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Wednesday 31 October 2018

Philip Edward Island Inspiration

In July, I had the privilege of kayaking with a wonderful group of women along Philip Edward Island which is crown land in Georgian Bay near Killarney, Ontario. The Georgian Bay landscape is breathtaking and very different than Algonquin Park where we've canoed in past years.

This is our second year of kayaking and we were more comfortable with it this year and have learned how to efficiently pack our gear into our kayaks. We were a little concerned with the rougher water in Georgian Bay but found the kayaks handled well and we also stayed close to the shoreline as we traveled. Using kayaks makes portaging almost impossible so we stayed at one site and explored the surrounding area in day trips.

The weather was perfect with beautiful sunshine, warm nights and refreshing water for swimming. The bugs were only bad right at dusk however, we did have a fish fly plague one day of our exploration.

Below are the 4 X 6 inch watercolour cards of the scenery we experienced. Each participant received one of the original paintings.

Chikanishing Creek 


Evening Paddle


Sheltered Cove


Exploring

PEI Campsite(Philip Edward Island) 


PEI Sunset (Philip Edward Island)


West Desjardin Bay


Beechey Point


Kayaks


Overlooking Georgian Bay


Dead Tree


Thursday 25 October 2018

Finishing a More Traditional Quilt

I've taken a break from my Art Quilt and turned to a more traditional quilt that I have been working on with my sister and a friend.  It is comprised of pastel coloured batik fabric and each large block is separated by white sashing. The quilt top was completed this Spring and it has been waiting to be quilted and finished off so I pulled it out and spent this week quilting and putting a narrow border around it. I used a walking foot on my domestic sewing machine to quilt each large square. It will be donated to a fundraiser in the future.

I think it would make a great crib quilt.




Thursday 18 October 2018

Latest Watercolour Cards

As the seasons change so do my watercolour cards. I try to paint my cards from life and so the subject matter, colour and feel of the cards change. These cards give me a great reflection of the year in nature. Here are a few of the latest cards.


















Thursday 11 October 2018

More Progress on the Art Quilt

I admit, I have been procrastinating. Sometimes when I hit an impasse, I procrastinate. I wasn't sure if the mist was working on my canoe art quilt so I just let it sit on my design wall for a couple of weeks. This morning I decided, I had to move forward on it so that was my goal for today.

I did receive some feedback on my query from last week's blog and based on that, I decided to add one more layer of organza to the mist section and then be done with it. I may still be able to enhance that area with quilting when I get to that stage.

After I added the organza, I trimmed the quilt top to straighten the edges.



I thought you might also like to see what the back of the quilt top looks like. It is a mess of seams and thread but from a distance, it looks pretty cool too, I think.



This is a close up of the upper left of the back.

I then sewed 4 inch strips of black cotton all around the edges of the quilt. This is not meant to be the border. I plan to have this quilt stretched and framed like a painting and so these black strips will help to stretch the quilt onto stretcher bars. Once it is stretched, you won't see the black. The quilt image will go right to the edge of the stretcher.


I am now placing the batting and the back fabric on the quilt top and then quilting can begin.

Friday 5 October 2018

Finding Inspiration and Needing Assistance with Canoe Quilt

Yes, I am a day late with my blog. This week has been really busy and my art day was taken up with activities that were not all art related but necessary and enjoyable. One of those activities was a short hike in a nearby Conservation Area. When the weather is nice, I've learned, we have to take advantage of it. All the more because winter is on it's way and we tend to spend less time out of doors when its cold and snowy.

Since I hadn't done much art yesterday, I decided to take my camera along and shoot some inspiration shots of fall colours beginning and the transition of plants to their winter looks.













I also have been procrastinating on my art quilt because I'm struggling with the mist. Below are two photos of the quilt. The first has several layers of organza in the area of the mist and the second has one layer of organza and one layer of some lace I found in my stash. I'm wondering is less is more or if more is more. Could you let me know which one looks the most like mist rising from the water? Or if it doesn't at all let me know that too and I'll go back to the drawing board.





Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone!