Travel Blog for my Nepal Trip

If anyone is interested I've written my first post on my new blog I've created for my Nepal trip and any future travels.

It's called Travels Beyond My Dreams.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone

and

I wish you all an abundance of

Love, Happiness and Good Fortune

in 2010.

Have a wonderful day tomorrow

and stay safe over the holiday season.

Lots of Hugs, Barb

I Joined the Bead Journal Project!

After reading Kaite's comment about joining the BJP (Bead Journal Project) I decided that I might as well jump in and do it. Thanks Kaite for the prompting.

I'm going to try to be organised from the start with maybe my backgrounds ready so it makes it easier for me to get started on it each month. They are not going to be totally beaded pieces, but beads mixed with embroidery/mixed media, etc.

I'm actually feeling excited about doing it.

Also for anyone interested in online classes the new Joggles classes for next year are up on their site.

Beaded Art Doll Finished and Final Day to Register for the 2010 Bead Journal Project

I've finally finished the Beaded Art Doll from the online Joggles class I did awhile ago.

Also if you are interested today is the last day to register for the Bead Journal Project for 2010. I would love to join but not sure if I could keep the commitment.

To register and find out more go here.

Needle Magazine

I really like the new free online magazine "Needle". It's for those that love embroidery, both traditional and contemporary. Its put out by the Hand Embroidery Network. There's even an article in this first issue on Susan Sorrell - yay!!

Go here to take a look at the magazine.

You might like to also go and look at the Hand Emboidery Network (HEN). They have a call for entries for their online Winter Embroidery Exhibition with the theme "Winter Wonderland". They have extended the deadline to 31 December. More details can be found on their blog.

Also, view their current exhibition "Living Organisms" here.

I'm going to Kathmandu!!!!!

I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been wanting to see Everest and go trekking in Nepal for a long time. So since I'm turning 45 in December, I wanted to do something special.

I've been looking at brochures and thought I'd picked out one I wanted to do, but then I went looking on the internet at a few different companies. I then found the perfect trip with World Expeditions. It leaves at the end of March for 15 days. Its a fundraising trip for the Australian Himalayan Foundation and part of the money goes towards teacher training (something I'm interested in). We trek for 7 days and camp for part of this time. We also visit the first school and hospital that Sir Edmund Hilary built.

The thing that also makes this trip really special is that Sorrell Wilby is escorting it. Sorrell is an amazing woman. She rode a bicycle through Asia, walked across Tibet, walked the length of the Himalayan Mountains and climbed all the major mountains in Africa. She wrote books on these trips and worked for Australian Geographic. She now does segments on an Australian travel show called "Getaway". I remember reading her books when they first came out and loved them and her sense of adventure. Its going to be wonderful talking to her and listening to her stories.

So, abit less that 5 months to go. Now all I have to do is lose weight and get fit. I'm off to a good start. I've been exercising for 1 - 2 hours most days and I've lost 2.5 kilos in abit over a month. I'm going to start a new blog for this trip and the lead up to it. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Catching Up

This is a painting my son did for me in the School Holidays. I was with him when he was doing it and it was great seeing him work out the different things he wanted to do. Although I'm not teaching anymore, (I'm trained as a primary teacher) I had to stop myself from trying to give him ideas or direct him. That would have just stiffled his creativity. I love how it turned out - its something to treasure.

I can't believe its almost the end of October. I haven't posted for awhile as I've been busy with school holidays, work, etc.

Its my son's 8th Birthday tomorrow - time has flown. Last year he had a Halloween Birthday party but this year he's not having a party. We are just taking him out to an indoor Play Centre for the morning and he wants to have lunch there as well.

I have some big news - (no I'm not pregnant). I'll leave you in suspense until my next post but I'll give you a little hint. I'm doing something really exciting that I've wanted to do for a long time and since I'm turning 45 in December this year I decided it was about time to do it!!!!!!

Spring has Sprung!

Its beautiful seeing all the flowers blossoming. This is a new hanging pot of Petunias that I got. I also have a purple one. I was just sitting it in the wooden planter box until we could hang it. They have really brightened up our outdoor area.

Some big news - I'm a Nanna!!! My step daughter had a baby last week. Its a little boy and they have named him Flynn. Its good that they have moved closer to us. They're only an hours drive away now, so we'll get to see them lots.

Also my 7 year old son is excited to be an Uncle!!!

I've Missed Stitching!!

This is my latest creation.

I've really missed doing embroidery and beading. I haven't attached it all together yet. I'm going to attach it to the purple silk background and then stitch it onto the painted canvas. Its only a small piece and the canvas is 6 x 6.

Back to Normal

The dust has gone - blue sky and clear air today.

It really makes you appreciate this lovely spring day and the lingering scent of Jasmine in the air.

Dust Storm

We woke to a lovely day today and watched on the news where there were dust storms in Sydney and other areas down south. The pictures showed an orange sky with poor visibility. The ferry's on the harbour had been cancelled and flights diverted to Brisbane airport. I was thinking poor people down there.

But by 9.30am the dust started rolling in here. Sydney is approximately 600 klm away so we weren't expecting to get any dust here. Its been windy and hazy since then. I'm glad I'm not working today so I can stay inside and also my son is home sick today from school with a cold. So I'm glad he's not out in it either. The light outside has a yellowy twilight tinge to it. It's a little bit eery.

These photos were taken about 10.30am. The sky isn't orange here, just a dirty white colour. It looks abit like heavy smoke lingering in the air.

We have a festival of Cricket on in our town this week with state sides playing. I'm wondering whether they will have to cancel todays games. Also tomorrow is our Main Horse Race day of the year. There's a half day holiday for it. I'm not going this year but I'm hoping that tomorrow will be all clear for those going, otherwise it would be disappointing.

Week One - Petit Dolls Class with Suzi Blu

Here are some of my first drawings. Sorry, no masterpieces here. I just wanted to put them on here to document my progress. I haven't had much experience at all of drawing, so I'm happy with my progress so far. The class is open now until the end of December so I'm going to spend more time than just one week particularly on this first lesson.

She's Finished!

Saffron

She's all finished and I've named her Saffron. That was really fun. I'm sure I'll be making more of these.

I'd like to come up with my own pattern and idea. I have a few ideas swirling around in my head that I'd like to make sometime. I might put them down on paper and see what I can come up with.

But in the meantime, I have drawing to do. I need to start on my Petit Dolls Class. The good thing is that Suzi has now opened this class until 31 December, so there's no rush now. I'm not the best with short classes, I tend to be left far behind and life always seems to get in the way. So this is great news as I can plod along at my own pace.

Hope you are having a great weekend.

Nearly Finished

She's nearly ready to go out on the town. Her skirt is all finished and ready to go on her today.

Cloth and Clay Doll Progress

This was a progress shot from yesterday. I've attached her limbs, done abit of the painting and made her skirt. So she just needs abit more painting and the skirt to be attached. This was really fun making her. Darlene from Art4Sol left a comment saying that I'd got the doll making bug. I think I have!

I had these three Kookaburras on our side fence yesterday. The weather is starting to really warm up and I was having lunch outside. They stopped laughing when I came outside with the camera so I couldn't get one of them in full song.

Its nice having lots of wildlife around. We have a little strip of reserve beside our house and a creek and reserve behind it. Last week when I came home I saw a Kangaroo munching on grass just over the other side of this fence in the reserve. It makes you feel like you are living out in the country even though we are in a residential area.

Petit Dolls and Cloth and Clay Dolls

Suzi Blu - Les Petit Dolls Online Class

I'm very excited as I've enrolled to do Suzi Blu's Les Petit Dolls Class. I've wanted to do this class for awhile now. If you are interested in doing it, the class hasn't started yet. It starts on 5 September so there is still time to join the class. Suzi is a great character. She teaches in a very fun and flamboyant way. I love her style and hope that some of her talent rubs off on me as I'm only a beginner drawer. Go here is you want to find out all about the class and to register. You might like to also go here to find out more about Suzi and her Les Petit Academy.

Jane DesRosier's Cloth and Clay Doll Online Workshop

I've also enrolled in Jane DesRosier's Cloth and Clay Doll Online Workshop. The good thing about this workshop is that it is available at anytime and you work totally at your own pace. I love these dolls. I've started my first doll and I can't wait to get her finished. If you would like to sign up or register go here. Or even just go to the site to check out all the gorgeous dolls.

I've set aside the beaded art doll from the last class I did as I need to contemplate the type of hair to do on her. I will get her finished soon!

Beaded Art Doll Progress

My progess so far on my Beaded Art Doll. I just need to bead around the head, add beaded hair and then attach the head. The photos aren't the best but I'll get a better one when it is all finished.

Computer Trouble

Had some computer trouble. There was a virus that wouldn't let us log onto anything on the internet - abit scary, but all is fixed now. That will teach me to download something from one of the facebook ads on the sidebar - you live and learn!

I'm also going to start moderating my comments - I hope no one minds. I'm just doing it as a precaution as I don't want any spam or virus links put onto my blog. I'm probably just getting paranoid but anyway it wont hurt to do it.

Doing some more scans on the computer tonight - will try to get some computer time in tomorrow night and finally post some photos of the progress I've made with my beaded art doll. It's been awhile since I said I'd post them - I'm sure I'm testing everyones patients!

See you.

I'm back!!

It's been awhile since I last posted. I've been having abit of a stressful time with work and also a few health issues but nothing major. Things have started to settle down now though and I'm feeling alot better. I have a full week of working this week but then 6 days off - Yay!!! So I'm going to have some time to play.

I've been working on the beaded doll. I've finished the body and the beaded shield. I also got side tracked and did some embroidery as well. I haven't got photos yet, so I'll post some when I get a chance.

The new Joggles online classes have been posted. There are 43 classes this time around. I like the sound of the Altered Journal class with Sarah Whitmire. I'm not sure if I will do it this time around as I have some other online classes that I'm really interested in doing.

Have a good week!

Still Playing

I'm still playing around with the background on my blog. I'm trying out a few different ones. On the weekend I'll get time to fix my header up and make it fit in with the background I choose to go with. So in the meantime the header may look abit strange with the background.

I've Been Playing

This is my second beading sample. I'm starting on the beaded doll now. I'm not sure what design I'll do on her yet. I like the colours in this beading sample so I might use them again unless some other idea pops up.

I've been playing around with my blog today. I still have some playing to do. I kinda like the 3 column look as 2 columns can get abit crowded. The background is a freebie by Itkupilli I think she is very kind to give these for free as well as all the information that she shares on her blog.

I'm not sure if I will keep the blog header or change it. Also I'm going to do some rearranging of all the sidebar icons and maybe delete some that aren't necessary. I'd like to be able to create my own blog background but I'm not that clever yet. I think I saw something on Itkupilli's website which mentioned how to do this - I might have to go and have another look.

Thanks Marga!

"Sunshine" - ATC by Marga

I received this lovely ATC in the post this week all the way from Florida from Marga

It was a lovely surprise and the first ATC I have every got from anyone - so its extra special.

It came in this little cover that she had also made, which is a great idea.

Thanks again Marga, you made my day!

Some More Beading and Hand Embroidery Group

I've finished this sample. The edges are abit wobbly and the beading isn't the best but I like how the motif turned out. It is my first try at this type of beading so its going to take abit of practice. I found it abit hard sometimes when trying to get into the corners to make it even. I suppose it all takes practice. I need to put a backing on it and do some edging and that may fix the edges up abit.

I really like this sample so far. It looks terrible in the photo. The bugle beads are a very light green and a darker green alternated, with a gold seed bead on each end. It wouldn't scan. When I've done some more, I'll try to get a better image of it.

This weeks lesson is the start of the beaded art doll. We are making the face moulds, the body and starting on the beaded shield front. I haven't started yet so I'll have to get cracking!

For the Hand Embroiderers out there you might like to visit the Hand Embroidery Network Group. I've joined but haven't had a chance to have a good look around it yet.

Have a good weekend!

A little Weekend Visitor

Last Saturday this little cutey got handed into me at work. It had been found in the children's park right next to my work. I rang Animal Rescue and they didn't have room for it, so they asked if I could take it home for the weekend and ring them again on Monday.

So when I took it home I was sure to tell my 7 year old son that we were just acting as carers for the weekend and it had to go back on Monday. We already have a cat Jazzy and really can't afford at the moment to have a second cat particularly as we go away abit and have to put our cat into a pet resort for those times.
Anyway, within moments of bringing him home it had the name "Midnight". It was so affectionate and playful. We all fell in love with it. It kept ending up on my husband's tummy or shoulder - I think it was trying it's hardest to win him over. When I fed it for the first time it must have been so hungry that it went splashing right through the milk to get to the food. In the night when it was getting tired it snuggled up underneath my chin, which was really cute.

Every time our cat would see it they both would hiss at each other, but on the morning before the kitten went Jazzy was hanging around getting abit closer. It was best that she didn't get too close to it though as she probably would have been heartbroken when it went. As it was, in the afternoon she looked all over the house to see where it had gone. There were also a few tears on my sons part.

On Monday I took it out to Animal Rescue and they said that it was only about 2 months old. As it was so loveable and friendly they said that it shouldn't have any trouble finding a home. Also they said that everyone usually wants a black and white kitten. It still pulled on my heartstrings - it would have been nice to have kept him. But I suppose sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

I couldn't work in a vets or for Animal Rescue, I'd fall in love with all the animals and want to keep them all. My sons like that too.

So heres hoping that little Midnight is snuggled up somewhere now with a new family who are going to love him like crazy as he had such a beautiful nature.

Another Surprise!

Spirit Garden

My Spirit Garden piece is this weeks most popular photo on the Fibre Focus group. That was a lovely surprise which made my day!

If you haven't been onto this group before, take some time to check it out. There are lots of interesting and very talented people on there.

Textural Beading and Embellishment Class

I've started doing a Textural Beading class with Janet Lasher. This is one of the samples I'm working on. The class also involves making a beaded art doll. I've wanted to make one of these for awhile now and haven't got around to it, so I'm looking forward to finally doing it. The class is up to week 3 already. I wish the classes where 2 weeks to every lesson. It would give alittle bit more time to work on things as life always seems to get in the way. Anyway, I've been enjoying it and I'm interested in learning more.

A bit of an update on my mum - she is finally out of hospital after 8 weeks. She had her 75th birthday in hospital and my brother and Aunty came up to surprise her.

I'm Happy to Accept this award

Thank you for this award Jan from Stitch Witch and Darlene from Art4Sol. It was a lovely surprise and I appreciate that you thought of me.

I have to pass this award on to 8 other creative people. Here are a few rules when accepting your award (these are not my rules) Please feel free to deliver this gift to 8 other people and include the following text with the award on your site: These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. I'm passing this award on to the following people who I've been inspired by, and love reading their blogs.

http://adventuresinthread.blogspot.com/
http://yarnaboutyarn.blogspot.com/
http://fat-quarter.blogspot.com/
http://margascrafts.blogspot.com/
http://alis-clair.blogspot.com/
http://lindavincent.blogspot.com/
http://verlenebrooks.blogspot.com/
http://travelfibreandthread.blogspot.com/

There are also many more blogs that I read and enjoy regularly too.

Arm Knitting

At the Textile Arts Festival there was a short class on Arm Knitting. I didn't do the class as there was a talk I wanted to go to. Anyway, I found instructions on the web and had to try it out. Go here for the instructions. They say you can make a scarf in 20 minutes. I'm only a basic knitter and it took me about an hour as I had to re-read the cast on instructions a number of times before I could work out how to cast on. But after that it was easy. My tension isn't the best. I'm going to pull this one apart as I just wanted to try it out, but I'd like to try it with the proper yarn sometime.

The wool I used wasn't the best as it was abit too thin. You need a much thicker wool. The wool they use is called Slubby Yarn. I think you could use any thick yarn.

If anyone does some Arm Knitting, I'd love to see your results.

Textile Art Festival in Brisbane

The Festival was great. I bought some bits and pieces.

These are all wool except for the one on the right which is silk.

These are sari ribbons, sari silk twist and chiffon.

These are the various material pieces I bought. I love the 5 design pieces on the right, it was hard just to pick these. The 2 smaller woven pieces beside these at the top are upholstery samples. The green piece below these is hand dyed and the Stitched brown piece is also hand dyed. It was from Lisa Walton's stall. She had lots of wonderful hand dyed fabrics. She sells these on her website Dyed and Gone to Heaven.

I went to a few of the talks - Dale Rollerson from the Thread Studio talking about her Textile Art Explorations, one on Shrink Magic and I went to the talk by Marion Gorr about Overseas Textiles.

Marion runs a Silk business and spoke about her suppliers of Silk in China. She showed slides of these. Also they have set up a craft centre for the women of the Vikasana Institute in South India. They have done workshops with the women and give them the waste silk which they use to make dolls. She had a selection of the dolls there. They are going to be returning later this year to give more workshops. The dolls are lovely and they each have the makers name on a label on the back. They had a computer link up with the women in India showing them making the dolls and we were able to ask questions.

This is a photo of some of the dolls. You can see these and other items on the Beautiful Silks website. You can also go here to purchase the dolls online. You can learn more about the Doll making project here.

I did a class with Dale on Ratty Tatty Papers. There wasn't enough time to make a little book as they didn't supply enough irons for us to all use. But we did get to play with making silk paper and using starburst sprays to get different effects. It was also good to be able to see Dale's samples and books she has made, up close.

All the Art Quilts and the other displays were wonderful to see (Recycle Reuse, Collections, State of the Art and Bernina USA Fashion show and Creative Challenge). It is always amazing to see what people can come up with.

I forgot my camera, but here are some blogs with posts and photos of the festival.

Lisa Walton - Dyed and Gone to Heaven. Lisa shows a photo of her quilt "Solar Flare" on her blog. This was really beautiful to see up close. The beading doesn't really show up well in this photo though. Lisa has sold this quilt to a Lady who is going to display it in her Healing Centre. How wonderful - I'm sure this piece will be helping out in the healing process for all those who come in contact with it.

Robin's Ramblings

Also another post by Robin which shows photos of some of the amazing quilts.

Dale Rollerson - Down Under Dale

Textile Art Festival in Brisbane

I'm going to the Textile Arts Festival in Brisbane tomorrow. It's going to be great. I've put my name down to do a Make and Take Class with Dale from The Thread Studio. I'm really excited to be seeing Dale and her products in person as I'm so used to just ordering from her website it will be strange seeing all the products there in real life. There are lots of talks I would like to see but I'll have to wait and see when I'm there to see how much time I'll have.

This Talk sounds excellent:

2.30pm: Marion Gorr, Beautiful Silks, Stand 44. Marion travels to meet all her suppliers to ensure their policies of non child labour and good working conditions are satisfied. In 2008 Beautiful Silks built a simple craft centre for the women of the Vikasana Institute South India. She will share her experience in sourcing and creating ethical textiles, and explain waste-to-wealth products. Also she'll share experiences of the team's recent foray into creating women's micro credit groups and direct selling websites for the poorest textile workers. This talk is accompanied by projected images and real examples of the results her recent travels to source textiles in India and China.Join Marion for this fascinating insight and – depending on the Indian-Australian communication network on the day – a live link up with textile workers in India. This is a once-only event on Saturday – don’t miss it!

I hope to catch this talk. There was a class on at the same time that sounded really interesting - Arm Knitting. The class description says that you will knit a scarf in 20 minutes. This has me intreged. So I'm tossing up over the two but I don't want to miss the talk. Maybe I'll go to the talk and just go and see the class sample at the stall.

I'll try to remember to take some photos to put on here. I know I'm going to be very tempted to buy lots of things. I would like to get some batik fabrics if they have any there. I also can't wait to see the Art Quilts on display.

Shisha Embroidery

This is one of the pieces I've been working on. I still need to put a border around it and maybe some more beading and a design on the border. I'm thinking of also mounting it on a canvas. I showed this background in the post that I did on Indian Inspiration. I haven't named it yet, I'll wait till its finished.

I love the look of Shisha Embroidery. There is a good tutorial on the Joyful Abode blog.

These are some books on Shisha Embroidery that I have.

This is a great book. It is quite detailed. It shows 10 different methods of doing Shisha as well as lots of design ideas. It is packed full of photos - the only disappointment is that they aren't all in colour.

Nearly half of this book is made up of Transfer patterns to be used for Shisha Embroidery. This initially put me off this book as I don't really like using patterns but these are good as a starting point and useful to inspire your own designs. In the introduction it links Shisha Embroidery to Mumtaz Mahal, whose husband the Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan, built the Taj Mahal. It states that she, "Is credited by some with having originated the idea and techniques for Shisha embroidery." There is an interesting section on Regional Styles of Shisha Embroidery. It also has diagrams on how to do Shisha and other stitches. This book doesn't have alot of photos. Once again most of the photos are in black and white. This is a shame as the patterns and embroideries are so colourful, it would be good to see them in their full splendour.

I love the picture on the front of this book. Surjeet Husain, who wrote this book, was born in India and intially learnt embroidery from her Aunt. She is now a Lecturer in Textiles in London and teaches the art of Indian and English embroidery. The book has sections on General Information, Stitches, A Project - a Bushkiri Bag and Design inspiration. It has some good designs at the back and shows how you can develop a pattern. Surjeet has two other workbooks on Indian styles of Embroidery.

Some links that show Shisha Embroidery are:

Shisha Embroidery Flickr Group

Stitch Magazine Article

Shisha Google Images

Jane Austen Meets Bridget Jones

"Lost In Austen"

This DVD was one of my Mothers Day presents. It was on TV a while ago and I only got to watch one episode. When I was off work from my operation, I got to curl up on the lounge and watch this all in one go. I really loved it. It's really well done.

If you're a Jane Austen and Bridget Jones fan you have to see this, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Crazy Weather

We've had stong winds and heavy rain for the last 2 days in the whole region. There has been lots of flooding north of us and into Queensland, the worst some areas have had in 35 years. Schools have been closed yesterday and today. They were asking people yesterday to not travel on the roads if they didn't have too as there were trees coming down and power lines.

There is some flooding in our city so far, but the river is rising and they expect it to peak today at 10.4 metres at noon. It goes over the levee bank at 10.6 metres. They are asking everyone in the CBD to evacuate by 10.00am today. The Sun is trying to shine, so we may be lucky and not get any more rain. It still could be a major flood as there was alot of rain overnight in the whole catchment area. My work is in the CBD near the river, but it is raised up. I don't think it will be open today. I haven't had to work the last few days so I was able to stay at home and off the roads. My husband works over the other side of the river so I'm hoping that he will only just be moving things at work this morning and then coming home.

Lucky that 2/3rds of the city is up on a huge hill. We live up there too so no flooding for us thank goodness.

I've been doing some more stitching. I'll have something to show soon. I'm working on a UFO and also working on the Orange Indian piece from my Indian inspiration post.

Guatemalan Textiles

I love fabric and embroidery from other countries. I have been reading Rayela's Fiber Focus blog and came across her posts on Guatamala. There are some posts on there from Erin, who has an Etsy shop called La Chapina. She sells wonderful packs of Scrap sampler Huipil patches. I ordered one as I wanted to have some interesting pieces to use in my stash.


They came with a cute little worry doll.

They are all so colourful and interesting. I'm going to incorporate them into different pieces that I do.



I went on Dalene's blog - Art4sol today and saw that she has also purchased a pack of these and she has done a post on this today. I hope Darlene doesn't mind that I've also done a post. It's abit like show and tell - I wanted to show mine too. Darlene does some really lovely work, so it will be interesting to see what she uses these for.



I wanted to find out some more about Guatamalan Textiles so I got these two books out of the Library while I was waiting for the pack to arrive.

This book is one of the books in the Fabric Folios series (a great series). Its full of vibrant photos of Guatemalan Textile pieces with explanations of the techniques. The introduction presents interesting background information on materials used, principal techniques, patterns and symbolism plus more. This is a large hardcovered book. Its a beautiful book that covers Textiles from the areas of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand; Orissa, Rajasthan and Gujarat; Mexico and Guatemala; Panama; Romania and Benin. It is full of lots of "Eye Candy". There are many photos of traditional costumes, people and beautiful fabrics. It is written as a Textile Tour of the world where you are transported to each country as she writes about her travels, details about people she meets and her experiences with lots of background information included. It will be hard parting with this one!