Too Many Ideas

New works....

2012-01-29T10:13:00.001+10:00

Hiya, I've been stitching slowly over the past month or so, so maybe it's not that slow really. I joined an online class with Dijanne Cevaal, learning how to stitch a travellers blanket. Initially I started the process of getting appropriate fabric so that I could natural dye my blanket and while I was making choices and ordering I came up with the idea of making a smaller white blanket that I could natural dye when I'd completed the stitching. I already had all the pieces necessary for the white one, so could start immediately. I have used cheesecloth as the top fabric, with part of an old damask tablecloth for the backing and flannelette in the centre (as wadding). All the patches that are on the front are either pure silk or pure wool and I have used silk, wool, cotton and polyester threads to stitch them down. I've come to a bit of a stop now that all the patches are stitched, I'm not sure how to proceed with the rest so I'm just giving myself some time.

White blanket 1

White blanket 2

I have begun the pre dyed travellers blanket now and stitched 2 and a half patches so far. This one has a top of pure wool (nuns cloth) a backing of silk and a wadding of flannelette. I natural dyed all three pieces with eucalypt leaves, the top was folded and compressed between two flat surfaces to achieve the coloured edges, the other two layers were just dropped into the dye and swished around. All the patches on this one have been previously natural dyed, some with leaf imprints, some plain and some with marks from various metals. There are silks of various vintages and types and wools from blankets so far. I've not put all the patches on yet, I ran out of safety pins so will add as I go. Living where I do I am aware of the rusting problem, especially over summer and as I plan to take my time with this stitching the safety pins may be there for a good while yet!. Oh, and I'm using my own natural dyed threads for the stitching. I can see that some of the thicker 'wool thread' may cause some issues, so I might have to dye some finer threads to add to my stash.

I hope this makes sense, the photos may help you to understand what I'm on about. Check out Dijanne's blog, she is starting another class very soon.

Eucalypt dyed blanket, first patch stitched

Second patch stitched.

Flowers & Frog

2012-01-23T07:05:00.000+10:00

Hi, I seem to be getting further and further apart on these blogs, sorry. I'm a bit distracted with other stuff at the moment.. Here's a little frog that is the end result of all the boiled lettuce and fish food, there are a few leaving home every evening now. It won't be long and they'll be gone and the next lot can take up residence in the fish pond. I've also had a hippeastrum come into bud and flower so have taken some photos, for my sister who has hippeastrum fever!!! Love ya sis...

Underneath!

Leaving home!

Four buds out now.

New toy....

2012-01-17T08:02:00.000+10:00

Hiay, I've been busy playing with my new toy, I finally made a decision and lashed out and bought myself a Canon DSLR camera, it's a 60D, I'm really happy with it, now I just have to learn how to use it properly.. Which will be a challenge and fun and probably cause me some anxious moments too!! Oh well, it's all good for the soul as they say.
I'm also busy raising frogs, our first lot of tadpoles are busy leaving home, it's wonderful to see and they are so tiny. I now have a new batch to raise, these are a different frog too. I suspect that both lots are some sort of dwarf frog, I'm just not sure which one. I have spent many hours cruising the 'net looking at frog pictures, it's a lovely past time when it's pouring with rain outside and the frogs are all calling.
While I was out taking shots yesterday I came across a spider building a web, so for those that don't like spiders don't look at the last picture. I do have to say I'm pretty happy with the picture and the industriousness of the spider! In the shot below he/she is having a little rest after nearly completing the web.

New toy

Soooo close to leaving home....

A chance find..

Busy with things...........

2012-01-12T18:00:00.000+10:00

Hi, I've been a bit busy lately, including being away, also it's been very very hot and humid, (normal summer) so I've stayed inside with the aircon.. seems I've turned into a big sook..
Today I got to stay home, yes, in the aircon, and I finished a new jeans bag for myself. This one actually started as a denim skirt that I found in a second hand shop, I've made it a 'sea' bag, as I'm sure you can see. I'm pretty happy with it, probably it could have had narrower handles and a tad shorter, but I'm not about to undo all that work just for a smidgen or two.. With this bag I stitched on a base of leather, in an effort to help keep it clean and also to extend the length a little.
The other photos are of the cycad flower/spike/cone, it's now laying over, as it does every year, it must be awfully heavy. The pollen (?) is falling out up near the very end, I guess as it dries out more and more pollen will fall. It really is the most amazing thing. The little honey eaters were very upset about it, I have a feeling they thought it was a snake. I checked all over the garden to see what else they might have been upset at and couldn't find anything, they even stayed there giving alarm calls while I looked. Amazing..

Front of bag.

Back of bag.

Full length cone/seed pod thingy.

Close up of above.

hugs for now.

Surprise mail!!!

2012-01-01T11:31:00.001+10:00

We've been away for a few days, between Christmas and New Year. When my husband went to check the mail box yesterday this is what he found!!! Cheeky (and determined) Indian myna birds had built a nest and laid two eggs.. can you see the scratched open envelope as well!! Not only did they take over the letter box they were reading our mail too..... Up here in north Queensland the Indian Myna birds are a very annoying pest, so I had no hesitation in dumping the nest and eggs into the garden. We hosed out the box, I put a packet of napthalene flakes inside and closed the door. Thinking that would work to keep them out. How wrong I was!!! An hour or so later I could hear the birds again, so went to check, there was no trace of the napthalene packet and sticks and bits of paper had been returned to the letter box!!! This time I opened the packet of napthalene and sprinkled it onto the floor of the letter box.. that didn't work either.. so I have left the door of the letter box open.. luckily it's public holidays and there'll be no post for a few days.. I'm really hoping that by then the myna birds will have found a new nesting place. It does makes us wonder how many other people return from holidays with more than letters in their letter box!!!

Happy New Year... it's going to be a good one....

Merry Christmas.... safe New Year

2011-12-24T10:25:00.000+10:00

Merry Christmas and a happy and very safe New Year to all readers... thankyou for sharing this year with me.....xxxxx

My flower .... well sort of.....

2011-12-19T09:59:00.000+10:00

Hi, I thought you might like to see this flower, well seed cone perhaps is a more correct term. We have had this cycad growing for many years, and as you may be able to see from the photo it is rather large. I call it my octopus, and often feel it will keep growing just to get inside the house!!!! I have (as per usual) lost the name tag so cannot help with a proper scientific name. These days it has a cone every year and each year I become more fascinated by it.

Babies.....

2011-12-14T17:34:00.000+10:00

Hi, we have babies again, but these are a tad different to last years.. One, they are very much smaller, at first I thought they might have been canetoad eggs/tadpoles, but after exhaustive research on the 'net, I'm pretty certain they are not. What they will grow into, apart from some type of frog, I have no idea. We do have a small goldie coloured frog that is a regular around the doors, windows etc, so I'm assuming these will grow into them. Not very scientific I'm afraid, I have been unable to even put a name to the goldie frog. Regardless, I tend to the babies every day and have boiled them up some lettuce iceblocks. yum!!

Sewing fix

2011-12-06T07:33:00.000+10:00

Below are some photos of the sewing fix I had yesterday, all 8 covers are for the studio that kindly accepts my work for sale. Most of the fabrics I have rusted, dyed or stained in someway prior to adding print and stampings. The cup and saucer at the end was given to the girlfriend that very kindly gave me the fabric, I rusted it prior to stitching.

Berry delights

2011-11-29T08:44:00.000+10:00

Hi, here are some pics of the results of the mulberry pulp dyed fabrics, cotton became pale blue, pure wool is a wonderful dark reddy brown purplie colour, and silk is a very nice purplie pink. The photo shows the threads I chucked in the dye bath too, they will be incorporated into a stitched piece at some stage. The second photo shows my collection of sun dyeing jars, two have a eucalypt dye, one the residual mulberry dye and one residual lilly pilly dye. All have threads and small pieces of silk and wool fabrics.. I really have a problem with discarding dye water that still may contain enough dye to colour threads and bits..

Berry dyeing...

2011-11-24T17:11:00.000+10:00

Hiya, I've been busy dyeing with some berries I have been given lately. The berries are Syzygium aqueman, a bell shaped lilly pilly. Apparently you can eat them too! I didn't try, but will do so if I'm lucky enough to get some more next season. Below are some photos of the pot and the resultant fabric. The colour does wash out and if soap is used it becomes a dirty grey, but for a little while the pink will stay. I also discovered that the berries dye cotton beautifully as well as wool and silk.
Today I have heated some more berries, this time mulberry pulp that a friend gave me. She made mulberry jelly and was wondering what to do with the pulp, I was very happy that she thought to ring and ask if I'd like it for dyeing! That pot is still cooling, but so far looks a gorgeous colour.

Berries and tied up silk scarf

Fabric samples, cotton, mixed sample and a piece of rinsed cotton.

Fungus and snail

2011-11-22T20:18:00.002+10:00

He, I went with a friend to Paluma to pull down the installations, while there we wandered joyfully through the rainforest, taking photos as we went.. it was glorious... and we saw some amazing things.

Fungus

Yes, more fungus... very interesting these ones...

and one last fungus.. love the colour of this one!

Soft shelled snail... never seen one of these before.. wow

More Ephemera in the Mist

2011-11-16T20:40:00.003+10:00

Hi, sorry for the delay, below is a small selection of some of the works that were/are part of Ephemera in the Mist 2011. I've given names to those works that I know, apologies to those I have not named.

Deb Parkes, fabric previously compost treated

Sue Taylor with a Marion Gaemers work

Sue Taylor Mandala

Fiona Banner, raw clay teaset dissolving in the rain

Marion Gaemers, straw lady

Ephemera in the Mist

2011-11-04T08:54:00.000+10:00

Hi, I've been busy working on this project, yesterday myself and two girlfriends (fellow artists) drove north to the installation site, which is up on top of a mountian, in the rainforest. Below are photos of my work, I'll put up photo's of the girlfriends work after the weekend.

12 toadstools looking towards the rainforest

An inquisitive bush turkey

A lacy leaf, close up of another artists installation

2011-10-28T21:12:00.003+10:00

I hope some of you are wondering about the PiF from the previous post....

This is something known variously as Pay It Forward or in Aussieland as Pass It Forward, though this particular version has a handmade twist..

The rules are simple: I promise to send a handmade (by me) gift to the first three people who are willing to join in. I don't know yet what the gift will be, but I will send it within a year from now, probably much sooner. What you need to do to get that gift, is write about the PIF on your blog and make the same promise.

To sum up..................
- anyone with a blog can join.
- the first three people to leave a comment with a valid email address (I need to be able to contact you!) on this post will receive a handmade gift from me.
- I will send your gift within 365 days.
- in return, you have to pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog (whatever you want to make, no rules or limitations.)

I was asked to join by Kaite in Bathhurst, here , Kaite also has some links to other pictures of PiF recipient gifts. (to give you some ideas and fill in a little more time lol) And you saw the wonderful knitted fabric bag that I received..

Okay, hope this is as clear as mud.. thanks and enjoy

The mail man bears gifts

2011-10-28T09:16:00.000+10:00

Morning all, a little one this morning to show you all how lucky I was to recieve this gorgeous parcel in the mail this morning (early postman!!) from Kaite.. it's all about a PiF...... Kaite was very clever and discovered my favourite colours...How she knew I needed a little bag for my phone I'll never know!!!

woohoo...look what I got......

2011-10-25T14:25:00.001+10:00

Hiya, I was rather impatient and just had to unpack the bundles from yesterdays dye pot. Telling myself I wanted to reuse the dye water so had to remove the spent leaves was the reason I went with.. I'm sure they would have been fine until later in the week, but oh well, I just wanted to see...I'm really happy with the results, as I'm sure you can see... Even the calico shibori piece turned out lovely..

Dyeing again.......

2011-10-24T10:43:00.002+10:00

Hiya, wish I had smell-a-computer.... the eucalypt leaves are just delicious.... and yes, there are onion skins in there too.

Bookies learning curve

2011-10-14T19:24:00.000+10:00

Hiya, I've been a bit random at posting here, been busy with quite a few projects and worrying about other people's dogs.. (I really need to ignore them!!)
Today I was very tired and thought I'd end up achieving nothing.. the opposite has been true.
During this week I have busily made some book fronts and backs and got pages ready for binding, ie. stabbing holes in the pages at regular intervals..
After creating a small book to trial the technique I got brave and had a go at my first 'proper' book. I even waxed the thread I used and for the very first time used a curved needle!! So then I moved onto the second book and lastly the third one. I have to admit I'm pretty happy with the result and can now happily show my first year long 'drawing a day' drawings!! All bound and neat looking..
It has also inspired me for the next set of 'drawing a day' books, which I plan to make before I actually draw this time. I've been collecting the envelopes we receive in the mail, you know the ones, they have a window in them!!! lol... what better way to make use of them than to draw, scribble, doodle all over them.... I'm rather looking forward to starting.. after I've made the book of course..

Colurs of the tropics

2011-10-06T12:40:00.000+10:00

Hiya, here's a single photo... I'm so proud, I have helped this plant to grow this....(I keep it watered!)

Been away, home again...............again!!

2011-10-01T18:08:00.001+10:00

Hiya, well it's been a little while since I've posted, I've had a busy few weeks, with visitors and then packing up my creating gear and heading to a Fibre Arts forum for a week. It was wonderful, the class I chose was taught by Cherilyn Martin from Holland, who is a lovely, lovely lady. We learnt new techniques with new materials, rust powder, puff paste, foiling, wireform etc., all to help us to create a piece in 3D. There was also instruction on combining fabric and paper which I really enjoyed. Below are some pics of the piece I created. I called it 'reef discovery' with the idea coming from a picture of a vase coral.

Flowers

2011-09-15T14:56:00.000+10:00

Hiya, it's been a busy time for me since the last post. My mum and two of my sisters arrived for a stay, we drove down to Mackay to see our brother and a good time was had by all.
Below is a photo of some gorgeous flowers that arrived at lunch time today, sent with love from mum and the two sisters.. I feel very special, as does my husband, who commented that nobody had ever sent him flowers before.. so there's a first time for everything..

cuppa anybody?

2011-08-30T14:40:00.000+10:00

Hiya, I've been a bit quiet, well maybe not. We have visitors at the moment, my son and his fiance, we had their engagement party last Saturday, it was a great party, they arranged all of it. We just provided the venue, our backyard.

In the quiet times I've been able to do a little crafting. The piece below is for a forum I'm attending soon, it's a donation piece. I've been tidying up my scraps, well some of them, and have decided to make some coil bag from them, then I had a light bulb moment and used some of the strips for this cup and saucer. I'm really happy with how it turned out..

Alba leucos up and running

2011-08-21T21:06:00.002+10:00

The opening of Alba leucos was today, a wonderfully fun day was had..

Enjoying the tropics...

2011-08-12T20:13:00.001+10:00

Hiya, just a short one today. We've have been away, fishing again.. this time in a place about 3 hours north of us called Kurrimine Beach.. it's a gorgeous little place, still recovering from the cyclone (TC Yasi), but slowly getting back on it's feet. There are still a number of homes with tarps on their rooves, I know that the pub (hotel) has only in the last week reopened. The foreshore is actually pretty good, re damage wise. The nearby Dunk island has suffered severe damage and at this point won't reopen as a tourist resort. The trees along the highway still tell the story of severe damage, many fallen/broken and many more with regrowth.. it's very confronting to see and realise the enormity of that cyclone.

Okay, we had a wonderful time fishing, the fish were not plentiful, but we caught enough to keep us happy and provide a feed or two for our southern visitors in a few weeks. We saw quite a few whales, which was just glorious.. watching them tail slap the water a dozen times at least, the enormous power of these creatures.. we had one swim within 100 metres of our boat... it's just awesome!!! No photos, the camera just doesn't accurately record what you can see with the naked ey, not in good clarity anyway. I need to work out a better way to take photos, but I also like just to watch and see, instead of looking at the camera and missing the action.. We were lucky enoug to see dolphins, a turtle and a sea snake as well... yes it really was wonderful..... and that is what brings us back..
anyhoo, here's a little taste.....enjoy...

Our boat, photo taken from a small island I was able to get onto, other islands in the distance.

The other island of this pair. Yes, it was low tide.

Cold break away

2011-08-01T16:41:00.001+10:00

Hiya, below are some pics that I took in the city of Melbourne when we were there recently to see the King Tutenkahman exhibition, shop, eat and generally have a good time. We caught up with two of my sisters which was wonderful. I've come back with a cold so have had some days off since (reading David Copperfield filled in those days nicely). Now I'm back sewing and trying to create some wearable art..

Side view of an alley that's been 'grafitied'

This is down the other side.

Evening view of a partial city skyline.

Post card for July

2011-07-18T10:40:00.001+10:00

Hiya, back again. I've posted some photo's of some of the things I've been filling my time with. The postcard is one I do each month with the Fibre group I belong to. I really fell in love with the small piece of fabric that had the bird shapes on it.. so much so I scanned it into the computer, enlarged it and took out the colour to make the background of this piece. Then I enlarged one of the birds and created a stencil to use as well. I coloured the stencil with a black sharpie pen... seemed a good idea at the time. I liked the different shading the lines give. Then I turned the little piece piece of fabric into a pseudo stamp and stitched the sequins and beads onto all bar one of the birds. The red/maroon bird has a small gold bead as it's 'heart'. So my bird is flying home to where it's heart is... lol...
The pics of the new technique are pieces of cotton that I have soaked in vinegar, then sprinkled used tea leaves onto, folded the whole concertina fashion and wrapt around a length of rusty iron. This is a technique I read about on http://patvivod.blogspot.com/ this lovely lady's blog. I seem to be really keen on making marks on fabric, and the older or more used the fabric the better. One of these pieces is the cover from an old pillow I had in the cupboard, it already had some stains, so I've just added to them.. but in a more (vaguely) controlled way..

My hubby and I are off to Melbourne in a few days, to have a few days R&R, to shop, to see the King
Tutankhamun exhibition and to catch up with 2 of my sisters... it will be cold (for us), but nice to get away..

This is the postcard I sent out for July, entitled "fly Away Home'

New technique using tea leaves, vinegar and rusted length of iron.

More of the new technique, but with used teabags stitched on using the teabag string

Tea set and quilt....

2011-07-02T15:59:00.001+10:00

Really I don't need to add many words to this picture.. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I'm pleased it's done..

Just a few pictures

2011-06-27T21:22:00.002+10:00

Hi, I've been busy working with white again, and trying to finish off some of the white pieces I've got half done.. some are nearly there and then there are more.... Below are some pictures I've taken of small works I've finished off this month.
enjoy.. hugs from Annette

White figures from cord stitched on the machine using zigzag.

A hand held white mask.. a bit of fun.. I have since added small square mirrors, a few across the 'eye brows' and three within the tulle area.

The postcard for this month, the theme was weaving. The orange was very bright so I dulled it down with a light roll of white gesso. Something I'd been keen on trying, and now would be happy to do again..

What I saw yesterday...

2011-06-05T15:11:00.002+10:00

A glorious day shared with wonderful friends...life doesn't get much better than this.

Playing and experimenting again...

2011-05-30T15:53:00.003+10:00

Below is an experiment with a styrofoam meat tray, I drew the people shapes on the back of it, then brushed over some paint and made the first print, just onto paper, the lighter print is the second print, no more added paint. I've seen this idea in magazines and heard people talk about it and always wanted to try it. So now I have.

First print

Second print

Then this afternoon I have finished off two white brooches, they are to be housed in CD/DVD cases, which meant I had to be a bit inventive, they are still a little thicker than they should be and the cases are bowed when I close them, but they will be okay, I hope.. They were fun to make.

Busy Sunday....

2011-05-22T15:07:00.001+10:00

Hiya, here's some pics of what I've been up to, with the Alba Leucos exhibition. I saw an idea the other day, thank's Barb, so rushed home and had a play with all white plastics/papers/canvas, and then decided I could probably do the same thing with fabrics. I keep everything, well mostly, so all scraps cut offs from past projects and all thread ends.... With the plastics/papers/canvas piece I glued it all together with watered down aquadhere, let it dry then handstitched some thread in various places. With the fabric piece I did the same initial start (glue), then I machine sewed lines of stitching, then did some bobbin lines with a thicker and shinier thread. These are experiments for future projects.. the plastic would be great for a wearable art piece that I am thinking of.

Fabric strips and scraps

Plastic, paper and canvas strips

The next picture is part of a block of free motion quilting that is part of a quilt for the exhibition too. That is meant to be like human eyes.

And now for some colour, I bought this sweet mini rose and it's very happily flowering beautifully for me.

Quilt finished and delivered

2011-05-14T13:33:00.001+10:00

Hiya, I seem to have become very haphazard at posting on here, my apologies, I have been busy with creating.
Below are pictures of the quilt I made for my daughters 21 birthday, my sister (professional quilter) quilted it for us, she did a wonderful job, as she always does, with gorgeous designs for each row. There's even a shark stitched over in silver thread in the water row..

Each row has meaning, the top and bottom rows are flying gees depicting two trips overseas and home again, the fabric I used in the centres (elephants) came from one of the overseas trips, and yes, my daughter rode an elephant while over there. The next row has the southern cross, then a piece of tie dye and printed fabric that my daughter made at high school, then the three dogs got a look in. Next row is flight of swallows, we have had a number of birds as pets, I used fabric with angels on for this, as my daughter has a guardian angel. Then a friendship block in colours to depict all her friends (rather a social girl my daughter). Then comes the waterwheel block, as a swimmer, fisher, snorkeler, loves the water type person this one was the first row I made.
Then a row with the local football club colours and stars for the cheerleading team called the 'Allstars', interspaced with stars made with dog fabric.

The picture on the right is the back of the quilt, I seem to be unable to have plain quilt backs and always end up with left over blocks and spare bits of fabric that I would have liked to have included in the front, so I put them all together on the back. there is also a label on the back, I used the letter stitching of my machine to make it.
I did enjoy making it, and I know that daughter is very happy with it, she told me so.....

'Collected Leavings' exhibition pics

2011-04-27T10:36:00.001+10:00

Hiya, I've made a new header from a photo from my exhibition... love those dollies.. I made 33 of them all up. One stayed with my mum down south in Victoria and the other 32 are in the exhibition, I named them all and then displayed their names on the wall beneath where they are sitting... lol... All the dollies have been made from recycled fabrics, stuffing and thread. (I collect thread from second hand shops and have quite a bit given to me) The fabrics used for them have have been rusted, natural dyed, stamped with fabric paint. Their hair is hand stitched on, and is made from threads and fabrics I rusted and dyed. Probably the only new thing is the embroidery thread I used for their eyes and belly buttons, but this I had in my stash, I didn't go out and buy it specially.. Can you see their legs sticking out in the photos?? hehe, they were fun...

I had on display some rusted scarves, two made from recycled cotton slings, and one silk one. I love the way the silk took up the rust, will be doing more of that.. Then I had some natural dyed scarves hanging from the ceiling.. which was what drew me to the space in the first place. There is a very high ceiling, with a trapeze, I set up a set of swings at different lengths to show the scarves as you walked down the stairs.. This is not something I will repeat in a hurry but if I did it again I'd do a few things different (as per normal for me)..but mostly I am happy with how it looks. Many thanks to the my husband and members of Fibres & Fabrics for their support, India Flint for publishing her book and Umbrella Studio for being willing to give me a go. hugs to all...

and here they are....

2011-04-19T11:50:00.002+10:00

These were fun to make, now to wrap some more rope.......

Change in direction...for a short time

2011-04-19T09:07:00.001+10:00

Hello, here I am back in the 'land of the living', able to think of more than one date/day.. It's so nice.
Yesterday I went right back to basics, I took up a hem, put in a zip, stitched on a binding and made a quilt label.. today I'm going to attempt to make some textile cups and saucers.. there'll be pics if they work out!!
Below is a teaser of the quilt, it's for my daughter's 21 birthday, which was some months back, but she knows it will turn up at some time (hopefully!!). It's a row by row, and depicts blocks and fabrics that relate to her in some way, so waterwheel block in water and fish fabric - she was a swimmer and also loves the sea. There are star blocks with dog fabric, she has three dogs, and was in a dance group called the 'Allstars'. It was fun to make. My sister, who is a professional quilter very kindly quilted it for us and a very good job she has done too. It's wonderful, even if I say so myself..

Off to sew now... bye

Nearly there.....

2011-04-11T13:04:00.003+10:00

Hiya, sorry for the delay, I've been busy working on pieces for my exhibition, which opens this Friday night and also working out hanging devices. Due to the type of walls (cement) no nails or screws or that type of hanging device can be used. So I have had to call friends and collect ideas and then try them out at home.. I'm using magnets bluetacked (coloured bluetack) on and also sticky velcro dots (they work really well) keeping in mind that I have no wish to mark the fabrics with glue or oil from the bluetack in anyway. So have had my thinking cap on, and now I just have to hope it all hangs onto the wall for the duration..

There are times when I've thought I must be mad, and I'm guessing this will increase during the week. I am getting quite uptight about it.. It's scary putting yourself 'out there' so to speak.. but good for me too.

If you hop over to the Fibres & Fabrics blog you will find an interview a friend conducted with me in regards to my art work.

Below is a photo of some of the works (scarves) that will be on display..

A sticky beak visitor

2011-03-28T10:40:00.001+10:00

I just had to share these photos of our sticky beak visitor, he's so cute... the first photo shows better where he was (looking in the kitchen window) , then I got some close up photos, no flash, so the poor thing wasn't blinded.. isn't he so cute...

Eco dyeing...onions & leaves

2011-03-15T12:10:00.001+10:00

Hiya, I've been busy with some eco dyeing again. Today I'm on to my second pot of goodies, not too sure of these results, I'm after specific's this time. I have another pot of test leaves inside and another pot of mistletoe waiting to go. Yep, busy busy. It's raining here, again, still, whatever... so for the first time I'm using rainwater in the dye pots. Might as well, there's plenty to be had. I'm collecting it from the down pipes.
Below are some results I got the other day, when it wasn't raining. I was so happy with the results. I managed to leave them in the pot undisturbed for 5 days.
They are scarves, as are most of today's fabrics/items. I'm working towards an exhibition in April, it's scary, but a good way to push and challenge and trial...

Euc. sp. leaves on recycled silk skirt fabric, I overlocked the edges with silk thread.

On the left is more skirt fabric and spanish onion skins, on the right is paj and a mix of spanish and brown onion skins,

What my children got up to......................

2011-03-06T11:57:00.002+10:00

Hiya, some of you might not like this post... my apologies. My children (son, daughter-in-law and daughter) had an adventure last weekend. My daughter was the instigator, she decided she wanted to swim with the great white sharks for her 21 birthday. My son and his fiance live in Adelaide, so the opportunity was there. They organised it, and below you will see some of the results. They were all perfectly safe inside the cage. (The kids that is, not the sharks..) In the first pic is my son and daugher. None of the photos have been taken with a zoom. Yes, there are some big sharks down there....

Home again, again.............

2011-03-03T15:13:00.001+10:00

Hiya, I've been away down south (Victoria) to visit my mum and a sister and her family. Mum has shifted into a unit complex, about 8 months ago, so I was keen to see it and catch up with her after the big move. If you look carefully you can just see her head in the photo that shows the front of her unit.

I managed to stitch all the way down and back on the planes, well mostly. One leg I didn't stitch at all, I met a lovely women who was on her way to a conference in Sydney, we hit it off immediately and chatted all the way. Discovering that we had many things in common. Anyway, here is a photo of a part of the work I was stitching. I have eco dyed all the fabrics, firstly with leaves and the hot water technique then with ice flowers from a purple pea weed (Macroptilium atropurpureum) that grows up our way. I hand stitched with a grey silk thread that came from the estate of a dear friend whose heart failed her.

Some stick figures.......

2011-02-17T20:04:00.001+10:00

Hi again, below are some 'stick' figures, literally... The local group I belong to (Fibres & Fabrics) is having an exhibition in August entitled 'Alba Leucos', so, all pieces we make are white or as close to white as we can get. We are filling the whole exhibition space with white items... To aid in this each Friday there is a one day workshop at the group premises and the Friday before we got hit by TC Yasi the workshop was on stick figures. Since TC Yasi did such a good job, there are plenty of sticks around just waiting to be wrapt up and turned into figures!! The pictures below are my contributions so far, rather plain, but each with their own personality.

These sticks are some that are awaiting transformation....

Macadamia nuts anyone?

2011-02-13T14:14:00.002+10:00

Hiya, I knew it wouldn't take me long to find another dyeing project, with all the windfall (cyclone tossed) that is lying around town at the moment.
A friend very kindly gave me some macadamia nuts from her fallen tree yesterday, they are stilled encased in their green husk.. I got them home, looked at them, peeled some out of their husks and thought....hhhmmm... I wonder? So, I collected what I could, cut them into slivers with scissors and tossed them into my trusty chipped enamel billy. A quick boil and simmer, in went a fabric sample and voila!! dyed fabric..
The pictures below give you some of idea of what I'm using!!

Left - nuts in green husks. Centre - husks, no nuts. Right - nuts, no husks.

These are some much older husks and shells, yes, I'll try these too!!

Pure wool, silk noil & silk paj sample so far...

We are okay...

2011-02-07T21:03:00.001+10:00

Hiya, not much I can say. Going through something like Tropical Cyclone Yasi is not something I wish to repeat in my life time. That 24 hours are best put aside to be worked on with time.
We are okay, our house is okay. I wish I could say the same for the poor people that live two hours north of us. Below are some photos of our garden, after Yasi paid a visit.
The trees will regrow, the fence will be mended. The birds have returned to the birdbath, and still shout if there is no water in it.. life goes on......

My husband heading back in for another load of broken tree.

Happy aussie day.......

2011-01-26T20:20:00.002+10:00

Hiya, I hope you all had wonderful day today, or at least a good day.

Here is a rather smelly treasure (?) that has grown in my garden..you can see a finished one lying just in front of it. They are rather phallic.. and I haven't yet looked them up for a proper name, but they are fasninating.. well I think so anyway..that lace around the middle is just amazing.. Phallus indusiatus is perhaps it's name. Maybe later in the day the lace skirt opens up some more, I'm not sure. I'll check on any others and see.... they don't last very long though.. This is the first year I have seen them in my garden.

Look what I got!!

2011-01-22T13:22:00.001+10:00

Hiya, I did a little experiment the other day with some gorgeous yellow silk I have been given. This is how it turned out. I am thrilled.

Home again and in the mood....

2011-01-13T17:26:00.002+10:00

Hiya, I'm back from holiday and finally in the mood to post on here.

We have been watching the news of the terrible devastation that is happening and has occured in the lower part of Queensland. My thoughts are with all those people. I feel so helpless.

Here are some pics of a book I found in an antique shop while I was away. As you can see it's for a Singer sewing machine from many years ago. I am unable to find a date on it, but they talk about the 201Class of machine which apparently had the ability to drop the feed dogs!

Enjoy...

Hiya, well, I’m trying again..

2010-12-14T12:06:00.002+10:00

Here I am trying again to post something that might make sense and maybe be of interest.. This is all rather frustrating, but I WILL get it and move on..

These pictures are of the ‘Lengths of the Earth’ piece that I made for a Fibres & Fabrics group show. There were a number of items that we had to have, the list is below. The photos show some parts of the back and front. The piece is to be viewed from either side. The Christmas beetle ended up being something that came in the mail, my mum found it and posted it up, knowing I’d love it and would find a use for it. It is glued to a piece of worm holed drift wood. It was a challenge, but I did enjoy it, and am happy with the finished product.. enjoy

LENGTHS OF THE EARTH – list of requirements – Annette Sibson
1. Add to your work, a recycled treasure.
70 year old pillowcase, mended numerous times, held a pure silk parachute from WWII.
2. A beach object found, during your leisure.
Small piece driftwood with worm holes
3. Now all heads go down, for a footpath find.
Rusted bottle caps used to make black marks on fabric.
4. You must add something with a brilliant shine.
Small pink flower shaped bead.
5. Something that came to you in the mail.
Christmas beetle
6. A thing that is woven, have you gone pale?
Leather pieces
7. Your wardrobe will yield a fragment to add.
Pieces of old t-shirt stitched into flower shapes.
8. A print from your kitchen, that’s not too bad.
Brown onion print of fabric
9. An item that’s yielded from high aloft.
Feathers
10. Another you find that is very soft.
Hand woven merino wool for hanger
11. You may use any way, an item of rust.
Wire strips from street sweeper, black horizontal lines on fabric.
12. And something sticky, a definite must.
Sticks used for hanging device at top.
13. Foliage collected up high or down low.
Eucalypt leaf prints on wool
14. A gift from the earth and you’re ready to go.
Copper sheet and wire used for seed pod.

I'm back.... for a short time..

2010-12-13T21:36:00.001+10:00

Hello, just a quick note to say I'm back on line, yes took ages. We have been waiting for a new tower to arrive and be installed, it all happened today. So I'm back, in a fashion.. With upgrades comes some headaches... old favourite programs no longer work with the newest, latest greatest programs... gggrrr.
So, let's see how I go with the new photo editor.. well that didn't work... please bear with me while I attempt to get my head around the changes.. I"m sure there must be something simple that I can do, just need to find it.

In the meantime, please look after yourselves and have a wonderful lead up to the festive season...

hugs
Annette

apologies.....computers.... bah humbug

2010-12-02T20:47:00.000+10:00

Hiya, just a wee note to say hello, I am still here, but computer less at the moment. My wonderful machine had a hiccup, got taken to the fixit business and discovered too late that the fixit business was in dire straits and has had it's doors shut ever since. No contact, no phone, no anything.. a note on the front door says open next Monday (but that's changed twice!) So my darling hubby has ordered me a lovely new computer, to come from down south, so guess I'll be back up and running next week. We hope we can retrieve my old computer, so that I can retrieve all my information (files, photos etc etc).. yes.. all rather dreary.. but you get that and I'm not going to get all upset about something I can do nothing about!!..
So, I'm sorry dear followers there are no photos to go with this post...
hugs from Annette

Painted results

2010-11-16T20:50:00.001+10:00

Below are two photos of the finished flour resisted piece. I managed to spread fabric dye all over the place (my tshirt mostly!), and then I managed to leave the flakes of dried flour paste all over the place, inside, outside, under my shoes.. I really had a good time with it! I am very happy with the results though..thank you to Carol..

The whole piece..can you see the wording?

A detailed photo, now can you see the wording?

Creative Day with friends

2010-11-13T11:32:00.002+10:00

Yesterday I spent a wonderful day with like minded friends, five of us showed some small techniques to about a group of about 20. It was great, we all got to learn new quick techniques, without having the expense of buying all the necessary equipment.. Techniques covered where:- inkjet print transfer, laser print transfer, hapazome, sun dyeing, free form envelopes, wire forming and wrapping, flour resist, foiling on paper and laser print, painted vlisofix and a demonstration on the embellishing machine. (I think I've got them all) I missed the sampling of heat affected papers by Barb, there were florists paper/cellophane and tyvek. Some great results were achieved with the iron.
It was great. Janet, well done on seeing what we could do and getting us organised.
Here's some photo's of the play I've had this morning with flour resist, one of the newly learned techniques.. Thankyou to Carol for showing this one. Now I have to wait for it to dry.. so more photos will follow. In a few days.

Saturday day.....

2010-11-06T17:02:00.002+10:00

Here are a few pics, the six eco dollies are made are all together.. for now.

Here is some 'hapazome' (India flint's eco book) that I created with some fallen red frangipani's. The purple hues are on linen that has been previously eco dyed, the blues are on the paper I had underneath the fabric... They turned out so well..

Cup day....

2010-11-02T20:11:00.002+10:00

Hi, I've been busy getting started on a quilt for my darling daughter, she turns 21 in Feb 2011 and I need to get going to get it done and sent to my darling sister for quilting.. I'm making a row by row, with each row or the parts there in representing a part of my daughters' life. So far I have one compete row finished, and two partly done. It takes a lot of thinking and trying to get it all to work together. And I'm trying to use up some of the fabric I have, which of course is impossible, I didn't have any fabric with dogs on. And yes, dogs are a big part of her life. Anyway, that's why I'm so quiet. That and the weather is warming up and that always plays havoc with the fatigue that still plagues me. Doesn't help at all.

This is the October postcard I made, theme 'Is life all Black and White?'.

These are just some of the birds that visit our fishpond for a drink or bath.

Blue days....dyes

2010-10-24T10:38:00.001+10:00

Hi again, I've been busy playing with ice flowers (see India Flint's gorgeous book Eco Colour), using some weed I saw growing down the road. They are Macroptilium atropurpureum, a weed introduced as fodder. mm, yes. Anyway I've found they make a wonderful dye. Below are pictures of the flowers and the finished product, cotton comes out blue!! Silks come out pale purple/mauve.

Eco Miss.....

2010-10-22T21:00:00.001+10:00

Here is my first dolly... I fell in love with the pattern some months back, and as I've collected odd eco dyed pieces of fabric and thread she has become a reality... Her name is 'Corymbi'

And one more... they are increasing... day by day....

2010-10-20T20:21:00.001+10:00

Short on words

2010-10-19T20:26:00.001+10:00

Hiya, been some what tied up lately.. here's a photo of some visitors we had this morning.

More eco fun today..

2010-10-11T16:48:00.005+10:00

I'm having such fun with this eco dyeing, not sure that I'm learning any patience, but I am having fun and loving the results..
This is today's washing line....

Okay, after a few questions I see I should have given some detail to go with the photo. On the left is a piece of pure wool blanket with various leaves (testing), these were some avocado leaves fresh and fallen, some kaffir lime leaves, shrimp plant flowers (Justicia brandegeana) and leaves, the top three leaves are Acalypha wilkesiana. I was surprised at how well they turned out. General plants I have in the garden, sorry I'm not really good with the plant names, yet. I am trying to learn them though.

The middle piece is a piece of cashmere mix fabric with nearly all eucalypt leaves of various species.

both pieces have been folded in half, leaves placed inside then rolled around a wooden dowel, wrapped tightly with thread, and hot bundled. I did try some more avocado leaves on this fabric too. Yes, with an idea in mind.

The last piece I hadn't thought shibori, but I guess it could be. This is another piece of the cashmere mix which I tied 5 dried burdekin plums (Pleiogynium timorense, a local tropical tree, not really 'plums') into with rubber bands. It was then put into a pot with more burdekin plums and dyed, the small pieces you see on the right were in the same pot. They were all 'cooked' on Saturday and I've left them all standing in their various pots until today (Monday). Hope this helps.. :)

Now for something completely different!

2010-10-07T20:02:00.002+10:00

Early this morning I quietly watched, thoroughly enjoyed and photographed these two gorgeous creatures... enjoy..

A gift and playing

2010-10-05T10:31:00.002+10:00

I was given a wonderful gift yesterday....... from my lovely friend Carol..

This is a bit off what I've been doing with the natural dyes, but I'm always up for a new experience..
This morning I've been playing with a gelatin 'pad' that I made last Monday. What fun I had getting it out of the plastic box I'd set it in! Slippery stuff isn't it? lol.. certainly gave me a good laugh.

Below is a pic of my washing line... And now the 'pad' is back in it's box and resetting in the fridge. Very economical stuff. I wonder how many times I can re melt it?

Avocado skins dye

2010-10-01T11:27:00.001+10:00

Hi, enough of the foot already...

Here is a pic of the pieces of fabric I had in the avocado skin pot, not sure if it's pink or brown, whatever it is nice. I had frozen avocado skins, some with flesh still on them and water. I chopped them as much as I could, bought the pot to the boil, simmered for a bit, strained out the dye, put the fabrics in and went out to mow the grass!! Later..... I simmered the lot for about 20 mintues and left it all to cool for 3 days. These pieces were squeezed out and hung to dry overnight.

Fabrics L to R - unknown, paj, wedding silk, woollen blanket, cashmere mix.

pretty colours

2010-09-30T09:19:00.002+10:00

I know this is pretty boring, but there's not much else I can do at the moment... thought you might like to see my pretty coloured toes!! This is today's spread.. I am happy to report that I can, somewhat slowly and carefully, walk pretty normally on it, which is great.

Next..........

2010-09-28T10:29:00.003+10:00

We have had some wonderful friends stay with us for the last few days or so. They are 'grey nomads' and are calling in on all friends as they travel around. They were due to arrive on Tuesday, and late that morning we received a phone call to say 'HELP'. Their car had broken down, luckily only 5 minutes up the road, literally! A tow truck came for their car, and my husband towed their caravan back here, well really the caravan towed my husband back. Our ute had some difficulty with the size of the van. But they all made it safely here anyway. Lots of time was spent chatting and laughing, touring around the town, eating and drinking!! And more catching up with friends. I spied my friends thongs and just had to take a picture... they do say that one picture is worth a thousand words........

Here again....................

2010-09-28T10:24:00.000+10:00

Hi I finally made it back here, I'm stuck in front of the computer for a few days.. the photo below will tell the story, I hope.

My visitor

2010-09-20T19:41:00.001+10:00

Here's a little visitor that called in on me today... Made it a tad difficult to read the screen properly..

Can you see him? Maybe it was a her... really hard to tell..

Exhibiton pieces

2010-09-17T20:50:00.002+10:00

Hi, here are some pics of the two exhibition pieces I have been working on, I gave a peek of one in an earlier post. The body piece is made of collected threads, free machined under a wash away and over two tulle layers. I did quite a bit of the shaping by machine before quickly dipping the piece into hot water and then molding over a plastic shop dummy. She is representative of how I look now, after surgery. I called her 'My Choice', and she is a totem to the strength of all those affected/touched by breast cancer. Yes, she did take me a while to work through the emotions involved with being so 'out there'. But this has been something I've wanted to do for a while, since diagnosis really.. I had the idea way back then..

The other piece is a much more light hearted piece, I wrapped cotton rope in calico, stitched it into a basket, then added iron pieces. There are small nails (5mm) actually threaded into the calico, larger items I have stitched on using previously rusted string. I found some iron nuts and bolts to screw the handle on with, and also stitched and threaded some pieces on the inside. I then flattened the basket, sprayed it with full strength vinegar and wrapped it in plastic for a few days. When there was enough rust stain I put the basket outside, in the shade, reshaped it, and let it dry for about a week. Luckily the weather here was conducive to drying at that time. This one is called 'rust bucket' and is a totem to things neglected..

side one

side two

Monday again........................

2010-09-13T09:14:00.002+10:00

Hi, just a short note to say I've added a new blog to my list at right. Wrapt, tied and marked by nature:- please pop in and have a look, it's a blog dedicated to people who have wrapt some fabric around trees, there are people from all over the world.. It's really interesting and exciting.. Have a look. Here's a little peek at one of my wrappings!!

more tests

2010-09-04T10:36:00.001+10:00

Here are some pics of some steam tests I did, with different leaves and also to trial some new fabrics. I found a wonderful old well loved cotton blanket in the op shop dog bedding box, I also found some unlabeled 'wool' in spotlight. The lovely attendant looked up the number on it and told me it said 'cashmere like jacketing'. So I bought half a metre to try. It works beautifully.. and as it was on special for $10 per metre I went back and bought what was left of the roll, 7 metres. woohoo.. love getting a bargain. I do have plans for it, which include imprinting/dyeing some and sending it to my sister Lynne so she can quilt it in some way. I'm very lucky to have a professional quilter for a sister, yes, Lynne.. and she's very good, no, I'm not biased in any way!!! Her blog link is to the right, called BlueWren Quilting. I hope what I've written under the photo makes sense.

Left - pure wool. Centre strip top - cashmere like, silk, silk.
Right two strips - cashmere like & cotton dog blanket.

Eco dyes

2010-08-27T15:47:00.002+10:00

Here are some pics of the results I got from Tuesday's boil up. I was very good and waited 24 hours plus a bit more before unwrapping the bundles.. am very happy with the results.

Array of pieces from avocado pot

Maple leaf on pure wool blanket

Cold avocado mix

Silk with eucalypt impressions

Pure wool with eucalypt impressions

etsy treasury

2010-08-25T09:13:00.001+10:00

Hi again (wow, three in three days)..

One of my etsy items has been put into this gorgeous treasury, please follow the link and leave a comment. Thanks.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c73634a7df46d91c0b046ba/mauve-and-moss

Tree wrapping

2010-08-24T19:40:00.013+10:00

Here's some pics of a project I read about on Kaite yarngarden's blog (see link at right) and decided to have a go at. Ta da, my two wrapped trees. A mango wrapped with calico, and a callistomen wrapped in part of an old damask tablecloth.. I also read about a similar project on another friends blog, Paddysdaughter see at right also..

I'll have to water them each night, there's no rain due here for a few months at least.. But I might be lucky and get some colour.. can only try. I'll put up some pics occassionally so you can see the results.

Monday again

2010-08-23T12:57:00.001+10:00

After a busy weekend, well Saturday was really really busy and Sunday was very unbusy!! Saturday was the North Queensland show and tell, the craft group I belong to was doing the organising, so it was up before the birds and off to the hall in the dark on Saturday.. A great day was had, my very first show and tell on that scale.. see the Fibres and Fabrics blog for pictures.

Below are a few pictures of a project I am working on, it's for an exhition called 'Totems', so you don't get to see the finished piece, sorry. I've been collecting threads and tiny scraps of fabirc for a few years now, I also got a bag of threads from my sister (professional quilter Lynne) and another bag of threads from a friend. I didn't need all the threads, so will have to think up something else to make with them. The wash away is one of those hospital bags that they chuck in hot water and it dissolves, my sister (Lynne) was kind enough to give me one that she had. I did the overall stitching with a large cone of pale blue thread that I found in a second hand shop. Isn't it wonderful to be able to use up these normally chucked away things.. I love working like that..
Once the exhibition is up I'll put up a photo. I'm pleased with how it's worked out, just need to do a little more sewing, organise the hanging apparatus and I'm all set.

My biin of threads, prepared pieces ready for the machine.

After free motion sewing with the pale blue thread.

August postcard

2010-08-16T09:15:00.000+10:00

Hiya, I've been a bit slack here, sorry. Been rather busy, or attempting to be busy, really I've just been enjoying life tooo much.. the weather here is finally proper winter, cool nights and clear sunny days, beautiful. The sort of weather Townsville is renowned for in winter. We've also had visitors, well a visitor, my husbands brother has been up and coming for tea quite regularly. It's been lovely to see him. He heads home today.
Below is the August postcard, I saw Margaret the other day and she said her postcard arrived safe and sound, which is great. This month the theme was boxed in.. Enjoy..

These are the 'bits' to use for the postcard, the white star fabric I used back-to-front, drew lines on (like bricks) and coloured with pencil.. The smoke is a few threads of the black hairy 'wool'.

What I've been up to

2010-08-06T16:01:00.001+10:00

I've been away....yes....again.. this time only for a short time with my husband.. we went up north to a little town called Kurrimine Beach. The mackeral are running and the weather was good for a day or so, so off we went on Wednesday, today is Friday. We spent the day on the water yesterday, up in the dark on the water at 7.00am, which is early for us. It was a lovely day, tiring as always, but lovely to have been out there. We fished in 80feet of water, which is just amazing.. caught our quota of one type of mackeral (doggy), three of a different type (spotty) and because I was bored and fished on the bottom I caught a crab!!! Much to our amazement and the amazement of all those we showed the crab to.. we have discovered it's called a 'coral crab' and by the taste tests we've had it's yummy.. we're having it for tea tonight..

Where we left from

Where we were heading to

Esky of fish, crab and bait

Coral crab 16 cm across shell (6 or so inches)

Still here.......

2010-08-03T17:03:00.001+10:00

I seem to have gotten off track a bit here, I get so caught up in projects and getting out and enjoying life that I can't seem to find the time to do all I want on the computer.. oh well.. that's life..
I did some natural a few weeks back and took some progress photos which I thought you might like to see.. The fabric is a piece of parachute silk, yes, I have been the lucky recipient of one of those precious WWII parachutes! The autumn maple leaves have been sent up to me from Wodonga (Victoria) by my mum.. The wool I tied the bundle with is Australian Alpaca.. The saucepan for this boil up is an old aluminium pot that was once used to boil mud crabs.. it gives wonderful colours. The mesh over the top I use to help keep the bundles under water..

Bargains..

2010-07-24T11:47:00.004+10:00

Today I found a big old aluminium boiler at an antique shop, for the grand sum of $12.00, so now when I do boiling up I can make up more bundles and experiment more.. I also found a box of old wooden cotton reels, with thread, I got the box for $10.00, which is a bargain. There were about 20 wooden sewing cotton reels, 10 fishing thread reels (for wrapping around a fishing rod) plus about a dozen more recent reels of sewing thread.. love a bargain..

July Postcard

2010-07-22T17:23:00.000+10:00

Here are the photos of the pack of 'bits' that were for the July postcard, and front and back of my completed postcard. I'm happy to say he arrived safely at his destination..

Another day, another day....

2010-07-15T20:07:00.001+10:00

Hiya, it's been a sad day today, a dear friend was laid to rest. I will miss you Susie..

While I was away at Rocky, I became enamored of 'a drawing a day', again. I had a go at this earlier in the year, but decided my drawing skills weren't really up to it. After leafing through a tutor's 'a drawing a day' book, I decided I really could do this, yes, my drawing skills were adequate. I do suffer from self questioning and lack of confidence in my abilities, as lots of us do! Anyhoo, I've started again. I bought myself a gorgeous hand made book while at Rocky, with walnut stained pages, it really called out to me. The pages are about a quarter of an a4 size sheet of paper, so not too large. So far I've successfully drawn something each day! So far so good, and I have to admit I am enjoying it this time around. I draw whatever takes my fancy, tonight was a vase of flowers, yesterday was pyramids. I have a favourite black pen that I'm using at the moment. And yes, Susie has featured in my book too.

I hope you enjoy the picture I've put up for my title, and welcome to my 11th follower..

Things I've been up to

2010-07-13T10:40:00.000+10:00

Thought you might like to see the quilt I made for a swap with an artquilt yahoo group I belong to. The pic below that is the gorgeous quilt I received, made by Erica Spinks, it's wonderful, hand quilted and just beautiful. It's hanging on the cupboard wall beside me..

'If the key fits'

'Windows'

Home again, again

2010-07-04T13:20:00.001+10:00

Hiya, I'm home again, seem to be saying that a lot lately! lol
The 'wrapt in rocky' was fantastic, I had a great time, met some very talented and wonderfully warm people, ate far too much, laughed lots, staggered up and down stairs and hills far too many times, generally had a wonderful time.. The class I did was Disperse Dye with Marie-Therese Wisniowski. Below are some photos of the week..

At the train station

In the class room

A walk in the fog

Tutor opening her gift

Some finished pieces

Part of my final piece

Big catch up..

2010-06-21T15:52:00.003+10:00

I'm going to write quite a long blog today, have lots to share and also I'll be away for a week as of Thursday, I'm heading to a textile forum in Rockhampton (south of me). I am really looking forward to this, I'm doing a class with Marie Therese Wisniowski on disperse dyeing. There will be pictures posted!

Below are some photos of the June postcard that I made, it went to a local lady. The first photo shows the bundle of goodies we got, the theme being 'Littoral Zone', my favourite theme. The second is my interpretation, minus some beads, I was in too much of a hurry to take a photo.

One down.......

The photo below is of a 20 x 20 cm art work for donation to the Rockhampton forum, these are sold off to raise money for bursary students. I've made it from plant dyed silk and wool fabrics, hand stitched on the shell buttons (MOP) and hand stitched around the outside and some plus signs..

Next.....

I have had another play with dyeing with natural materials, this time using some eucalypt leaves that left a lovely orangey red imprint (compliments of my sister down south), I was/am so happy with the results I just have to share them.. hehehe, always gives me a buzz when things work better than expected..

Okay, that should keep you all busy for a little while...hehehe... sorry, feeling cheeky.. more photos in a week or so.

Home again, home again jiggety jig!

2010-06-14T16:27:00.000+10:00

We're home again, we've been to very cold Toowoomba, it's situated west of Brisbane, then we drove up north to Lucinda, north of us by about 2 hours.. All in 6 days.. It was great....

In Toowoomba our son had a graduation in the RAAF, he topped the course so we are very proud. In Lucinda we spent time with good friends, laughing and walking the beach and laughing some more!!

Below are some photos of beach finds.. enjoy

exhibition photos

2010-06-03T09:14:00.001+10:00

Hiya, well here are some photos. The pieces of pottery are made by my friend, Elizabeth Tillack, whom I shared the exhibition with.
I'm sorry they are not the best photos I've taken, I'll have to go back in and have another go. Perhaps I was too excited/stressed or something, I don't know.
While I'm putting these up I'm going to say thank you to India Flint, it was one of her you-tube videos that I watched that inspired me to have a go at this natural dyeing technique. Thank you India. And also a thank you to my wonderful friend Carol for her support and wonderful pieces of pure wool. Thank you Carol.

Anyway here they are I hope you enjoy them..

Sunday night

2010-05-30T20:10:00.000+10:00

Well here it is, Sunday night, tomorrow my friend and I set up the exhibition we've both been working on for months.. Then on Tuesday I get to make some nibblies and buy bubblie, the opening is at 5.30pm and it looks like we'll have quite a crowd there, which is fantastic.. I'm beginning to get rather nervous.. putting myself out there is a bit scary.. but I'll survive..
I sewed up one last piece today, well, got it finished today. That makes 21 pieces in all. Hope it's enough.

I submitted a small quilt to an exhibition in Wangaratta, Victoria and have been accepted, so that was/is exciting. I will post it off tomorrow, along with the little late May postcard.

I spoilt myself a bit this week and purchased two new books, one is the 1000 artisan textiles, what a fabulous book, full of wonderful glorious eye candy.. mmm...mmm.. The other is a book called Eco Colour by India Flint, this is also full of eye candy and the most glorious photos.. both very inspirational.. I've already set up some dye projects from the Eco Colour book, and hope I can last a month before I look at them.. mm..that will test my lack of patience!!

Off to do some last minute worrying... seeya..

Where we went last weekend, fishing.. glorious colour and sky..

A little teaser

2010-05-18T21:12:00.000+10:00

Hello again, here I am... been sewing up a storm, I'm really working on getting items finished for the exhibition, I've only 11 days to go.. Nearly there, I think.

I have to admit I'm really enjoying the challenge of thinking up and then creating items, and I'm really happy with how they are turning out. Just hope I'm not deluding myself.... Anyway, I'm including a teaser here for you... hehehe..

We've had a quiet weekend, mostly. Had a close friends birthday party on Saturday night, it was great. A wonderful time was had by all, and I didn't have a sore head in the morning... for a change. I was tired, but that's all..

Our DD's dog has been here with us again, while she recovered from her 'desexing' operation. She recovered in no time and was bouding around full of energy within days. She tasted a cactus the other night, actually bit lumps out of it, like eating an apple... I was stunned, she was in trouble, but otherwise unhurt from her tasting!! Such an inquisitive dog.

seeya again, hope all's well for you and yours..

Tired tonight

2010-05-10T19:58:00.001+10:00

I've spent a lovely afternoon with two friends, Carol and Del, Carol was naughty and bought along a lovely sticky bun, (my favourite) which we devoured with a cuppa. We chatted for several hours, as girls do, covering many varied subjects. Del checked out my work area, I guess I should call it my studio! I found lots for her to look at and admire (hopefully..lol) It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon..
Since then I've eaten a wonderful roast lamb dinner with lots of roast vegies and gravy.. yum yum.. my husband cooks a yummy roast...
I did run around the back yard with my DD's dog, she's feeling very energetic, even though she still has stitches from her desexing.... in part of the play I fell over, which would have been fun to watch from a distance, the dog thought it was a great treat.. laughing is very good medicine..
I've been busy with sewing, getting pieces made for an/the exhibition. So there'll be no photos until later.. sorry.. suffice to say I'm using pure silk and pure wool, which are a joy to work with and look and feel so good...they are just so yummy to handle..

I'll leave you with some more photos from our hot air balloon adventure..

A break away

2010-05-04T11:42:00.000+10:00

Helloooo.... we've had a wonderful weekend, drove up to Cairns, 4 hours north, stayed in a motel (no cooking yay...) enjoyed the company of wonderful friends, got up in the weee dark hours of Sunday morning, hopped aboard a mini bus and sat and relaxed until getting to our destination....a dark cow paddock...and I'm leaving the photos to tell the rest....

Another postcard

2010-04-22T07:13:00.001+10:00

I've finished and posted Aprils fabric postcard. This one was called 'Bingle' I neglected to take a photo of the initial pack of this one, but will do it for the next one. I have heard that it arrived safely to it's destination, all the way ofer to Magnetic Island, hehe, not that far from me! But overseas none the less.

I've also been busy working on a swap quilt, no pics of that one, it's to be anonymous when sent in. Sorry. I am happy with how it's turning out though.

I'm also working on a dragonfly, my first go at stump work, a lovely lady, Arlene, is showing us how to do this work. This is the beauty of belonging to a multi talented craft group, and of course, the talented ladies being willing to share their expertise. Arlene's embroidery skills are fantastic, in not only stump work, but gold work, ribbon work, lots of different embroidery styles..

The cars are cut from a found piece of John Caldor fabric, yep, found in a second hand shop!!

Here again...........

2010-04-13T14:05:00.004+10:00

Hello again, I've been a busy little bee lately and not really had the time to post here.. But I'll make up for it today with lots of photos..

Last week and weekend was spent helping to install the exhibition of the local fibre club I am in at the Craft Show, and then manning the area. It was great fun, I caught up with lots of friends and yes, chatted a lot!! Bought some goodies, of which there are no photos, sorry.. suffice to say there are lots of different textured threads, some charms, a brayer and some brads!!

My DD has come home to live, bringing with her a gorgeous dog, Tempa, both my DH and I have fallen in love with her (the dog that is), even though she has

tried to escape a few times, being on heat and all!! LOL definitely talking about the dog here....... Yes, we do love our DD too.......Anyway, I'm putting up some photos of her having a bath.... you can make your own comments...............lol

What a good girl, lifted her leg to wash under her arm, and has her tongue poked out!!! noice...

What a look!!!

I'm also including a photo of a postcard I made for March, the Fibre club I am in does a monthly swap of postcards, we receive a kit of pieces and a subject heading. This month the heading/word was 'shells'. It's up to us to decipher how we like and then post off the card. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.. they really are fun little art works to make.. And I've just learnt that I should photograph the back before I write the senders address....

Front, sparklie threads and fabrics and some foiling.

Back with writing and address smudged out for privacy

seeya and hugs

Reveal time

2010-03-31T19:52:00.000+10:00

Hiya, here it is.. I will attempt to explain all the bits you can see..

Long left space - handmade circle fold book with silk cording and wooden beads.

Top two spaces - on left found woven box containing inchies, on right hand made clay platypus nestled in handmade felt.

Centre space - clear glass bottle containing coloured glass beads.'

Bottom left space - long book, made from cut out book pages, shortened, covered with stained and shellacked card, book mark is cording and fine nylon cord from my dad's shed, zigzagged together.

Bottom space right - vintage wooden cotton reels and old metal thimble..

And that's it, these all represent parts of me! I have written in the long book words that relate to me too.. I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of creating this book box!! I hope you enjoy seeing it..

And this is the front of the book box..

Teasing......

2010-03-28T11:30:00.003+10:00

Hiya, I've been rather busy doing heaps of things lately, and as usual not achieved much at all.. But I'm getting there..
Below is a teaser................I participated in a bookies workshop last Wednesday afternoon. It was run by Barb. N. at the Fibres & Fabrics house.. a lot of fun was had by all and if you look at the Fibres & Fabrics blog you'll see some more pics..

I'll post the entire, finished, yes, finished.. after this Wednesday.. lol

Too many to list them all

2010-03-09T20:00:00.004+10:00

Hello again, well I've been up to lots of things, but not much really... if you know what I mean!

The tadpoles are merrily getting bigger and leaving home at a reguler rate now, it's lovely to see them, and I'm still blown away by how fast it all happens at the end. A tadpole I was watching this morning, with no front legs, had by late this afternoon sprouted front legs. It must hurt surely.. There are only about a dozen left now..

I've spent some time this week boiling up fabric and gum leaves, smells delicious!! I'll post a photo of one of the results.. I'm really happy with how it turns out, it's always a surprise!! My very patient husband took me gum leaf foraging on the weekend!! lol.. I'm (impatiently) waiting for them to dry up a bit..

On Monday I spent a lovely morning with a girl friend who showed me a technique to bond fabric to paper.. We had a great time, I managed to successfully smudge gold paint right on my middle (white t-shirt).. no photos of that.. lol..

And today I purchased metres of stretch fabric, plastic and 24 towels for a project for the organisation I once worked for. They are all cut up and ready now for stitching, I'll start that tomorrow.. hope they read this... I'll be in the good books.. lol

Okay it's hot and I'm tired.. seeya for now

Isn't he just gorgeous?

2010-03-01T09:01:00.001+10:00

I just had to share these wonderful pictures this morning, before doing any work..
Yes, this is the tadpole/frog from yesterdays photos, you can see a bit of tail still!! I'm still blown away by the speed that they transform from tadpoles to actual frogs.. amazing..

oohh oohh oohh

2010-02-28T10:48:00.003+10:00

Oohh I have just have to share these photos, I'm just blown away by the speed at which this has happened..

On Friday 26th Feb I tried all day to get a good photo of the tadpole with back legs to show you all. In the end I did manage one decent one. Then yesterday late afternoon I took my niece out to see the tadpoles and low and behold that same tadpole had front legs!!! Just the very next day! How quick is that.. So now there are two photos to show you, and they are about 36hours apart. Yes I'm proud and touched to be able to witness this transformation from little eggs into a wonderful little green froglet.. lol lots

Back legs only

Can you see those little front legs?

This one is little better.

I'm baaaack....

2010-02-26T13:46:00.003+10:00

Hello again, I'm home, had a wonderful time away, caught up with my family it was as always wonderful. I'm always sad when I leave them all. They're probably glad of the break when I go, lol.. This time I taught my mum and a sister how to rust iron things (bottle caps and wrought iron!), I boiled up gum leaves and onion skins in mums kitchen, a couple of times, and had mum checking out the ground for rusting bottle caps!! lol.. It was great fun and we got some good results and some not so good.

I took some photos while there, some will follow, one is the head of my nephew Tim's bearded dragon, her name is meatball.. poor baby.. she's gorgeous, I had lots of hugs and plays with her.

We also noticed a sleeping (?) huntsman one morning and I got some great photos of it. We suspect it was cold or had been bitten by something. It recovered as the day warmed up and returned to it's web for safety.

Tadpoles, well while I've been away a number of the tadpoles have grown up and left home, there are still a dozen or so still growing. I've posted a photo of one that has quite big back legs, not a great photo, it became camera shy! There's also a photo of a tadpole's mouth! lol.. I love taking photos..

Holiday holiday holiday woohoo

2010-02-02T20:04:00.000+10:00

Hi, well I'm heading off on holiday tomorrow at 6am., catching a plane to Albury in NSW, then driving by car to Wodonga in Victoria (about 15 minutes away) to spend 3 weeks with my mum. While there she will turn 80, celebrated with a lunch time party. I'll catch up with my 3 sisters and 1 brother too, so am looking forward to seeing them all.
I'm going from hot and very humid to very hot and dry, so that won't be so nice. Maybe I can influence some rain for them.. yeah right!!

My wonderful husband is going to feed and care for the tadpoles while I'm away, I expect them (the tadpoles) to be grown up and gone by the time I get back. I'm a bit sad I'll miss it, but you can't have everything.

Look after yourselves and stay safe.. many hugs

Exciting...

2010-01-30T11:52:00.001+10:00

Hiya, well I do have some exciting news, this morning I saw some legs!! lol, one of the tadpoles has definite back legs emerging, and when I peered closely, without my glasses on, I discoverd some of the other tadpoles have legs too, just little tiny ones at this stage.. woohoo.. a photo of the most developed is below. I couldn't get a photo showing the legs, the tadpole wouldn't co-operate!! There is a noticeable size difference amongst them, something I find fascinating. Obviously some are eating more than others, there is even one very small one, 'the runt' maybe?

Day 30

There are also some other photos, of our backyard. We have had heaps and heaps of rain (very techinical wording), it's associated with an excyclone, glad it's an ex... There is quite a bit of wind with it today, but not too bad. Apparently there was quite a bit of wind during the night, I slept through it, haha. But my husband was up watching..

New/old toys

2010-01-26T14:40:00.001+10:00

I'm putting up a photo of the lovely little 99K singer sewing machine I got from my mother-in-law and also a photo of the new/old garden ornament we have. This came from mother-in-law too, but was father-in-laws originally. It is an old grinding stone that has resided in the back shed all these years and is now standing proud in our front garden.
The sewing machine is working beautifully, a gave it a clean and oil, change the needle and away it went. I need to think up a project to sew, with vintage fabric, vintage thread and sewn on the vintage sewing machine.. I have all the ingredients, just need the idea.. mmmmm Any suggestions?

Still growing

2010-01-21T19:59:00.003+10:00

Hi again, well the tadpoles are still busily growing and eating anything in sight (near their mouths), including their own dead. They really do love their food.

I've done some sewing, no pic as these are for exhibitions, and none are finished completely anyway. We went off to Bowen (2 hours south of us) for a family visit yesterday, took my husbands 92 year old mother too. Was a lovely day. I became the proud owner of a little old singer sewing machine, it's a 99K. Lovely little machine, that will work a treat for the cards I make.

I've included a picture of a wooden piece that a friend has given me, it's perfect for the eclectic mix of bits I've collected and made.

There's also a picture of a finished cushion, the beginning of which appears in an earlier post. Also a picture of one of the fish I've drawn while doing zentangles..

Enjoy

19 days old