I HAVE BEEN SOOOO BAD!!!

I must apologise for being so remiss in posting!!!  My only excuse is "life" and all that it entails.  We've had such a busy/worrying/exciting time over the past 6 months or so.  Health problems with both of us plus our parents; a car accident (a write-off) AND Ross retiring and the purchase of a new home!  Happy to say that both parents and Ross and I are now well; we have a "new" second-hand car AND a lovely new home which we hope to move into in a couple of weeks!  My sewing has been my saving grace I have to say. 

Not the best of photographs - this is my "Let it Snow" banner/swag in the current issue of Handmade Magazine.  I know it's always "strange" that we, in Australia, never see snow but have snowmen as part of our Christmas decorations.   :)  Somehow the trend of putting Santa in shorts/singlet and thongs doesn't ring true for me!  

Thought I'd show you our new home.....photograph taken before completion but gives you an idea of what it's like.  We're so excited about moving in and turning it into "ours".  Even though we didn't build it, it's just perfect for us and easy for me to move around in.  

These are some old photographs (from 2008) of my Christmas decorations at the house in Atherton.  Most of all of this stuff has been in storage since we moved because the rental houses have never been big enough for it all! Hopefully that will change this year.  Mind you!!!  I HAVE collected quite a bit more since then! lol  The reason I'm showing these photographs is that I've entered a competition on Bronwyn Haye's Red Brolly blog for Christmas Collections.  I'm adding a button here on the blog (if I can do it right!) for you to have a look and also to VOTE for me please!  :)  Gosh!!  I've tried to add the button but it won't let me so, go to Bronwyn's blog http://www.red-brolly.com/red-brolly/ and click on her button. I'll try to fix this!!! :)

I WILL try my best to be more regular with my posts in the future.  Only a month until Christmas Day!  *gulp*  Hope everyone's plans are coming along well, Cheers,

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO

I know.....it's been a long time but I HAVE been busy!  Ü  Thought I would show you some of the things I've been working on recently.  Gatton Quilters are having an exhibition at the Regional Gallery of some of our art quilts and they will be on display for the month of June.  Robyn Ginn is opening the exhibit on the 8th June I think it is.  Robyn is an old friend and, of course, is very well known for her absolutely beautiful applique quilts.  


I've just completed the work on a reef embroidery and just have to finish it off to be ready to hang now.  I've only got some close-ups at this stage.  It's been a while in my head as my daughter Kirsten designed her graduation dress way back in 2000 I think it was.  It's taken all this time for her to let me cut into it. The overlay was silk georgette and my friend Sandra helped me hand dye it (or SHOULD I say that I helped Sandra!) from a very dark blue at the bottom through the colours of the sea to a light aqua at the top.  Kirsten wanted an underwater theme to the dress as well an asymmetric hem that formed into a small train.  It had a low back with rouleau draped across it.  I beaded these and add some small shells.  She looked beautiful on the night!


I wanted to keep that draped look and have it hang below the embroidery.  It's going to be a challenge to finish it off.  

Part of the background on the the left of this closest pic is a piece of tanned barramundi skin.  Really easy to work with and adds to the piece I think!


Will show you a pic when I get it ready for hanging.  I thoroughly enjoy working on my reef embroideries and don't try to actually replicate a reef rather than stitch my "fantasy" of it.


This next piece I'm showing you all is what our art quilt group is working on this year.  We've called it "Fragments" and once we've picked a photograph we blow it up to A3 size.  It then gets cut into strips approximately 2in wide. The aim is for each person to reproduce the strip to the exact dimensions, using whatever techniques we choose.  I was lucky???? enough to get the portion with the most work in it of course! lol  I used all sorts of techniques and used some silk rods I had for the piece of driftwood and painted it with some dye to get to the right colour.  My strip for next time is going to be a real challenge!  Wait until you see it.  Ü

I've also been working on quite a few projects for the magazine but can't show them of course.  It's all keeping me busy which is how I like it.  Until next time which I hope won't be as long!  Until then, bye for now.