I have you up to date with my comings and goings now so I thought I'd share a picture of my garden with you.

The snow is nearly all gone and flowers are poking up through the leaves in exposed areas in my garden.

This bouquet goes out to my friends in Fogo Island, hope they are not looking at pack Ice today, and to all my friends and relatives in Cartwight who are anxiously awaiting spring.

Our niece, Sandy has loads of pots ready for flowers in her green house in Cartwright. She would love to have these flowers poking through the ground in her flower gardens in April .

April 24, Leaving Fogo Island


The week has come to an end and I enjoyed my stay but I a ready now to leave and go home. I thought I'd share two pictures of the replacement ferry that took over the transportation for the Farewell to Change Islands to Fogo Island on Friday after their regular ferry broke down on Wednesday. This transportation link is the only one the people have with the mainland of Newfoundland. The ferry is an important part of their lives.


I arrived back in Sandy Point around 11:30 pm on Friday night. The experience was great. Lillian Dwyer and her husband Clem, both are artisans from Fogo Island, were on the ferry (Nonia) with me as we made our way to Farewell. Lillian hooked away and we chatted the whole way making the trip seem short after the 5 hour wait on the dock to get on the ferry.

I have to thank Marcel Penton, Zita Cobb and Gordon Slade who made it possible for me to get on the first ferry crossing on Friday night. Thanks guys!

April 23 Craft Exhibition

I have seen quite a few rag a jack mats over the past 40 years, but the detail that Linda Osmond has managed to get in her poked designs are quite different.

How can you price something as priceless as these. The hours it takes to do one is more than a normal work week. If you have one that you paid less than $1000 for than you have a bargain.

These mats are traditional in method and created by Linda Osmond of Shoa Bay, Fogo Island. It involves cutting recycled polo fleece clothing into little strips and poking them through the burlap from the front to create the design.

April 23, Craft Show, Fogo Island

On Thursday night we were treated to an exhibition of quilts, wall hangings, bags, runners, hooked mats, rag a jacks and more. The exhibition was followed by a gathering of the artisans of Fogo Island as they formalized their guild. The name of the guild and more information should be available withing the next couple of weeks. The chair of the guild is Lillian Dwyer of Tilting. Lillian is an accomplished mat hooker and instructor as well as a beginning quilter. The group is made up of artisans who create crafts in fabric, yarn, wood and clay.

Wednesday, April 22, Fun getting to Fogo Island

Heading for Fogo Island on the regular ferry was quite the treat. The run was full of pack ice so we were lead to Change Islands and then on to Fogo Island by the Ice Breaker. As you can see, I can throw a rope to the stern of the icebreaker from the ferry. The ice would close in quickly behind the ice breaker. The colours in the ice were spectacular. I took quite a few pictures - now to be able to get the right colours on fabric ! !

I made it in time for the workshop with the 5 wood working artisans who were ready to listen to me ramble about design for 4 - 5 hours.

The flowers in my wall hanging are inspired by the Japanese sashiko, fabled flower methods Gertie Little has been teaching in her workshops. The background is painted and sun developed using ferns that I picked here at Sandy Point and dried last fall.

Extra colouring is introduced using the Neocolour 2 water crayons. I have also used anchor thread for the embroidery.

This was great fun to do. Gertie and I took a weekend to paint up dozens of backgrounds that she could use in her workshops.

After spending a week with Gertie Little I was ready to do some new things for the summer.

Look for the new embroidery kits at Mealy Mountain Gallery this summer.

I have also been working on a couple of quilting patterns which I hope to have kitted by the end of June.

There will be two more images by Gerald Mitchell for quilt blocks by the end of May. Keep checking to seen when it is all finished.

I have have travelled quite a few miles since my last blog so I am going to do an entry around some that I have pictures for.

Very busy women

Gertie Little and I travelled to Port aux Choix for workshops with the heritage group there.

Here is the group on Day 4, 3 rare flowers translated into fabric. Not all pieces were finished, but learning 3 concepts in applique was the key.

They each made the top of a wall hanging for the Island Gentian, Yellow Lady's Slipper and the Fernald's Braya.

Visit the area this summer and you will be able to buy some of the products.