The Mothering Bundles in Toronto

Since 2022, I have been tidying up items I've saved from my artist-mothering life by wrapping them in pieces of wool blanket.   

I call the resulting objects Mothering Bundles.

#33  

Each bundle has a number so that I can remember what is inside it because I forget what is inside a bundle almost as soon as I start stitching it shut.

Number 33 above contains:  Two maternity blouses that I embroidered, the small tea cloth that the young Brownies in Rainy River embroidered and gave me when I left my teaching job to move in with Ned and marry him.  Also contained in this same bundle are several friendship bracelets made by my daughters.

in the window, our daughter April's quilt, Spider Silk

Art is not just a respite or escape, it is a formidable tool for gaining perspective in troubled times.  Olivia Laing

I made a list of what is inside each bundle.  

So far, there are 38.  

It is an ongoing project and I hope to continue to bundle.

Sometimes, I need to open one up and retrieve an item so this list is valuable.  

(There is also a small green account book with written details about bundle contents).  

It is necessary to abolish distinction between art and life.  Marcel Duchamp  1957

the quilt on the wall is called Sunflower Sky

They are simple things, these bundles

They feel safe and calm.

They invite you to slow down and consider your own life.

They help you to connect to your inner self.

They are as mysterious as the stars in the sky.

#20

Number 20 (above) contains eleven canvas draw-string camping bags that Ned inherited from his cousin Richard.  Labelled with black ink, ( coffee, flour, white beans, rice, brown sugar, wheat porridge, candy, spices, milk powder and tea) they are in two sizes.  

from left to right:  Judy Martin's The Beauty of the Green Earth, some Mothering Bundles, and then April Martin's Neptune in Pices, Hourglass in the Sky, Same Same (above) and June Skies (below) Far right is Judy Martin's Lake Full of Stars.  

The images in this post are of the exhibition I had in Toronto this past summer with my artist daughter, April Martin.  We both exhibited hand stitched quilts.  

The exhibition was entitled Earlier and Later and it was held at the Craft Ontario gallery at 401 Richmond St, Toronto.  June 17 - July 25, 2026.

All photos in this post are professional documentation of the exhibition by Jocelyn Reynolds.

You have to follow your work even if it seeems ridiculous.  Follow your intuition.  Go with your work.  Kiki Smith

quilts on show in the outdoor gallery

Sunflower Sky

Sky With Many Moons

The Beauty of the  Green Earth

Lake Full of Stars

Trembling Heart

Field of Light

Mothering Bundles

I live in a beautiful place.  I am so grateful to be here and to be able to keep doing this quilting gig.  The quilts pictured here among the cedar trees near the water are my part of the exhibition currently installed at the Craft Ontario gallery in Toronto, Canada alongside ten other quilts by my artist daughter, April.  It’s my birthday today and I am celebrating all these things.  

I`m 75.

I`m alive.

that`s my poem for today.  xo

our mother-daughter exhibition

 April and I began installing our exhibition today.

We have put together a mother-daughter show of new hand stitched quilts. 

Earlier and Later is the title we chose for it.  

The curator, Robyn Wilcox, figured out the placement.  My husband Ned was first assistant.

April's quilts dance into a future.  My quilts are steeped in my personal history.  April and I are part of a long tradition of creativity, women makers, and the passing on of skills. It's exciting for the two of us to be showing together at the Craft Ontario gallery in the city of Toronto.  I'm very proud of her and of our rich relationship.  

The opening reception is in one week in the early evening of  June 18.  Our joint talk with the curator is on June 20 at 2 pm.  

The Beauty of the Green Earth,
 hand stitched quilt, Tree Everlasting pattern
 by Judy Martin 2026

April on deck

Our daughter April has been home with us for the last 6 weeks.

 She and her cat left Toronto when things closed up because of the pandemic.

 Most of her time has been spent out on our deck with her quilts.

 At first she sorted through her fabrics and read through most of my quilt books.

 She has more ideas than  she can possibly get to.

 She thinks about both sides of a quilt. 

Above is the reverse side of the quilt in the top photo of this post.

 Five of her pieces - there are two or three more that did not make the photo.

 My favourtie part of this mother-daughter pandemic residency is stitching with her.
We've been listening to The Dutch House by Ann Patchett on audio book.

 All hand pieced and hand quilted.

 She's completed a baby quilt from stripe fabric - both sides made into a web design.

What a kid.

mother daughter fibreworkers

 This post is about fibreworks 2018 that opened in Cambridge Ontario on September 21.

 The show happens every two years and gathers work from across Canada.

I lived on air 2017  felt and cotton by April Martin (detail)

 

There were 18 pieces in the show.  Most of them were from Toronto or other cities in Ontario, but there was also representation from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia.

earth and air  2017  wool, plant dyes, linen damask   by Judy Martin (detail)

  

Two of the artists were related to each other!

How about that?