Sat morning and all is well

7am Sat morning and here is our garden surrounded by pea soup fog - went down the road to get the newspapers and you cannot see past your nose. lots of happy birds though singing awy in the trees.Lots of cutting and rolling flimsies to do still before we head off to the show - lovely to see people yesterday - I still have a few WAzzie bags left so don't forget to come with the answer to yesterday's question. The show is looking great but we should be out fast at the end to go watch the rugby....

Grant phoned last night - just off to Denmark to coach the 18ft skiffs  - he will be back in Singapore on Tuesday. He does get around.

and the question is

For our newsletter readers, here is the question - What is my daughter-in-law's name? If you have read my blog, Bruce's blog, or the about us on our website then you will have no problems with this one. We will forgive you if you don't pronounce it correctly!
You have to come see me to collect your WAzzie bag - the first 6 people whenever.... see you there.

It should  be a fabulous show so if you are in Perth or nearby do come. Free parking at Claremenot Showgrounds, or a free collection from the train station. Mareene, the show guru, is a very generous person and there are fabulous exhbitiions this year including the Tentmakers Quilts from Cairo brought over by Jenny Bowker - I had a quick peep last night and they are fantastic.

long day thursday

We have had a rather long day today - up bright and early with 2 vans filled to the brim and off to the showgrounds to unload then off to breakfast and to collect another load - pretty well finished by 6pm and home where dinner was already waiting to be heated through - very satisfying. We will be up again early for the finihseing touches and for my newsletter readers who are coming to the show I will post my question (still deciding on what it is) tomorrow morning. Here is our stand (still ranch size Maggie - maybe more so than last year)

here it is a bit further on - see all the stencils on the wall - 18 new ones means there are lots

getting there

and as good as done - these familiar baskets crop up once again.

Last thing - having told you that TAF in Brisbane was off next year - well it is now on again and maybe because I do believe that lots of you emailed the organisers about it - I know that everyone who emailed me I told them to email the organisers and it must have worked. All power to the textile people themselves. It will be in June - same time as Papercraft and Scrapbooking show which is in a different hall but one entry will get you into both. No long all day workshops but they are keeping the artists working area which I am delighted about since it was my idea. Those of you who have no idea what happened here will know if they go to the UK shows like Ally Pally just how wonderful it has been over the years to watch Ruth Isset in action for example. I am really looking forward to my 3 days coming up. Thanks to all of your emails wishing us a good show. I think we will sleep well tonight. In fact I think someone else is already asleep......

new tricks for old dogs

And what was it that was worrying me? I should have believed Ian - it is easy. We have hired 2 vans for the show this year - to make life easier especially at the end when Ian has to work away trying to get everything into one van and the rest around me in the car. So here we are - a 2 van fleet family for a few days. That's me at the driver's seat....

Our kangaroo paws are almost all okay now - just mothering a couple but there are loads of flowers getting ready - it will be a fabulous display when they are all out.

tonight we are packing two vans for a 7am departure to the Claremont Showgrounds in the morning, unpack then back for breakfast and the second lot later but all in ,hopefully, a more relaxed mode rather than packing like crazy and getting there with the first load at 4pm. I shall even have a chicken curry for dinner when we get back tomorrow night. The most difficult part is getting my stuff together for my artists working area which Mareene tells me is rather big but that might mean I don't have to be neat and tidy......

I am trying to think up a tricky question for the Friday WAzzie bags. Do you think anyone will know who my favourite All Black is?

a whirlwind Tuesday

I knew all sorts of things would arrive today but I also knew it would be much better than if they arrived tomorrow when we will be in and out. All the new Stylish Stencils came first. These birds are one of many and there are 6 basic shapes as well as pebbles - how could I resist them? Just what I need and of course sprayed with Black Orchid Silver Starburst Spray- I shall overspray them with silver Glitz Spritz when I have a moment - ha ha - a moment. I can see the riverbed where these rocks might be.

Then there is the negative which just means turning the stencil over and pressing it onto the khadi paper. Not a complete image but worth doing.

Then a bog box of Karantha Stamps arrived - top up just in time for the show. We were out of a couple.
And in the sample delivery all the boxes of Quilting Arts and Studios arrived and many large post office containers later, they have all just gone off to the post office. Haven't even had time to open one up and see what is inside. Ian has managed to get the QA up on the web - there won't be any of either left after the show this weekend though.

I haven't had a chance to iron my long piece of fabric for further working but will pop up soon before we go out with Val and Jim and then I might be able to add some flakes - I have been thinking about it.

I am a bit nervous about tomorrow - I won't tell you what is happening but Ian says I will be fine. Hope so but I will tell you how I went...... suspense kills.

We were pretty much the only people in Australia as far as I can tell who managed to avoid the political debate on Sunday night and after 5 minutes of Master Chef turned our telly off and read our books. Shock horror I should think for all those devotees.

I have had so many emails offering all manner of products to buy - no we don't plan to sell trucks etc and of course the Nigerian and other scams are still rife but the best one today was from Dubai letting us know that a large contingent of ladies would be arriving for embroidery classes starting this week. At least it made a change.....

We have been watching our kangaroo paws  often - there are going to be loads of them and some of the droopy ones are now standing tall again - we think they were thirsty but now they are getting plenty of water until they have settled in. they will make a great showing before toolong in our lovely front garden.

pics from Grant

Grant has sent me some piccies and I was correct with the boat I found - it was indeed them

Beautiful day here today and we had another bbq to finish all the stuff we had left over yesterday. I am working on a long piece of fabric - I suppose you could call it complex cloth since I have been doing a variety of things to it but when it is finished I intend wrapping it up as something special.

Lots of our new kangaroo paws are about to flower but some are droopy and I have spent time on the net finding out why - we watered them today and shall keep an eye on them. I have never seen droopy kangaroo paws before.....

3 Sad Old Blokes have won

Grant sent a text very late last night to say they had won - congrats and of course we will raise a glass of champers to you tonight - we are having a bbq (hardly the weather but Ian is determined) before the rugby - Wallabies vs South Africa - we will see how happy the SA coach is this time......

I had planned to work in the studio but it is 4pm and I have just finished cutting, winding and packaging. I have been informed that the weather is ideal for a bbq so off I go......... and apparently a glass of champagne is poured. Maybe I will package tiny paper flowers in between sipping or stitch together my Stonehaven journal. mmm....

friday musings

It's a beautiful day in Perth today - I went to the optician and got my specs fixed finally. When we flew back from Brisbane my back pack fell out of the overhead locker and landed on my face knocking my glasses off. They have been all wobbly and mis-shaped since although one nice optician put a little rubber ring on to make them slightly better. Today I made the long trek to my optician to have them fixed. They are great glasses as they are very very light and the first pair in my life that I have not fussed about wearing. The optician was pleased to see me as she had forgotten how to felt so in return for a bit of spec work I gave her a quick lesson on felt making - amazing isn't it? She is coming to the craft show at Claremont next weekend to see me working away in my dedicated little area.

Ian has been adding lots of new goodies to the website - one parcel which came this week contained these beautiful ceramic buttons in different sizes and shapes - I have taken a couple for my first Stonehaven journal which I am starting to put together (trying to pretend to be organised for next week). They are hand made in Tasmania so a special treat from Australia - thanks Tracey!  He has also loaded the Tim Holtz Tissue Tape - this is the one I have been using in my journal.
Grant emailed to tell us they are now coming first with 2 races to go today. I think that might be Grant on the front - well he IS the bowman.....

It's Friday afternoon and as soon as the mail has been done we are knocking off for a nice glass of something in the setting sun..... I think I have done enough packaging for the show next week right now - carry on tomorrow....

sailing on Lake Garda

I do wish Grant wouldn't keep going to Lake Garda for sailing. Makes us envious. We don't know anything about this class of boats he is on this round but it is a huge fleet - 106 I think from 16 countries. It has now been split into a gold and silver fleet and yesterday they had 2 1sts and a 28th - win some lose some. Running 3rd.

Doesn't it look lovely - we stayed at Malcesne one year when he sailed and at a little restaurant there was an original Klimt painting on the wall of Malcesne. What a bonus......

Mavis - Workbox is a UK publication - it always has good articles - I don't think I have ever seen it in the shops here but you can subscribe. It isn't technique based at all.

Workbox magazine

My Workbox magazine arrived today and it was lovely to see my embellisher flowers inside. I ahd almost forgotten about the article Maggie was writing on on-line courses. It has come up well - thanks Maggie for your great work.

Don't forget if you are going to the craft show in Melbourne this week to call by and say hello to Rae and Jacinta on Spiral Dyed where they will have all sorts of lovely goodies to tempt you. Stand D09 is where you will find them. No new dyed stuff arriving for me this week from Jacinta for sure.....

Grant tells us they are still coming 2nd in the regatta.

Carol Wilkes and more

Carol Wilkes' wonderful creation won the Art U Wear competition sponsored by Bernina and Expertise Events  shown at the Textile Art Festival in Brisbane (and I do believe at the craft show in Melbourne this week).  Here she is creating away like crazy in her very tidy studio in Maleny where one day I hope to visit. You can read all about her creation and see lots of piccies here 
for her Alice in Wonderland - Hoo-R-U

I have had loads and loads and loads of emails and phone calls about the fact that TAF is not on next year as run by Expertise Events. It must not die is what I and others are saying......

Tonight we are off to dinner with Luigi and Martine - we haven't seen them for a while so it will be great to catch up. My feet are freezing......

Grant is sailing at the Volvo Laser SB3 World Championships 2010 at Torbole on Lake Garda on a boat called 3 Sad Old Blokes - he is the bowman and yesterday they had a 3rd, a 5th and and 1st.

the end of something or another

Quite sad today really - today was the last lesson for Embellish Stitch Enrich on line workshop.This has been such a successful workshop with so many people having enrolled from day 1 and to think I only started these on-line classes because so many of you complained that you couldn't come to Perth when I was offering a hands-on one. The number of people who have been through the class has rather overwhelmed us. However, all good things must come to an end and I felt it was time to retire it. Lots of people are still enquiring but I did made a decision - it will be available towards the end of the year on a cd so all is not lost. In the meantime I am working away on Hot Needles, Cool Stitches which is the next level up. I have loads of ideas and have have written heaps and done lots of sampling - all these things take time. The brain is always busy but expect it towards the end of the year. Sharpen up your embellisher needles in anticipation.

Also The Holey Moley Club is coming to an end for this round. Not that I will be closing it all off but I am now devoid of ideas for the moment. That too will emerge in a form or another later on in the year or in the new year.

Thirdly - another ending is the news I had today that the Textile Art Festival in Brisbane has been cancelled for 2011 - whether it emerges again who knows. Or maybe something else will. Change is always healthy. If you enjoyed the show, let the organisers of this year know - or even me. It would be a tragedy to let it die.

Sunday's eye candy

We have had quite a relaxing day today - we went down the road for breakfast, Ian has been cleaning all the gutters in readiness for more rain and I have spent quite a time cleaning up a large area of stuff. I have made a pile more of the Time to Experiment packs - these are so popular at shows and I always have plenty to make. They are always excellent value - I use either a hand-dyed flimsie or hand -dyed wool felt and add loads of wonderful hand and machine threads and stuff to each pack - first I made a heap of Indian Splendour ones

 and then Love in a Mist - I must say that this is not really my colour but Jacinta seems to love it. So some colours are her choice and others are mine - that is what you call a compromise.

 Then I sorted all the silk rods out - there are heaps in various containers and I thought it time I packed them all. We used to buy them from a supplier in Australia and they were not so attractive and Jacinta and Martien didn't like dyeing them. Now we are importing our own and they are the lovely thick ones. When the silk is spun the waste clings to a rod ( I watched it when I was in Thailand a few years back and was fascinated). You peel the rod off the rod and voila! You can use them as is or pull off the many layers and stretch them out into a wonderful textured strip - or roll them up for flowers. I know people in Brisbane enjoyed seeing the flowers I had made for my Paris shoe book and I used a little strip in my journal in yesterday's pics. Jacinta is course is dyeing them but I spray them with Starburst Sprays and am very happy with the effect - I have no intention of washing them. You can iron them flat if you want. Or make silk paper with them as they have sericen in them. Just great for all sorts of things.

 This is my big pile of hand dyed ones I need to package - tomorrow....

Grant is off sailing somewhere in Italy and has promised he will update his blog - other than that I have no idea but waiting, Grant.....

All Black win

Just had to tell you that the All Blacks won - great 2 games  - very pleasing. Israel Dagg scored a brilliant individual try and Piri Weepu played outstandingly. We are happy listening to some of our HUGE pile of long playing records - The Flying Pickets for instance. You have no idea how many lps we have from the past....

saturday before sunday

Delys pointed out a lovely bit of fungi growing at the bottom of one of our eucalyptus trees - we get quite a few from time to time and they are often bright orange - definitely not for eating. This one is quite modest - a little like next door's cat hiding in the lavender hoping the little birds won't see him, but he wears a noisy bell so the birds are far too smart for him. He is the most unfriendly cat - you would think if you made use of someone's garden from 5am to very late (jingle jingle) you would at least be friendly. Owners aren't either.

A couple of pages form my Okarito journal - I have used some of the lovely transparent tape. I shall spray over some before too long I can tell. That's me on the beach with all those lovely stones. I couldn't bring them all home that time....

Off to watch the Tri-Nations - go the All Blacks - Ian has been watching the weather cam in Wellington - looks like a good winter's day.....

eye candy

Just in case you think I don't do much during the day - this is what I have done today and I haven't got to the studio yet. First I packaged 5 kilos of Rangi Changi (that's 50 skeins), then I wound some Yummie threads.

Then I packaged some Time To Experiment packs in Barrier Reef and Byzantine

 Next some Xpandaprint - jars waiting for labels

Then 20 kilos of Indian silk loom waste in 200gm bags

k
Then I opened a very wet express bag from Jacinta with wool tops, silk, slushie, silk rods and silk hankies in our new colour - Glacier (I had to educate her about Franz Joseph) and I hung it out on the clothes line and then had to move it because it started raining. (Murphy's Law in action)

 Next I opened up a big parcel full of more Grungepaper (it isn't even on our website and we sold out as soon as the last lot arrived) and some lovely tissue tape which also sold out when I brought a few in to see what they were like - you get 2 reels of a transparent tape in themes such Symphony, Traveller, Marketplace  and nostalgic. I have been using some in my Stonehaven journal - hopefully it will make the website - anyway it is $16.95 a pack

Also in that shipment I decided to see what the 7 Gypsie little notebooks were like - there are 2 in a pack and I only got one of each pack. Don't think they will last long - I only have 6 - I might need to get some more. They are $13.50 for the two tied together. It's hard to tell what they would be like but I am resisting the temptation to have a set for myself.

I have done a few more things including packaging a heap of Angelina fibre for an order but I won't show you that - and all whilst cooking  Oxtail and a lamb curry so it looks like we will be eating in for the next few nights. And I almost forgot my first eycandy - a lovely thick silk - Lipstick

wednesday and thursday and an offer

Last night we went to a fabulous ACO concert - probably one of the best for this year -Patricia Kopatchinskaja - the barefoot fiddler - was the guest conductor and performer and the music was fantastic. I would love to see her and Richard Tognetti perform together. The music is part of her and we loved it. We read somewhere that the ACO concerts are one of the few where pretty well every seat is taken and lots of younger people. I am not surprised at all. The lady who sits next to Ian comes up from Albany for every concert and the lady who used to sit next to Ian now comes in her wheelchair and is currently sitting upstairs. You can see we are all regulars with the same seats but we don't know their names......

I am working on my ATW but no pics yet because it is only just starting to be organised. I have changed my mind again. I am busy trying to do a number of different things.

I have a Tim Holtz embossing folder - Bricked and Woodgrain set which I ordered two of by mistake - I am selling it for $13.00 which is pretty much what I paid for it - I have seen them retail for over $21 so it is a good price. You just need to pay postage on that or breeze by and pick it up. I am still having fun with my dies and embossing folders and have actually made one myself - had to buy cereal which we never eat in order to do this!

lovely new fibres

Always nice to open a parcel from Jacinta even it does mean I have to dry some of the fibres - that is what pressure is all about! Anyway today I got these two new lovelies in silk and wool and slushie.The top one is Vespa - just looks like roaring around Rome - and the bottom one is Poppy - a little bit sophisticated. Ian likes this one. These two are slushies - I would like to work with them but I have to plough on with my ATW.

where is the storm?

Last night on the news we were told that overnight would be the storm of the year so we even pulled out all the plugs and woke up several times throughout the night listening - but it has indeed been wet windy and cold but not stormy like the one we had before. Here we were worrying about our fuse box to see if third time unlucky.

Sad to say the Magic lost but the weekend super All Black win was absolutely wonderful. You wouldn't think they even played though if you read the sports section of The Australian. I am never why sure Ian sends me off in the dark of the morning to buy it.

Before you stitch you should always sample - ha ha - but I have been quite productive - just not a lot to show. However I have been embellisher sampling especially as I am twinneedling flower stitches on Romeo and it gets boring. so I break the boredom by a little embellisher play. my studio is mostly back to normal and I have my machines in the right places. There is not much my machine can't do - I am thinking of weaving and experimenting some but not today.

great saturday

Great rugby win for the All Blacks this afternoon against the Springbox in the first of the Tri-Nations game. We thoroughly enjoyed it.Go the Magic tomorrow.

I have vacuumed my studio, moved my furniture back into place, cleaned up all of those errant flakes and started work. Might even have a picture of my art to wear shortly as it starts falling into place. We are having loads of lovely rain still - fabulous apart from the stuff coming in through the skylight in the kitchen but nothing a few towels won't fix for the moment.

This is Carol Wilkes wonderful work which won the Art U Wear - Ian didn't photograph it so I had to steal it from Robin's blog (but she said it was okay) - so much work - people don't always realise how much work goes into these pieces.