Needle Lace and Bobbin Lace Heart's Desire part 1

Picture 1 

Picture 2

Picture 3

Hi All - Well here are the first picture's of the progress of my Heart's Desire jewellery - The design was based on the Dorothy Mackellar Poem as mentioned in my previous post. The sides of the neck part were worked in Milanese Bobbin Lace - right side in Blue Moravia Linen thread and the left side in a salmony coloured Moravia Linen thread. The pattern is "Meander in Braid 2". I worked this on a lace pillow ... ended it off then couched the bobbin lace pieces into place on the needle lace pad ... The rest of the design was then outline couched....and the needle lace fillings begun ..... the outer flames first in single corded Brussels with beads added.... and a couple of the parts of the coiling "Lithe Liana's threads used for the needle lace were mainly silks but some cottons too... The white base of what will be the feature "Opal" is in place (Single Corded Brussels Stitch)....The 2nd picture shows the background "Sapphire Misted Mountains" worked in single corded Brussels and also Pea Stitch Variation... the Lithe Liana on the left has now been filled in with single corded Brussels stitch with "Venetian Gros Point" four hole included as well as a version of this with 4 beads in formation rather than the holes... The "Sunburnt Country" in the foreground (right) is now worked - again in Single Corded Brussels stitch but this time with a Venetian Gros Point 9 hole feature and also deep charcoal coloured real pearls... the dry "River bed" is now under construction in single corded Brussels with beads every now and again on the straight return ...

My Triennial Lace 2012

My Triennial Competition piece 2012

Hi All - I have been a slack blogger in recent months - mainly because I have been busy in the studio - painting bobbins for the recent Australian Lace Guild AGM at the beginning of this month and also on my Competition piece - which you can see in the photo above. The theme for This year's Triennial was "My Country" poem - by Dorothy Mackellar. I made this jewellery set to go in the Mixed Lace Class but as my entry was the only one I was asked if it could be moved into the Contemporary/Innovative... not really the correct class so I didn't expect to win - but I did get a "Highly Commended" and the prize was the most FABULOUS glass dish you can see also in the photo - (The first place glass dishes appeared to be much larger so goodness knows how the Interstate winners (if there were any) manged to get them home on the airplanes!) Mine fit quite nicely in my on-board back pack! hehe. I will be posting some photo's in the next blog entries as I took lots of it as it progressed :D

More Lace from Japan

The Leaves and Tally's in this piece are exquisite!

Beautiful work

Sorry this one is a little blurry -some of the pieces were very hard to photograph as they were behind glass

Here are another 3 pics of some of the stunning lace I saw during myJapan Lace Congress Trip :)

Bobbin Lace from Japan

Beautiful oval mat

I loved this piece - amazing!

A gorgeous sampler of Milanese stitches

Hi All - I have been very busy getting ready for my trip to the other side of the country - Sydney in 3 weeks time, staying with my friend, Ethel for a week then we go up to the venue for the Annual Australian Lace Guild conference week! Can't wait to catch up with my friends. Every 3 years the conference moves to a different Australian State - this is the 2nd year in New South Wales which means that it is also the "Triennial Lace Competition" - I have entered again this year - the theme is the Poem - "My Country" by Australian Poet Dorothy Mackellar (1885-1968) - a fabulous poem - amazing imagery - I had designed my piece within 2 hours of receiving the magazine with the information in it!!!! - very inspiring! Of course - no pics as it's all "secret squirrel" LOL...However I have been looking through the photo's that I took during from the International Lace Congress that I attended in Japan two years ago (I can't believe it's been 2 years!!!) I took many photo's of exquisite lace made by very talented Japanese people here are just 3 images :D

Weekend away

Mural in Northam last Friday

Yummy Arvo tea at the Grandhouse B&B in York last Friday

The Beverley Agricultural Show on Saturday

Local residents at Mundaring Weir 9.30am Sunday

 Hubby and I went away for the weekend - First stop on Friday morning was at the Margaret River Choc Factory in Swan Valley for morning tea (and to replenish stock! LOL) then out to Northam where we had lunch at a lovely Greek Cafe Yassou.... then down to York where we were booked into the Grandhouse B&B for 2 nights in the "Spa" suite! Arrived in tome for a lovely homemade arvo tea- yummy choc muffins in the first pic! and later in the evening - a complimentary Sherry or Port and we were given a complimentary bottle of white wine too! :D 
Saturday was a beautiful sunny late Winter's day (Spring starts here in Australia on September 1st) so we drove down to Beverley - not much to see there -but we went in the Tourist Bureau and were asked if we were "up for the show" ..."what show?" we said ....it was their Annual Agricultural show- we spent several hours watching the horses and riders being judged and the cattle too and just generally snoofying around - in the big shed was crafts and Art on display and i purchased home made Lemon butter - mm mmm! Scoffed a big stuffed jacket potato for lunch - drove back to York and had a glass of wine at the pub there (only one left - others have all closed down) which was a bit pricey! but it turned out to be a great day! On Sunday we stopped off at Mundaring Weir and communed with nature - well 5 Kangaroos that were grazing there! Didn't do anything crafty - just read my book in the "down time".

But I am now back in the studio each day frantically getting ready for the Sydney Australian Lace Guild AGM for which I leave in 4 weeks and 5 days! eeeek!

Felted Scissor Keepers

Felted Scissor Keepers

Another view

A close up view of 3

Close up of another 4

and the last 4

Felted Scissor keepers which I made earlier in the year - put onto some pretty little embroidery scissors which I bought at a local craft shop - they made for Birthday Pressies for my lace making and Stitchety friends :) and of course one for me :D

Tatted bookmarks

Hi All - Yes - I am still here - been really busy the last few weeks in my studio - back in April I participated in a tatted bookmark exchange - I decided to look on the internet for some inspiration and visited a tatting blog which I go to regularly - Singtatter and saw a picture of a bookmark called "Floral Vine" - I couldn't find a pattern so I "blew up" the photo and printed it in black and white and drew up my own pattern - I made the first one (the pinky purple one on the far left) but fell in love with it and didn't want to give it away LOL! so I then made the next one from the left - dark green and orange and that is the one which now lives in South Australia - I received a beautiful one from the lady in return but haven't taken a pic of it yet - when I do - I will post it on here :D I have not done a huge amount of tatting and I have never used 2 shuttles before -so actually learned something new :D

End of Autumn and finished Scarab Jewellery

Hi All - It's the end of Autumn here in Western Australia- the first day of Winter is this Friday! which means more hours indoors doing crafty stuff - yay! including Lace making - by the way for those Lacey friends of mine reading this - there is the chance to win a Pair of Spangled bobbins or a decorated tatting shuttle over at wickedtats so do pop over and have a look. 
I received my free copy of a rather gorgeous Lace book -full of "Lappets". OIDFA (International Organisation of Bobbin and Needle Laces) turn 30 this year and to celebrate they have sent everyone who is a member in 2012 a copy - which is a rather wonderful surprise! Today at Lace Group we finished early and all went for a cuppa and cake at a local cafe at lunchtime then 3 of us went to a nearby Library where there was an art show on -some really fabulous paintings/artworks there - my 2 mates and I spent a lovely hour looking at all the pieces .... so it's been a good arty day today hehe.

Scarab rocks necklace - with background masked out and sequins placed

Finished Scarab necklace, earrings and 2 matching cuffs :D

Tassie Rocks Egyptian Jewellery set

Using the Angelina Fibre version of the "Rocks" photo- I started Machine embroidering a "Scarab".

Another view

I was trying to load 3 pics on here - but this new format for Blogger was giving me grief so only 2 today - It wouldn't do it in the order I wanted and when I tried doing it the opposite way around - it still didn't do what I wanted ...*sigh!*

Black Rocks Jewellery Set

Here are the final pics of the Black Rocks jewellery set:

Gillian B - I can now put you out of your suspenseful misery LOL :D

 The Cuff, Necklace and Earrings

The Necklace and Earrings

The Pendant pieces were attached to a machine embroidered cord with Pear shaped crystal beads between and the Earrings were made using the cord and beads.

For anyone coming to visit my blog for the first time - scroll down to the last few entries for the story of this jewellery set - I have done another project on based on the rocks photo ....

.....and it involves the "Angelina Fibre" version :D ..... stay tuned...

Black "rocks" Necklace, Earrings and cuff

Hi All - 0h well you'll have to bear with me as it seems that since my last post and after being with Blogger for 6 years they have gone and TOTALLY changed the format on me in the entry composing area.........grrrr- I HATE change :( So I have no idea what this entry is going to end up looking like! - it's all a bit hit and miss... any way continuing with the "Textile projects from a photo" - here is the "Cuff"...

Apparently I can now type in between the pictures - but maybe when I press the publish button it could be anywhere! LOL ....we will see...

Another pic of the cuff - this time with the buttons and cords on... 

 from the front....

and from the other side

Finger's crossed that this entry will look halfway decent hehe!.....

Textile projects from a photo part 3

Well continuing the story of textile projects from an inspirational photograph (See previous blog entries.....and with me being me - This black piece was destined to become jewellery! - the first pic shows the pendant pieces all marked out - the second pic the satin stitching being done around the various shapes and the 3rd pic shows the stitching around what is to become a cuff ..... more to follow :D

Textile projects from a photo part 2

First photo shows backgrounds - 3 cream cotton fabric pieces and a pre-dyed (orange and yellow!) piece of silk scarf painted with fabric paints and "Lumiere's" .... the next pic shows a version of the photo enlargement - done with hand felting (single needle - very therapeutic haha) using wool and silk tops on a blue Duster cloth (Hi Pat hehe - yep - still using those you sent me a few years ago :D) since this pic was taken - I have started to embellish the "rocks" with tiny beads....The "bits" on the left are coloured (and opened out) "Paper String" ... which you will see in a future blog entry as I have used them on one of the painted cream material backgrounds ......Then an interpretation using "Angelina fibres" -and in the 3rd pic you can see the black material version which was made by using a piece of polystyrene foam (like meat trays - though this was actually a "corn on the cob" tray from Woollies!) I flipped the image and used an old biro to emboss the design into the polystyrene (learnt to do this in a workshop last August with the lovely Sherrill Kahn from USA - then Lumiere paints were sponged onto it and then it was "stamped" onto the plain black fabric ......more to come as to what this ended up being :D - Geez - I'm such a tease LOL! haha
(Oh and Hi to my lace making and embroidery mate Gillian B - who I caught up with today at the WA Lace Day and so sweetly told me how much she enjoys following my blog - yay! there's at least 2 people out there who read it - Hi to Christie too :D) ... stay tuned for more .....
(and if this is the first time you've visited my blog the photo used as reference is in the previous entry to this one :D)

Textile project from a photo

At the February meeting of ATASDA (Australian Textile Art and Surface Design Association) we were given a challenge - to choose a photograph (there was about 10 different ones to choose from) and then to do something from it in various mediums - textile/paper/ combination etc....Well I chose the photo in the top pic - I know it was taken by Penny (one of the workshop co-ordinators) I think it was taken at Binalong Bay, Bay of Fires, Tasmania. As I have also been following The Sketchbook Challenge - (I have been working on it in my sketchbook for my own amusement :D) - I decided to combine the two themes (February sketchbook challenge theme was "Close up") so I "blew" the pic up a bit, masked off some of it- did a painting and then set about turning it into something" textiley!"..... pics of which will be in my next post ..... ;D ...stay tuned :D

Visitors in our garden

Hi All -The last few weeks we have had a couple of "28" Parrots visiting our garden - then one morning there were 3! and on Thursday this week they brought another friend and we had 4 at the same time :D - They are called "28's" because that's what their call sounds like -the have the most wonderful blue colour underneath their tails :D
The Bird table my son designed and made for me for Christmas has proved popular with them as a perch whilst waiting a turn on the seed block LOL! They look good with the Xamia Palm in the background :D

White Kumihimo braid

Hi All - well we are into Autumn here in Western Australia - though someone forgot to tell Mother Nature as it was in the high 30's last weekend and tomorrow and for the next 3 days (over this coming weekend) it's going to be 38/39 degrees! Here are some pics of the braid I got underway last week to take to Kumihimo group - I ordered a book from Nordic Needle in USA which has not only 12 (advanced) Marudai (Round stand) patterns but also 30 patterns for the Kakudai (Square stand) and some patterns for the "Ayetakadai". The 3rd pic shows the whole Kakudai - it's a mini one that I bought when I did the Kumihimo workshop in Japan in July 2010 - I believe that this book is the only one in print at the moment that has Kakudai patterns in it - so it is good to be able to start using my Kakudai :) I did end up restarting this braid 4 times though haha - at the end of the group meeting it measured about 30 cms yay!

Nature and ATASDA Textile pieces

Hi All - I am just about surviving the Summer heat here - One of the hottest on record! Here are some pics - the foxglove is a photo I took in the UK last July - not just any old Foxglove though as this one was growing in BeatrixPotter's Garden at "Hill Top Farm", Near Sawrey, Cumbria (that was my second visit to Hill Top - just a gorgeous garden :D) the other 2 pics are of a "Tower" made by a friend at ATASDA (Australian Textile Art and Surface Design Association (WA Branch)) her name is Averil it looked a lot better in reality - these photo's don't show how rich the colours are ad yes that is an Xmas bauble sitting in the top - cool idea :D - I missed the meeting in October when they had a mini workshop with Lyn on these towers/ totem poles :( boohoo! The things they did were stunning - so stay tuned for a couple more pics in next blog posts :D

Needle Lace leaves

Hi All - I am just about surviving the heat here in Perth - we have are experiencing the 2nd hottest Summer on record - had several days last week when it was 40 degrees (centigrade) and over! (104-109 Farenheit) even the pool water was 35c (95f) so we had to leave the pool blanket off for a few nights to get the water to a temperature that wasn't like swimming in a bath!!! - 38 today but fortunately down to only 31 tomorrow which is good as I have the first meeting for this year of the Kumihimo group I go to (monthly) as it's a bit of a drive away (35 mins) glad it's not a stinky hot day! The heat is also the reason I have been a bit remiss with my blogging - too hot to sit by the computer with the amount of heat that is generated by the hard drive under the desk! Anyway - here are a couple of pics of needle lace - the workshop was tutored by Olwyn Scott - a fellow West Australian who has made and taught needle lace for many years - my leaf is the blue/orange/cream one - to the right in the first photograph - and I actually haven't finished it yet as I haven't seen it recently in the studio - probably in a "Safe place" LOL!