Last day of Summer

It's the last day of summer today - will this mean autumnal feelings in the morning? Let's see.....
I thought I would share our candelit dinner in Bali on our last night - here we were by the pool with candles alight and chef making sure we were happy. We had a big heart made from bourgainvillea flowers and frangipanis everywhere.

Flat out today - we will be slowly sending out all the special newsletter people orders as we go. Plus Embellish magazine arrived as well - they have all been posted out. I have an article in it once again. We have a few spare copies if anyone wants one.

I spent yesterday playing with and testing a new product and think I have nearly made my decision - just a bit more play. It is good experimenting with new things. I shoudl have some pieces to show soon.

phew.....

Well we had a busy, hot and rewarding day yesterday. Thanks to all those brave souls who came out in the heat and took advantage of our special sale day. We were up at 6am to set everything out and here is our transformed back garden all set to go. As you can see, a lot of our garden stayed bathed in shade (the sun of course moved around as is its want) but generally it was as good as you will get with the weather we are having and there were even a few light zephyrs wafting in and out.

Customers taking advantage of our good deals for the day. Same place about the same time next year. At least we knew it wouldn't rain.... In the middle hanging under our umbrella we had coathangers full of silk thread for a fantastic price. I am amazed they weren't all grabbed up.

After 3pm we cleared everything away and order was restored and we moved indoors into the air con to watch the rugby with a glass of wine in hand. Then we both slept very well through the night.

Now we have to start on the many orders our lovely newsletter readers emailed in for the sorry you can't be here in person deal.....

warehouse sale in the garden

The back garden has been swept and the tables are all out - in 37degree heat of course.

and of course it is predicted 38 tomorrow but we have a big umbrella up and plenty of room. We will be up bright and early setting everything out. Unlike the shows we do out of Perth loads of room, But for those who come to the show in Perth - similar! However, if you are coming, we have loads of all sorts of goodies with all sorts of discounts. Worth a trip with your water bottle in tow.

o boy

 am I hot - I have had to go out 4 or 5 times today - the car is like an oven when you get in and perspiration pours off you. I wish we had a little pool in our back garden cleaned of course by someone else (been there done that) so I could hop in and out during the day to cool off. I know we have air con but I am not made for this weather. Perhaps I could climb in with the waterlilies....

this is the most inspiring thing I have managed to do today - not good when I have such a long list. Tomorrow we will be busy getting ready for our big warehouse in the back garden sale. In the meantime we are about to have champagne becasue Ian has finally finished the big behind the scenes job he has been doing on the website.

many thanks

  Many thanks for all the messages - our relations are all safe - not necessarily their houses but it has been reassuring to hear that they are okay. I guess it is all a bit surreal (yes I know that is the buzz word).This is the Carlton hotel - one of our drinking holes when we were students and before I met him, the place where Ian got caught under age drinking .Above as it was and below as it is. Christchurch will never again be the place we went to university but I hope they can rebuild and be stronger than ever. Who would have thought it? Coming from north of Wellington, I spent my youth waiting for the big one to hit there.It has been a bad summer down under (and in many other places of course) but I am hoping everything will be on the improve in the autumn

Christchurch earthquake

I am afraid we have been rather diverted today by the dreadful earthquake in Christchurch. We have heard from one couple but not any news of our relations or other friends as yet. We have been rather glued to the telly. This is the Christchurch Cathedral which is the very heart of Christchurch. When I was there as a university student I actually played the organ a few times.

This is it today.

All we can hope is that the city and the people can recover somehow. The restaurant we went to in August which was devastated in September's earthquake, is apparently nearly ready to re-open but who knows now....

Ian is still milking his birthday and we are off to dinner with Val and Jim tonight.

a nice relaxing Sunday

Sometimes I get very involved in trying to do too many things at once in an effort to get some things of all the things I want to do, done. What with the breakfast for Ian's birthday, dinner for Ian's birthday (and he says thanks very much for all the good wishes by the way) and 2 games of rugby to watch (great game Crusaders and Blues and a very good result because it means the Blues might stay on fire this season and the Crusaders will always do well), I decided to try to start, continue and finish rather a few things. First I finished my sari ribbon cushion - the other side as well and all stitched up. I also finished all the samples for my next Let's Play book which I hope will go to the printers at the end of February - things always take so much longer than you think, and now I can carry on with the pieces for the next one.

Then I worked on quite a few little stitchy samples - slow but effective. I know why my studio never really gets tidy - I have so many little works in progress all over the place.

Then I decided to work with the Distress Inks and see how good I have been - I have labelled them so now i don't have to pick every one up to find the colour I want. I also made a colour chart on tags. Below I have been making  a little journal using newspaper from Waiheke Island when we were there. Newspaper is a good surface for a journal - and if you choose your subject it can be quite personal. I have coated the pages with gesso.

I have also been ghosting with the letter mask from Tim Holtz. Not such a clear image though.
The little journal is full of stamps and images and writing.

And I have been working hard with Evolon and Evolon Ultra Soft - this is surely a magical surface to work on. These ones have puff (Xpandaprint black) through a stencil and paint and stitch.

So a start to my tasks but I really need to clear my working space to play with a new medium of sorts I am desperate to try. Just needs a good hank of time.

Hope you had a good weekend too. The weather here has been rather lovely today - not so hot and not so humid.

Happy Birthday Ian

Ian's birthday today - here he is having birthday breakfast at Cantina. Champagne this afternoon hoping his team wins its first Super Rugby game (unlike mine) and then dinner out at a surprise.

One World One Heart 2011

WOW - what an exciting time - I have really enjoyed visitig so many lovely blogs and  I must thank you for all of your lovely comments. It is late on the 17th here in Western Australia and I have done my draw through a random generator and these are my two winners
Brigit from Germany
Shariyah from New Zealand
I have emailed you both to get your address for posting and I will be sending as soon as I hear from you both.

Thanks to everyone who dropped by - doesn't it make the world a smaller place. Maybe Lisa can be persuaded to run it again in 2012.......

slow going in the heat

It's slow going when it is so hot and sticky but I have escaped to a cool studio - I am creating cloth along with a few other things. Lots of hand stitch so far.

There sure was a rapid response to Paris fibres before they even hit the website and hopefully Jacinta after her birthday day off is slaving away at her dyepots! I also have another wonderful new colour - Mallee Gum - so two exciting new colours to play with.

 And the latest Studios arrived late yesterday afternoon - Harry, our delivery man, was very eager to hang around for ages talking about holidays in Bali. We brought in a few extra copies this time and now that I have sent them all out, there are a few copies left if anyone wants one.

Don't forget - tomorrow is the last day for One World One Heart so whizz down a few posts and leave a comment. It's been lovely meeting so many new people. 

the things you have to do because you simply have to do them

The rugby starts on Friday and as many of my readers know - this is something we are pretty passionate about. My team - the Hurricanes - is first off the rack and this year Ian has chosen his team at the very beginning so let's hold him to it - the Crusaders. However, we have lost the use of fox sports now that Grant's house is no longer available to us and today Ian was up bright and early vacuuming because the foxtel man was coming to install it all. Amazingly he must have thought the guy would notice..... And he made his fresh coffee for him. The poor man could only find one spot for the dish as our trees apparently muck things up. Then he nearly electrocuted himself and our computers etc all stopped when the power did. He seemed to recover okay. The strange thing with our place is that when the power comes back on, the cd player starts up - Leonard Cohen who else - and this time a video starting playing on my computer - not one that I am familiar with and it took me ages to get rid of it. The upshot is that we have high def foxtel and are all ready for Friday afternoon. Plus the power plug which has been hanging precariously from the wall is now all neat and in place. Nice man....

What's this mess, you ask? Well, it's notmy desk but my floor - yesterday I was working on kImberley Dreaming stuff and when I looked in my KD box I discovered it was in a bad way so I had to tip everything out on the floor to find what I wanted.

Up on my table this time with some of the bits and pieces I found. I should never had created such a mess - I usually put things away all neat and tidy. That will teach me.

Happy Birthday Jacinta - I expect you are out having a good time and not dyeing today.

Don't forget you can still leave a comment for the One World One Heart to be in the draw on 17th. Just scroll down a few entries.

Paris

Jacinta - the master/mistress dyer - and I are working on a city series. I can have the ideas but she comes up with  the magical results. I just own the broomstick to make her work hard. This is Paris - isn't it beautiful? I don't need a new theme to play with really but I know that I will. This is the slushie

I think I thought this was the wool but it looks like a slushie - anyway all brilliant and soon to be on our website in Fibres section. Jacinta bought a wonderful photo of Paris as a starting point and if you go to her blog you can see the top she made as well. Maybe I can persuade her to wear it to AQC in April?

and finally the silk tops. I can't wait to work with it - maybe I could work some shoes in somewhere as Paris and shoes go together for me. It is so subtle so thanks Jacinta for another wonderful colour. Now to see when Rae gets to dye the fabrics and threads........ to match.

Slam again and hearts

SLAM was 4th this afternoon on Sydney harbour - it's an interesting photo in that it is not them capsized and they look to be part of it. Be lovely to be on the water today but we have been working.

My sari hearts for Valentine's Day. On a background of more sari ribbon with a bit of Shakespeare to set the scene. I have told Ian not to get me red roses tomorrow but to wait until the price is back to normal - ha ha.

Saturday morning signing in

Further progress with sari ribbon - it is actually sitting on a sari ribbon background - fiddly little piece but more to come with it so watch this space. I stitched this outside last night in the wind so it was a bit tricky - my scissors blew away and it took me ages to find them in the garden.

On Wednesday we went to the first ACO concert of the year (Australian Chamber Orchestra) - fabulous as always and Teddy Tahu Rhodes with his beautiful voice was the guest. The lady who used to sit next to us and who is now in a wheelchair has been able to be seated at the back of our section - she is always interested to know what we have been up to. Now Ian has a new very chatty lady sitting next to him.
Last night we went to the opening of the Perth Festival but found it all rather boring and a bit self indulgent so wandered off to Lido for a cheap eat - always quality food there. It is extremely windy at present - easterlies and not always as hot as you think. high fire alert today with a total fire ban so looks like our bbq tandoori chicken will be cooked in the oven.

Some more Bali pics. These are the rice paddies. Each year it is slightly different - plenty of water at present.

Misty morning after lightening and thunder - lots of lovely bush around Ubud.

My favourite lotus pond. I would like one like this is my back garden and keep talking about it.


Lots to do today - I have 20 kilos of Indian silk loom waste waiting for me to package and I really can't put it off any more. Then I have  Lesson 3 for hot Needles Cool Stitches to work on (nearly finished - lots more embellishing to do), and I want to play more with my painted Lutradur pieces and a new fabric I am exploring.

A reminder to go visit my entry below on One World One Heart and leave a comment if you haven't to be in the draw for a piece of work. It finishes on 17th Feb. Also go to our website and click on Gidday Quilters - it doesn't cost anything to participate (Australian entries only though sorry) and you could be in to win. And when you are searching our website for the ROO remember to look in Australian/NZ hand dyed threads - where else would you find a ROO?  Have fun! And don't forget to visit The Thread Studio facebook site and click Like  - last time I looked there were 449 fans - amazing....

Back from Bali and a little more stuff

Actually we came home on Tuesday afternoon but time has whizzed by. We had a lovely time and thanks for all the emails. The weather was wonderful - some rain at first but that doesn't stop you lying about in the pool, reading your books, doing some writing and stitching, having reflexology, having your nails painted) that's because Ian didn't want his massage). Contrary to what we expected, as usual there was hardly anyone there and most of the time we had the place to ourselves and the undivided attention of many lovely staff and the owner who loves to tell us stories. This is the restaurant - we were without Internet for the last day as lightening wiped the fibre optic cables out or something.

The wonderful lily pond (lotus I should say). no wonder I love my water lilies. That is not our villa but we had the one behind it. Not our usual by the rice fields. It had an upstairs which we didn't - it had a bigger pool and looked over the river but i rather like the other one. Because we do the rekindle your romance deal of 4 nights for 3 and at last year's rates, we get a wonderful breakfast each morning, 1 lunch and a candlelight dinner cooked by Chef who is very friendly. Show you tomorrow....

Here is the main pool and here is our villa.

We got back to hear about the fires - Australia is having a fine time of it but then so is everywhere else in  the world. We have dutifully swept our back garden again to remove the leaves.

Off to cook the bbq - don't forget to scroll down and see the One World One Heart entry a few down. Because I have had so many lovely  comments I have added a second giveaway so do leave a comment.

I am busy weaving sari ribbon and remember it is heart time about now.....

Vixen

This year I had to have vixen because there was no frosty iris left but never mind it's all a bit if fun. We are having a lovely relaxing time in Ubud reading swimming and relaxing.

Do scroll down and leave a comment on my One World One Heart entry - there are over 100 lovely comments there and when I get home on Tuesday I will add another piece of my work for a giveaway.

Location:Bali

off we go for a wee bit of r and r

Tonight we are off to Bali - I have made feta, tomato, rocket and prosciutto rolls because we are flying with Virgin. Haven't heard of there are any volcanoes around this weekend so hopefully no dramas. We are going to the same villas we have been at for the past three years - this year it is full up and we have been upgraded to their best villa which means a bigger pool I think. This is our usual villa without me in the pool. Naturally I have packed my togs and not much else as yet. But I will be packing my books, my writing stuff, my stitching stuff, my beads (yes Lisa), my sketchbook and Ian will be packing his books and his switch off mode. We will be back on Tuesday. As usual we are on the rekindle your romance package which means we get 4 nights for price of 3, one healthy lunch, all breakfasts, a romantic candlelight dinner and spa stuff - maybe painted toenails are in order once again.

Last night's dinner for Chinese New Year was most lovely - the photos I took inside the restaurant are so pink - this is one of the dragons outside - it was a dragon dance and of course I wrote dragon race - I guess they were racing to get their hot gear off at the end. Lots of fun.

Here is one piece I put together with some of the lutradur I painted yesterday. I have soldering ironed  out some shapes and bonded them to a heavier layer and stitched. It's quite translucent when you hold it to the light. If you click to enlarge it and then click again you can see more detail.

Holey Moley people - don't forget to visit the blog for a little starter to whet your appetites while I am away.

One World One Heart 2011 - do visit my blog entry below this one and leave a comment for  a piece of my work - you have until 17th February.

Off to pack a few more things.

One World One Heart 2011

This year I am participating in One World One Heart. This is the 5th and last year for it to run and I seem to have missed the previous years but in 2011 I am thrilled to be part of it all. For those who don't know me, I am a  practising textile artist born in New Zealand with a pair of knitting needles in my hands and these days living and working in Western Australia. I love to experiment with all manner of textile excitements working on both fabric and paper and with my needlefelting machine. This piece of work is from my Flower Power series - I don't sell my work - it's like losing part of your soul but I am happy to part with this little book (it has pages inside) to one lucky person from whoever leaves a comment. I have written a book on using the needlefelting machine (Surface Tension)  and run on-line courses on this topic (and others)

I shall be drawing one name from the list of comments on 17th Feb so do take part - leave your blog addy so I can visit you and enjoy the rest of my blog and my adventures - here, on my facebook pages and on my business website.

 Because I have over 100 comments (thank you all very much), I have added another little book - I have shown the front and the back and inside there is more. This is from my little house series. Feel free to leave a comment.

Missed February

Somehow I missed February so welcome to it. Some of the other cats are a bit too eager but they have to wait their turn.

I thought I would show you some of my working spots in my studio - I have several things on the go in different places. This doesn't mean that everything is tidy mind you.

As you can see , I am still working on my sari ribbon cushion but as I now have a front and a back I shall be able to join them together very soon.

Working on Lesson 3 of Hot Needles Cool Stitches

Getting ready to start embellishing my slow cloth - I have managed to lose the little bag of buttons the ladies at Vinnies gave me but I found some mother of pearl ones in the shop. This cloth is so lovely to work on - sort of slow stuff.

I am working with Lutradur in several different weight along with fusible webbing. All painted with Opulence Inks and ready to attck with my soldering iron (aka Creative Versa Tool wonderful toy that it is)

Here are the paints I am using - they have the most magical sheen. And they are made in Australia.

And here is my pile of different Lutradur and painted webbing all waiting for me to get back to work.

To all my friends in North Old - so pleased the cyclone wasn't like they said and I hope you are all surviving okay. It is pretty windy here - I thought you had sent us some of the wind to share the load.

Tonight we are honoured to be guests at Little Saigon for Chinese New Year. We have to be there by 7pm to make sure we see the dragon race.