Woad!

Back in the summer of 2015 my husband and I went to Europe on vacation.  When we were in the countryside in France we met a lady who showed us her herb garden.  She had woad growing there and because I showed an interest she gave me some seeds.  I planted them last spring (2016) and they did grow into a few plants.  I read that you can't use the leaves as dye material until the second season so I brought some plants in for the winter and left one outside in the garden.  The plants I brought into the house died but the plant outside has survived beautifully!  I guess it wasn't a very cold winter because woad isn't supposed to do well here.  Anyways, here is my plant below with the yellow flowers and I'm planning on making some indigo dye out of it.  It seems to be quite a process but I have a video by Michel Garcia and some information and will do my best.  I plan on collecting the seeds again so I could reseed next year.  I love dyeing with natural materials.

Photos from Fibre Fling 6

We had our Fibre Fling 6 show last weekend and we had a good turnout!  Here are some photos from the show.  We had a section of items for sale and a gallery of art pieces.  I sold quite a few pieces of my hand painted fabric and my eco print cards.

Fibre Fling 6!

We're coming close to our next Fibre Fling show on April 7-8 at Kitchissippi United Church in Ottawa (Island Park and the Queensway).  I've been busy making eco print greeting cards for the sales table and will have my one-of-a-kind fat quarters there too.  I'm also working on a new piece to hang up in the gallery area.  Hope you can come! Here's the flyer:

Photos of Colour Unboxed show

I went to the opening of the show on January 14th and there was quite a turnout of people.  The curator said the museum had not had that many visitors in a while.  So here are some photos of the show.  This is the mill in Almonte where the museum is.

This is a photo of the gallery towards the end of the day when most people had left.  My fish piece is in the middle of the photo on the back wall.

Here's a photo of my fish piece from close up on the gallery wall.

This is a photo of the purple and turquoise sections of the colour challenge.  Each piece is 12 X 12 inches and done by different artists.  The turquoise palm tree pieces are mine.

My friend Juanita Sauve did the piece below.  Each square is individually hand embroidered!  Many hours of work went into it.

This is the fuchsia section of the colour challenge.

Go and have a look for yourself.  The show is open Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 4 pm and Saturday from 12 to 4 until February 25th.  I'll be there as a docent on February 7th.  Which means I'll be there with a friend guiding visitors around the exhibit.  Thanks for having a look!

New hours at Colour Unboxed show

We found out recently that the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum hours for our Colour Unboxed show have changed.  The museum is open this week until Thursday Dec 22nd 10 to 4 pm and then closed for the holidays.  It will reopen January 10th and hours are from 10 to 2 pm from Tuesday to Friday, 12 to 4 pm on Saturdays until the end of the show on February 25th.

Christmas (Holiday) cards

I'm now madly designing my Christmas cards for this year.  Trying to catch up.  Below is the fabric I printed with my hand carved flower stamp yesterday.  I first printed in green and then printed over it in red.  Then I added the white dots in the middle.

So here's the prototype for my cards with a bit of stitch on it.  I think it should work out fine.

And a close up.  The background is light blue:

Thanks for stopping by and have a very Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday and all the best for the new year!

Colour Unboxed show

I've finally finished my two pieces for the Colour Unboxed show in Almonte and am bringing  them to the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte tomorrow.  The show runs from Dec 20 (2016) to February 27th, 2017.  Here's a link to the show on the museum website: http://mvtm.ca/?exhibition=colour-unboxed   Here's a photo of one of my pieces:

This piece is called "The View from Here".  It's an underwater scene in a northern Canadian lake. It measures 80 X 100 cm and is mounted on a painted  canvas.  I hand painted the fabrics in this piece and printed the fish with rubber fish replicas (gyotaku).  You can see rocks at the bottom of the lake.

This is my second piece measuring 41.5 X 51.5 cm called Eco Print 2016 which is an eco print done this past summer at the family cottage.  I've framed it under glass in a metal frame which is not visible here.  I printed two sumac branches.  If you live in the Ottawa area go and have a look at the show.  We have many colourful pieces on display there in the main display area of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum.  Thanks for stopping by and please leave me a comment!