Kia ora

Greetings from Lake Rotoiti on my side - shows I have been doing something as well as relaxing and exploring.




Most importantly Ian is making coffee to start our day.




Outside our 'house' some snow up high.




Haven't bought bananas in Perth for ages at $16 a kilo - these 4 cost $2 and weighed half a kilo and tasted pretty good too!

Location:Lake Rotoiti

Relaxing and all that goes with that

Having a lovely time doing nt a great deal - the snow is all high up - we are staying at St Arnaud near Lake Rotoiti and had avoid day driving and walking when the weather and views were superb - today we are in Reefton. Forgot to bring the cord to attach the camera to the I pad with us for overnight but will post some pics tomorrow. We heard and watched a busy tui in the bush.


Holiday time always goes fast

Off and about for a wee bit of r and r

 This evening Ian and I are off to New Zealand for a wee break. We will be back next Friday. this is where we are going - flying to Auckland, flying to Wellington, flying to Picton and driving to Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes area. Having spent most of the morning at the i-phone hospital trying to fix my phone (only half achieved) I have been frantically finishing my tasks and still to pack my suitcase and find my creative stuff to take. Popped up a new holey moley, got all the POMs (product of the months) done, all the orders packed, and a few other little jobs like the washing.

Not sure what sort of computer/phone reception awaits us - we are in the bush but you can bet we will be watching the All Blacks game on Saturday at the Alpine Lodge. Just had to show you the All Blacks cup cakes - apparently Cory Jane has eaten the missing one.

Hopefully it will be a nice day tomorrow and we will see snow as we fly down the north island. On Wednesday we fly to Wellington to see what I love to see and catch up with Raylene and Ken and then back home again.

Maybe we might see a robin in  the bush - apparently we are doing lots of walks around the lake etc.

Haven't had any more sailing results from yesterday so can't tell you any further progress from Grant. 

a win to SLAM

I didn't do a history major for nothing - I call it research and can always track down a pic or two of my sons. And this time a video as well.

Plus for those concerned - the Solusheet is now safely in a plastic bag - my fault for popping it in the trolley uncovered..... should know better

what a bit of rain can do

Look what a bit of rain can do. When it poured the other night, we had our usual as yet insolved rain int he kitchen but in the sunroom where I have loads of Ikea trolleys full of stock, the rain came in from underneath where it didn't run off fast enough - but somehow it managed to get to the top of one of my trolleys - the one with the roll of Vilene Solusheet of course. This is one side of the roll - looks rather like Franz Josef Glacier really. But I do have a large pile of cut solusheet from the rest of the roll which I am going to bag up and sell for $20 - that's good value and I can't be bothered counting how many smallish sheets there are - imagine about 50 metres on a roll and how much when you cut down one side. So if anyone is interested email me. You can overlap it and even iron it together under baking parchment.

Grant started slowly in San Fransisco but yesterday had a win so he will be happy - I think he is up to 4th place now. He has changed the name of his skiff since SLAM were not that much forthcoming with sponsorship - if you look at the mainsail you will see a Black Swan - for WA and Mounts Bay Sailing Club.

and becasue I am his mother I found a second picture - I think this was from the local paper front page in San Fran. Apparently it was very foggy and windy.

Back here we have had a very busy day - CPS 38 arrived and has been sent out - there are a few copies left over. It has an interesting article on paper making which I have found quite useful.

I reckon Spring is as good as here.

Beautiful day yesterday - we relaxed and enjoyed it. Went to Mrs S for breakfast - Whatley Crescent in Mayland is a busy place and good to see. It was warm and even the wind was warm. Becasue they said a rain front was coming I went off to the nursery and bought herbs and stuff and planted them - overnight it was very windy and wet so that is a good start. I am hoping that this year my tomoatoes will in fact have tomoatoes which we can eat.  We sat outside the studio last night and enjoyed a glass of Momo and some prawns.

Grant is in San Francisco sailing SLAM but not sure at all how he is going. I am sure he will have a good week regardless.

We watched the rugby on Saturday night - I think the selectors had a hard night because there are too many good players to choose but tomorrow the squad will be announced so we are skittishly waiting for that news.

Loads of lovely comments left on The Thread Studio facebook page for the 700 prize draw which was won by Evelyn - FB wouldn't let me load her prize but here it is and all posted off tonight. We are working our way to 800 already - when I will have another prize draw.

I still seem to have a long list of things I should have done but have not yet - I shall blame the weather entirely. I am still making tags for Ally Pally and have now started on the idea of some flags to hang on our stand. In the meantime I did some work using TAP (Transfer Artist Paper) onto Evolon and lightweight Lutradur. I know some people in Australia have had trouble with TAP but I can honestly say it has always worked for me and I don't always leave it in a bag in the dark - in fact the words above were printed some time back and I found them under the table when I was vacuuming on Saturday so I transferred it with my fingers crossed. I personally think there was a bad batch but no-one seems to want to take responsibility for it. We do sell an awful lot though so our turn over is good. I guess my advice woudl be to buy it when you need it - I don't believe that humidity is the issue it has been made out to be. It's pretty humid here too.

I have just posted my Friday offering to Creative Brains blog - I shall blame the weather for being days late on that one too.

a new theme and some favourite books

the newest sari ribbon colours - I have wound some out in readiness for use - it's the ironing that takes the time. Forest and Iron Ore and the greens - I love that when you get inside each hank there is such a myriad of colours and each hank is different so you never know and I never know what they are sending me anyway - it never seems like what I asked for. I guess that is what makes each hank unique...

The first page of my mew theme - all woven and stitched

and this is the back and now they are blanket stitched together. I like to use blanket stitch - it is sort of friendly.

One of my favourite cook books and I have just cooked up the Oxtail recipe on page 162 - a big favourite of ours - for tomorrow as it has to sit overnight especially to remove all the fat but also to develop the flavour. I ahve been a fan of Stephanie Alexander for a long long time.

I bought this a few weeks back - my latest bedtime reading - fabulous salades - just about time for bbqs and salades.

Another gorgeous book full of images to die for - we haven't been to Ireland but we must before too long.

Shelagh sent this wondrful book by Stephanie Redfern - she has been so lucky to go to a workshop and see her books in the flesh. Shame.

Waiting for the rugby soon - the All Blacks vs South Africa. Here's hoping.....

old friends, new to be friends and some winners

 Some old friends arrived home today - these are some of the pages from my Postcards from Tuscany 'book' which have been on holiday in Canada - I hope they behaved and were liked. This one is Sienna - believe it or not - very early image transfer I did and surrounded by knitted rayon stitched and attacked.

 This is Florence - we have been to Tuscany three times now and love it. I bought a fabulous cook book when we were there the first time and used it as a tour guide and have cooked almost every recipe in it.

And this is to remind us of the olive trees - they are rubbed with the precious senneliers.

Today I have ironed some of the new sari ribbon - forest - in readiness for my new play. It is much greener than this photo but I love the myriad of colours which are appearing - the ironing takes ages. I shall be working with this in the coming weeks - the background is some silk noil printed with my stitched printing block.

The Thread Studio facebook page has been busy - there are now 714 likes and lots of comments for the giveaway of a parcel of luscious stuff from us. Pop over and leave a comment before Sunday 21st night and be in the drawer. Talking of drawers - I see the post for the radiant rains got to 32 comments so I have 4 sets to give away - just cost you a red bag. The winners are

Judi
Judy
Fibrefriend (Sue?)
DebC

Just confirm who I think you are and I will send them off to you so you can play play play - I have enjoyed reading about people's thoughts on radiant rain....

It would seem that winter is over here and summer is acomin in - the freesias are out and that tells me everything.

absent without reason

I have been rather tardy this week - sometimes when you have something you have to do but don't really want to it slows you down on everything else. Well I have sort of finished it now so shall be back on the creative track very soon.

There are 28 comments left for the radiant rain giveaway which means 3 sets - I will draw the names tomorrow and let you know - if I get over 30 comments I will do a fourth. And I will keep the sets for another something before too long. The big red bag is an Aussie thing. Each set weighs over 500grams which would make it very expensive to send overseas.......

We have added quite a few new goodies to the website - new Paperarsty mini stamps - I had to do a new order and just couldn't resist a few more. Plus in the order came their fabulous Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paints - I like these - they are matte and chalk -like - quite different from the usual paints I use - good for stamping into as well. And I have found a few books which I was sure were on the web but they had vanished.

Also I found a supplier with the distress sponge alphabet - they are selling very fast - really good to get that distressed look.

Our car - useless thing that it is - decided not to start last night so we got a taxi to the ACO - another fabulous concert as always. We got the gold star award for actually being there before the others in our row - they couldn't believe it - we always have to climb over to get in at the last minute. Then we thought we might get a taxi home but the few which drove past us were not interested so we walked. Nice night - winter seems to be over. This morning I got a taxi to the hairdressers but coming back was not so easy and I walked half of the distance - two surly taxi drivers, both who tried to pretend they had no change. I won in the end with both of them. The car had a broken fuel pump or something and sadly has been fixed - my hope is that maybe it needed to go to the car cemetary but I have lost out again.

People have asked about the roses - no special occasion - I just like to have them often, They are cheap - usually between $6 and $12 - these were $12. Still lasting. There is a sign behind the counter in the dairy which I have not seen before - it reads "Fresh flowers will last 5 - 7 days. You can help them last by adding water to your container into which you put them." I had to laugh and asked the lady behind the counter if they had had problems. She told me people bring them back complaining they have died - if you want flowers to last then buy plastic ones - ha ha.

The Thread Studio facebook just needs 2 more fans to reach 700 - wow....

roses, snow and giveaways

It's a wild, wet and windy day here in Perth so I thought I would post my roses - yes another bunch - they know me well at the dairy up the road. And I am sad because it is snowing all over New Zealand and I spent my childhood hoping it would and it never did.

and I have more giveaways. These are Radiant Rains - we don't sell them anymore - these ones are mine and I have divided them into sets of threes - I have 7 sets. 1 of each set has been used a little and the rest not at all. They are lovely sprays - much thicker than Starburst Sprays with loads of mica but I know I am not going to use them anymore.To be in the draw you must leave a message and for every 10 comments I will select someone. It will cost you a big red bag. The sprays are currently selling at around $13.50 each.

I am trying to run to the studio but it has been too wet - looks like I will have to take my umbrella - that was easy!

slow old sunday

working away slowly today on a variety of activities including making some of my downunder tags - sorry about the shadow on the picture - I am thinking about Ally Pally and bringing little treats from downunder to upover.

Last night we stayed up to watch the Wallabies play the Springbox - the former won but it was a pretty dreary game and we had to keep ourselves from falling asleep.

Went off to check on the progress at Grant's house - lots of steel and we climbed 'upstairs' to have a look at the world around - the living will all be upstairs with decking and stuff - will be great when it is finished. Apart from the dogs everywhere and of course all barking, it's a good street where his house is.

here I am in full flight up on the top - the big metropolis of Perth is in the distance behind me

this is the original house at the front where Bruce and Kazuko are living - they were not there - we knew this because there were no bikes to be seen.

Senneliers

Wow - 109 people have responded to my offer - next time I will have to do a draw sorry I only have one grotty box but it has gone!

Better make good use of my new beautiful big box

a treat

I bought myself a treat for all the hard work - and because I got them wholesale it wasn't too bad - a big box set of the Sennelier oil pastels - I love using them.

Because I have indulged myself, I have a box of 25 to give away to anyone who wants to pay the postage - they are not pristine and in fact a couple are stuck to the box a bit but they are free and have lots of life left in them. It will cost you a big red bag.

I also have a favour to ask - I am chasing children's books like golden books - old ones with Australian themes - they can be in any condition - I am happy to pay but not heaps - I have found one of Blinky Bill today - I want them for a display so wold love to hear if anyone has any lying around.

Busy weekend for me which involves cleaning the studio starting with the vacuum cleaner and then getting to work. The creative brain is in overdrive.

I am making excellent progress

Linda popped around today and brought me some of her beautiful Linda Bloomies - some of what she was creating at the show last weekend. Very lucky I am - I am hoping to add my own little spin as soon as I get time. Our Linda Bloomie kits will be up and running before too long - she is so creative. If you click to enlarge the picture you will see little half moon shapes - very cleverely done with the transfer tip from the versa tool

On the organisational scene, I am making excellent progress - this is our hallway - looking very neat and tidy.

Here is the 'shop' from one side - have even stock done the books - we have sold a lot and the web is all up to date. Most books we have only 1 copy left now. I did find a pile which don't seem to be on the web though - tut tut.

Here is the 'shop' from the other side. Once was Grant's bedroom. People are amazed when they see it at the show filling all that space. However I still have quite a lot to sort and put back like the wools, the sari fabrics and loom waste but I am very pleased at this point. The kitchen is a bit messy though and then I need to tidy up and put things away at the warehouse.

On the strength of this much work and having caught up on all the orders  bar one set of POMS (tomorrow), i shall be off to the studio because I have loads to do there.

Finally, if you haven't been to our face book page and liked us - we are 9 short of 700 when I will be getting ready to give away a parcel of goodies.

fun is over - work begins

When you go to a show you see a stand in all its glory and the last thing you worry about is what happened to get it all there and what happens when it ends? I know I always post pictures of our packing stuff and on palettes and shows with empty stands and then full ones but right now this is what the 'shop' looks like from one side. Very efficient, Kaz and Bruce helped us pack the van and car and then unpack everything into our house. We were all exceptionally quick and we went off to dinner afterwards (just sneaking a quick rerun of the rugby game before we went).

This is from the other side of the room and that's not what is stacked in our bedroom or the lounge or the dining room or the office. It all now gets sorted and the surplus goes to the warehouse and counting and reordering begins. In between we fit in the orders - we have got quite a few out today but I am finding things as I move and sort etc. Just in case you thought I had nothing to do and was relaxing. And of course someone came wanting something I was not prepared to hunt for - not until Thursday.....

We also had a big shipment of sari ribbon and other fibrous stuff on Thusrday which we sold lots of at the weekend - sari ribbon in Vanilla Beans is back plus two fabulous new colours in Forest and Iron Ore (well those colours and different shades of some of the others). Always exciting and today a second shipment arrived from a new company - multicoloured sari ribbon but it is all silk and quite different so have to pop those on the web as well.

Maybe we will pop out for dinner again and start early in the morning.
It was a fabulous show though and wonderful to see so many people and I really thought everyone had a flower stitcher when I set up to demo them yesterday - apparently not - they all sold bar one.  It is the best fun foot though. And it was extra special having Linda Baldock as out guest and I know so many people enjoyed watching her at work (play?) - she had crowds all the time. Wait until I make my Linda Bloomies...

If you really want to see what it looks like at a show at the very end, pop over to The Thread Studio facebook page and have a peep.... one very rested bear....

veddy veddy busy weekend

We have been pretty busy these last few days - setting up and being at the show - 2 days down and 1 to go - lovely to see so many people and to see so many goodies going off to new homes. It's been fabulous to have Linda Baldock as our guest - she is so talented and happy to share her wonderful ideas with me for which I am super happy - and I have really enjoyed playing with easy peasy silk paper and developed a few new ideas - always exciting - tomorrow I shall be playing with something different. It's hard deciding what to do each day and when you are demoing you have just finished something and along comes someone else to ask the same question so for me it's time to move to next thing.

We had a news blackout because the rugby started at 3.30 while we were working but we rushed home to watch it with the gang and wow - what a fabulous game. Those who know us will know we were very overjoyed with hte results - the All Blacks played superbly - may it continue.

Sunday coming up and a lot more carting of stuff - maybe we could have a wee sleep in on Monday - not so sure about that....

a wet wednesday

today we filled the big van we have hired with most of the big stuff and drove it to Claremont for the show this Friday onwards. At one point it rained very heavily and of course we got very wet. But it means we have made good progress and tomorrow shouldn't be so bad. Our stand looks to be bigger than last year - if that is possible. Didn't take my camera but I will tomorrow before we start setting everything up.

I have made a couple more tags - an interesting exploration here.

Last night we went to Il Pasto - our fabulous new Italian restaurant - I had eggplant lasagne - very nice. Then we indulged in dessert and had tiramisu

have to say my photo doesn't do it justice - it was lovely.

On creative brain edges, we have started a new topic for August - teapots - this is mine and i am looking forward to drawing it.

finally - the newsletter is done and sent out - let's hope it works properly this month.  Somewhere between the last blog writing and this one, we managed to get all the Studios out - I think there are a couple left.

We should sleep well tonight after all of our carting in preparation for tomorrow's.

I am feeling somewhat ill-fated - I tested the newsletter twice and it really was August - then I sent it out to everyone and it mysteriously changed to July. I need to go back to school - I will start getting a nervous twitch every time I am due to sent the newsletter.....

Welcome to August

Welcome to August - notice there is always another cat hovering waiting to pop in next - they are very inquisitive. August means a show starting Friday and this was to be my second year driving my own van but sadly someone crashed the second van and now we will be having a truck and no - I am not driving a truck.

I have amazed myself by having sent out nearly all the POMs (product of the month) for August - just 4 or 5  different sets to go. And I have written my part of the newsletter. But we have been doing a lot of packaging so we must be getting there - or somewhere....

The two little tags to be from last night are neither vilene nor evolon but you are close with  the red shoes part Jean. All will be revealed before too long.

Now I am preparing for my next challenge - Lace - not sure if Shelagh will be there with me or not. come check the Creative Brain Edges blog on Wed to see what is happening.