When Rose Season Hits... It's All Surrounding

Roses... beauty on a prickly stem... fragrance... delicacy... petals drifting in the breeze.

Roses have their way here.

Up on the bluff, St. Martins, NB

Sunrises, Sunsets, Beach Walks and Beachcombing

 The early morning crew enjoying the view from the oak in front of the house.

 Love watching these ravens every day.  

The purple blue background is the Bay of Fundy and on the far horizon is our neighbouring province, Nova Scotia.

 St. Martins beach ... tide's mostly in.

Tide's out.  A close up of the Flowerpot Rock seen in the previous picture. 

That's my son running below on the seaweed covered rocks. 

 The day after a storm, the beachcombing is always an adventure. 

In a few days this may all be gone ... gathered up and dispersed by the Fundy tides.

Another glorious morning sunrise. Beauty greets me everyday over  that vast expanse of water.

 The bonfire we had while watching the sun go down, as the sunset moved across the western sky .

 A glorious sunrise behind the Isle of Haute, 24 miles out into the Bay of Fundy. 

 Spellbinding display of natures offerings.

 Yes that's one of the two covered bridges at the harbour, almost lost in the fog.

Then the next morning everything changes again. 

St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada

Ohio Star Quilt

It was time to make another quilt.... so...
I first started out making a few watercolour sketches of how I wanted the quilt to look. 

I liked the simplicity of the pattern, "Ohio Star"... just triangles and squares.

pretty easy...  drew them on graph paper, then glued the shapes to plastic lids and cut them out with an exacto knife... this makes long lasting templates... started drawing the shapes on fabric, then  cutting..

 refined the colour placement.. each block will have 4 colours.. for now I am just cutting out the pieces for the 7 1/2" blocks, the windowpane strips will come later... 

I will be changing the tiny square in between each strip to red instead of white.. when the time comes to cut them out.

the pieces for 1 block are cut out...  that cool pin cushion was a gift many moons ago from Morna Crites Moore, stitcher extraordinaire.

I am using this wonderful old treadle to work on. She is not a highly decorated machine like many old machines but she is a workhorse.  I bought it a couple years ago from a former Home Ec teacher and before her it was her mothers. 

 some plains and prints

 and work in progress

Full view of the old 1936 Singer treadle sewing machine. love that this is foot/human powered and non electric.  I know I have mentioned this before, how much I love the old machines, but what is not to love about a hardworking machine built that many years ago that stitches as well as it did when it was first made.... just a few drops of sewing machine oil every now and then is all it asks for... and to dust away a few particles of lint... pretty easy upkeep. of course it is only straight stitch but prob. 99% of stitching is straight stitch at least for me... and she makes the loveliest straight stitch.

 can you imagine, this machine is 79 years old.. truely awesome!!

Liking how they are turning out so far...nice and bright. 

so onward we go......

of course, the dog would rather lie in the sun.

*

Cheers for now from Desideratum Art Studio in St. Martins, New Brunswick

A Year Almost Gone

... to the west, the sky, the crescent moon , the fir and spruce skyline

... to the south, the vastness of that preforming sky

 ...the abundance of wild rosehips along the seashore

 ...granite boulders at the beach, bordering beach and cottages

 ...break of day from the kitchen window out over the Bay of Fundy

Looking forward to a bright new year that will soon appear.

Saying Good-Bye to 2015.... but not to the beauty of nature.

Cheers All and the Best to you !

Wild Apple Blossoms

The little Wild Apple tree that grows along the driveway bloomed  with the most profuse rich colour this year.  The most blossoms ever in its young life.

As you can see it is only in its gangly preteen years....  and with it being a wild tree, which means the seeds for it were planted by the wild world.  Maybe a bird stopped there, or a coyote, or a fox or a deer... I will never know, but I'm glad they did...  and it grew there because it liked the location... slightly sloped, full south facing, no imposing large trees to shade it... no transplanting or preparing the earth was necessary.  It liked that spot took root and grew.

But how beautiful.  We have other apple trees blooming now too, mostly pale delicate pinks and they are most lovely too... but none with as bright fuschia petals as this. 

Something about apple blossoms that always capture me... maybe it is their burst of colour and then their fleeting nature. They never stick around as long as I wish... but I guess they have a few magical things to do... like turn into apples...  and that takes a huge amount of the trees energy so it has to get on with it in short measure.

 So glad it graced us with its beauty... makes driving home along the rock bluff driveway even more joyful.  and when this years apples do come, so will the birds and animals that spread the seeds in the first place... a natural circle of life.

"A Seed hidden in the heart of an Apple is an orchard invisible"  

~  Welsh Proverb ~

Photos taken by me in St. Martins, NB at Desideratum Art Studio.

Daffodils in the St. Martins Garden

 I have been waiting for those cheery faces .. in the St. Martins garden

 Feels like the world is coming back to life.

Looking out to the ocean

Still working on Jewelry too.   A pair of New Birds. They have little silver beaks.

and the New Cat and Kitten

cheers all!!