Group of Eight Fibre Artists Show...

Our Group of Eight Fibre Artists show is now hanging at the Halton Hills Cultural Centre, in downtown Georgetown, 9 Church Street, Halton Hills, ON, L7G 2A3. We hope you have a chance to come and see our work. The show runs from today until September 20th.

Here's a peek of what you'll see. There is work from seven of the nine artists currently in our group.

Those Lines Aren't Straight!

You know it's time to tidy the studio and inventory your work when you happen upon a piece that you started a couple of years ago, finished many months ago, and realize you still haven't put a label or hanging device on it!

As I considered what to call this piece, I was reminded about something that happened while working on this piece at a show one day. I got such a chuckle out of a young boy who said to me, with some concern in his voice, "Those lines aren't straight!" 

And so, I have decided to use that as my title.

Summer's Busy, But I'm Checking In...

Summer posts are just not happening this year, but I thought I'd pop in to share a couple of things I've finished.

 "Snakes and Ladders" is now finished and framed and will be showing at the Halton Hills Cultural Centre as part of our Group of Eight show, running from August 18th until September 20. If you're in the area, I hope you'll stop by to see our work.

"Stitch Meanderings" is also finished and mounted onto a stretched canvas. You can come and see it in person at the show too.


I've also been busy making an I Spy quilt. I'll post pictures of that when I get a chance. Until then, I hope you're having a wonderful August!

'Three Squared' is Finished...

Yesterday I shared with you the wonderful weekend workshop I participated in with Alice Vander Vennen (see it here). So I'm just quickly popping in to show you this piece, which I've called 'Three Squared', finished and framed.

The first shot shows it with the mat, and the second after it's signed and framed (but sadly with terrible reflections...how do you photograph art behind glass?).

Weekend Workshop with Alice Vander Vennen...

I just spent the most wonderful weekend with my Group of Eight friends and the incredibly talented Alice Vander Vennen. It was a fun filled workshop and the work that was produced was fabulous. Here are the pieces I have come away with...

We started with a couple of small exercises to get us warmed up. These were intended to be used for cards so we mounted them on card blanks.

The next exercise was a little larger, but we were still working quickly and loosely. I love the juxtaposition of the various fibres and textures combined with the minimal hand stitch.

This small square piece, framed in a 10" square frame, started out as a card, but I worked back into it a bit and decided to frame it.

These two photos are close ups of individual components of a larger piece. 

There is still a little more work that will go into this piece before it's ready to be framed.

This piece is the start of a work in progress. I honestly don't know where this will take me, but I love the relatively fast, intuitive manner in which it's coming together. Time will tell where it goes and what it becomes ;)

Wafer was a most wonderful companion during the weekend. Although she loves little silk scraps and thinks of them a bit like chewing gum, for a six month old (today's her half birthday) she did very well during the two day workshop. I'm proud of my silly girl!

Ontario Network of Needleworkers (ONN) Conference

Yesterday I participated in the 2015 ONN conference, hosted by the Canadian Embroiderers' Guild, Guelph chapter. It was another well organized and productive meeting. Thank you to all who were involved in organizing the day!

In addition to the meeting itself, each guild attending sets up a display of of members' work to showcase what they have been doing, so I thought I'd share with you our display. There are only nine of us in our Group of Eight Fibre Artists group, but I am always awestruck by the incredible talent and versatility of our members!

For those of you keeping up on my foster puppies, that is 4 month old Wafer, practising her down-stay in the first photo.

The beautiful Miss Yoshi will be going off to puppy university in a couple of weeks to begin her formal training. She has been selected for the SSD program which means she will be working with an individual with a physical disability when she and her client graduate. I couldn't be more proud of her. She is an incredible puppy and will make someone's life so much better!

Hanging Fibre Art...

Yesterday my friend and I went to see the fibre art show, Edge of The Forest. If you get a chance to see the show, currently at Art Square Gallery in Toronto (until May 4th), it is certainly worthwhile! I was especially taken by the beautiful work of Sheila Thompson. Her stunning felt art pieces are incredible!

The show did leave me wondering about 'traditional galleries' hanging fibre art. As this image shows, the art is hung using the same system that probably works well for framed art, canvases, etc., but I felt it didn't showcase these pieces in the best way.

I know that when I was involved in hanging the Fibre Content shows, those of us hanging the shows were a group of fibre artists (and friends/family) who understood the work and used a variety of means to hang the pieces so that the method chosen suited the particular piece, rather than using one system and trying to make all of the pieces conform to that 'structure'.

I sometimes also notice that attempts are made to hang fibre art pieces using traditional quilt show hanging methods...again, not alway the best way to showcase the work.

What do you think?



As stated above, I think the show is worth seeing, but if you are unable to get out to one the venues, you can also see the work on their site.

I took a few detailed photos of some of the pieces since I was so taken by the beautiful work. No commentary...just enjoy...

Finally Some Fibre Art...

I'm totally perplexed by this image. It's a shot
of the back, showing the doodle quilting,
but the piece is backed with BLACK!

I went to our regional SAQA Central Canada meeting a couple of weeks ago and among other things we had a trunk show by Al Cote.

Al is a very interesting and talented gentleman! He explained one of his techniques, which he offers as a class, and it sounded like a lot of fun so I'm giving it a try. I can't be sure I'm doing quite what he described, but if not, it was a great springboard to get me back to my studio.

These are a few of the pictures I took while working on the early stages of the piece. Hopefully I'll have more to share soon.

World of Threads...

A perfect 'sit-stay'

Last week, while Yoshi and I were puppysitting a 13 wk old Future Dog Guide puppy, we were in Oakville and had some time to fill, so I decided to pop in to see the World of Threads fibre art exhibition. What an incredible show.  If you haven't seen it yet, it runs until Nov. 30th and it is well worth seeing!

Here is just a glimpse at a few of the pieces, with these two future dog guides in the foreground.

The puppies were more interested in who was
coming down the hall than in the art behind them!

In addition to enjoying the art, it was a wonderful training opportunity for the puppies. Yoshi is now almost 7 months and she and little Kermit were amazing ambassadors for the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides!

Kermit, how can you sit without slipping?

I loved this particular installation, although the photography doesn't do much for it. The location they chose, with the back lighting, was fabulous but very hard to photograph.

It's on the floor...does that mean we can touch it?

Yup, enough with the fibre art...

No, I'm done posing...

This piece was beautiful...stunning colour and texture...I can only imagine the time that went in to it!

Yoshi, you'd look pretty in a crown like this!

Okay, one more good 'sit-stay'
and then can we go?

Seriously Yoshi, we need to find a
12 step program for your mom...
this fibre art addiction is worrisome!

Kermit was thrilled to be home again and
'out of jacket' so he could resume wrestling
with Yoshi. She doesn't look it here, but
she enjoyed the playtime just as much!

...And About a Million to Go...

Here's another couple of pictures of the piece I'm currently working on.  It is going to involve a crazy amount of French knots as well as some other hand stitching before it's done...which may not be for some time since I'm babysitting a few additional future dog guide puppies in the next while.  

Yoshi and I will enjoy the puppies, but I don't know how much time I'll find for my art. LOL. However, when I do find time for this, I must say it is relaxing!

Focus on Texture...

Fibre Content is now open (Sept. 9-16) and today I was acting as docent for the afternoon. While I was wandering around the gallery, I was so enthralled with the incredible texture in the art! I took some close-up detail shots of many of the pieces to share these fabulous snippets of texture.

I do hope you are able to go and see the show in in person!