Here are some photos from the setup of the show at Gallery 121. The official opening is this Saturday May 11, 2:00 to 4:00. Pictured here are my hooked runner, a few hooked pillows inspired by Ton Schulten, two of my bags and a couple of pairs of Bombazine oven mitts. Much more at the show. I would love to see you there.
It has been very cold and icy in Ontario this week. Wednesday everything was closed as we had a day of ice pellets and freezing rain. This is perfect weather for finishing my village runner. Below you see it as it was Tuesday with one block border done. 
And here it is on Friday with one border left to go. It is approximately 15″ x 40″. You can see from the canvas at the end that I was undecided about the side borders. In the end I decided that the houses were the focus, followed by the sky and that the border needed to recede, to be there as an anchor, rather than a feature. Next steps, finish the border, whip and press. I’ll be back with the finished piece on the table in a week. Btw–if you look closely you will see some changes from the top to the bottom–little refinements which will continue until it is off the frame. 🙂
The first side of the hooked house runner is all but complete. You can see how much I drew on each side, hoping as I hooked that I’d find inspiration for sky and border. At one point I thought half circles would work for the border, but I didn’t like them at all. I’ve decided to do rectangles of teal, turquoise and related colours on the two longs sides and something different for the shorter sides. Possibly circles. And the sky? Still waiting…
I do love hooking houses. If you follow the blog you know I’ve been working up to this, doing smaller studies. I use mostly remnant strips and small pieces. I pin together 2″ strips of related colours to keep a little order in the chaos and that forms much of my supply basket. I love what happens when the supplies are scarce–just a line of red, or a final strip of a favourite wool, placed just so. Somehow it makes things more thoughtful. And it’s a crazy thing, but I’m emotionally attached to my wool–it often has a history with me–someone significant dyed it or it came from another project that I laboured over–or the colours combined perfectly in the dye pot. By using it again here, I capture a little of the magic.
It’s always interesting to follow the development of an idea. Here are two small studies from December 2016, the start of my hooked house mat obsession. I’m at the gallery tomorrow, so I’ll take my stand and a pile of strips from the turquoise/teal bin and see how much progress I make on the border. And who knows, maybe amid the paintings on the walls, I’ll get inspiration for the rest of this piece. 
It clearly has not been a summer for posting on the blog. I have been posting the occasional photo on Instagram but that’s it. We have been at the cottage a lot during this very hot summer–a beautiful spot with some connectivity, but not to do more than send a text or make a call. Definitely enough, and I like it that way, but the blog which takes a solid connection for a length of time, has been neglected.
Is it time to give up the blog? I don’t think I am ready to do that. I like the record it provides for one thing. The first post was over 7 years ago! And I like the space to expand on ideas and show my work. Even if my readership has diminished. Even if I am not regular about it. Even if it’s just a place to record my thoughts. This is the latest village finished. I have put it in a woollen frame and plan to make it into a pillow.
A closeup showing the frame…
And two books which arrived in the mail this week. The small one is Canadian quilter Judith Martin’s poem/photos of her stitched piece called Not to Know But To Go On. The second is an artist new to me, Jean Claude Roy, whose dramatic paintings of Newfoundland are deeply moving and inspirational.The title of the book, Fluctuat Nec Mergitur, which means She Is Tossed By the Waves but Doesn’t Sink, is a gorgeous phrase, one that would also suit Judith Martin’s lovely work. I encourage you to seek out both books.
I’ve been working on this test/sample piece for the last week or so, trying out some new ideas. I’m planning to make a longer and slightly wider piece with a village at each end and connecting sections and images between the two. I am working out shape and colour in these small pieces as well as the concept of border. I still have more thinking to do before I begin the larger piece. I decided to do circles in the sky as it seemed to lighten the small space–and the warmth of the yellow seemed much better than the blue I began with . You can see the full evolution of the piece on my instagram feed (connection in the menu bar above).
I am inspired by Jane Kidd’s exciting exhibition at the Textile Museum, Curious. It is intriguing to see how she overlays design features, incorporates grids and divides the canvas turning a landscape into a complex layering of ideas, many of which feel like warnings. An exceptional textile artist!
It’s still cold in southern Ontario but we have had more than a week of straight sun. Marvellous. And I’ve had the chance to get back to hooking after a long while. It’s a wonderous thing, alone in the studio, listening to a good podcast, feeling the sun on my shoulder and enjoying the texture of the hand-dyed wool strips as I pull them through the taut linen. I’m working on a small piece where I’m trying out some new ideas in preparation for a larger table runner. So there is no pressure here. It’s a test piece, and I can listen to an interview with the author of the book I’m currently reading (Jennifer Egan of Manhattan Beach) while still thinking about shape, design and colour. It’s a nice blend of listening and wandering.
So here is the piece on Saturday as I started…
and again today. I’m working with strips and small pieces from my endless boxes of leftovers from other projects. So I have a mix of cuts from #4 to #6 and I’m working it out as I go. I’ll post again soon with some progress shots.
The second larger geometric village is finished. These two pieces measure 16.5″ x 10″ and the hooking butts up to a 2″ border of wool fabric which is sewn on to the backing first. This piece is the next in a series of colour block landscapes which I first talked about a year ago, and have been thinking about for much longer. I’m not sure why the idea has such a hold on me, but it is intriguing to work with light and shadow, bright and dull, warm and cool, vertical and horizontal–putting some parts of the landscape in secondary roles, why other parts have solos. And even after I took this picture I made some changes to the piece. 
Ineke Berlyn is a quilter whom I’ve mentioned before. She too loved the geometric villages of Ton Schulten and below is one of her pieces from her book Landscape in Contemporary Quilts.
And here is one of my favourite New Yorker covers by Lonni Sue Johnson — of course featuring houses, Manhattan apartment buildings in fact. I’ve shown this cover on the blog before but it’s worth looking at again with its gorgeous lemon sky and its lovely interplay of vertical and horizontal, dull and bright.
I’m back and working on another geometric village, again inspired by the paintings of Ton Schulten. I’ve always been intrigued by geometrics and these village pieces are a challenge–a great lesson in value and composition. I’m aiming for a focal point and an interesting pattern of lights and darks. This is the second in a series of pillows. 
I know that I said I would post more regularly this year…but the month of January has had some amazing times and some hard ones–both of which kept me away from here. So on this second-last day of the month, I’m starting again with the completed Village Mat. You can see here how it began with the sweater patches sewn on the backing. I learned a few things with this first prototype: next time I will add a little stuffing under the sweaters or else double them so that they are more at the height of the hooking. I tried needle felting on top of the sweater pieces, but did not like the effect at all. I do think the sweater patch idea has possibilities, especially with striped and patterned sweaters. This piece is going to be a pillow and I already have the border fabric sewn on, so I think the gentle pressure of the filled piece will help to smooth out the occasional sweater ripple.
I’ll be starting a new one soon. So stay tuned. And thanks for your patience. xine <3
I am taking this piece to a textile retreat this coming week, so will work on the sky and water once I am there. But I wanted to share this updated photo with you so you can see how it is coming together. I hope I’ll get some ideas for stitching/embellishing the sweater pieces from the others at the retreat.
I am also hoping to have my travel bag done in time to take on the trip. Fingers crossed, I’ll post a photo of the completed bag tomorrow. And I have a third project to share with you before I go. Until tomorrow…
