Chunkiness

For the past two weeks, I have been very busy helping Angler Dan get his fishing derby ready. It was a great day, weather co-operated and the derby was a HUGE success with lots of anglers and many, many fish weighed in. The winner with a "chunky" winning walleye was a first-time derby entrant. He was thrilled with his first prize of a boat, motor and trailer (and a cash prize to upgrade if he so desired). Hard-working hubby spent many days in getting prizes donated and we were both very tired when derby day was over.

Now it's finally time to get on with my own chunkiness...these chunky bracelets are what I am going to be working on over the next while. I may decide to vary their composition, but they're definitely fun to make. I like the contrast of the different colours on the ivory backgrounds.

Composition for a Lifetime.

Yesterday I called a lady from a Quilt Group to come and have a look at some of Mom's unfinished Quilts...I dug them out from boxes in the basement. I haven't been able to look at them since I packed away her stuff in the summer of 2003. Of course I shed quite a few tears in the process of unpacking the boxes.

There were so many hours of labour involved in making the quilts. I remember the two of us discussing fabric choices and I was always encouraging her to use lots of contrast! She definitely succeeded in this one. She made making them look effortless...I wish I could sew well enough to do justice to completing them. They were truly works of art. Just imagining the calculations, planning and architecture in the construction of the pieces to me proves that she really had her act together.

This one is one that I have to get finished. It contains some of my favourite blocks and reminds me of the poem which begins "I am a part of all that I have met..." It's like a life composition.

Tie One On!

This is a quilt that is almost ready for a bed or to be made into a giant wall hanging. Mom loved making motifs from old ties and using them as focal points for her works. First she would take apart the ties by hand, launder them, press them and then incorporate them into one of her quilt themes. She had so many. She would watch the quilting programs daily and as soon as she finished watching, she'd make the swatch so she'd remember it...no tevo or vhs tapes for her.

And to think she only started quilting after she was 75!

Purses, purses, purses

Lately I have been knitting or weaving purses to add to my inventory of schtuff. They are mostly lined, and have little pockets for cell phones. They are also large enough to hold a passport and a small wallet, but not big enough for a water bottle or your lunch. All of them have polymer clay closings or beads as embellishments. The yarns I use are varied, so that I don't get bored while making them. That way I can use the kinds of yarns I really like in several different purses and don't use it all up on one creation.

When we first spotted this herd of black and whites, they were all looking our way. But then as we tried to take photos, they gave us the bum's rush and headed behind the trees. Those trees were incredible...at least half of them in a straight path had been "beheaded". It must have been a big blow that hit just that area.

I guess you'd call this one "Little Light House on the Prairie"...the landscape quickly changed from rugged outcroppings of rock of the Canadian Shield to the flatness of the prairies. I suppose the rocks were left there in some terminal moraine deposit or gathered by the stone pickers. I imagine the pines were planted as a windshield.

We had to leave eventually, but I couldn't resist taking a picture of this tiny frame structure we saw from the highway on our way home. It was located somewhere between Whitemouth and Beausejour.

Back safely on "land"...well it's rock, but, I loved the somewhat primordial combination of rock, lichen and moss...again this was near the location of "the lodge" at White Lake.

Near Rainbow Falls, the water started getting a bit choppy, not the kind I like to travel in. I am still somewhat fearful of being in boats when the lakes aren't as clear as glass sheets. I think it has something to do with the large boulders at the surface of the lake...and just below.

One of our first stops yesterday was at Pinewood Lodge near Otter Falls on the Winnipeg River System. This trail led down to a dock where a pontoon plane was taking off.