Alter Cloth 1

Hi All
As it is a year since I was in the UK I was taking a little trip down memory lane and looking through my happy snaps and found some pics of Alter cloths which I took.
The first one here was taken in Salisbury Cathederal.
I will post some more over next few days.
I have been busy in my studio madly painting bobbin orders every morning ... everyone seems to have decided to order at the same time plus I am trying to get stock done for the September Albany weekend and the AGM conference... no peace for the wicked he he! The afternoons I have been busy with the workshop notes. I haven't even had time to start putting items away in the new "tallboys" in our newly decorated bedroom ... lots of stuff still in the games room ... sigh! pity there's not more hours in the day! ;-D

Paintings and Peacocks

Hi All - I was looking through the photos which I took exactly a year ago when I was on my UK trip .... here is a pic of the "stage" in the gardens of "Larmer Tree" in Dorset (near my Mum's!). On the day we visited there weren't many people there although it was a gorgeous sunny day and around 24°c .... In these gardens there are all sorts of different little "buildings" ... every time you walked around the corner of the hedges there was another unique building which past owners had collected from around the world (late 1800's) ... I couldn't resist a pic of the beautiful scene painted as a backdrop and a very obliging Peacock which happened to be there at just the right time!

Arty Dolls

Hi All

Here are the 10 little Arty Dolls which I made back in early February (Click on pic to see them larger) ... I couldn't put them on here back then as most of them were made as gifts for the 4 lovely ladies with whom I stayed on my March/April Teaching trip (They also received a "Jewelled Jemz" neck purse as seen in an earlier posting) and also 4 of them were little Easter gifts .... the other 2 are mine! haha! The inspiration came from Dottee and her wonderful "Artee Dolls" she does fantastic work which you can see at the following: http://dotslifeandart.blogspot.com/ (sorry don't know how to do that link thingie with just a word). I absolutely loved making them and intend to make more .. I showed my Sister in UK on the webcam and she has put in an "order" for some slightly smaller ones done in Xmassy fabrics for her Xmas tree!. As I also make a decoration for my kids every year (this year will be my daughters 18th decoration!!!) I will have quite a few to do!

The idea with the Xmas decoration each year since they were born means that they will take them with them when they move out and will be able to decorate their own trees. Although I have also made myself one each year so that my tree won't be totally nude haha! Not sure my son will want a dolly ... will have to do a boy-ee one in blues! :-D

Painting and other Painting!

Hi I am still here! I have had a busy week painting bobbins until yesterday when Hubby and I started preparing our bedroom for decoration! We actually started painting today and yes I did use a bigger brush than normal haha (Usually it's a 0000 - not a 1 1/2 inch!)
Second coat to do tomorrow and hopefully as Monday is a Bank Holiday here we can get the room back together ... only 3 nights on the lounge sofa bed - that will be plenty!!!!
I missed lace today ...I should have been at wire lace but the bedroom had to come first as Hubby was psyched for it! and I gotta strike whilst the iron is hot!
We are off to a friend's daughter and her hubby's housewarming party tonight but it won't be a late night with all the decorating to do ho hum!
Hopefully back to crafty stuff later next week.....

Craft Show

Hi - Well that was a quick 3 days since my last post....

I am off to the Big Craft Fair here in Perth this Saturday to demonstrate on the Australian Lace Guild WA Branch stand along with other ladies in our "Lacecargot Lacemakers" group - we will be there all day ... there are 5 of us so we can take it in turns "manning" the stand and looking around. I am taking along a Bedfordshire edging which I designed a couple of weeks ago ... It will be a small hankie size when finished (Only 14 pairs of bobbins). I am looking forward to having a snoofy around the stands and I will try not too spend too much money haha! I am also looking forward to seeing the quilts although I was a member of WAQA for 10 years I let my membership elapse last year as I really wasn't attending the meetings anymore with the exeption of the small Pin Pals group which I still do attend ... in fact the ladies of that little group will be coming to my house for the first time in a couple of weeks ... I just hope the house doesn't smell too much of paint as it is the day after the long weekend and that is when we are finally painting our bedroom (14 and a 1/2 years ago was the last time so well overdue!!!)
Thank you to the people who have visited my blog recently and left little messages, Hi Hannah, Jennifer, Waltraud..... It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when someone has enjoyed my work.... well the family will be getting hungry ... off to do Kitchen duty ... not half as interesting as being in the studio haha!

Stitching Group challenge

Hi

Here is a pic of the first three "months" stitches for the challenge (so far). The first stitch we were to do was "Colonial Knot" and the square bottom left of the picture is that one. The background in each case is hand painted craft felt. I did 4 different shades which when finished the final piece will reside in our bedroom which we are going to be decorating in 2 weeks time on the long weekend. The second stitch was "Fly stitch" and that is the falcon square at bottom right it also has some oval beads and glittery "worms" (coloured metallic stuff like the "bright check" used in goldwork). The third stitch was "Sheaf stitch" and that is the top Peacock square. The tail has Sheaf stitch as do the little sequin "flowers" ... it is also embellished with little seed beads. The stitch for the current month is "Wheatear" which I have done but haven't taken a pic of it yet .... so you will have to wait for that :-D LOL! If you would like a closer look just click on the pic. By the way the squares are each 8cm x 8cm and worked in bought threads as well as my own hand dyed ones.

Wheatear Stitch

Hi All

I have had a busy week ... lots of bobbin painting .... - orders to fill ... but I did get to do a bit to my Kanthas Quit at my embroidery group ... we had show and tell ... - I have put a pic of my friend Colleen's crazy patch on here... yes that is real handmade bobbin lace on it .. Colleen is a prolific lacemaker.... this month's "Wheatear" stitch is on this piece .... at the bottom can you see the "Centipede" he is done in the Wheatear stitch! :-D -on the dark background (if you click on the pic it will enlarge). I am off to the "hills" for the Monthly WA Guild Lace day tomorrow ... looking forward to it.. I will be taking my Cordonnicot Needlelace "Lizard(s) to work ... I will try and remember to take a pic of them next week ... I have to dig out the camera for some other pics anyway.....

New Jewelled Jemz Neckpurses

Hi All

I can show you these pics now ....of the 5 "Jewelled Jemz" neck purses which I made

back in February ... I fell in love with the green one so kept it and the other 4 went to live with the 4 lovely ladies with whom I stayed on my recent Needlelace teaching trip in March/early April in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane.

I am still sorting out this computer ... getting organised slowly :-D

Still waiting on the computer to be sorted

Hi All
I have been a bit quiet the last week - still waiting for the computer guy to come and sort out the rest of the bits from the computer crashing a couple of weeks ago (he's coming over tomorrow evening yay!)... then I will load on some pics .... I have been busy painting bobbins in the studio and doing some lace and embroidery so I am keeping out of mischief! haha :-D I am also planningt he new decor for our bedroom ... to be painted on the next Bank holiday at the beginning of June (it hasn't been doen for 14 years !!!)
Off now for a cuppa and yep you guessed ....choc haha LOL! :-D

Chocolate pots!!!

Hi All - I managed to find one of the pics from my Trip ... this was taken in Sydney at "Max Brenner's ... it is called a "Suckao" there is a small tealight in the bottom of the pot at right and hot frothy milk in the top into which you spoon the small chocolate pastilles (this is my friend Ethel and she had selected milk choc ones - I had dark choc!!!) you then stir it and the heat from the tealight underneath melts the choc into the milk then you sip it with the metal spoon which is also a straw ... mmmmmmmmm ... then pour a little more milk from the little jug and more pastilles ....voilá ... verrrrry decadent ...so much so that you can buy the little tealight pot and straw in a set or a pair of them ...my friend and I both bought a pair..... I showed my best friend back here in Perth on Easter Sunday using Margaret River choc pastilles which I just happened to have in my fridge (left from Xmas!!!) talk about addictive haha ... and with winter coming......mmmmmmmmmmmmmm :-D

Waiting! Waiting!

Hiya
I am still having to wait for our computer guy to come back from his holidays to help us retrieve info and especially pics from the bowels of this computer ... he won't be around for a week and a half so I just have to wait! grrrrrrrr! I have been busy in the studio all this past week painting lace bobbins ... orders and some stock for September.... not much time for other crafty stuff though I did go to lace group yesterday and started the fillings on the 2 Cordonnicot Frilled Lizards .... Dear Son is back to school tomorrow so back to the school "run" lark but of course there is the bank holiday "Anzac Day" on Wednesday .... might make a point of no working on the bobbins and doing something crafty instead ...sounds like a plan haha!

Blue Mountains NSW

Back again ... This was a pic of Two of the "Three Sisters" rock formation in the Blue Mountains - outside Sydney - I visited it on Maonday 19th March ... I have better pics but this is the first one I have managed to retrieve from the new photo folder!

Stoopid Computer!

Hi All
My appologies for not sending any posts ... I have had an Easter which was pretty hectic ... then last Wednesday my printer decided to "kark" it ..... then when we bought a new one it wouldn't load but as DH was trying to load it the program and all stored info from the old printer was deleted and lost !!!! I do have some back up discs from January for other info like all my stuff in " Word" so not a total disaster but the computer guy took the hard drive away on Sunday without asking if we needed to back any recent stuff up and has reloaded Windows XP on and lost recent things grrrr... it's different from the XP we had before so I am having huge problems finding info and the computer is not doing half the things it should so am thoroughly P**d off with it ... We also lost all our photo's stored in the program which came with our digital camera ... fortunately I have most of the older pics on a disc and the ones since last July are still on the cards in the camera and case ... hadn't gotten around to going to get the prints done yet ... luckily!!!! had to reload MSN got that working last night but not had a chance to check the web cam yet ... also my DD has reloaded Limewire and other programs which were wiped off! still have to re load my MP3 player and transfer the songs back to the Windows Media Player ... also lost the few which I had downloaded in the interim ... I will get to telling you all about the Teaching trip ...honest! but can only take this computer in small doses at the mo!

I am back from my Teaching Trip

HI ... got back yesterday ... just a couple of lines to say that I will try to load all the piccies from my Camera over the next few days if I can find time (have arrangements with friends for Easter so not sure how that will go )... but I also need to take a couple more piccies of the yummy craft/threads etc which I bought whilst away ... I was a "Nawdy gal!" haha :-D

I am back from my Teaching Trip

HI ... got back yesterday ... just a couple of lines to say that I will try to load all the piccies from my Camera over the next few days if I can find time (have arrangements with friends for Easter so not sure how that will go )... but I also need to take a couple more piccies of the yummy craft/threads etc which I bought whilst away ... I was a "Nawdy gal!" haha :-D

Lacey Days

Just a quick note to say that I am off tomorrow for just over 2 weeks on my Needlelace Teaching trip on the other side of Aus... I'm back just before Easter! (My fave choc season haha!) will be sure to take some pics to post here on my return :-D
Bye for now.....

Dodgy disc!

Hi, no posts for a few days as I have had a dodgy disc in my back so haven't been up to too much... I did go to Lace group yesterday but took my Kanthas embroidery quilt as I was not going to be able to bend over a lace pillow. I have been gradually packing my suitcase ready for the teaching trip on Friday ...still a few things to "round up" though :-D
I took my goodies to show the others which I exchanged with a new friend in USA - she wanted some of my Cattern's Day painted bobbins so I got yummy threads, beads, Angelina fibres and a little kit for foiling on fabric... I will post pics on here when I get a chance in a few weeks time to do something with them at the moment I only have time to look and fondle them haha!
I had a friend ring me today in regards to the Wire workshop ... my first definite student letting me know how many pairs of wire bobbins she has .... Yay!!! I will have to get into the rest of the preparations for that in April as soon as the needlelace teaching trip is over and Easter too (My fave choccie time of the year!)

A Sense of place "Quilt"

Ah ha!!! Blogger has let me add another pic .... this shows the Plants at the bottom of the wall hanging ... they were made by distressing (burning over the gas stove!!!) and using a pyrography iron. Also "tubes" which had florist wire up the centre so that they can be manipulated and "tweaked" especially as it was travelling backwards and forwards to the UK ...yep it was one of the assessment pieces for that City & Guilds I did.... :-D
(more info below)

No pics :-(

It seems blogger won't let me add any piccies now ... poop! will try again later

Waterfall Quilt

Well ..I went to quilting group yesterday and had a great time ... got quite a bit done on my Kanthas Quilt and enjoyed the company of my friends. We were in the nice cool air con which was good as it was 42°c outside as it is again today and is also supposed to be tomorrow !!! Here is a pic of my 3D wall hanging (we had to do something for the title of "A sense of Place!")which features several techniques... under the 148 leaves!!! there is very dark green velvet which on one side was "plaited" and on the other smocked to give dimension!... the back ground behind the waterfall was tiny appliquéd pieces and the water in the "pool" is interwoven strips of fabric... as there had to be a building there is a ittle "tree house"! in hand dyed fabric sandwiched to craft felt for diimension.... the whole wall hanging is on hand painted Hessian. ok bloggere doesn't seem to want me to add another pic to this entry so I will do another......

Bank Holiday craftiness!

Hi .... I been busy the last few days ... alternately working on my "Kanthas Quilt" ....and on a knitted scarf ...as I can't do too much knitting at a time 'coz of Arthur Itis in my fingers ...I have been knitting 2-3 rows then putting it down ...carrying on with the Kanthas then doing another few rows! The scarf I am knitting is with some wool I got last week in Spotlight ...clearing out at $2 a ball instead of $4 called "Moda Dea - Wild" the colour... "funky" ...it is sooooooooo soft and is knitting up great!
As there was such a load of rubbish on daytime TV (It's a bank holiday here in West Aus today) I spent the day watching "Four weddings and a Funeral" on DVD and also "Pride and Prejudice" - the BBC TV series not the recent movie) ( for the umpteenth time haha!)....I'm off to quilt group tomorrow ... carrying on with the Kanthas ...

Tree of Life Quilt

Here are a couple of shots of my "Tree of Life" quilt which I did during my City & Guilds... it took 98 hours ... it was one of the assessment pieces which you have to work as if a commission - so time had to be logged as well as costs etc.... the quilting stitches were done with a variety of my hand dyed threads ..... I was breaking out of the zone on this one as I never work in orange colours.... The background was "blow painted!" that was fun though I ended up with an headache from the lack of oxygen haha! The silhouette's of the trees were done by tearing a sheet of paper ... as a stencil then the ol' blow painting again...

Wire Lace workshop

Forgot to say in yesterday's post ....that the Wire Lace workshop at the Sept AGM is a 2 day OR a 4 day workshop :-D

Wire Lace Workshop AGM Sept 2007

As promised ........here are the Wire Lace pieces for my workshop in September 2007... at the Australian Lace Guild conference (as mentioned in the Australian Lace Magazine). The "purple" necklace (and earrings), "Njmajek", is made in 3 parts and suitable for beginners and the other set "Paduan" for

intermediate.....or adventurous beginners :-D if you would like any further information do please email me on snailmad@iinet.net.au ... (you can click on the photo's to see them larger!)

Free Lace Butterfly

Hi ... A friend asked me about Jana Novak and the type of lace she does... so I dug out this butterfly which I made in Jana's 1996 AGM workshop in Melbourne ... it was the first AGM week I ever went to! It's made with Moravia Linen thread in several shades of blue and yellow and I wound "Kreinik blending filament" with some of the pairs...I enjoyed the free lace workshop and I designed and made 2 necklaces and a pair of earrings to match (the earrings match both ... one necklace is longish the other more like a choker) There are lots more beads on the Jewellery though than this butterfly.... There were lots of stitch and techniques tips in this workshop ... alot of which I still use!

Purple Venetian Gros Point Necklace

Hi All, I have been busy today ... went to visit a friend in hospital this morning and when I got home dear daughter wanted me to mend her studded belt ... that seemed to take forever!..... Last night I decided to "dig out" the Purple Venetian Gros Point necklace which I started in January 2005 supposedly for a wedding in November of that year ...(I ended up wearing a different one haha! 'coz it wasn't anywhere near ready) ... I had worked on it for a week solidly back in that March and ended up with a 10 day migraine ... I was working in very dark purple fine threads ... which put me off working on it for months...I have had to ration the time I spend on it now !!!!! The pic shown was taken way back in that "Migraine March" .... Now all I have left to do to finish it ...is the cordonnet around the 2 circles and then to take it off the pad and make some tiny Couronnes to attach and then it will be done and I just have to make the 2 earrings to match! I will take a pic when it's finished and post it on here....

"Little Frog" - Design page

Here is the Design sheet for the "Little Frog" Cordonnicot Lace piece. The drawing of a Tree Frog that I did at the top, then a couple of diagrams and notes for possible colours and thread selections.

I forgot to put in the post below that the eyes were made using 2 four petal Couronnes with a bead sewn in the centres.

The finished lace measures 50 mm x 70mm.

"Little Frog" Cordonnicot Lace

Here is the finished "Little Frog" Cordonnicot Lace piece.

The bamboo is done in "Single Corded Brussels Stitch", as is the upper part of his head. The lower part of is face is in "Pea Stitch Variation".

The black backgound filling stitch is "Ardenza Stitch".

Beads were incorporated as the arm was worked in Single Corded Brussels and the edging is a "Single Beaded Loop Edging". The lower half of the background leaf is in "Double Corded Brussels Stitch".

The Little Frog" is not actually in the book (see entry below) as it was made after the book was published but was made as an exercise to show my students how the idea/concept starts and what the finished piece of lace can look like..... :-D

Cordonnicot Lace Book

For more up to date information on my Cordonnicot Needle Lace please click here or copy and paste the following address below:
http://stitchetygrubs.wordpress.com/

Hi - I have had a couple of enquiries in the last week in regards to my book on "Cordonnicot Lace", which I published 18 months ago.

It is a style of needlelace which I designed and developed myself and taught at the Sept 2005 Australian Lace Guild AGM conference and I have also conducted a couple of other workshops since. I am travelling to Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane in a few weeks time (Mid March) to teach both this lace and also Venetian Gros Point to students there.... I have had raw (no needlelace at all) beginners and ladies who have had some experience already with needlelaces participating in my workshops and everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves (although that could be due to the Chocolate available haha!... no, not provided by me but the students themselves who know I am a chocoholic!!! :-D) and produced lovely little lace pieces. As the book is self-published, it is available direct from me only. For price please email me at stitchety_grubs@hotmail.com 

The piece on the front of the book is called "Morning Starburst" and is a necklace and earring set ... it is the largest piece in the book... all the other patterns are smaller projects.

My 2 Needlelace pillows

Here are pics of my needlelace pillows ... one with them in their carry bags......

I designed and made the larger one back in 2002 so that it was "light in weight" and could be "reduced in size" for packing in a suitcase ....

The "roller" is a polystyrene cylinder covered in craft felt and then a material cover.... with a small cover cloth. A tiny pin cushion on the end to hold pins and a couple of my ballpoint needles... The roller "sits" on a polystyrene "bead" bean bag (lovely and warm in the winter LOL!) ...There is also a pic of the bags open .. I have no idea what order "Blogger" will let me post these pics so finger's crossed... Another is a shot of me with the big pillow and you can see how it leaves both my hands "free" to stitch... and then the other pic is of me with the little travel one which I made last year for my UK trip when suitcase room was at more of a premium!

Now that I have become used to working with a pillow I rarely do any needlelace without it ... you definitely need it for larger works such as My Triennial Competition "Cordonnicot" knickers!They were worked exclusively on the larger pillow.

Bayeux Tapestry Replica

This is the scene from the Bayeux Tapestry from which I did my "Man with a sack" for my C&G Embroidery module A. He is standing to the right behind the yellow (!!) horse... wearing a blue tunic . Ahhhh memories ... that was back in January 1999... I was trying to embroidery him in 40°c heat and had troubles with a slippery needle!!! That was when we had no air con ... just a ceiling fan which managed to blow all the threads around everywhere! haha!

My friend and I managed to go to Reading Museum to view the replica back last June and it is absolutely amazing ....I would, of course love to see the real one but as the Reading one was only an hour and 3/4 drive away from my rellies ...much more accessable for me. Here is the web addy if you would like to take a tour around the Tapestry ... you can see it scene by scene ...a great site! http://www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk/Index.htm

Sequins and Handmade beads

Hi ... here is the sample I did for C&G ... sequins and handmade beads.
( Click on pic to see enlargement)

Some of the beads are coloured paper cut in an elongated triangle and rolled up, some are "tea light metal" (plain and printed ones!) or fabric .. also made from an elongated rolled triangle... some are thread wrapped tubes ...all stitched onto Mohair fabric offcut which I bought several years ago at a local Craft Fair ... one of the stalls makes jackets, hats etc and sells the scraps in a carrier bag for a few dollars...
I had a good arvo at Lacecargot lace group .. drooling over lace and embroidery books and eating, drinking and laffin' and am sitting here with a grin on my face thinking about really big South African snails with wind (you had to be there LOL! haha!)

Colonial Knots- Garden Celebration mini quilt

As mentioned in a previous post we are participating in a Monthly stitch challenge at my Stitchety Grubs embroidery group... the first stitch is "Colonial Knots" and I finished the first small square for my Pantoran today ... I will take a photo of it soon and display it on here in a couple of weeks when the due date comes up... for now though I have included some pics of my "Garden Celebration" which was one of the main module pieces in my City & Guilds a few years ago.... Yep! every single stitch is a Colonial Knot! I wouldn't mind a dollar for every stitch!!! haha! Each colour panel is about 10cmsx8cms and was based on a close up sketch of a piece of our back lawn!!! :-D It is mounted on a small quilt background which was made of Calico "blow painted" with the swirly stripes and then a very pale pink chiffony type material over the top. The border is some hand dyed fabric which I did at the time. (Still have some - must use it some time!). The idea of the Monthly stitch challenge came about when I read about Sharon B's TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge) you can see it at: http://inaminuteago.com/index.html )

Medicine Bag - Back view

As promised in previous post here is a pic of the back of the Medicine bag ...

I went to Quilting today and am feeling very pleased as I managed to actually get some stitching done on my Kanthas Quilt... I started it a couple of years ago, but only worked on it once in a blue moon... now that our group is meeting during the daytime I am determined to get on with it! ... I finished one of the "tree of life's" today and started again on the fish!...I will take some pics next time I get the camera out. No lace tomorrow as the building where we meet is having work done on it this week so daughter and I are off to the movies to see "Dream Girls" .... lovely air con as the forecast is 40°c!. Well have to go do something creative in the kitchen ...... :-D

Click the pics for detail

Forgot to say that if you click on the pics below they then appear enlarged so you can see more detail!

Medicine bag - front view and inspiration

Hi .... well, I went to see the "Miss Potter" movie it was quite good but I couldn't seem to get past Reneé Zellweger having a pursed lips all the time ....like she had been sucking on a lemon! and if you closed your eyes whilst she was speaking it sounded like "Bridget Jones"!!

:-D

The scenery in the Lake District was awesome though and the story very interesting...

Here is a pic of the Medicine Bag ...front view and also a pic of the drawing I did of a Masai Hand Ornament whilst doing the research for the "Embellishment" Module... which gave me the idea for the bag. The front of the bag has my Native American Indian Birth Totem "The Falcon" ( some of you know that I am 16th Native American Indian ) so there was other symbolism happening whilst I was designing this bag. Inside there are the traditional Items ... Turquoise stones, a silver painted bean, a tiny cloth, embroidered with a totem raven's head, tiny stick and feather etc ..... Though I don't think the assessors even looked inside! They did want to keep it ( and a couple of other items) for display at the Alexander Stitches show in 2002 but after having an assessment piece go missing in the post when I sent all the work over for the assessment, I wasn't prepared to risk leaving anything in the UK for them to post back!

I will put a couple of other pics up next time .... of the back of the bag as it's different to the front...

Movie

Hi, I am off to the movies tonight with my best friend to see "Miss Potter" .. am looking forward to it. I have spent the afternoon making needlelace sample pads for my students for my "tour" to the Eastern States next month... it's only 6 weeks away ... getting excited...LOL!
I am off to my Embroidery group tomorrow morning "Stitchety Grubs" and we are starting the new stitch challenge ... I have actually remembered to put the hand painted felt which I did last Sunday into my bag! that is what I am using to make a "Pantoran" which will feature the stitches.... and I have also dug out the "sari" which I got last July in Dubai which is going to be a long curtain in our bedroom when we have decorated it and the colours from it are what I have painted the felt in.... as the finished Pantoran will go on the wall in there!
I have Wire Lace Group on Saturday though it is going to be very hot 40°c forecast, yik! It is the first meeting of this year but I still have to wind bobbins for the new pendant which I have planned to start.... will have to try and get them done tomorrow arvo after food shopping! no peace for the wicked! :-D

Ethnic Cross Stitch

This was the little Cross stitch "Ethnic" mat which I designed and made during my City & Guilds Emb stage 1 course a few years ago .... The cross stitch was based on research done on "tassels" although it looks a bit like a "robot" haha!

The edge is embellished with "Shisha" mirrors on hand dyed fabric and the edge is Needlelace loops with beads attached instead of picots.

Crazy Patch Needlecase

This is (so far) my one and only Crazy Patchwork piece ... it's a needlecase (surprise surprise!:-D) it is about 18cm deep and, when folded, about 12cm wide. It's embellished with some of my own tatting , silk ribbon embroidery, odd "geegaws" which a friend found in an "op shop" an odd earring which I got at an Op shop.... etc... it has a variety of bugs on it .. of course a spider ... whose legs are "3D"!, dragonfly, ladybug, Butterflies (one ribbon and one tatted) and bees. I made it a couple of years ago and hadn't seen it for a while (tidying up last week it resurfaced!) and I had forgotten all the little details :-D ...I am almost tempted to do some more ...but I really want to stick to my New Year's resolution of finishing "WIP's" and not starting new stuff.... sigh! oh for a few more hours in the day! LOL!

Russian Mat

This was my first ever Russian piece... "Boris" from Bridget Cook's first Russian Lace book.

It was done in 3 weeks 2 days ... :-D

It's a lovely pattern.

Haven't had a chance to make any lace today ... had to go down to the local Uni to sort out DD student card and car parking permit, enrolling etc.....

Only sewing I got to do today was DH shorts ... the belt loops had started to pull away ... he hasn't had them long either! They don't make things like they used to!!

I finished the wire lace earrings yesterday to go with the necklace which I designed and made last week... very pleased with them ... they are for the workshop which I hope to teach in September at the Australian Lace Guild AGM week. I will be putting a pic of them on here at the end of next month/beginning March in conjunction for the article in the March issue of Australian Lace. My embroidery group have decided to do a project together ... after reading about the TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) challenge run by Sharon B at the following link:(http://inaminuteago.com/index.html ) I mentioned it to the other 4 ladies at the group and they liked the idea too but were baulking at the fact there is only a week to do each stitch... so we thought that we would choose a new stitch at alternate meetings (we meet every 2 weeks so it would be 4 weekly) We are going to put 22 bits of paper in a "bag" ....each with a different stitch written on it and pull one out each time .... starting on February 2nd ... it will be interesting what everyone will do the stitching on! I am thinkning of doing a "Pantoran" in the colours which I want our bedroom to be decorated in .... must raid the material stash and maybe make some material ... felting or something hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! :-D

"A room with a view" 2

Here are a couple of pics of my entry for the Triennial Lace Competition (Adelaide) in 2003. The title was "A room with a view" but my son has always referred to it as "Mum's Cheeky Lace" !!

The lid of the slim box which I made to contain the lace is made with handpainted "bricks" on cotton, brick shapes were then "quilted" and embellishments added in the form of needlelace vines ... woven leaves... and the little blossoms are made like "bells" using a Couronne stick then sewn into place with a tiny bead in the centre. The cream buttonhole stitch forms the window frame (which doesn't show in the photo but is actually cut out). The entry below shows the box "open" though it is a little hard to see the inside lid as I took the photo on the floor in the studio and it is very similar in colour!!!

"A room with a view" inside

The Venetian Gros Point lace inside ... click on the pic to enlarge.

betchya thought it was something else haha!

Bedfordshire Gumleaf and Blossom

I was tidying up in my studio this week, putting things away!!! and found a few "older" pieces... including this piece of Bedforshire Lace which was designed by the lovely Liz Ligetti and made by me when I attended her workshops in Melbourne back in September 1997.... It only measures just over a couple of inches from top to bottom but I vaguely remember it having around 60 pairs of bobbins at the widest point!LOL! It did win a 1st in the local Agricultural show back in 2000 though, yay!

I went to Stitchety Grubs (my embroidery group) this morning and did a bit more to the really long Danish X-stitch sampler which I started in April 2003 ... I did about 40 cms of it over Xmas .... (I hadn't touched it in ages last year otherwise) and I only have about 12 cms to go ! I will post a pic when it's done :-D

Wire Lace Bobbins

Here's a few of my Wire Lace bobbins .....They are converted "Downton" bobbins. Some were made for me back in the early 1990's by local wood turners in woods such as "Jarrah", Jacaranda" and "She-Oak". Some were whittled by me and then handpainted by me and some (more recently) made by my Hubby and painted by me..... I like to work with the "Eye" on the top not on the side of the neck and 'cos I converted already made Downtons the necks were too thin to drill and attach the eyes but after having a go with a friends bobbins which have the "Eye" on the side ..... It's a pain in the *** cos they get all caught up. I love my "Downtons" :-D The bobbin case they are lying on was made by my mate Estelle who makes a faaab job of them...I have bought many from her for gifts as well as the 19 I have! (plus my 2 kids have 3 between them!)

I've been busy the last couple of days doing some little embroideries ... abstract with glittery threads and sequins and all sorts of yummy bits..... Went to Lacecargot Lace Group today and actually made some lace in between the yakking and afternoon tea! Just did a bit more to the big Russian Braid Mat .... only a million miles more to do haha! :-D
In two weeks time Lacecargot group is 12 years old so we are having a bring a plate lunch ... I have to something savoury ...so will have to find something inspiring hmmmmmmmmmmm! 3 other gals will be doing "sweets" yummo ... they are all such great cooks ..can't wait haha! Won't bother taking my lace pillow though as it won't even get out of the bag!
My studio is in serious need of a tidy but can't do it until I finish with the little embroideries as I have all the useful bits spread everywhere! though it is starting to drive me crazy!(er) LOL!

Graduate

My Boodiful baby gal graduated from school at the end of last year....

I went shopping for school supplies today for my son... it was very wierd only having to get stuff for just him!!! and cheaper too haha! LOL! :-D

I have a few bits still to get including a visit to the school shop for navy blue shorts now that the government has banned denim!!

Necklace from Ros

Here's a pic of the lovely beaded necklace my mate, Ros made and gave me for Xmas ....It has already been much admired :-D

I already had some black and gold bead earrings which I made early last year which look great with it.

Gifts from Jean

Here is a pic of my lovely Xmas pressies from my UK penfriend, Jean.

A Purpleheart wooden "Bee Hive" wax pot made by Graham Hudson, A "Thumper" bobbin made by Jean Turner and a pillow tidy made by Brian Goodwin, the pin is "stabbed" into the pillow and the tools are stored in it's other "open" end :-D

I have been dillegently stitching away on my Danish cross stitch sampler again today ... still a few hours more work to do but the end is in sight yay! I am trying to clear some of the WIP's which seem to be breeding in the studio! Although this one is only 3 years and 8 months old haha!

Embroidered Purse

Embroidered Purse which I made a couple of weeks ago similar to the 7 different colour ones I did a few years ago..... you can hide your raffle tickets in there at Lace days or your thimble haha!

Trying to change the time but it won't do it!

Russian Mat

Photo of my BIG Russian mat taken a couple of weeks ago as I am now "under way" with the outer circle!! :-D

Thecentre in Bridget Cook's original mat was lots of circles ... would have "done my head in!!" so I designed an alternative one (Bridget did get to see my design change at the end of last year when I did a Russian workshop with her).

Sophie's Quilt

Here is a photo of "Sophie's Quilt"

which I designed and made for her

I posted off to UK last week.

It should arrive in next couple of days...

It's such a cute Hedgepig haha!

Painted Gumnuts

3 Painted Gumnuts ... for the Gumlace raffle

Rudolph, Robin and Santa.

I actually have painted 22 this year! for gifts!

Showed my sister (in UK) on the web cam last night but 'coz of customs can't send her any.

She was glum:-(

I will have to make her some other customs friendly decs haha!

My new Grand Niece, Sophie :-D

A week old today!

Back from Holiday

Hi All
Back from the holiday ...will sort out some photos from the trip this week .... :-)