Nana's Garden

Nana's Garden is a developing a series of works using my memories of & associations with hydrangeas. I photographed many blossoms in the last days of their splendid show when I was in New Zealand this past May. The low angle of the late afternoon sun set off their fading glory.

The design is done, samples made, pattern transferred, ground fabric prepared, threads gathered up, fabric ironed & cut. Now for the hand stitching. A question people often ask me is how long a particular work took to make so I am keeping track of the time I am spending on this work; to date -7 hours.

Here is Nana's Garden 1 after 14 hours. I am enjoying the stitching only I miss not being outside where I normally stitch when it is warm. Those summer breezes would play havoc with the tiny pieces of fabric I am working with.

Here is Nana's Garden 1 finished & framed in a shadow box. I kept track of the hours it took to make - a total of 23 hours - so now I will be able to answer that question if anyone asks. It will be hung in Nectar Desserts for the month of August along with other flower & fruit themed work by Donna Clement & Nancy Dormer.

Here is fabric ready to be sewn into another work for my Nana's Garden series. I am fascinated by the way hydrangeas are like litmus paper and indicate the ph of the soil. It is like flamingos eating shrimp.My Nana used to put special stuff under her hydrangea bushes to make different coloured blossoms and I can remember being impressed with her knowledge of gardening.

Today I worked on the 6th in my 'Nana's Garden' series where I am making hydrangeas in memory of the females in the maternal side of my family. My mother and sisters have their hydrangeas already. I will be exhibiting 3 from the series in Articulation's 'Urban Textures' exhibition in the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery in Winnipeg.This particular hydrangea is made using fabric dyed by my good friend Anne Woods who is a stitcher and a dyer.The magenta coloured piece of background fabric has the dappled look of summer and gives the petals a sun bleached look.