The other day, it was sunny and I went for a drive. This time of year, sunny days are something to behold. The air is clean and crisp, crystalline. Sunlight that must not be wasted! So I went across the island, over the mountain and down a very steep driveway… all the way to Campbell Farm. They raise sheep for the meat (see this link to the Saturna Lamb Barbecue, our Island’s biggest annual fest), and the wool. After being greeted by a pair of very noisy and curious border collies, I couldn’t resist and purchased a big batch of aran weight wool. You never know, the urge to knit may come during the long winter ahead!
As for the apples: I found them on the ground, below a lovely and huge apple tree that must have been on the spot, in Thompson Park, for close to a century. The apples had a fearsome nest of defenders… Any attempt at harvesting those apples will have to be undertaken with protective gear.
And the horse chestnuts: I just love their texture, although I did stab my hand trying to get a couple of them off the tree! Below: the beach at Thompson Park. Nice spot to sit and enjoy an apple, freshly picked.
The landscape on the bench in front of the sandstone bluffs is very rural in feeling. Below, a view of the Saturna Family Estate Winery, from the Campbell Farm gate. The temperature in this area is easily 8 degrees warmer than in the forest, on the mountain a couple of kilometers away.
Now, I am back at home, hunting for interesting patterns to deal with all that luscious wool. And plotting to go back and raid the apple tree…
The feedback I got during the reception was positive. I am building up a couple of series of these prints. Some are nature-based, others are more abstract. Something to do when I am not sewing…
Much of the quilting is improvised and I draw inspiration from the colours and the shapes. This quilt is so graphic, with bright contrast, that I decided to stick with “stitching within the lines” rather than add another set of markings by going “off-road”. I think it would have been too chaotic. Well, it’s how I feel at the moment and this may change in the next couple of days (smile). People who quilt will understand what I am talking about!
Still much more work to be done, one hour at a time. And of course, all the finishing.
Off we went, on a very fast boat! Above, that is the silhouette of Saturna Island as we made our way up Navy Channel, on our way to 
The opening was attended by a good-sized crowd and after introductions, everyone really got talking, island-style, quite loud…
People moved around, and got a good look at the pieces on display. For several Saturna artists, this was a first chance to show their work on Galiano, and local art-lovers got to discover new people…
Tish curated the show and did an excellent job of grouping pieces and displaying them well.
And look at that sky! At the end of the event, going home was not exactly an ordinary commute…
I revisited some favorite texture patterns of mine, to see how tension settings and various threads worked out with the new “beast”…
It turns out that the Janome is really easy to manoeuvre… and remarkably quiet. Maybe that’s a hint that I should get the Bernina to the technician for a bit of maintenance. I still plan to use the Bernina for piecing.
Jungle may still get trimmed quite a bit, depending on how I feel when I see it with some texture. I am not sure, yet, about the cropping of the piece. But I’ve decided to go with the flow and let it be fun. These colours are bringing out my inner child. I am letting the child play…