Paperbark tree

Hi
Here is a piece I did using actual "Paperbark" collected from local bush! It was machined in place then wools added and some textural hand dyed green wool which a friend gave me threaded through and tied on "sequin waste" ... it's on a background of Hessian ... which funnily enough the Aussie's pronounce as "Heshan" rather than the English way I was taught of Hess-ee-an!... one of the many peculiar pronunciations we come across here every day! haha
The one word that drives me nuts here is the way they say Maroon.... I always knew it as Mar-oon (rhymes with moon) Aussies say Mar- own! (As in when you "own" something!) I never say the word .....I call the dark red colour "Burgundy" LOL :-)
I received my postcard yesterday from Susan - Cyber Fyber so I really must try and dig out the camera and take a pic of it and the new ATC ... It won't be tomorrow as I have lace and then have to take Son to the city to the Orthodontist and on Thursday I have to go to the city with Daughter to work out what bus she needs and the stops for University which she starts next Monday! ... She still needs her Mummy ahhhhhhhhhhh hehe! :-)
I also want to go in Borders bookshop and see what's new in their craft department ... dangerous as it is ...last time in December I bought the "Paper, Metal, Stitch" book by Maggie Grey and Jane Wild ... is a beeewwwwwdiful book though! yum yum!

Uluru or "Ayers Rock"

Hi
I have been a bit remiss in popping entries on this block this week... It's been a busy one in the studio ... had bobbin orders to paint ... and I have been making some ATC's towards the swap at the Australian Lace Guild AGM week at the end of September. I know it's quite a while away but from April onwards I have to rev up the bobbin painting to get stock ready for Early September etc.... no peace for the wicked! haha.
The pics here are of a piece I did using only one stitch on a painted linen background ... the stitch used was Coral Stitch.
I received my Cyber Fyber ATC in the post yesterday from Susan Lenz ..Yay... have popped it in my folder of ATC's to show off to the gals at the lace groups I go to ...I also posted my postcard and 3 ATC's for the "Random Swap" at Cyber Fyber to Susan http://www.cyberfyberexhibition.blogspot.com/ yesterday ... I have taken some pics but need to take one of the new ATC then I will pop them on here once Susan has received the little package.... hold that thought.... hehe! :-)
At my Embroidery Group yesterday we decided what theme we would work with this year ... we are already working with the "Experimental" theme (Hence the Play Day last month) and I read out a few suggestions and everyone started yakking about "Countries" and places they have either visited or would like to go and the Cultures there ...so as they seemed so enthusiastic about this theme we decided that would be the way to go. It's up to them if they a) want to participate or b) want to do one piece over the year or a couple etc... I would like to get at least 4 done and the Countries/cultures I am going to do will be Egypt (Ancient), Incas from Peru, Italy (Ancient Rome) and either Ireland (Celtic) or perhaps India or Morocco ... Oh poop! I think there will have to be 5 or 6 smaller projects haha!
Well it's Noggin Time (4pm drinking time according to my friend Margaret who passed away suddenly last July) so off to get a glass of vino ....

Busy Busy

Hi
Sorry I haven't been posting the last few days - I've been busy working on my postcard for Susan and the Cyber Fyber Exhibition .... It is ready to go in the envelope now. I also have 3 ATC's ready to go with it for the Random Swap. The pic here shows a postcard which I received in December from Hannah. I had buried it on my drawing board in the studio and it came to light today. The colours in "real life" are gorgeous ... the pic doesn't do it justice! Hannah's blog is at http://www.katarski-artistatwork.blogspot.com/ she does some fabulous work. I have been making more ATC's today as we are having a swap at the April Lace Guild day - and any left over can go towards the swap in September at the Aus Lace Guild AGM week. They are quite different from the ones I had made to date ... they do of course have hand made lace on them.

Russian Mat update and ATC Swap

Hi

Here is an updated photo of my big Russian Mat ... this was taken at the end of December so it has progressed a little more since then but not a great deal as I am only working it on a Wednesday morning when I go along to Wanneroo Lace Group.I found out about Susan Lenz's Cyber Fyber ATC Swap (here is the link I am still waiting to arrange for my friend to come and show me how to do the links properly) but this should take you there: http://www.cyberfyberexhibition.blogspot.com/ I have selected an ATC and am arranging a trade with Susan right now ... all very exciting waahoo! I got the info from Dale ...thanks Dale :-) http://downunderdale.blogspot.com/Another hot day today 35°c and seemed very humid though the weather man didn't think so ... he shoulda been here! It's cooling down at the end of the week to 29-30°c which should be luvly for the weekend. I am off out for the day on Saturday to the first meeting for this year for the Wire Lace Group .... I got started with a new wire lace necklace design today and hope to really get on with it on Saturday .... should be great!

Summer and experimental needlelace

Hi

Here are a couple of pics the first shows the gorgeous Frangipani which is, of course as it is full Summer here, out in flower. The actual plant is in the garden behind ours but as we are on the 'sunny" side we get all the benefit of the flowers without the cost of the watering!. Yay!

The other pic is an experimental piece of needlelace using, thick and thin metallic threads, Kitchen string!!!, fine wire, beads etc.

It's a hot summer's day here again today ... we still have the air con on (at 7.30pm) and it reached a top of 37°c. Crazy son was out playing cricket in it all afternoon ... nutcase! haha!

It was the 5th Birthday of my Embroidery Group - "Stitchety Grubs" yesterday ... the other ladies hadn't even realised we were 5 already!. We had a lovely sponge "Boston" cake - a light sponge with custard filling and choc topping and I decorated it with "Smarties" in the shape of a "5" .....We are going to discuss at the next meeting (as there were 3 away yesterday) what project we would like to do next ... the theme this year is experimental ...hence the "Play day" and we are hoping to do a couple more play days when the weather cools down.

We welcomed back our friend April who had been in the UK for the last 9 months or so... we had kept in touch with her via the ol' computers which was faaaab!

My Cocoon Necklace and Earrings

Hi

Here are a couple of pics of my Cocoon Necklace and Earrings which I made the week before last. It is a "Stef Francis" (I have just looked for a link for her but it doesn't appear to be working today perhaps the page is being updated!) kit which I bought last year when I was on the East Coast of Australia at the "Gold Coast". It had very clear instructions and was fun to do ... I will wear it to the next West Aus Lace Guild meeting at the end of February.

We had a lovely evening last Saturday (Australia Day) the fireworks over Perth city were great but the accompanying music was pretty naff! seems to be getting worse every year!

It was a balmy night and we hid indoors all evening in the air con except when watching the fireworks of course... luckily the mosquito's didn't find me like they usually do though they did find my mate who got bitten on the palm! of her hand and also my Hubby got a bite on the knuckles!!! (I was fidgeting around so that they wouldn't land on me haha!)

Happy Australia Day

Hi
"Happy Australia Day" to all Aussies ... here are my two ... off to their friends to celebrate. We (The 2 oldies!) are off in a little while to friends (also oldies haha!) who live nearer the city so we can watch the firework show down over Perth at 9pm tonight from their balcony with wine in hand no doubt !!! he he! and we are sleeping over so don't have to worry about who's gonna drive! Yay!

More "Play Day" pics...

Here's a couple more pics from our "Play Day" last Friday ... you can see the "Tissue Paper Fabric" hanging to dry and I can't quite decide what Judy (Left) and Maureen are watching Ros do??? hmmmm! :-) - could be she is rolling a lolly wrapper or Tyvek or Plastic carrier bag strip onto a kebab stick to make a bead.

Sad Day for Perth Western Australia

It's a sad day here in Perth today ... we all woke up to the news that 28 year old Actor, Heath Ledger was found dead. He was a Perth boy and attended Guildford Grammer School which is only about 50 kms from me (only 4 kms from our old house). The TV has been covered in interviews and film clips ... no doubt it will go on for quite a few days yet ... :-(

Tyvek and Carrier bag beads

Here are a couple of pics of the "Tyvek" and "Carrier bag" beads which Maureen showed us how to make... they were made by wrapping a small piece of "lolly" (sweet for those reading this who aren't Aussie!) wrapper around a Kebab stick, a pin laced temporarily through it, melted slightly with a heat gun to attach it to itself, pin taken out, then a strip of either Tyvek or plastic carrier bag then wrapped a little, pinned, melted, then pin taken out and the rest of the strip wrapped around, pinned again, melted slightly to attach the end, pin taken out then the whole thing melted with the heat gun until it looks ok! The Lolly wrapper is there to prevent it all sticking to the Kebab stick ... they are verrrrry funky and we all liked making them! (sorry pic quality is a little blurry - lighting wasn't good... we had to put down the carport door as the wind would have blown everything everywhere but thank goodness it was only a 30°c day and not 38°c that was originally forecast!)

Embroidery "Play Day"

Here are a couple of pics by Helen - she was having a go at the "Fluff ball" fabric .... torn small pieces of synthetic coloured "fluff" and bits of synthetic "wools" and "pom poms" on a background of craft felt then all placed between Baking paper and then ironed ... these 2 pics show before ironing and after. This fabric can then be machine sewed (I like to use a multi coloured metallic thread) then turned into anything you want!

Pantoran Finished

Please read these 3 entries for today 15th January from the bottom up .... It would be real good if I knew how to use this computer properly haha! Anyway here is a pic of my finished Pantoran hanging on the wall in our bedroom - I am really pleased with how it truned out and the fact that it was finished the same year it was started (haha) in mid December though it did take until today to put the hooks up and hang it! Oh and in case you

are wondering what size it is - the quilt part at the top measures 51 cms!

Pantoran continued....

It seems that blogger is loading these posts backwards ... probably my ineptness! so please read from the bottom up! - Here are the 10 squares laid out in the order I want them to be in ... then I had to start the "quilt" for the top ... so here is a pic of it in the early stages!

Yay! Pantoran finished - here's the story

Hi All

Well as promised here are the pics of my "Pantoran". I have wanted to make one since I did research on both "Torans" and "Pantorans" back in 2000 during my City & Guilds Embroidery course. When I read early last year that Sharon B ( http://sharonb.wordpress.com/ ) was running a challenge for various people around the world to "Take a stitch Tuesday" I was tempted to join but knew I was going to have other commitments during last year that meant I would not be able to keep up with the stitch each week ...However I mentioned it to my ladies in my Stitchety Grub Embroidery Group they thought it a great idea and we decided we could manage a stitch a month ... we put bits of paper with 22 different stitches into a little bag and took turns drawing a stitch at every other fortnightly meeting. Most of the ladies did their stitching onto various "Crazy Patchwork" pieces but I decided to finally do my Pantoran and to do it in the colours which we (Hubby and I) were going to be decorating our bedroom in around early June. In the top photo you can see from the top left to right - the 1st square for the month of February - the feature stitch being "Colonial Knots", the 2nd square is a Falcon featuring the March stitch of "Fly Stitch", the 3rd square is a Peacock featuring "Sheaf Stitch" for April, bottom left - is a Fish featuring "Wheat Ear Stitch" for May, Sequin waste couched down using "Thorn Stitch" for the month of June. In the next pic - top left to right - An Elephant featuring "Feather Stitch" for the month of July, A square featuring Shisha and "Pekinese Stitch" for the month of August, A tortoise button (given to me a few years ago by a lace friend and I have been saving it for something special!) featuring "Chain Stitch" for October (no stitch chosen in September because of the Australian Lace Guild Conference we all went to!), A square with a "Conch" worked in "Coral Stitch" for November and last but not least a square with an "Ashtadel" (lotus flower) featuring "Couching" for December. As Blogger doesn't seem to want to let me load more pics I will continue in another posting......

Cathedral patchwork and stick insect!

Hi All

Here are a couple of pics .. the first is of a stick insect that was sitting on our driveway "sun bathing" last Sunday ...My Hubby came in and said grab the camera as his nephew in the UK is fondly known as the "bugman" ... and has some "pet" insects of his own. I was indoors at the time loading craft pics on the computer so Hubby knew I had the camera to hand. I emailed them straight away and he was well impressed! Amazing this technology lark! The second pic is C&G Embroidery ... Experimental Cathedral Windows....It's a shame all these samples are just sitting in folders ... but what do ya do with 'em?

It's been luvly here today ...around 26°c but the forecast for next Friday when I am hostessing the Embroidery Group "Play Day" is for it to be 38°c fooey! It'll have to be less messy stuff indoors with the aircon methinks ... we will have to schedule another day when the Autumn arrives (another play day what a hardship haha NOT!) :-D

The Old Village and applique

Hi

Here's a pic of the "Duck Pond" which is in the centre of the village, Ashmore, in Dorset ,UK where I grew up .... I wouldn't mind a dollar for every hour spent here! The pond is very old ... a watering hole for animals in bygone days and still now for horses and wandering cattle. As kids we used to "skate" on it in winter (in our welly boots!) though one of the grown ups would drive a tractor onto it first to make sure it was strong enough ... it's not very deep except near the centre it is a bit deeper but mainly mud and duck poop! hehe! The other pic is another experimental applique from my City & Guilds, this one using mesh from Onion bags and Manderin bags as well as leather (suede side down and up) it is actually s'posed to represent an old window ....the leather is the big stones surrounding the window. I went to my lace group today and managed to "put a few pins in"!! the ladies were all suitably impressed with how much I had done to the Russian Mat over the holidays.... after lace - my friend, Ros, and I went snoofying around in Spotlight (BIG craft and homewares shop) and we both bought a BIG bottle of PVA glue for next week's "Play Day" for the "tissue paper fabric", and I succumbed to a "foil sheet", 3 embossing powders... 1 copper, 1 Antique gold and a silver .... and a little pot of hologram glitter ... just coz I liked it!! (It's called "Red rainbow" and is realy prettiful in overhead lighting!) haha!

Experimental Applique

Whilst tidying the studio the last few days I took the opportunity to photograph some of the pieces which I did when I was doing my City & Guilds Embroidery Stage 1 a few years ago.This piece was an excersise in experimental applique based on a photograph which I had taken of my Mum's house in the UK when it had scaffolding all over it ... hence the silver ribbon representing the scaffold poles .... the turquoise was from the waterproof tarps which were spread around. I used "satins" and some opalescent sheer fabric and machine stitched randomly. I had fun in the studio today painting Tyvek, nappy liners, some bought lace which I was given, Duster felt (Yes, Pat from the ones you sent), tea bag fabric, white fleecy fabric and Vilene ...some of these are for the Play Day a week on Friday so I have tken some before shots and will take some after ones ... whether they work out or not !! haha! The paints I used were the little bottles Dye-n-flow, Lumieres and Jacquard paint.

Beautiful Roses

Hi - I rescued these 4 roses today ... I say "rescued" them as today was a cooler, breezy 31°c but it is going to heat up over the weekend and the forecast for Monday is again 40°c! So I thought I would bring these lovely blooms in so they don't "fry"! The rose is from a plant that my sister bought us back in April 1996, from a local nursery, when she first visited us here in Australia from the UK. It is called "Sheer Bliss" and was a new breed of rose for that year. You can also see 2 of my little Dottee dolls which I made back early last year hanging on our TV unit! I finished cutting up my "Stitch" magazines today and they are all re "comb" bound ...all the interesting bits ... still have to get around to doing the same to all my "Australian Lace Guild" Magazines ... gotta cut out all the patterns and prickings that I may do one day (haha)! and get rid of the bulk of the rest ... ads, random articles etc...

Phew Hot weather!

Hi- It was a stinker of a day .... 41.9°c ... there is a bush fire burning in the Eastern (hills) suburbs ... I have a couple of Lacemaking friends who live over there so I hope they are ok.
I decided last week to go through my UK "Stitch- with the Embroiderers Guild" magazines and to take out the articles I am interested in and rebind them (I have a comb binding machine) ... it's surprising how many pages are adverts .. so they went in the direction of the rubbish bin .... I have still quite a few mags to go through and have so far rebound about a quarter of them ... should make a bit of space on the shelves in the studio! yay!...
My studio is starting to look like it needs tidying ... but I will wait for another week or so as the Embroidery group gals will be here 2 weeks tomorrow so I don't want to do it too early or else I will have to do it again! hehe!

Happy New Year

Hi
Happy New Year .... "Him indoors" and I (kids were doing their own thing!) had a great evening over our friends on New Year's Eve ... eating drinking and yakking and we went out onto their front balcony to watch the fireworks down over the Swan River down in Perth City ..... we have our big "Skyworks Show" coming up on the 26th of January to celebrate "Australia Day" ... which will be a much bigger display than Monday night's. We will be again at our friends place that night so we get a great view without actually being down in Perth and having to contend with the traffic!!! afterwards! also an excuse to eat and drink again haha! :-) I have spent the last 8 days working on the Russian Mat ... hiding in the studio in the cool ... today the top temperature was 37.5°c and 40°c is forecast for tomorrow then cooling to 33 and then up to 40 again at the weekend! Summer is here! I must start to plan what the gals will need to bring to my house on the 18th .... My embroidery group are having a "Play day" ... so I will have to write out a list of suggestions for materials etc for them to bring along... I hope that day isn't stinking hot as it would be easier to do some of the things outside! fingers crossed for a 32°c or less day.

Russian Mat and Happy New Year

Hi

Here are a couple of pics again of my Russian Mat... the 1st was how it was at the beginning of December last year and the 2nd image shows it as it was a few months ago in early August ... I have been working on it the last 5 days in the cool of my studio whilst rewatching the Lord of the Rings trilogy and it's extra items... I hope to take some more up to date pics and load them on here next week..... The mat is 49 cms in diameter.

Have a Happy New Year all.....

Merry Christmas

Hi
A quick note to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year .... I have a friend coming over sometime in January to help me get organised with this blog ... there are lots of things which I admire on other people's blogs but have no idea how to get them for mine ...even though I have had a bit of a look it seems very confusing! So hopefully next year it will be more exciting! As another friend of mine would say "Merry Christmas and custard!"

Hello ... :)

Hi All

I have been busy the past week ... firstly tidying the studio though now you wouldn't know it! ... I have been working the last 2 days on my Pantoran as all 10 of the little squares are now embroidered and I am working on the top panel on which to hang them.... and it is all spread out on the studio floor! I am taking pics as I progress and will post them soon.

Here are a couple of pics I took on the recent visit to the "AQWA" Aquarium of Western Australia ... it isn't easy to take pics because of the reflections in some of the tanks.

Napkin Lace Challenge

HI All

I have been here just lurking and looking on everyone else's blog's most nights.... I have been very remiss in not taking any pics with the camera hence not actually putting any posts on here... I have been tidying my studio the last couple of days! uh oh! ...long way to go yet ...trying to down size ... I have 2 bags of rubbish already... that's just paper!

Here are a few pics of the Napkin Challenge which I did during the middle part of this year .... The Australian Lace Guild challenged us to design and make lace based on the "dotty" designs on Paper Napkins..... you can see my napkin on the display sheet bottom centre ... with the biro markings on it! ... I made two items ... one in Bobbin Lace and one in Needlelace ...Both of which have just recently been entered in the local Annual Wanneroo Agricultural Show (2 weeks ago) in which I won 1st in "Bobbin lace - edged item" and 1st in "Any other Lace" for the needlelace one! Everyone who participated in the Guild Challenge had their pieces put in a book available through the Aus Lace Guild .... and there are 40 different Designs/patterns by 19 different Lacemakers! ...Those of us who entered were given a complimentary copy of the book which was luvly! The only thing was that I didn't realise that they were gonna be publishing them and so I hadn't named them ... Our magazine Editor named them "A Free Interpretation" which I never would have thought of .... my names for them were "Icicle" for the bobbin lace and "Tutti Frutti" for the Needlelace! But she had a dead line to work to and I was away down in Albany on the long Lace weekend...

ATC's received and chat

Hi All,

I am still around ... lurking alot in the last week and a half since I got this new computer! The other one was beyond salvage ... ditzy motherboard!

I have also been very busy getting ready for this Saturday's Cattern's Day Lace Fair here in Perth, West Aus ... I will be having a stall selling my Hand Painted Lace Bobbins so I have been very busy the last few weeks getting stock together as I had sold more than expected at the September conference ... who knew the ladies would spend up big hahahaha!

I have been doing a bit of craft in the studio but can't put a pic up of it as yet as they are for gifts ... stay tuned...... well have to go make sure I have something to take along to my Stitcety Grubs Embroidery group tomorrow morning so bye for now ...

I couldn't remember putting this pic on before ... it's of the luvly ATC that Pat sent me back in March (my first ever ATC - so verrrry special) then the next 2 are also from Pat which were in exchange with a couple of mine in August and then the bottom one is a felted one from Doreen .... I am gradually swapping and collecting ATC's and after this Saturday's Lace Fair where I might aquire a couple more .... I will take some new pics next week and pop them on here to show you.... since I updated the header on my blog a couple of months ago I haven't been able to load on any link thingies ..... so I don't think there are many of you visiting :-( ... I will have to go and leave messages on other blogs and "spread myself around!!!" haha....

Back again!!!

Hi All - sorry I haven't been around ... my computer crashed and it's taken 12 days to get this new one sorted and delivered though the computer man has to come around again tonight to help me retrieve some info and to get Outlook sorted ...being that I am a computer illiterate bod!!
Tomorrow I am hoping to load pics from my camera ... I did give the puter guy the camera disc and bless his likkle cotton socks he has loaded the program on already.
I do still have to load on my MP3 player's program as I forgot to pop that disc in with the others! Duh!
Whilst I have been without a puter I have managed to get quite a lot of creative things done in the Studio ... I have been making tiny Xmas "Dottee dolls" which I hope to finish tomorrow and then I can take a pic. I also have finished the coloured stitchery on my Kanthas Quilt nad have started on the white background quilting ... stayed tuned ....I have,of course been madly painting bobbins and varnishing them ...getting ready for The West Aus Cattern's Day Fair a week Saturday.
The weather has changed Summer is on it's way ... Saturday was 30°c - Dear Daughter and I had a "Gals Day out" shopping down in Fremantle - it was a faaaab day! ..Yesterday the temp was 37°c and today was supposed to be 39°c ... I got dear hubby to get up on the roof yesterday and sort out the airconditioner ready for the summer season so it has been luvly and cool in here today! yay! Still way too cold in the pool though ... being a big concrete one it's takes quite a few consecutively hot days to get it up to temperature ... gonna get solar heating put in one day .... don't hold breath though haha! :D

Kangaroo Paw

I took this pic a few weeks ago (during the conference- on the day off) There are several "paws" in the family but this particular one is the Western Australian State Floral Emblem (Mangles' Kangaroo Paw).... I have painted it very small many times onto lace bobbins! I am off to Wire Lace Day tomorrow and am going to do a Christmas decoration ... from a Jana Novak book ...only uses 3 pairs so not many bobbins to wind haha! I hope to take some more pics next week of crafty stuff ... I seem to have a lot of "real" pics not many craft subjects ... probably coz I haven't had a lot of time to do crafty stuff ...too busy workin' :( ho hum ....

At the beach! and sexy sox!

Hi

Here are a few shots that I took down in Albany at Middleton Beach ... we were collecting shells and I decided to take same "arty" pics ...

I went to our Wsetern Australian Lace Guild Lace Day yesterday ... a good turn out and I took some of my ATC's to show off ... the ones I have receieved as well as some I have available still for swapping ... we - the West Aus members - are planning on having a "swap session" at one of our monthly Lace days next year (hoping actually that it will be at the April one). Those of us who have already participated in swapping are trying to educate and convert those who haven't been "bitten" by the bug! It's slowly working haha! After the AGM dinner at the conference recently we had a "slipper/sock" party in my room ... here is a pic of our "tootsies" LOL Haha! :D Can you guess which is my foot?

View from my room

Here is a pic of the Flame Tree which was outside my bedroom at the units we stayed at in Albany ... I took a close up arty farty shot too! haha!

I bought some scrapbooking motifs today at the cheap $2 shop near where I go to Wednesday Lace Group ... 200 shapes in each bag... 1 bag of butterflies, 1 of heart shapes, 1 of star shapes and the last of flower shapes. They are sort of fabricky (new word? haha!). The colours are pastel iridescent in shades of ... orange, a light pink, a mid pink, a purple, a green and there could be some others ... I haven't opened the bags yet.... I will use some of them on ATC's as well as incorporating them into embroidery. I need to make some cards soon (for Birthday's etc) When I dig out the camera I will take some pics and post on here.

I also got a small bag of "holly leaves" with "that" time of the year nearly upon us.

I have made my 2 kids an Xmas decoration every year since they were born so that one day when (!!!!) they move out they will be able to "dress" their own trees. Not sure what I will actually do this year ... as some of you will have seen in old blog entry on here that last year I painted big "Gumnuts". Any ideas for quick decorations??????? I have done various beaded ones over the years and little ones in felt, cross stitched ones, decorated polystyrene balls ...etc ..... I am always on the look out for ideas :D

Oh! and just in case you are wondering .....I do make myself a decoration each year too as our tree would be very "nude" at some point in the future if I didn't now wouldn't it? hee hee! :D

Lace Weekend away

Hi All

Here are some pics from my Lace weekend away at the beginning of September... we stayed at a different place this year ... lovely units which have their own little lake on the grounds. The bullfrogs were very loud at night (thank goodness for earplugs haha) and the ducks were up early apparentley too! This one was a bit unsociable ... there were actually 3 pics ...3rd time lucky to get him without his head tucked somewhere! I have been really busy the last 2 weeks ... DD turned 18 early last week and I have been madly painting Lace bobbin orders from the AGM at the end of September... still got quite a few more to do and also to get stock up together for the November annual "Cattern's Day Lace Fair" here in Perth -Cattern's Day is an abbreviated name for St. Catherine's day (Catherine was the patron saint of lacemakers).

Surprisingly we are one of only a couple of States here in Australia who celebrate Cattern's Day!

I have started my Xmas shopping and want to do what I did last year (for the first time) and that is to have all the present shopping done by the end of November!

Great Conference Week

Hi All

Betchya all thought I had fallen off the edge of the world??? haha! I had a fabulous week teaching at the Australian Lace Guild Conference and I got to catch up with all my friends from all over Australia ... My students produced some great wire Jewellery of which about 5 of them wore the pendants and earrings to the Conference dinner which was great to see.

Here is a pic of my first ATC's which I made quite a while ago but was unable to put the pic on here as they were for the 9 National Committee members. (At last year's conference I one 9 ATC's by them so these were in return). Now that they have been given them I can put the pic on here :D When I went to the lace weekend 3 weeks ago in Albany my friends and I got to wander along the local beach collecting shells and I took some arty shots so I will post them over next few entries ... I will try and get back to blogging regularly again. My daughter is 18 on Tuesday so I am looking forward to celebrating that with close friends at a nearby restaurant .... have the bubbly ready! and yes there is bound to be chocolate involved! haha!