Finally ready to layer and quilt!

I have actually made progress! The abstract Calla is now ready to layer and then to quilt! It seems to have been very slow going but after all this time , I am a tad rusty in both techniques and organization! As well, I have been VERY busy with the camera.

Hah! I have found the last picture of the final piece ready to quilt but cannot get it into the proper order . Blogger is giving me the pip today! I think it KNOWS that I have been otherwise occupied, is ticked off with me and this is its revenge!! 

Here it is but I see now that this is not the FINAL piece. I am not sure where that photo is but I think YOU would not notice the subtle differences. I do though and it is bugging me. I will finish up and then look for it. If I find the final picture, I shall post it at the end!--- OR at the BEGINNING!!!

The Camera and I have been doing ALL sorts of different things. I am doing a 365 project- post one photo per day for a year! I think today's is about number 107? It is NOT easy because life gets in the way sometimes but I am doing well so far. I have not missed a day yet!! As a sample of my eclectic subject matter, I have chosen a few pics to show you! Hope you enjoy them. BTW, today was actually number 109! Chugging right along;-)

From my Atlantic Coast collection of stuff- a dry seaweed stem with a little snail shell attached.

A macro shot of a new ( nameless , as yet! Anyone know what it is??) orchid.

The whole bloom of that orchid. VERY profuse bloomer!

A VERY dry rose from two that came at Christmas in a lovely table centre arrangement from Lucy!

Just another look at the dry rose. They were very deep red and have dried to almost black under normal light but with the photoflood- look at the rich but subtle colours!

Snowdrops from the garden ! YAY Spring!! Today, I saw BEES foraging in them in the sun at the front door!!!

The waist of my Dad's lovely old violin . Mum gave it to me over fifty years ago after Daddy died -1965.

And the beautiful scroll of dad's violin. I love the colours and the light . Love the way the light reflects and delineates the carving. These are part of a little series I am working on .

Well, I guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! I cannot seem to add my concluding yammering to the END of this post so I will yammer HERE, NOW! I have news that I would not normally share around but it is just so exciting!! After ten years of research and hard work, MANY obstacles of all sorts, DD is doing her final edit on her doctoral dissertation and will defend it in the next few weeks!!! We are SOOO pleased and happy for her and soooo VERY VERY proud of her determination and dedication, persistence, and her strong passion for archaeology. Stay tuned . I shall report further anon!
As well, Our Darling little Grandboy has just turned TWO and he is THRIVING! LIFE IS GOOD! Aren't we fortunate!!

I hope you are all well and enjoying the onset of spring 2016- after almost NO winter of 2015-16! Hope there are bees in your gardens now too! More in a bit! As you see, I DID manage to get this added in the right place. LOTS of fiddling around but I did it! I, TOO am persistent!

I am adding this now to  the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com. Be sure to check it out! There is always lots of interesting stuff going on there!

Back in the Fold at last!!!

Hello my Dear Artsy Friends! I am here to report that I have STARTED a new piece of work for the first time in months!!! YAY! I have been down in the cellar dyeing for about a week and am now starting to make my Freezer Paper pattern. I have been busy with the camera and Flickr . I've collected a few photos to show you what I have in mind and what has been keeping me busy otherwise!!

This is a part of a Calla Lily bloom from a potful I purchased to photograph. This shot has been slightly altered in Lightroom just to give a little more "punch" to the colours.

Here are some of the dyed fabrics I have finished , the photos and my pattern in the background.

The pattern broken into sections ready to trace onto the Freezer Paper!

This Blogger programme is giving me the pip tonight!!!!

These two are pretty similar but here is where I stopped today. I have the original pattern on the lightbox and am tracing it onto the Freezer Paper.

These Urchins and the Moon Snail are part of my Atlantic coast hoarde. This photo is a piece of very dry seaweed stem that is a wonderful Baroque , twisted piece of seashore sculpture- and a tiny snail made it his home at one time! 

I have been doing a LOT of tabletop macro work.

We had a major mild spell and our spring flowering Erica came into bloom so I lay on my belly on a plastic tablecloth on the VERY COLD ground with my trusty macro lens!

These little Urchins are VERY tiny, only about 5/8" in diameter.

I am going to post this now to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com and shall keep you posted on the progress of this NEW PROJECT!!! SOOO exciting!! I hope you'll all pop over there to see what everyone is up to. Nice to be back!

Still in the land of the living!

Macro of the pink tulip centre

VERY macro on the pistil 

The tulips were collapsing after giving us several days of lovely colour

Spring is THINKING about us. WE are thinking of spring- or I am. Yes, we have had NO winter to speak of here in Canada's sunny south. It has been a dreary , snowless time and many of us are chomping at the bit for sunshine- and TULIPS!!

I actually BOUGHT some cut tulips and took photos of them, so desperate was I for some sign of life. If it had been snowy outside, I think I would not have felt this way but in this sort of never never land- pale grey green grass, bare branches, gritty roads and pale faces, I NEED GREEN! I NEED COLOUR!

I'm having trouble with my blog. I think it is cross with me for ignoring it for so long in favour of Flickr!  It doesn't want to let me type. Ah, well, I shall spend more time here and am very close to starting some fibre art works so will have that to post soon. I have been keeping up with you good people out there in the Blogosphere and you are all so productive! Well done all!!

I HAVE been productive- VERY productive! I have almost worn the spots off my camera with shooting so many pictures!!! For my birthday, DH gave me half of Lightroom 6 ( I gave myself the other half) and I have been busily engaged in learning how to use it. VERY exciting, although I have barely scratched the surface. Learning such a programme is NOT conducive to carrying out one's normal, daily activities! Housework, entertaining, art--- all gone out the window- but I CAN edit a Raw photo now in LR6- at least basic editing! 

Some of the crazy stuff I have been doing. The bottom of Granny's lovely old Huntley and Palmers Biscuit tin. Looks like a bunch of classic books bound together with a leather strap

One of two artichokes I bought and photographed

The inside of one of the artichokes- Love the patterns and colours

All ready to be roasted with salt, oil and garlic- I did it but , despite my love of artichokes as Objets d'art- I do NOT love to eat them! Very costly compost!

The Grindstone creek behind our house with about three inches of melting snow! 

Black Alder branch over the frozen creek 

Swirling water passing over a sunken block of icy snow.

The Creek bank in various stages of freeze

And sumac flowers 

This has been a fun hiatus and seemingly quite efficacious for my poor old hand. I hope that starting up again will not set me back! I will try to work in gently with as little scissor cutting as possible. Stay tuned!!

Happy New Year everyone. It will be good to be back! I am going to begin with my Gelli Pads and paint! Watch this space!!! I have a LOT of photo ideas now for little quilts :-)

Forgot it is Wednesday . I KNOW this is NOT needlework but thought I would post to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com just to say hello again to everyone. Hope you are all well and "gainfully employed".

Happy New Year to all

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope and TRUST that everyone made it through the veil that separates the Old Year from The New?? I have missed everyone and SHALL be back in the saddle in about two weeks. We have a "mission" next week, then I shall clean up Christmas for another year and THEN..... I am getting excited to try some new things. I have so many inspiring photos now and cannot wait to get at it! I think, so I can break my hand in gently, I shall work SMALL for a while.

We had a lovely Christmas with some of my Family.

Christmas Eve with the table all set and waiting

Ready to eat the turkey

The TURKEY! He was dee-lish!

I spent a fair bit of time taking Christmassy pictures.

These are a sample...

Bokeh Christmas lights! This was fun, shot through an old CD  with the centre hole covered by starry sequin waste!

Not a HUGE fan of Poinsettias but this little one was a good one to photograph. Still going strong too.

More poinsettias

And then there were THESE Two! My Mum's old Santa Claus salt and peppers. Katherine used to love "posing" them when she was little. 

And a Happy Christmas and New Year to you all.

This is a small sampling of what I was shooting. I also did a LOT of natural materials- dry leaves, milkweed pods, Pomegranates etc. Have a look at my Flickr .

OK, on that cheery note, I am off and I DO wish you ALL the very best for the New Year. Thanks to several of you for following me on Flickr. MUCH appreciated! 

Almost Christmas!!!

Hello kind friends and readers. Happy ALMOST Christmas! I have been under the weather as has DH and we have been so low that we nearly had to back out of having Christmas dinner here at our house! Please forgive the long, silent absence. I BELIEVE that I am , once again, back in the land of the living. Aches and pains are lessening, hand and finger are MUCH happier and I even have a little bit of energy again!! YAY!!

I have to say that I have been following many of your blogs and they kept me feeling like I was still somewhat involved. I really look forward to starting up my art quilting and dyeing again after the New Year. Thank heaven for my camera!!! I have been "married " to it for weeks now which has been great. It has kept me sane AND I have learned a TON! I have just kept experimenting with varying degrees of success. I HAVE made a LOT of photos that will provide me now with an almost endless supply of subject matter for quilts. In case you do not follow me on Flickr -carolynn.mcmillan@yahoo.com

I shall post a few examples of some of the things I have been doing. One really FUN and interesting experiment was "The Great Pumpkin Experiment". I bought a GREAT pumpkin at Hallowe'en that had a splendid "handle". It was no neat that I could not bear to carve it so I just looked at it, as did the little kids who came Trick or Treating. After Hallowe'en, I used my apple corer and poked two small "eyes" into it and with the small paring knife, slashed a sort of "mouth" line. The pumpkin was intact otherwise- seeds inside and all. Then, I perched it up on an urn in the garden and just left it to see what would happen! I will show you a few shots but to see the whole progression, have a look on my Flickr Album entitled The Great Pumpkin Experiment!!

One of the first shots showing how I "carved" him.

The beginning of the Squirrel "carving"!

Squirrels, apparently, LOVE pumpkin and pumpkin seeds!!!

One of the "sculptors" !!

...put him in a pumpkin shell...

Look inside. It is beginning to look awful.

And so, we say cheerio to this year's pumpkin!!

I LOVE Macro, as you know. Here is a brief sample of some of my favourites...

A little wreath I made years ago of North Sea shells from the beach at Alnwick.

Fun with eggs!

GREAT fun with eggs

Dandelion head

There are at least a zillion more- check out my Flickr. Just to round things off and to wish you all a VERY Happy Christmas or any other festival you celebrate at this time of the year....

Basket full of shiny glass balls and lights.

Our Christmas tree lights.

Let's all try to have a LOT more fun than these two appear to be having!!!

That's more like it! I think I was 4!!!

Happy Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, PEACEFUL New Year to all!

With Lots of love xxx