grandmothering in Alaska

 Time is the most valuable thing we possess.

The 8 year old bakes with me.

The eleven year old sets up the explorers version of Catan.
(Notice his baby quilt as wall art)

 I have started to sew the borders for Maia's quilt while visiting her cousins in Alaska.

We have been enjoying the sunny days.
The backyard sauna.
The neighbours. (and jamming with them)
Thanksgiving dinner.
The chickens.
The wildness near by.

Jack and I take turns drawing in my journal.
(my favourite grandmother activity)

The light at dusk is violet.
The mountains visible through the windows.

travel photography

I took over 300 photos last week when we were on Grand Cayman Island. Taking photos makes me see better. Just looking through the viewfinder makes me see better. Photography makes me more aware. These coral stones covered the beach near the blowholes on the East End of Grand Cayman. Their marvelous texture of dots, zigzags, and stripes is something I don't want to forget and won't now because of these photos. Ned and I have been doing a lot of traveling these last few years, and I love the digital camera my kids gave me. Getting the photos into a format I can use for studio inspiration is my next challenge. Looking at them on a computer screen doesn't seem enough. Above is a photo of live coral taken through a glass bottomed boat.


British artist Polly Binns takes photos

and puts them into large books.





"I tend to take photographs in series, responding to one element which dominates on that particular occsion. I keep the photographs in large books in the studio, partly as a reminder, but they are also kept for themseles, as a separate activity. They inevitably form a part of my accumulated memory." Polly Binns

Not Defeated

Conditions here in Kingston have changed a bit and I have been able to do some quilting on this piece again. I still hope to have it done in time for my exhibition with Cambridge Galleries. The exhibit will be part of the Waterloo Area Quilt Festival, an annual May event in this Mennonite area of Ontario. I've changed the name of the quilt to reflect the battle that my family is still waging against old age, illness and accidental falls. We are not defeated. I apologize that I can't show the new stitching because I am using my mother's computer. The image on the front of the quilt resembles a shield. It is a protection blanket.

Nobonie and me

This is an image of some of the BACK of my new large quilt that I am calling Protection Blanket for Africa. I am very excited about the central embroidery in this construction as it is one of the ones I purchased from African Threads, Valerie Hearder's project for Stephen Lewis' grandmother to grandmother campaign. I asked Valerie to find out more information about the artist and what the imagery meant and this is what Jackie Downs, the co-ordinator of Keiskamma art projects in Africa wrote back in an email.

"The cow sampler you asked about: This was made when we were focusing a lot of our work on cows. In these pieces we encouraged the embroiderer or beader to draw a picture of their own cow. Cows are the wealth of the Xhosa nation and in customary Xhosa culture the cows are a mans responsibility. In our project it is the women who are taking responsibility for their families and lives so through needlework they are working with the cows.
The name of the artist appears on the top in this case Nobonile (at least it looks like Nobonile), she is from the village Bell which is about 15 km from Hamburg. The name of the cow is at the bottom, Flepu. My friend Noseti says it is just a name but probably has significance to the family"
As you can see, this is a very strong embroidery and I am in love with it. I hope that the artist Nobonie, doesn't mind that I've combined our art work in this way. Thanks Nobonie.

symbols of protection

I added a border of darker zigzags to my new protection quilt last weekend. I have a May deadline for it.

"The masks were magic things. They were against everything. Against unknown, threatening spirits. I understood.
I too am against everything. I too believe that everything is unknown, that everything is an enemy! Everything!
They were weapons. To help people avoid coming under the influence of spiritis again. To help them become independent.

I understood why I was a painter." Pablo Picasso

fabric and paper collage

This time next week my Fabric and Paper Collage for York Heritage Quilt guild will be over. For now, I am just a little overwhelmed preparing for it and for the hand embroidery workshop I'm teaching the very next day.

zig zags

I'm preparing a lecture to go with my new workshop, Narrative Traditions. It's been wonderful to sink into the pile of books I've gathered over the last twenty years or so and be ever astounded by the bold design and spiritual meaning that people from all over the world put into their textiles.
At the same time, it's been nourishing to handle fabric and watch this strong zig zag pattern emerge from a pile of three inch squares.