Tuesday, June 26, 2007

latest addiction

here is the wonderful wool that I'd bought on Sunday, I know it's not a very good photo but it gives you the idea of what it's like.



I saw something recently that started my creative crocheting ideas running, so the past 2 nights in front of the heater and telly armed with my new wool, I got to work.
I crocheted 6 different curly circles, I always think these circles look like they belong under the sea, then I crocheted the long curly part and have just attached the curly bits to it while I had my morning cuppa.

do you like my technical descriptions......



here's a closer look at a curly end.



I can see theses becoming very addictive - and I'm not short of a bit of wool......
so there will be no stopping me

Sunday, June 24, 2007

A very busy day

sorry I haven't posted for a while, life got a little hectic, I'm on holidays from art school at the moment but had a project for a magazine that needed urgent attention so have been flat out piecing the top as I loose the next week going up to Sydney to work at the the Quilt Show at Darling Harbour, I'll be working on the Unique Stitching and Design stand so come and say hello.

I can't show you the quilt I've been working on but here is a photo of some of the fabrics that I was using.



Today I was picked up at 6.45am by Nic Bridges for the drive up to Sydney (aprox 1 1/2 hours) Nic was the drop off person for the quilts for the show for our area so I went with her for the drive to deliver the quilts by 9 o'clock to Darling Harbour for judging.
We were both in need of coffee so headed to Newtown for breakfast and a bit of shopping, not to much was open at that early hour but after some sustenance we found a book shop and an art supply shop open so we were happy and left a little money behind.

We then headed over to Reverse Garbage at Marrickville but for the first time I struggled to find much, we had hoped to find stuff to incorporate into our sculpture but did find some goodies below in a place called The Bower so I was happy, I also bought a skein of wool at the markets that I will play with in front of the telly tonight.



Does any one know what the big silver thingy is in the bottom of all the bits?

We called in and had a quick cuppa with Lisa Walton then started to head for home but deviated again to the Hazelhurst Gallery in Gymea to look at a Sculptural exhibition that out sculptor teacher Ivor Fabok is part of and of course by this time it was way past lunch time so we had lunch in the cafe before we hit the road again, and to round off the trip we stopped for another cuppa with Lorraine Webster at Waterfall.

So all in all we packed a lot into our day trip to Sydney and many cups of tea.

Now to put my feet up - and have a cup of tea.............

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Ants......

Well, I think I'm on top of the ants, I think I'm over the worst but they are still coming out when the thermostat cuts in and out, I just have to brush down the ironing board each time I use it, will load it up with fly spray again before I turn it on when I go out to the studio shortly, it is so cold here this morning I can't go without it.

I'm on holidays from Art school for a few weeks and have a few projects that I need to get done in a hurry but here is a sculpture that I hadn't posted that I'd finished last week, I really enjoy these small pieces working with found objects and off cuts.



Saturday, June 16, 2007

How many??????????

Firstly I'd like to thank every one for taking the time to look at my work and making suggestions, as it's a class sample I think it would be more pleasing to the eye of potential students with the border and if I can get some more I'll bind it with the stripe.

Now here's a question for you, how many ants does it take to interrupt an afternoon in the studio??????

AN AIR CONDITIONER FULLLLLLLLL




Had started on a couple of block samples before turning my attention to the borders on the quilt and had turned the heater on, had cut a few strips and heard what I thought was the rain on the outside of the air conditioning unit then remembered there is now a roof over the back end of the studio so the rain couldn't be tapping on the unit, I turned around to look at the unit on the wall making this really bizarre noise and there was this black rain coming out of it all over my ironing board and me, ants make quiet a lot of noise when they land.

--- Now I'll really have to clean my studio up.........

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

To border or not to border - that is the question?

I need some help making a decision, I've been making this class sample based on my quilt that is in this years Down Under Quilts Calendar as I'd had a few enquiries as to whether it was a class, so I have whipped this up using some of Kaffe Fassetts new range, but I can't decide if it needs borders or not, what I'm auditioning is also used in the centre strip.

So what do you think ? border or not? I unfortunately like it both ways


tree down

Down here in Wollongong we didn't suffer to much with the storms over the weekend not like up the coast, we did have lots and lots of rain and wind but not as bad as the storms 9 years ago when I broke my ankle but we did suffer one casualty, the tree we call stumpy fell over.
Let's back track a few years, we had bad winds rip through here in 2000 and blew down a gum tree in the yard it was a considerate tree and fell parallel to the fence and luckily it wasn't any taller as it just reached the back of the house with it's tips, luckily the en suite hadn't been built at that stage.
As my husband Tim was away the SES came in and chopped it up but left the stump which Tim pushed back into it's hole when he came home and it sent up a shoot which grew into a new tree that we affectionately called Stumpy but alas he is no more, his roots just couldn't keep hold with the very soggy soil and Tim has taken the last of the stump out.

So here he is......




he only took up half the length of the yard this time......

Friday, June 8, 2007

Yesterday's Sculpture

Yesterday I had a very productive day at Art School, here are the 2 pieces that I finished, still using found objects and bits from the wood cutting room, the dead umbrella skeleton that I found in the car park is still providing me with lots of scope.
With the first piece we were introduced to sheet metal and the use of cutting, rolling, soldering, riveting and the best bit making lots of noise banging on the anvil.




and it's amazing what I keep and what I can do with it.




this is a work in progress, the morning class goes way to fast, will continue on this one next week.



also had a very productive afternoon in Printmaking class and did the first colour run on the reduction lino prints, I did 15 prints, we only need 6 prints for our assessment so hopefully out of the 15 I may be able to get some of them to register as there is still 2 more colours to go.

Monday, June 4, 2007

week in review

I've had a very busy week and unfortunately didn't get to spend any time at the machine, hopefully today I may get some work done.
So here is my week in review.

Monday - Tai Chi in the morning then got nowhere fast for the rest of the day though I did manage to do some of my homework for school the next day.

Tuesday - Life drawing in the morning is now exploring arms so here is my two attempts that I'm happy with, these were my 3rd and 4th for the morning.
The afternoon in Colour and Design we were working on word associated designs like Anger, Joy, Sleepy on the train etc, hopefully I can show them at a later time.




Wednesday - lot of running around and getting class notes ready for night class and Fridays class.

Thursday - In sculpture class we started on working with sheet metal so we were cutting, soldering, riveting, and making a lot of noise hammering on the anvil.



Friday - Spent the day up in Sydney teaching a class then in the evening was the official opening of the new quilt shop in Albion Park called "The Quilters Garden" more info on this at a later date.

Saturday - working in the shop (above)

Sunday - had a very pleasant day in the grounds of Tullembah Inn, painting.
About 20 of us, mostly people from Art School spent the morning painting the view then the paintings were hung in the restaurant where they'll stay on show and for sale for the next month.
We then enjoyed a lovely lunch surrounded by all of our paintings, 3 winners were chosen and awarded gifts by the restaurant, so all in all a very relaxing day was had by all.


Mine are the 2 little ones in the middle.



Must run as it time for this mornings Tai Chi.....