More Winter

One of the reasons we don't head south is that winter can be so beautiful.  The first two photos were taken fairly early in the morning recently,  at a nearby park where we walk the dog.   

 If you look at the spec on the ice carefully you will see that it's a fox.  We often see him leaving the park and heading out along the ice.  It was a very cold morning and the water is still open, hence the mist rising in the distance

 Some old snowshoe trails in the park on Ile Bizard.  Steps?  Our challenge for the 12 by the Dozen blog is to do something with steps.  In any sense of the word.

 more steps.  I understand now, why in her later years, Grandma Moses would sprinkle glitter on her paintings.  The sparkle just doesn't show up in a photo.

 This is our cottage taken from out on the lake.  I think the pine tree in the middle is not very happy.

 And the dog!  He loves it out here.  And I love the way winter shadows can be so blue.  And the sparkle - wish you could see it.

Guild Retreat

Our guild has retreats twice a year at a convent nearby.  We have simple rooms with a sink, desk and rocking chair (and bed) and a lovely room to work in.  This is the view above my sewing machine.

Everything was covered in frost - quite the winter wonderland

Ice fishing

Making our way through the snow as the ice on the roads was so bad.

Below are some of the results of my weekend.  iPad cases!  The top blue one is for my 90 year old  mother-in-law who got an ipad for her birthday last year and has become quite proficient on it.  It's made of a an old Pringle sweater that went through the wrong wash, but has now been nicely felted.  Warm and cozy to touch.

purple

Purple is not a colour that I work with usually but when the colour came as a request from my nephew's bride to be along with a suggestion of a Monet water-lily palette I went ahead, and now love the result.  And when we were at the wedding and saw the flowers I saw how much she liked the colour and how lovely it could look.  So a year and a half later, the quilt is finished and on it's way to Boston.  

The Next Day

This is what it looked like the next day.  Now, almost a week later it's all gone.

Ice

We woke this morning to ice covering all the trees, and sidewalks, and driveways, and roads.......  A few degrees colder and we would have had a white Christmas.

                                      

Usually these ice drops are round - unusual to see them looking like sharks' teeth.

Exquisite Garden

Helena Scheffer is hosting an exhibit at her art gallery (http://www.galerieouest.ca/)  of the Exquisite Corpse, or corps exquis.   Done way back in the '20s this was a game that the Dada-ists played, I'm sure while sitting in smokey cafés and drinking absinthe.  They folded a piece of paper in 3 or 4 and one would draw the head, fold it so it couldn't be seen, and then the next would draw the torso, the third the legs.  Any resemblance to a real human seemed to be accidental!

Below is the corpse made by myself, Rosie, and Hilary (the old TriThis gang).  Our only discussion involved using the colour green and a placement of the neck and legs.  

Rosie's head

My torso

An exhibit of Jean Paul Gaultier was in Montreal and I was very influenced by that.

Hilary's legs

11/11/11 Remember

As I write I am listening to the Last Post.  I am so grateful for those that are in the military and work and fight on my behalf to make life better somewhere else in the world.  As much as I would like the world to be disarmed I know how naive that it is.  So thank you.  My little effort, in conjunction with my friend Janet, is to make quilts for Quilts of Valour, an organization that makes quilts for soldiers who are wounded.  I hope they give some comfort and a sense of appreciation for their sacrifice.

If you look closely, there are a lot of maple leaves in this!