magic happens

Reclaiming my life Day 28

2011-10-30T09:08:00.003+09:30

well I tried to keep up the momentum but life got a little silly again and I ran out of spoons each day, (google Spoon Theory, couldn't work out how to put the link in once I'd started) also I spent last week in Brisbane working at The Quilt & Craft Show which was fantastic, very busy & exhausting but great to chat with like minded people and catching up with my friend Christine who is also a wonderful host & makes me feel very welcome in their home for the week.
Had to lay low for a few days to recover from standing and talking for 5 days but getting back on track slowly.
Yesterday I started culling, more clothes to go to charity & also packed 3 boxes of delicates in the lounge room, Budgie lamps (a few), hat & model car collection, so now that the lounge room is looking a little bare in some areas it actually makes me feel as though the move is going to happen, the last 6 months of getting stuff out of the house & trying to sort & cull here in the tiny flat or out in the garage has seemed like I've been going around in circles but now it's full steam ahead, have my exhibition and the quilt show behind me & now my focus is on packing & getting outa here.
Have a window of a few days so about to head over to the house to survey what I still have left to chuck or get out & see my boys who are dog sitting.

Reclaiming my life Day 11 & 12

2011-10-14T20:01:00.004+09:30

Posting every second day seems to be my pattern so we will run with that for a while and see how I go.
Yesterday morning Mackenzie and I went on a fact finding mission to the Telstra shop to find out if we could help my poor Blackberry or other phone options to think about.
Home for a quick lunch then off to my regular Thur afternoon meeting.

This morning saw Mackenzie and I off early to que at the Telstra shop for the release of the new iphone, we were no 8 in line so within the hour I was the proud owner of a new suppa doopa phone.
It just seems so bizarre to have this new phone but I am actually saving nearly $40 on my phone plan each month, so I had no choice really but to upgrade now did I!
Spent the afternoon setting up and transferring the data from the Blackberry and trying to work out how to drive it.

2011-10-14T20:01:00.001+09:30

Reclaiming my life Day 9 & 10

2011-10-12T22:24:00.002+09:30

I'm having trouble keeping on track and staying focused with writing every day but I'll try to keep on task.
Yesterday was spent at art school, now that my exhibition is over and I'm moving I'm not going to make any more pieces as I have to start sorting my stuff that I have there (a locker & 5 shelves oops), having been there in the studio for 5 wonderful years I have accumulated/amassed a wonderful array of treasures (other peoples trash) that I have to cull, my working stock, a lot of which has been passed onto me over time so I will pass it onto others. Had a good talk with Kevin my head sculpture teacher about the new direction I'm thinking of taking my art when I move to Perth, thanks Kevin for your input.

Today didn't get off to a good start as my faithful Blackberry started to play up, the scroll mouse won't roll down anymore so it is causing problems accessing my mail and address book info, very frustrating, we can't seem to fix it so I think it's days may be numbered, I'm so glad that I got Mackenzie to back it up onto the laptop last week.
Today was a running around day I had a good massage in the morning then another appointment in the afternoon then spent the rest of the arvo resting with my feet up.

It is very late and way past my bedtime so I hope what I've written makes sense, so good night all.

2011-10-12T22:22:00.001+09:30

Reclaiming my life Day 7 & 8

2011-10-10T22:10:00.004+09:30

well I lost momentum and didn't get to post yesterday cause I was busy watching cars on the telly go round n round a race track all day at Bathurst, it was a good day.

Today has been good, didn't go to school today as I had to run some errands, visit to the chiropractor etc, had some time in between appointments so was able to spend 1/2 and hour watching the ocean with an ice cream.

The ocean is my happy place that I go when I need some "me time" with my thoughts but I usually end up having a cry as I still try to process all the crap that this past year has thrown at me but today was different, don't know why, after about 5 mins I was getting restless thinking I couldn't stay there but I focused on a seagull and just watched it walking around and realised I could just sit there and actually stop my thoughts running away with me and going over and over the same stuff that I couldn't control or change. Hopefully I've turned a corner.

I have put this photo as my desktop today

it is a Bug-eyed Sprite, my older sister had one of these when I was a teenager and I've wanted one for the last 40 odd years so it is there now to motivate me as one of my dreams that I hope to achieve once I move to Perth.

Fingers crossed I can stay on the up

Reclaiming my life Day 6

2011-10-08T16:31:00.003+09:30

Did not get off to a good start today, didn't want to get out of bed this morning so didn't really achieve what I'd wanted to do today but did go and have a cuppa with my friend Anna who wasn't well so I took cakes from the bakery to make us feel better, ran a few ideas past Anna and she helped me make a few decisions about how to deal with selling alot of my collectibles, thanks Anna you are a good friend.

I've decided to try the Pollyanna approach to life and play the Glad game and try and find something to be glad about in amongst all the crap that keeps getting thrown at me.

So wish me luck

Reclaiming my life Day 5

2011-10-07T20:17:00.002+09:30

wow a bit of a roller coaster day today, had a discussion with soon to be ex which didn't end well so that put a downer on my mood for the morning but ran a few errands in town and that got me back on track.
Enjoying the evening, the guys have some mates over tonight so I made a big bowl of spaghetti bolognaise to feed them all, they are enjoying themselves playing a new leggo game along the lines of Dungeons and Dragons, I like the fact that my boys are taking their time growing up!

must be time for a cup of tea.

Reclaiming my life Day 4

2011-10-06T20:26:00.002+09:30

This morning was spent running around on the computer then following up stuff on the phone and was then able to tick 3 things off my long list of stuff to do.
Had an early afternoon meeting, then another errand took me near the beach so I decided to go to my "happy place" and watch the ocean for a while but in the short time I was there the weather changed and turned extremely cold and windy so couldn't stay long as I wasn't dressed for the change.
Did a little research this arvo into a new direction I'm thinking of heading once in Perth.
Now to watch Star Trek then off to bed - nite all.

Reclaiming my life Day 3

2011-10-05T15:58:00.002+09:30

not a lot to report today, started the day off in a good positive mood, I always start off my day in the shower to warm up my bones so I can function and let the shower gods take control and sort out my thoughts for the day, a lot of my major decisions have been made in the shower! I've come up with a few new plans that I need to investigate some more before revealing anything but putting out some feelers with friends in Perth for when I move, will keep you posted on what they are when the time comes.
Had a lovely lunch catch up with my girlfriend Nic then spent the afternoon running around doing errands and sorting paperwork, all of this paperwork keeps getting in the way of me sorting and packing and some days feel like I'm getting nowhere fast so hopefully tomorrow I can start to make another dent in the kaos.

Reclaiming my life Day 2

2011-10-04T18:21:00.003+09:30

today was spent with my head buried in paperwork, my other sister and I have gone for joint power of attorney/guardianship of mum and it is a minefield but I got through what I had to do today and finally got the paperwork in the mail to my sister to sign and send them all on their respective ways, it took all day but it is done.
The afternoon was made bearable and put a smile on my face after a couple of catch ups on the phone with some good friends, put out some feelers for when I move to Perth, setting the wheels in motion for some new changes.
Mackenzie and I have had spaghetti bolognaise for dinner so now it's time to put the feet up with a cuppa in front of the telly and maybe even get the knitting out.

Reclaiming my life Day 1

2011-10-03T16:56:00.003+09:30

well, you may wonder why I've been missing in action for well over a year, my life has some what been turned upside down this past year, I am now a single person again after 23 years of marriage and 5 months ago I lost my oldest sister very suddenly to a very fast and furious cancer but I was thankful to spend the last 4 days with her.
I have made the decision to move back to Perth as my sister was my mothers carer and feel it is the right time to move back to my home town to look after mum and find myself again.
So my days are spent sorting and packing boxes ready for the move, so today is day 1 of moving forward and reclaiming myself, so my blog will be more the mundane of life as there hasn't been much else over the year, no quilts made, no projects written for the magazine but I've still managed to stay at art school and produce enough sculptures to have just been part of a group exhibition where I sold 3 pieces so I've still been able to channel my grief and sadness of the past year into something constructive, so today I have sorted and thrown out 2 boxes of stuff, reorganised some room in my bedroom for the sculptures that came back from the gallery yesterday, did 2 loads of washing and spent a bit of quality time with my boys (young men).
So now its time for dinner, good night.

felted flowers

2010-04-09T10:32:00.002+09:30

recently I taught a needle felted flower class and here are a few of the finished flowers, they all started out making the same shaped petals but the end results are all different

recent soap stone carvings

2010-04-06T15:45:00.002+09:30

these are the soap stone carvings I've done this term,
the photos aren't very clear as the pieces are quiet small and reflective and not easy to photograph

isn't he cute

Amulets and Talismans

Assemblage sculptures

2010-04-05T09:56:00.002+09:30

a round up of some of my Assemblage sculptures from first term at Art school

these next 2 are work in progress pieces, we are on hols for the next 2 weeks so I always take photos before they get packed up so I have an idea of what I was playing with when I go back

I'll post my soapstone carvings in the next post

Family Happenings

2010-04-04T15:29:00.002+09:30

we had my nephew Gerry, his wife Xandri and their little one Liam come and visit us from New Zealand recently.
Liam was being camera shy but also I don't think he wanted to go

but I finally got him

now this is something that you won't see very often, Mackenzie reading AND IT'S POETRY...........

now don't everyone die of shock - but I bought new shoes a couple of weeks ago AND THEY'RE NOT CROCS,
this is one pair, haven't worn the others yet

Guest speaker

2010-04-03T11:07:00.002+09:30

I have finally had time to download about 100 photos off my camera and put them into folders, so here is the first of hopefully a few regular posts.

A couple of weeks ago a I was fortunate enough to be invited to be guest speaker at The Batemans Bay Quilters annual luncheon to talk about my quilting/fibre journey.

Here are some photos of my presentation

Jasmine's blog

2010-03-31T18:29:00.002+09:30

my good friend Jasmine is giving away a quilt as a pressie for her blogs first anniversary, so have a look and leave a nice comment cause you don't want to mess with her
http://banaghaisge.blogspot.com/2010/03/blogaversary-give-away.html

like a mushroom

2010-03-31T16:14:00.002+09:30

Sorry I haven't been on here for so long, have been extremely busy and any spare minutes I've had I've been hiding under a mushroom trying to catch my breath.
The school holidays are here so I may be able to at least post a few times over the break, have done lots and have lots of photos to share just need to get them out of the camera and sort them.

Happy Birthday Callan

2010-01-17T19:17:00.003+09:30

my first born Callan is no longer a teenager, he turned 20 today, little did I know that a talented cutie was lurking in the bushes

it's hard work growing up

Happy Birthday my darling

view from my room

2010-01-03T11:03:00.002+09:30

on one of the chat lists I'm on they have been talking about the view from their sewing rooms, I have a purpose built (still not big enough) green shed in the back yard and my view is to the back of the house across one of our many frog ponds.
In this part of the garden we have a coffee tree which has beautifully scented flowers on it just prior to fruiting that wafts into the studio.

the very noisy and very productive frog pond

We've had a pair of Doves nest in this tree for many years, often sitting on eggs, this past sitting was when we had the last big wind storms and I think the eggs were left unattended as we didn't see them for a few days, I always talked to them each time I went past as they were only a couple of feet up from eye level.
One night just recently Tim was out the back and said he heard rustlings in the tree and next morning on looking in the nest discovered it was full of half eaten coffee beans, a few nights later he spotted a rat like creature in the tree but as yet hasn't been able to work out exactly what it is.
The Doves have been hanging around confused about what has become of their nest.

This year there has been a bumper crop of cherries on the tree so over the christmas break Tim decided to harvest the coffee beans and have a go again at roasting them, so here's Tim and Callan extracting the beans from the coffee bean cherries

we will keep you posted on the coffee production and on more creature spottings

xmas update

2009-12-29T08:47:00.004+09:30

first of all a late Merry Christmas to everyone, these were some yummy mini Christmas puds from a party last year, didn't put the tree up this year as there was no room so this is the best I can do for a little bit of festivity.

As you may have read I've been in a de clutter frenzy (snails pace frenzy) and had been slowly attacking a corner that housed a lowboy cupboard that was full of quilts in varying stages of completion and stuff and for some silly reason decided that Christmas eve was the appropriate time for it to come out and go to it's new home and boy did I create a monster, everything came out of the corner, lounge was up ended and vacuumed to within an inch of it's life, venetians cleaned and the floor scrubbed, cupboard was taken out the front ready for Anna to come and collect.
I now have a book case in it's place and finally somewhere for all of my books to go that have been in piles on the floor and other surfaces, once all the books are in there I'll take a photo.
Now this started Tim on a cleaning frenzy and had the boys out on the back verandah scrubbing down the walls and ceiling.

Can everyone pick what this is, besides the obvious that it's an empty basket?
It WAS the odd sock basket - that is no longer.

After 10 years of hibernating under the lowboy cupboard my walking ducks have finally found a home wandering around our front verandah on either side of the front door

and because of the rain Tim wasn't able to work out in the garden after xmas day so the cleaning continued inside, the mouldy bathroom ceiling was scrubbed down and I was even asked if I wanted it painted, the boys rooms were started on and Mackenzies computer has moved into his room out of the dining area so Tim is now working on the dinning table as this area has always been our office, but now the sun is shining again the inside frenzy has slowed down till I get up enough strength to slowly attack the other side of the lounge room then the guys can move a few more things around for me.

Cactus Flower

2009-12-22T12:25:00.003+09:30

we have a lot of unusual cacti and succulents around our garden and on our back veranda we have this unusual plant that we've never really know what it is.
It has strange shoots that come off the sides of the leaves.

I took the dog out for a midnight pee a few nights ago and was greeted by this glorious flower, it wasn't there earlier in the day and I didn't even notice it earlier in the evening when I fed the dog directly below it.

so if I hadn't gone out at midnight all I would have seen the next morning was the morning remnants as it only flowers for a very short time in the dead of night.
Isn't it glorious.

I'm so glad I bought the cacti book, it is an Epiphyllum

Assemblages

2009-12-21T10:01:00.002+09:30

the last week of Art School was to be clean out our lockers and sort out our stuff ready for assessment but when one of the guys threw out a whole bunch of old silk screens I rescued these 2 small ones and he'd also put out a lot of rusty stuff on the bench,and I lurv rusty stuff and told us to help ourselves, well, what was I suppose to do - help myself of coarse and make ART

so I had to go in on the Wednesday and clean out my locker didn't I

ahhh one day!

2009-12-20T09:50:00.002+09:30

not many of you would know but I've had a desire most of my life to own a Bugeye'd Austin Healy Sprite Mk1, my eldest sister Glenice had one in my teens and Nigel, my first boyfriend later bought it, so it has all those wonderful early memories also connected to it.
I have joined the Sprite chat list and there are a few living down this way and every so often they do a club run but I've never been able to get to see them but just a few weeks ago they were doing an afternoon dinner run, meeting at Bulli overlooking the beach, so I was able to catch up with them and get to meet a few of them, the white one actually lives in Dapto probably not even 2 k's away.

So I got to drool and dream of one day, maybe, I'll finally get one of my own to play with.....

there were a couple of MG's there but I suppose we won't hold that against them as they do have Sprites they are restoring at home

Tea pots

2009-12-19T08:56:00.003+09:30

I know I've been away from here for too long, life has been busy but somewhere along the way I also lost my blog Mojo.
I haven't been creating any art other than the pieces I've done at Art School so didn't have much work to share and didn't think that photos I'd taken would be of any interest to others.
I've actually acknowledged that I have to much stuff, I'm a collector and hoarder and had convinced myself that I now had a legit excuse to collect more stuff that I can use for my sculptures but I have run out of room and getting bogged down with not being able to do anything, I know I've always lived in organised kaos BUT, so I've decided to de clutter, there's not even any room to put up the xmas tree, now how sad's that.
I'm being brave and going to sell a big proportion of my dust collectors, so I'm taking small steps and attacking small areas slowly.
My friend Anna has relieved me of 2 teapots that are now proudly in her kitchen with her other orange things.

Anna and Hazel, both sculptors from Art School but also quilters came over yesterday and we went though all of my quilts, they both went home with a small quilt each and a few small unfinished pieces that I didn't know what to do with/want to finish, so that helped, so I not only had show n' tell but got stuff out of the quilt cupboard as that will eventually go to Anna's so I can put a bookcase in that spot so all of the books can finally move from the floor and many other surfaces to somewhere decent.

So what I'll endeavour to do is just post random photo's of stuff to try and get back into the swing of posting again, but now, it's time to put the jug on again for a cuppa

some sculptures

2009-11-25T10:15:00.002+09:30

well art school has wrapped up for the year, now just have to get organised for assessment next week, have actually been able to sit back and put my feet up for the past couple of days to recharge my batteries as I haven't really stopped for the past couple of months, so here I sit in front of the telly with my laptop on my knee.
Below are a few of my pieces that I've finished off over the past few weeks in the studio at school in between my travels.
Can you tell what the spiky bits are?

these are some cork tile offcuts one of the others in the studio was throwing out and as usual I can't bare to see anything thrown out!

this was a bamboo wind chime that had seen better days

can't decide whether to hang this piece or lay it flat, what do you think?

These are my pieces at the gallery down in Milton that I drove down on Sat to pick up as I need them for assessment next week, don't you love the old plate stand that I've displayed them on, again a piece I rescued form one of the others at school before it got cut up.

my 2 boys

2009-11-14T11:26:00.002+09:30

just thought I'd share this photo of my 2 boys with you all, Mackenzie on the left and Callan on the right with Zelda our old dog,
I needed a photo of the 2 of them and didn't have a recent one so dragged them away from their computers out onto the back verandah

catch up

2009-11-13T12:13:00.002+09:30

well, have I been busy since my last post, have taught a monthly class in Sydney, a 2 day class with The Illawarra Quilters and been to both Brisbane and Adelaide to work the Quilt shows in both states, plus in between still sort out all of the fallout from the accident, oh and also still found some time to go to Art School and make some sculptures.

Just before I went to Brisbane the gear that had gone to the desert with the guys arrived back on a truck and I've never seen 3 so relieved guys in a long time, they had a show the following weekend so the gear was desperately needed.

we have many strippy marsh frogs in various ponds around our yard but we've got a new visitor, Tim found him last night, he's a tree frog that looks like someone has splattered fluro green paint on him, though the spots don't show up in the photo, he smiled for the camera

I have discovered a form of doodling called Zentangles, I have decided to do one a day, this is what I've done so far, haven't done todays as yet, need to get a different sort of pen as this one bleeds, but I'm happy with my first efforts.

"vote for us"

2009-10-15T16:13:00.002+09:30

As some of you know my husband Tim and oldest son Callan are acrobats and we have an acrobatic troupe called "The Leaping Loonies"
They have been nominated for Best Street Performer in citysearch's Best in the City Awards, so if anyone is feeling generous and wanting to help us win this award can you please visit citysearch.com.au/awards or SMS "Vote' to 1999CITY(2489) and cast a vote for us.

It would be much appreciated, thanks

Felting day

2009-10-10T11:58:00.005+09:30

a few weeks ago I did a felting workshop with Anita Larkin
http://www.anitalarkin.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=19686&Akey=7MYMJXAN
who is a fabulous felt maker and also does Assemblage sculpture like I do, so I was doubly excited about the day.
We started off the day making a piece that was joined with the other ladies pieces so we could see how to make larger pieces if we needed to, the large piece was rolled up in a bamboo blind then in canvas, then was rolled with our feet and stomped on in the traditional way that Anita had learnt in (I think) Kirghistan? as if we were making panels to go on a Yurt, the only difference was we didn't have a camel or horse to drag it behind around the paddock.
Our pieces were then cut apart so that is why there is some purple and light blue on to sides of this piece.

In the afternoon we made a resist bag, that means we had a cut out shape inside to stop the two sides felting together, here is the back side of the bag with the flap open.

here it is from the from with the flap down, I will eventually make a strap and bead a catch.

I had always been hesitant about trying wet felting as I wasn't sure if my back and shoulder could cope, but it didn't cause me to much pain, so now I feel I may be able to do other workshops in the future.

Silk Bowl class

2009-10-09T12:58:00.002+09:30

Recently I taught a class at Peg's Pieces at Kirrawee where the ladies first made a piece of silk paper then made a bowl with it.
Here they all are hard at work.

and the finished bowls, all fabulous

a thoroughly enjoyable day was had by all

Memory Tree

2009-10-07T08:52:00.003+09:30

one of the things I was working on before the car accident and my life became all consumed with insurance stuff and getting my husband and son home safely from the dessert, Nic Bridges and I had been commissioned to make a "Memory Tree" for the Alzheimer's Memory Day Walk along the beach front in Wollongong.

In our eagerness to get stuck into it we forgot to take photos of the frame which was a base of wood and twisted wire.
While I was getting the basics of the frame started Nic painted many metres of Tyvek, which is a plastic type paper that shrinks, distorts and bubbles with heat. Some car covers and forensic police overalls are made from this.
We stitched big pieces together for the trunk of the tree then hit it with a heat gun and it did magical things distorting and bubbling, we then wrapped strips around the branches and hit them with the heat gun and it shrunk beautifully around the twisted wire branches.

Here it is at the beach when we first installed it.

Throughout the morning people wrote their memories or loved ones names on leaves that were tied to the branches with ribbons.

Here's Nic and I at the end of the day

We were also given a booth next to the tree to showcase our art, we both had some small art quilts, Nic had paintings and I had sculptures and fibre pieces

What better way to spend the day than with the sound and smell of the crashing waves

Escape Artfest 09

2009-10-03T09:03:00.002+09:30

I'm just heading off to Milton on the lovely South Coast of New South Wales for the opening of an exhibition at the Green House Gallery where I have some sculptures and fibre work, here are a few new pieces that are there

for more info on Escape Artfest 09 go to http://www.escapeartfest.info

Desert project

2009-10-02T15:08:00.003+09:30

As some of you may recall a few posts back there was the photo of our new vehicle, the orange ambulance that Tim called "Sharky" as there was a painted shark on the side.
Sharky was initially bought for a 3 week project that saw half a dozen or so performers head off into the Central Desert of Aust to work with the kids on an Aboriginal mission in remote northern West Australia to teach them circus and performance skills.
Here they are all loaded up about to leave our place.

Well unfortunately the unthinkable happened and the vehicle was rolled, luckily they all walked away, well Tim crawled initially but was lucky that nothing serious was amiss.
Here's Callan, our son retrieving their belongings the next morning before looters got to it.

Two very dejected but lucky to be alive guys,
so much blood, sweat and tears AND DOLLARS had gone into this vehicle

Tim's very impressive bruising, this was the day after so I can only imagine how more interesting it got as it spread over time.

So I hope you will forgive me for being away from blogging but it has been a logistical nightmare and very stressful to try to sort out how to get them home and the insurance side of things, as I couldn't make the lady on the phone understand that the vehicle was not anywhere that they could get a tow truck to to retrieve it to be assessed she kept asking for the closest cross street, they don't retrieve them out there they just get left on the side of the road, I eventually got someone who actually listened to what I was saying.
Anyway, they fly home on Monday so I will feel much better once I have them home here for a while.

silk paper bowl class

2009-08-19T10:29:00.003+09:30

I've got a Fun with Fibre Techniques class coming up at
Peg's Pieces at Kirrawee NSW on Sat 29th August http://www.pegspieces.com.au
have a look at the website for times, costs etc as there are a couple of spots still available

we will be making silk paper then making them into bowls

this is a piece of the silk paper

earlier this year I taught a weekend of "fibre fun" at Baccuss Marsh, here are the pieces of silk paper drying in the sun

and the wonderful bowls they produced

hope to see some of you there

Winter blues

2009-08-14T15:40:00.000+09:30

more assemblage pieces

2009-08-09T12:22:00.003+09:30

these are the last of the assemblage pieces that I hadn't shown from my exhibition before I went away,

these are some of my favorite small pieces

new arrival

2009-08-07T14:05:00.002+09:30

we have just had a new arrival at our house
this is the new "Hectic Mobile"
that is my husband Tim on the ladder and our friend Mort who has just delivered it to us, it is for their new venture that will take them into the dessert soon, but more of that when the time comes

a bit of a round up

2009-08-02T14:02:00.003+09:30

I've had a busy few weeks since the exhibition, here's a bit of a round up

received an unexpected late xmas present from a friend that I hadn't seen for ages, aren't these bowls gorgeous and these luscious papers in between the bowls will go into the useful box

Wednesday a week and a half ago saw me flying down to Melbourne to work at the Quilt and Craft show, caught up and chatted with lots of new and old friends, taught a daily needle felted flower class and we had a range of wonderful flowers created, but this man and his 2 sleeping kids sat opposite our stand for well over an hour and I couldn't resist anymore and had to get the camera out.

In stead of flying home the next morning after the show I decided to stay in Melb a couple of days as there were 2 Art exhibitions I really wanted to see, Dali and Australian painter John Brack, they were both fabulous in their own right, Dali was dark and full on, were as Brack was light hearted and full of whimsy, 2 totally different artists but 2 very enjoyable exhibitions.

on rising the first morning of the show I discovered the battery had stopped in my watch and without it we were lost as between Cecile and I we had 3 hands on workshops and 1 talk to do on a very tight schedule through out the day so I bought myself a new watch as I wasn't able to get to a jeweler to get a new battery - it's so sparkly it's hard to see the hands but I think it's me don't you think........

DYAD part 4

2009-07-19T13:31:00.002+09:30

here are some of my soapstone carvings, I really love working in this medium, it is so tactile
my Owl sold

and my figure sold also

DYAD part 3

2009-07-18T17:14:00.002+09:30

This is my found object/assemblage sculpture corner

a collection of small pieces on saw blade and assortment of whats left of grinding disks

Time for fishing

Moonscape

DYAD part 2

2009-07-16T14:31:00.004+09:30

finally, blogger allowed my photos to upload, I've tried many many times over the past few days even with different photos, don't know why I thought that may have worked but you try anything when technology is against you,
so here is Part 2 of DYAD
I thought I'd show some quilts and mixed media pieces in this posting.

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
(sorry I listen to to much old music while I sew)

Fireball - Faux Felted centre with mother of pearl buttons

Mixed Media #2 - beading on distressed needle felted silk fabric with silk rods, seracin fibre and silk cocoons on a canvas

Mixed Media #1 - beading and hand quilting on distressed needle felted fabrics on a canvas

The Silk Trail - beading on faux felt with silk cocoons on a canvas

DYAD part 1

2009-07-13T15:44:00.002+09:30

Our exhibition is over and now I have time to reflect and post some photos.
My quilt is on the right of our names and Nic's is on the left looking down towards my sculptures and quilts.

Landscape #1 - recycled timber

Landscape #2 - recycled timber

Outback Shed - recycled timber, blackboard and iron

It's a Wrap,
Nic and I at the close of the show just before we pulled it down

more photos to follow over the next few days when I can string a few mores words together in a sentance

DYAD

2009-07-08T08:09:00.003+09:30

finally found time to up load some photos of our opening night party,
we are open till Sunday 12th so if your in the area call in

Project Contemporary Artspace, 255 Keira St, Wollongong NSW

I'm Back

2009-06-18T14:54:00.002+09:30

I feel whole again
my computer died many weeks ago and the wonderful technician was able to save most of the info in it's brains and transfer it over to my new laptop but unfortunately I've lost all of my email contacts and that is a slow process to collect them again.
I was also having some troubles getting my blogger dash board up so I could post and I just found it, so I don't feel so much in limbo, now all I have to do is get Twitter sorted out again and I'll be right.

I've been very busy while I've been away from here, a quick trip to Brisbane to work the Textile Show, home for a week then up to Sydney to work the Quilt and Craft Show then back into the sculpture studio to finish off pieces ready for my exhibition in just over a week.
Today is my first day at home for 2 weeks so finally unpacking the suitcase that's been on the lounge all week and trying to wash with it now raining and getting very cold again which isn't helping the paint dry on the boxes I have sitting patiently on the table.
Anyway I must get back to work as I still have a lot of fibre work to finish off, maybe a cuppa will help warm up the hands.

Here is the invitation to my exhibition, would be lovely to see you there, if you're not a local Wollongong is a beautiful place to visit where the glorious escarpment meets the ocean, the train trip down from Sydney is spectacular especially if you sit on the left as the train line hugs the coast.

more sculptures

2009-05-12T15:50:00.002+09:30

just home from Art School and a successful 2 days in the sculpture studio,
these are a few companion pieces to go with last weeks work

don't think I'll get to many more pieces out of my box of bits, I'll have to move onto something new

this weeks round up

2009-05-10T21:03:00.002+09:30

I've had a very busy week at Art school and at home
At Art school I made 2 pieces, the first one called Skating Man is just a bit of whimsy that I just had to make, again I was making pieces from the box of bits that I had and the bottle opener with the face on it was just calling out to be made into a person and when I saw the curved piece of wood I then new I had to put him on a skate board

again wood off cuts and a bolt from my box of bits

tonight I've finished the next stage of my tree stump, I have spent the past week needle felting with a single needle the wool rovings to the base

back to art school in the morning, another couple of days playing in the sculpture studio and a couple of days of looking at the tree stump on the kitchen bench while doing everyday stuff and working out what to do next

Stumped

2009-05-02T17:05:00.003+09:30

I'm doing everything BUT what I'm supposed to be doing, now I'm writing my blog.
I'm working on my "tree stump" for my exhibition and boy has it got me stumped, I look at what's sitting on my kitchen bench and I can see the finished piece in my minds eye but getting the 2 things together is not a happening thing, plus I've had a headache all day so that's making me grumpy and the stump not cooperating isn't helping.

this is how it started out in the sculpture studio at art school a few weeks ago

then I made a base with hessian so I have something to attach stuff to

I have needle felted wool roving to a large piece of brown stretch denim that I have been stitching down to the Hessian today and then I'll starting the long process of shaping around the roots then needle felting by hand to embellish the trunk but now I think it's time to start cooking dinner - see another diversion..............

A good days work

2009-04-29T10:00:00.002+09:30

I had a very productive day at art school yesterday after having two weeks off I went into the sculpture studio raring to go, here are the 3 little pieces I made, still using bits from an assorted box of stuff I bought at a Trash n Treasure market last year and a couple of wood off cuts,
I'm very happy with my out come, what do you think?

Soap stone pieces

2009-04-22T10:13:00.002+09:30

Here are a few of my latest carved soap stone pieces, have a thing about holes at the moment

assemblage

2009-04-11T10:10:00.004+09:30

have been busy in the studio at Art School and at home in the fibre studio and trying to not loose my days sitting at the computer, so I'm sorry I haven't posted for a while

here are two companion pieces that I've been working on in the sculpture studio this term, I think they are finished - but maybe not..........
they don't have a name as yet, any ideas

a close up of the curvy bits

Barbie's birthday hangover

2009-03-22T08:48:00.003+09:30

even Barbie , who still looks great at 50, can't party hard for a week
- and not eventually hit the wall

and even though she still has her youthful looks
- the old hip replacement is inevitable........

Mackenzie!

2009-03-11T18:40:00.001+09:30

Look what happened in the bathroom last night

isn't this usually what brothers do to each other when they are little and being naughty

now I'm sure the aliens have taken my son away

Party Animals.......

2009-03-11T18:24:00.002+09:30

I know I know I've been gone for waaaay to long, several shows and teaching interstate took me away but I'm back for a bit and hope to show you all the wonderful photos from my travels.
This is what my frogs have been getting up to a lot recently - making MORE frogs....

Gymea Lilly

2009-02-03T12:21:00.002+09:30

A friend recently gave us the dried flower head from a Gymea Lilly and I couldn't resist the urge to photograph it before Tim broke open some of the seed pods and scattered them across the back garden and threw the rest of it up the back to see what eventuates, I have heard that we will need to wait about 20 years before we will see a flower though.

our frogs are working overtime out in the clean pond, there is spawn everywhere, have just taken some photos and will post them tomorrow, now I'm off to drive up to Sydney to the Art House Hotel for Dr Sketchy's Burlesque drawing class tonight with Nic and Kate, should be a hoot.

I've been without email since Sunday, our server had a major power outage but I'm still able to Google, weird - how much longer will it be - I can't cope without mail........

challenge 29

2009-01-31T13:43:00.002+09:30

I participate in a group challenge called the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge, on the 3rd Friday of the month a challenge is issued and we have a week to make a piece to be published on the groups blog by the following Friday, life kept getting in the way and I was never able to complete my pieces, even enough to show partially but this month I succeeded.
This months challenge, No 29, was to use Analogous colours, they are colours next to each other on the colour wheel, my piece uses yellow, yellow/green, green, blue/green & blue, I know that orange isn't right next to yellow and that yellow/orange is next but it was the only colour that worked from my fabric palette.

It doesn't have a name as yet, any suggestions?

This is a design that I have used several times before but it's the first time I've done it in fabrics, last year in our colour and design class at Art School we painted paper then had a play, last year I also used the design in screen printing and made xmas cards, printing it in pink on green.

Below are the 3 pieces I did last year from the painted papers using analogous colours

late night thoughts

2009-01-30T08:22:00.002+09:30

some late night thoughts from last night that are still running around in my head this morning, I'm reading 3 books at the moment and 2 of them are about assemblage artist's, my bed time reading is a biography of Joseph Cornell called "Utopia Parkway" and he refers to his father as a magician with references to vaudeville, the book I got last week called "Secrets of Rusty Things" by Michael de Meng refers to his grandfather as a magician and this got me thinking, both my father and grandfather were magicians, (grandfather also a ventriloquist and father a fabulous jeweller) and I'm fascinated/obsessed with assemblage art and just want to collect every bit of rubbish - sorry "treasure" just in case I can use it, now I'm not putting myself anywhere near their league but just got me thinking about connections to our roots and somehow maybe magically making something out of nothing - sorry, I think I'm getting to deep here.........

back to reality, here's a snippet of a piece I'm working on for my exhibition, trying to find the time and energy (first to clear the table) to baste so I can start quilting it

also I think aliens came and took away my son last night, he has started showering every night and even changed his school shirt on the second day but the killer came last night as I was telling him about a show that I was thinking of going to in Sydney next week and when I said it was on a school night and that he could sleep in the car on the way back from Sydney be said "well this year is really important and that may not be a good idea" I NEARLY FELL OVER, he's actually excited about this years subjects and came home yesterday excitedly sprouting all this stuff that he'd learnt about Germany in the second world war - who is this child........

my garden

2009-01-29T06:26:00.003+09:30

I'm getting in early today, even before I have breakfast.

this is what greeted me yesterday morning, a beautiful lily in the pond on the back verandah, every time I tried to take a photo the fish hid under a leaf

can anyone tell me what this bird is?
we think it's a Butcher Bird but it doesn't look exactly like the one in my book, so I'm not sure, I was talking to it in my yard then it swooped down at my toes then flew off - don't know it it thought they were worms..........

while I'm on birds, this is one of many glorious King Parrots that live in my friend Lorraine's back yard

and this is what happens when you leave your camera sitting on your table and your husband comes in and takes your photo without you realising till you down load the photos.............

lunch in Kiama

2009-01-28T06:45:00.003+09:30

Mackenzie has gone back to school today YEAHHH so maybe I can get back to a more regular posting routine, also Tim's computer is at the DR so back to sharing again.
I down loaded 60 photos from my camera a few days ago and haven't had the chance to show any so here are a few from the weekend,

a few of us got together for lunch down at Kiama so here we are enjoying a coffee and each others company after a fabulous lunch

this is the old primary school built in 1860 (I think) now part of a hotel chain

this was our view from where we had coffee

more of the fab view, I could sit there and look at it for hours

what more could I want water and more trees to photograph

last few days

2009-01-23T07:51:00.003+09:30

the last few days have been varied but fun, yesterday I went up to Sydney to get my hair cut, you may ask why I go all that way for a hair cut well, David has been doing my hair for just on 30 years and I always catch up with different friends either side of the appointment for morning tea then lunch and with the way the heats been it's great to have gone really short again.
Mackenzie and I reluctantly cleaned out his room the other day and as any of you that have teenage sons know that they are not a place to enter un prepared......... but we survived - just
I finally was able to get my embellishing machine out again for a bit of a play,
It had been to long, so I just started off laying different bit of old scarves and bits of organza and gauze on to a piece of commercial felt to re acquaint myself with how they all perform then laid down some yarns and wool tops, it was interesting to see the turquoise metallic yarn start to disintegrate in places.
I don't know whether to just keep this as an example or to maybe bead it and mount it on a canvas, what do you think?

I was on a roll so on this lovely silk scarf that I'd picked up at the Op Shop for a couple of dollars I experimented.
I had a "Sensational Silk" play pack that we sell at the quilt shows on the Unique Stitching stand, that I decided needed to go on the scarf, I used a silk hankie, throwsters waste, silk rods, seracin fibre and cocoons.
I was very happy with how it turned out, I may still run the rest of the scarf through the embellisher in spots to distort it in patches.

here's a close up of one end

I just had to have this book, "Secrets of Rusty Things" Transforming Found Objects into Art by Michael de Meng, right up my alley this one, I discovered that he is one of the artists feature in the other book to, so double bonus, I just want to stop everything and read it but it will unfortunately have to wait a while for my full attention.

Living the Creative Life was being talked about on the Quilt Art list recently, the author talks to 15 artists to find out why and how they create, so I went searching and decided I had to have it, it fit's nicely into my bag so it was great to loose myself in it on the train trip up to Sydney yesterday, with my Ipod on I was able to drown out most of the other passenger noises, so with inspirational scenery, ocean on one side, escarpment on the other and the national park, a great way to top and tail my trip.

now back to some boring paper work that HAS to be done before I can do anything else today

100 ATC's

2009-01-21T19:58:00.003+09:30

my new bus cards arrived this afternoon so I have just put them into the backs of my ATC's ready to post off to the shop
I'm really happy with the way they turned out

11,000 visitor

2009-01-20T10:39:00.001+09:30

hey I just clocked up my 11,000 visitor, who were you?
let me know I'll send you one of my ATC's

been busy

2009-01-20T09:21:00.003+09:30

school holidays are a strange time, I enjoy them because I can sleep in (I'm not a morning person) but then get annoyed at myself as my day doesn't get started till mid morning once I've had breakfast and attended to the daily stuff on the computer etc, I enjoy not having to fight Mackenzie off his computer to go to bed at a reasonable time but I can see the usual problems of getting him back into a school schedule sleeping pattern next week.
These past few weeks I've been head down bum up and been very productive, did about a 75% clean out of the studio, didn't have time to keep going as several deadlines were looming but at least now I have a clear cutting area and can get to more that 12 square inches of the design wall.
I had a class sample and a magazine project to whip up and completed the first top for my up coming exhibition.
Once they were out of the way I needed to make 100 yes thats right 100 ATC's, my niece Tani is having a big "do" with her shop Blue Attic http://www.blueattic.com.au/ at the end of the month and is making up 100 goodie bags and instead of just sending her my bus cards I make the ATC's with a net pocket on the back and slot my bus card into that, so they get an extra special card.
So to be able to make up a lot I calculated that 3 fat 1/4's would give me the numbers, so here are the pieces before I cut them up.

and I didn't have to piece this one, it's a great piece of fabric

they have now all been cut up and edged, just waiting for my new bus cards to arrive from the printer then I'll show you how they look

OUCH

2009-01-08T12:27:00.002+09:30

I have just had the annual boob squashing ritual done - that machine must have been invented by a man, I'd round off some of the corners for starters..........
I thought a nice photo of a rose from my garden was appropriate to put me back in the right frame of mind,
as I couldn't find a photo of ROAD KILL

xmas round up

2009-01-03T09:26:00.002+09:30

a late Merry Xmas to you all

we have had a busy household these past few weeks with the usual build up to xmas and Tim and Callan came home from tour mid December and we were descended on by a handful of Callan's (big) mates that we have in varying numbers staying over at varying times,
here they all are with their lap tops consuming our small kitchen/dining area,
there are 2 others that I couldn't fit in the photo

the few days leading up to xmas we always have a big seafood fest at our house,
here Callan and I have been enjoying ourselves with a lobster and a big bag of prawns, the night before Tim made some wonderful Oysters Kilpatrick - hmmm just thinking about them I WANT SOME MORE.......
why do my eyes always disappear when I have my photo taken

couldn't resist taking this photo of the mini xmas puds at a quilting xmas party

and Zelda just lurvs paper and thinks xmas wrapping is just for her

and what would xmas be with out my trifle

and a happy new year to you all, may this year be as creative and exciting as the last one

a peaceful garden

2008-12-19T10:12:00.003+09:30

I have had a busy few weeks since I last posted, with many xmas get togethers, finishing up Art school for the year and making a quilt in a hurry for my sister to send to her best friend in USA but unfortunately we don't think now it will get to her in time.
This week I got my results and got credits for my 2 sculptures units, so that's great news.
I'm also in the throws of doing a major excavation (archival dig) in my studio which has been ignored for way to long, can you tell I'm procrastinating by blogging and putting off going back out to my shed to keep sorting and digging

so I thought I'd calm myself with the last of my travel photos of some wonderful sculptures and tree textures from my cousins garden in Perth

ahhh now I feel better

just in

2008-12-04T17:52:00.002+09:30

This is Caitlin Grace,
my sister Glenice's partner's newest grand daughter that I made the quilt for and delivered when I was in Perth, isn't she gorgeous

and big sister Elise wanted to share it with her to,
aren't they two cuties

I've just come back from dropping Mackenzie at his year 10 formal,
doesn't he look dashing, he even put grandads top hat on for the photo

how did my baby get so grown up

it was so lovely to sit and watch all of the guys and girls walk by in all their finery, they had been having their photos taken at the lighthouse then walking down to the function centre on the beach, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy and proud

more travel pics

2008-12-02T08:31:00.002+09:30

While in Perth I spent the day with a lovely lady, Julie Williams,
Julie was very generous with her felting knowledge, I only new Julie from an Internet felting group, this was our first meeting and we talked as if we'd known each other for years and we spent many hours going through all of her supplies/suppliers and all of her amazing pieces and being educated about different techniques along the way, I even came away with one of her fab scarves.
Julie lives not to far from Mandurah one of the special places from my childhood, so off we headed for lunch on the beach, I had salt & pepper calamari, yummmmo and this beautiful view was so enticing we had to walk out along the jetty, this is looking back to the restaurant

the water is so blue - I wanted to jump in

these mussel shells were under this grate on the jetty

I wanted to see how close I could get to them and still keep them in focus

did I succeed

happy travels

2008-11-29T12:04:00.003+09:30

Here are some more photos from my travels

While staying with my cousin Geoff who has a wonderful house on a few acres not to far out of town we were amazed on our first evening where this Bandicoot came to visit looking for some bread, I had never seen one before and this little thing was oblivious to us all and just fossicking around our feet looking for crumbs, I was even able to hand feed it.
It comes to visit morning and night, even the cat was nonchalant about it.

but look at those teeth

while staying at my sisters place I found this little gecko sun baking on the side of the herb garden, he was only about 4-5 inches long, look closely - can you see him?

My sister Glenice lives in a little sleepy fishing village 60ks above Perth and every evening we had to stop for the last few moments of the sunset over the ocean

this photo should have been in the last post,
this is my friend Elle and her daughter Rachel with the quilt I gave her for her 50th, just a couple of years late

my travels

2008-11-27T11:40:00.002+09:30

I have been away from here far to long,
the past 6 months have been very hectic but I don't go away again till next February and ART School has finished for the year with my assessment next week, so maybe I can spend some quality time at home at the sewing machine and keep on track here.
Over the past 6 weeks I have been to Brisbane to work/teach at The Craft & Quilt Fair, home for a few days to wash and repack then off to Adelaide to work/teach at the Quilt Fair there also.
In both places I stayed with quilters who I only new from an on line group and was very pleased when these 2 ladies put their hands up and offered me a bed as these were towns I had no family or friends I could call on for a bed, so thanks Di and Maxine for your wonderful hospitality, it was much appreciated.
I headed up the coast to Caloundra from Brisbane to spend a few days prior to working the show with a special friend Elle, we used to flat together, who I have only seen once since she was my matron of honour, many many years ago at my wedding and surprised her with a quilt that was a few years late for her 50th.
From Adelaide I continued onto Perth, well I was half way there already, to see my mother and sister and catch up with family and old friends, long time friends are special and treasured, you can slot in around the dinner table and it was like you were only there last week not 6 months ago, these are the special friends.
Also The Leaping Loonies were on tour in the West so I was able to catch up with my husband Tim and oldest son Callan.

One of the main reasons I wanted to be in Perth (besides seeing family) was the guys were going to do a show at my old primary school that I wanted to be at, it was a bit surreal being there almost 50 years after I started there in 1960, it hadn't changed much, there was a new admin building where I used to play softball and a new covered area where the guys did the show.
The memories were there, in the foyer they had all of the old sports shields up around the wall and my dad, who was a jeweler engraved all of the names on them from the 60's through to the 80's.
The best bit was with all of the new play equipment they had left the old monkey bar, now that to me was special

Callan discovered an Ocarina at Glenice's

This is my sister Glenice and her partner Mick with the quilt I made for Mick's latest grand daughter.

The guys did a show for my mum and fellow residents at her care facility, here I am with mum, Tim and Callan, she's looking the best she's looked for a long time.

I think I've raved on enough for today, more later

more soapstone

2008-09-27T16:05:00.002+09:30

I finished off another soapstone series this week at Art School,
I really like these 3 pieces

one of my favorite sculptors is Robert Klippel, the cover of his book has all little coloured pieces on it and when I found some of these things at the Op Shop I knew what I had to do with them

Art School

2008-09-19T16:05:00.002+09:30

life has been busy these past few weeks as my family (husband and no 1 son) came home from Europe where they had been for 4 months touring around performing shows on the summer festival circuit, so I've been busy being wife and mother.

I have been busy though at Art School and have become obsessed with carving soap stone, this one was influenced by Henry Moore, whose work I just lurvvv

and this piece I just let the stone and colours dictate what I did to it, the pinks and greens in this piece are just stunning

in between I've had a play with slicing up this wooden African mask

Simple pleasures

2008-09-01T11:37:00.004+09:30

I have just come home from running errands in town, there are 2 exits off the freeway, even thought the second exit is my street I take the first one as it takes me past a couple of properties that I enjoy, one has 4 donkeys and the other has ponies, then around the lake to my house.
As I drove past the paddock with the donkeys they were all at the fence and a father and young daughter were there talking to them and it made me smile and started thinking about the simple things that make your day just right.
Here in Australia it is the first day of Spring and it is a glorious sunny day, it almost made me want to stop and talk to the donkeys as well.

Another simple thing that I discovered last week was the pleasure a new vegetable peeler brought me, my old faithful has disappeared and I'd been battling with the odd collection of supposed "better" peelers that the other cooks in the house had bought over time but I preferred my $2 shop one BUT IT VANISHED..........
I went searching for another like it and couldn't find one and resorted to this one from the supermarket but joy oh joy it glides over the potatoes and almost makes it a pleasure to peel the spuds

and for anyone that knows me well - knows I hate to cook

Talking of cooking, my boys (husband and son) will be home tomorrow from a 4 month tour of Europe and will be home for 3 weeks - and guess what I WON'T HAVE TO COOK YEAHHHH, Tim my husband does all the cooking when he's home and boy am I looking forward to some of his specials

Lovely day out

2008-08-31T13:01:00.004+09:30

had a lovely day out yesterday with my friend Nic and her mother Joan,
Nic picked me up and we headed down to Nowra, about 80k's down the coast to the opening of the Moroogal Woman's Art Prize as Nic had a piece in the exhibition.
Meroogal is a historic homestead in the region and has been owned by many generations of women and is now a museum, the exhibition is on at the Nowra Art Gallery and there were some amazing pieces from a vast range of mediums, unfortunately Nic didn't win a prize but her piece called "Nexus" was very impressive on the deep rich blue wall.
We stopped in Berry on the way back for lunch and a bit of a wander, I wanted to go into the shoe shop there as they sell Crocs and I wanted some adornments for my latest hot pink crocs, now that was a mistake as I not only came out with some sparkling jewels I found a new pair of boots, more on these another time.

here she is with her piece

and I got a late birthday present from Nic

a fab book "Masters Art Quilts" lots and lots of inspiration in here

and to round off the day nicely my footy team "The Sydney Swans" had a good win which I watched in the comfort of my comfy chair in front of the telly and the heater

Miss October

2008-08-28T09:26:00.004+09:30

I got a copy in the mail this week so I can finally show you
Colour My World that was accepted for the Down Under Quilts 2009 Calendar,
if you want to order a copy go to http://www.creativelivingmedia.com.au/store/magazines/down_under_quilts/down_under_quilts_2009_calendar.html

the smaller sparkly pieces are silk paper that I've made and the larger pieces are Lisa Walton's wonderful hand dyed fabrics.
I've quilted it to death with 2 of my favorite thread drawing designs.

finished ACT's

2008-08-25T08:21:00.003+09:30

here's a few of the ATC's (Artist Trading Cards),
I was so surprised that from 2 fat quarters of fabric I was able to get 75 ATC's, I've turned one over so you can see the tulle pocket on the back that I slipped my business card into.

ATC's

2008-08-24T14:04:00.002+09:30

You may remember that I've talked about my niece Tani's shop Blue Attic http://blueattic.com.au/ before, well her first birthday is coming up and she is having a party on the 29th, she is making up goodie bags for the party and was asking for business cards etc from the artists to go in them so on the spur of the moment I decided that if I was going to promote myself and my wares in the shop why not make some Artist Trading Cards so they can all get a little piece of art, so over the past 2 days I quilted up a couple of fat quarters.

here is the first one it was a fun one to do, all of the strips came out of my scrap bag, it was almost a shame to cut it up.

the quilting on the back doesn't show up very well here

This piece of fabric already had silver glitter on it, I vlisofixed some silk paper leftovers down and couched down a fancy yarn then proceeded to quilt it to death

the quilting shows up better on the back of this one

I have cut them all up and almost finished zig zagging around the edges, I have put a piece of tulle on the back to create a little pocket to slip my business card into.
Hopefully I'll show you the finished cards tomorrow.

this week

2008-08-21T09:31:00.003+09:30

Sunday Mackenzie and I headed 100k's down the coast to Tomerong where our friends live as it was Kerry's 50th birthday party.

I whipped him up a quilt and here he is with it.

We had yummy food and mmmmmmm chocolate cake

I've decided I don't have enough "rubbish" for my recycled sculpture so Ive decided to detour via the big Op Shop on the way home from art school each week as we finish early on a Wednesday.
My boot is full of old frames, a wooden tray and lots of wooden stuff ready for me to cut up and do some fun things with.
Yesterday I found this little glass bowl, most of you wouldn't know that I have a huge collection of depression green glass and I had stopped myself from collecting more but this little bowl was all alone and half price so I couldn't leave it there now could I.....

and these 2 great bags had to come home with me also, don't you just love the handles on the pink one

Travels with Gladys

2008-08-16T18:09:00.002+09:30

A lot of people have been asking what Gladys has been up to lately, so here are a few of her adventures

Gladys can't help herself and has to help my students in the class and thought this was the best machine to hang around

Gladys came to help out at the Dapto Art and Craft Show recently and thought she should have taken some of these necklaces home with her

She also thinks she needs to be in charge and supervise the quilting machine

and here she is just hanging around in my backpack on our travels listening to the Ipod........

sculpture bits

2008-08-15T09:08:00.003+09:30

Have had a busy week at Art school this week, I'm currently working on some soap stone carvings so will have some photos soon but here are a few found object/recycled pieces that I finished recently.
All of these photos are taken in the sculpture studio so unfortunately no clean white background to set it off.

This piece is door knobs and chair bits,
on the ends of the tin strips are silver arrow heads that I believe go onto shirt collar points, this is a pretty lethal piece as they sway around in the breeze.

It may not stay like this

more of the door knobs and strips of tin on a curved chair arm

I was experimenting with Tyvek in the studio and it was more an exercise to show the teacher what it is/does, so this is what I did with all of the pieces

books

2008-08-09T12:12:00.003+09:30

It was my birthday earlier this week so I ordered myself some books and they turned up yesterday, it was very hard to not just stop everything and read.

This book is The Shining Cloth, Dress and Adornment That Glitter by Victoria Z Rivers.
It says inside the cover that it is an encyclopedic array of dazzling garments, accessories and objects.
Besides all of the glorious photos it has a lot of information and history of cloth and fibres that I can't wait to read.

I just love Monet's water lilies and can't wait to make more pieces based on them.

and what can I say about this book - people that know me, know that I'm stuck in the 70's

weekend in Melbourne

2008-08-08T09:18:00.004+09:30

Early last month I went down to Melbourne with our friend Tony for the weekend to see Circus Oz's final show before they headed to Edinburgh for the Comedy Festival.
My husband Tim had spent some time with Circus Oz a few months ago training up the teaterboard troupe so we decided to catch the last show so I could report to him as he didn't get to see the act as he'd already gone overseas before the show opened, though he is about to pop over to Edinburgh in a couple of weeks and catch up with them.

This is Tony and I looking very weary at the circus as we were up at 4.30 to catch a train to the airport for a 7.45am flight down to Melb, luckily it was an afternoon matinee show cause I don't think I would have stayed awake for a night show, as it was it was a fight to stay awake and watch Dr Who back in the hotel room after dinner.

We were staying near all of the Asian restaurants and had lunch and dinner in different noodle restaurants, I had this really bizarre drink which I think was semi frozen grape juice topped with lychee's and sultanas - had to have it as I lurv lychee's

The beauty of Melbourne is the fact that they have turned all of the little lanes and ally ways into cafe strips, this is where we had breakfast the next morning before we flew home, this was taken for Tony's wife Kirsten as he was trying to describe the atmosphere to her.

and this is the view from where we had breakfast, I had pancakes with maple syrup and strawberries, yum it's making me hungry just remembering it.......

it was a great weekend with great company - old friends are worth hanging onto

lots of scarves

2008-08-07T11:02:00.003+09:30

I have been soooooo busy of late, down to Melbourne twice in the last month, down for the weekend with our friend Tony to see Circus Oz, will post photos of that later and the week before last to work at the Melbourne Quilt Show.
When in Melbourne I stay with my niece Tani who has a shop called Blue Attic and I took down a handful of my goodies for her, below are the knitted or crotcheted scarves and shawls I delivered but silly me I forgot to take a photo of the silk bowls I left there.

2008-08-07T10:49:00.001+09:30

Monet's Mixed Media Garden

2008-07-21T13:14:00.002+09:30

just a quick post as I have lots to do before I head down to Melbourne for the Craft and Quilt Fair, starting on Thursday.

I will be working/demonstrating on the Unique Stitching stand selling all the wonderful fibres and mixed media products and will daily be teaching a class mainly aimed at textile school aged students working with Angelina fibres, Tyvek, yarn and beads to make either a Dream Catcher or to just learn how to work with these products.

I will also be teaching a class called Monet's Mixed Media Garden (photo below) at 5.30 on Saturday evening, using Tyvek, Textiva film and silk throwsters waste.

come and say hello if you are there and maybe we can tempt you with some wonderful products.

now must away and wash so I can pack.........

Stuff

2008-07-03T11:03:00.002+09:30

Have had a good few days of sewing and finished a quilt top and also a few bowls, will post photos of them soon.
We have been having nasty damaging winds all week and when I went out yesterday morning to do a fence check before I let the dog out I discovered a few branches down up the back, I'm so glad one of our back neighbours cut down a huge tree in their yard a few months ago as I recon it would have reached my studio if it had come down our way.

Now this is a photo I feel a bit thingy about showing but here it is anyway..........
Prior to going to Perth we were having trouble with mice and no amount of traps or baits were getting rid of them, I thought I had them under control but it's amazing what damage a little mother to be can do in a sock draw, she shredded my very old draw liners and took rubbish from my bedside bin and also shredded a whole lot of Spanish reviews that my husband had been keeping in a box under the bed, luckily I caught her before she gave birth.

I went into my room to clean out my sock draw and got carried away and went through all of my draws and wardrobe and filled up 6 bags of clothes to go to the Op Shop.
There were a lot of pants that I was hoping to get back into and all of those shirts and jumpers that you can't bear to part with, out they went - so I'm feeling quiet virtuous as my house has gotten out of control and hasn't had a good clean out for years, I had my hips replaced 3 years ago and not much got done leading up to that and then things have just built up since so these holidays I intend to make a dent in the house and try and declutter and do a bit of personal housekeeping and not hang onto things - don't panic Tim I'll hang onto you.

a few assessment pieces

2008-07-01T09:31:00.003+09:30

here are a few more of my sculpture pieces that got the teachers excited last week when I had assessment.

this piece is only about 6" high and one of my favorites.

This is my first piece of carved soapstone, I really enjoy working in this medium as you don't quiet know where it will take you till you start carving it.

I've posted 2 of these 3 framed pieces before but not the 3rd one in the series with the offset frame, for those that didn't see them previously, they are cut up chair legs and building blocks

and at least I hung this piece this time and it was hung the correct way (it was hung sideways in the gallery at TAFE)

Mackenzie

2008-06-30T08:35:00.002+09:30

look at my baby - Mackenzie is doing work experience this week at a retail outlet in Wollongong and I couldn't resist taking his photo as he was leaving

I'm a very proud mum, hope he does well

Student roundup

2008-06-28T10:56:00.002+09:30

Yesterday was an enjoyable day spent at Horsley Patch http://www.horsleypatch.com.au/ in Horsley Park NSW, teaching a class, this was day 2 of Spinning Flowers and below is the 3 lovely pieces produced, 2 of the 3 ladies have decided to do another set of flowers to extend it to a single bed size so that is why the borders didn't go on, that is my sample in the foreground and look how the pattern changes when you turn the block on point.
Visit the website and if you get a chance call in, Linda has some great fabrics that I haven't seen in other places.

I thought seeing as I was showing some students work from yesterday I would show a few pieces from some of my other classes.

I do a monthly "Fun with Fibre" class at the Quilters Garden http://www.thequiltersgarden.com.au/ in Albion Park NSW and here are a few pieces.
2 lovely faux felted scarves drying on the bike rack.

Chris is our over achiever, she decided she didn't want to make a scarf and made 2 square faux felted pieces and made this cute little vest for her 2yo grand daughter.

I also have a Monday night group at The Quilters Garden where the ladies work on a few different projects, they usually start off on the row x row quilt and learn to become proficient with their cutting and piecing, this one was made by Mas and has just recently been delivered to a niece in Perth.

Now I'm heading out to my studio - TO DO SOME SEWING, sorry to yell, I haven't sat down at my machine to just sew for ME for a couple of months, it's all been samples for classes or projects squeezed in between working at the shows

Great weekend

2008-06-23T08:19:00.004+09:30

Have had a busy but very enjoyable weekend, Saturday was our monthly face to face get together of the local gals from our Internet group, we have a new baby in our ranks and it was lovely to see the hand full of other littlies happily playing together, we had 2 lots of mother, daughter, granddaughters there for the afternoon, the next generation of quilters continue.
Yesterday (Sunday) saw Mackenzie (15yo son) and I drive up to Sydney to see a friends show at the Sydney Opera House, if you get the chance go and see Frank Woodley in "Possessed" it is very very funny, the show is travelling around Australia and they head overseas next month, try and catch it if you can.

I have been very prolific over the past few months with sculpture pieces at art school, here is a series that I've been working on, can you work out what they are?

It's amazing what can be done with offcuts of old wood from a local foot bridge and a bucket full of old window catches.
Called in for a cuppa with a friend on the way to Sydney yesterday and it is council cleanup time in her area and it took me ages driving down her street checking out all of the rubbish piles - I just love working with roadside cleanup stuff........

Perth roundup

2008-06-21T09:24:00.003+09:30

well I'm back in the land of blogging, have been hassled by a few friends that they haven't had their morning read, especially Robyn, so I'm back........

my life has been a tad hectic over the past few months and somethings had to give and unfortunately my blog was one of them.

Last month I flew over to Perth for our SCQuilters (Southern Cross Quilters online group) retreat, held annually in a different part of Australia each year, so this year I was lucky enough for it to be in my home town so I was able to catch up with family and friends at the same time and stayed on to work at The Quilt and Craft Show the following week.
Below is an assortment of photos from the trip.

how much coffee can a little frog drink........Gladys couldn't help but pose

this is the only photo I took at the retreat, this was one table Sunday afternoon with a "Coffee Stonehenge" as their centrepiece.

now who's table was this I wonder????????

I took a few of the retreatees, Wendy, Mary-anne & Sally to The Thread Studio - it is an Aladdin's cave of STUFF - we wanted it all......
Wendy had to ring a friend to share the experience and you can see Mary-anne in the background with her arms overflowing

when in Perth I have to go to my favorite beach Cottesloe, I sat there for about an hour watching the waves and inhaling the wonderful ocean smell, just thinking about it I can recall the smell mmmmmmmmmm wish I was there now
this is the famous Cottesloe Tea Rooms

my poor foot had an augment with the car door one night, slight hill, door to quick and my foot not quick enough - ouch

Today's round up

2008-04-01T19:35:00.003+09:30

I am at the end of a very busy day, here's a readers digest version.

I'm participating in a scarf swap on a felter's list that I'm on, this is my needle felted scarf that I packed up and posted off today, wonder what fab piece I'll get back.

I put the finishing touches to this piece titled "Ocean Rocks" to be entered into Thirroul's Seaside Art and Craft show miniature section 10x10x10cm.
They are 3 beaded silk paper pieces over Timtex mounted on a painted canvas.

Over the past week or so I've been finishing off a quilt project for a magazine, of course I can't show you the finished quilt but I can show you the fabrics, yesterday was spent writing the instructions, this morning I was making samples to acompany the instruction.

I also manged to get 2 loads of towels on the line whilst doing this and make a sand bag to rest my lump of soapstone on for carving in class.
Talking of towels......Mackenzie had been complaining on the weekend that there were no towels in the cupboard so I said "go into your room and find me all of the towels hiding in there - there must be at least 20 in there", he came out about 10 mins later and said "Mum, you exaggerated - there were only 17"!!!!!!!!!!!!!
one wonders what else is lurking in there............ what else have I lost lately?

So after my busy morning at home, off to school I go to play in the Sculpture studio for the afternoon, one of the great finds I had at the markets a week ago was a bag full of old window catches, this is what I did with them today.

After class I hot footed it up to Thirroul to drop of my little piece then finally home to a good cup of tea........

Scatterdays X

2008-03-28T18:02:00.002+09:30

I'm getting in early this week with my Scatterdays, this weeks letter is "X" but no categories jut 3 photos starting with X, be warned with last photo if a bit sqeamish....

this for me was real easy as last Sunday when I went to our local Trash 'n Treasure market I picked up a 1964 wooden Fisher Price Xylophone which no doubt will find it's way into a sculpture somewhere down the track,
I'm looking for any old kids wooden blocks, domino's or wooden game pieces of any sort, any one got any lurking in the shed?

I'm lucky enough to have a niece called Xandri, she is married to my only nephew Gerry and here I am with Xandri and their little boy Liam when I caught up with them in Melbourne before the SCQ'ers Bendigo retreat last year, isn't he cute.

Do I win with this one ------- Xray of my new hips

Scatterdays N

2008-03-24T14:21:00.003+09:30

Life gets way to complicated sometimes, MIL is still in hospital but on the mend and then my mother goes and has a fall and has broken her wrist and hip, she has had surgery and is also on the mend thought a little slower than Tim's mum.

Our computer hasn't been happy with very intermittent coverage since the thunderstorm a few weeks ago but we finally now have a new wireless router installed that Mackenzie (15) got organised for us yesterday, so here is this weeks Scatterdays, better late than never.....

This weeks letter is "N" and the categories are, Little Things, Human and Mineral.
So I hijacked Mackenzies Nerds before they quickly disappeared.

Here is the "Human" Nana Noeline last xmas (MIL)

Now for Mineral we need to do a little searching, in there somewhere in the Multi Vitamins is a mineral starting with N, trust me it's there

this week

2008-03-18T07:53:00.002+09:30

sorry, the wheels fell off my wagon this week, here's an update, there was no Scatterdays this week as we had to put MIL into hospital on the weekend with pneumonia, she's OK and on the mend, so I've been slightly distracted, I'll do my best for the next one.
I've also been tagged by Susan and will eventually get to that, as I need time to put every ones links onto my blog.

This is my "official" second painting (haven't finished the first one yet) that I've been working on in painting class over the past couple of weeks, I think it's finished but the teacher wants to double check this week before we declare it finished then I can get back to finishing the first one, I'm behind as I slotted into this class after I came back from working in Melbourne.

I must have a great back verandah cause I've had another little friend come to live with us, my Sydney Swans Gnome (Australian Rules Football) now I have to work out which player to name him after...... hey Erica, who has short fat legs and big feet in our team?????

At the Australian Quilt Convention (Melb) that I worked at recently they showcased the works of the ladies from the "Kopanang Project" I bought this piece from the wonderful display of work by ladies from a small town in South Africa, do a search for the project and see the wonderful work that these ladies are doing in empowering themselves to be able to support their families in tough times.
There were 2 ladies sitting there demonstrating how they work and I felt privileged to be able to purchase a piece and help a family.

Last week

2008-03-13T15:40:00.003+09:30

Where has the week gone........
I had photos lined up to give you a round up of last week but this is the first chance I've had to try and string more than 3 words together.

I had a very productive week at Art School last week, I've been working on a series of pieces with cut up chair legs and blocks, I had bought these 3 great old frames at a trash n treasure market and a series was born.
I've shown you the first piece "No Leg to Stand On" a few posts ago but I've put a touch of colour on a few of the pieces, so I am happier with it now.

The second piece is called "Doing my Block"
Now this is aptly named as the 2 pieces are hanging in the gallery at Art School in the International Woman's Exhibition but the powers that be..... hung this one the wrong way, it was worked as a horizontal piece, now I'm not going to go into all the boring details but there were a few obvious signs of which way it should have been hung etc etc
so, this is the way I worked it, just imagine the dangly bits hanging down

and this is the 2 pieces hanging in the gallery

opinions please, the way I worked it OR the way it was hung.......

the 3rd piece is almost finished and I will be able to show you next week when I'm back in the Sculpture studio, it is a combination of the first 2 pieces.

Friday I was up in Sydney teaching a regular monthly class, the ladies are working on a mystery quilt - I can't show you any photos cause it's a mystery............
actually the photo blogger wouldn't accept for some reason, and Gladys was in it too

Saturday saw me teaching my monthly Fun with Fibre Techniques class, actually I don't think I showed the photo from the first class where the ladies made a piece of silk paper then made a bowl from the piece, hopefully they will bring them next time so I can photograph them, but this week they were doing needle felting with their domestic machines.
Dorothy made the bright blue long scarf and Chris made the 2 pink pieces that have since been made into a cute vest with purple velvet for her 2 yo grand daughter, hopefully I'll have a photo of that soon, the pink scarf was mine that I made while demonstrating the technique.

Scaterdays V

2008-03-09T10:50:00.003+09:30

I've had a very busy week but had all of my photos sorted by Thursday but the computer has been not cooperating, so here I am a day late but getting there.
This weeks Scatterdays is the letter "V" and the categories are -
PINK -
and here is my favorite Pink Variegated King Tut thread

next is BIG -
while in the sculpture studio this week one of the other students was doing some plaster casting and here is her "Venus" with the big boobies and belly

and also on the end of my work bench in the studio is the Big Vice

next category is SIGNS -
if only I'd know I needed a V sign while at the airport recently and I could have taken a Virgin Airlines sign and I saw a Volvo Sign while driving on Friday and not able to stop to take it, so I went searching through my photo album and found these 2.
This is a Very Impressive Sign, not sure if Callan took this when he was in Korea or Tim took it in Japan, unfortunately I wasn't there to be impressed.

and this is just to show that the look on Mackenzies face is a SIGN that sometimes a piece of mud cake CAN be to big

New boots

2008-03-05T20:29:00.003+09:30

LOOK WHAT I'VE GOT........
these are my steel capped work boots, needed for working in the Sculpture studio at school - aren't' they fabo

here are a couple of photos from the storm we had last week that fried our computer router, look at the build up of hail on the sail outside the window and the neighbours lawn is white with a carpet of hail

look at the size of this hailstone, MIL and I were standing next to each other at the back door looking out and could not hear each other, even when yelling, the noise was so loud, I really thought the skylights on the back verandah were going to shatter, I unfortunately got a few dents in my car from the pounding

new sculpture pieces

2008-03-04T07:38:00.002+09:30

Last week was a bit of a whirlwind after arriving back from Melbourne on Monday night then it was straight back to art school for 3 days and thrown in the mix we had a doosie of a thunderstorm that blew up our router on the computers so was without the essential "outside" contact for a couple of days, so this week I'm trying to get back on track and hopefully will even get back to doing my Scaterdays on Saturdays.
I'm off to Sculpture class shortly which I now do Tuesdays and Wednesdays with Painting on Thursday mornings so here are the 2 pieces that I'm currently working on, this piece is chair legs that were rescued off local street clean up piles - other peoples rubbish mmmmmmmmmmmmm
may put some colour to dull down or brighten up some of the light cut ends

I bought a bag full of Barbies recently at a Trash n Treasure market along with blocks and this great clock face, not sure if this is how it will stay or if I will add more arms and legs....... but she has been hanging under the clock in our sculpture studio for the last week so I'll be interested to see what the reactions have been

I thought it was easy to pull arms and legs off dolls - not this baby, I had to put her in the vice and saw her legs off