Stitching Progress

I finished the background piecing over the weekend.  I wasn't so sure about some of the fabric choices and left this on my design wall for a few days to ponder.  I did end up changing some of the fabric strips.  I was aiming for a dull, light green background.

Today I separated the pieced fabric into two halves, and cut generous seam allowances.  In this photo, I'm trying out a few different browns for the tree trunk and some possible placement for the stems.  All these dark fabrics have been pinned --I'll stitch them down over the next couple of days.  I might play around a bit more with the "trunk".

I've spent an enjoyable afternoon today listening to CBC radio and stitching leaves.  On some of the thinner silks, I fused interfacing, marked out some leaf shapes, and stitched two layers with right sides together.

These aren't boats, they're leaves!  You can see the slit that I cut in order to turn the "leaf" right side out.

It's starting to look like I expected!  I pinned all the leaves I made today randomly to the stems.  

Here's a close-up of the leaves pinned to the background.

Starting a New Stole

This stole has been commissioned by a congregation as a gift for a departing pastor.  It has to be green for Ordinary Times, and a Tree of Life motif was requested.  The narrow width of a stole (about 5 1/2 inches) does not allow much room for such a large motif--it was my husband Lloyd who suggested using the negative space in between the two lengths as the trunk of the tree.  I think that was a pretty good idea!

Designs #1and #2

 I sent this image to the client a few days ago and she indicated that she liked the motif in #1 and the water in #2.

A wonderful array of materials--neckties and cotton fabrics--was collected by the congregation.

Design #3 combines the tree of #1 and the water in #2.
I've also stitched some sample leaf and stem shapes.  

 I think I'll be making a lot of cording for stems and faced shapes for the leaves!  These will be appliquéd onto the background.

I plan to piece a light green background out of these fabrics:

"Water" on the left and background materials on the right.

Materials for leaves, stems and trunk

Creative Juices Flowing...

I'm getting ready to teach a colour workshop at the 14th Annual Okanagan Knitting Retreat in May.  My workshop is "Colour Foundations", and so I've pulled out all my notes on colour as well as books and materials.  Once again I've had the greatest fun sorting my yarn collection into a giant colour wheel, just like we'll be doing in the workshop.

Isn't this a heart-warming array of yarn?!

I'm also getting ready to teach a Free Form knitting class at Gallery Vertigo in downtown Vernon on Saturday April 28th from 12:30 - 4:30 PM.  The cost is $40.00 plus $5.00 for materials.  Register at the gallery by April 21st.  We'll be using the same yarns as pictured above.  I've just finished a free form tea cozy...

This is a great technique for small amounts of wool.

Home for 4 Weeks and Getting Used to Life in Canada

We have it so good here, and travel certainly makes us appreciate home! Being home also means catching up with the political realities of life in Canada.  Our Conservative federal government has recently enacted some heart-breaking cuts to our social fabric.  What follows is a posting from Lucy Neatby, an extraordinary knitter in Nova Scotia.  Check out her other postings at Happy Stitches.


Save CAP!
Our inspired government has just sent out a cunningly timed zap. Quickly and quietly it axed the Community Access Program late in the evening (with a late night email!) before Easter weekend. Sneaky.
This program has been carefully developed since 1995 “to provide Canadians with access to the Internet and its economic benefits”, which the document goes on to admit has been a success. They are letting us know that the job is now done and no one needs this any more. This is nonsense!
What CAP has done is provide computers and internet access to any member of society in their own community for free or very inexpensively. (There are still communities without even this.)
Life these days revolves around the internet: for access to government programs – go to this website, apply for a job – go to this website. The list is long: start a small business, medical information, technical resources, books, etc. Without internet access, the world is being denied to you, especially considering that since the 1990′s most of our economic, social, and institutional intercourse has moved to the internet. So we are now being told that if you have no money or power, you really don’t need access to the information and other resources the rest of us take for granted and even view as essential.
Many fiscally responsible people cannot afford the expense of mobile data plans, monthly internet subscription, or justify the purchase of ephemeral computer equipment for a just a modest amount of use, or, since it was never a part of their lives, even have the knowledge to use this equipment and appreciate the possibilities this could open for them. The CAP sites have been places where people could learn basic computer literacy, where homeless (temporarily or otherwise) people have been given a chance to connect with relatives and services, where older people have been introduced to the wonders of the internet and the world wide web as part of a community of citizens.
In addition, the effort put into maintaining and managing these sites in many small villages has rekindled a community spirit, a spirit lost since the local schools and small stores have gradually been closed. We need people living and working in rural areas to keep the country alive. CAP sites provide an enormous return in social good for what is really very little financial investment by the government.
Once again, as a society, we are disenfranchising the old, the young, the disabled, the poor, the homeless: we are letting them know that they should not expect much, as our society only values the financially well-off, the politically powerful, and the physically able. This is just wrong, totally unfair. My own feeling is that the better we care for all members of our communities, the happier and more peaceful we will be as a society.
You have internet access and know what it means to you. Speak up for someone else who doesn’t.
Visit this site and say something using this form: I have!
Please pass this information on to any Canadian friends and tourists planning to visit Canada this year.


I have written to my MP describing my concerns about eliminating this program.  He obviously hasn't been in our local library to see the line-ups for the computer stations.  Most of these folk either don't have homes or can't afford to own a computer and pay for the internet connection.  How else are they going to keep in touch with their families?  How are they going to access forms on a website??


And while I have your attention, I'm not pleased with the proposed cuts to the CBC.  Valuable programs like "Dispatches" will be eliminated.  Again, while travelling, I realized how we Canadians know a lot about current events in the rest of the world, and for me that's because of CBC programs like Dispatches.