Colours of July

July has been very hot and much dryer than normal. The grasslands around Kamloops have quickly become golden.

Thompson River looking west towards Kamloops

 

Our yard is a little oasis in the desert.

Unfortunately, we are getting into wildfire season around here with the dry conditions.

This was the view from the top of our driveway this morning looking towards Kamloops. A 55 hectare fire broke out in the sagebrush covered hills near the area that we live in.

There are a lot of dead pine trees in the area.  The air tankers were on the job first thing this morning and the fire was 80% controlled by afternoon.

visit Sue's blog at Life Looms Large to see more Colours of July from around the world.

Sunday Swimming

It's been really hot here the last few weeks ( 30-35 C.).  We decided to go to Chase beach on Sunday evening for a picnic and swim. Mia discovered floating and had a wonderful time.

Great Shuswap Pottery Sale (with guests )

Here are a few pictures from the sale at the Shuswap this past weekend. It's always a great sale for me and this year was no different . I was so busy that I didn't have a chance to take pictures of the crowds.  I sold one of my new bigger landscapes, as well as lots of weaving and smaller landscapes.

the setting and the hall.

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the drive out to Celista

Fishing on Father's Day

backyard visitor

We had a visitor in our backyard yesterday. We know they are around but rarely see them in the daytime.

picture taken through screen window

silk scarves

Here are the cousins modelling some of my finished silk scarves.

I have 10 warp painted silk scarves ready for my sale.

Finished weaving

While I had models around I took some pictures of weaving that I recently finished.

I made Corrie a twisted poncho from the chenille fabric I was weaving this spring. The fabric turned out beautifully. I'm really happy with it and will do it again. I've made one more poncho for my sale this weekend and I have one piece left. I may twist the fringe and turn it into a shawl or I may use it for another poncho.

Here are the directions for the fabric.

Warp is all chenille from Webs, sett at 16 epi.  I put on 13 yds ( which was too much) and it was 33" in the reed. I used navy, red purple, bright blue, and teal shaded across the warp with my sectional beam.

The weaving alternated blocks of chenille in plain weave with bands of black merino wool. I used different colours of chenille for the blocks. Each chenille block had 36 shots, followed by 12 shots of merino.  The beat was quite firm.  The piece for the poncho was 32" wide and 86" long when it came off the loom.  I washed the peice gently in the machine without letting it spin very much. Then it was dried in the dryer until almost dry and hung up to finish drying. The dryer felts the bands of merino and creates the puffy texture.  After weaving the piece measured 19" by 78". For twisted ponchos , I like to use 19" by 70" for a medium size.  The chenille in the warp and weft makes a very velvety fabric.

Cousins

Second cousins are lots of fun!

Rick's sister Mary and her three grand daughters came for a visit the other day.

Finally Finished

I finally finished three  out of four of my landscape projects from this spring. They are stretched around artist canvases and stapled at the back. I work on a muslin background and use steam- a- seam to fuse fabric pieces down. I mostly work free -form from photos and don't cut pattern pieces. The sky is hand painted with Seta colour fabric paint. I find it easier to find skies in the colours that I want if I paint them myself.  The pieces are free-motion stitched  with invisible and decorative threads. I used angelina for the mist on the mountain and added beads and embellishments.

These two are from a picture from the Dallas- Barnhartvale nature park looking towards town.

This one is 36 x 12 and is a from a picture that I took last February of Kamloops Lake looking toward Mt. Peter and Paul. There was skim of snow on the hills.

Summer Craft Sale

I've been busy getting ready for one of my most busy sales of the season.  If anyone is in the Shuswap area next weekend, it's a beautiful drive to Celista and the show has a lot of great artisans. This is my fourth year to be invited to this show and it's one of my favourites. Even though it's in a local communtiy hall , it's a very busy sale with a lot of eager shoppers who plan their summer around being able to attend.