Backgrounds

Following are some backgrounds I've been doing for Week 1 of the Joggles online Mixed media class with Jane LaFazio.

There are some very talented people in the class so it is going to be interesting to see their class work. I think my favourites are the first photo (the red/orange one) and also the yellow/green one. It doesn't look as bright in real life.

This is week 2 of the class, so I have to get thinking about what images I will use. I might also make some changes to the backgrounds as I go. I might need to tone down some of the patterns abit and make some additions. I will see how it all unfolds. Its alot of fun!

Tissue Paper

I bought this tissue paper today from K-mart in the Christmas section. I love the designs. I think I will have to use this in some of my work. Its abit too nice just to wrap presents in and then have it thrown away.

Some things I like in my garden.

October TIF Challenge Progress

I little bit of progess on my October TIF. I work again tomorrow so will do the stitching and beading later in the week. I have 6 days off work so will hopefully have it finished in that time, so I can start thinking about November TIF. Times slipping away too fast, its nearly Christmas and 2009!!

October TIF Challenge

I got a little bit of my October TIF done. I used an idea from this dvd by Joyce Becker which involves doing free motion machine stitching onto water soluable stabiliser. In the dvd she uses it for a beach scene to depict the white sea foam. It looked very effective.

These are some examples I did. I used a different colour in my bobbin which gave a different colour effect on each side.

I then did some looser examples to see how they would look.

I can see that this will be a useful technique to keep in mind to add to my work.

This is the one I'm going to use in my October TIF piece. It is going to be used to represent my workspace at the moment, where all my colours are mixed all in together and its pretty messy. I'm going to position this either in the bottom left hand corner or the middle of the piece. I'm then going to have strips of various colours of material radiating out from it. On the coloured strips I'm going to add colour co-ordinated emboidery as well as attaching colour co-ordinated buttons, beads etc if I think it needs it as I go along.

Things have got busy this week. I'm organising my son's 7th birthday party for this Friday after school. It's going to be a Halloween themed birthday party, so I've been busy getting everything ready. Also my online Jane La Fazio class starts this week as well. So I know that this wont be finished by the end of the month, but I'm going to try to get it finished early in the month.

October TIF Challenge

This months challenge is all about thinking about your textile work space. How do you feel about this space? What role does it play in your life?

I was going to post a photo of my workspace, but I'm alittle bit embarrassed to show it. It is in a spare room that has other boxes and thinks in it as well. It is abit cluttered. My materials and fibres are in 3 baskets under my work table, all in together with no colour co-ordination. I have a 4 draw cupboard in my built in cupboard which has my painting, stamping, and various other supplies in it. My work table is covered in various unfinished projects. I have to take my sewing machine out to the Kitchen table and set it up every time I want to use it.

Anyway this challenge has made me think about how to improve my workspace. At the moment it is hindering my creativity. I want it to be a light, uncluttered, colour co-ordinated area for me to work in. It's only a small room so I'll have to think of some ways to utilise the space in the best way. At the moment I have a table but I would like to try to find a bench table that has some storage cupboards underneath. I want to have a working board on the wall. I have a large bookcase in the room with all other books on it. I'm going to swap the books and only have my quilting/embroidery/mixed media/etc books in it. The built in cupboard at the moment is very cluttered too, so it needs a good clean up too.

I have taken a before photo and will show this when I have some nice after photos to show. It might take me alittle while to do all this but I will defineately show photos when its done.

I think this space will play a bigger role in my life and I will be able to create more when I make it into a space I love being in.

Anyway I have some ideas for my challenge piece using an idea I haven't tried from a Quilting DVD I got out of the library. I don't work tomorrow, so I'm going to drop my boy off at school in the morning and come home straight away to start creating. I'm hoping I will get quite abit of it done tomorrow and will have something to show.

Playing with backgrounds.

I've been playing around with some background ideas. I put wool and fibres down on a black cotton background. I covered it up with black netting and did lots of messy free motion embroidery. I used this same technique for my August TIF challenge piece but I wanted to play around with some different colours and use the black netting.

My scanner isn't working at the moment so I had to take photos. The colours are a little washed out and not as rich looking. Anyway, I created this blue background to use as an underwater scene.

Also this week I got this book in the mail. It was abit of a surprise as I had pre-ordered it quite awhile ago, so I wasn't expecting it. This is a great book. I've started to read it and can see lots of inspiration starting to stir in my mind.

I'm looking forward to starting Jane La Fazio's Online class through Joggles next week.

I've been thinking alot about the October TIF - I know I'm running very late. It took me awhile to get into this months challenge, especially since last month was so busy and I skipped the TIF challenge. Anyway, I will post tomorrow about my thoughts on the October TIF. Stay tuned!

I've been on Holidays.

Hills Inlet and Whitehaven Beach, North Queensland

We've been away on holidays at Mackay and Airlie Beach in North Queensland. This photo was taken on a daytrip we took on a boat through the Whitsunday Islands. We went snorkelling, walked up to the Hills Inlet lookout and swam at Whitehaven Beach. It was a wonderful day.

There were two of these statues at the enterance to our Balinese style resort at Airlie Beach.

This was the view from our Bedroom and loungeroom. The photo really doesn't do it justice. The water was a beautiful blue/green colour.

This was taken from our balcony looking down at one of the pools. There were 3 pools and a spa. It was very relaxing and we had a great time. We went swimming most days and managed to work up abit of a tan.

We've been home a few days, so have been unpacking and doing all the washing. I didn't do the September TIF Challenge. I have an idea of what I want to do though. I will get started on the October TIF challenge though and try to fit in September.

I've been Shopping!!!!!

I haven't been able to help myself - I had to buy these wonderful books, dvd and material. I'll have to do a review of the books when I get a chance. I watched the DVD yesterday and really enjoyed it. I'll have to make a soulful door when I get the chance.

I got these materials from Joggles.com. There were so many others I could have ordered but had to control myself. I love green. The brown one on the left reminds me of the Basic Grey papers which I love. That one and the paisley one make me want to make some exotic Indian inspired piece.

Running behind with TIF but will post my initial thoughts for September soon.

Books and Cooking Class

Today I did a wonderful cooking Class called Elegant Vegetarian with Nadine Abensur . Nadine is the author of some cookbooks, two of these are - Enjoy and The Cranks Bible. We made Mediterranean Garlic Soup with Red Onion and Cumin Jam, Cauliflower Fritters in Chickpea batter with Zhoug, Dolmades of Haloumi in olive oil with pine nut, tomato and Chickpea couscous. Artichoke and Parsley Salad, Fried Eggplant with pistashio, coriander, orange blossom pesto and finally for dessert - Churros with Chocolate sauce. The food was absolutely beautiful and Nadine is such a great chef and teacher. I'll have to keep my eye out for more of her classes as it was alot of fun.

This is one book I have been interested in getting but I ended up getting it out from my local library. It starts off with the basics and then has a gallery of lots of designs, explaining how they are done. Then the last section has various projects. The designs in the book are all very modern, interesting and are great inspiration to explore your own ideas. I haven't tried Crewel before so I'll have to have a go. But this one is also good for exploring ideas for other types of embroidery as well.

I also found this book "Stitches for Embroidery" at my local library and it turned out to be abit of a surprise. I'd like to buy this book to have as a reference book. The first part has a stitch sampler of the 20 stitches that are used in the book followed by the directions for doing each stitch. The next sections explore Lines, Texture, Filling Shapes, Leaves and Foliage, Round Flowers, Flower Spikes, Flower Impressions, Stems Trunks and Branches, Trees, Sky, Water, Buildings, Stitch patterns, Patterns from Nature, Getting it all together and Designs. I haven't had time to sit down and have a really good read of this yet but it explores many ideas for expressing these various ideas with stitch. It looks like a book I'll be able to learn alot from.

August TIF - Finished

August TIF Challenge - Balance

So here is my finished August TIF piece. I was thinking of adding more to the background but I think I like it the way it is. I like how the Shisha embroidery turned out, but I think I should have totally filled the paisley shapes in with embroidery and then did the Shisha embroidery over the top of that. I don't think the blue background behind the Shisha's works very well. Anyway, we live and learn. The gold thread that I used in this looks really dull in the scan but its actually a sparkly gold thread. I really enjoyed doing this so it might lead me onto doing some more at some stage.

Spring has Sprung!!

I'm excited that spring is here. This is a photo from the table we ate lunch at yesterday at one of my favourite cafes. It's where my husband and I got married and had our reception 7 1/2 years ago. My husband took the photo on his phone so the quality isn't the best. Also it was a little bit windy so we chose a table in abit of a sheltered spot. My lunch was absolutely beautiful - Linguine pasta with roasted pumpkin, feta, pine nuts, rocket, spanish onions with a pesto sauce through it. I'm not supposed to be eating pasta on my diet but sometimes you just have to bend the rules. I was so full afterwards anyway that I didn't eat any dinner. So it all balances out in the end.

Yesterday, the new Joggles online classes were announced. It's always exciting going in and checking them all out. I think I will be doing Jane LaFazio's new class - Mixed Media with paper and cloth, starting at the end of October. I've done 2 other online classes with Jane and I really enjoyed them, I'm sure this is going to be just as wonderful. I can also highly recommend any of Susan Sorrell's and Sharon Boggon's classes too.

I've made some progress with my August TIF - Balance piece. I want to do some more before posting another photo, maybe I'll post a photo this afternoon.

Also the September TIF challenge was posted by Sharon yesterday. The topic this time around is "Lists". I have absolutely no idea what I will do, this is going to take abit of thinking.

I love the quilt on the cover of this book!

I love the quilt on this cover so much. The colours are just so striking and the beading looks great.

I got this book a few weeks ago and I've enjoyed reading it. The first section covers the basics, so its a good book for beginners.

The next section covers projects. It covers projects from beginners to more advanced including the quilt from the front cover. I like coming up with my own ideas so I don't like just doing projects and creating a replica of the project piece. Although I am tempted with that cover quilt design. Anyway, I'm finding lots of interesting ideas and beading ideas that I can use to inspire my own creations.

The last section is a gallery of some amazing beaded quilts by various artists and has lots of great eye candy. One of the artists is Susan Sorrell. I have done a few of Susan's online Joggles classes. Her classes are wonderful and her art quilts amazing. I'll have to look up some of the other artists up on the internet and see more of there work.

In the book I think there are a few too many projects with just basic beading and although some of the projects are more advanced I would have liked to see a really heavily beaded quilt with detailed instructions on doing the beading. Apart from that its a great book and any how I just love it for its cover.

August TIF Challenge - Abit more

A little bit more done today. Rosette chain around the outside of the orange paisley design and blanket stitch around the outside of the pink one.

Update on August TIF Challenge

I managed to do some more of my challenge piece this weekend. In this photo I have used some paisley designs as a pattern so I could get my outside shape. The designs on these look great, but I'm going to come up with my own design for the inside. It's a chance for me to explore some new embroidery stitches or do some known ones in a different way. Once I do the Shisha mirrors, I'll be filling in the rest of the paisley shape with embroidery.



In my last post I mentioned that I was going to do some paisley designs as a different interpretation of the ying/yang symbol. I know you are probably thinking that this doesn't look exactly like the ying/yang symbol, but the ying/yang symbol is expressing perfect balance. With this piece I'm not trying to do that. I'm trying to express the image of their being a balance in managing to juggle endless priorities and being able to do 10 things at once and even though the balance may not be perfection - maybe it doesn't have to be and it is still okay.

I'll keep you updated on my progress....shisha mirrors should arrive this week, so I should have more to show next weekend.

August TIF Challenge

I've skipped the July TIF Challenge for the moment but I know what I want to do. Hopefully I'll finish August quickly and go back to do July.

The August TIF challenge is about balance. Initially lots of thoughts went through my mind such as juggling, a see saw, tightrope walker, the ying and yang symbol, etc.

I decided that I wanted to do some Shisha embroidery (using those little indian mirrors) which I haven't done before. This lead me to think of using a paisley design as a different version of the ying/yang symbol. I wanted to express balance emerging out of a busy life with competing priorities.

The picture above is my August piece so far. I used a bottom layer of black cotton fabric. On top of that I have a layer of blue and purple wool fibres and difference pieces of wool yarn. On top of that the third layer is blue netting. I did free motion embroidery over the top of this. I then did creton, herringbone and chain embroidery using different shades of blue. I will probably do more background blue embroidery once the main images are done.

I'm ready to start the paisley designs. I haven't been able to buy any Shisha mirrors locally so I had to order some online. I'm waiting very patiently for them to arrive. I'm going to do the paisley designs in bright colours. I should be able to do the embroidery for the outlines of the designs while I'm waiting for the mirrors. I'm thinking that I might also include some beads in the background and on the designs. I'll have to see as I go along.

I like how the background has a painted look to it.

June TIF Challenge Finished

"Endless Possibilities"

The June TIF Challenge was about stories that our stash tells and stories that are waiting to be told. The art quilt I created is called "Endless Possibilities".

My background is made up of little pieces of material from my stash which represents the materials used to create my stories or art quilts. Once my ideas are formed in my head, my hands transform the ideas into reality. The flower represents an idea emerging, blossoming, transforming and releasing its beauty.

I free motion stitched the background pieces down. I used hand embroidery on the hand and flower. I used beads to emphasise the flower and define the edges.

It feels so much more personal using my own handprint on a quilt. I really like how this turned out and enjoyed making it.

Now onto the July TIF. I've also been working on some ideas for the August TIF.

BUSY! BUSY! BUSY!

The school holidays and working are keeping me busy at the moment. I'm nearly finished my June TIF, will post a photo later in the week.

Update on June TIF and initial thoughts for July TIF

My June TIF is coming along. I didn't have to redo the top of my piece. Once I ironed it the small pieces of fabric stayed together okay. I put a piece of Romeo (water soluable stabiliser) on top, pinned around the edges and then took to it with the sewing machine. I love how the background turned out. I also changed my idea for my main focus. Hopefully will have it finished by next week and will show you then.

Well the July TIF is "The Half Way Mark". At this stage I think I will focus on Half. I haven't done any abstract art quilts before so I'm thinking of using shapes halved to form an abstract design. I'll have to do some sketching and see what I come up with.

June TIF Challenge

What not to do!! I spent time laying out all these pieces on some black backing fabric, then when I went to iron it all, realised that I should have fused them on. I will have to redo this before I free motion stitch it. Anyway these are leftover pieces of fabric from projects I have done using the materials in my stash. I was thinking of sticking to one colour for the background, but I couldn't help myself and went with all colours. Using such a colourful background is going to make it quite challenging coming up with the rest of the piece. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.

April TIF Finished and Initial thoughts for June TIF Challenge

April TIF Challenge finished - Change - "Go with the flow of Life"

For the April TIF I used a background that I had made using a silk material backing, covered in threads and then a top layer of green chiffon. I then free motion stitched all over and then burnt away some parts. Then I did lots of layers of green embroidery over the top using cross stitch and chain stitch. Then I added flowers. The concept on change is often a hard thing to accept and go along with, so my theme of Going with the flow of Life is to remind me of the natural cycles of life and to sometimes just let go and go with the flow. Sometimes the heartache and struggles are just from holding on so fiercly and not just accepting and going with the flow. It's easy to say as some times change can knock you flying. This is a happy piece to show that change is not necessarily bad it is a transformation to something different.

June TIF Challenge - I've got to get a move along with this. I have some days off this week so hoping to spend some time getting this done. The concept for this month is Stories that are and stories that are possible. The first thing that came into mind was a picture of a person with hair made from all different materials and fibres, with some pictures forming out of these. Representing ideas going from the materials to solid ideas.

I'm thinking that I will do the background as lots of small pieces of material from my stash, freemotion stitched together onto the background. Then I think I will do a self portrait picture. But I'm still thinking, so it might end up as something completely different. I'll keep you posted.

Week 3 Organic Dimensions Background Class Finished

Yeah - I finished week 3 of my background. I was on a roll and did both weeks 2 and 3 today. This isn't a great photo, the colours look all dull and washed out, but you get the idea anyway. I'll have to have a think about my main focal point and what wording to put on there. I would like to use a polynesian or tropical theme, I'll have to do some thinking.

Week 2 Paulette Insall's Organic Dimensions Background Class

I'm running behind with these lessons, but I finished Week 2 today and hoping to get Week 3 finished today too. Its a great class and its been great seeing it all on video. The people in the class have been doing some really great work. I better go and try to get some more done.

May TIF Challenge

I didn't do the May TIF challenge due to being ill for alot of the month, but I thought I would briefly comment on the concept. It was about what you call yourself in relation to your creative work.

I don't really have a need to call myself anything. I like the freedom of being able to dabble where ever my creative urges take me. I am in the exploring stages with my work. Maybe someday I will be a Textile artist or Art Quilter, depending on where my creativity takes me.

I don't like some of the snobbery that can go along with being called an Artist and if you don't have a degree or masters in fine art you are a nobody. I think that some of the best artists can be self taught, where they rely on their creative intuition and don't overthink their work.

Also I don't like the names Maker or Crafts person, I think they belittle the art that the person is creating.

Anyway, just a few of my ideas, I'm not sure what piece I would have developed this into. Maybe something to explore in the future.

Now onto June's TIF Challenge!!

I've been a bad blogger!!!

I wasn't too well in May so I haven't been blogging for a while. But I'm feeling alot better now. With yesterday being the first day of winter, I've been dosing up on the vitamin C and getting the winter woollys on to ward off the dreaded flu. I don't wont to get it again for awhile.

Last week I received Quilting Arts in the mail - the first one of my subscription. I really love the cover this issue. The art quilt is by Frances Holliday Alford. I love the colours and the painted look that it has.

I'm expecting a parcel from Quilting Arts any day now. I bought the Quilting Arts TV DVD and also a couple of books. I'll show you when they arrive.

I've started Paulette Insall's class but I've only completed week 1. Our internet speed slows down towards the end of the month if we have downloaded our maximum allowance, so I haven't been able to download the video for week 2 yet. Week 3's video is out tomorrow. We get our full internet speed back on 4th of the month. So I'll be looking forward to looking at these two videos on Wednesday.

This is my progress so far. Its interesting to see how everyones work is progressing it changes so much from one week to the next. It will be interesting to see how it ends up.

Time has slipped away!!

Well I didn't realise that it had been so long since I had blogged. I've been abit sick with a bad chesty cough. At times its been abit like asthma. I think its going now, but I wont talk too soon. So unfortunately I haven't been doing much of anything.

I've done abit more of my April TIF but don't want to show it until it is finished. I've started to think about the May TIF but I'm finding it a hard one. I'll have to get a move on and blog my initial ideas.

Next Monday I start an online class with Paulette Insall called Organic Dimensions Background class. It's a painting collage class, so I'm really looking forward to exploring this other creative avenue. I haven't done alot of painting, so I'm looking forward to learning lots.

Will post about May TIF soon.

New Joggles Classes

The new Joggles classes have been listed on the website. I've signed up for the Textile Art with Pizzazz class with Debbie Babin. Debbie has been teaching on Quilt University and also had an article in Quilting Arts No. 29. I'm looking forward to her class which starts in July. I am very tempted to take more classes but I've learnt my lesson from taking 3 lessons that overlapped last term. I didn't get to participate fully in them, and even though I have the lessons to go on with, I'll miss not having the class and teacher contact.

TIF Challenge Update - I'm about halfway through. I don't think I will have this one finished before the end of the month but I'll try to have it finished next week. I'm working the rest of this week, going away on the weekend to Brisbane to see James Blunt (I can't wait) and then I have time off next week to concentrate on finishing it off.

April TIF Challenge - Change

So, I should have been abit further along with the challenge this month, but sometimes life gets in the way. I have been thinking alot about what I will do and I've come up with an idea.

First abit about the thoughts I have been having about Change and how we react to it.

I think change can be exciting and refreshing if it is something that has been planned or if it involves changes that we consider positive such as a promotion, new job in a field that we love, moving house, etc.

Change can get more difficult if it involves things such as divorce, death of loved ones, having to sell your house or business due to financial reasons, etc.

Maybe the difficulty that comes with change is the attitude that we have towards it. If we are clinging onto the past for dear life, this can only bring pain, grief and trauma into our life. All things in our life may happen for a reason and if we could see things in a broader perspective we may be able to understand more why things have happened the way they do. In order to move on in our life and to learn lessons we sometimes have to leave good things behind. We need to be able to end the chapters in our life and be able to open the next door and jump right in. Even if you try to have this positive perspective I still think that there is a period of adjustment. And maybe sometimes this adjustment may mean crawling under our bed covers and blocking the world out for the day.

I'm in my early 40's and am starting to experience aging. Its interesting to think about how differently we all react to aging. Some people fall apart, some cling desperately to their youth and some embrace it. It is a time maybe to confront issues from our past, look back and review our life, what are the things we haven't done, what about the dreams we had - did we go out into the world and accomplish them, what do we still want to accomplish in our lives. I don't see it as a downward spiral. I'm all for older people going out and climbing mountains, jumping out of aeroplanes, travelling the world, riding motorbikes or whatever it is that makes them feel complete.

When Sharon spoke about this challenge she mentioned about the attitude people have about the cup being half empty or half full. I think this attitude can have a big influence on how we react to change. I also thought of the saying "Going with the Flow". Which lead me to think about nature and the natural cycles. I then thought that this month I would focus on my garden once again and do a piece that would represent the flow of change in nature and remind me to embrace change and "Go with the Flow of Life".

So I'm going to either use this burnt green thread background that I already made or experiment making some other burnt backgrounds. Then I'm going to embroider flowers all over it to make a lush vibrant garden.

I better get cracking!!!

Quilt Fair and Small Quilt Class

I thought I would show a progress photo of my "Tree Of Life" quilt I am doing for the Small Quilt class with Jane LaFazio. Jane's website is http://www.plainjanestudio.com/

I had a great time at the Quilt Fair. The quilt displays were great. I particularly liked two quilts by Helen Godden. They were painted and then stitched. She does some really amazing work. One was a large painted Cockatoo and the other one was of a boy sitting on his bed reading a story and all around the bed was an imaginary world of jungle and dinosaurs. It was very detailed and great to see up close. Helen's website is http://www.helengodden.com/

I ended up buying some beads to make some necklaces, which I hadn't planned on. I really enjoyed hearing Prudence Mapstone talk about Freeform knitting and crocheting and I bought her book "Freeform". I also got a Jenny King pattern for a crocheted poncho and black yarn to make it. Now, it's the first time I've used a large crochet hook, so it might take me abit to get the tension right. The pattern isn't hard though. Also Wendy Bailye had a great stall there with lots of amazing examples of her felting work. I would love to do one of her felting classes sometime. She's located north of Brisbane at Yugar. Her website is http://www.heartandsoulaustralia.com/

Gold Coast Craft and Quilt Fair

I can't wait till tomorrow. I'm spending the day at the Craft and Quilt Fair up at the Gold Coast. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Husqvarna Viking International Quilt Competition display. There's also the Best of Australia Quilts display and A World of Quilts by members of the Gold Coast Quilters Inc with a theme of World Travel. There will be lots of beautiful work to drool over. I'll be keeping my eye out for some beads, buttons and fabrics to buy, I'll have to try to control myself.

The April TIF is about Change. I haven't come up with any ideas yet, I have some days at home next week so I'll spend some time on it then. It's also the last week of the Small Art Quilt class I'm doing. This weeks class is creating a self portrait quilt. It looks like alot of fun, so I can't wait to get started on it. Also its the 5th week of The Fertile Earth class and this weeks theme is Shells, Rocks and Stones. I'm enjoying both of these classes so much that I don't want them to end.

A few posts ago I mentioned that I got some new things.

I got some more wool - I can't help myself, I love the colours and textures.

These batiks are beautiful. They were perfect to use as the background for a Tree of Life quilt that I'm doing for the Small Quilt Class.

I also have started collecting interesting buttons of all shapes, colours and sizes as well as beads. I've had some new additions of these but haven't taken a photo of them.

A can't help myself with books, I love them. These are a few I have got recently.

This book was abit different to what I expected as its all in black and white, but its a great reference book. I'm abit limited in my stitch knowledge so this is a great one to extend my stitch knowledge and to see how to take the stitches beyond their normal look.

I love this book. Each time I go back to it I find new things.

This is a bad photo but the book is great. The quilt on the front cover is really striking, I love the colour combination. Susan Sorrell has some art quilts in this book as well.

Another bad photo, but I had to also add these two books that I recently got out from the library. Both of these are very inspiring and well worth having. I think I will have to get my own copy of Stitch Magic sometime - I don't think I will be able to keep getting it out from the library.