Workshops

Friday, September 28, 2012

Adelaide day 1




Here we are in Adelaide with an empty stand, a heap of boxes and four tables. We arrived late last night and slept in this morning. Worked hard all day and amazed ourselves by being ready for the opening at 6.30pm




All the boxes being opened - we hate this time because we look inside knowing it all had to come out then we tip it all out and try to work out how to get it all on the tables. As usual we were short of baskets but what's new




Nearly ready










And it is nearly 9pm and we are off to a tapas bar very soon

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Off to Adelaide


This afternoon we are off to Adelaide for the Australian Machine Quilting Festival - if you are in Adelaide or coming - hope to see you - when you come in the door just turn left and you will find us tucked in at the end where the tutors lunch/rest room is. All of our boxes are there except for Box no 5 which hopefully will arrive tomorrow - no idea what is in Box No 5...... We haven't been to Adelaide for ages and ages and hear the restaurant scene is very good - well we have been given a list or two to check out.

I have soaked lots of Tissutex in Bubblejetset and have had to move the laptop and printer to the kitchen so I can print on it - can't get the internet in the studio - I can access 25 other networks but not my own. Crazy. I shall be all ready to work on this next week when we get back.


I haven't got very far with the 4th Let's Play kit I Must Wear Purple other than gathering all the materials - next week... but in the meantime I am also gathering materials for my holiday sitching - this is for after London - where do you think we are going this year?



Tuesday, September 25, 2012

this and that on Tuesday


 This is a very colourful post I am seeing. All the boxes of stuff went off to Adelaide yesterday and our kitchen and dining room look absolutely pristine. Harley fixed that by pulling out balls and balls of Valdani perle cotton and after a quick roll she got another - I am finding them all over the place.
I have been creating spray displays for the walls - there are 28 different sets of sprays and I have finally finished spraying flowers, tags and water colour paper and then gluing everything on. I think they should look good on the wall but they are delicate and I am carrying them all as hand luggage which will probably have to sit on my lap to avoid being crushed. Don't forget our wonderful spray promotion ends tomorrow night - we have had lots of sets of sprays going off to new homes.



 I have also put together the third let's play needlefelting kit - this one is Kimberley Dreaming. They take me ages but do look good waiting to be photographed. The 4th one will be I Must Wear Purple but I have to create my piece first. Maybe in Adelaide I will stitch it if i have time to create the backgroung tomorrow.


QA 59 arrived this afternoon so I worked like a trooper and got them all out to their new owners.


I was at one of my suppliers today and bought a lovely mixed media journal - it has a fabulous paper surface and will take all sorts of media. I might even get some in for sale. I have not worked with a large long book like this before and am going to take it on holiday with me. I am trying to print out maps onto Tissutex which has been soaked in Bubblejetset but to do so I am going to have to bring my laptop and printer into the house because I can't get the internet up in the studio and I can't save the maps to put on a stick. Tomorrow.... first thing.....

I am glad you had a laugh at my dramatic wool gathering - we call them tops in Aus but you could say they were certainly roving - well more like racing and flying! And no to all the people who have asked - there does not seem to be a video on you tube so bad luck. I did have a near disaster one other time when I was carrying a very large box of Valdani perle down to the warehouse and with my brain somewhere else I managed to trip over and the box contents went everywhere. Fortunately it was very early about 6.30am and no-one was around and it was not windy. I did have to gather them all though!

Last night we went to a Musica Viva concert and while the musicians were brilliant, the programme they played was sophorific and lots of people went to sleep. Shame really.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

messing about on a Sunday

 Early this morning I went for a walk around Hyde Park - lovely time of the day because mostly there are only birds around and a few eager runners. The lake is looking quite good at the moment.

 Very tranquil but it will be a battle to keep the water flowing with the dry we have had and much more to come.
 I am not sure of the name of this flower but it looks like a giant day lily - looked lovely out in flower.
Stop Press - it's a Clivia. 

 Coming back I passed the local funeral directors - nothing exciting but I loved the sign on the gate - as if....

Today we have finally got all the boxes ready for Adelaide - TNT arrives very early - Ian has had to remind me that we only have a tiny stand but it is so hard deciding what to take and what to leave. I hope all of my bloggy folk who live in Adelaide come to see us - it is a long time since we were last there - - in fact I can't remember when - I ran a playday in town if I remember.  Looking forward to it though.

Now tomorrow I have plans to maybe play in the studio for some of the day....

I do have a funny story to share first - well it was funny afterwards. On Thursday I went to our warehouse to collect wool tops to pack - imagine a giant bag full of approx 100 50 gram bags. It was very windy but silly me, I popped the bag outside the door while I went to lock and whoof - the bag blew away and the wool tops ran up and down the road swirling and rolling everywhere. I kept seeing dollars racing away from me... you have to imagine a mad woman running around trying to collect them. It is a busy road and I was a bit in despair but to my amazement, the cars all stopped and waited while I collected. (I shall temporarily take back my negative feelings towards 4 wheel drives.) When I finally had them all back in my big bag I popped them in the car and one of the drivers clapped before he drove off. I really needed a cup of tea and a lie down afterwards but I had to go back later and this time it was pouring with rain and I got soaked but at least no wind. it must be srpringtime in WA.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

wildflowers

 Spring is a lovely time of the year - the wildflowers are always lovely and it always amazes me that in this arid land there are such bright strong colours. nature is a wee bit glorious. This is Geraldton Wax which grows very readily and makes a good display.

 We have a lovely big bottlebrush tree in our front garden and it is out in flower - one of my favourites really.

 Here is a close up of the brush.

And even though I have spent most of the day packing boxes for Adelaide, I found a wee bit of time to play with fabric. Not sure what I am going to do with it as yet - I had a play with quite a few pieces so have a little stash. After tomorrow i should have a couple of days to play I hope.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Moonglow Spray Set Promotion



  1. To celebrate the updating of this web section, we have a fabulous offer of the Moonglow Spray packs - only until Wed 26th September. 28 different sets to choose from - this one is Moonshadow Pirates. Check it out here
     
     
    Everyone knows I just love the Moonglow Sprays and I know lots of you do too 

Thursday, September 20, 2012

going for the middle of the week this time

 I thought I would try for a blog write during the week this time. I think it is just because we are busily plodding away and nothing exciting is happening. We are trying to have bbqs when it is fine with no rain or wind. This is preparation while the fire settles down. We are having lovely spring time weather - warm but quite windy and raining from time to time which is wonderful as we sure need the rain. And my tomato plant is bigger than any other tomato plant I have ever grown - with lots of flowers. Very promising.


 Last night we went to Clarkes of North Beach - fabulous restaurant - this was Ian's decadent dessert. He was really feeling like celebrating as the boxes for Ally Pally are all safely settled in Kent waiting for us. All smooth so far.

 This is my decadent dessert - that citrus strip was divine. I love the tartiness of lemon or lime.

 Behind Ian is the cupboard where Harley's biscuits live - a very important aspect in her very existence.

Having lost out she is back where her plate - full of course- should be. Piles of my stuff I am getting ready for Adelaide behind her. She has learnt to jump over all of my stuff - just as well.

Our palette to Adelaide was supposed to go tomorrow but TNT have told us Monday is fine. Never sure if this is good or bad because one always just uses the time. We got the first 2 needlefelting kits up on the website and if you feel so inclined do check out the Moonglow section. Ian has been slogging away updating it and it looks good. In fact if you check it out tomorrow there will be a fantastic promotion for celebration.I have also popped up a new giveaway - check out the tag at the top.



Sunday, September 16, 2012

It's Sunday - AGAIN

 It has been another of those weeks. Got all the boxes off to London on Tuesday which is early but helps Ian to sleep at night if he knows they are safely there. Plus we had a drama last year afterwards because the girl here didn't tick on of the boxes and the UK customs were a wee bit of a nuisance. So fingers crossed that everything is correct this time round.

I have been working on my new Let's Play for the Embellisher kits - this one is stonehaven which I made a while back but I have had a lot of fun gathering everything. Just having drama with the printer not wanting to print colour properly and over-exposing everything.


 This is a close-up of mine.

 Here are the kits all ready to package and below the flower stitcher fossils I stitched up and burnt out before during the breaks and after the rugby yesterday.Two good games and then Ian and I went to the Lido for honey prawns because Ian felt like them and they served us honey chicken - just as well I alerted them and have to say they always look after us. Our favourite waiter said he would have got it right but new waitress.....

This is the second kit piece - Passion Has Red Lips and trust me - it really is red. We are having so much drama trying to get the red colour right. Everything is misbehaving. I have had a lot of fun stitching this piece - even took it to the hairdressers where they thought I was as mad as usual.

It is a beautiful day in Perth today - we should be outside but I am gathering and packing and sorting for the Australian Machine Quilting Festival in Adelaide. I hope if you are in Adelaide you will come see us at the convention centre - 28th Sep to 1st Oct. Our stuff goes on Friday but I try to sort things carefully because we haven't a lot of space for a stand.

I have also been packaging the new Flat Fabios - glorious sprays just colour no shimmer. So I have very dirty fingers from all the display boards I have been making.

If you are on facebook, I have a little questionaire for anyone who cares to leave an opinion for me.


Sunday, September 09, 2012

another week - where does time go?

 This week has flown by basically doing boring things - I had the dreaded tooth out on Monday and that put me out of action a little - I think the abscess was less trouble. Yesterday we watched the rugby games and had a bbq - Harley was quite social pottering around.

When we went to West End Deli a couple of weeks back we admired the sculpture on the ceiling or just below the ceiling - hard to photograph at night .

I am busy packing boxes forAlly Pally - they go off to London tomorrow . One thing I have popped in are hand dyed emu feathers - these ones are Kimberely Dreaming. Right now I have been printing and stitching the very last piece for my Romeo book, working on a Let's Play kit just hand stitching and sorting out our beautiful silk laps - at last. We have also been enjoying wonderful weather this weekend and about to have a bbq - surprise surprise....

Sunday, September 02, 2012

weekend workshop

 I have spent the weekend at a great workshop with Polly Stirling who in 1994 with her assistant Sachiko Kotaka developed the technique they termed "Nuno Felt." By manipulating a minimum amount of wool fibre through a fine base weave they could make a felted fabric with characteristics quite different from traditional felt. . http://www.wildturkeyfeltmakers.com/PollyStirling.html
I have dabbled with nuno felting in my little way - I am the first to admit I am a lazy felter but I love the effects of combining wet and dry felting in my own style. our workshop was called Strip Felts - a variation of Nuno felt where we played with strips of fabric and only a wee amount of wool (well that was me anyway)
Everyone else was busy making a vest and laying out copious amounts of loveliness but I wanted to make some samples to experiment. At the top was the stuff I laid out - a collection of fabrics in Indian Summer cut from an art to wear piece and other stuff in my bag.

 once felted - this is the back - lots of lovely texture

 and the front pretty good as well. Decisions always about which side... The colour is hard to photograph without that pink raring its ugly head but it looks good.

 Today I made a much larger piece using all the Brianna stuff Jacinta left with me after the show here in Perth.
Very pleased with it and I might even turn it into something else.

 This is the back - I used silk gauze, satin, organza, tissue silk, scrim, velvet, and some sequined fabric, cotton and of course wool - but not much.

I made a third piece which again does not look so good in this colour but from the art to wear i had knitted up a scarf in various ways and I cut a bit off the end and felted it over strips of said fabric - it actually looks lovely and very textured and I deliberately left holes for the knitting. In fact I left holes in everything - you must remember that the fairies always need places to breathe.

The newsletter is finished and should be in your in boxes pretty soon. Let's hope there are no gremlins this time......

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