stonehaven

Having a play with stonehaven yesterday - this is the cover of a new book to hold all my samples. I am also making a small pocket book as well. I digitized the letters with an interesting fill - I might not be much good at digitizing but I like playing with these letters and my soldering iron! The background is mostly worked on the embellisher.

We are having a few problems - well not us - our server - with their spam programme whihc means some emails bounce back to you and some get through. If you are frustratedly trying to email us we have another address for you to try thethreadstudio@gmail.com - life is never meant to be really easy......

more H pages

Well the 'Canes won their rugby game - 17 love in quick time and then they nearly lost it but fortunately came back. not sure I could have born the stress if I had watched the game.

Here are three more of my Hundertwasser pages

This one from Margaret Roberts



This one from Toni Valentine



and this one from Robin Eccleston

and Sally and Lee have had a baby boy - Harry - big congrats to you all

Saturday rugby stuff

2 great wins today - the Highlanders beat the Bulls - yeah - and the Chiefs had a wonderful win over the Reds. Go the Hurricanes tonight. I spent part of the afternoon reloading Paint Shop Pro but I don't think that was my printing problem after all so tomorrow I will have to reload my printer. I want to play with a couple of products and it is driving me nuts. In between waiting fro the computer to do whatever it was or wasn't going to do, I made some different fabrics for my Stonehaven book cover - tomorrow I shall be digitizing some letters and then the front cover will be finished and I can get onto the back cover.

Daylight saving stops tonight - I read in the paper that more people than I thought are supporting it so only hope like mad that the referendum in April succeeds. The smart people from the north west want to secede for the summer if it doesn't.

More H and TAF in Brisbane

Here are 3 pages from my Hundertwasser book. Feb 2005 I see on the back of one - no wonder I had forgotten what the pages looked like. Has made me get all my H books back out though.
Aren't these 3 pages all wonderful?




This one was created by Anita Jenkins

This one by Pam Annesley

This one by Marj Long

The info for the Textile Art Festival in Brisbane is finally up on the web. Originally I was going to do a workshop on the Saturday but for various reasons I changed from that and I am now doing a stage presentation each day at 11am(half hour session) and a hands0n workshop each day at 1pm (1 hour session). There is no charge for either of these but the hands -on requires bookings. You can do this with me - there are limited places and there will be a kit which costs $20. It's a Ratty Tatty Papers hands-on. Email me if you want to book - Friday and Saturday already have quite a few people booked into.

This is our culture period with variations. Tonight we are off to Shane Warne the Musical - same people who did Keating the musical and we thoroughly enjoyed that.

Hundertwasser Book

I had a long Hundertwasser period which has gone now or for the while but today my Hundertwasser book came back after being away for a couple of years. I hadn't seen some of the pages. It was part of a computer design swap I was in - I was a very bad participant but I have some lovely pages here - these are mine but I will show some of the others tomorow. Maybe I will go back to looking at H once more - or maybe not - my list of things to explore is already quite large. The cover has lots of newspaper stitched, painted, scratched etc.

This page has stitched, burning, layering etc and the bottom l=page is worked on a computer play page or two with more layers and stitch and burning.

Quite a contrast from stones and rocks which I am working on right now.

Tonight we are off to eat with Val and Jim. We are trying to go to Dean Spanley at the movies but keep failing. It will be gone by the time we get around to it.

warrandyte/rusty book

Someone asked if I could photograph my book as it wasn't so good when scanned - here it is in its entirety with all its inserts inserted - colour is slightly lighter than it really is though.

Sunday Stuff

First my apologies for calling David Hobson 'some other guy' - I was so excited about going to see Teddy I just couldn't think of his name. It was a fabulous concert and they both were wonderful. Ian loves the Pearl Fishers Duet and I have just ordered him their cd so he can indulge to his heart's content (and I will listen too). We have had some drama with our security update and the Sonos system and couldn't listen to any music - all solved now.



Two pics from Hyde Park on my morning walk today - we are very lucky to have this wonderful park - there are big issues with t he lack of water but they are working on a very good propsal at present.



And another little rust play - this time on Lutradur with some stamping and shot poly organza and my trusty heat gun.



Too many rugby games yesterday to be able to watch but the Highlanders had a goos win and the Chiefs a fabulous win over the Blues - really enjoyed what we saw of that. The Crusaders came good and looked a little like the Crusaders of old and sad to say the Force got rather slaughtered in the second half. We had a sleep in this morning after all that watching.

Friday Stuff

A most frustrating rugby game tonight for us and the Hurricanes. We missed 25mins becasue the keys we had didn't fit into Bruce and Kazuko's front door lock and then the ref was so very useless being whistle happy - so not a good result although they did finally get a bonus point.



I decided to make that piece of stitch the back of the front cover of my book. Tomorrow I am going to change tack as I want to work with my Stonehaven stuff but will think on the next page.

Tonight we are off to see the Teddy Tahu Rhodes concert - he has a great voice and is singing with another guy - piano accompaniment only not the WASO this time which should be very good indeed.

And it has been raining....

bit of this and that

Yesterday I went to see an exhibition up the road in Highgate at Behind the Monkey - titled Red Shoes - obviously there are others than me who covet red shoes. The artist is Jude Cornuel - she has embroidered lots of red shoes to be enjoyed. Some very interesting ones too.

Here are 2 pics of where we go for our bbqs and picnics by the Swan River - you wouldn't really think there is a city out there would you?

The top one looks down the river to the city and the bottom one in the other direction where ian can watch planes land. The other night when we arrived ti light the bbq there was a guy who had come up the river in his boat and had plugged his tv into the plug and was watching some programme. My feeling is that there is never much worth watching on tv at home, let alone taking it with me.

more rusty play

Having a little play today with my rust theme and Lutradur. First samples are a sheet of angelina on a sheet of painted Lutradur and the old faithful RUST burnt into it. Second samples are printing RUST onto painted Lutradur, laying poly organza over the top and burning it again and applying a few other little bits and pieces. The organza is not so clear when scanned. I am very keen on exploring using words and letters. The first one each time is on the scanner and the second on a page from my Rust book





Off to ACO tonight - we are making sure we don't forget this time after missing the last concert. The ladies who sit with us have probably been wondering al this time where we got to.

Daylight saving - well - here in the West people seem to prefer waking up at 4.30 and going to bed early - we are a tiny minority and now that we have had 3 lovely trial years it looks like the West will slip back into its backwards ways.......

bit more fabric book and AQC

I have made another piece of fabric - this time twin needled but waiting to have bits cut out of it. And I have also made a piece of very textured fabric, some of which will be inserted. This will be the back of the cover or maybe the start of a page. Who knows.... It has a slightly rusty attitude I think.


No Gill - I don't hand stitch watching the rugby - I usually wind threads but I have been somewhat lazy this season and have been doing nothing, just drawing in my notebook at half time.....

and Heather - thrilled to hear England won - Ian says see it as All Black revenge for the World Cup. I never relax until the fat lady has sung her last note followed by a full stop.

AQC 2010 - yesterday was decision day at Chez Rollerson. Just before we went to Melbourne this year, we decided that 2009 would be our last year. But the venue was so lovely (those wooden floors made an awful lot of difference) and the people who came so happy to see us, that yesterday we finally decided (it being the last day to decide) that we would be back. The dates are later - end of April which suits us better. It means we can go watch Grant sailing in Sydney formore than 2 rush days and it should be cooler in Melbourne. Hope all you Melbournians are happy about this....

Last night after an extremely hot day (39) we were going to have a bbq but Ian decided that he didn't want to add fire to heat so we had fish and chips down by the river. So nice that we are going down again tonight but this time with our bbq to cook. These little pleasures will be lost to us next year when daylight saving is apparently not going to happen. It will be too dark by the time we get there and anyway we will be exhausted after having been woken up so early. One of life's little pleasures vanishing....

saturday/sunday roll on

great weekend for rugby super 14 as always although the Hurricanes had a bye - the Crusaders/Force had a draw - interesting; Chiefs just beat the Highlanders - shame; and I didn't watch it but the Qld Reds trounced the Sharks - wunderbaa - Ian says they played very well.
This is the cover for my fabric book - may be finished but maybe not. Now that I have got that part out of the way I can move back to exploring for Holey Moley. Watch this book as it develops - it might take me ages - when the desire to add arises I will.

AQC some more

Mavis sent us some pics of the setting up night. While the delegates were swanning around upstairs at the cocktail party we were slogging away down below. As you can see we are nearly finished at this stage and then we twinkled off into the night to Lygon Street for some dinner. Thanks Mavis.

Holey Moley

Since sending out the newsletter last night I have had so many emails from people asking me about Holey Moley - or more important - what is this on-line workshop going to be about? Well - this little pic above which used to be my blog header and which is on my bookmark business card generated more interest at AQC than any other piece I can recall having on display. It's my little secret but it will be part of the workshop. Basically (and remember I haven't written it yet) the workshop will be 6 lessons, centred around and beyond things to do with space and holes and stitch and burn and dissolve and design and lace. That should be something for you to think about. It will be ready to roll in June/July. My brain is busy.

Last night we had a bbq and picnic down by the river - Ian could watch the planes landing and leaving and we enjoyed the peaceful river and surrounds and it was nice and cool.

cooking lesson no 1

don't take hot trays out of the oven using only your fingers. It makes parts of your fingers quite white and later to develop into blisters.......


Penny - http://backvalleyseasons.blogspot.com/ has very kindly let me steal this pic from her blog. She came first thing on day 1 in Melbourne and you can see that all the things whic were on the floor in the early photos are now on the stand and still neat and tidy. Thanks Penny - it was lovely to see you - not that one gets much time to chat.

For Brisbane - thought I would let you know that I am not doing a whole day workshop now - many thoughts later and I changed my mind. I am doing a one hour hands-on each day (on the theme of Ratty Tatty Papers still plotting what- and a 20 minute seminar - well a show and fast tell. For the hands-on you book with us - it is free but there will be a kit charge. You can email me any time if you want to book. Not sure of the time as yet.

I did get a wee bit of creative work done yesterday - but I will wait until it is finished before showing.

all cultured and rugbed out weekend

Big Saturday - sorting and packaging threads and doing orders but all before 10.15 because we had 3 super 14 rugby ganes to watch - the Hurricanes won - just as well and then we really enjoyed the Highlanders vs Crusaders game when the Highlanders won - well done. Low scoring game - like watching soccer for scoring. Somewhere in between games I shopped and cooked dinner which we ate quickly before heading off for the second marathon nearly 3 hours of War of the Roses. The theatre seats become uncomfortable when you sit in them for 7 hours - even on a long plane trip you can get up and move around. But it was fabulous and I am so pleased we went. Just how do they remember so many words and then repeat them night after night.....

Today I really am finishing writing the newsletter which should go out tonight.

War of the Roses

Last night we went to part 1 of the Sydney Theatre Company production of War of the Roses. It really was wonderful but nearly 4 hours and part 2 is tonight. We have been so very busy this week catching up - this is punishment for going to AQC - but we stopped at 3.30, rushed around to Bruce and Kazuko's and watched the rugby - yes I haven't been mentioning it and we have missed watching for 2 weekends but the Hurricanes won 2 weeks in a row with another game this morning for this week. Then we rushed off to the theatre. Cate Blanchett is a superb actress and in fact all of the cast are magnificent. So glad we booked and went even if you do get fidgety sitting for that long and wanting to stretch your legs. We do get used to lounging around in front of a tv screen. Not to mention trying to remember/sort out that much history in a short time. It is a long time since I studied this period of history. Things haven't changed though.

published in Germany

Nice surprise today - a copy of the latest ver Filzt Und zuge Naht with a whole page on my Kimberley Dreaming pieces. Thanks Sarah. Now just to get Bruce to do some translations for me. It's a great magazine even if I do study the pictures and read it with German dictionary in hand and sometimes with Bruce to tell me what it reads.....

We are slowly catching up with the orders except that the latest Cloth Paper Scissors arrived this morning so we dropped everyting to get them all out. Should hopefully be up to date by tomorrow night. I have managed to open the studio door, paint some tyvek, turn my computer on (to finish the newsletter tomorrow) and started my tidy up. I have also even managed about 10 minutes on my embellisher with new Stonehaven flimsie, slushie and silk scrim - mmmm......

18ft skiffs on Sydney Harbour

SLAM reaching up the beat
SLAM finishing
SLAM leaving the shore
One of the old 18ft Skiifs which was out on the harbour
Rigging up before the race
SLAM on shore getting ready
SLAM looking good
SLAM still looking good
The Start

I almost forgot to add some of the pictures from our weekend to Sydney to watch Grant sail. I wanted to make a slideshow again but i can't find that little section so will have to study everything once again. We had a really nice if brief weekend in Rose Bay - there's a fabulous little hotel there we stay in - Savoy. My pics aren't half biased but mothers and fathers can be that way......

back home again

Been and gone - and back home again. We had a great time in Melbourne - the Royal Exhibition building is glorious and we prepared ourselves for a few very hot days inside - we had a wonderful old fan near our stand (never seen anything like it before in my life) but we failed to take many photos at all. We loved the interior and exterior of the building - if you go to Melbourne it is a must see. And yes - it rained a little on Sunday morning - what bliss. Such a lovely fresh smell.


Ian took 2 pics while we were setting up - we always like to be at the end so we can spread as much as possible because we have so much stuff and we know our customers like to fossick. I would hate to be right inside the door or in the middle. You can also see we have abandoned the cloth around table stuff and never aim for the best dressed stand. I spend stressful nights wondering how to get everything on display and not one of our lovely customers ever tells us off - I think people have learned that it is quite okay to look under the table as well as on it - and around it..... and then we forgot to take any more pics but we were ever so busy.


Anyway it was wonderful to see so many people and to chat to so many people - we love you all - you help keep us in business and you help me to continue indulging in my art. I enjoyed giving my seminar even after fighting through the crowds. And we went to Lau's Family Kitchen on Saturday night which was as good as last time.

The Connections exhibition looked wonderful. We will start photographing them now that we are back home - I did feel better lighting would have gone down well for all of the quilts and other exhibitions - and as I am just starting my newsletter (genuine reason to be late this month) I iwll announce the winners there. I was so lucky that 2 wonderful Guild ladies hung it all for me.

Rae and Jacinta tell me that there is a fire alert again for tonight and tomorrow so my thoughts stay with them and every one else who hopefully will not be affected.

Off to do more work such as the rest of the unpacking of suitcases..... and desperate to get to the studio to play (after I have tidied and cleaned out the spider webs)