Northampton Workshop

I have just spent a lovely weekend in Northampton (the Western Australian one) and I stayed at Horrocks with Di and Ian , who were wonderful hosts - crayfish for lunch was a treat and I behaved myself by sitting through an Aussie Rules game only falling asleep for a short time and then Eagles won. Sadly I had to wait until today to find out what happened in the rugby but the Hurricanes were beaten.




My class arrived well before me on the Sunday - they worked hard and created some lovely work. That is one of the exciting things about workshops - everyone learns something new and I always get new ideas from what people do.




The old paper napkins went down well and it always amazes me the different results you get
Joan didn't really want to sew......



We did a variety of different things




Wonderful from Leonie




And some more




And then she found my three fat sparrows moulding mat which she insisted were three fat chooks - who am I to disagree?




Jude produced these ethereal pieces




I am not sure whose these were but we started talking about additions to silk




Di was planning with rods




A few more additions to silk




Helen stitched some rods




She was also busy with napkins - this was lovely




And some layering




Not sure whose this was but Bonny who whipped her work away before I could catch it was working in pink




I think Dell did this one




More additions




A variety of activities




And more




And more




Simple transfer with some great results




Barbara's pieces were fantastic




Some casting awaiting




Some more of Barbara's work




And she found my favourite sponge alphabet stamps




Ethereal




And the sunset at Horrocks - thanks everyone for a delightful weekend - I loved all the work and enjoyed the surrounds.

Revisiting

 I thought I would revisit the very beginning of my blog writing - back in 2006 or so - I have written a lot since then - could turn it into an autobiography. This was the very first ATC I made using felting needles - sadly someone stole it from my stand at AQC and when you make another it is never the same.

This was it - and I gave it a foot this time so it could always walk home. I do hope the person who stole it has looked after it. Always a little of your soul goes walkabout when part of you vanishes without word.

At that same AQC I handed around a full size sheet of Tissutex all painted and batiked and when it came back it was half the size - some luscious type had torn half of it off - amazing. Hope she or he used it wisely.

And this was the first bigger piece of needlefelting I made - amazing how you change although I am still very fond of this one. I think it is the colours.

I have worked very hard this week and have finally got all the one-off supa sale orders done - not all invoiced as yet but it is quite satisfying after a very busy four days. Thanks to everyone who took advantage of our generous sale. It has been intersting to see what you bought. Hardly a machine thread - wonder what that means?

Now I have a lot of prep to do for my workshop this weekend in Northampton which I am looking forward to - be up bright and early to pack etc - I still want to play with my frangipani leaf and gelli plate first though.
but in the meantime it is wine o'clock and a bbq. The rain from yesterday did not last.

Birthday Roses

My beautiful birthday roses from Kazuko and Bruce - so lovely. And last night they took us out to dinner at Wot the Pho - always great food - we skipped the entree so we could have desert.

No time to do anything remotely creative today - busy working through the one-off supa sale orders. Think we might nearly be half way. We do all the regular orders as they come in and then get back to it. Sold out of quite a few lovelies but they will come again.

Tomorrow I shall stop to prepare my stuff for my trip to Northampton - really looking forward to it and hope everything fits into my suitcase. I have been lucky that someone picked up a big box for me.

And we have some wonderful rain today which puts paid to our bbq so we are cooking inside the oven.

Final bit of Broome

We are home again, as busy as. The one-off supa sale was extremely popular and it will take us week to get through the orders. We don't seem to ave made much of a dent yet, but all normal orders we are processing each day as normal. This was our lovely outdoor shower.




I love the tiles - in the style f a frangipani




Full of plants



And more plants - why would you want to shower indoors?
After we checked out, we stayed and swam and read until it was time to go. We didn't miss the plane back and Harley was very happy to see us. Loos like she has been trying to get into her biscuit box - she seems to have got fatter

Last day in Broome

Today we went to the markets where we bought chilli sauces and melon chutney from these ladies. Then we had a scrumptious fruit juice mixture, bought soap, some freshwater pearl earrings, a bag of limes and some aloe stuff for the sandfly bites which over about 95% of my body. I think they are getting better - certainly have gone down in I've and stopped itching




The frangipani trees outside our villa for Shelagh




And more across the way




This is the garden behind our room - very private and it is quiet because there are not many people around. It was hot hot today so we spent a lot of time in the pool and then went to the port for the sunset




Red rocks




At my feet




Another sunset




Almost gone

Relaxing in Broome

Coming into our villa



Getting ready for our swim




Playing with my gelli plate, paints and sprays on tissutex - the paint acts as a great resist for the sprays

Apart from the bites over the entire part of my body, we are having a lovely relaxing time. Had some wonderful fish on the BBQ last night, watched the rugby, read and pottered. Collecting supa sale orders - don't forget you have today and tomorrow to take advantage of this one-off event. Now we are off to the markets

Lovely birthday in Broome

Thanks for all the birthday wishes - had a lovely day - relaxing, reading, swimming, stitching, a facial and more. Breakfast at Zander's on Cable Beach





Ian insisted on taking a photo so I had better post it





We drank champagne at Sunset on Cable Beach - we think this is the first time we have made it before the sun actually set





And just before it sank into the sea. Then we had a lovely BBQ in our little courtyard and celebrated with an Elderton's Command Shiraz.

Woke up this morning totally covered in bites - that will teach me but I am sure they will disappear before too long

Off for more holiday - Broome is rather quiet this year but the weather is wonderful.

We have been rather inundated with orders from our one-off supa sale which we will start processing from Monday - don't forget you have until Sunday night to place an order - this is unlikely to happen again....

Wonder how Harley is getting on without us?



Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Broome

In Broome at last

-Well we arrived too late for the sunset on Cable Beach so took one pics in the plane. We missed our flight by 5 minutes for the bags and you have to say the Qantas staff do not seem happy in in their jobs. Anyway 5 and half hours later of hanging around Perth airport and we finally got going!





Another sunset photo but with a bit of coastline





The patterns in the water and on the shoreline were amazing




And one more to make you jealous

But - we are here and fed and wined and Ian has locked the key inside our villa now solved - and the weather is glorious

Some naughty people have emailed their orders for the one-off supa sale which starts tomorrow a day early but I have or given them. We will start processing all the orders in order or receipt on Monday morning. On holiday right now!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Broome

Off we go and check this out

Tomorrow morning as our reward for working through Easter, we are off to Broome for a few days  and as it is my birthday on Thursday, we will be sipping on champagne on Cable Beach at Sunset - swimming, reading, relaxing, drawing, stitching and all of that. Thatlong coast you can see is Cable Beach - we are staying on that side of Broome.

In the meantime do check out our super sale which runs from Thursday to Sunday

http://www.thethreadstudio.com/xsale/sale.pdf

I shall be posting while we are away, hopefully glorious pictures of Broome and surrounds.

Holiday is over

 The Easter holiday is over and I guess all the hundreds of neighbours will start arriving home. Actually many of them have. it has been so nice and quiet. I am feeling very pleased with myself as I have finally finished all the stitching for my next Let's Play book so I can move on to the next thing - it is now all in Ian's capable hands and hopefully will be ready for the printer in a week or two. Above is a little Kimberley Dreaming. If you want to check out my new Artful Journey facebook page you will be able to see lots of Kimberley Dreaming. Needless to say - we have worked right through the long weekend but will be rewarded before too long.

 I packaged heaps and heaps of Slushies - this is Royal Brocade - and it is quite satisfying when a big job is done. Tomorrow I shall be filling the box of goodies for my 2 day workshop in Northhampton (no - not the one near you Shelagh) - getting quite excited and trying a few new ideas which I hope they enjoy, Don't forget the following Sat - 28th - is my Artful Journey workshop  here - there is one vacancy if anyone is interested. Should be lots of fun.

Harley has had a very busy weekend too - eating, playing and sleeping. She must be far more contented as she is sleeping on our bed and not in the fireplace and loves roaming the back garden when we are outside.
It was really foggy this morning - I should have taken a photo.

Hope you all had a lovely relaxing weekend. The highlight of my day today has been discovering how to get rid of the ads on facebook which crop up all the time. Unless you 'like' a page, it keeps reappearing and annoying you.  Bruce told me to try Adblock Plus and it worked. All I can hope is that the people with the ads are paying heaps and now I don't have to see them anymore.

another holiday day -

 Even though it is a holiday once more we have been working although we had a decent sleep in. I have rather a pile of shushies to package and am working through them rather slowly if only to clear space in the bedroom so I can find my shoes. The left above is tissutex sprayed with colour and twin-needled onto felt - the right is sar ribbon ironed and twin needled onto felt as well. Still deciding what next - I might cut and weave - notsure.

 I popped one of my new texture pieces on top to see how it looks.

And another Kimberley Dreaming piece on velvet on Romeo. Just about worked Romeo out for the moment.
Maybe another sleep in tomorrow it's been amazingly quiet although thieves popped into Frank's garage and stole the copper pipes about 3am this morning. We didn't hear them. There are apparently lots of copper thieves around Perth at present.

I do like holidays

 I like holidays mainly because everyone goes away and it is lovely and quiet. I have been creating little textured pieces - I am very pleased with these. I have also finished ironing my kimberley dreaming sari ribbon hank so will start on that tomorrow. A few ideas for how I use it this time.

But first the rugby - a wonderful win by the Hurricanes. Ian is cooking a bbq and then we are off to watch the Chiefs vs the Force. Who will win?

Hope you all had a lovely day as well. We had a big sleep in and could be lazy.

phew - it is Thursday

 I just don't know where time goes - we have cut down on shows this year to two so we could concentrate on the website and I could concentrate on my work and stuff but we are so very busy that every day roars by faster than. I package or wind or cut or whatever every day and still always have a long list. Did manage to get up tot he studio to finish this little cover for a little book. The bluey-turqouise is a bit dominant but it does have edges and looks much better in the flesh.

And I have ironed about half of a sari hank in kimberley dreaming - it is so beautiful laid out. I am going to weave some tomorrow. We are not going anywhere for Easter and plan to get quite a few things done. The rain we have had has been wonderful - not much but it clears the air, makes the birds happy and the smell of the trees is great in the mornings.

I am also planning a few new ideas for my Artful Journey workshop in 2 weekends up in Northhampton - really looking forward to it. I have a one day one here on 28th which has now got a vacancy as someone had to pull out so if anyone is interested. It is only 1 day but I am planning for us to try to complete a wee tag book as a start to an artful journey.

The other night we went to a fabulous concert - Handel's Messiah - the Dublin version - it was exceptionally good - St George's Cathedral Consort were superb - the small orchestra led by Paul Wright also superb and Fiona Campbell - the mezzo soprano - was outstanding. We thoroughly enjoyed it. While I have heard the Messiah many times and sung in choirs performing it, I thought this performance was one of the best.

Just watched the Blues lose their rugby game but looking forward to a few good games this weekend - here we will go to watch the Chiefs vs the Force tomorrow - should be an excellent game. But I am hoping to do a lot of creative stuff beforehand.

an artful journey, a wee book cover and some really yummy stuff

This is the book cover I have made from the stitching I showed last blog. I stitched rows of plain stitch and then a leaf pattern on each row and over the top I used a large leaf pattern which one of my machines has. the inside cover is a flimsies and velvet combo. just about to make the pages using khadi paper and the gelli plate - there is a parcel of new stamps on the kitchen bench not yet opened because I opened the big bag first

 and inside was our new very own hand dyed sari ribbon. Our man in India sent me heaps and heaps (and more) of the palest sari ribbon for Jacinta to over dye. This is the first colour - and believe it or not it is Kimberley Dreaming. SO so yummy and I am poring through deciding which one will be mine. It arrived just after I sent out the newsletter but you can bet I will hassle Ian to pop it on the web as soon as.

Another photo of what I tipped out onto the bench. I say Kimberley Dreaming because for anyone interested, I have started a new facebook page - An Artful Journey - the link is on the right - I am plotting my arty story in themes - April is Kimberley Dreaming month and while some have been seen before, it keeps them together and helps me sort out where I am going. Once I choose my hank, I shall iron it and then decide what next. Some have quite textured sari fabric and some even have the odd jewel hidden in (or rather sewn in)

Rugby - well the Hurricanes lost but they are still doing okay having so many young players - the chiefs won - well played - and even better for the loyal fans who attend every game - the Force beat the Reds very convincingly. At last. Looking forward to the Chiefs vs the Force this Friday. Many things to be done before then though.