Friday, May 09, 2025

Joyce Wieland, Artist and Activist

Hi and welcome 😎 I'm enjoying the Spring weather and learning to rest the hard way - not listening to your body will do that! I did manage to rest enough to take the two hour train for a day trip with my girlfriend to Montreal. It was the last day of the retrospective, "Heart On", of the art work by Joyce Wieland at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. It was absolutely amazing - what an artist!

Joyce Wieland, Artist and Activist


The introduction to the exhibition states: "Celebrating the radical art-making of Joyce Wieland (1930-1998), this large-scale exhibition offers an in-depth look at one of the most influential Canadian artists of her time." A lot of her art was done in the 1960s and 70s, so you might imagine what "radical" at that time meant.😉 She lived in Toronto and for a short while in New York. 

Here are some textile art pieces/quilts that she designed/made. The first one below, "Defend the Earth / Défendez la Terre" is Wieland's largest wall mural at 16' long.

Defend the Earth / Défendez la Terre (1972)

Along with feminism and nationalism, Joyce Wieland was very concerned with environmentalism, particularly the Canadian North. At the time of the Cold War, there was a fear that the US would encroach on Canada's North for its resources and its proximity to the USSR.

Another of her larger quilts, Barren Ground Caribou, was unveiled on the Spadina subway station in Toronto in 1978.

Barren Ground Caribou by Joyce Wieland

One of my favourites is the Water Quilt, stitched in 1970-71. This huge quilt depicts botanically correct embroideries of Arctic flowers on off-white fabric. Underneath each flower is a stitched excerpt of a page from the late Canadian economist James Laxer's book, The Energy Poker Game (1970). In his book, Laxer outlines plans by an American corporation to seize control of Canada's northern waterways.

The Water Quilt by Joyce Wieland

Details of The Water Quilt by Joyce Wieland  

There were so many art pieces, but one of my favourites is still Reason Over Passion. If this piece looks vaguely familiar, it may be because you saw it on this blog in 2017 as part of the Art With Fabric Blog Hop. At the time, I had photos and a postcard of the piece but this weekend, I finally saw it in all of its glory at the exhibition. It did not disappoint! 😁

Reason Over Passion by Joyce Wieland

This is my much smaller version of the quilt, which is called Reason & Passion. If you want to read more about this quilt, go to the last two bullets in "Related links" below.

Reason & Passion by Andrée G. Faubert

What I learned
  • It's a little scary to see how Joyce Wieland's art is still so relevant today. One of the curator's wrote that it's rather sad because Joyce hoped for a better world.
  • I've only talked about Joyce Wieland's textile art, but she loved working with many forms and techniques: film, paint, collage (before it was a thing!), making art with plastics and found objects.
  • There was so much art to see. Most were very colourful while others softer and subtle.
  • In writing this post, I found some really great articles about the artist and the exhibition. If you're at all interested, you may want to go down that worthwhile rabbit hole.
  • I have to admit that I don't always get Joyce Wieland's art, especially her non-textile pieces. The articles and discussion with my girlfriend helped me understand it better.
  • If you've noticed that this post is late, it's because I've since been spending some quality time at our local hospital. It turns out that I now have a rather serious eye infection. I now have meds and drops but I'll be going back for more tests and consultations. I am SO GRATEFUL to my daughter and girlfriend for making me go to the emergency. I am also amazed by the team of doctors who have taken an interest in my case... they love to see new things and puzzle out what's what! I'm glad that I could oblige but I hope that this will be resolve soon 😁
  • UPDATE: it looks like my issue is a side effect of the radiation from a year and a half ago...and NOT serious. Phew!
  • I'm sorry that I don't have the time to feature some great quilt from last week but this is about as much as I can manage. I'm so happy that I started this post before going to the hospital!
  • UPDATE: If you're in the Toronto area, you will be able to see Joyce Wieland - Heart On show at the Art Gallery of Ontario starting June 18, 2025. 
Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking to many fun linking parties. You might want to check some out. Remember to link up below! Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Monday Musing,  

Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 530 of Free Motion Mavericks! Last week was a very productive week! Thanks for linking up. I'm afraid that I'm back in the hospital system getting tested for my eye. I didn't have a chance to prepare the featured posts, or visit some of them. I will be visiting soon and I hope that you'll be linking up below. I'm confident that things will get back to normal again soon.😊

It's now your turn to link up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Hand stitching fun and Free Motion Mavericks

Bonjour and welcome 😊. Thanks for dropping by. I haven't done much creatively but Fibre Fling 2025 was inspiring. It was one of our best shows ever.

Kawandi style mat in neutral colours


I started this Kawandi style mat in neutral colours for my niece a couple of months ago. I'm actually very impressed with how it looks, considering that they are neutral scraps 😁 You may know that I don't generally consider them colours - but these really are lovely!

Stitching on the train in early March

This is what it looks like - almost finished!

Kawandi style mat in neutral fabrics

Small Embroidery Piece

In mid-April I shared with you a small embroidery project that I've been playing with. I have many embroidery projects on the go, but this one is small and just for play - so not intimidating! I continued working on it during Fibre Fling. I didn't get much done since I was busy chatting up potential members, existing members, visitors and friends. It was a lot of fun.

Small embroidery piece coming along

What I learned
  • Fibre Fling was a great show but as an introvert, although I had a great time, it's really hard on my energy. I'm finally starting to feel more like myself.
  • I was inspired by the beautiful pieces there and am looking forward to checking out the photos that I took. It's always a good show but there was some truly amazing art.
  • I didn't work on my Floral Fusion, which was my April OMG. I'm not going to post it again, just try to finish it!
  • I stopped working on the Kawandi style mat after I realised that most of my stitching was being done in hospital waiting rooms. That's not the energy that I want for the piece, so I'll quietly finish it a home this week to give to my niece while she's back in Canada.
  • I'm looking forward to taking some great outdoor photos once the Kawandi style mat is finished - my back yard is just brimming with bulbs. It's on of my favourite times back there.
Here is a picture of my favourite bulb, miniature irises. I had some other pretty lilac coloured flowers but the rabbit wasn't content with the apples and seeds out there. It ate all of them!!! I hope they tasted good 😋
Miniature irises in the backyard

Related links
Linking party
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You may want to check some out. Please consider linking up below. Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday,  Slow Sunday Stitching, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2025

Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 529 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was another productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Kat from Scrapbox Quilts finished 7 new Bear Hugs. They are so cute and all were FM quilted, just because 😊You can check out the quilts on Kat's latest Bear Hugs post.

Seven FM Quilted Bear Hugs Quilts by Kat

Quilting Gail made a beautiful quilt, Befitting Fours, using the Petal Poetry fabric line by Island Batik. The quilt was featured in their Fall/Winter ’24 Catalogue. Here is a look at the quilt and the FMQ.

Befitting Fours by Gail

FMQ flowers on Gail's Befitting Fours quilt

Preeti made two quilts for the Island Batik April Challenge. This is a version of the Drunkards Path quilt block. The block is called Moon over the Water - it's so lovely, especially in these two very different quilts. Preeti used her walking foot to quilt with squiggly lines.

Preeti's two different versions of Moon over the Water block 

It's now your turn! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
Posted by at 5 comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Thursday, April 24, 2025

Scrappy Runner Finish and Fibre Fling 2025

Hello and welcome 😊 Thanks for dropping by. This week I was able to finish my scrappy runner and prepare my pieces for Out of the Box (OOTB) Fibre Artists' show, Fibre Fling 2025. Things are very slowly getting back to normal and I am very grateful!

Scrappy Runner Finish


It's finished and I'm so happy with it. 

My Scrappy Runner and the two cuties

If you recall, I made this runner, and the cuties, to place at the back of my car, to help me find my car when in a parking lot! It worked!!!

The cuties were posing on the trunk of the car

They are now installed in their new home.

This is what I see from outside. A great way to find my car😍

Here is a close-up of the runner. Some of the free motion quilting (FMQ) can be seen but some of it was very hard to see, as I was stitching it! The plan was to do an all-over pattern but after the first 5 strips, where I couldn't see what I was stitching, I decided that variety was a good thing!

FMQ - on the 4th and 5th strip, I couldn't see what I was stitching!

More FMQ designs and the Velcro that keeps the cuties attached

The other end of the runner

Here is the FMQ from the back. I used scraps from the runner to bind the quilt. That's always fun! 

Runner seen from the back

So much FMQ texture

The Scrappy Runner is also my Table Scrap Challenge for April. I thought that the colour was teal, which my runner has quite a bit of. Being scrappy, it also has red in the orphan blocks, which is the actual colour of the month. 😁 So I'm good for both colours but not the theme, which is rain. However, the cuties are bound to see rain since they're in the car! 

Rain on the car!

Fibre Fling 2025

Here are the two pieces that will be at Fibre Fling this weekend. I spent the evening preparing the pieces to be hung. I'm afraid that I don't always finish my pieces for exhibition (with hanging sleeve, label, etc.) as soon as I'm done.

You may remember my Project Quilting 16-1, Mythical Creatures. I made it in the allotted week, based on a TextileArtist.org workshop with Woo Jin Joo, on Korean mythology. You can check out the post in Related links below.

The Rabbit's Adventure - based on a Korean folktale.

My second piece, called Scrap Happy, also comes from a TextileArtist.org workshop of July 2022. It was with Natalya Khorover and involved working with scraps. I didn't finish the piece as she suggested because I loved the scraps and embellishment as they were. I attached it on a canvas. I looked for this piece in my blog but it looks like it never got posted. So here it is, Scrap Happy. I have donated it for a raffle. Visitors to the show can buy tickets and put them in the boxes of the art that they would like to win. The funds go to the Food Bank, so it's a worthy cause.

Scrap Happy

Fibre Fling 2025 - Friday and Saturday

What I learned
  • As always, I love playing with scraps. The runner was a fun, whimsical project that helped me get through these tough few weeks. Looking at the cuties in the back of the car makes me smile. This is exactly why I make quilts and art!
  • It'll be nice to see The Rabbit's Adventure on display at the show. It's my best piece so far this year.
  • I'm actually going to miss seeing Scrap Happy in my studio. I hope that it goes to someone who will also like it's whimsy and colour.
Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You may want to check some out after you've linked up below! Sew & Tell, Needle & Thread Thursday, Monday Musings, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Beauties Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2025, Oh Scrap!, Slow Sunday Stitching, 

Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 528 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts had two quilt patterns published! Two great quilts from one lovely fabric line. 

Preeti's Brighton quilt was published in Make Modern Magazine

Preeti's Let's Dance was published in Quilter's World

Donnalee used one of her rulers to quilt gentle curves on her Wonky Hearts panel quilt. To see more details on how she quilted it, check out her post.

Wonky Hearts quilted by Donnalee 

Quilting Gail was on a retreat and used her new book, Picture Patchwork, to make three quilts. The first one is a great little train. Check out her post to read more about the book and see her other projects. Gail quilted the train using Silly Moon Rulers: Rocket and Beanie.

Quilting Gail's latest quilt - Train from a great new book

It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
Posted by at 12 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Thursday, April 17, 2025

Fun Scrappy Runner and Free Motion Mavericks

Hi and welcome 😊. I'm so glad that you're here! Things are looking up health-wise in our household, the sun is shining and flowers are peaking out 🌞. Spring is here - Yay!!!

Fun Scrappy Runner


I've taken some time to put together my latest scrappy runner for my two stuffed doggies with rabbit ears. 🐰They are so cute. Here is the runner with the two cuties.  

Scrappy runner before FMQ - with cuties

Lovely shot with the sun in the window!

This is what the runner looks like. You can see that it's made up of two very scrappy pieced blocks, with scrappy strips on each side and between them. 

I'm looking forward to FMQ it. Hopefully this weekend! 😊

Scrappy runner

Small Embroidery Piece

At some point in the last few years I drew/painted on fabric. I believe that it might have been with water colours. I found the piece a while back and attached it to a hand-dyed stretchy background fabric. It is a bit of a challenge - I tacked the top fabric to the background loosely but I've had to unstitch most of it to avoid puckering. It's not going to sit perfectly but hey, that's life 😁. I'm sure that I'll be able to do something to either hide the puckers or accentuate them.

Playing with embroidery

What I learned
  • I'm having a great time adding strips to the scrappy runner - possibly too many of them! I'll FMQ what I have and can then make it shorter if I have to.
  • I'm really looking forward to having these cuties keep me company in the car. 😍
  • I used the same blue sheet for the backing since it worked so well for the small blue scrappy quilt.
  • I'm considering doing an all-over pattern for the runner, just for something different.
  • We are nearing the end of the month, so I'll have to FMQ Floral Fusion soon. 
  • I don't have any plans for my small embroidery piece. I do hope that my background fabric will fit over a canvas. That would be the easiest way to finish it.
  • I'm getting my pieces ready for Fibre Fling 2025. I only have the Rabbit's Adventure piece on display. I am donating a piece for the raffle, "Scrap Happy", that I think I may have missed and not shared yet. I'll do that next week!

Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check some out? Remember to link up to Free Motion Mavericks' party below. Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday,  Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2025, Oh Scrap!, Slow Sunday Stitching, Monday Musings, 


Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 527 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks so much for linking up while I've been almost absent. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts has released a new pattern - Austin. You may remember it since it was published a while back in Make Modern Magazine. Preeti showed us an EQ photo of the quilt in pretty Spring colours. You may want to go and have a look!

A close up of Preeti's Austin, quilted with a wavy stitch

Kat of Scrapbox Quilts has FMQ two more lovely Bear Hugs. They are so cute! Both were quilted using fancy rulers! Here's the front of both quilts. You may want to go to her post to see the quilting from the back!

Kat's Bear Hugs #11, quilted with radiating lines

Kat's Bear Hugs #12. You'll want to check out the back of
the small quilt to better see the quilting, 

We have a surprise finish by Anne-Marie at Stories from the Sewing Room. Anne-Marie quilted a small quilt that came as a kit. It has two layers of batting and is absolutely scrumptious 😍. As you may know, this is my favourite type of FMQ. 

FMQ in progress - Anne-Marie 

  
Finished FMQ quilt by Anne-Marie

Brenda of Song Bird Designs participated in the Island Batik Drunkards Path Challenge with her quilt, Maze. What a lovely quilt! The quilting is exquisite. 

Maze, designed by Brenda, is Chloe approved!

I'm so excited that Kate, from Life in Pieces, has taken out her walking foot to quilt one of her pieces. This Sad Kitty trivet was made by her daughter, Grad Girl. Kate started by quilting a sandwich, following Jacquie Gering's instructions in her book "Walk", which Kate and I highly recommend!

Sad Kitty, quilted by Kate

It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
Posted by at 13 comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Wednesday, April 09, 2025

Imagine and Free Motion Mavericks

Hi and welcome. There isn't much happening here but today I changed up the quilts on the one wall of the house that I can re-organise. I wanted to share my Imagine quilt - it's as good a time as any.

Imagine - 2015 Music Challenge


I can't believe that it's already been 10 years since this quilt was created for our guild's Music Challenge. I had a lot of fun putting it together and even more fun FMQ it. You can read the blog posts (see Related links below) if you're interested.

Imagine - created 10 years ago!

We woke up two days ago to snow! I had noticed that my phone said that there would be snow/rain but there was a good foot of snow in the back yard, and it kept snowing most of the day. It's partly melted and with luck will be gone by tomorrow ❄ I know...it is just April.

Our April snow - showers to come eventually

A very brave bird...
I'm glad that I put food out the day before!

Fun Scrappy Runner

When I'm stressed, I reach for whimsical - so I bought these two stuffed doggies, in their bunny ears, to put at the back of my car. I'm hoping that it might help me identify my car from the back - because it's a white car, like every second car in the parking lot!

I brought down my scrappy bin that is mostly filled with strips and a few orphan blocks. I grabbed two orphan blocks from my Exit Strategy piece and started attaching strips. I want to make a runner to place under these two cuties so that I can Velcro them into place on the back - otherwise they keep wondering off!

Cuties on top of the new scrappy runner

Tomorrow I'll go measure the back of the car since the dogs will be on each side of the middle head rest. I haven't driven my car since the snow storm. I'm hoping that by then, the snow will be completely melted off it!

Scrappy bin of mostly strips and a few orphan blocks

What I learned and updates
  • Taking some time off for self-care was a great idea. I was too tired to get excited about anything quilty - I know...scary! 
  • Hubby is back home with an IV of antibiotics. It's really amazing what they can do - the IV is replaced once a day and then is pumped out every 8 hours. We go to the clinic once a day to get it changed. 
  • I'm still having fun with my Finch bird Minty - I'm achieving many goals so that she can go on adventures around the world. Right now she's in Vancouver discovering Nanaimo bars and Stanley Park.
  • I went into my studio for the first time today to do some stitching. It's still a disaster but I'm quite good at working around and ignoring piles of stuff!
  • It felt really good to stitch up scrappy strips.
Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties - you may want to check some out. Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Patchwork & Quilts,


Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 526 of Free Motion Mavericks! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Kat from Scrapbox Quilts has two lovely Bear Hug quilts to share with us. These are the perfect pieces to practice FMQ on. Way to go Kat! You can see details of her quilting by visiting her post.

Kat created Bear Hug #8 from an orphan/test block 

Bear Hug # 9 made by Kat with a twist n' stitch tool

Denise from the Quiltery made a quilt with a variation of the Drunkards Path. Not only is the fabric beautiful but her layout is truly stunning! I love all of the mouvement in that quilt. Denise FMQ it with four petal flowers.  

Denise's Drunkards Path Variation 


It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
Posted by at 8 comments:
Labels: , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)