I'm Back Home and Missing the Mountains!!

Namche Bazar (3400 metres in altitude)

Hi everyone - I'm back!!!!

It was an amazing trip. It was very hard going at times but it was also so rewarding. There were amazing views and sights around every bend. Namche Bazar was one of my favourite places. I go back to work tomorrow and I know its going to be very hard to concentrate. I've only been away for 2 weeks but it seems like months. I'll tell you more about my holiday and show more photos soon. I'm missing those beautiful Mountains already.

I'm off to Kathmandu Tonight!!!!!

Everythings ready for me to go. We drive to Brisbane this afternoon and my plane leaves from there at midnight. I fly to Bangkok where there is 4 hours before flying onto Kathmandu.

Its very exciting!!!

I've been emailing a few of the people going on the trip, which has been really good. I've kept in fairly regular contact with one of the people. So it was nice to send an email to her and say "See you in Kathmandu on Friday".

I'm a little bit nervous to. Its a big adventure for me. Its the first time overseas by myself, the first time I've gone on a trek and the first time I've been away from my son for more than a few days. Also there are those little doubts that come up in your mind about whether I will make it through the whole trek and whether I might suffer from Altitude sickness. I know its natural to feel these things.

But when I get on that plane, I'm going to take a deep breath, relax and let go of all this and go with the flow of the experience. (Well, that's the plan)

It is going to be such an amazing adventure. I'm sure when I'm high up in altitude, with Everest and the other mountains all towering around, its going to be such a magical experience of feeling like being in the presence of the Gods. I can't wait to see how magnificent the Stars and Milky Way look.

Be back soon!!!

Barb

TAST 2 - Week 2 Knotted Loop Stitch

Week 1 Diamond Stitch and Week 2 Knotted Looped Stitch

I love this week's stitch. I have always liked using buttonhole stitch in my work, but I think this is going to be my new favourite. It gives a great effect when stitched over and over again like this coloured sample below.

Its fun stitching curves and I also like the effect of the random length stitches in the purple sample.
If you would like to learn how to do this stitch or to learn more about TAST 2, go to Sharon B's blog Pin Tangle.

To see an interesting sampler of this stitch go to Fat Quarter's Blog. She's come up with some interesting variations. The square looks great. You can see the full sampler on her flickr site.

TAST 2 - Week 1 - Diamond Stitch

Week 1 - Diamond Stitch samples

This was a new stitch for me. Don't you love it when you first start off on a stitch you've never done before and you have to study the instructions while you are trying to do it, and finally it all clicks and you can do it easily.

If you want to find out how to do Diamond Stitch go to the TAST 2 Week 1 Blog entry. You can also see some of the other participants work by going to the TAST Flickr site.

If you want to find out more about TAST 2 and to explore the participants blogs go to Sharon B's blog entry.

Bead Journal Project 3 - January

January - Sunrise at Corindi Beach

This is my January piece - I'm running behind but hope to catch up in the next few months. Each of my pieces are going represent an experience I've had during that particular month.

Each of my pieces are going to incorporate beading with embroidery, etc. I'm hoping to incorporating some more elaborate beading in the other pieces as I go along.

I was going to bead around the edges of this, but I've decided that when I finish at the end of the year, I will join them all together to make a wall hanging, so I will do some beading around the edges of the finished piece.

Come have a cuppa with me and be inspired

Come join me.

Would you like Tea, Coffee, Hot Chocolate....

I'm having Chai

Get comfy and come exploring with me....

First up, go and have a look at this new free E-Zine called Textile Arts Quarterly.

For some TAST 2 (Take a Stitch Tuesday) inspiration go to CJ33's Flickr page to see her Embroidery from the first TAST.

Also Camzy's Flickr page has some amazing TAST embroidery.

And Kay Susan's TAST pieces show many interesting variations of stitches.

To see some more gorgeous stitching go here to Mrs Kitty's page on the Hand Embroidery Network.

Now for some Textile Art:

It was a nice surprise to stumble across this colourful Needlefelted Textile Art piece by KoolKookyKreatures

To see some amazing talent go to Moy Mackay's Gallery. Her felted pieces look like beautiful paintings. She has come up with an inovative idea of having an exhibition of her Scottish landscapes available as an application that can be downloaded onto iphones. We have an ipod so it should be able to be downloaded onto that as well. For the details go to her blog post.

To see a Flickr Mosaic of the gorgeous Fibre Art of Karen Cattoire go here. If you would like to see lots more of Karen's work go to her Flickr site. She is an amazing talented Textile Artist.

To see lots of beautiful colourful Fabric Art creations go to Molly Jean Hensons Flickr site. If you would like to find out more about Molly go to your blog Creative Life and Times.

How about some Painting and Mixed Media:

I love these whimsical folkart paintings by Karla Gerard. To see a gallery of her work go to her flickr site.

Find lots of creative inspiration from Love Stitching Red's many Flickr Mosaics

And for the grand finale of our little adventure go to Art Trader Magazine where you can download these free e-zines. Issue 6 has an article on Karen Cattorie who was featured above.

Now that should keep you nice and busy! Hopefully it has your creative juices flowing.

Thank you for coming along on this little cybertrip with me. I hope you had as much fun as I did. You'll have to come for a cuppa again with me soon!

Join Sharon B's TAST 2

TAST 2 (Take Another Stitch Tuesday 2) with Sharon B starts on 2 March. Its free to participate. If you would like to find out more go to Sharon's blog post here.

Even if you don't want to participate its worth a look as there is a list of links to all the participants blogs. So grab a cuppa and do the rounds of some wonderful creative blogs.

Shimmy those hips!!!!

'Fat Chance Bellydance Group'

I couldn't help myself, I had to post one more Tribal Bellydancing clip.

I love the lighting on this, it creates a wonderful atmosphere and enhances the costumes and the dancing.

Enjoy!

Tribal Style Bellydancing

'Heavy Hips Bellydance Group'

I've started doing a beginners class in Tribal Style Bellydancing. Its so much fun. I love the costumes.

I found this clip on YouTube. Hope you like it and it gets your hips wiggling!

DJ Pettitt's Photoshop Manipulation online class

Finally I've had a chance to have a play and do some of the exercises for this class.

I'm only a beginner at doing this so don't look to closely. I had trouble selecting the antenae on the original photos, and didn't have the patience to fiddle too much, so my poor butterfly hasn't got any.

The photos used are not mine, they are D J's from the class. To find out more about D J Pettitt go to her blog here.

I have two more days off work - Yay!! So tomorrow I'm going to get stuck into doing some beading so I can catch up on the bead project.

A Change of Plans

Photo from World Expeditions website - Sherpa Everest Trek

I had a phone call to say that my Nepal trip had been cancelled as 4 people had pulled out and there weren't enough people to run the trip. I was really disappointed, but I had the option of going on an alternate trip that leaves around the same time, called the Sherpa Everest Trek.

This trip goes to all the same places but goes further. It goes to Ama Dablam Base Camp which is 4800m in altitude. So this is the trip I'm going on now. I'm very excited about it. It leaves on the 25 March (3 days earlier than the other one). The only disappointment is that Sorrell Wilbey wont be on the trip. Go here to see the trip details.

I can't believe January has gone already. I've been exercising heaps, losing abit of weight and starting to feel abit fitter.

Its been hard with school holidays and work to try and fit in some "me" time to do some creating. But now school has started again, I'll be able to do some beading and embroidery on my days off when I'm home alone.

We're back from our short holiday by the sea

We spent 5 days staying in a cabin at Corindi Beach Caravan Park, near Coffs Harbour. Its located on a headland looking over the beach and our cabin had ocean views. It was a really beautiful spot. I woke up early each morning to see the sunrise. We saw dolphins swimming around a few times. After the sunrise I went for an hours walk along the beach. This is something I'm really going to miss.

The lagoon area out the front

Looking to the left down towards Red Rock.

(I didn't take a photo out to the right of the other longer stretch of beach were I went for my morning walk)

The view from the cabin

Our cabin by the sea

My husband and son fishing at Little Beach at Red Rock.

Then the days were spent relaxing, swimming and fishing. We also went to another place close by called Red Rock. My husband and son fished at this great spot called Little Beach, where the river flowed out to the ocean. It was a really pretty spot, the water was beautiful and I really enjoyed my swim there.

Our late afternoon hangout - such a beautiful spot

We finished off the day by sitting looking over the ocean, having a few drinks and talking, before having a BBQ dinner. The weather was lovely but hot. I slathered on the sunscreen, but still managed to get abit burnt. We drove back home today and I'm going through withdrawals. I really missed my swim in the ocean today. Oh well, we'll just have to go back there again another time. Its only about 2 hours drive away so not too far to go. Its back to work tomorrow for me....oh well, I shouldn't complain, it's only 2 months and I'll be going on my overseas trip to Nepal. Time is getting away quickly, already one month of 2010 nearly gone. I hope the rest of the year slows down abit.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Hope you all enjoyed your New Years celebrations.

I hope 2010 is your best year ever.

So...another year begins. Another blank canvas to fill with wonderful experiences, happy memories and fulfilment of goals and dreams. I've written out my list of things I want to do and pursue this year. I love doing this as it gives me some direction and sense of accomplishment.

For anyone wanting a challenge for the beginning of the new year, Dale from The Thread Studio, in Perth, Western Australia is taking submissions for her exhibition "Textile Tantrums". That theme really gets my creative juices flowing. I would like to do a submission but not sure if I will have the time. If you are interested the details are here. Submissions must reach them by 26 February, so there is still time to get working.

An excerpt from the Terms and Conditions for the Exhibition - "As many pieces as possible will be presented in an exhibition that is planned to be shown at various venues. The exhibition will be opening at Australian Quilt Convention in Melbourne (March 2010) and shown at other venues including Textile Art Festival in Brisbane(May 2010), WA Craft, Quilt & Stitch Show in Perth (August 2010) and The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in October 2010, and another couple of events still being negotiated. The exhibition will be featured on The Thread Studio website in a special gallery section and featured in at least two international magazines. You must be prepared for your work to be retained for at least a year and possibly longer".

I saw the exhibition last year and it was wonderful. I would love to have a piece on show. I'm pretty busy throughout January but maybe I could get something done in time. I've never had anything in an exhibition before, it would be very exciting to have a piece picked to go in it. I think I will try.

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.