Needlepoint and Mazal

 So we made the drive out to The Enchanted Needle, a needlepoint/embroidery store a fair distance from us (not exactly out of town but not exactly near us) and they had a needlepoint canvas I could work with.  Back to part one of the original plan.

Not related to either needlepoint or mazal, but from there I took the subway downtown to go to the Koffler Gallery to see an exhibit.  More about that in a minute.  I was on the University Line and needed to get to Queen Street.  Got mixed up in station names and ended up at Dundas Street.  I know the distance between stops is not terribly far and it was a nice day, I figured I'd walk.  Then I remembered that the Textile Museum is close by.  I stopped in and got a membership - they have a reciprocal agreement with other museums so I may finally get to the Bata Shoe Museum...).  There was an exhibit of quilts from Nova Scotia.  I am assuming the theme was related to black history month (underground railway quilts, etc.)  I wasn't overly impressed but I did get an idea or two.

Then I again got mixed up and got on the Dundas streetcar instead of going to Queen and catching the Queen streetcar.  About half way to my destination, I realized my mistake, got off the streetcar and walked down to Queen, caught the streetcar to Shaw.  Google directions showed the Koffler and Queen and Shaw.  On Shaw but not at the corner of Queen.

Let me just say that I got my steps in...  The Koffler exhibit was quite nice.  It was an exhibit of the makers who have studios in the Artscape locations where the gallery is.   Laya had mentioned that there were several textile artist exhibiting.  I especially liked the gigantic quilts of Carolyn Murphy and there were silk weaving panels as well.  But I was surprised that I liked the work of a painter who painted small pictures based on home photographs.  I initially thought they were photographs which were painted over but they were actually paintings of the photographs.  I did take photos but havent transferred them yet.  Maybe later (maybe not).

From there I walked to Ossington and took the bus to the Eglinton Station.  I haven't been on Ossington, Davenport, Oakwood in about 50 years so it was interesting.

That was Friday.  So today, I finished the first of 36 needlepointed squares I need for the Mazal project..

Oy.  It will be a time consuming process but since I'm not going anywhere, the stitching is meditative and gives me time to think about the next step.

I had originally thought to roll the dice to determine on which 18 of the 36 squares I would add stitching or beading.  Then I thought, game board - snakes and ladders.

So I will roll two dice to determine location X and again to determine location Y then flip a coin (on which one side will be marked snakes and the other ladders) to determine whether the connector is a snake or a ladder.

Still thinking - things may change.