Tuesday, July 31, 2012

More Garden Trellis

Cornelia's layering for her tile.
Yvonne's tile with dimensional flowers.
Hilary's tile.
Jan's multi-layered work in progress.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Garden Trellis

My 12 students have worked hard over the 2 day workshop Garden Trellis and stencilled, rubbed, painted, stitched and stitched, even discovering decorative stitches they didn't know they had on their machines. The trellis was made and the tiles well on the way to completion.
Eileen and Hilary.
We had a great classroom to spread out in- the children's playroom! L-R Kim, Anne in the back, Yvonne, Eileen, Cornelia behind Eileen, Jan, me, Robyn, Patrise, Christine, Jean. Hilary and Vicki in the front.
Jean was adding elements to her frog piece begun in a Kim Bradley workshop.
Anne's work in progress with blue butterfly and pink dragonfly stitched on washaway.
Eileen's tile.


Sunday, July 29, 2012

The tutors


We got to pose for photos after the Christmas in July dinner at the Mittaging RSL. What a fun night.L-R Lessa Chandler, Carol Doak, Michele Hill, me and Melinda Bula. We all got to reveal a little of our quilting journeys, the funny bits.This photo was taken by Tamsin Harvey, the talented organiser of the Retreat.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

A day in Berrima

Nice to have time to spend a day relaxing/shopping/lunching/talking in Berrima before workshops begin. This is what I got up to- the edited version!
We are staying at the Springs Resorts Mittagong RSL Motel and this is a view on the road to Berrima.
A short morning stroll along the Quarry Walk by the river and I was ready for morning tea.
Just around this corner is the award winning Gumnut Patisserie where I had a Passionfruit Chiboust that was divine.


Visited the  restored Courthouse, opposite the old gaol, on the left. The tour gave us a sense of the Colonial/Convict past with a recreation of a famous trial. The sandstone from the local area had great colour and textured markings. The rounded doors had been carved with an adze from a solid piece of cedar.
A quilt greeted us in one of the Courthouse rooms.




Thanks for a lovely day out, Sue and Tamsin Harvey, owners of Berrima Patchwork  and organisers of the retreat. US tutors Carol Doak,  author of 20 books and Melinda Bula and Joe and Sherri are great fun to hang out with.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Quilting in the Highlands

Hello from the Southern Highlands, south of Sydney in New South Wales. I'm one of 5 tutors preparing for the 4 day quilting retreat Quilting in the Highlands organised by Berrima Patchwork  and run by Sue and Tamsin Harvey.
I'm teaching Garden Trellis and Opal Fever and will remember to take lots of photos! Quilt above is Opals which started the opal fever.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Super Surface Design in Warwick

We were so busy playing with oil paint sticks, rubbing plates, paint, stencils, stamps and the odd vegetable and fruit that I forgot to get photos of finished pieces.
However this is a general view of the action in the afternoon.
Thanks for a great day of creativity L-R Dorothy, Lyn, me, Noreen, Mary, Chris, Melinda, Joyce, Karen and Merrilyn.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

More prints from Warwick

Mary
Mignon
Noreen
Vicki
Ginny the printing is a direct method mostly using the actual leaf.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Leafing it alone in Warwick

Had a great 2 days of workshops in Warwick with the talented ladies from the town and further afield. L-R Mary, Lyn, Vicki, Noreen, Dorothy, Mignon, Joyce and Karen with some of their Leaf it Alone pieces.
The workshop room at the back of the gallery had newspaper covered tables and the students printed many leaves and grasses they had collected. We missed the action and jazz at the Saturday market outside the gallery, but as you can see many beautiful pieces were printed. Joyce above.
Karen
Lyn



Saturday, July 21, 2012

Warm trees

Hello from Warwick where it is cold brrrr....outside but the trees are warm! Yesterday I spent the day walking around 112 trees and was very impressed by the  creativity, skill and inventiveness of the exhibitors. The winners were announced under the tree above, outside the Warwick Art Gallery. Congratulations to all the competitors.
Helen Gross was the winner of the Excellence in Knitting and Crochet.
Sue Marshman won the Open Artistic section with Long Live the Frogs a lively piece with many, many frogs!

Friday, July 20, 2012

Warwick's Jumpers and Jazz festival

Off to Warwick today to judge the Tree Jumper Competition. Seems that if you stand still long enough you will be yarn bombed or dressed, as was the statue in the main street.
I'm in love with my Leaf Song panels numbers 1-3 at the Warwick Art Gallery in Albion Street, so please visit.
I also have blank art journals A5 and A6 size with individual covers for sale and cards.



Thursday, July 19, 2012

Little feet

Little Miss 2 and a half got some new felted Mongolian slippers. I asked her to pose for me and this is what she did! They are very thick and warm with black suede on the soles and a touch of hand embroidery. I think you can order online from Mongolian Wool Craft.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

3 Piece Suite

Bob took photos on the opening night of 3 Piece Suite so today a very small selection of the art work at this remarkable exhibition at the Redcliffe  Ciy Art Gallery. Above- Donna Davis and her work NOT Jack and the Beanstalk.
Susan Pietsch's Living water, acrylic on lutradur, created many wonderful shadows and the mirage effect of Lake Eyre.
Sue Duffy was inspired by childhood memories of The Bach, a New Zealand seaside family holiday house and recreated it right down to the hedgehog that scared her in the night.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Cleveland

Cleveland has a rocky shore line with Mangroves and pockets of sand. It makes for interesting discoveries and exploring.
This Moreton Bay Fig tree had a hollow interior, just the right size for 2.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Food, glorious food

One of my loyal blog readers pointed out to me recently that I have not had any food photos for some time. We started Sunday with Bob's yummy home made pancakes. Each family member has a different sweetener they spread before rolling up- Maple syrup, honey and lemon, fried banana or Golden Syrup, made from sugar cane and a key ingredient in Anzac biscuits.
Lunch was at the Grand View Hotel, Cleveland and we ordered a feast of a Mermaid Platter.....
and 1kg  Portuguese Mussels with Chorizo sausage, olives and a touch of chili and 1kg Scandinavian Mussels with salmon and cream sauce. These dishes don't come smaller than 1kg, so were great to share with visiting family from Melbourne.

Delicious and to top it off I won the seafood raffle so we ate oysters, prawns and sand crabs for dinner! Note to self- must do lots of walking this week!