Bloom Where you are Planted

Karen here.

Bloom where you are planted-a self portrait.

I used to own a lot of red shoes. They've pretty much lost out now to brown leather slip-ons and Dr. Scholl's sensible footwear.

I also used to colour my hair-sometimes red, sometimes brown-now its white. Although I must say my hair has not lost a lot of its  do your own thing attitude. 

In the quilt my red shoes have planted themselves and have decided to bloom. the petals are lined with red seed beads.

I always have had an attitude that things would be better if I lived somewhere else, had a different job, lost 50 pounds --and on and on and on.

Our friend Al Cote has been blooming. His latest work is on display at the Grimsby, Ontario library. The show will be there until the end of December and is really a great display. He works in a small controlled way with lots of interesting details and texture. Al has recently started to use natural dying techniques and rusted stained fabrics that give his work a very organic feeling.  Lots of surface design, many beads and found objects and hand stitched embellishment are skillfully employed.

Congratulations Al. A beautiful display.