What a Difference a Week Makes

This time last week, I was in Sydney for 3 days attending a conference and some training. At Central Railway Station, while waiting at the taxi rank, these doors caught my attention. The decoration and detail are amazing. The doors are at the part of the station where the country trains depart, and must have added that certain amount of glamour to a train trip.
Today I was a long way from Sydney! I drove north from Dubbo (which is 450km north west of Sydney), through Gulargambone to Coonamble (about 170km north of Dubbo). At the approaches to Gulargambone, these sculptures start to appear - first one, then a couple, and then a whole flock. As these represent galahs, and locals refer to the place as Gular, it seems most appropriate. Galahs are a type of parrot, are a very pretty pink and grey colour, and are a familiar sight in this part of the world. They're mostly seen in large flocks, and I see them every morning on my walk.
Here's a closeup of one of the sculptures beside the town cafe. Yes, they're made from corrugated iron - but just look at the way it's been used. It's such a clever design. I just think about what could be done with striped fabric...

Playing again at last!

The last few months have been a frustrating time. I injured my arm and ended up with a type of tendonitis. At one stage, it was so sore that I found it painful to do most daily tasks. So, any type of sewing was totally out of the question and I did everything my physiotherapist told me to do. Fortunately, it's coming coming good.


So, I've spent today making a couple of bookmarks that I am going to use as thankyou gifts for friends. The orange and gold one has a mixture of handmade papers as a background. They were covered with some sheer fabrics and I did some free motion machine sewing over the top. I then couched down some threads and added some beads and a few handstitches in places.




For this one, I laid down some hand-dyed silk tops and covered them with silk chiffon and free-motion machine stitched over it to hold it all down. Then I couched down some hand-dyed silk ribbons, and added some beads.

It feels good to be playing with fabric and thread again!

Autumn on the Western Plains

...and the garden breathes a sigh of relief.
It rained a little on Friday night, the daytime temperatures have fallen from the mid to high 30's back to around 26 degrees today, and my lilies are reminding me that Easter is nearly here.

The lavender will continue to flower until the worst of the winter weather arrives -

And the geranium / pelargonium (I never know which is which) is still as bright a pink as ever -

Painted Surprise

Digging through a box for some fabric, I came across this piece which I painted a few years ago at a weekend workshop where we were just playing with fabric and paint. I'd forgotten all about it - probably because I wasn't sure just what to do with it at the time.
But now, when I've been thinking that I wanted to try something a little different with the beading, I think this is probably the jumping off point that I need. It's already been ironed and tacked to a backing and is ready for me to get started.

It may have to wait a couple of days, though. The Sydney Travelling Film Festival is showing here this weekend, and I've just come home from seeing the most wonderful film. It's Lemon Tree, set on the Palestine-Israel border, it tells the story of a Palestinian widow whose lemon grove is considered a threat to the security of the Israeli Defence Minister who has just moved in next door. It's the story of her fight to keep the trees that her father planted by appealing to the Israeli courts. It shows a side of the conflict that we often don't think about, and the acting is superb. Definitely worth seeing - a refreshing change from mainstream Hollywood films. I'm really looking forward to seeing the others on my program!

Red-dy

The latest bead embroidery is finally finished and I'm quite pleased with it. This is the one that I showed a glimpse of about a month ago, to prove that I hadn't just been twiddling my thumbs.

I really like the effect of the silvery metallic beads in the lower left hand corner. I have a few ideas for the next one, and am thinking about combining beading with some embroidery stitches, but haven't quite decided yet. I think it might be time to move on from this format, too...

The purple and green one that I made for my sister-in-law's birthday was a huge hit! I've been told it's hanging on the wall above a favourite purple and green lamp, and has a ceiling spotlight focused on it! I rather think she likes it...isn't it great when all the work is worth it?!

Almost Beading Again

"Only as far as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be" Karen Ravn

I haven't been totally idle over the last few weeks, although the constant tiredness from my bout of Shingles has meant that I've done lots of reading (finding this great quote in the process!), but very little beading or embroidery.

I've also had lots of thinking and planning time, so I have some ideas that I want to develop, and a trip to Canberra to visit Our Kid and the Gorgeous Daughter-in-Law allowed a trip to the Bead Shop, and the photos show some of the results of that. They've now been decanted into containers, waiting patiently for me to call on them.
A trip to Canty's Secondhand Books in Fyshwick, resulted in finding a copy of Bead Embroidery by Valerie Campbell-Harding and Pamela Watts. I've been looking for a second-hand copy of this book, so I was very excited. It must have been waiting for me to get there and claim it!

I also managed a visit to the Degas exhibition at the National Gallery, and discovered works of his that I didn't know existed. Many of the photographs that he'd taken in the 1890's showed friends in their own homes. So, rather than the very stiff studio portraits that we're accustomed to seeing from that time, these are much less formal photos of friends composed with an artist's eye, and with interesting lighting. His sketches and paintings of dancers are still my favourite Degas works, though. Gorgeous.

Savouring the moment

The work I do involves coaching others. As part of the ongoing training for the job, we have been introduced to the concepts of Positive Psychology, so I have been working my way through the book Authentic Happiness by Martin E.P. Seligman. The chapter that has resonated with me relates to savouring the moment, being mindful. I think the appeal lies in the fact that creativity, for me, relies on slowing down and being mindful. I'm trying very hard to apply the principle to more of my life, because it's something that makes me feel calm and relaxed.

As part of applying the principle, I have been deliberately slowing down my reading. I've always been a fast reader - I can read a book in an afternoon. So, I am taking my time, and considering passages that appeal. I'm currently reading The Other Side of You by Salley Vickers, and the following passage really made me stop and consider -

I've always thought it remarkable that, while our bodies stand in the visible world, we ourselves are not in the world of three dimensions and our inner life has no direction in space. And, equally, how little of another person's reality is visible to us. We see their form, their features, their shifts of expression but all that constitutes their sense of self remains unseen. And yet this visible self is what to the individual constitutes their real identity.

Just typing this has made me resume my contemplation of this statement...