Cottage for Sale

'Tis a sad day indeed. Our boys are no longer interested in the cottage, visiting or owning it, so I've had to list it for sale. You can view all the details on my website at http://www.pathardie.com/. But just to give you a glimpse, I shall include some pictures here. FYI, it is on Walnut Island, Sand Lake near Elgin Ontario.

Diamonds for India

www.SewManyPlaces.com/tours/india_1110.html

This is the web site where you can check out my itinerary. Jinny has requested that we each bring along 500 2.5" diamonds for a project entitled Colours of Rajasthan. People who know me, know full well that that is an impossible task for me. And I don't do piecing, or at least until now. However I was laid up having had a disastrous encounter with a very large spike in the foot, so I decided I could at least prepare some of the silk fabrics I've been collecting for the last 3-4 years. I use recycled fabrics in my artwork and have been collecting silk blouses and shirts purchased from my local Salvation Army where I volunteer each Tuesday afternoon. Because the silks are so thin, I thought it best to fuse interfacing to them before attempting to cut out these diamonds. I went through close to 10 bolts of fusible and as a result had a wonderful pile of fabric from which to work. So I started cutting only to discover at the 50 mark that I had cut the diamonds too large. Jinny uses the side of the diamond as a measurement and most references gave me instructions using the height. Not the same. However, since my diamonds were larger than required, I then proceeded to cut them down in size. The first photo is an unintended optical illusion of the many diamonds I cut out of differing colours.
I subsequently removed all the blues and greens which of course meant that I had fewer than the required 500.

These photos of the folded silks show a more realistic look at the real colours.

I then inspected my men's tie collection and choose some I deemed to fit with my silk diamonds. At this point I now have 500 again.

I finally remembered that I had hand dyed some cotton years ago and found more colours to suit - not shown. In the end I will take a minimum of 600 diamonds, some of which are cotton. I'm thinking that the other participants may not want to trade their cotton for silk, so now I have cottons too.

Puppies - last time

I have to confess, we don't have grandchildren, so I decided a few years back that the only ammunition I had when folks would proudly display photos of their grandson or daughter, was to counter with ones of our grand-dogs.

You've heard the expression 'leapin lizards'. How about leaping puppy?
BTW, this puppy talks and let's you know how she feels. Too funny.

Seems greenery is tastier and more appealing than a stuffed toy. And yes she learned to travel through the culverts.

A momentary 'pause' in the play fighting battle.

The toy did survive intact. Sorry to say I missed a wonderful shot of Oreo playing tug-of-war with Gypsy's tail one day. Gypsy is so tolerant, almost to a fault. She didn't seem to mind when during the first few days the little one decided to eat her food; she just backed away and let her nosh until one of us put a stop to that. When Gypsy tried to pull that stunt with Leila, Leila had the smarts to give her the 'word'. Oreo now has better table manners and sits and waits while Gypsy is tended to first and then - get this, continues to wait until told she may go to her bowl.

Speaking of food, these dogs are vegetarians. Gypsy has taught Oreo many skills, among them how to pick her own tomatoes off the plants in Al's garden. The big missed photo was of Oreo, not eating the tomato although she does do that, but of her digging a hole in my freshly prepared flower area and burying a rather large tomato. I've heard of dogs burying bones, but not tomatoes.

More puppy photos

You'll have to excuse the lighting and composition of these photos. With this little one you just fire away and hope to capture some of the action.

In this one I caught Oreo doing a full somersault. Gypsy doesn't seem to mind.

Like I said Oreo spends a lot of time on Gypsy's back.

Gypsy understands that her 'prey' is a puppy and treats her with unbelievable gentleness.

newest addition to our household

When puppies are this young, they don't stay still for long. And everytime I got down to dog height, she took off. Who is she? Well her real name is Knightcastle Audrey's Tiffany, but we call her Oreo because she's as sweet as a cookie. I in turn have shortened her name even further, preferring to call her Reo. She's absolutely adorable, cute and cuddy. Well not so cuddly now at roughly 20 weeks or 5 months and 30+ lbs. Certainly too heavy to pick up with one hand at this stage.
She's quite the fearless critter. Here you see her trying to climb up on Gypsy (she does this regularly) while Pepper is left wondering what on earth is going on.


The following photos were taken the first week she came home at 9 weeks.

the vines finally bloom

One of the great joys of my garden this year has been the vine arrangement at the front of the house. These two vines whose names escape me at the moment, have been over-wintered for at least 4 years. My efforts were finally rewarded with a spectacular profusion of blooms all summer. Lastly I'd like to show you the finished rock garden, the last big project of the season, & that borders the septic field. Previously this area was almost totally overgrown. I set Steve to the task of removing the rocks, digging out the weeds and giving the soil a good rototilling. Then I planted rocks. I'll consider what plants to add here and in the 'rockery' to the left over the winter.

the summer's landscaping projects

My last post alluded to my monumental landscaping activities this past spring and summer. Tons of rock and gravel were shifted as Steve, my wonderful hired hand, and I became very physically fit. The rock garden below, our second project, was to have been next year's project, but we were on a roll. Too bad I don't have a 'before' picture to show how many wheelbarrow loads of clay type soil we moved out & dumped on the top of the riverbank with hopes of curtailing some of the erosion. The idea here was to create individual flower beds surrounded by rock and filling in the rest with rock such that you can step or climb anywhere going up or down. It's difficult to see but the size of some of these rocks is amazing, additionally amazing in that we were actually able to move them from the trailer at the front to the back and then place them. It's called leverage combined with Steve's upper body strength.

In this photo you can see the walkway leading down to the river. Each one of those stones was hauled from my favourite field and carefully placed with due consideration to the lawn tractor being able to ride over them.
Here's a closer look. The rocks don't look particularly large but I assure you individually they weigh big time.

Here's the first project of the summer. First we had to dig out the old stone rocks, remove the excess soil and then develop some sort of stepping arrangement. I found some mis-matched solid blocks for sale. Turns out they were just perfect for my purpose. The biggest problem was in anchoring the whole affair such that they didn't move. Pressure treated lumber and lag bolts did the trick. I like the look and think we succeeded admirably as the visual weight ties in nicely with the desking.

my next journey

It's been such a long time since I even considered posting to my blog, started mainly as a way for friends to follow vicariously along on our adventures. These stopped last winter when my husband declared he had no wish to be dragging a 27' trailer down to the States or anywhere else for that matter despite my willingness to help drive. The trailer is now history as we sold it in early spring. Then in May a bleeding ulcer hospitalized my husband for 4 days, not normally such a big deal but for some reason it has lead to other serious health concerns. He's now somewhat stabilized and has changed GP's (now that's a story and a half), so there is nothing more I can do.

As if that weren't enough, about 3 weeks ago I managed to drive a very large spike through my right foot, thankfully missing any bone, but leaving me on crutches for 4-5days.

Throughout all of this, I considered cancelling a trip to Rajasthan, India, one I had booked quite some time ago. The good news is that I leave on Nov.11th. I go by bus to Montreal where I board an Air France flight (on the advice of son & DIL), stopping in Paris and then on to Delhi. I arrive at a terrible hour - almost midnight so won't see my bed until at least 2 in the morning. The tour company has arranged for the hotel to pick me up - thank goodness since wrestling over who has control over my luggage (local tout or me) is not a pleasant thought.

At the last minute I decided to buy a netbook computer to take with me. Very time consuming as I spent 6 hours of researching (in the end didn't get my choice but I did get an exceptionally good buy but reduced battery time), half day into Ottawa to buy, too many hours getting email set up, bookmarks, un-installing the crap these things come with... Hopefully hauling 2.7 lbs in my back pack will allow me to stay in touch with husband in case something arises. An added bonus will be that I might be able to 'blog' about the trip. No promises, mind, as who knows what wireless Internet services will be available.

If time allows between now and my departure, I shall post pictures of my summer's work - landscaping at the house. This was my 'art' work for the summer as I worked with Steve (my much appreciated and fun 'hired' hand) to build a new staircase to the back deck and re-designing some much over grown flower beds. And if you're lucky I'll post pictures as well of the latest addition to our household - a puppy named Oreo (she is such a cookie), or 'Reo for short. And I shall also go on record as having declared that the last thing we needed in this household was a puppy to look after. This 'little one' now weighs over 30lbs almost half the weight of a mature female flat coated retriever of 65 lbs. Our other FC, Leila who died suddenly in January was super-sized at a whoppin' 75lbs, larger and heavier than most males. And maybe I shall tell you a little about Gypsy's response to having become an only dog, then in June have to learn how to share her owners with this little one.

So I'll email folks about the ressurection of the blog. Hope you'll have time and the inclination to follow along with me in India. Talk to you later.

500 Art Quilts

I'm doing a 'happy dance' this week. 500 Art Quilts published by Lark Books has just been released and I got my copy several days ago. If you have a chance to see the book, I'm on page 405 in full living colour with a large photo of From Town to Country, an art quilt I finished almost 2 years ago. Last year it spent 3 months touring with the PAQA-S exhibit entitled Transitions. I am still in awe of being included with so many talented fibre artists, many of whom have helped with getting this art form the acceptance it has today.

I've entered the Illuminations exhibit with my piece entitled The Wedding. Results will be posted on the PAQA-S website on Feb. 13th. I've got my fingers crossed but am not holding my breath. What will be, will be as they say.

A new venue

Last weekend I delivered some of my 'stuff' to Dave, the owner of Homestead Gallery. south of Kemptville, Ontario. I figure he might just as well display my pieces as have them languish unseen on my walls or hidden in drawers or closets. Only time will tell if this is a successful venture. At some point he will be mounting pictures of my work on his website at http://www.homestead-gallery.com/.

Pat Hardie's AlteredART Studio: 2nd place for Room for Three

Pat Hardie's AlteredART Studio: 2nd place for Room for Three
http://gallery6.org/gallery.aspx

2nd place for Room for Three

I recently entered my latest piece in a juried exhibit with the number 3 as a theme (this is their 3rd year of operation). Last night was the vernissage or opening with wonderful food and ambiance. All were hoping for a SRO situation, but given the very chilly weather I was glad not to be standing outside on the sidewalk as I had done in the year previous. Pictures of the event will be posted shortly on their website at
http://gallery6.org/default.aspx
Click on the button (LHS)Previous Themed Nights to view photos of the affair.
Meanwhile this is the piece that is on exhibit.

I'm to be published

Oh my goodness gracious me. One of my artquilts - From Town to Country is to be published in a new Lark Book entitled 500 Artquilts and available in 2010. I am truely thrilled to be included with the likes of Pamela Allen, Elaine Quehl, Holly Knott - the list is ever so long. It seems so long ago that I made the submission. Had really forgotten about it after reading what I thought was a statement that the book would not be published due to the economic turndown. Perhaps it was only a postponement that I read. Doesn't matter 'cause apparently it's gonna happen.

From Town to Country is currently residing in Fayetteville, NC at the third and last venue of the PAQA-S Transitions juried exhibit. It comes home sometime after Nov. 8th. I did post about that spectacular (for me) achievement back in April, but I'll post another picture of it here so you don't have to search.