resurrection fern

I had a fight with a rotary cutter and it won

I have been cutting and sewing fabric for a very long time but always with scissors never with a rotary cutter and now I know why. They are nasty dangerous weapons of mass destruction. I am surprised George Bush hasn't declared war on the quilter's guilds . In less than 30 minutes of using my newly purchased weapon that just so happened to be on sale at fabric land I was left with not one but two nasty lacerations to my left hand. One of these almost needed stitches and I was glad that my tetanus vaccination was up to date. Sure they cut amazing clean straight lines but is the blood loss worth it . I even ruined one of fabrics I was cutting with blood stains. I am not generally a klutz and the only time I have ever cut myself with scissors was in cutting my husbands hair once. So I did a little research and it is well known that the rate of injury with rotary cutters far exceeds that with scissors and they come with paragraphs of warnings and waivers. What was I cutting you might ask? Last week I was sketching potential embroidery pictures and drew this picture of fiddlehead ferns.

I embroidered this on some natural loose weave linen .

I decided to use this on my new spring tote bag. Last summer I started a project to make a new tote bag every season. This worked for summer and fall and then winter came suddenly as it so often does in Canada and I got so busy with making christmas gifts and the ornament exchange that I didn't make a winter tote and continued to use my fall one. So I just decided to skip winter and be ahead of the game for spring. I love making these because it gives me a chance to use some of my amazing stash of new and vintage fabrics, vintage buttons, old lace and embroidered ribbon trim. Here is the result, my awaiting the arrival of spring tote bag.

The materials in this project are vintage and new. The lining and the green background fabric are vintage linen tablecloths. The doily behind the embroidery is made of natural linen . It and the one on the handle as well as the handmade lace trim were thrift store finds. The buttons are all vintage and the white square in the border is a piece of a vintage hankie with an M embroidered on it. The amazing birch tree fabric as well as the blue on natural one in the border are lara cameron's designs the other blue and white fabric is the design of shannon , the bird and blue and green floral in the border are liberty of london cotton prints from purl and the other fabrics are japanese cottons purchased from reprodepot or superbuzzy and some kaffe fassett. The embroidered ladybug ribbon was part of a ribbon collection brought home from France by my husband on his last business trip and the other one was embroidered by moi for an earlier project.
In the end I leave you with the question was this worth the trauma? I definitely developed a deep admiration for my scissors and will be on the look out for quilters missing fingers.

Three parcels from three amazing artists

I think I hit the postal delivery jackpot this few days. It felt like christmas all over again or a very early birthday ( it's still a few months off) . I want to share with you what was delivered . First thing was an envelope from lisa congdon Lisa's blog was one of the first ones that I read almost daily and she was a great source of inspiration . She has no formal art or design training yet now she is a full time accomplished artist and gallery owner. In the parcel was the leaf print gocco I ordered from her etsy shop and I was so surprised to find she had included one of her beautiful bird prints and a lovely card .

Next up is a very interesting tubular parcel from rob ryan
I first discovered his fantastic paper cut art when I read The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. He was commissioned for the book jacket.

I love all his work and last year when he opened an etsy shop I purchased one of his printed tiles for my eldest daughter for christmas. My daughter and husband secretly ordered one of his prints for me . I love it so much and can't wait to frame it. The verse means so much to me.

I saved the best for last. The last parcel to arrive this week was a totally unexpected surprise from elsita mora
I couldn't believe it . Inside the envelope was the original painting of my favorite post this year, the bird watcher. I adore everything elsita does and she really truly does everything but something about this painting, the imagery , the colors and explanation really filled me with joy.

I discovered elsita one day last year when I was searching the art on etsy. I loved the prints she had done with the symbiosis of people and plants. This led me to her blog and I have been back there almost everyday since. Well, at least the days that she posts and I may have missed a few days when I have been away from home. I think she writes the most inspirational blog that I have ever come across. She has gone from rags to riches but has maintained such humility, kindness and integrity I still find it hard to believe some days that she is a real live human being and not a character from some incredible fairy tale. Thanks so much for the gifts but more importantly thank you lisa, rob and elsita for how you inspire and nurture creativity in others . I also want to thank my postman, you certainly earned your christmas chocolates this past week. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

the knitted yoke of spring

This post is really a continuation of the tutorial from last friday. It takes me a while to complete a project because my real job occupies most of my time . Remember this and this

Well after blocking

it was ready to be modeled. The embroidered picture shown above as a work in progress was transformed into a pin by backing it with felt .

The lace pattern on the yoke was based on a pattern I found on page 291 of the book Knitting Stitches by Mary Webb. This book has over 300 stitch patterns and this is the third one I have attempted. I would recommend this book to any knitter who wants to venture out from the basics.
While we are on the spring theme and all the lovely greenness I wanted to show a few pictures from a project I finished a few months ago. This was my own design of a tunic to layer over just about anything. It was knit on circular needles starting at the bottom up to the underarm and then was completed in sections. The yarn is a cotton/cashmere blend but I can't remember the company .

As January draws to an end I find myself dreaming of green grass, spring flowers and bunnies. What are you dreaming about?

The magic of Mushrooms

We love mushrooms. We love to eat them, collect them, take pictures of them, paint them , embroider them , make dolls that look like them , read about them...... Why the phenomenal interest in what is simply the fruity body of a fungus. Well they are simply amazing . Nutritionally they have the highest amount of selenium of any produce. They have more potassium per weight than bananas and they are excellent sources of riboflavin, niacin and pantathenic acid. Five medium mushrooms have only 20 calories and zero fat. Nutrition aside, the shitake mushroom has antiviral and potential anticancer fighting properties. Lastly a fact about mushrooms that I can really relate to is that before commercial dyes mushrooms were the most important source of textile dyes for woolens.

My favorite mushroom artists are jill bliss,tamar morgendorff,stephanie congdon barnes and annie oakleaves. My favorite children's books with mushrooms are those by Elsa Beslow especially the one about the forest children. Below are a few illustrations from that book.

Here is a photograph of my own little mushroom children.

My favorite cinematic mushrooms are those in the mushroom dance from Disney's Fantasia. Check out this you tube link for smiles two little mushrooms I leave you with a few more mushroom images from my photographs. I would love to hear about your favorite mushrooms or links to some you have crafted yourself.

and the winner is .....

Thank you to everyone who visited this blog in its first week. I really appreciate all the kind comments some of you left. Please don't hesitate to leave more in the future . I may not answer each one individually but I cherish them all. I put all the names into a cup and my daughter Deborah drew the name. The winner of the first draw was SONYA. I am going to let her choose which mushroom she wants me to send her way. I will be back soon with another post and another draw in a short time. If there is one thing I love it is giving things as gifts. Hope everyone had a great weekend .

The Story of a Boy Who Became a Tree

"If I was a tree growing tall and green. All I's want is you to shade me and be my leaves" from the soundtrack of juno and the lyrics of Barry Louis Polisar

Once upon a time, not so long ago, a little boy was born . He came into this world easily but after leaving the protective environment of his mothers womb things changed. You see inside the womb he could grow but his body was too fragile for the outside world. He couldn't drink milk like the other babies in the family had and he didn't grow. In order to be repaired he needed to be bigger and stronger. His family brought him home to care for him surrounded by love. His mother spent all the hours in a day trying to feed him, warm him and love him so he would grow. His father spent all his time caring for his brother and sisters . Despite all the love and care he was given the little boy never grew and one night when he was sleeping he stopped breathing. His family was sad that their little boy would never grow up and be able to experience the things that this family loved to do together . Spring passed by and at the beginning of summer the little boy's father and sister set out on a canoe trip to a very special area where the oldest white pine trees in the forest grew. It was a very hard trip for a young girl to make but she managed it. They placed the little boy's ashes under the spectacular pine trees . They camped for the night and then headed back home in the canoe. The little boy's ashes became one with the earth and over the years he became part of the matrix of the great white pine trees in that area. For the first time in his life he grew and will continue to do so because this area is protected .

Did you know that the white pine is the only pine tree that spells its name with its little bunches of 5 needles.
Happy birthday little tree boy

how to knit a yoke

I have been asked by a few readers how the knitted yoke is attached to the fabric in the grey and yellow tops. It is the same concept as the making of the mushroom but I thought a series of pictures might help. The first picture shows the variety of trims I have used for this technique. I am sure there are more but these are readily available at most fabric shops , easy to sew and I know they work . The top in this series is a cotton turtleneck that I bought when it was dramatically reduced at banana republic. I am not that fond of turtleneck sweaters but I loved the color.

The next step is to knit the rounds to the desired length in whatever pattern you want. Plain knitting looks great but I liked the way the lace pattern turned out so I might try another simple lace pattern . I will post a picture when it is done. Thanks for the interest and I hope to see the results of your projects posted on flickr soon. Have a wonderful friday.

a spider and a web

Remember this from a few days ago. When I saw it drying it reminded me of a spider's web. I decided to embroider a spider and chose the anelasimus studiosus just because I liked it's colors . I then turned this into a pin.

This is the final product.

Don't forget to leave a comment this week so your name can be entered into the draw for the mushroom softie from the earlier post.

Babushka mystery

Have you ever encountered some person in your community or travels where you felt some strong immediate connection to them without any conversation or even eye contact with them. My daughter and I have had this with a woman in our town we have called the green or red babushka depending on which winter outfit she is wearing.

I adore this woman's old world fashion sense and the way that she coordinates her outfits. We see her every tuesday morning when my daughter and I go to starbucks to get lattes before school. She leaves her apartment, feeds the birds in the park, weather permitting and then walks with her large matching shopping bag to the bus stop and gets on the first bus heading north towards the next town. We try to guess her name and have invented a few stories as to where she goes and what she does there. One version is that her name is Eva and she immigrated with her husband from eastern europe. Her husband is sick and is in the hospital or nursing home in the next town and she goes there everyday to care for him . One day I will introduce myself to this woman and will report back to you with the true story . For now Deborah and I are trying to guess what color her spring ensemble will be. We think yellow like the color of daffodils. Do you have special people like this in your community?

The World lost a great Canadian last week

Just a quick post to pay tribute to the greatest jazz pianist of all time and a great Canadian, OSCAR PETERSON (1925-2007). He died recently in his home just west of Toronto at the age of 82. A tribute was held on Saturday in Toronto with many amazing jazz musicians playing his music. His youngest daughter Celine , aged 16 ( yes that isn't a typo ) gave a heart warming tribute to her wonderful father. He started playing the piano at the age of 5 ( remember my first post with the quote from ashley g about what you are doing when your 5.....) taught by his sister Daisy. He even continued to play and give concerts after he suffered a stroke in 1993 that left him paralyzed on his left side. My husband was honored to meet him in a hotel elevator in Montreal after the stroke when he was in a wheelchair. He will never forget that encounter. If you could only listen to one of his recording I would recommend you listen to the title track of the Oscar Peterson Trio's recording Night Train .