brave moves

I have been fiddling with my blog so I could add bigger words at the top and have a little more control over things. Last year Jacinta made it three columns but I have never been able to make some of the features work so I decided to change it back to two columns. Tell me what you think of it. I like things to be simple without clutterance and don't want patterned backgrounds to cloud the words and pics. I have been able to create pages at the top for my handson workshop on 12th November (which has a couple of bookings I am thrilled to say) and for my books.

You may be wondering why I have this picture. Someone emailed me today to say that she had heard that kunin felt (made from recycled plastic bottles) did not react properly to being heated with a heat gun. Let me assure you that the kunin felt we sell and which I use all the time, burns away beautifully. I took a piece today and did a heap of free stitching and then zapped half of it to show you. Just had to add some silver gleam over part to give it a real accent.

Back to the slog. I have been to the hairdressers though for refusching for our trip..... Some people have been worrying about the lack of strong colour - yesterday when I was in my Vietnamese supermarket buying my coconut milk and greens, the girl told me my hair had changed colour and she really liked the bright me. Wow - and here I am hoping no-one knows who I am when I am out and about shopping....

At last after roaming around for weeks, our shipment of Moonglow Sprays has arrived. love the new labels and now I can put together the three new trios I am creating. No rest for some.

moving onto Wednesday

This is the new fabric I have been on about. I haven't done very much with it other than colour it with Starburst Sprays which it seems to love. Three weights and I have used three colours. It is like Lutradur but not as fibrousy and much more fabric like so heaps of possibilities. I will have it for sale when we get back from London. It also takes acid dyes and transprint inks so heaps of possibilities for colour as well. You can print on the heavier one so the idea of layering appeals. Watch this space.

I am running a hands-on workshop in my studio on 12th November if anyone is interested . Demystifying the Distressables I am calling it. The information is at the top of the blog under workshops.Took me ages to work out how to set that up so do check it out. I am only taking 6 people. Email me for more information if what I have written is not enough.

Must say it is lovely and peaceful without the neighbours next door upstairs and their dog - hope they are not driving their next lot of neighbours nuts.

We are still enjoying the rugby by the way and I will have another giveaway for the last pool game - the ABs and Canada.

monday monday

a myriad of little jobs done today and goodness knows where the time went. I am waiting for a shipment of Moonglow Sprays which has been held up and also for my flower stitchers - the saga of this delivery. First shipment to to the UK - second shipment is anyone's guess and the third is due tomorrow. Sorry for all the people waiting but we will get them out as soon as they do appear. What did arrive though, was the latest Quilting Arts and I really loved seeing an article on Susan Lenz' fabulous work (and not just because she buys her chiffon scarves from me either...) - we got most of these done and away and the remainder will go tomorrow.

When I was opening up all the boxes I discovered that Stitch was in with the QA so we sent out all of these too. I hope to have a read of both mags tonight. We do have a few spare copies of both if anyone wants one.

It has rained off and on all day and while I am typing now it is pouring down. Very good for the new kangaroo paws and all the herbs and little vegies we planted yesterday.

and the winner is

Yesterday we went to Kings Park and bought a heap of kangoroo paws - every year the friends of kings park have a native plant sale - it was very busy up there - probably the best spot in Perth - fabulous plants at this time of the year with he wildflowers out and fantastic views. A must visit if you come to Perth. If you have followed my blog for some time you may recall we had our front garden landscaped but all the paws died. We have sought advise this round so hope they behave and Kazuko kindly waters them all when we are away.

Thanks for all the comments - the All Blacks did indeed have a great win and Ritchie his 100 test game. We popped the names into the basket and out came Anna's so a parcel will be winding its way to you on Monday Anna - hope you enjoy and see you at Ally Pally. I think I have your address but will email you if I haven't. Next giveaway will be for the AB vs Canada game - yes - all you Canadians - you do play rugby......

Don't forget to like us on facebook - I am hoping we might get to 900 before the end of the month - then I can do another big giveaway and if you do visit, checkout the fabulous special on offer until midnight tonight.

All Blacks vs Les Bleus

Today is a big day for All Black supporters because the ABs play the French and history at the rugby world cup has not always been kind. Ian says I am fussing but I am always nervous. To help me cope until the game is over, I have a giveaway of black and white - mostly threads but a couple of other extras as well. I will draw a name tomorrow night - Sunday. Just leave a comment to be in the draw.

As well as that, do pop over to the facebook page for the superb All Black vs Les Bleus offer which finishes at midnight tomorrow.

In the meantime I am off to further play with the new fabric and get my Creative Brain Edge up - so many days behind but do check out what Shelagh has been up to.

the offending cellar

Thanks for the lovely comments and emails - thought I would take a photo while the lid was up and Ian was below. As you can see if you look closely, our cellar has jarrah steps leading down into its depth - indeed an Aladdain's Cave, Dorothy but full of wine, suitcases, 'stuff' and the boys books and toys etc which I have not parted with. I was on my way down to find a few books (mission impossible as it turned out) and very foolishly going down frontwards (Ian says it is my own fault) thinking about task in hand and leaning forward to turn on the light which is up the top and suddenly I slid down to the bottom - if you can see the space between the jarrah pillar and the dark blue (one of our taking to picnic chairs) you will see exactly where I landed - I think I ran my hands down the pillar which is possibly what made them so very sore. If you look to the top of the picture you will see one of our wine racks. Safe from me. This incredible cellar is under our bedroom and is very useful - you can stand up etc. I have recovered although still a little sore in places but nothing broken and still able to hold my wine glass....

Good news is that the boxes for London are all packed and stacked and documentation done and ready to deliver to the carriers for their plane flight tomorrow night. And then Wayne and his men will deliver them to Ally Pally for us. So I have had a little time to play - I have been applying paint to baking parchment and then laying clear contact over the top when the paint is dry and rubbing silver gilding flakes in the places where there is no paint. On the top after putting it in my Okarito journal, I have stamped with Stazon - next time I won;t use black as it is too harsh - I used Silver and Brown Opulence Paints. A good experiment and one I plan to work further on. Next I need to experiment with a new distrssable fabric awaiting my attention. But first to cook dinner.

Yesterday, we received the remaining Distress Stains which are now available in all the same colours as Distress Inks - you can see them on the website. I am very fond of these and I am using them in conjunction with the moonglow sprays.

a bit of rust

Feeling rather pleased with myself - my packing for London is almost finished - just one big box to go and it doesn't go until Thursday. Very unlike me to be ahead of myself. Of course the minute it has all left I will find something heavy which should have been included and I will somehow have it work out how to get it into a suitcase. We can take 3 suitcases weighing 66kilos (the joy of being in Qantas Club and there are few joys)  which is easily filled by past experience. And then on Thursday I can get on with other things for at least a week.

In the meantime I really wanted to try the Rust Easy - it is an inkjet fabric which was so easy to use. I printed some of my rusty photographs onto it, left it to dry, ironed it, peeled off the backing paper, rinsed it under the tap and ironed it - no colour ran whatsoever and now I have to decide how I am going to use it. My Okarito journal is nearly complete so won't be long until I can finish everything under that title and then I shall retrieve my Rusty journal. I think there shall be a place in it for these. I might weave one - I do like the look of the woven work.

Each 'page' of rusty paper is different so there is the pleasure of surprise I think. We sell at for $5.50 a sheet of American A4 (that's the best way I can describe it as I can never remember the actual measurement.) Certainly worth a try and we have already sold quite a lot so I am interested to see how others are using it.

I have been rather stiff - the other night when Ian was out I slid down the steps of our cellar to the brick floor - I think I was lucky that I didn't actually break anything but my hands were very sore - I must have slid them down the central jarrah pillar on the way down - not sure. For the past two days I have very stiff and sore ankles and muscles so goodness knows what I did - most important I didn't knock into any of the wine - I think I won't bother going down again for a while.....

good news I reckon

The dastardly neighbours with the yappy dog have moved out! Yeah. Although they couldn't drive off without a final dig but who cares. They can go and annoy someone else. And it reminded me that I received a lovely parcel when we got back from NZ and I had almost forgotten it as it had crept underneath a few things. Not sure who sent it but thank you so much - lovely envelope indeed.

and the back - it really cheered me up but most importantly -

inside were two Golden books - thank you so much - they are going to feature at Ally Pally so if you are coming, look out for them.

As you can see, our friend, Rory, is very happy about something - what could it be? Well I didn't take a photo of Jonathan but I can tell you he was not a happy chappy at all - why? Well - the Wallabies lost the rugby to Ireland yesterday and it has changed the situation a bit for sure. We have had a great weekend watching rugby - there have been some very good games - watched Georgia play England and didn't they do well and we watched Canada vs Les Bleus and they were pretty good too - both teams just got a we tad exhausted before the end.

In between the rugby I packaged yarns, fibres, machine threads, fabrics and am making steady headway for the London boxes which go on Thursday.  I have lots to do still but I also have a variety of creative things to be doing so I shall be up bright and early tomorrow and in fact all week to try to make inroads. I am busting to try the Rust Easy fabric - got as far as organising my photos on my computer but that was it. Tomorrow....

good rugby win and the prize goes to

The All Blacks won last night and for those who wondered, the Cherry Blossoms are the Japanese team. They did score a try which was great and they played quite tenaciously. I have been filling a big box of threads for Ally Pally today so that is one down.. And we did the draw for the parcel of threads - to Lexa - they will be winding their way to Canada on Monday. Thanks everyone for taking part - wait for the All Blacks next game which will be a bit of a biggie so I will have something to offer for that..

Sorry Lexa - silly me put i instead of a but all fixed and yes your threads are on their way to BC.  And red shoes - well - always on the cards!!!

rugby world cup week 2 and a new giveaway

Week 2 of the rugby world cup starts today with the All Blacks playing the Cherry Blossoms in Hamilton. Go the Cherry Blossoms - just don't beat the ABs - Kaz tells me she is not turning her mobile on.

I am not going to ask you who is playing, nor the score, nor where they are playing - all you have to do is to leave a message and I will draw a name tomorrow for a parcel of the above goodies.

spring ra(i)n away

After a very still warm night having our bbq, it rained over night and off and on today so spring has run away for a bit but who cares - long summer coming and the plants are happy. Got my article finished and my creative brain done (albeit a day late) got over awed to see how many people liked The Thread Studio facebook page so now we are over 800 and heading slowly to 900. two parcels off to - I hope - happy homes.

 Another picture of Lake Rotoiti for you to enjoy- snow on the tops and the lake is a beautiful blue

Fantastic lichen - ready for the dyepot but sadly not able to come home with us

Wonderful texture of fungi

We are still enjoying the rugby - the ABs play tomorrow against the Cherry bLossoms - wonder who Kazuko will be going for??  The ABs got cup cakes after training today.

Ian has just told me that the stuff for Ally Pally has to go next Thursday after lunch - that means I have a lot to do - so far I have packed sari fabric scraps and silk loom waste......

Spring has sprung

Well it has at Chez Rollerson. And we are having our first bbq for quite some time - primitive aren't we? Our little hibachi can feed a crowd and that chair it sits on has been there for 20 years and still not collapsed. We are going to cook spring lamb tonight - I went to the butcher for something, not sure what, and the butcher told me this was something Ian loves so I bought it! Plus some bbqed red peppers, a rocket and pear salad and potatoes.

And champagne to test the 6 crystal champagne glasses I found today in one of those fossick shops - they match the crystal we have from Ian's mum and dad so Grant and Bruce - some more crystal to add to your heirloom family stuff to fight about one day..... These are all the fashion again now and are actually great to drink champagne out of. I went looking for the flutes as we only have 4 and we saw 4 there one day but they had gone.

Our lovely new door mat which is surely spring inspired and goes with our leadlight door and an inspiration for the new theme I am working towards thinking about.

The first bottlebrushes in our front garden.

I have been to the nursery and worked in the garden - love my collection of stones - some I brought back from Okarito last year.

My herbs are coming along nicely and this year we will see how we go with tomatoes once again. The lime and lemon trees are full of flowers and seemingly fruit but they may not linger - fingers crossed.

We watched parts of three rugby games today - the standard of the so-called minions is good and we are enjoying some exciting rugby. This is what I should have been doing - I will have to get up early and get cracking in the morning or Michelle will be very cross with me (wonder if she reads my blog?)

If you pop over to The Thread Studio facebook page and like us or comment or better still, share us on your page or a friend's page, we will be at 800 before you know it and I do have a giveaway of a big bag of fabulous sari scraps.

Monday Monday

Yesterday we went to Goomalling - it's okay - I had to look it up on google too. Going east past Northam. I was invited to judge Humble Fibres, Vivid Creations - the Goomalling Art Awards - I felt honoured and humbled to be asked - not sure how well qualified I am for this but it was a lovely day and as well as a good drive to somewhere new, we had a lovely lunch and also got to visit Cathy's wonderful shop - Regal and Rustic - do go visit if you are in Goomalling. I love the colour and the goodies Cathy is selling and in fact I think it has inspired my new theme which is going to emanate from our post Ally Pally holiday but more about that later. Here are some photos Ian took - very much a last frontier!

In NZ we called into the longest swingbridge in NZ and paid $5 to walk over it and a little further. I don't mind heights but I hate swingy bridges so was not happy at all about walking across.

Just a couple of pages from my Okarito/Stonehaven journal which is nearly finished after a year. Time to move on to something new and quite different but still a way to go. I am rather determined to fill it totally and to finish my stitchy book which needs binding together etc.

One of my US suppliers has very generously sent my shipment to UK - I am not impressed.....

We have been enjoying the rugby - Japan was magnificent, Wales got done in and the Brits look like they forgot their real shirts and had to buy cheap tape for the numbers which seem to peel off easily. Nothing further until Wednesday!

rugby world cup - at last it has begun

Great opening ceremony for the rugby world cup except that it began earlier than our programme said but we did record it. And congratulations - you ALL got the right answer - I should have asked you the score - ha ha. But I put all the names in a hat and the winner of the giveaway is Ursula - congratulations -your goodies will be on their way to you on Monday. I will have some more giveaways during the month because for us - it is a big thing. We worked like mad to get as much done as we could and finish early so I have quite a few orders to go on Monday - I am sure you will forgive us. I even got permisssion to be a wee bit late with my article for the next Embellish mag. We will be up bright and early tomorrow morning.

rugby world cup and a giveaway

Sorry folks - the Rugby World Cup begins tomorrow but to cheer you all up, I have a special give-away.

All you have to do is to leave a message telling me which two teams kick off first -  and I will draw a name out of the hat - it will cost you postage though.

 Here are some more photos from Lake Rotoiti - one of the resident ducks - very tame and hoping for food I suspect.

 On one of our walks

some more mysteriouso of the lake from the jetty - magical.

Roll on tomorrow afternoon

stones and stuff

I have been playing with inks and bleach these past couple of days and if you remember the stone rubbing I did on a piece of Tissutex which has been dyed black - well I decided to bleach it but it took it back to white - bit boring - so I sprayed it with Long John Silver moonshadow Mist - the walnut ink in it shows quite well.

I rather like the reverse said as well. One thing I discovered - the bleach bottle I got out of the cupboard had no smell and did nothing - had a close look and discovered the date was 2003 - obviously that was the last time I did bleaching stuff - easily fixed though with a trip to the supermarket. A word of warning with bleach - always work with ventilation.

I also did a rubbing on a black paper napkin - remember I collected quite a few in NZ - and then I bleached that - I like this effect very much.

We have finally sent out the newsletter - just a wee tad late and apart from the few people who can't open theirs - for some reason the link vanishes for some people - I have managed not to stuff it up this time.

Here is St Arnaud Lodge where we went for our morning coffee so that I could

check the emails and read the news.

and some more of those lovely mountains overlooking Lake Rotoiti

drowning in parcels

Very busy day today - that always happens when we go away so that we forget we have been... We have been drowning in parcels - this yummy one is my parcel of brushes I ordered from UK ages ago - I think they have been languishing under Grant's desk but I am very grateful he did send them. They were as cheap as chips but something ridiculous to have sent to OZ.

The QA Gifts turned up and we will send them out tomorrow along with the latest Embellish - I have another article in it which reminded me that I have a deadline for the next one on Friday. Tiger for punishment.
Other exciting goodies which appeared were 35 new Stylish Stencils - I haven't had time to fossick inside for some for me yet. Plus rust treated fabric for inkjet printing - something rather new - shall have to test hat too. I also have samples of another new fabric I need to find time to play with - maybe cut out sleeping for a day or two. And I know a few people are waiting - the blooms have arrived to make the Linda Bloomies - just hang in there and everything will be on the web pretty soon. As well as that Jacinta sent a huge bag of wondrous fibres - always a delight to open a bag of beautiful dyeing.

I have my Okarito stuff out as I am going to finish it all and close it off - I collected quite a few black paper napkins in New Zealand and I have done a rubbing of my favourite stone (yes it is large and heavy) I collected in Okarito last year. You would be amazed to hear that there are stones in my handbag - must take them out. I want to do some stitching from this.

Two piccies from NZ - this is day 1 when we flew out of Wellington to go to Blenheim - the city looks huge.

and here we are having circled around (probably past our old house in Glenside) and off we go across the strait. you can see the little wing - only held 20 people and took 15 minutes or so.

For my holey moleys - we will be ready tomorrow - I need to go off and get the mushrooms right now.