A Finish for some Desk Space!

Well I managed to over do the painting on Saturday and tum started to protest so John insisted I stay in the studio on Sunday.  (You didn't hear me complain!!)  At the moment I can't see my desk.  There's been far too much dashing in and out and not enough production so things have been dumped.  I thought I'd better try and finish a few bits and tidy up.  

I sent off for a kit being sold by Workshop on the Web to go along with one of it's articles by Lynda Monk.  It was using a thermofax screen.  I've never had one before and just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.  I liked the process, no I won't be buying a machine, and enjoyed making some leaves. 

These are them painted up pre adding a bit of gold. 

I then stitched them to a wreath I had sprayed into Autumn colours and wrapped with a bit of sparkley yarn. 

I stitched out some extra leaves onto wash away stabiliser.

When washing out the goo I left some in so they would hold their shape when I pinned them out to dry. 

The oak ones were paired up and some wooden beads added.

I then stitched the lot to the wreath adding more beads as I went.  I was after a woodland floor effect.

I think there needs to be a bit more of a contrast somewhere but for now it is hanging out in the porch and I have a clear space on my desk!  Only a miniscule one though. 

Photos are larger when you click.

Running Fast to Stand Still

Thank you for comments and messages on That Was a Week That Was a few weeks ago.  I hope I managed to reply to you all.  I'm sure you can imagine things were a little squiffy for a bit!  I am now feeling ok and will soon be having more tests for the anemia etc.

The build is going superbly well now.  All the underneath stuff has just about been done and there has been some paint put on!  Whooo!! 

Family Bathroom waiting for the next stage.

We have finally moved back into the sitting room and also gained back the family room and a spare room because of it.  That means downstairs is just about there.  

Our en suite and steps up to our bedroom.

Tiles should be going in the bathrooms next week (oh to have a decent bath, something I didn't even manage in Australia!!) and the week after the plastic cover comes off so the scaffolding can be rearranged to do the other side of the roof.  I can't wait to have some proper daylight back in the house!! 

Our wonderful, huge new bedroom finally with windows in it.  John is just titivating the windowsill which hides the TV.  That will rise up in front of the window at the push of a button so it is out of sight most of the time. 

We will also be allowed to light the woodburners then too and perhaps feel warm again. 

We have been very busy with the house and there has been very little time for creating anything artistic.  I have managed to play a little with some of my rusted and eco printed fabrics.  I'm trying to get into the mindset of using these things once I have made them!  One thing I did see in Broome market was a couple of stalls selling eco printed and dyed clothing.  Couldn't believe it.  All rather lovely and I wish I had spent a little more time looking and perhaps buying too. 

Very exciting to see The Quilter magazine arrive this week.  It had the FoQ results in and I'm in it!! 

I had entered Dragon's Ho! in the Art Quilts and, because I was going to be away, I asked Julie of Mixed Media if she would be so kind to photograph it in situ for me.  What a surprise when I received the photo!! 

I was really blown away! 

I was so excited to see it when I returned home.  The judges, Frances McArthur and Linda Seward, had left phenomenal comments and they both gave me 100% Excellent. Only down side is there was absolutely nothing to say that it had won a HC in the parcel. Of course online there is only ever mention of the ones that win 1st place, not even 2nd's or 3rd's get a mention let alone a HC.  I cannot thank Julie enough for taking the picture as otherwise I would really have no idea that it had won anything at all.  

I recently managed to pick this little lady up for an absolute song. 

It had to come from France mind but even adding the £25 postage it was still very cheap compared to what I have seen over here. She's very elegant and beautifully proportioned.  I had been looking at a wasp waist but I thought if I did make something it would be nice if it were actually of a size that someone could possibly wear.  If you've seen the wasp waisted ones you will know what I mean! Don't hold your breath waiting for something to be made though, the house is still first!! 

Finally this week we had the delight of officially welcoming this gorgeous girl into the family. 

Her name is Willow and she is 2 years old.  She's been passed pillar to post a bit in her short life and we fell in love with her.  We were over the moon when our friend let us 'borrow' her for a couple of weeks to see if she would fit in which, of course, she did with no problems.  She now has stability, room, companions and of course our absolute devotion along with the others! 

This week I really, really am going to put my foot down and find some time to go into the studio!  I'm starting to feel fractious.  I have the open studios in the new year and a couple of other showing events to try and find something to put together.  I have also been asked to show at a local gallery with three others in 2017.  A long way off you may think but you know how long textiles take!! Roll on the last nail being hit, the last tile being stuck into place and the last bit of carpet being laid! 

Me peering around the brolly at a recent Dorset Artists barbeque we had at Sculpture By the Lakes thanks to Sarah Broome for taking the photo. 

Have a great weekend! 

Home Again (photo heavy)

What a wonderful three and a half weeks we've just had touring around Australia!  We're absolutely pooped now so I hope most of this will make sense.

We arrived in Sydney rather early but luckily the hotel was ready to serve breakfast while we waited a bit for our room. We had a wonderful sunrise to greet us over coffee and croissants with unmistakable landmarks below.  

We did a fabulous tour of the city.

We were both surprised at how small Bondi Beach is!

Eventually we picked up a car and drove to Hunter Valley for a couple of days.  Local lawn mowers in action.

And some of the cute kind though we were warned not to do the petting thing as they can 'anoint' you, as it were.

After dropping the car off back in Sydney we flew over to Adelaide and a trip around the Barossa Valley too.  (Ok so wine has been a bit of a theme so far but they do it so well).  This is the actual Jacobs Creek that runs through the area.

In Adelaide we picked up the local train for the next stage of our journey. Isn't it beautiful and shiny?  We had a fairly short one of only 24 carriages which was nearly 700 metres long, it's often longer.

After just over 24 hours and 1500 or so miles we arrived in Alice Springs.  It was mid afternoon and we still had a 400 km drive ahead of us to our stop that night in Kings Canyon.  The hire company tried to give us a Yarris.  We explained we would be taking it the short way (yes 400kms is the short way) and needed something with a bit more gravitas for the unsealed road ahead.  A lot of verbal wrangling and we eventually drove to the airport to pick up this instead.

Much more suitable!  As you can imagine the day was drifting on and we finally set out about 4pm.  After 100km of sealed (tarmaced) road it turns into this.

Another 200km of corrugated gravel!  And the sun was setting directly in front of us.

Guess who was grinning the whole way.

We were back on sealed road for the last 100km which was good as it was pitch black by then and we had no idea where we were going.  Eventually we passed a resort in Kings Canyon and knew we were on the right road so kept going to find our stop.  After another hour or so we were just about to turn around when we saw the sign to the glamping lodges and arrived at 9pm.  We were fed and watered by a constantly smiling Graham and gladly went to bed.

The following morning we were on the way down to Uluru and the trusty steed was still raring to go. John is still grinning.

Thankfully were we back on tarmac for the rest of the trip.

And still on the stuff an hour later.

Oh look, a car in the distance!! The scale of this place is phenomenal and we are convinced an Australian kilometre is actually 2 miles long.

Much later that day we eventually reached our destination.

We had some fabulous events arranged for us here and we even treated ourselves to a helicopter ride over the area. This is our hotel and Uluru in the garden just after take off. Our extremely glam tent is the third from the left.

The Kata Tjuta are the often forgotten sisters of Uluru and a part of the same park.  The pilot pointed out the similarity to broaching whales which is ironic since I don't think there is anywhere further from the sea!

After three days exploring we flew back to Alice Springs and boarded the Ghan again for the second half of our journey.  Somebody also had a celebration and our fellow carriage companions sang him Happy Birthday.

We did stop for a tour of Katherine Gorge which was rather beautiful and calm with the low river.

Eventually, after another 24 hours and another 1500 or so miles, we arrived in Darwin.  We had a wonderful trip into Kakadu from here and found some of the residents interesting.  Never smile at a crocodile.....

Still prowling.  They can move surprisingly fast for their size!

The guide said the pelicans were the most confident birds out there!!!! I guess they would make a tasty meal.

Another couple of nights later we flew over to Broome.  We had four nights of total relaxation here and we treated it as our holiday to recover from the holiday! On the Friday we took a yacht Karma IV out to do some whale watching with a group of about 30 others.  There was plenty of wildlife out there including jellyfish, turtles and sea snakes.

And as if they weren't a deterrent enough they then put out a dragnet so people could swim!! No thank you!! Those that did had a great time though and it was certainly cooling.

But then we did see what we had gone out there for.  In total I think we must have seen about 15 whales.

This was a mother and calf playing together.  She was trying to teach him broaching and he wasn't doing to bad!

 
In the end just as we were having the sail put up to turn back home they waved goodbye. It was all pretty fantastic!

There was plenty of sitting by the pool and trying more wine before we flew back to Perth, on to Sydney and back home again.  Considering I managed to leave my camera charger at home so I took most of the photos on my phone I don't think I did too bad!  There are another few hundred to go through but I won't bore you with those.

We're almost back on UK time now and I hope to be back in the studio very soon!