time passes so quickly

Day by day it flies by, change happens.
Babies are born, they learn to speak, to walk,
then suddenly they are living four time zones away.

But things don't really change.
The sun gets up and goes down, the moon continues its 28 day cycle.
Ice comes into the lake and then goes out,
geese fly north in the spring, south in the fall.

I want to hold time.  It is so precious.

sensuous

christmas table with old family silver and the june wedding cloth

Our five senses (taste, touch, sight, sound, smell) give us material memories that the body can hold

new year's eve with melted metal luck-fortunes and sugar-coffee-lemon ready for vodka shots

in our unconscious and we are able to access that knowledge of sensuous physical experiences forever.

time, dream, memory

In this post, new work with old materials

time, dream, memory: time, 8 x 10" van dyke print, hand made paper, vintage wool, vintage photo frame, hand stitch, 2014

time, dream, memory: dream, 9 x 11", van dyke print, hand made paper, vintage wool, vintage photo frame, hand stitch 2014

time, dream, memory: mother  9 x 14"  van dyke print, hand made paper, vintage wool, photo frame and lace doilies,  hand stitch   2014

time, dream, memory: memory   8 x 10" van  dyke print, hand made paper, vintage wool, vintage photo frame, hand stitch 2014 

 
  time is material

the big world

 Layers of Time, the fourth panel of the Manitoulin Circle Project, detail.

 Layers of Time, installed in the Thunder Bay Art Gallery,  photographer Klaus Rossler

Mended World came home the other day. 

 Safely.

Next, this body of work goes to the Art Gallery of Sudbury in January 2014.  I've been to the gallery to discuss the installation with curatorial staff.  It will be beautiful.  The gallery is in an old house and the exhibition will take up both exhibition spaces on the two floors. 

circles of time

In June

I would like to thank the women who continued to quilt on this piece during the spring and into summer when I was away.  This kind of support and belief continues to amaze and inspire me. 

In July

This final panel of the Manitoulin Circle Project is entitled Layers of Time.  The wool squares, the lace doilies, the squares of damask in the lower half of the white area were layered onto foundations before being hand quilted.  All of the materials are vintage, most donated.  

I've been going in to town to quilt on this every day for the last three weeks and will continue every day for two more.  It's part of the Mended World exhibition that is scheduled to open in Thunder Bay Art Gallery in early September.

August 1

Paper templates guide where to quilt circles in the lace area.  Ten more days of quilting.  Only.
Time moves so quickly, even when you do slow things. Then it is gone.

This type of work does hold time.  So many layers and levels of time are caught here.

good news

 

Sometimes there is good news.

I have received a reprieve in regard to moving out of my studio.

Great Aunt Diana's 1956 wedding dress fits our bride daughter Grace.  (end of June wedding)

And Threadworks 2013 looks fabulous.  I spoke at the opening, click here to see that and here for more info about the exhibit.  More images of Threadworks 2013 are also up on facebook if you search.

foundations

The fourth meditation circle within its surrounding square.

 bias bindings

(note the original sketch above on the left)

poof, it's in the frame and we start quilting

Manitoulin Circle Project, every Thursday at the Little Current United Church, Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada.
All welcome.

goodness

a gift to use however I wanted

a quote pinned to my studio wall  

embroidery for luck

goodness in the world
counting on it

feminine supportive energy

Untitled, etching by (daughter) April Martin, 2011

What blogging feels like, sometimes.
Thank you for your support.

My work

 The Martyr Poets - did not tell

 But wrought their Pang in syllable -

 That when their mortal name be numb

 Their mortal fate

 encourage Some -

The Martyr Painters - never spoke -

 Bequeathing - rather - to their Work -

 That when their conscious fingers cease -

 Some seek in Art -

the Art of Peace -

Emily Dickinson

layers of time

 This post is a long overdue update about the fourth panel of the Manitoulin circle project. 

The materials: donations of many beautiful ecru pieces of domestic lace.   

 I had not planned to use lace, but perhaps they are perfect for the central circle of the last panel? 

We arranged them on a foundation made from plant dyed linen.

These two vintage pieces, hand made in Ohio, arrived in the mail in September just in time.

 Layers of lace, layers of time, take us back to another, slower era. 

 

French knots on layered nine patches made from vintage wool blankets.   Completed in August.

Vintage table linen, back stitch hand embroidery with beads, layered first on square foundations and then on this semi circle. This section also completed in August.

In the above photo you can see the original watercolour sketch.

I'll write about the upper half of the white inner circle next time.