threadsandthoughts

Beaded Bookmarks

2011-06-19T16:11:00.006+10:00

I have dozens of bookmarks, but never enough. I'm always looking for another one, and resorting to bits of torn newspaper instead. That's why I think that bookmarks make great small gifts. They come in handy for saying thank you, or when a birthday card isn't quite enough.

That's why I've been making some more. These aren't finished off yet. I need to add a backing, and then satin stitch around the edge. Sometimes, I then use a hole punch on the end and add a ribbon tied through the hole. Painting around the hole with Fray Stop glue makes sure that the fabric doesn't fray after being cut with the hole punch.

These are also a good beading project to have handy in a bag with the chosen ribbons, beads, beading thread, a needle and embroidery scissors. I find them easy to grab as I run out the door!

From the Archives

2011-05-29T14:12:00.001+10:00

I know. I know. It's been ages since I last posted. This is partly because I haven't made a whole lot that I could show. It's also partly because when I do make something, it's to give away and I forget to take a photo of it first!
Anyway, I was just browsing in my photos and found a photo of a framed embroidery that I haven't shared. It's as good a way as any to get started on the blog again.
Now I just have to remember to take photos before giving things away...

Brooch

2010-02-07T11:03:00.004+11:00

While doing some tidying in my studio, I came across a leftover piece from a play session I had a while ago when I was playing with paper and silk tops.

I had previously made a brooch from a similar piece, so I added some beads and made another brooch.

A shoe for a Christmas Elf

2010-01-31T12:17:00.006+11:00

Last year (or was it the year before?) Stitch magazine, published by the UK Embroiderers' Guild had a project in it that attracted me. It was tiny embroidered "fairy shoes". I lingered over my friend's magazine, thinking that I'd love to have a go, but deciding that they were probably far too fiddly, and that I'd get incredibly frustrated with trying to make them. As I use embroidery as my relaxation, frustration levels need to be kept as low as possible!
Anyway, my friend made them and they were gorgeous. Then, for our embroiderers' group Christmas party, we were each told to bring our embroidery gear and some beads because we were going to make a mystery project. Yes, it was the shoes! Well...one, anyway. And, of course, it was easy...and very satisfying. This is the result of my first attempt - the inside of the shoe still needs to be painted with gold paint, to disguise the stitching. But, isn't it cute? I've decided that it belongs to a Christmas Elf, which the Danes call "nisser", so I'll finish it by attaching a gold thread to the heel, so it can be hung on the tree.

Booking a Gift

2010-01-02T09:01:00.005+11:00

My local embroidery group organised a Christmas Gift Exchange at our Christmas Party. The gifts were to be handmade, and that made me get back into the sewing room and actually make something, instead of procrastinating as I've been doing for months. (Although I also had a very busy life from August until the end of the year. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!)
Anyway, I had borrowed a book from the library, after spotting it while walking through to a meeting in the Library Meeting Room. Unfortunately, I have returned the book, and can't find the piece of paper where I wrote the title, of course...I'll have to go and find out.
Anyway, one of the projects in there caught my interest, as it is similar to a technique that I have used before. That is, fusing and machine stitching fabrics to a base fabric, making lots of lovely texture, and then painting over all of it. This technique not only used hand stitching as well, but suggested using layers of paint - a slightly different tone was used each time.
This book cover is the result. And fortunately, the recipient was thrilled with it.

Bower Bird's Delight

2009-10-13T08:19:00.009+11:00

So, where to store all those bits and pieces that I just can't bear to throw away?

I mean those shells with interesting patterns; tiny pieces of driftwood with an interesting shape and lines of texture; a tiny bright coloured bow that once topped a gift; a Buddhist prayer bead bracelet given to me in Kyoto; a dragonfly that was made from green, pliable leaves and has now totally dried out but is so cleverly made that I have to keep it so that I can continue to admire it; seed pods collected on walks; tiny offcuts of painted and stitched textiles; the top of a miniature teapot that belonged to my grandmother - all that was left after it was knocked to the floor; a gold paper doily that my mother-in-law once made into a little basket to hang on the Christmas tree; brightly coloured feathers from the local parrots;... and butterfly wings.

Well, I decided that it was silly to have them cluttering up boxes in my studio, so I put them in a typesetter's drawer, and sat it in the middle of the dining table. It's easy to move when there's more than two of us for a meal, and it often provides me with inspiration. Guests wandering by the table love to inspect the contents, too.

Of course, it gets dusty, and the dust storms that we've had in the last few weeks added quite a bit to the layer already there. So, I emptied it, dusted everything, and changed some of the contents around. This time, each row has a colour theme.

Self Mentoring

2009-10-04T13:24:00.002+11:00

I recently came across a commencement address given by Paula Jorde Bloom at Louis University in the US. It resonated with me for a couple of reasons, firstly because it encompasses much of the discussion I see on Art Quilt discussion groups about developing oneself and one's art and secondly because in viewing my life in retrospect I realise that the times I learnt the most have always been the times when I was furthest from my comfort zone. If this extract resonates with you as well, you can read the full address here

".... we acquire wisdom by affirming our ignorance. You know, all our adult lives we strive to become knowledgeable, competent, and skilled in our professional practice. We pat ourselves on the back every time we achieve a new credential, certificate, or degree. We applaud our achievements as though filling up the shopping cart of our accomplishments is the mark of an educated mind. The irony is that true wisdom comes from the admission of our ignorance, from being open to discovering just how much we don’t know, how much we still need to learn....

"I believe the most vibrant people I’ve met in my life hold a transformational view of human growth and change. They see themselves as active agents in describing, interpreting, and shaping their behavior. In other words, they are self-mentors. The great Roman philosopher Cicero is credited with saying, 'No one can give you better advice than yourself.' Well, that is the essence of being a self-mentor. Self-mentoring means taking stock of the parts of yourself you relish and want to preserve as well as those you’d like to change or toss out the window. It is a conscious commitment to move toward personal excellence by celebrating ignorance....

"Being a self-mentor rests squarely on our ability to be reflective and be self-aware. It means knowing our needs and values, our strengths and limitations, our passions, and our idiosyncratic quirks. It means having a deep appreciation of what makes each of us a unique specimen on this planet. On a deeper level, it means knowing how we react in different situations and accepting full responsibility for our feelings and actions.

"Being a self-mentor is difficult because it involves an ongoing assessment of our assumptions, beliefs, and values, and the mental models that shape our behavior and guide our actions. It also means having a clear picture of our internal motives — those things that drive us to say what we say and do what we do. Peeling away the layers of our motivations is not always a comfortable process, but it is necessary if our goal is to become a person known for personal integrity."

What a Difference a Week Makes

2009-07-08T17:26:00.004+10:00

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!

2009-06-27T17:26:00.004+10:00

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

2009-04-06T08:15:00.003+10:00

...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

2009-04-04T15:12:00.003+11:00

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

2009-03-31T09:17:00.005+11:00

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

2009-03-28T09:12:00.005+11:00

"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

2009-02-28T10:52:00.003+11:00

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...

Normal service should resume shortly...

2009-02-24T16:34:00.003+11:00

Despite appearances, I haven't disappeared from the planet. I've just been rather sick for the last few weeks. Fortunately, I'm improving day by day, but today is the first time I've had the energy and enthusiasm to return to some embroidery. The piece I am beading is far from finished, but I'm giving you a peek at one corner, just so that I had something to share.

The buttons are the same as those on a red cardigan which my grandmother knitted and wore for years (she must have had a few buttons left over, because there's no sign of wear on the ones I have). Those of you who remember the red, translucent cough lollies called Throaties, will realise why Mum and I always referred to it as her Throaties cardigan.

Number Three

2009-02-07T12:18:00.010+11:00

This is Number Three in the series of abstract beading that I've been doing. This one seems to have taken forever, but the beading has had to take a back seat on a number of occasions - work, family obligations, fitness routines, etc, etc, but it's finally finished! It's intended as a gift for a sister-in-law's birthday, and I'll be framing it in a similar way to the ones below. A local framer made a number of frames for me a few years ago, to frame the mixed media embroideries that I was making and selling at the time. I still have a number stashed away, so I've put them to good use. Once again, I've raided Grandma's button jar, but I used a few of the very pretty glass buttons this time, and a bottle green silk for the fabric background. It uses colours that I know my sister-in-law likes.

Here are the last two that I've done, framed and hanging on the wall along with a goldwork dragonfly that I made a few years ago. There's a close-up of the dragonfly below. I cut the mat boards myself for the two lower ones. I used to be able to buy ready-cut mat boards in this size at Crazy Clints for $1.50 each, but they no longer stock them. A friend has a hand-held mat board cutter which I used to borrow to make larger mats, and it's fairly easy to use with a bit of practice. So, I've invested in one of my own. It makes it easy to do my own framing, and saves a lot of money on framing costs!

As you can see, I've changed the orientation of the blue and gold one. I think it looks better this way around, with the beads "exploding" at the top... (the mat board surround IS even, although it doesn't look like it in this photo, because it's on a bit of an angle.)

And here's the dragonfly.

Beading Again

2009-01-21T20:20:00.005+11:00

I've decided to work in a series with the beading, as I think I'll learn more that way. So, this is number 2 in the series. Each one in the series will be approximately the same size. The design had a mind of its own and has escaped my marked borders at times, though, as you can see. My starting point was an old button again. Unfortunately, these colours aren't photographing nearly as well as the last one. The blues are much brighter than they are appearing on my monitor, anyway!
And thanks for all the encouraging comments on my first attempt at beading. I took your advice and left it as it was - no added beads. I've framed it, and am very pleased with the end result.

I think it's finished...

2009-01-08T07:40:00.002+11:00

It's rectangular, because I started off with the idea of making it into a box top, so the rectangular shape was marked on the fabric. I'm not sure that I'll use it for that now. Maybe I'll frame it. Whatever I do with it, I'm quite pleased with the end result...and it was a lot of fun to do! Although maybe it needs a few more beads at the top...hmmm...

Two in one day!

2009-01-06T16:30:00.005+11:00

Please prepare to be amazed. This is my second post today! Don't get too excited though because, as I didn't win Lotto on Saturday night, I have to go back to work tomorrow. The number of posts per week will slow down again then... sigh.

In the meantime, I used my last day of freedom well and made a book cover for a friend's birthday gift. The book I used has a flower print on occasional pages, so I used that as my inspiration. Even though the flower I made looks nothing like the one in the book, it saved me sitting there thinking " Now what am I going to do this time?".

Transfer Printing

2009-01-06T16:18:00.004+11:00

This is for Lisa, who was asking on her blog about transfer printing. I did this a number of years ago, at a workshop on using paints in embroidery. As you can see, it's been tucked in a corner of the studio ever since, although I notice that the needle and thread are still there, ready to go. No wonder I can never find my good embroidery needles when I want them. I have started the embroidery...that's the outline of a shell in the foreground. One day, when I retire I'll be glad to have this to keep me occupied, I'm sure! (That's a good enough excuse, isn't it?)

Anyway, I used a large, smooth ceramic tile for this. The design was painted onto the tile, the fabric was carefully laid on top, and then gently smoothed. When the fabric was lifted up, there was the design, transferred. I used acrylic paint mixed with textile medium, and could have used a pane of glass to paint on, if I'd wanted a larger image. However, you can get such large tiles that it's probably not necessary to use the pane of glass and the tile is much safer to play with.

Buttons and Beads

2009-01-03T11:17:00.005+11:00

This is fun!
Following the ideas in Robin Atkins' book on beading (see my last post), I started with one of my great-grandmother's buttons and just started adding beads. I don't know where it's going next, but that's the fun of it.
I'll show it to you again when it's finished, whether I like it or not. I rather think it needs some gold beads now, to reflect the gold of the button. Hmmm...
The theme of Creative Every Day for January is "play" and that's exactly what I'm doing. Leah's playing with drawing and it's worth having a look.

Keeping Resolutions

2008-12-31T17:57:00.007+11:00

Last New Year, I resolved to spend more time sewing in 2008. One of my Christmas Presents was a book called Bags with Style by Stephanie Kimura and I determined to have a go at making some handbags for myself. It's the last day of the year and yes, you're right, I still hadn't made any of the bags! So, I sat down and made one, after finding some rather nice upholstery fabric in an after-Christmas sale. I learnt a lot along the way, but it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had convinced myself it would be...so here it is...

Resolution kept! And I've already started a project based on the books from this Christmas - books about beading by Robin Atkins. Very inspiring!

Delicious Patterns

2008-12-22T08:59:00.006+11:00

The Christmas preparations are on track. There's been lots of cooking done over the weekend, so still no time for playing with fabric and thread. That will come in the days after Christmas when we can all relax.
The Sourdough Rolls are made and in the freezer. They'll go extra well with the ham made from Free Range Pork, which is sitting in its calico bag in the fridge, smelling delicious and calling to me. Good thing there's a strict rule in this house that not a skerrick of it can be consumed before Christmas lunch!
These are the rolls looking pale and interesting as they rose.

And here they are the rolls looking tanned, healthy and good enough to eat. Yum!!

They smell wonderful, too!

Christmas Preparations

2008-12-15T15:42:00.006+11:00

I haven't managed to play with fabric and thread very much in the last few weeks, but Christmas preparations in our house are well on track. The house has had its Christmas clean (the boring bit),the Christmas biscuits are made (that's more fun), and the Christmas tree and decorations are up (and that's the best bit by far!)

My first Christmas out of Australia was when I was 22. It was spent with my husband's parents and brothers in Denmark, and what a life changing experience that was! It wasn't only the ice and snow, but the food and the decorations were all so different. The Danish red and white flag lends itself so well to the Christmas theme, and hundreds of tiny Danish flags on strings decorate the Christmas trees. The other decorations were carefully crafted and many were hand embroidered. At least half a dozen different types of Christmas biscuits were made in each home, and served with hot spiced wine for supper, or with coffee at afternoon tea time. Back in Australia, we took our favourites from each of our Christmas traditions, and made Christmas a special family celebration. On Christmas Day, we have the cold meats - ham, roast pork and chicken, and salads that I grew up with. This year, instead of the cold prawns that we usually have, we'll do some extra spicy prawns on the barbecue for our new daughter-in-law who was born in the Philippines and just loves her chili hit! So a new tradition may be born.
For dessert, we have the Danish Ris a l'Amande - a cold vanilla-flavoured rice pudding mixed with whipped cream and chopped almonds, served with a hot cherry sauce, that is much better suited to the Australian heat than the heavy British-style Christmas Pudding that I had never really liked anyway. And instead of fruit cake, I make as many of the Danish Christmas biscuits as I can get done in the weeks before Christmas. This year, we've had a wonderfully cool lead up to Christmas, so I've done lots of baking. The tins are bursting with Brunkager, Pebernodder, Aeggeblommekager, Kanelstjerner and my version of Rutebiler.
I love decorating the tree, because it's so full of memories. The little cross-stitched 'pillows' that my Mum made 30 years ago, using patterns from a Danish cross-stitch book that she'd found, still look as fresh as the day she gave them to me as a surprise. Then there's the tiny knitted angels that my mother-in-law made and posted from Denmark all those years ago, and the angels that I have embroidered. Of course, the strings of flags that we bought in Denmark add the finishing touch, and even though it's a plastic tree, because we can't get anything like the real thing here, and we can't light those candles, it still looks pretty special to us.

Another Book Cover

2008-11-24T11:31:00.007+11:00

I needed a gift for a Christmas Present Swap next week. How do you choose a gift when you don't know who the recipient will be? I came up with all sorts of ideas, which I rejected one by one. Although they're all female, the age ranges from 30 to nearly 60, includes two with food allergies, two who don't drink alcohol and one that I hardly know! So, I started searching the stash of sewing experiments that have been put aside, because I didn't know what to do with them at the time. I found the piece with threads and ribbons that I wove together. I couldn't remember when I made it, so checked the blog. September 2007! It's past time I did something with it. So I made a book cover, and matched it up with a gorgeous pen that I found in an Oxfam shop.
This is the back -

The book has occasional pages of purple batik paper, just to add some interest -

I hope the recipient likes it. I'm going to include a list of ideas for using the book. Here's what I have so far...

A diary (so you always have something sensational to read)
A place to write down that wonderful quote you just read (you just know you'll lose the scrap of paper)
A Gratitude Journal (write down three things each day that you are grateful for)
A place for your "To Do" lists
An Observation Journal (for that novel you've always wanted to write)
A sketchbook
A notebook (to write down the details of that great idea you just saw or heard about)

What would you use it for?

Eucalyptus Rhodantha

2008-11-21T07:41:00.004+11:00

The rain that we had at the beginning of spring has triggered the flowering of some eucalypts in my Dad's garden. This is my favourite. It's such a scrappy looking tree normally, but when it flowers - Wow! The blossoms are huge, too. I've realised that I have no photos that show the scale, or the tree that they're attached to, so maybe that's an assignment for this weekend -

And this is how the blossom looks as it's emerging from under its cap...

Silk scraps

2008-11-17T09:21:00.005+11:00

I've been working on this, on and off, for a while now. It's a good project to take to a Saturday embroidery meeting, because I can sit and chat without having to think too hard about what I'm doing. So I pulled it out last Saturday, when a free Saturday of mine coincided with a local group meeting. It's based on an Effie Mitrofanis project in Stitch magazine, although I've really only used that as a starting point. The silk is from a samples card that I picked up in a sale bin at a curtain shop years ago. I knew I'd use it one day...

It's a bit like these ribbons, which I've either bought at various times, or rescued from Christmas parcels over the years. I'm trying to find inspiration for this years' Christmas cards, because I really should get started on them. I have a couple of ideas about how I'd like to use them. Now I just have to play a bit to find out whether my vague ideas will translate into something achievable!

Indian Inspiration

2008-11-09T11:52:00.010+11:00

A recent trip to Sydney to attend a conference resulted in catching an end of season cold that turned into an infection. That's why the blog has been neglected for the last few weeks.

However, I'm quite recovered now and thought I'd share my Sydney purchase with you. These quilts, made from old Indian embroideries which have been cut up and joined together have become fairly common, I know. However, I've looked at lots and thought they were either uninspiring, too expensive or that the colours just weren't appealing. This one, however, caught my eye. The price was right, I loved the colours (yes, it's mostly blue!), and I keep finding bits of inspiration in the many tiny pieces of embroidery.

I still need to find a good way to hang it, so couldn't get a photo of the whole quilt. However, it's the detail that appealed to me, and that's what I wanted to share. So, here it is -

Inspiration

2008-10-15T07:23:00.003+11:00

It's really no wonder that peacock feathers have been used as design inspiration in so many ways by so many artists. I found some being sold at a Farmers' Market recently, so bought a bunch to put in a vase. I love noticing the way that the colours and metallic sheen change during the day as the light changes...

Favourite Books - The List

2008-10-13T14:39:00.005+11:00

Angus and Roberstson Bookshops have recently released a list of 100 favourite books, based on a survey of their customers. Ruth published it on her blog. I was mostly amazed at the number of books I didn't like at all which made it to the list.

Ruth has now issued a challenge to other bloggers to list their fifty favourite books. It started me thinking. So here is my eclectic list. It is listed alphabetically by author. It contains books I loved as a child, books that changed my way of thinking as I grew up, books that always cheer me up, books that taught me something. What they all have in common is that they are in my library, because I regard them as "keepers" - books that I have re-read and will continue to re-read (yes, even the children's books!). And I know I have cheated and listed trilogies and series as single books. What the heck. It's my list, after all! There are also many books in my library that didn't make it to the list, so it's probably given me a starting point for doing some culling, too.

What's your list? I'm always looking for another book to fall in love with.

Douglas Adams- Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (and the rest of the series)

Isaac Asimov- The Foundation Trilogy

Jean M. Auel - Clan of the Cave Bear

Jane Austen- Emma

Jane Austen- Pride and Prejudice

H.E. Bates- The Darling Buds of May

Enid Blyton - The Enchanted Wood

Emily Bronte- Wuthering Heights

Geraldine Brooks- Year of Wonders

Lois McMaster Bujold- The Warrior’s Apprentice (and the other Vorkosigan books)

Jung Chang- Wild Swans

Agatha Christie- The Mysterious Affair at Styles (and lots of her others)

Wilkie Collins- The Moonstone

Elizabeth David- An Omelette and a Glass of Wine

Patrick Dennis- Auntie Mame

Charles Dickens- David Copperfield

Charles Dickens- Oliver Twist

Isak Dinesen- Out of Africa

R.F. Delderfield- The Swann Saga (series)

Arthur Conan Doyle- Sherlock Holmes stories

Gerald Durrell- My Family and Other Animals

Victoria Finlay- Colour

Ken Follett - Pillars of the Earth

Jostein Gaarder- Sophie’s World

Paul Gallico - The Silent Miaow

John Galsworthy- The Forsyte Saga (series)

Mrs Aeneas Gunn- We of the Never Never

Frances Moore Lappe-Diet for a Small Planet

Harper Lee- To Kill a Mockingbird

C.S. Lewis- Chronicles of Narnia (series)

Astrid Lindgren – Pippi Longstocking

Gavin Maxwell- Ring of Bright Water

James A. Michener- Hawaii

Mary Norton- The Borrowers

John O’Grady- They’re a Weird Mob

George Orwell- Animal Farm

Marcel Pagnol- Jean de Florette

Edward Rutherfurd- Sarum

Vikram Seth- A Suitable Boy

Clifford Simak- City

Joahanna Spyri- Heidi

Mary Stewart- Merlin Trilogy

Amy Tan- The Kitchen God’s Wife

Flora Thompson- Lark Rise to Candleford

J.R.R. Tolkien- The Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien- Lord of the Rings Trilogy

H.G. Wells - The Sleeper Awakes

Margaret Visser- Much Depends on Dinner

Evelyn Waugh- The Loved One

John Wyndham- Day of the Triffids

Playing again

2008-09-30T07:43:00.004+10:00

The newly painted, carpeted and totally re-arranged lounge room needed some cushions, preferably blue. While searching for blue fabrics, I came across a piece I made a while ago for a challenge, then decided I didn't like it and didn't know what to do with it. So,I played with it some more, and made it into a cushion.

It contains a mixture of fabrics and threads,beads and both hand and machine stitching. I quite like it now.

Here's a close-up of a section -

Hiding its light under a bush-el

2008-09-19T09:26:00.019+10:00

The photos of the landscape in my previous post would seem to indicate that there's little of floral beauty in that wide expanse of sandy red soil and grey-green bush. It's there though. You just have to look closer to find it. My Dad loves to grow Australian native plants in his garden, and today I noticed that an Emu Bush (Eremophila) was flowering. I hadn't seen this particular one before, so I went to have a closer look. It's a fairly scrappy, sparse sort of bush with grey-green foliage. The flowers hang down, and I carefully lifted one. It took my breath away. There was the most exquisite orchid-type flower of a beautiful pink. It's only 5cm long - but look what's packed into that tiny parcel -

It makes me wonder just how much beauty I missed as we sped along the roads. After the recent rains there were lots of wildflowers on the road verges but I just wasn't able to keep stopping, as we had so far to drive in such a short space of time. Next trip I'll just have to factor in some exploration and discovery time...

Way out west

2008-09-19T09:26:00.014+10:00

The best part about my new job is that I don't have to sit in an office looking at 4 walls all the time! I drove 1000 kilometres in 2 days this week to do site visits. From Dubbo, we headed for Brewarrina via Nyngan, then to Lightning Ridge where we stayed overnight. The next day we visited clients in Walgett, before heading back down the Newell Highway to Dubbo. It was a busy trip, with a couple of long days, but I did manage to take a few photos along the way.

Coolabah is on the way from Nyngan to Bourke, and is where we turned off to head for Brewarrina. There's not a lot there, except for the Coolabah Hilton!

As we crossed over the Bogan River at Gongolgon, the swallows nesting under the bridge flew up and swooped over the river, catching our attention so that we spotted a couple of pelicans obviously enjoying the extra water in the river brought by recent rains. Of course, by the time I'd found a safe place to pull over and walk back to the bridge, the pelicans had drifted further downstream, but one was still in sight

Rivergums are such majestic trees...

Away from the river, this is what the country looks like. Red soil, small trees and brush, and very very dry...

Grey foliage lessens evaporation in hot climates. This is the vegetation where we stopped for a lunch break, under the shade of one of the larger trees.

On the other side of Brewarrina, heading for Walgett, we spotted some larger birds than pelicans. I'm sure the farmer won't be impressed about them grazing in his crop, though...

Yes, they're emus
Spring is here and in Lightning Ridge that means that the Bougainvillea is in flower and looking fabulous.

I bags this one!

2008-09-06T14:29:00.003+10:00

There were handbags for sale at the Toongi Quilt Show last weekend. I fell in love with the handle/clasp on this one. The fabric and the beads are rather nice, as well. I used my recent birthday as an excuse to buy myself a gift.

Strawberry Ginger Muffins

2008-09-05T07:39:00.002+10:00

It's that time of the year when strawberries are in season, and a punnet costs less than $2. Who can resist? So, some strawberry muffins for afternoon tea seemed like a good idea. The last time I made them, I upped the strawberry flavour factor by adding some dried strawberries, but there were none left. However, there was some glace ginger, and it worked very well.

Here's the recipe -

1 punnet (250g) strawberries, washed, hulled and quartered
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 generous tablespoon strawberry liqueur (or brandy, or rum...)
90g glace ginger, chopped finely (or 90g dried strawberries, chopped finely)
Grated rind of 1 lime (or lemon)
Mix all this together and let it stand for about 30 minutes to an hour, mixing it occasionally.

Then mix up -

Juice of 1 lime
Add enough milk to the lime juice to make 1/2 cup (yes, the milk will curdle - that's good! It helps to lighten the muffins)
200g yogurt
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup caster sugar

Mix well together.

Sift the following into a bowl -

2 cups Self Raising flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Add -
1/2 cup dessicated coconut

Mix all the ingredients together. Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake at 200 degrees C for about 20 minutes. Makes 12-15 muffins.

These are light, moist, delicious muffins.

Toongi Quilt Show

2008-08-30T15:44:00.011+10:00

I've been following other bloggers visits to quilt shows - Houston, the Festival of Quilts in England, even the Sydney Quilt Show... and have wished I could be there.
But, then again, those bloggers don't get to visit the Toongi Quilt Show, and I did!

Toongi Hall is 26km south of Dubbo in Western NSW. For any of you who watched the show Outback House on ABC TV, you may like to know that "Oxley Downs" is only a couple of kilometres away from Toongi. The hall is in the middle of paddocks, and has served as a meeting place for the surrounding farms for many years. Here are some shots of the surrounds -

And this is the hall...

A group of quilters from the area hold a quilt show every couple of years. The hall is packed with quilts, local shops and craftspeople set up stalls, and they serve absolutely delicious scones with jam and cream for morning and afternoon tea.
This is inside the hall...

And here's a closer look at some of the quilts. I love the chooks with boots! And if you need a translation of "chooks", they're chickens in the rest of the English speaking world. Chooks is a much better name for these, though...
The photo doesn't do justice to the beautiful applique on this one. It's covered in flowers and fairies.
And this is a very pretty cot quilt. The centre of each block has been embroidered.
So, I've had a lovely day with a couple of friends and can claim to have visited a quilt show that most of my blogging friends will never have the opportunity to see (grin).

Memories of Japan

2008-08-10T10:18:00.004+10:00

The walls of the kitchen / dining area have finally been painted, so I'm going through the process of working out what's going back up on the walls, what is being added, and what is going to be put away.

One of the pieces that's definitely going back up is this quilt which I made after my trip to Japan about 10 years ago to visit my son while he was living there. It holds memories of the time I spent with him in Matsue, a fairly small town on the west coast, where he was teaching English in a junior high school and I spent days exploring the town and the outskirts of it. I caused a minor sensation almost everywhere I went, as a middleaged non-Japanese woman whizzing along on the bike he had borrowed for me! I loved exploring the local shops and this quilt contains some of my finds - the traditional indigo fabrics, the fish motifs and the samurai helmet motif all made from fabric. The kimono are a reminder of the night spent at his supervisor's house where we were treated to a wonderful traditional dinner. The supervisor's wife explained to me that she was currently training to be a "dresser" at weddings. The traditional wedding kimonos consist of a number of layers, which all need to sit "just right" on the body, and the tying of the obi is an art in itself. She suggested that she could dress me in some kimonos, so that she could practise and we could get some photos. It resulted in quite a bit of hilarity - and some photos of me looking extremely fat - as we put the kimonos on over the clothes I was already wearing!

Torben (my son) and I then spent two weeks backpacking, travelling by a mix of bullet train and local transport, and staying in ryokan (the Japanese equivalents of B&Bs). So the quilt contains new and secondhand fabrics (silks and cottons) found in places such as Kyoto, Nagasaki and Hagi. It was springtime, and the cherry blossom was at its height, especially in Kyoto where an afternoon spent following the Philosopher's Path beside the canal and under the blossoming trees is a vivid and favourite memory.

This quilt has used only a fraction of the fabrics I found - it's amazing how much can be stuffed into a backpack that already looks full to bursting! One day I'll use some more of it...

Get Ready, Get Set...

2008-08-08T17:02:00.001+10:00

The bride approved! So, the baskets are now finished along with the two garters (one to keep, one to throw) and my part of the wedding is all done. Ben (my husband) is still slaving away over the montage of still photos that they have requested for the start of their wedding video. The photos are of the bride and groom growing up in different parts of the world and he's matching them so that each set of photos shows them doing similar things. He's doing a great job, and I'm sure that they'll be thrilled with it.
As for me, I'm just so glad that I bought this gorgeous ribbon edged with hearts when I spotted it in Sydney a couple of months ago. I had a few minutes after a meeting and before I had to dash to the airport to catch my plane home. So, I went into Kinokuniya bookshop to have a browse. Kinokuniya, the Sydney outlet of a Japanese chain of bookshops is one of my favourite Sydney CBD shops. It and David Jones Food Hall call a siren song to me every time! This ribbon was waiting for me in the stationery section and I just couldn't resist it. I thought I was going to use it to wrap the wedding gift, but it proved ideal for both the garters and the baskets.
I had a lovely time making these - I had a hard time stopping, and the top edge of the organza on the baskets has been beaded as well, and I really like the organza ribbon roses on the sides.

Wedding Blues

2008-07-28T13:06:00.004+10:00

My son is getting married in a few weeks time, and all the usual last minute wedding planning hiccups are happening. The latest is the cost of flowers for his two young cousins who are being flower girls. The quote from the florist was astronomical, so I was called on to help. We decided to get some white baskets and fill them with some very pretty artificial "petals" that my soon-to-be daughter in law had found.
So, I undertook to find and decorate some baskets. Easy, huh? Not a bit of it. There is not a "small cane basket with handle" to be found anywhere in this town. In desperation, I ended up in one of the shops that seem to be full of cheap gifts and clothes - and there they were. Little white wire baskets covered in organdie and beads. There was only one problem - the wedding theme is blue and white, and these were covered in gold beads. What a chance to play! And here is the result - it's not finished off yet, as there is still the possibility that the bride won't like it at all. But I do...so please keep your fingers crossed that she does, too...

And this is what it looked like before...

And the very best part? The baskets cost $2.50 each!

Something new

2008-07-15T07:39:00.003+10:00

Isn't it disappointing when you visit a favourite blog, only to discover that there is nothing new to look at? Never mind that the blogger has so much happening in their life that blogging has had to take a back seat for a while. You're frustrated with them, and that's all that really counts for you.

So, in the interests of reducing your frustration and giving you something new to look at, here's another one from my wall. This is another A4 piece made for a challenge. I was handed a page from a magazine and told to reproduce it in fabric. This is the result. I really didn't want to do it - the subject matter didn't inspire me at all. That is until I unearthed the cat fabric that makes up one side of a pyramid - ancient egyptians and cats, hmmm- it all seemed to come together from there...see what you think...

Inspired by VanGogh

2008-06-30T15:20:00.002+10:00

A black and white photocopy of a VanGogh sunflower was the starting point for this. The photocopy was handed to me as a challenge, and I really enjoyed making it. The sequins were handstitched, the rest is machine stitched, and the petals were cut freeform, with one eye on the photocopy and the other on the scissors. I hate drawing with a pencil or pen, but scissors seem to work OK.
If, like me you can't draw to save your life, it's worth trying!

Back from Out Back

2008-06-27T17:23:00.011+10:00

Work commitments took me to Broken Hill this week and I loved being there. The country is so different, it's like being on another planet. Broken Hill is about 800km west of where I live, and close to the border of South Australia. It's a mining town rich in minerals, particularly lead and silver. It's desert country, with an average yearly rainfall of around 250mm and it's beautiful. The colours of the earth and sky are just amazing, and my photos certainly don't do it justice.

I used to think that in paintings by Pro Hart , the colours looked unreal and artificial. Then, about 20 years ago I visited his hometown of Broken Hill, and immediately saw the colours and intensity of colour that he saw.

This trip, I visited the Living Desert Reserve and climbed to the top of the hill to see the Sculpture Symposium. Sculpted from sandstone by a group of sculptors from around the world, they stand on a hill about 8km north of the town. My travelling companion wasn't up to the steep climb to the top. So there I was on my own, except for the emus, kangaroos and magpies, in complete silence and surrounded by desert. I didn't want to ever come down again. Now I know why some hermits choose mountain tops to escape from the world.

And I just had to show you this...going in and asking to join was considered, especially when the work commitments became a little overwhelming...

Just in case you can't read the sign, it's the Broken Hill Housewives Association.

Converting Waste to Art

2008-06-15T12:29:00.005+10:00

As part of the renovations we're doing around the house, our builder has altered the archway from the loungeroom into the hall. I don't know anything that makes a dust which is as invasive as the Gyprock which lines our walls. It results in a fine white dust that settles everywhere. So, in an attempt to reduce the effects, I moved all the ornaments and artwork from the loungeroom. Doing that made me look more closely at a number of things that I had begun to take for granted. One of them is this piece of textile art that I made in 2004. A friend persuaded me to enter it in the inaugural Waste to Art competition in our town. This competition is aimed at encouraging the use of recycled materials in artwork.
My piece contains Tyvek from old legal envelopes, which I painted in pale pinks and golds, and machine embroidered with gold thread. I then heated it to distort it. The background is a piece of polyester lining fabric from a remnant bin, painted with gold textile paints. It's hand and machine embroidered with blue and gold threads. The Tyvek seemed to me to resemble wings, and so I named it Fallen Angel. I framed it in a recycled frame. It won the Open 2-dimensional section of the competition.
I still quite like it, so decided to share...

And here's a closer look...

Memories of Judy

2008-06-09T12:06:00.003+10:00

Quite a few years ago, at a Carol Wilkes workshop, I picked up one of the "petals" I was making and pinned it to my top as a brooch. My friend Judy, immediately took one of hers and did the same thing. It led to a bit of a competition, with each of us making textile brooches. Judy made more and always seemed to me to make much better ones. She went on making lots, and seemed to have a new one every time I saw her. Which was often. She was a good friend.

On Friday morning I got the news that she had died, six weeks after a heart operation that went very wrong.

On Friday afternoon, I was moping around the house, not able to settle to anything, when I found the original "brooch". I played with it some more, added some stitching, trimmed some threads, and now quite like it.

So, here it is. I'll wear it to her funeral this week, still wondering who I'm going to "play with" now she's gone. No-one else I know plays with fabric and thread in quite the way she did. I've lost a kindred spirit, and I'm very sad.

My "sandpit"

2008-06-02T08:36:00.004+10:00

If you like to play with colour and stitch, this is a fun way to do it. Pieces of fabric, roughly square or rectangular in shape are laid down over a very fine cotton backing (you're going to embroider through a few layers, so it needs to be thin!). Over that, I have laid a few pieces of chiffon, etc - anything that I can see through to the fabric underneath, but which changes the colour slightly. Use a running stitch in a few places to hold everything down, then start embroidering. Experiment with the stitches, and the colours. Play!

I did a workshop with Effie Mitrofanis a few years ago and she has a quilt made from pieces like this that she calls her "sandpit" (sandbox to those of you who don't understand the Australian term) - because she can go and play in it whenever she wants. This is the start of mine.

Decorating with stitches

2008-05-26T16:00:00.003+10:00

This is the Angel decoration that I've been working on. The patterns were in Inspirations magazine a quite a few years ago, and I've made one for myself and given a number away as gifts over the years. This is another one for me and will be hanging on my Christmas tree this year. Just a few more stitches, then I'll cut it out and sew around the edge (adding a hanging thread as I do that) and stuff it with a small amount of cushion stuffing.

And a brooch that I've made for myself. The background is silk paper, and the metal is a brass shim which I heated in the flame of the gas stove, to get some blues into it. I then machine stitched it, and painted bits of it with a blue-green nail polish andf a purply one, and added beads.

Christmas is coming...

2008-05-24T08:36:00.003+10:00

...and so are some photos for this blog!

I have a new digital SLR camera. It was a Mother's Day gift to both of us from my husband. He says that, on the grounds that he had something to do with me becoming a mother, it's only fair that he gets to share the gift. Hmmm.

Anyway, it's a wonderful Canon EOS (the same as the one I tried out). He wanted to make sure I was happy with the "feel" of it before he committed to buying one. I find that so many cameras are too big and clunky for my hands. They're obviously made with a man's hands in mind. I've always liked Pentax, for the reason that they feel right in my hands, but so does this Canon. The best part is that the lenses from Dad's camera fit it, and Dad has given me those. His sight problems (Macular Degeneration) mean that he can't see to take photos anymore.

The problem is, though, that I now have to learn how to use it, and the last couple of weeks have been rather busy. Our kitchen has been renovated in that time, and now looks fabulous, but the dust and dislocation has been rather a lot to contend with.

Last Saturday, I escaped the confusion and went to an embroidery group meeting. Needing something to take to work on, I unearthed a Christmas Angel decoration which I started embroidering a couple of years ago. It's embroidered with metallic threads on white silk, and will be a challenge to photograph well. So, the challenge for this weekend is to get a photo of it onto the blog. That's after I finish my study assignment, which needs to be in by Monday. But at least I'm getting ready for Christmas early!

A different view

2008-05-04T11:22:00.006+10:00

I've been increasingly frustrated with the camera that I have been using. It's a small, autofocus one - a "point and shoot". The photos just never seem very sharp, and close-ups are a problem - I can never get the details that I want.

This morning, I had the loan of a digital SLR camera. These are the results I got in a few minutes in the garden at just one tree. Wow! I need one of these! Just look...

This is the blossom on the tree -
I love the colours in the bark -
And the morning sun was caught in the spider web -
Stamens from the blossom had been caught in the spider web, too -

Autumn Colours

2008-05-04T10:47:00.011+10:00

Eevry year at around this time, we try to visit Orange, a town in the Central Tablelands of NSW. It has a climate that is almost European, so the gardens of Orange feature plants that suit that climate. Cook Park is a beautiful public park near the centre of town that was planned and planted over 100 years ago. When we lived in Orange, over 30 years ago, my Sunday mornings were spent reading the newspaper in the park, while my husband spent some "quality time" with our son, playing on the swings and visiting the duck pond. Maybe that's why this park always has such a calming effect on me...but I think it also has something to do with the beautiful trees...

There's also a lovely old conservatory, where they grow prizewinning begonias.

Apple and cherry orchards surround Orange (it was named after the Prince of Orange, not the fruit!) and in recent years, vineyards have been replacing some of the orchards. There's some rather delicious wines coming from Orange now. We had lunch at one of the wineries, looking out over the vines and the mountains, and enjoying a glass of Zinfandel, which is a very enticing red. It went very well with our venison pie. A few bottles of it found their way into the car to come home with us, along with a bottle of a locally made cherry liqueur that we couldn't resist.

Campbell's Corner is an area planted for autumn colour and always worth a visit at this time of the year, too -

I needed a photo of the lichen growing on the road, as well. I'm sure there's inspiration for an embroidery there -

Book Work

2008-04-25T10:23:00.009+10:00

I haven't been completely idle over the last few months, although I haven't been keeping my blog up to date. These books are beautifully handmade by a clever graphic artist I found, occasional pages are made of gorgeous batik paper - a different colour in each book. With a textile cover made to match, they seem to make a hit every time. One of these was a birthday gift. The others went in "plain brown paper bags" to the two people who agreed to be my referees in the search for another job. They deserved a special thankyou!

I try to relate the cover to the colour of the batik pages inside. The batik pages in this one are purple. It was a birthday gift for Lee.

Another flowery one. I just love the way that this knitting yarn looks like fantasy flowers. The batik pages in this book are a citrus yellow, and the backgound fabric was handdyed by Lisa -

Sandra intends to keep this one handy for writing down those very special quotes she finds while reading or studying. The batik pages in this book are a purply blue. Sandra, my previous work supervisor, gave me a lovely dragonfly pendant as a farewell gift, so I just had to give her dragonflies in return -

I'm back!

2008-04-25T10:05:00.006+10:00

Apologies to those of you who have come here hoping to find something new and been disappointed time and time again. Life just became very complicated,as it does to all of us at times. However, with a new job where I'm very happy, and a whole new outlook on life, I have both the time and inclination to blog again.

We had a visitor in the house a couple of weeks ago. We discovered him in the ensuite bathroom and think he hitched a ride on the washing we'd brought inside earlier that day. He was a handsome fellow, and rather large, so we carried him outside again and took a shot of him to share -

He was most amenable to being photographed, so I captured a few angles -

I'm fairly sure that it's a Bogong Moth

Weaving Threads and Ribbons

2007-09-16T17:31:00.001+10:00

A piece of hand-dyed fabric in oranges and yellows, and a pack of mainly orange, pink and purple threads was the inspiration for the playtime I had today. I attached some lengths of ribbon to a piece of water soluble fabric, then wove the threads and other ribbons through. Some of the threads varied in thickness, which added to the randomness of the grid. I then stitched up and down the short lengths to stabilise it, and allowed it to distort the grid a little more. Circles stitched over the top hold it all down.

It's all I managed to do this weekend. The call of the glorious spring weather and the garden proved too much. Who can resist being outside when the garden is at its best? The ornamental peach is contrasting beautifully with the blue blossoms of the Blue Pacific bush right beside it
I just love peach blossom. Cherry blossom is good, but peach is so much better! I just love that pink....

Playing with hand dyed fabrics

2007-09-09T14:08:00.000+10:00

I've been playing with more ideas for bookcovers. This one is very similar to the blue one I made a while ago, which I ended up sending to Denmark as a gift for my mother-in-law's birthday. However, this green fabric (one of Lisa's gorgeous hand dyes) "spoke" to me, and it wanted to be the background for some flowers, so that's what it became...

More flowers - it must be the spring weather and the beautiful deep pink blossoms on my peach tree that are inspiring me. This one needs lots more handstitching, but I rather like the way it's shaping up. All the fabrics in this one are Lisa's hand dyes. The flowers are made from some of the trimmings that she was going to throw out! I'm so glad that I rescued them.

Stamping

2007-09-01T08:47:00.001+10:00

The book that I received for my birthday, "Finding Your Own Visual Language" suggests cutting stamps from plastic erasers, as an exercise in finding shapes that appeal to you. I've cut my first two, with a craft knife, and with a fair bit of difficulty. On my first one, the edges seemed very ragged. So I was sure that it was going to be a reject. I inked it up and stamped it, and was very surprised! The ragged edges actually seemed to suit the shapes. I need to do more stamping with it, and look at a lot more variations and combinations than I have here, but this is my first page -

The next one I did doesn't appeal to me as much, but I think the design has possibilities -

I took these to show a work colleague, who has now lent me a set of lino cutting tools. I tried them on the eraser in my desk at work and it was so much easier than the craft knife, which has to be "jiggled" so that each line is undercut in order to remove the pieces of eraser. So I'm off to try some more designs!

Birthdays

2007-08-18T16:15:00.000+10:00

A lovely friend of mine gave me this last week while I was in Canberra, but I was under strict instructions not to open it until my birthday. What a nice surprise. Thanks, Donna! The brooch that you made me looks great on my black jumper, too. I'll have to get a photo of that to share later.

My favourite present has been a new book - "Finding your Own Visual Language" by Jane Dunnewold, Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan. It contains lots of exercises to do, so I'll share some of them over the next few weeks as I start to play. I'm really looking forward to doing this.

Meanwhile, I'm getting organised for my mother-in-law's birthday. She loves blue, so I'm sending her one of my covered books. I've also made her a birthday card. The little motif on this card was cut from a find in the local OpShop. It was a linen jacket covered randomly with beaded motifs and must have been rather expensive when it was originally bought. It was damaged, and far too small for me, but a bargain, so I bought it for the beading. I didn't quite know what I was going to do with it, and it was hard to bring myself to cut into all that workmanship, but I'll be cutting up the rest to play with now that I've made that first slash into the fabric!

A Thank You Gift

2007-07-26T17:18:00.001+10:00

I'm going to a "Relly Rally" this weekend over on the coast. It's because of my great-uncle's 90th birthday. Uncle Alec is my grandfather's last surviving sibling, so the family decided that it was a great opportunity to get together.

My great-grandmother lived into her 90's, so she was a rallying point for the family for a long time. I think that's why the family have remained reasonably close and enjoy a chance to get together. I'm looking forward to the reunion on Saturday, but am not really looking forward to the 5+ hours of driving to get there!

Dad and I are staying with his cousin Marion, who loves to draw and is a talented potter. I decided that a covered Visual Art Journal would probably be a good thank you gift. I love the unusual yarn that features on it. I've been trying to think of a way to use it. It gets lost if I try to use it with thicker threads, and it's not the type you can embroider with, so I've couched it down with a machine stitch. I hope Marion likes it...

Hand Dyed Cover

2007-07-15T16:43:00.001+10:00

A few busy weeks and weekends have left little time to make anything worth posting on the blog.
Today, though, I covered a small book, using one of Lisa's gorgeous hand dyed fabrics.

The whole piece of fabric is dyed in beautiful sunset colours - purples, pinks, yellows and oranges. I needed such a small amount for the book, that the cover really doesn't do justice to the fabric, although I managed to reintroduce some of the missing colours with the threads that I used.

I didn't do justice to the cover with my photographs, either! The edge of the cover isn't wavy, although it definitely looks that way in the photos...

This is the front -

And this is the back -

Inklin Swap

2007-06-26T16:40:00.000+10:00

My swaps have arrived!

These are some of the 4inch x 4inch "inklins" (see my post on 15th May) which I received in a swap. They have been mounted in a little book by the swap hostess. What a great idea, Susan! It's now sitting on my coffee table.

This is one of Jayne's - The shiny ink in the centre of the card has caught the light from the flash. The drawing is actually done in black ink, with a faint yellow outline.

This was done by Janice. I love the newspaper behind the drawing, and the little stamp in the corner.

Another one by Janice. Was it Mondrian who did paintings like this? It's very reminiscent of the 1960's and the clothes we wore - primary colours, divided into sections by areas of white and thin black lines. Very trendy!

Making a Note Book Cover

2007-06-17T16:25:00.000+10:00

I found a gorgeous A6 size notebook in Canberra last weekend. Beautifully made, with pages made from a good quality white paper, it also has an occasional page of blue batik paper. So, armed with the book, I went into the sewing room and took hold of whatever caught my eye as a complement to the batik paper. Here's what I found...
I cut small random triangles from the orange, gold and darker blue fabrics and laid them on the blue background fabric. I then laid some hot-fix Angeline fibres over the lot and ironed it. This melted the Angelina fibres and held the triangles in place while I meandered over the top with blue thread, in a zigzag stitch.
The wool yarn that I had found had gorgeous knobbly bits on it which reminded me of flower heads, so I cut pieces to look like flower heads on stalks.
Then I sewed them onto the fabric, lined it and put a satin stitch around the edge. This is the front of the finished cover...
...and this is the back...
This is the whole cover, laid out flat.

And for those of you wondering what the inside looks like...here it is...
Now I just have to decide whether to put it away to use as a gift, or to keep it myself...hmmm...

But I failed art at school!

2007-06-17T16:12:00.001+10:00

Thanks for the great comments that some of you have made about my blog. However, I really have to take issue with the description of me as "artistic"! You see, that may be someone else, but it's never how I describe myself. I had to have my arm twisted quite a lot to describe myself as a textile artist on this blog.

I'm the kid who could never make a drawing that looked anything like the thing I was supposed to draw, and always had the messy handwriting. In the first year of high school, we had to study art. This always seemed to involve drawing or painting something that the teacher placed at the front of the room. I just couldn't do it. She'd look at mine, shake her head, sigh and move on to someone who showed some talent. I remember getting something like 48% at the end of the year. Friends that went to school with me think it's hilarious that people now buy some of my art!

It's only in the last fifteen years or so that I've realised that I have a bit of an eye for colour and design, and that when use a sewing machine, or a needle and thread, I lose my fear of not being able to "draw".

So...while I can doodle, and play with bits of fabric and thread, I'm not what is usually thought of as an artist! Why am I telling you this? Because those of you who have told me that I'm artistic need to realise that you are too, in some way. You just need to relax, play and develop it! Go on...you can do it, too...

Not new, but not blue

2007-06-05T16:35:00.000+10:00

There hasn't been much activity in my studio over the last couple of weeks, with the result that there's been nothing to photograph and post on the blog. So, in order to satisfy those of you who only come here for the eye candy, here are a couple of photos of a book cover I made for an artist's journal about 12 months ago.
During a trip to Sydney last week for work, I escaped the 3 day conference for long enough to find some small notebooks that I'm going to cover and use as gifts for all those non-arty friends who wouldn't use artist's journals. When I got home I went looking for the photos of covers I've made up to now, to give me the inspiration I need to get started and decided that that's what I could share.
Please note also that this cover has absolutely no blue in it!(See! I CAN make things in other colours...) The background fabric is a gorgeous green-gold silk shot through with pink - one of those lucky fabric remnant finds.

This is the front...

...and this is the back...

Inklins

2007-05-15T20:35:00.000+10:00

A friend of mine calls these "inklins". It's a form of doodling that's very addictive.

Recently she suggested a swap, and these are my contribution to it. Each "inklin" measures 4 x 4 inches. They've been doodled on watercolour paper, using a Pigma pen. Two of the backgrounds have been coloured using a watercolour pencil.

What is it?

2007-05-15T20:02:00.000+10:00

Okay, I'll give you a clue. It was taken on a Sunday afternoon visit to Western Plains Zoo. I love the pattern in it...it's an echidna, or Spiny Anteater, the Australian equivalent of a porcupine.

Meanwhile, there was some nest building going on in another quarter...

And this is a Diamond Firetail, native to this area - the Western Plains of New South Wales. Isn't he handsome?
There's a gorgeous flash of scarlet wherever he flies. No wonder it's called a Firetail.

Jan's Birthday Present

2007-05-06T17:35:00.000+10:00

Back in January, I started making a bookcover. I finished it today as a birthday present for my friend, Jan. She's recently started sketching and painting, and the cover fits an A5 size sketchbook. The sandwiched fabric has been quilted with straight machine stitching, using a blue embroidery thread, a gold thread and a metallic purple thread. I then added some beads by hand, and finished the edges with satin stitch by machine.

I sat and did this at the art group I've been invited to join, while the others sketched a group of bottles placed on the table in front of them. I learnt a lot about using charcoal and oil pastels as I watched and chatted with them, but I don't think I'll be trying to sketch anytime soon! The colours and shapes of the bottles were pretty though, so I took a photo instead...

Experiments

2007-05-01T16:53:00.000+10:00

I've been experimenting with ideas for Artist Trading Pins and thought I'd share some of the results.

Ages ago, I got hold of some brass shim, which I wanted to have a go at stitching into. In the book "Paper, Metal, Stitch", there are some ideas for using it and some looked as though they could make rather nice ATPs. So I decided it was time to have a go. This is the result of my first try. The background is silk paper (yes I know, I obviously have a "thing" about blue!). The shim was heated over the flame of the gas stove to colour it, and then machine stitched. It has possibilities, I think.

In the book, there's a suggestion for colouring parts of the metal with nail varnish. So, I went and bought the cheapest I could find and had a play. The light green blobs are too big, and the purply ones are too hard to find, but this idea also has possibilities. Maybe I also need to buy nail varnish that costs more than $3 a bottle, of course!

This is another thing I've been "going to" try for ages. I took some fabric that already had some thick threads machine couched onto it, cut it into triangles, wrapped it around a thick knitting needle and painted it with Mod Podge. It makes interesting beads...although they're probably not quite stiff enough. Maybe I need to paint them with Mod Podge again?

Hmmm...what can I play with next?

Textile Jewellery

2007-04-25T17:01:00.000+10:00

Some friends and I have been having a discussion about making and swapping Artist Trading Pins. I like the idea of having some textile"jewellery" for the lapel of the jackets I'll be wearing to work this winter. It will be as if I can take something of my obsession with me to work.
I promised that I would put some photos on the blog, so that they could see the textile jewellery I have made in the last couple of years...

This brooch measures 6.5cm x 2cm. The background is a gold paper. The coloured section is a tiny bit of dyed silk tops, which was trapped under organza. I then stitched with a gold thread, and added some beads.

This next one has been made into a pendant. It measures 5cm x 5cm. It was made in a goldwork embroidery workshop with Doris Gordon from NSW Embroiderers' Guild. We played with our initials to make designs, so this is based on an "R". It uses various metal threads and beads. The tiny greeen and purple bits are french knots done with metallic threads. The scary thing about this close-up is that I can see all the usually invisible couching stitches...and they look very uneven!
I don't wear this much...ever since I decided it looks like a dog sitting down with its nose in the air. Don't you just hate it when that happens? And, yes, I've tried turning it on its side, or upside down, and the design just doesn't work that way. Sigh.

A flower?

2007-04-21T11:11:00.000+10:00

Just playing again. The framing always helps...and I quite like things that are almost escaping from the frame.

Lime Muffins Recipe

2007-04-21T10:55:00.000+10:00

Lisa wanted the recipe for the lime muffins, so here it is. I can't claim credit for the recipes, only for thinking of combining the two.

The first is a microwaved lemon butter, or curd, that I have been making for years in my 650 watt microwave (but for this I use limes). It's from the Margaret Fulton "Microwave Cooking" book. If you're using a more modern, more powerful microwave, just be careful that you don't overcook it!

Lemon Butter

125g butter
1 cup sugar
¾ cup lemon juice (I used lime juice)
Grated rind of 3 large lemons (or limes)
4 eggs

Place the butter, sugar, juice and rind in a large bowl. Cook uncovered for 3 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking.
Beat the eggs into the mixture. Cook for 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens, stirring every 30 seconds.
Allow to cool before spooning into clean, dry jars. Seal.

This muffin recipe also uses lemons in the original recipe. Again, I just substituted limes.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
(from Muffin Magic – Diana Linfoot)

Wet Mix
½ cup margarine (I use butter or oil)
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk or yogurt
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind ( or lime)
½ cup lemon juice ( or lime)
¼ cup poppy seeds

Dry Mix
2 cups self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 200C and grease the muffin tins. Blend the butter and sugar and beat in the eggs, milk, lemon and poppy seeds. Fold the dry mix into the wet mix, spoon into the muffin tins and bake for about 20 minutes. Makes 12.

To make Lime Poppyseed Muffins with Lime Butter -
Let muffins cool a little, then make a couple of slices into the top of the muffin, joining the slices at an angle (Make a “V”). Remove the slice and fill with lime butter. Replace the slice on top.

An answer for Sheila

2007-04-07T10:11:00.000+10:00

Sheila had a look at the coffee cuffs I made in January, and asked what they're used for.
Well, my favourite coffee shop makes great take-away coffees, but the cups they use are far too thin and I burn my fingers while carrying it back to the office. The coffee cuff adds that extra insulation. So, they're practical as well as pretty. Here's how it looks on the cup -

Inspirations

2007-04-07T10:00:00.000+10:00

A trip to Western Plains Zoo yesterday provided some much needed inspiration although, in most cases, it wasn't the animals that provided it. It was the trees and plants. The eucalyptus bark in particular. As eucalypts are evergreens, many of them shed their bark in autumn, rather than shedding their leaves. This can give some great textures and colours. Here are a couple -

No, the next one isn't tree bark. It's giraffe skin! Western Plains Zoo is a large open range zoo which features endangered plains animals from all around the world, and some of them come quite close to the edges of their compounds, resulting in some "up close and personal" encounters. Not quite this close, I must admit, but the zoom lens on the camera came in handy...

Sunday Treats

2007-03-26T07:55:00.000+10:00

It must be autumn - the weather has finally cooled down, and the persimmons have appeared. The hardest part is waiting for the persimmons to be ripe enough to eat. But when they are and I cut them open, they're almost too pretty to eat.

Limes are in season, too, and they grow locally. At 3 for $1.00, I overindulged myself at the Farmers' Market, and bought far too many to use up in gin and tonics! So...

I used up some of the wonderful farm eggs, as well! Lime Poppyseed Muffins with Lime Butter were a lovely treat on a cool Sunday afternoon. No wonder I didn't get near the studio...

Silk Paper Inspiration

2007-03-11T13:18:00.000+11:00

A piece of silk paper that had been moulded into shape while it was still wet was the inspiration for this. The colours remind me of the sea, and coolness.

I must need another trip to the coast. We're 400km inland, and the temperature is still hitting the mid 30s C everyday, although the nights and mornings are starting to cool down a little - a promise that autumn is on its way. We seem to look forward to autumn as much as those in the Northern Hemisphere look forward to spring. It's the relief from extremes of weather, I think...and I've had enough of summer and heat.

Bookmarking again

2007-03-11T13:04:00.000+11:00

I run a school-based mentoring program which trains and employs community volunteers as mentors. These wonderful people donate so much time and energy to the program that I can never thank them enough. Like all community programs, it also runs "on the smell of an oily rag" - never enough money to go around.

So, as a gift for my volunteers, I decided to make some bookmarks. All it takes is some watercolour paper, some paint, the use of some wooden stamps that I have, some cords, and some of my time. I can afford that! These were done with a leaf shaped wooden stamp, and the cord is one I made with some wool, a zigzag stitch on the machine and some gold thread.

The ones below are similar to the blue ones I made a few weeks ago, but this time I used a pink painted background, then orange paint on the stamp to start, waited until it dried and slightly offset the stamp the second time, using purple paint. I think they look a little Indian...

Let's hope my volunteer mentors like them!

Danish Whitework Treasures

2007-02-28T20:20:00.000+11:00

My husband, who is Danish, is the eldest of four boys, and I am the only daughter-in-law who is interested in embroidery and textiles. This is lucky for me, because a number of years ago my mother-in-law was clearing out her collection of family treasures. She packed most of them up and posted them to me in Australia. I have framed some of them, and every few years, I take them out of the frames and wash them (very carefully!). It was time to do them again. So, before I put them back in the frames, I photographed them. This collar was made by one of my husband's great-aunts, who lived in NorthWestern Jutland. It appears to be Hedebo work, which was a whitework technique developed in Denmark. I just love it - I have no inclination to do this type of work myself, but I can really appreciate the intricacy of it.
This is a close-up of the beautiful work in it. The triangles are done with needleweaving.

The stitching in this butterfly isn't as fine, and I think was probably made by the other great-aunt, but it's still lovely. The antennae are quite fine - it's almost all stitching, with very little of the base cloth showing.
This collar fascinates me. The embroidery on it is beautiful, but...
...just look at the way it's been joined together!
I think this was probably done by someone other than the original embroiderer, maybe to make it smaller to fit a different dress. I'm also assuming that this join was the back of the collar, and maybe hidden by long hair. But, if you look back now at the photo of the first collar, you can see how uneven the neck edge is. I can't imagine why someone would do all that work on something that wasn't perfect, so I'd love to know the story behind these pieces. Unfortunately, I never will.

Artist Trading Cards for Erica

2007-02-24T15:48:00.000+11:00

Clearing up "stuff" in the studio should clear my conscience. It didn't work that way today, though, because I discovered an ATC that I received a long time ago. The reason it made me feel guilty is that I haven't sent one in return. It was outside of a normal swap, so it was easy to forget. Not a good excuse, but the only one I have! So, I decided that it was past time that I made an ATC to send. This is similar to the ATCs I made for the last swap I was in and uses the same technique as the birthday cards I've been making.

But I was still feeling guilty, so I made another one to send to her. Once again, it's similar to ATCs I've made before, but I like this one better. I think it's the reeds that I've added this time that make it a little more interesting...

So, they're done and awaiting delivery. I've had a lovely afternoon, just playing around with making them, which has helped to make me realise that sometimes I just have to start, and then the ideas will flow.

All I need to do now is find that snail mail address so I can post them...

What a sight to wake up to !

2007-02-19T17:43:00.000+11:00

Recently, I was lucky enough to stay in Sydney with my clever friend Lisa. She was dyeing metres of fabric and this is the sight I woke up to in the morning - these gorgeous fabrics hanging on the clothes line amongst the bushes in the garden. I rather think that all gardens should be decorated this way...

This is where my strips for "Woven Water" came from, if you hadn't already guessed and I thought you might like to feast your eyes on the lengths of fabric, too.

My glorious flowering eucalypt

2007-02-13T16:22:00.000+11:00

Today I noticed red gum blossom caps on the lawn and path in my front garden. This is a sign that my favourite flowering tree is flowering early this year! I love the contrast of the bright red caps with the yellow-green blossoms and the grey-green leaves. It's a spectacular sight, and people are stopped in their tracks when they see it in all its glory. The bees love it, too - if you look closely, you can see three of them. It's native to Western Australia, and I should know it's botanical name because I know I've been told...but I've forgotten. It usually flowers in March, so maybe it's another sign of the way our weather is changing. I collect the caps and put them in a bowl, so that I can admire them for the rest of the year. The colour lasts quite well, although they do darken as they age. They look great in a potpourri mix, too.

Woven Water

2007-02-11T13:29:00.000+11:00

Why are someone else's offcuts so much more interesting than what's already in the fabric stash in the cupboard? Well, of course, when they're as delicious as these offcuts, they're just begging to be played with - beautiful hand dyes, in cool colours. It could be the effect of the drought and the heat here that made them so appealing, too.

As you can see, the strips still have raggy edges, and are different widths. I cut them all to the same length, wove them and then fused them to a dark blue commercial fabric. I haven't done any stitching yet, but think this method has possibilities and will be playing some more.

Thanks for giving them to me, Lisa!

More Paper Play

2007-02-11T13:15:00.000+11:00

No, I haven't disappeared! I've been trying to post for over a week, now. Unfortunately, I just haven't been able to - Blogger just wouldn't let me do anything other than sign in. Anyway, after fiddling some more with some settings on the computer, it looks like we're in business again. Yay!

I've had a few times recently when I've been away from home for work, and away from my fabrics and threads. My hands have been itching for something to do, and this is what I've done. I used a pigma pen on a watercolour postcard, started in one corner and worked my way to the corner diagonally opposite. It's easy to carry in my bag and was fun to do. I think it has possibilities for developing some embroidery ideas.

Cafe Style Chicken Salad

2007-02-02T18:12:00.000+11:00

This is a great chicken salad. The type that would cost you a fortune in an upmarket cafe, and it's easy to make. Looks good and tastes terrific. I tried taking a photo, but the photos didn't turn out so well and I didn't find out until all the salad had been scoffed. So, you'll have to make it yourself and see what it looks like. Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken Salad

Serves: 2

1 chicken breast

2 rashers lean bacon, chopped

300g (just over 1/2 pound) small new potatoes, quartered

(or use sweet potato for lower GI)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Mixed salad leaves –a couple of large handfuls

½ capsicum (bell pepper), sliced thinly (red or yellow for colour)

2 shallots (green onions), finely chopped

Dressing:

1/4 cup greek style yogurt

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

½ -1 tablespoon seeded mustard

2-3 teaspoons SunDried Tomato Pesto

3 large sundried tomatoes, finely chopped

Mix together.

Toss potatoes in oil. Sprinkle with salt. Bake 25mins at 250C (475F), turning once. Cook bacon rashers, drain. Drain any fat from pan. Cook chicken breast and then slice. Tear lettuce, put into two bowls. Top with capsicum, potatoes, bacon and chicken. Drizzle dressing over, sprinkle with shallots.

Paper and paint

2007-01-27T12:45:00.000+11:00

Playing with paint again, but this time with watercolour paper and a wood stamp.

I can never find a book mark when I need one, so I made some.

Paper and Threads

2007-01-21T17:22:00.000+11:00

I have lots of friends with birthdays in January. Maybe it has something to do with star signs... I'm a Leo...
Anyway, yesterday I stitched some lace and lacy bits to a base, then got to work with paint, inks and metallic wax. I've now cut it into motifs to use on birthday cards. Making the cards also gave me an excuse to play with some delicious papers that I bought last weekend in Canberra. To my delight, I discovered that Pepe's Paperie is now in Civic, as well as Woden. I have almost as big a stash of paper as I have of fabric, threads and beads. And I can't stop myself buying more!

I've only made two cards so far, but am now all set to make some more during the week. This is my favourite of the two I've made. I just love that background fabric. I seem to be in a purple/pink mode for birthday cards at the moment.

What else inspires me?

2007-01-20T11:09:00.000+11:00

I'm trying to get inspired to sit down and actually do some sewing, so I've been cleaning out cupboards instead (as you do!). I came across this bag and decided to share some of what has inspired me in the past. The bag was made to match a Chinese silk top (photo of the fabric is below) which I'd bought to wear to a wedding. I stitched metallic threads and fabric, along with squares of red leather, onto a black silk fabric, overlaid with an old chiffon scarf, which happened to have dots of red scattered here and there. Another guest asked where I'd managed to find a top and bag to match. It was very tempting to say that I'd been shopping in a very exclusive boutique. It's a shame that I'm so honest...
This multicolour pendant was made to jazz up a white t-shirt, which I was wearing with a skirt made of the fabric pictured below. It did the trick.

Ready, Set...Sew

2007-01-14T17:01:00.000+11:00

I want to make some book covers, so have set up some fabric ready to do some machine stitching. I've trapped ribbons and threads between some black fabric and some blue chiffon. I think it will be interesting to see how different it looks once I've added some stitching over the top. I've been in Canberra for a couple of days and visited my favourite bookshop - Clouston and Hall at Fyshwick. They sell remaindered books. I was very excited to discover a copy of Celtic Inspirations for Machine Embroiderers by Valerie Campbell-Harding and Maggie Grey for about a third of the original price! I snaffled it very quickly and have been browsing through it. There's lots of inspiration in there.

"...and at night the wondrous beauty of the everlasting stars..."

2007-01-10T17:14:00.000+11:00

Along with a group of internet friends, I've been making pages for textile books. It has operated like a round robin. Each of us decided on a theme and made the first page of our book, then sent it to the next person. That person then made a page to fit the theme.
Mine has arrived back, and I'm thrilled with all the pages, except mine. The theme was the sky and my page was based on the sweep of night sky, with its unblinking stars, which we get in western New South Wales. I've decided that it's the lack of focal point that is the problem with it, but don't quite know how to fix it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

If I can't fix it to my satisfaction, I'm considering making another page, based on clouds. This is a small hand embroidery which is an exercise from a Creative Embroidery course that I did with the Embroiderers' Guild years ago. We were sent grey fabric and grey, black and white threads. We had to make an original design and we were told that we could only use one stitch - Cretan stitch. I was having a lot of trouble coming up with a design, until I looked out of my kitchen window one day. We'd been having a long, dry spell but there were rain clouds in the sky! I based the embroidery on that, and I've always been quite pleased with it. I'm now thinking that I need to expand on that theme. That should keep me busy for a while.

Guess what we had for lunch...

2007-01-09T15:36:00.000+11:00

Take some Turkish Bread, cut it in half horizontally and toast. Spread with avocado and top with ham, chopped sundried tomatoes, chopped marinated artichokes and rocket leaves. Finally add second piece of Turkish Bread, and squash carefully with the palm of your hand so that you can get your mouth around it. Guaranteed delicious! I love being on holidays and having time to think about what's for lunch...

Caffeine Addiction?

2007-01-09T15:31:00.000+11:00

I couldn't help myself. I'm sure these coffee cuffs are just as addictive as coffee itself! They're so easy to make and are great gifts. So I made two more. The embroidered fabric was already made, and there was just enough to cut two cuffs from it.

Lazy Lunch

2007-01-07T10:51:00.000+11:00

What a great spot for a lazy lunch! Artist friends live in an old house in an old gold mining town. The courtyard beside Tim's studio is a glorious spot for a lazy lunch with a group of friends on a summer Saturday. Seven hours after setting out, we arrived home full of good food and great conversation. I think I want to drop out of the rat race and live there, too!

The patterns on some pottery plates in the garden might inspire an embroidery.

Playday

2007-01-05T17:07:00.000+11:00

Today has been a playday in my studio. I needed to make a birthday card for a friend, so decided to try working with some brass shim that has been sitting on a shelf in my studio, waiting to be tried out. I held it over a gas flame to colour it, then cut it to size and embossed it with the flower design you can see. The colours are hard to photograph, but range through golds, blues, greens and purples. The bacground fabric contains all of those colours, and I've machine stitched the shim to the fabric and then added some beads. The embossing needs a steadier hand - but then I'm not very good at drawing with a pen! (I used an empty ballpoint pen to make the marks on the back of the shim.)

I still felt like playing, so decided to try making one of the coffee cuffs that feature in the latest Quilting Arts magazine. It's used for holding a cardboard coffee cup and, as I regularly burn my fingers while trying to carry my coffee back to work from the coffee shop, it seemed like a fun idea to try. I used a piece of embroidery that was an off cut from a larger piece. It's coffee coloured, so won't show the spills (I hope!). The piece wasn't quite big enough, so I cut it up and pieced it back together, so that the cuff pattern would fit. I don't have a cardboard coffee cup to try it out on and the finished cuff seems a bit big, but I'll have to wait until I'm back at work to buy a coffee and try it!

Some of my work

2007-01-04T15:44:00.000+11:00

I've been clearing up my studio - what else do you do while on holidays? - and thought I should post an example of the type of thing I like to make. This is a small piece for the front of a birthday card. The background paper is a handmade paper incorporating confetti, which I bought in Adelaide a couple of years ago. It makes a great background. The "shell" in the centre and the fabric behind it are made from silk paper, which has been scrunched and the edges coloured with Treasure Gold. The beads were handstitched.

New Year New Blog

2007-01-03T10:42:00.000+11:00

This is my first ever blog entry. So, one New Year Resolution has been kept up to this point. Not bad for two days into the New Year. It's raining at last here in western NSW, although we need a lot more for the drought to be broken. Still, the garden is looking greener than it has for months now and it's great to see the raindrops on the leaves and flowers.