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Monday 26 December 2011

And on Earth, Peace....


Above is an image of my Christmas card for this year, sent as a post card to perhaps two dozen family and friends. The angel is from a photo taken at a Montreal cemetery, transferred with TAP onto painted cotton and finished with some stamping and stenciling. Backed with Timtex and paper, then zigzag finished.

Christmas dinner is just a memory now, and a fridge full of leftovers. We were lucky enough to have our four children here, two with boyfriends in tow. We know we won't always be blessed with a full table for the holiday dinner, so we are grateful for it now. Our niece announced her engagement as the family gathered, which made it very special.

Warm wishes to all of you and your families for a festive holiday season.

Sunday 25 December 2011

Happy Christmas

The turkey has been eaten, too much wine has been drunk, and we've just finished opening our Christmas presents. All our immediate family is here, for the first time in six years, and we have more family arriving tomorrow. Happy Christmas to you all, I'm thinking of you all on this lovely evening. Here's hoping you all have a wonderful 2012 with lots of joy and creativity.

Happy Christmas day, Chanukah and all

dear friends
sitting in ottawa watching the snow gently fall is how i always imagined the perfect christmas day. martin (my husband) is working at the hospital and tikvah (my younger daughter) and i are frying latkes and getting ready for our 6th night of chanukah.
a beautiful , cherished holiday time to you all and wishing you all a blessed 2012. belonging to this group is one of the blessings i give thanks for at this time
love to you all
pam

Saturday 24 December 2011

Xmas Greetings from Durban, SA




Season's Greetings to all and your families.
May you be blessed with joy, laughter and health in 2012.



Thursday 22 December 2011

Triaxial weaving

It's amazing where a challenge can take you! I spent this afternoon playing with triaxial weaving, using papers -


I've blogged about this technique, including links, in case you are sufficiently interested and have time between the mince pies and the carols.

Linda B.

Saturday 17 December 2011

Lucy and Chloe: Model dogs




I have just received the photos of my dogs modeling organic cotton handknit sweaters. Here is the link for the sweaters, but I just have to share my beautiful dogs. And now you can see the original Lucy who was featured in the Street Life piece, New Girl on the Street.
http://www.ziaandtiahandknits.com

Thursday 15 December 2011

Secrets and Codes Part 2

OK here is the finished piece - front and back (without the sleeve or label to spoil the lovely backing fabric - thanks, Rosie).  It measure 34" x 36" - quite manageable.  I am happy to say it lies absolutely flat after a bit of easing to get rid of the excess around the edges created by quilting the Braille 'dominoes'.

Front
Back
Thanks for the compliments.

Hilary

Monday 12 December 2011

Secrets and Codes

I have been working away at a quilt for an exhibition at the end of February - but the proposal had to be in by the end of November so there was a clash between Street Life and this quilt.  Thankfully, by the skin of my teeth, I got both done.  When will I ever learn not to leave things till the last minute?!

I have written up the story of this quilt on a blog attached to my website.  No, I am not about to start blogging but I thought this might be one way of keeping a record of the trials and tribulations of my quilt making.  Here's a detail which includes bar codes, my QR code and Braille.






You can read the rest of the story here:  http://hilarygooding.weebly.com/blog.html

Hilary







Tuesday 6 December 2011

Draw a stickman

OK, this is not strictly relevant to our work - but I loved it. Give it a go.

www.drawastickman.com
Draw a stickman and watch him come to life!


Monday 5 December 2011

Street Life Series









" Through the Looking Glass I "

This was the first of the series for our steetlife challenge. It sold together with the companion piece Through the Looking Glass II ,at a gallery space that was rented for the month of December by 13 local Hudson artists. It is a very nicely lit space and will hopefully be of use to all the Hudson artists until the building sells. The first photo was taken from the side to show the wrap around images.

Sunday 4 December 2011

Diagonale (4)

Michele and I visited the Diagonale show yesterday, and were very impressed with the almost 200 pieces on display. Seeing them in the large, well-lit gallery allowed us to appreciate their variety, complexity and nuance.

Pam attended the silent auction today, and said there were hundreds of people there, though only 20 - 30% of the pieces were actually sold. I am thrilled to report that both of mine were sold, and also Pam's piece with the yellow star.

It was fun to participate. I find that the event is something of a peek into another dimension of fibre art.

Saturday 3 December 2011

Blog badge

I'm sure that we had a blog badge, but Michele's previous post made me wonder what I'd done with it, so if you want a link on your blog/website try this if you are comfy with editing your template:

<br /><div align="left"><a href="http://12bythedozen.blogspot.com//" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-zf0RMuvcPKI/Ttqzr6Q8q9I/AAAAAAAADpc/9KgM0zKw7NY/w698-h148-k/12bythedozen.jpg" /></a></div><br />




The image is in my Google+ albums which may be a problem, but I won't know until/unless someone wants to try it!

Linda B



Occasional jottings: Reminder to self

Occasional jottings: Reminder to self: 29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo


Hope you can view this. If not you can see it at the website of Linda B. Think it is great!

Thursday 1 December 2011

Addendum to Street Life



Wanted to share these images with you, collages done by Claudette Castonguay. I bought these in the form of gift cards at the Museum of Contemporary Art here in Montreal, some years ago. If you study them closely, you can see that she has blocked in the major shapes with paint, and then added tiny photos of windows, doors, Persian carpets, etc. often repeating a single image. She has also introduced whimsical drawings of chairs, bikes, etc. as well as printed material: sheet music, menus etc. I find them very lively and very beautiful.

They are titled "Madrigali", "La Ruelle" and "Allegrossimo"




Next Theme: Steps

STEPS is the theme for our next challenge that will be due February 29 (you have an extra day as this is a leap year...hmmm...could that be tied into this next theme?) Tee Hee Enjoy!

Street Life

‘Street life’ or ‘Life on the street.’

I drive my daughter to school every morning and we cross a very busy intersection (Plamondon and Cote des Neiges) where there is a crossing guard and many children. Most mornings we chat about what we see. The changing seasons are very visible at this intersection - either the mounds of snow or piles of leaves. We often comment on the attire of those crossing the road and discuss how their clothing and paraphernalia (snow boards, skate boards, hockey sticks, roller blades etc) relate to the seasons. In our opinion, autumn (or fall) wins the trophy! The season starts with a few unremarkable brownish leaves and ends with an enormous collection of every shade of autumn you can imagine. One morning this past autumn, when the leaves were at their best and many of the children began to wear their warm, brightly colored jackets, my daughter said, ‘Mommy, why don’t you sew this for ‘Street life?’ That did it!

Techniques are appliqué on steam a seam for the people , the sign, the building and windows. For the autumn leaves I ‘sliced’ bits of silk and bonded them to the background with steam a seam and bo-nash. I did not cover these silk bits with tulle or anything similar because I kind of don’t mind if bits of the silk ‘flutters’ around much like the leaves. If they eventually all disappear off this piece, that will be part of what we see at this very interesting intersection. One of my favorite South African artists (no, not William Kentridge …) is Jan Van der Merwe http://www.art.co.za/janvandermerwe/ . He works in rust which also changes its composition over time. I used this rationale when deciding not to ‘trap’ my leaves down.

I had fun with this piece – it was quite a ‘leap’ out of my usual style.