Melbourne here we come

Bags almost packed - orders all done (last person got very lucky) - and off we go to Melbourne for the Australasian Quilt Convention. I know these tulips won't be out when we are there but aren't they lovely?

WAZZIE BAGS - for the newsletter readers who are coming to AQC, remember we have 2 WAZZIE BAGS to give away each day if you answer my question correctly.
The question is: Which Super 14 Rugby team do I go for through thick and thin?
This will show that you are a true reader of my words.

If you want to take part in any of these frivolous things (I will be doing something for TAF in Brisbane) then do sign on up our website for our newsletter which is going to be late in May since we won't be back until the 2nd.

See you next Monday or better still - at the show if you are coming. Think of us tomorrow - we have to set all that stuff we have up on the stand where it never all fits.

very lazy Sunday

It's ANZAC day today and very quiet - I presume everyone got up for the dawn service and then went to sleep or headed off to Margaret River. Anyway we pretty well have the place to ourselves apart from the 3 ladies who came in from Toodyay to buy goodies and were overawed by our Aladdin's Cave (even if a lot of it has gone to Melbourne) and also by my hair which has just been refucshied. Kaz - Ian said he saw the camera on us at one stage when there was a lineout very close to us. Intersting to go to matches live - you don't see a lot of the action but you get a better perspective. I don't think the man who sits next to actually watches the game - he listens to the commentary and watches the screen all the time. I watched Dan and Zac and they were both pretty laid back out there.

I still have a list of stuff to do but the world won't fall down if I don't and I know we have loads of stock as always (fat more than the space) but I decided that as I sent all the workshop out for the two workshops starting in May I would do some play with the flakes - I sprayed some black cotton fabric with Starburst Sprays (Black Orchid Silver which I love for the work I am doing at present) and was pleased with the effect on the black and then I used one of my NZ stamps and glue to put silver gilding leaves on. It will go in my every growing Okarito journal. This is part of one of the lessons for Gilding The Lily - you can never have enough glitz....


And then I thought I would try out the new Magical Micas and make some colour charts to take to Melbourne and for the web when we get back. These come in sets and match the Starburst Spray colours - you can't see the two way sheen so well here but trust me. They have a binder in them and I used my waterbrush and only a tiny amount of mica powder - they are quite wonderful. I shoudl have been tidying the studio but all I did was move things aside.



Because I forgot to get any meat I think we might go to GoGo's tonight becasue I was going to cook a curry.

some fabulous rugby this weekend

We have watched some great rugby this weekend - first the Qld Reds won their game - very exciting rugby and then we went to the game here - Force vs Crusaders. Crusaders were pretty lack lustre and it was exciting to see the Force win and then today the Hurricanes won against the Highlanders - that was a great first half and a very good ref - for a change. Means you can enjoy a game. maybe it means the Hurricanes are in with a chance with 3 weeks to go.

Other than that we have been working away getting ready for Melbourne.

Plus - the good people who won the draw in my 100,000 blog give away - your goodies will be leaving on Tuesday with the mail. I haven't forgotten you - just been a bit side tracked. Hang in there.

birthdays and sparrows

Ian has helped make my birthday last out by giving me these lovely red roses and friends yesterday - very spoilt indeed.

I have started some playing with my fat sparrows - I am putting together a sample book for my 11am talk at the stand at AQC every day. I shall be showing samples and stuff of work relating to lots of products and using the fat sparrows as my sampler because they are so cute. It's damp in the air here amazingly so the paper has taken all day to dry. To hurry things up I may have to use my heat gun ever so carefully.

I have sprayed these ones with a few different starburst sprays - sort of cleaning out the jars.

a sort of wind out day

This is an empty van after we had taken out all the boxes etc at the carriers. Just so you know.
Yesterday we got everything away to Melbourne for the AQC - there is so much work to do when you do a show - and last night we sat and relaxed with a lovely bbq in our back garden and then slept well. Maggie was saying on her blog something about quiet and recovery when you have finished a task. I often feel like that. I think we work to a premium and then stop. Shouldn't really as there are mountains of other things to do.




One of the palettes all stacked ready for shrink wrap.
While the guy was doing that I spotted some rusty stuff on the yard and popped off to photographed it. Saved me standing around while someone else did all the work.

This one looks like slashed fabrics from the Elizabethan period. A good jacket for Henry V111?


Aren't they wonderful? Ian was relieved to see that nothing was loose or small enough for me to bring home.



Have to say that the concert on Sunday night - Supafest or urban pop - was dreadful. Apparently the noise level was well over the decibel limit and there were many complaints. 6 hours of horrific noise and we couldn't hear the tv or a cd indoors with the house shut up and the windows all rattled. In the morning the rubbish in our streets was unbelievable.



Lots to catch up on today and I still have a long list of things to do for AQC including my wall display and gathering stuff for my 11am talk and demo on the stand. I am going to play with the fat sparrow moulding mat in a number of ways. And get back to that art to wear.

superfest and some more Bali

Bali again in Ubud - looking out from the bathroom

Most exciting today - ha ha - we have a Superfest at the oval - 5 hours of urban pop live LOUD. Lots of little girls lined up at 8am this morning when I went off to work at the warehouse. Not quite our style of music but we will survive.


Our villa - like coming home since this is the thrird time we have had this villa - we like this one - it looks over the rice padi and is very quiet


the outdoor lounge


the pool - this is where Ian lay for about 15minutes and turned into the pink panther at least on his front. On his list for next year - suncream...



looking out - lovely and green and even though we have gone at the same time each year it is always different.


Part of the deal is a special lunch - hard to fit everything in - Chef Alit cooked up a superb lunch for us - entree was tuna wrapped with salmon.


The main was chicken - very tasty indeed

and the desert - yes three courses at lunchtime but he did say it was very healthy....


Looking out from the restaurant. it rained every afternoon which we didn't mind at all.


Plodded on today with packaging and packing and think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel - onwards tomorrow but off for a glass of wine in the garden to 'enjoy' the music. If you can't fight it you might as well go with it.

hot spots

Today I have been packaging and packing loads of stuff, making small inroads but I guess we will get there. Had Ian outside with his slicing machine cutting up Hot Spots sheets for the kits - so I thought I would play with the spots and all my left over foil. At least it means I have an extra sample for my Gilding the Lily workshop which I am really enjoying working on. Revisiting the Supa Foil which I haven't used for a wee while. The Hot Spots give another dimension to foiling really. You can't go past all those sticky little dots. Used in conjunction with other types of glues or for accents - lovely and such fun.



Snuck down to watch the rugby and see the Blues beat the Force. When the Blues are on fire they are brilliant to watch - the ref gives them a chance which didn't happen last night. The Hurricanes vs Brumbies game was marred by the ref needing to blow his whistle and be authoritarian. Shame when 2 teams desperate for a win get this sort of treatment. Not that I am complaining - the Hurricanes won so I do believe (or so they say) they have a slim chance - or is that fat chance?

I am busting to do some canvas work thanks to Glenys emailing about it but I did say after Tuesday. When that big van is full of boxes and delivered to Sadleir - then I can get back to play and stuff. I think I will go spray some canvas in preparation. And it is Lewis' birthday today as well so I hope he is having a great day although I bet he doesn't even know I have a blog let alone read it. Brothers.........

Thursday Stuff

Well we are finally back up to date with the orders and have managed to knock off a few other jobs - loads still to do and if I don't work faster there won't be anything to send to Melbourne for AQC. not quite that bad but I decided to create sets for the Moonglow Sprays which I am really pleased with and of course I am like a dog with a bone until I finish it all. My list is long but I shall be burning the midnight oil or something until Tuesday when the palette goes to Sadleirs to truck away to Melbourne. I have just added the 8 WASSIE bags to the list too.

We bought this train for Harry when we were in Sydney at the Rocks - if we don't send it soon he will be too old - tomorrow off it goes. I also went shopping for little bags for my Blonde Moments which have been a little neglected but some will be ready for Melbourne and came upon this giant catering pack of Glad Bake (aka baking parchment) - I couldn't resist it - think it should last a wee while.

Lovely night last night - went to the ACO for a very nice concert as always. haven't seen Richard Tognetti for a while - he has been sending minions in his place so it was lovely to listen to him playing his violin. We only managed to take 3 cds to Bali - one was Richard playing the Bach violin and keyboard sonatas. A change from Pink Martini (Ian forgot to pop them in his bag). We have quite a collection of Pink Martini now - quite different music for us but we really like them. Also bought a dvd which we are enjoying watching.

We are enjoying lovely rain. My icy violet toenails are still totally intact which is amazing me. Ian aka the pink panther has now a spotty tummy which is still itchy.

we are back

We got back last night - that was a fast holiday but ever so lovely for relaxing and restoration. Thanks for all the wonderful birthday messages - I had a lovely day - breakfast and swim in Bali and dinner at Cantina and a flight home with Virgin no dramas.

it's easy when you go to the same place - they are lovely people and it is quiet and we basically do nothing. The weather is okay in Ubud - hot but cooler than down in Sanur or Kuta. We swim or rather gently waft, in our little pool and every afternoon we had plenty of rain as you can see from the photo. Our plane was late leaving and we didn't get there until 3am! The staff, of course, were waiting patiently. We get the same deal each time - 4 nights for the price of 3, breakfast included, a lovely lunch one day and a candlelight romantic dinner - ho ho. The first year we also had a walk in the forest but we have done that now.


This is our breakfast one morning - banana crepes and fresh tangerine and orange juice and Bali coffee. The chef is pretty good indeed and you get plenty (more than) of attention because there is no-one else there.

Having the i-phone is wonderful because I could quickly check both the emails and the rugby (dreadful results really although the Force would be thrilled with their win in Queenstown)
and here I have taken a photo of my Icy Violet toenails before I jumped in the pool again which amazingly are still intact. tHis colour is a bit like the Moonglow Mica Powders which arrived just before we left. Another part of our deal is a 2 hour spa which we have successfully avoided each time - usually I have reflexology but this year because I am having myotherapy I thought I would have a pedicure which included many layers of varnish and Ian had reflexology (he is still not sure what it does).



Did I get lots of things done? Well I read 2 books both of which I left behind in their library but they were murder mystery ones and half of Bill Bryson's 'Shakespeare' and half of Janet Frame's short stories - 'Prizes'; I got Gilding the Lily totally sorted ahd ready to roll; started on the next Holey Moley lesson; made a lot of notes for Hot Needles Cool Stitches; got the next Product of the month sorted; and nearly finished the article for WOW. My Art to Wear - absoluetly nothing so looks like I am going to be busy back home.

Post some more pics tomorrow but back to work - we just had 10 ladies from the country visit at once......

the hat, the draw, the wee holiday

Well number 51 just got in in the nick of time with 3 minutes to spare! 51 names although 2 people were naughty enough to post twice..... I know these things....
Here is Bruce's sequined hat I bought many years ago in Thailand when he was big on collecting hats, filled with 51 names.

And Ian , in between doing the bill paying online, popped his hand in 5 times and pulled out these names.


That's
Mavis Wright
jp
bec clarke
janelle
mayhem
I know who Mavis is, but would the others of you mind confirming with your address so I can post you a bag of 10 goodies next Tuesday.

Why next Tuesday you ask? Well tonight we are off to Bali - to Ubud - to the same place as the last 2 years with the same villa overlooking the rice paddocks to swim, read, relax (that's Ian) plus draw, stitch, write (that's me). I shall try to get the skirt for my art to wear pretty well underway, work out the requirements and kit for Gilding the Lily without breaking everyone's budget and play with the worksheets for Carla's silliness class. That's one of our deckchairs you can see in the pic. We get the same deal as before - breakfast each day, one healthy lunch, a romantic candelight dinner, a walk in the forest (we will skip this as we did it and it was hot) and a massage or something!





And on Monday it is my birthday - yes Ro - not nearly so bad as we keep going down the numbers - my father always said at 50 you started going backwards - sounds like the sort of thing an accountant would say!

Thanks so much for leaving messages and enjoy yourselves in my absence!

lotsa parcels

This is a chocolate fish and a buzz bar sitting on our bench with Ian's hand ready to grab - just for you Hilary. Childhood memories. Plus they are always on the counter at Fresh Provisions - I think they call that point of sale in the trade - or some sucker will not be able to resist us.

Well we haven't quite made it through the orders but at least I can see my way clear to Ian's desk. Lots of parcels have arrived this week so far - today were all the new Distress inkpads including a Rust and a pumice stone. Sadly they have to all go back for replacement (apart from the 2 I whipped out for myself) because the UTEE burst its bag and spread throughout the whole box. I know how annoying this is when something we send bursts open. I started cleaning each pad with a fine brush but even the one I took for myself had UTEE right into the pad so they are coming to collect and swap tomorrow or so.



Then we had a lovely heavy parcel full of 7 new Karantha stamps/moulding mats. These ones are titled Fat Sparrows. They are wonderful for rubbings, stamping and paper casting. Maybe I need to fit some sparrows into my work somewhere. Soon these things will get to the web but Ian's little pile of new goodies is a wee bit high right now - we had some lovely new Stuff arrive as well - restock and newbies - I wound them all during the rugby over Easter. And of course he has all the little Smooch spritzes staring at him as well.

I have noticed on the 1000 blog posting that there are 47 messages - 3 more before 9am Perth time and I will have 5 parcels of 10 goodies to give away to those people whose names are drawn out of one of Bruce's hats.

I did NOT getting any flowers stitched today. But I did do one of the pages for Carla's Drawing a day workshop done. Lots of fun it is. She has a super sense of humour.

the day after

Many thanks for all the wonderful comments - as I said I only started it for one reason. Thank you all for visiting me and reading my words of whatever. And even coping with my rugby obsession and my occasional rant about important things like daylight saving. I do believe I have solved the yappy dog problem as well.

I see there are 39 comments as I write so one more will mean 4 goodie bags to give away. Ian will do a draw for me on Thursday morning (why Thursday you ask - all will be revealed) so plenty of time to leave a comment and come out of lurkdom. Eve - we were thinking of going to Fremantle but remembered we hadn't been to the Swan Valley for a long time.

And no - we didn't eat a single chocolate egg or other over Easter. I don't think we have eaten an Easter egg for quite a number of years. The only chocs we usually scoff are chocolate fish and buzz bars and Ian likes dark choc.

We have been flat out today and the pile of orders hasn't moved that much so lots of work tomorrow and I have a number of tasks I have to finish like the last holey moley for this month and yes I know it is past the 5th... And that art to wear is looming. I shall try to stitch another 100 flower stitcher flowers tomorrow...



I got a parcel of fabrics from kiwiquilts today - please don't ask what I am going to do with them but they appealed to me and I couldn't resist them. I shall use them in my stonehaven-okarito work but you may not recognise them as they are now once I am finished.

1000 blog posts

Amazing to say that this is my 1000th blog post. Who could have known I would say so much? Actually Ian Grant and Bruce would say that they can easily believe it. I said to watch the next day but I really meant watch for the next blog day.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion I will give away 1 bag of 10 goodies for every 10 messages left on my blog. So leave a message and go into the draw. I only ever started my blog because I could see my gallery page in our website was never going to be updated so there you go.



Because we have worked all weekend (and yes the latest QA and product of month (POM) are all packed ready to post but not the big pile of orders) we decided to take this afternoon off and go up to the Swan Valley for lunch. We used to go often but not for a long time. We went to Little River where we have had many good lunches in the past and once again we had a nice relaxing afternoon. We might even do it again before too long. We seem to have known the owner, Jan, for a long long time and it was lovely to catch up again.


Bring rather lazy I stayed in the car to photgraph some of the vines but at least you can see we went to a vineyard!

Ian's lunch - lamb pie. I think the menu has been the same for ever and I think we have both had this meal every time we have been.



I had beef bourgignone - it was lovely. now we are replete and listening to Pink Martini,

Dorothy - you can never mistake a blonde even when she changes her hair colour. It's built in!

Easter Saturday

Hope you are all having a relaxing holiday - after an auspicious start, like Ian's laptop choosing to be as stroppy as mine, we finally got the newsletter out this morning.

I have enrolled in Carla's online workshop and while I haven't done much more than the practice lesson it is lots of fun and I am going to stockpile them for later this week when I will have time. Drawing is something we never do enough and we all know we should be drawing every day if only for a few minutes. You know yourself that you get better the more you do it (nobody else has to see it). I just love Carla's attitude.

We have had lots of rugby these past 2 days - very exciting it was to see the Force get their first win and they did indeed deserve it. Plus we enjoyed seeing the Blues beat the Bulls this afternoon.

Blonde Moments - I can see it has many people intrigued. Remember we are supposed to enjoy life and that is where I am at. I am working hard on this new little venture and really expect to launch the first part of my concept at AQC.

Tomorrow will be a landmark so pop in and read me...

Friday

Wow - we actually had a sleep in this morning fairly safe in the knowledge that no-one would phone at 6am from some other part of Australasia. Holey Moley we got done - breakfast with Grant in our garden we had but newsletter no - Ian's computer decided to misbehave just as he was half way through the beautification of my words so it will go out tomorrow. Ian feels the sky won't fall in and the wheels of life will continue to turn. I am never sure.....

Jean, who has been doing the embellish stitch enrich workshop and creating wonderful work, sent me a super ATC - just right for my heart - thanks so much - it is a lovely piece of art and I am hoping she might let me use it in my next workshop - Hot Needles Cool Stitches- as a superb idea for landscape.

Tonight The Force try their hand again at hopefully winning a game and Ian is just lighting the bbq for the beforehand. We have just watched the Hurricanes/Crusaders game and the Hurricanes were done in by the ref but it was an exciting game and a draw is better than anything else. They won't be happy but they played very well indeed. Dan missed the conversion - an honorable man?

I have been blonde momenting - hoping to launch at AQC - maybe maybe not. See how I go. You must remember I am an original blonde turned fucshia.

Happy April

Happy April, Easter whatever. Good time if you are on holiday - nice and quiet in Perth we hope.
My laptop had to make a visit to 'puter doctor when I started the newsletter so all done now but beautification by Ian in the morning - holey moley in the morning too. Weekend will be spent packing quilting arts and products of the month and maybe a look in the garden and this and that. and some blonde moments as well.....