Betwixt and Between

Here is one of the petroglyphs I saw at the hoodoos at Writing on Stone Provincial Park, which has the highest concentration of rock art anywhere in the plains of North America. I have loved this place since I first visited it as a girl and I have wanted to see it again for a long time, so on my recent road trip, I did. The area has been sacred to the Blackfoot people for thousands of years and they believe the spirit of their ancestors dwell among these sandstone rock formations. They would come to the hoodoos on spirit quests, going without water and food for days and drawing who they met in their visions. The dolls of Blackfoot girls did not have eyes so that a Spirit would not be captured in the doll.

Miracle Cat is complete, now and came along on my recent journey. A beast who walks between the worlds, with extra long ears for deep earth and wide sky listening, and a heart nose to track desires, as well as a quiver of question whiskers to keep questing.

I noticed the Blackfoot women park guides spun their stories long and curvy, entwining their cultural past and present with their personal lives like the winding, twisting route to navigate between the hoodoos.

I love that place; that place betwixt and between.

Wherever I go, There Stitch Is

On a recent road trip through parts of BC and Alberta, I did very little stitching, deciding early on that there was too much else to take in and not wanting to miss anything. Of course, I continued finding stitch everywhere - whether tapestried chair cusheons, in quilt shops or where have you. Isn't this a lovely embroidered pillow that graced one of the beds I slept in? Not made by my hostess, though, but found at an antique shop. And here is a heritage linen on display in one of Calgary's old homes:

This thead is actual gold and was part of a liturgical exhibit in a historic church in the town of Yale, BC.

Here is some of the stitching I have been doing - this piece is nearly complete and I will post the whole of it soon.

I also went to the Victoria College of Art's open house to see a textile art exhibition called 'Narrative Articulations', which was interesting and pleasurable. While there, I signed myself up for a course on mark making with stitch taught by Lesley Turner. It's set to begin in a few months time, and I'm glad because I have alot of pieces I want to work further on, as well as past course material to digest.

Meow

I was up in the night completing basting new pieces to this cloth and later I stitched in the face, those black dots next to it - which Jude Hill calls thread beads - and a variegated thread spiral moon.

Current Threads

I went to see the 'Current Threads' show in Ladysmith yesterday, where fifteen fibre artists from the Vancouver Island Surface Design Association had their work on display - art wear, weavings, quilt art, mixed media and 3D pieces. What great variety and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Speaking of 'current' threads, here are some from the sea.

And another type hanging by the beach:

This huge rusted chain was one of many old metal items I saw, including some railway spikes, which I kept to use for rust dyeing.

It's the last week of 'Patchwork Beasts' and I'm continuing to work on my cat, extending it vertically in preparation for quilting.

Miracle Cat Learning

Continuing in the Patchwork Beasts class, I made this miracle cat yesterday - it has a heart shaped nose and question mark whiskers which it follows to fun and adventure. I am quite thrilled with this because I designed the block piece by piece without drawing a pattern and I still managed to sew it together, albeit in a very hodge podge fashion. (The legs, ears and tail were all one piece found at a garage sale long ago.) I was starting to explore this method of construction in April/May after taking the strip piecing class with Nancy Crow, but I was using strip pieced fabric then, not selecting individual fabrics and putting the pieces together as I went. The majority of my work is improvisationally appliqued or collaged and the pieced quilts have largely been either random bits sewn together, or a beggining exploration of curved piecing. I can't quite grasp yet what the significance is of this for me - perhaps a native way for me to work that I am connecting with - this time with piecing. Perhaps when I create more designs using strip pieced fabric I will get a feel for the difference and understand more. Maybe I just like the cat :) I drew a pattern for a 4 inch horse block that was far too complicated for my skill level - and the pieces were just too tiny to work with. I simplified it and came out with this - same size but about half the pieces. And, it turned into a unicorn.

And here is an experiment with having the lion be at a distance - the head and tail are turned applique and the rest is pieced.

Now on to other beasts...