Needle Lace Christmas Trees

Hi All - Here are a couple of pics of the 4 Needle Lace Christmas Tree cards/decorations which I made to swap - I am in an online Lace Group here in Australia and I received 4 cards from 4 other friends - I haven't taken photo's of them yet but will do over next few days as the camera will be out for Xmas shots! - My decorations are made in "free" needle lace (with beads for baubles) onto hand dyed fabric then mounted onto "bangle" bracelets and a sequin star added to the top and another sequin/bead on the "pot". ALSO I am once again participating in the One World One Heart at the end of January - where you can visit Crafty People's blogs and pop your name down to be in with a chance to win various fabulous goodies made by the blog artist whose page you visit ... This will be the 5th and Final one - I didn't know about it the first 2 years but have participated early last year in the 3rd one and in the 4th one earlier this year - I won 1 prize last year and was the lucky recipient of 4 things this year which I treasure - so do pop back on January 30th to see what I have on offer (as it's teh 5th and final one I have 5 goodies all ready for it!!!) and if you want more info about the OWOH click on the big One World One Heart logo on the left of this blog screen - under my Stitchety Grub header! It's a lot of fun! PS..... I have just spent 5 mins trying to get the first 15 words of this entry to join up with the rest of the copy - but no Blogger won't let me LOL!

Finished Sea Urchin Vessel

Here are the final pics of the Sea Urchin Vessel - the first photo shows the six panels completed and ready for putting together - the next photo shows the lid and the bottom of the finished vessel - then a couple of shots from different sides of the finished vessel with it's lid in place :-) I am very pleased with it and as it's been made in the colour scheme of our lain living area it is displayed on my side board (Buffet).

More Sea Urchin Vessel

Hi All - here are the next 3 pics of the Sea Urchin Vessel - the little blue " ball's" are made by rolling up a tiny amount of coloured wool top and popping it into a small square of, in this case, dark blue chiffon then stitched into place... (I also used a tiny painted polystyrene bead in the chiffon) you can see one of the wool ones in the first picture, right panel above the orange velvet flower, there are also a couple of tatted gold rings incorporated and of course various fluffy textured knitting wools... more next time...

Sea Urchin Vessel

Here are the first 3 pics of the Sea Urchin Vessel as promised - I did 3 panels out of the first piece of material alternating with 3 panels out of the second material... these were from some of the pieces of material which I dyed last year on the Machine Embroidery course... the last photo shows the first 2 panels with their "embellished" bits on! ready for the construction stage. More to follow :-)

Coloured Bobbin Lace

Hi All - I have a very busy first couple of weeks of November - madly preparing for my stall at the WA Branch of the Australian Lace Guild "Cattern's Day Fair" in 2 weeks time .... and also son's 18th Birthday which was all a great success! phew! I do have some new crafty pics but haven't had time to load them onto the computer so here are a couple of pics from last year's UK trip - I went to an "Old Mill" gallery up in Cumbria and on the stairway between levels I discovered this display of traditional and non traditional bobbin lace - fabulous display - a couple of pics here show some of it and also the detail plaque and the last pic is the river outside the mill. Love the colours in the lace :-)

Birthdays all over the place!

Three weeks ago yesterday my Baby Gal was 21 - here she is sitting in my comfy chair - along with my resident Meerkats! LOL! Meerkat group on the left = big meerkat "Sid" -Bought in Fremantle in August 2008 and Monty on his left (bought in Cumbria, UK August 2009) - in front is Mork then piglet (not a meerkat obviously! haha) and Mindy (Mork and Mindy joined the family in June this year).
On the right of the pic is Maurice (bought at a local shopping center in a florists! last year, Flower (from Perth Zoo shop in January 2009) and Alex bought in Swanage, UK last September) My only Meerkat that doesn't sit in my chair is Mikey the Micro Meerkat as he would get lost down the sides all the time haha!
Baby Gal is wearing her glittery 21 sash which I made for her to go "clubbing" in!...The other pic shows Baby Boy and his Girlfriend at the 21st Birthday dinner - and this Wednesday it will be his 18th Birthday! so tomorrow I have to make an 18th "head/arm band" for him to go clubbing with - awww 18 - an adult haha! LOL!

Needle Lace Dragonfly bra bag

Hi All - as I had promised some lace making friends - here is the photo of my latest "Bra bag" - the Needle lace dragonfly was made during the recent Australian Lace Guild AGM week - the actual dragonfly was designed by tutor Margaret Stephens.... his wings are 3d .... I made him in 3 days and he was always intended to go on the bag but looked a bit lost - so on the 4th and final day of the workshop I designed a blossom branch for him to sit on - the flowers are small couronnes.... (made on a pad not a couronne stick) all mounted onto a pre-prepared black "bra" bag :-) This is my 3rd bra bag and just in case you missed the other 2 - here are pics of the 1st - pink one and the 2nd one - Egyptian Scarab - which was also made during a Needle lace "Margaret Stephen's" workshop at the AGM week - 2 years ago - I adapted Margaret's design to fit in an oval so that it could be the scarab beetle's back. The lace edging is also hand made using a metallic thread which wasn't easy to use! but looked great - so I was determined it was going to do what I wanted it to - you have to be assertive with a many of the metallic threads !!!! hehe!

Needle lace Butterfly

Hi All - as promised here are 3 pics of the butterfly which I made the week after the AGM - during the actual AGM workshop week (with Tutor Margaret Stephens) I did the Dragonfly (I will pop a pic of that on here in the next entry) All the other 9 students were making gorgeous butterflies and so I was compelled to make one when I returned home - so here it is ... the first photo shows the "Base" - wings and the second one with the 2nd 3D wings attached and the final photo shows the complete necklace - the Beaded "chain" attached and I made some earrings to match (I don't have hooks on them in the photo as I attach all my earrings to "Euro ball" hooks made of real silver or real gold as I am not good with the cheap varieties of hooks) it means I can just thread on whichever earrings I want - great for travelling :-)

Funky Red Shoes

Hi All - at last I have been able to load on my photo's from my recent escapades - alas though today I have run out of time to compress them ready to go on here ...However I have popped these two pics on here which are of the new Red shoes I bought today - funky aren't they ha ha? Do stay tuned as there will be all sorts of exciting pics to come ....

Japanese weaving, Tamari balls and Origami

Hi All a few more pics from the Japan trip - one of the weaving that my friend Jo was doing ... one from the Tamari Ball workshop and the last a pic of one of the beautiful Origami pieces that were on display one morning tea break .... it is made up of lots of tiny Origami cranes ... very clever!
Hubby and I leave this Friday morning for our Silver Wedding Anniversary trip to Queensland (it lasts 3 weeks and 2 days) and then he flies home whilst I stay on for the Australian Lace Guild AGM week :-) yay waa hoo!

Kumihimo Braid workshop in Japan

Hi All - Here are a few pics from my recent Kumihimo Workshop in Japan... The first pic shows the 2nd Braid that I made during the 3 and a half day workshop .... It's about to be started on the Kakudai that I was using - the Tama (bobbins) are wound ....ready to go... the second pic shows the purple and lime green braid I started late on day 2 - it's called "Dogwood" - has little flowers formed on it! and the third pic shows the lady from USA who was sitting next to me on my right - Lauren - like me she is also a lace maker who works with Wire! Hi Lauran if you're reading this :-) oh and we were making all the braids in beautiful Japanese silks- fabulous thread! mm mm!

Hi All

Here's some pics from the Japan trip - on Rokko Island where the congress was held there were various "art pieces" dotted around the streets - here are a couple and a pic of me in front of the Hotel Plaza Kobe - where the Kobe fashion Museum is also. This hotel is where I stayed.

Since I communicated with people in Japan a few months before the congress I have been getting "junk Comments" on this blog - please do leave messages but only if you are a fellow craft person -thanks :-) and if you attended OIDFA - do leave a message - I met lots of people (and had lovely gifts from some) but not everyone included contact details :-(

Home again - Pics of Japan

Hi All - Well here are the first pics from the Japan trip - we arrived at the hotel at 10 am on Sat July 2 but couldn't get into our rooms until after lunch - so we found a local cafe - and had a rather gorgeous "Corn soup" - it was icy cold! and the roll to go with it was a sweet one! still yummy as we were starved! - Other 2 pics are taken from my hotel room in Kobe (on Rokko Island) it was a dreary day - piddling with rain and only discovered the mountains when the weather cleared a bit the next day! LOL! comes of attending a congress during their rainy season!More to come.....

Handicrafts in Japan

Hi All- Now on the last couple of days here in Japan - the main part of the organised tour now over and we are this arvo doing our "Own" thing - actually I am going with some mates to revisit the 7 floor Handicrafts place which we went to on the tour yesterday cos we didn't get enough time to have a proper look - we will then be staying out and about to see the floats parked in side streets which are getting ready for the Gion festival parade which is tomorrow morning and for which we all have reserved seats - hope the rain stays away- (Wednesday it piddled down!) hot and humid here- my 105 yen (Aus$1.30 UK 70p!) brolly has been so useful! LOL :-)

Greetings from Japan

Hi All- A quick massage from Japan - very humid here but great to be in warm weather after the cold in Perth. Today was the first day of the Kumihimo workshop- we were working on takudai frames rather than the more familiar Marudai....all very frenetic and the language barrier wasn't too bad! LOL! day 2 tomorrow... hope my back lasts the next 2 1/2 days - hotel room has nice big bath to soak the weary bones in though haha! hope to get pics happning soon...

Friends going to Japan with me!

Hi All - just doing a quick experiment with my new HP Mini- gave up a couple of weeks ago on my 2 year old Asus eeepc as it only had 4 gigs and every time Windows updated it was filledup grrrr! So as I have this new toy I have just (with help from my Son) worked out how to load pics on here ready for my Japan trip which I leave for in 22 hours time way hey! Here is a pic of some little friends which I am about to gift wrap - as they are going with me....in case you don't recognise any of them clockwise from top left they are: A koala, a Kookaburra, a Platypus, a Kangaroo, a Wombat and an Echidna!

Countdown to Japan

Hi All - Yes I am still here - I have been busy getting ready for the Japan trip which I leave for in 8 sleeps time LOL :-) - lots of things to get done before I get away ...
The pic here is of a picture that was on the wall at one of the B&B's in Cumbria, UK last year... the colours haven't reproduced very well but it was very nice in reality!

Back from my teaching travels

Hi Everyone - I returned from my 3 week Lace making teaching trip a few days ago and have now started the mad countdown to the International OIDFA congress in Japan which I leave for 3 weeks tonight! I had a great time in Tasmania - in between work days I visited a choc company and also 2 cheese places -they make fantastic cheeses in Tassie mm mm! and I also visited a couple of choccie places in Melbourne on that "leg" of the trip - including partaking of a hot choc in the Lindt Cafe in central Melbourne ... verrrry yummy! I had fabulous hostesses - spoilt me rotten - it was great! The two pics here are: firstly the Bobbin Lace decoration which I attached to Beate's 60th Birthday card - I made it a couple of months ago and posted it before my trip as her Birthday was whilst I was still away...the other pic is of 4 other Bobbin lace decs I made a while ago but only got around to finishing off the "ends" recently! - now I must put hanger loops on them so that I can put them on my Xmas tree in December! But it ain't gonna happen this side of the Japan trip ... and probably not until after the Queensland trip in Aug/Sept either! LOL :-)

My travel art kit

Hi All - Betchya thought I'd vanished into the ether? he he - No.... I have been busy the last couple of weeks getting ready for my teaching trip to Tasmania and Melbourne .... 6 sleeps to go LOL... I also had a fabulous time last weekend at the "Lace West" weekend - it was 2 days of workshops and it was to celebrate 30 years of the West Australian Branch of the Australian Lace Guild!!!...we had beautiful sunny weather all weekend - the venue was right next to the Swan River (that's the main river through Perth City for my overseas blog friends) .. I did Needle lace and thoroughly enjoyed it all - there was good food and good company and wine and choc of course haha!... only down side was the bunk beds squeaked terribly every time you tried to turn over ... kept waking myself and my friend up too! but apparently all the beds in all the rooms were like it! .... I still have heaps of photo's on my camera and haven't psyched myself up to loading and compressing them on here yet .... so in the interim here are pics of my traveling art kit - a Moleskin sketch book - and in the lightweight "pencil case" are:
water colour pencils - a mechanical lead pencil, eraser, sharpener, fold up ruler, 2 black "Pitt pens", 2 (water holding) brushes, spare pencil leads, spare erasers (for the mechanical pencil), 2 "Twinkling H20" pots and a little tiny pair of scissors! ..... all kept neat in a little stripey fabric bag (not in the pics).

Kumihimo Braiding and Marudai

Hi All - I am still here! I have been really busy getting ready for a workshop weekend (7th-9th May to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the West Aussie branch of the Aussie Lace Guild) ...I am doing needle lace (as a student not a tutor this time) and I have been getting things ready for it - also I am busy painting bobbins for my September stock (As I have travels in 3 weeks - a lace teaching trip to Tasmania/Melbourne and also the congress in Japan in July) I need to "get ahead"!
I got a Mini Marudai in the post yesterday - ordered from a place in Queensland and also a new book on Kumihimo braiding - I have just got the Marudai put together and loaded with the 'Tama" (bobbins) and I have started a braid to carry on with at the Lace day which I am going to tomorrow (I don't have any lace underway at the mo!) I have also nearly finished another crazy patchwork belt in Navy blues, rust/orange and creams to match my clothing which I intend to take to Japan for the Congress! I just have to hand sew the binding... also taking that to the lace day tomorrow too... No peace for the wicked bwah hahahahaha! LOL! :-D

Xamia palm

Here are some pics that I took a couple of weeks ago of the Xamia Palm in our Garden it has had three "flowers" which now have "nutted" pretty colours aren't they? hehe