IT'S SPRING!!!!!  

..... (well, nearly spring) ..... and it's been weeks since my last post.  January and February have been insanely busy.   On top of having surgery several weeks early, I am also the Featured Artist at Handmade House.  The theme is Dreaming of Spring and consists of a lot of florals and Saskatchewan wildflowers.  The sizes range from 14" x 14" (framed size) all the way down to little pieces that are 4" x 4". 

This is a photo of the set-up at Handmade House.  I'm grateful for the invitation to show my work through this store, which in case you don't know about it, handles art from several of the juried artists of the SK Craft Council.  The prices are reasonable and it's a great place to find gifts, especially if you're in the market for one-of-a-kind art. 

Below is I Dreamed I Was an Apple Tree.  This little tree is one that I've photographed probably more than anything else. It's in the Beaver Creek conservation area and isn't alive any longer, however I love it's shape and thought it might like to be an apple tree this time around. 

This is The Fairy's Foxtails. To answer Gail's email  regarding this piece - No it's not done using a zig-zag stitch.  The whole piece is done using free motion embroidery with every single line done individually.  I generally don't use zig-zag for anything as I find it's too clunky looking. I prefer to stitch along the length of the line and then stitch back on the same line. I hope this is clear. If not, drop me another email and I'll try to explain it better. It's basically just a straight stitch where you stitch down and back on the same line of stitching. 

These are two of the pieces at Handmade House.  Drop in and have a look.

The above is Cala.  This is a portrait of a very special dog belonging to my friend Roger.  Unfortunately, Cala is no longer with us, but she was a beauty. It's very hard to see all the color changes in this piece. It was done entirely by using color blending techniques as I just couldn't find a thread that was an exact match otherwise, so stitching the piece took a very long time. However the final result was worth it. 

And speaking of critters, below is a photo of the latest additions to our family.  This is Bowie (right) and Maggie (left) (aka Bo & Mags).  They're SPCA cats and now that they've settled in, I think I'm going to simply give up on housework until they're older. Bo is only a year old and Mags is 2, but they act like kittens.  

Now that I'm more or less caught up, I'm going to devote the next while to developing new techniques.  There are several areas that I've wanted to look into and finally have the time to do so.  I hope to be able to post pictures as I go, but have to remember to actually take pictures, so we'll see.   

Till next time...............d