Workshops

Monday, August 31, 2009

we are back


we are back from Balingup and a lovely weekend - very lazy really but we did do a walk until it rained and I got a bit of work done. Plenty to do here though so piccies tomorrow. Finished my Goddess Roseus and about to parcel her up and send her off. I hope she is okay. Just got news to say CPS and QA Gifts won't here until Thursday - might be good or bad.....

Grant is in San Francisco sailing on SLAM - hope he does well. Drove past Bulwer Street and saw the guys working away.

Just as well we missed the rugby - sounds like the Wallabies were woeful.....

Off to work and the washing...

Thursday, August 27, 2009

out and about and off we go

Last night when we got to Grant's we had to climb the mountain to get to the door but it is fabulous that the fence is down and things are on the roll. The back has been all cleared too.




This afternoon we are off to Balingup where we went last year for a lovely relaxing long weekend. Back on Monday. Naturally because we wanted to leave around 2pm, we are flat out so we will be late but I have made my curry so have curry and Le Crueset pot and travel with food all ready for when we get there. Just have to cook the rice.

It will be exciting to see what has happened at Grant's when we get back. I have a heap of stuff to take as I have a pile of things to do - all my sprays and inks are packed - well they will be and my fabrics and papers and stuff. Including some of the new metallic waxes which arrived today so I can try them out. Red Russet and Violet I am taking with me. Plus my Goddess Roseus to finish - I found the little hearts. I shall post it on Monday. It is for the Bid-4A-Cause Auction in aid of Breast Cancer in October in case you missed this info before. Then I have my books to read and lots of writing to do and the newsletter so it goes out on time. Too much excitement really but a compulsory sleep in and lots of walks and all that stuff and a visit to the lovely French restaurant on Sat night. So see you next week....

and in case you think we will be lazy when we get back I have just had notice that the Cloth Paper Scissors and QA Gifts will be here Tuesday morning along with our Valdani shipment and a new shipment of silk carrier rods. So will only have time to do the washing....

And go the Wallabies on Saturday.....

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Goddess Roseus take 2


here is a bit of the second version - I am happier about this background. She's got a lot of hand stitch to go and somewhere when I find them - a heap of hearts.

action in Bulwer Street


Yes we are back at Grant's - and excitement this morning when the builders turned up to start on the front and side - the bobcat man arrived as well. This is to prove they are there. Tonight the path should have gone and a lot more.






Just to let you know what the strong arm of the law are up to on a Tuesday morning at 7.30am in a busy street where you would be pushing to go over 60k - 3 police cars, 7 police and 1 speed gun. I pay for these people to stand around - one policeman did not even get out of the car. Hope there is no crime in the good city of Perth this morning.

And as I said, I didn't like my Goddess Roseus so I made a new one - about half of the stitching on top is done but I fear it will be late. But not by much.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Textile Tantrums

Announcing next year's super challenge. Not just for the embellisher but for any innovative and creative textile work - looking at approx A4 and to be launched at AQC in Melbourne, travelling to Brisbane, Perth, London and hopefully NZ and Germany. I am just giving you an advance warning so you start mulling ideas around. more details will be coming in a newsletter or two and on the website.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Bledisloe Cup

Wow - it was a edge of seat evening but I am very happy to report that the All Blacks won - it really looked like they were going to get a try sooner or later and after 2 non allowed ones they did but it was close.

And our bbq was good - the rain stopped so all was well.

rosellas


The wattle, the grevilleas and the bottlebrushes are just starting to come into bloom and when I was out today I saw quite a few rosellas having fun. We also have 2 black crows who hang around just down the road - must try and get a pic of them.

So far so good for the leak in the kitchen.

Grant is back for the weekend so we have moved back home - he is working hard moving stuff and working through activities. We are off to have a bbq (yes it might rain) - I have French cutlets all rubbed with lots of spices and then it is the rugby - oooh - fingers crossed.

Friday, August 21, 2009

glitz spritz play


I am also playing with my Moonshadow sprays which I simply adore - doing loads of samples and trying new ideas and hopefully you will hear about this in the September newsletter. I have samples all over the studio floor to be honest. These are the Glitz Spritz sprays sprayed onto the Twiddleybitz black alphabet set. They give such a wonderful colour on dark surfaces.

I am not sure about the Roseus Goddess background and think I might start again.

And Ian thinks he may have fixed the leak. He has been up on the roof so many times in the rain to try and find it so fingers crossed. It was ever so frustrating yesterday especially as the lights blew a fuse the night before.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Goddess Roseus


I have been invited by Deborah Segaert from Down Under Quilts to contribute to the Bid-4A-Cause Auction in aid of Breast Cancer in October. I am no quilter as everyone knows but I have started my little effort on the embellisher - lots to do yet - I am still thinking about the goddess part but so far some gold for her. This is the start of the background and I am sure I will come up with some more before I have finished - I have pulled out everything pink and have some knitting and hand stitching to do next.

Thanks for all the lovely comments and emails about my customer from hell. I doubt that she will ever read my blog but it's nice to know that really I am not blind freddie or even his mate.

It's raining heaps still here and Ian still hasn't been able to stop the incessant drips into the kitchen - our life is spent hopping around towels. Not quite the time to be cutting up Romeo.

Our new web section Pretty Little Things is underway and it has been exciting to see people ordering from it - Ian whips them off and I give him some more. It has bothered us both for ages wondering how to display these very individualistic treats.

I am still walnutting - hand stitch at present.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

the customer from hell

I am sure we all have them - not necessarily customers but someone we know or have run across. 99 out of 100 of our customers are the most wonderful people you could find (apart from the one who stole my flower stitch book) but we have this lady in Melbourne (who has pointed out to me that Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia - I know the west is considered backwards but believe me we do know that piece of info) who thinks that blind freddie could do better than me in selecting colours and she is very important etc etc - you need to remember that I was a school teacher in my previous life - enough said and now I have vented my spleen I have forgotten her name. Well I haven't but I won't be quite naughty enough to write it here.

I have been walnutting some more - working on rag paper which has such a lovely feel to it. Here I have done the cling film trick and for the bottom one some gesso as well. It is interesting to see the shapes you get.





Ian has just loaded my new section on the website - Pretty Little Things - something I have had in the planning since the end of last year. Just had to decide how to display all the teeny things I find that will be gone once they are sold. It is always so hard to work out how to add them to the catalogue - so Ian has called the section 'a moving feast' which sums it up so well.

Playing with Glitz Spritz on black Tweeny (now you will get confused with tweeny and teeny) alphabet shapes and they are so yummy. I will get Ian to load them on the web when they have dried.

Back to the walnut ink and the lovely sprays

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Breakfast at Sotos




Grant has been down for the weekend from Singapore so we met up at Sotos for breakfast (another good Beaufort St place for coffee). Breakfast looks good, doesn't it? And it was. We had to vacate his house and come back home and I can safely announce that both beds are wonderful. While he was here he did a few important things at his house like hang his paintings and pics - all very yachty of course. But he also did things with his sound so everything (including our record player) is linked upo to the sound system and you can have music everywhere - even in the bathroom......

All sorts of lovely parcels arriving this week but back to the Walnut Ink or I will have nothing to announce in the newsletter.

Monday, August 17, 2009

eating out in Beaufort Street


Once you get past all the new silly 40 signs ringed with flashing lights, Beaufort Street is still a good place to eat and drink in and buy your flowers and food and stuff. It is our local 'village' and where we do almost all of our shopping apart from meat from Torres of course.

We decided to try the Beaufort Street Merchant for dinner last night. It was wet and stuff but we were feeling lazy.... the Merchant started out as a gourmet food and wine shop - in previous lives it was the World Gourmet Centre and when we first came to WA I used to buy all my spices and stuff there. We have had coffee here from time to time but not been for ages. In the meantime Scott and Angie have built it up to wine and food and not too much gourmet stuff. The cafe has grown and so has the kitchen area. You buy your wine there and they charge you $8 corkage. We had whiting and chips and I must say the fish was superb - and for $19 - cheaper than takeaway fish and chips from Kailis and closer too. So when we feel like fish'nchips in future we know just where to go. Plus the waitress was a very nice girl from Normandy...

Whilst on the subject - last week we decided to go to Veritas again - having had a truly dreadful meal previously we haven't been back for ages. Dried chicken breast is not even what I could cook and for the price.... so we braved it, had a wonderful steak and tasting plate and gave it the big thumbs up. The lovely French waitress we had met before was back too. Veritas should be good - we have watched it while it was being fitted out and waited patiently. At the beginning the service was dreadful and the wait for food outrageous so it is good to see that all can be well. I found a great blog - the beaufort street bloggers - see link on right - there are some interesting reviews and we are totally in sinc with them whoever they are!

It's been pretty wild and wet and the water is still getting into the kitchen but the sun is out and Ian is going up onto the roof to smear his sealing stuff everywhere in the hope that......

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Walnut Ink


I am busy playing with Walnut Ink - can't tell you any more just yet but I hope to be able to in my next newsletter in September. Having lots of fun - playing is the answer.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

our streetscape




Beaufort Street in Highgate is portrayed as a trendy restaurant etc strip. A couple of our favourite restaurants are there - GoGos and Koinonia. It was starting to look rather good - tree planting - nice strip down the middle - giving it a slightly villagey look - apart from the traffic which roams up and down all the time as it is a major throughway. However the Main Roads had this idea to put Las Vegas style neon lights up in the guise of 40 with a ring of red around it - all the way up - and the Town of Vincent in their excitement jumped in feet first to have these obscene intrusions. The trouble is - past the lights you can go 60 again straight away and anyway the traffic crawls along and you could be pushing it to get to 40 at the best of times.

I took these pics when I went off tonight to get my ingredients for our curry and tried to get myself killed lingering off the middle of the centre. Never mind I am still here typing.

Not a lot to report creatively other than to say that almost everything is back in place and I have done more than half of the ordering and I must say with glee that the Moonglow Sprays are so organised down at the lockup that I spent quite some time admiring my handiwork.

I am busy playing with Walnut Ink and also writing an article on threads for the machine embroidery (and textile art) magazine so I suppose I have been reasonably constructive. Not sleeping in my own bed though, Maggie......

Sunday, August 09, 2009

a little video of the Perth show

since you asked Lisa - it was Sunday morning - always quiet time - that's when we misbehave!

Friday, August 07, 2009

slushies


Are we able to sit in our lounge? No - the space has been taken over with the shipment of beautiful slushies. On the right is Ian's sofa so no sitting down for him. And then Martien came with a delivery of wool tops as well so it seemed appropriate to add to the chaos. But it was worth it - the slushies are processed in Milan - Australian fine merino and silk sliver carded together- especially for us. They are so soft and luscious to touch. Who cares about sitting in the lounge? Shall I mention the bedroom yet? But I am getting there and I did venture into my studio last night and gather some materials to play with and turned on my embellisher and had a little play there as well. Soon be back to 'normal'

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Now we have nearly got to Thuursday

Well it has been an exceptionally busy week so far as one can imagine. I don't expect to have everything back in place until Monday but at least the Quilting Arts have all been posted and most of the orders. We should be back on top with these tomorrow as I am now putting things back in their homes and finding stuff. I have written the newsletter which Ian will make readable tomorrow and them we can send it out - I know you will all forgive us this month. And for the Holey Moleys I will be posting tomorrow as well. Even though it is past the 5th...




Maggie has finished her 2 workshops and when I popped in and out I am pretty sure they all enjoyed themselves - they said they did and the work was wonderful. I have a few pics below but I don't know who they belong to - they certainly worked hard. Maggie will sleep well tonight. Don't the Starburst Sprays look great on the copper shim....



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Last night lots of us went out to dinner after a drink and nibble at Grant's house. I can quarantee that it is nice and tidy there...... Doreen took lots of pics so I shall wait for her to send them to me. It was really super to catch up with Maggie and Clive and Doreen and Jo (Aussie Jo) and the weather stayed pretty good right through.

Monday, August 03, 2009

the weekend gone

As usual we had a huge stand - bigger than every this year I think but it is so lovely and people can get around and actually see things. Mareene is so very good to us.

People often think we have shares in the plastic basket industry.....


What a fabulous and very busy weekend we have just had. the show in Perth was superb - thanks to Mareene who organises it, and to all the wonderful customers who came to see us and buy more goodies for their stashes. Not to mention Jaslyn who not only worked hard but brought us food such as nuts and fruit. Very healthy indeed. And then she and Oliver made our lives so much easier by helping us packup at the end. We were home and unpacked and off to GoGos by 8.30pm.



It was wonderful having Maggie as a guest and I know everyone loved her - lots of fun working away and chatting to people. There were always loads of people at her stand and so many disappointed that her 2 workshops are already very full.I have to go try embellishing onto newspaper and baking parchment sprayed with Starburst Sprays as soon as I get a chance. Tomorrow and Wed are her workshops. I shall take my camera.

These are some of the student art to wear from the show - the display was wonderful this year - and great cover. This one is my choice for The Thread Studio prize - I am sorry I don't have the names of either of the artists but Jenny will be sure to tell me.

This one is the winner of the Janome sewing machine - lucky girl - overall winner.



Unfortunately I have waited all day for the unpacking fairy to arrive and it looks like it will be all down to me - it's going to take a while as I will be in and out with the two workshops and of course, you guessed it, Quilting Arts mags and a couple of boxes of new books rocked up today as well, along with the Divas and some wonderful beads - oooh. And loads of stuff from Jacinta which didn't quite get here in time for the show.

hardly worth staying up



We did our part and worked liked trojans all weekend and stayed up late on Sat night - what a dreadful game. We have been planning to go to Wellington to watch the ABs in September. Thanks Ken for the suggestion below -

Still thinking of coming over ?

we could check out the parks get some shopping in, maybe watch some cricket on tv, down some nice Otago pino, talk about the good ole days when the ABs played rugby.


Back soon with pics etc after a wonderful Perth Show


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