Booking a Gift

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

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

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

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

Playing again at last!

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


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




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

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

Autumn on the Western Plains

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

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

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

Painted Surprise

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

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