresa for perfect mix! I made some new friends, good ones with whom I hope and want to cross paths again. I was truly moved by their acceptance of me, their sharing, their humour, their talents, their generosity.

I made these last night; they are my relaxation technique...inspired by Charlotte (houses) and Lynn ("bunny"ears!!), using the felted sweater scraps (a whole bagful) that my roomie Betz gave me. It's hard to believe that they are pieces of sweaters.....

Next up I'll be using the little pile of gorgeous fabrics that Kaari gave me. They are samples of her amazing new line.

The Long Hello, Part III

And here are some of my students. I wish I could have photographed them individually, but time was short.

Zita, my fellow Canadian and student -- what are the chances? What's more, she's a PhD (a medical ethicist meets a medical journalist (me, but I'm a mere MA)-- yes, what ARE the chances??

My Robin of the big, mushy heart! And my good friend Jenny Doh (yes! Jenny Doh in my class). Again, what are the chances?

Danielle, the cutie from New York. I wouldn't let her cut the lace; I styled her instead!

The three graces. Another delicious shock was to find Amy Power (centre) in my class. Suz and her sweet friend, two giving hearts.

Three generations: Mother, daughter, granddaughter!! One more time: What ARE the chances?

Jackie, in the yellow sweater, so supportive and giving she brought tears to my eyes. The flower girl is Robin's sister, Roxie.

Wendy and... Denise (Corey Amaro's cousin). Dare I say it again: What ARE the chances?

That's it for today. I must get some groceries. See you tomorrow with more.

The Long Hello, Part II

This post is about the people. Because it's the people who make or break a gathering. Silver Bella was crackling with a very good, creative, positive energy. I salute every single one of you!

Here are some of their wonderful creations. They surely outdid the teacher!

The Long Hello, Part I

I'm back from Omaha. So much is going on in my head that I can't find the words. So I'll start with the end and work my way back to Day 1 of Silver Bella.
        Yesterday I had a few hours to kill before going to the airport to catch my flight home, so I went to Second Chance antiques because I hadn't had time to do so before. I spent a while downstairs rooting around the old jewelry and textile stuff and was entertained by Sally Jean, also rooting around. Her friend pulled out a little blue box and told her she should buy it. She didn't think so. I stepped in and pointed out that the colour was Sally Jean Blue. "Put that way, I have to buy it," she said. That Sally Jean. If she could bottle her smile, it would sell very well.
         Upstairs at the cash desk waiting to pay for my little items, I overheard a conversation. Being much bolder as I grow older, I asked the customer what her name was. Annie Lockhart, she answered. There ensued an "I know you, I know you too!!!" exchange.
          When I got to Eppley Airfield, the check-in person didn't have change so I had to pay the baggage fee by credit card. I pulled out my Umbra Bungee credit card holder, and she was fascinated by it. We finished the check-in, and she asked me where I got it etc. etc. It's Canadian, I said, made by Umbra, a Canadian company. Can I get it online? she asked. I had no idea. I must have one, she said.
           Then something happened: Without thinking (I mean, a totally empty mind, so I think it was a kind of intuitive push), I emptied the thing and handed it over to her. She was shocked, I think she babbled a little. But she was very, very happy.

 It's good to leave a little happiness behind.

This morning I woke up to this! A gift from a kindred spirit, Lynn Whipple xo.

The Long Weekend

Tomorrow I leave for Omaha, and will be gone for a long weekend.
I'll be returning home on Sunday night and will report on my adventures in Bellaland early next week.
Be well, be safe, be happy.

Getting ready for Silver Bella. Making things for vendor night. Packing bit by bit. In a few days it will be a reality.

I've been unstoppably obsessed with whites lately.

Now I know why: Yesterday I found out who my roomie is going to be. Her last name is...White!

Friday's child

A file folder for special papers.

Stitch all the elements onto background fabric, then stitch on the folder.

Pocket inside the folder

Back of file

The view from here

As The World  Leaf Turns

Bye Bye Dano

James MacArthur, the original Dano on Hawaii 5-O, and my favorite character, has died. I mentioned him in a post below, and today I see this...

R.I.P. and thank you -- you were special.

Blinding sunlight outside; dazzling whites inside.

Like this. There's no greater satisfaction that making something completely from scratch. The only thing I didn't make was the fabric.

Where did Monday go?

All of a sudden it's Tuesday.

Yesterday was a flurry of activity. I combined that with my daily exercise and walked everywhere, beginning with a power walk to downtown. My power walks come naturally; I'm a brisk walker, I can't help it. Slow walking drives me crazy. Unless it's by design.

Anyway, in the evening my form of relaxation is still needle and thread. Sometimes when watching TV. Last night's episode of Hawaii 5-O was excellent (Adam Beach was in it -- enough said), but I couldn't help thinking how different this Dano is from the original Dano. This one is hyper, the original Dano was calm and rock-like.