Lizard of Oz

True Colours Exhibition

2011-08-25T08:35:00.008+08:00

After visiting the Ellenbrook Gallery yesterday I went to see an exhibition of textiles and paintings by Rowena Walsh at the Tresillian Centre, 21 Tyrell Street, Nedlands. The centre has various classes running during school terms. There were also works by Robin Bray. Works were displayed mainly in one large room, along corridors and some works were in rooms where classes were being held (it is understood that it is ok for visitors to interrupt classes to look at works). Lighting is adequate. Rowena had a lot of work on display - about an equal mix of paintings and textiles. Although quite an eclectic mix overall there were several series-style works where Rowena had explored one particular stitch technique or various colour paint combinations on a similar size canvas. Rowena had sold some work, and at the time I visited there were some works still for sale which I am sure will have found a new home before the end of the exhibiiton.

True Colours runs from 19-28 August 2011 at The Tresillian Centre, 21 Tyrell St, Nedlands, WA and is open from 10-4 daily. Phone 08 9389 1977. On weekdays there is a cafe on the premises open 9am-2pm during term time and I enjoyed my lunch there in the very pleasant courtyard.

Presence Exhibition, Ellenbrook Gallery

2011-08-24T16:51:00.006+08:00

Today I visited the exhibition "Presence" comprising textile works by Elsje van Keppel (1947-2001). I never met Elsje but I had heard about her from other textile artists here in WA. Elsje was head of textiles at Edith Cowan University in 1989 and I imagine ECU is where many local artists came into contact with her. The works are well presented and there is a dvd of Elsje describing her work, her philosophy and her inspirations. I spent quite a bit of time there on my own absorbing the essence of Elsje's work and I would recommend taking the time to watch the dvd while you're there as it adds greatly to the meaning of some of the works on display. I would describe this as a "must see" exhibition.

Presence runs from 7 August to 11 September 2011 at The Gallery, 34 Main Street, Ellenbrook, Western Australia. Gallery hours are 10am-2pm Mon-Fri and 1pm-5pm weekends.

Do go, it will be well worth the trip - and Dome is just across the road from the Gallery if you forget your cut lunch and water bag - grin.

Carole Redlich "Shadowlands" Workshop

2011-08-23T15:19:00.009+08:00

My friend Margaret was unable to attend a workshop on Sunday with textile artist Carole Redlich which had been organised by the 84 Group so suggested I go in her stead. I had a ball. Carole had created some 3D pieces using fabric, yarns, plastics, stitched acetate, transfers and various other transparent or semi transparent "stuff". The "stuff" was trapped in a laminating pouch which was cut into shapes and then machine-stitched with loops of various weights of fishing line. The loops and shapes were manipulated into pleasing 3D shapes and then joined together on the sewing machine. We also did some free-style weaving of the fishing lines to create some structure to attach the laminated loopy bits to. I thoroughly enjoyed myself even if I was slow and didn't actually produce much on the day.

The images are of trapped invisible sewing thread with white polyester and rayon sewing threads, trapped feathers with large-bubble packaging plastic, the one loop I created during class using small bubble wrap, and the free weaving of the heavy weight fishing line. Not having done any woven basketry before I concentrated on learning the technique for this on the basis that I could stitch on plastic anytime at home alone. It was a great class - thank you Carole (and Margaret of course).

InTension Exhibition

2011-08-19T08:29:00.006+08:00

This is the invite for the WAFTA InTension Exhibition which I'm planning to visit today.

ABC iView Make It Handmade

2011-08-18T15:11:00.003+08:00

The link below is to an ABC iView programme called Make It Handmade which only available on ABC iView for another 10 days. It is a documentary about 4 women from Melbourne who've taken a seemingly staid pastime of craft and injected with a youthful and modern aesthetic.
http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/812234

Wrapping, wrapping, wrapping...

2011-08-18T14:30:00.005+08:00

The wire framework for this took me about 8 hours and the wrapping with thread has taken ages although I haven't noted exactly how long. Because the wrapping takes so long I'm debating whether to complete this with papier mache or to continue wrapping. The original idea was to wrap with yarn/fabric and then use some sort of waterproofing polymer to make it hard and paintable. I'm using the time it takes for this initial wrap to decide. I'm making this initial wrap so that there is some texture for the papier mache (or the sucessive wraps of yarn if I go that route) to cling to so that it doesn't slip around on the armature once it's dry. I'm using fine yarn for this stage because I want the finished work to be quite thin. I think papier mache might be quicker because the strips would be much shorter and therefore easier to handle. Comments and advice from anyone who has done anything like this previously would be welcome.

Felting Knitted Handspun Wool

2011-05-02T08:18:00.009+08:00

I decided that I would never make the 12 balls of handspun (by me, approx 15 or 20 years ago!) into a jumper so instead of getting rid of it I thought I'd invest even more time into it :-) I knitted some up into a bag shape and then felted it. I'm quite pleased with the result. I need to knit/felt a strap as well but I haven't done that yet. This was knitted with one strand of the handspun and the felt is really quite thick. I plan to embroider and/or dry felt onto this to liven it up a bit.

I knitted some more of the handspun up with some really bright pink synthetic yarn (acrylic?) and this is a photo before I felted it. I still have more handspun left so I will knit that up with some other yarn but I'm waiting to see what the result is from this one first. If I don't like the effect with a synthetic (which I think will sort of bobble up) then I'll knit the rest with some other wool to try and create a striped felt. This one may also come out very thick because I knitted with the 2 yarns together. I started it before I felted the first one and didn't realise how much it would thicken up - this pink/brown one might be so thick I won't be able to stitch through it!

Birthday Goodies Again Again

2011-04-15T10:31:00.005+08:00

My sister sent me gift tokens for my birthday from http://www.perfume.com.au/ and this is what I chose. So now I smell very nice as I have Lovely on my left writst and Organza on my right because I couldn't decide which one to wear today :-) I promise to be more decisive tomorrow .....

Birthday Goodies (Again)

2011-04-10T10:50:00.005+08:00

I received these last week in the mail from my friend Joan who had ordered them for my birthday but they didn't arrive in time - so I got to open 2 parcels instead of one :-) Lots of texture to add to the felting goodies she gave me when we visited at the weekend. While we were there at the weekend Joan and Mal took us to the local Chinese for tea (where Andrea is working part time) to celebrate my birthday. Andrea was our waitress for some of the evening - which felt really strange because it only seems like yesterday that she was born and we became Godparents!

Birthday goodies

2011-04-06T12:32:00.006+08:00

Russ took the day off work so we had the whole day together. We had lunch out in the hills and visited the Mundaring Art Gallery. In the evening we went to see "The Ugly One" play at the new theatre complex in Perth. A very enjoyable day and relaxing day. My sister sent me vouchers so that I can choose some perfume online and I plan to do that this afternoon. My friend Joan has been slowly decluttering (v-e-r-y, v-e-r-y, s-l-o-w-l-y) and last time I visited I suggested I could help by giving some of her hand dyed wool a new home as I had enjoyed making some arty felt pieces recently. So this is the great bundle I received at the weekend when we visited. Lots of wool with some hand spun yarn, some silk tops, and some commercial embroidery threads. Joan used to keep her own sheep so some of this could have been "home grown". Although I'm looking forward to creating with this little lot I'm going to just look at it all for a while until inspiration hits.

Natural Dyed Silk

2011-02-14T09:10:00.001+08:00

This is the same piece of silk as in the previous post. The first colour was from cloves. This golden yellow is from Tumeric. It was boiled for an hour. The white spot is light reflecting from the tiles - it is difficult to photograph because it is so transparent and the bathroom tiles gave the best image. The close up photo is the truest in colour. I haven't quite decided whether to do more to this piece or not. I'm going to keep it hanging around to see if I have any further ideas. I think it could be interesting to add some black somehow. Maybe India Ink? Circles?

Natural Dyed Silk

2011-02-08T09:49:00.003+08:00

This piece of silk is for the WAFTA exhibit. All members received a piece of silk which we are to dye using any Shibori technique. I have stitched 3 sets of 3 rows of running stitch which I have gathered up. I boiled 4 tablespoons of dried cloves for an hour and then strained off the liquor. Then I boiled the fabric for 1.5 hours in that liquor. I love the smell of cloves - good job as you could smell it all through the house and down the street! Now that it is dry I am going to bind over some of the already stitched parts and boil it with some Tumeric.

Floral Skirt Finished

2010-12-20T13:14:00.008+08:00

It took several days to free machine embroider all the flowers. The edges have been left raw so that when I wash it the edges will fray slightly to give it a softer look. I stitched round the edges of each flower twice so the fraying won't go beyond that. I'm pleased with the result - not too "folksy" at all (grin). I'm thinking of making a similar skirt but in a riot of colours next time. I embroidered the t-shirt a while ago with beige lazy daisies so it goes quite well with the skirt.

Floral skirt

2010-11-19T08:06:00.005+08:00

I spent a few days cutting out flowers and circles from muslin and gauze to stick all over this plain 3/4 circle skirt. The skirt is very lightweight cotton so drapes beautifully but of course is also a little bit transparent with the light behind it. That's why I'm putting flowers all over it :-)
My young friend Andrea helped me cut some of them out when we stayed at their place over the weekend. It took another few evenings to iron them all on. I plan to machine embroider over all the flowers with another shade of browny-beige. I'm hoping at the end it will look sophisticated beige rather than boring beige :-) I just hope it doesn't look too "folksy".

Beetle

2010-09-29T15:55:00.004+08:00

I went to hang out the washing and this beetle was just sitting there on the wall. He stayed long enough to let me dash inside, grab my camera, work out where macro was on the menu, and take a few pictures. It's a bit dull but I didn't want to use flash in case I scared him off.

Obscure Thoughts

2010-09-04T10:28:00.005+08:00

My young friend Andrea has started a new blog with all her creative things on it. Poetry, machine quilting, Zentangles etc. It's worth a read and can be found here.

Designing Women turns Ten

2010-07-15T17:03:00.004+08:00

Designing Women turns 10 this year. To celebrate we are making artworks inspired by the word "Ten" which will be displayed together as part of our exhibition in November. There were 3 sizes of canvas to choose from and I chose to do 2x 12inch ones. These are detail shots of my work in progress. The first is the stitching of the fabric to the stabiliser and the second is of all the machine couched threads. I'm planning to add lots of colonical knots by hand to create the look of a gathering storm. I have limited my palette to 10 threads/yarns. I used a cording foot to keep the lines straight. The work will be stretched over the canvas once finished.

T-Shirt Rejuvenated

2010-06-25T11:09:00.003+08:00

I spent around 6 hours stamping bleach onto this t-shirt on Wednesday. It was an op-shop find originally that had a slight but large fade (maybe from the sun) mark on one arm - it was only visible if you really looked but because the fabric was a solid brown once I knew it was there it sort of jumped out at me. So I thought I'd try fading it deliberately. I assembled an assortment of plastic lids of various sizes (vegemite jar, coffee jar, mouthwash bottle, toothpaste tube etc) and sanded the edges on a sheet of sandpaper so they were smooth, level and had a bit of "tooth" for the bleach to cling to. I opened several windows in case the bleach fumes got too much for me. I put some old sheeting on the ironing board and between the back/front of the t-shirt. I poured a small amount of neat bleach onto a sponge sitting on a plate so I had a stamping pad. Then I smoothed a small area of the t-shirt and stamped a few circles. I waited a minute or two until they were the colour I wanted and then dried the bleach with the iron. I did small areas at a time.

The bleach fumes weren't a problem - I used a lot less bleach than would be used to clean benches, floors etc so the fumes were minimal. Once I had finished I rinsed the t-shirt by hand in cold water, then rinsed in water to which I had added a product intended to remove chlorine from tap water to use in fish aquariums as this was a tip I had read somewhere and I thought it sounded "sensible". Then I washed the t-shirt in the normal way with the next load of clothes. The circles aren't visible on the inside of the t-shirt so I doubt very much that the entire thickness of the fabric has been affected by the bleach - I'll let you know if the whole thing falls apart while I'm in the middle of the supermarket or something :-)

Denim Skirt for Andrea

2010-05-26T14:24:00.004+08:00

This is Andrea and her Grandma (my friend Joan) on the patio at their house. Andrea is wearing the skirt that she designed - I drafted the pattern and then stitched it. It fitted better than I hoped and she said she loved it. Thank goodness for that :-) This photo was taken in March and I've just realised how long it is since I wrote a blog post! I will do better...

Lucet

2010-03-10T16:14:00.006+08:00

My Father in Law made this lucet for me out of Jarrah (an Australian wood which is very hard and has a fine grain). He smoothed it with a very fine sandpaper and used beeswax to polish the surface so that it is nice to handle and the yarn will slide over the surface of it easily. It still needs a hole at the base of the handle. A lucet is used to make cord with a square cross-section. I'll take another photo once I've made some cord.

Denim Dress Alterations Finished

2010-02-17T09:40:00.012+08:00

These are the changes I've made to the Denim Dress. I removed the sleeves and collar by unpicking (rather than cutting) so that I retained the maximum amount of fabric and the original neckline and armhole shapes. The large shoulder pads were also removed. I restitched the shoulder seam, making it wider at the shoulder tip and narrower towards the neck. I tapered the seam so that I took in about 1/2" at the neck and 1-1/2" at the shoulder tip. This raised the dress slightly so the armhole didn't gape and awful lot. At the underarm I took in about 1" tapering to zero just above the gathered skirt seam. This gave a better fit under the arm. Then I removed some width from the back and front panels so that the shoulder seam ended just in front of the shoulder tip. I tapered this fabric removal to zero about 2" behind and in front of the side seams. I removed fabric from the neck area to give a slightly scooped neckline. I was careful to cut so that the existing button closure was in a "sensible" place for both stitching the facing by machine and as a fastening. I cut bias strips 1-1/2" wide from the sleeve fabric and used these to face the armholes and neck edge. For seams I stitched with blue thread and then changed to a tan thread to match the existing "visible" stitching. I'm quite pleased with the result - a good, everyday "working" dress which doesn't look quite as "Anne of Green Gables - ish" as the original. I'm debating whether to shorten it and also whether to dye it with some red dye so that it becomes purple - although I do like this shade of blue denim.

Blue Dress Altered

2010-02-10T07:54:00.008+08:00

This the "after" photo. This was a linen dress I bought many years ago. This dress used to reach my ankles and the skirt resembled jodphurs - there was such a pronounced curve at the hip on the side seam. Because the length restricted movement quite a bit and the hip curve looked a bit odd I didn't wear it much.

I decided that taking in the skirt side seams and chopping 10" off the length would be easy to do and I might end up with a dress I could wear more frequently. I like the easy fit of this dress so much now I'm planning to make a paper pattern in a similar style. As it is such a basic dress shape and uses minimal fabric, I can imagine the pattern will be very useful. I like the neckline and it fits well under the arms.

Denim Dress Restyling Challenge

2010-01-31T08:20:00.006+08:00

This dress has been taking up space in my wardrobe for who knows how long. 25-30 years perhaps, judging from the shoulder pads! The only reason I don't wear it is because it is out of style - and has been for some time :-) The fabric is still perfectly good with no stains, and because of the style/loose fit it should be relatively easy to modify by removing bits (in my mind adding bits seems more difficult). I like the pintuck detail on the front. I'm going to remove the shoulder pads, unpick the collar and the sleeves and then try it on again to see what modifications it needs. I'm planning on a sundress or short sleeve dress so it will be interesting to see how much gapping there is around the armhole, how much the dress 'drops' and/or drapes towards the centre without the shoulder pads, and what changes I'll need to make to the neck. The long sleeves means I have some fabric to play with if I do need to add some (eg under the arms) and to make bias strips/facings for the neck & armholes. If all else fails it will make a brilliant art/messy crafts apron and I will have gained hanging space in my wardrobe!

Andrea's Denim Skirt Finished

2010-01-29T14:03:00.006+08:00

I was talking with Andrea a few weeks ago about the pattern drafting lessons I'd been doing and while we were chatting I said I would draft a pattern and sew a skirt for her if she came up with a design. I finished it this morning so all it needs now is a body to find out if it fits and whether she likes it! The stretch denim I used is lovely - very soft to the touch so it should be very comfortable to wear. And I've quite a bit left - plenty to make a skirt for me (different design of course). Andrea drew the zip at the side but the fabric is quite thick and I thought it might look a bit lop-sided if I put it on the side seam, so I moved it to the centre back.

Felting Workshop

2010-01-27T10:32:00.008+08:00

These felted pieces were created during a WAFTA 2-day workshop with tutor Lee Anne Davis. We made pre-felts, layered prefelts with various fabrics, and stitched into the result with various yarns. The idea was to experiment with as many fabrics and yarns as we could. Then the whole assembly was fully felted. None of these are finished as the idea was to further embellish the fully felted pieces with more stitching. Most of the class were working with beautifully fine soft Merino fleece - I had coarser hand dyed Corriedale (I think) which had been given to me by my friend Joan years ago when she moved house. It worked just as well for the techniques but wouldn't be quite as nice to wear next to the skin as the Merino. I measured the blue and orange sample prior to felting so I could record the amount of shrinkage. Prior to felting the design measured 5-3/8 inches, after felting it measured 4-7/8 inches. All of my fabrics were synthetic and solid colours - patterned silk chiffon or georgette pieces work brilliantly with this technique and complement the softness of the Merino. Thank you Lee Anne for sharing your knowledge so generously and graciously. It was a wonderful workshop - I had a great time despite the heat. Have a look at the WAFTA website here http://www.wafta.com.au/events.html to see some images of Lee Anne's work.

Skirt from old jeans

2010-01-09T16:12:00.005+08:00

I drafted a pattern for a twelve gore skirt for myself. I cut each panel from the "good bits" of old worn out jeans. Once I stitched the panels together and tried the fit I was a bit worried it might be a bit too straight for walking so I added a pleat at the back. I recycled the waistband from one of the pairs of jeans so that it had a "real" jeans button. The seams have been embroidered with a cross stitch embroidery stitch available on my Pfaff in order to really flatten them, strengthen them and finish the raw edges all in one operation. The embroidery took ages and I probably won't use that stitch again just for that reason. I'm pleased with the result and plan to make another twelve gore skirt with a little more flare in each panel so I can eliminate the pleat. I made this one mainly to test the fit around the waist and hips, and that was very comfortable.

Overdyed Skirt

2010-01-09T15:43:00.003+08:00

I bought this skirt from the local op shop. I liked the style of the bold print but not the colours of cream, light turquoise and greenish blues on a navy background. I liked the shape of the skirt and the way it fitted me. It had a navy polyester lining and the print fabric was cotton. So I decided to buy it anyway and try dyeing it. I used a weak solution of Rubine to turn the cream pink and the greenish blues more purplish. I like the colours now so that little experiment was definitely worth doing. The uneven hem is an illusion caused by the breeze moving the skirt around while Russ took this photo - the hem is actually level.

Christmas Decorations

2009-12-10T14:23:00.005+08:00

I have just made these 2 decorations for swapping with others in the Designing Women group at our last meeting for the year. Both were made up as I went along. The hexagonal paper and beads decoration was made by painting one side of several red card hexagons with gold paint. Then I made a template hexagon for the placement of the holes for stringing with the beads. I pieced the holes by using an awl and with a protective mat on the table.

The star was made by nipping off the sharp ends of 5 satay sticks and holding them temporarily together in an over/under/over fashion with sticky tape while I tied the points. Then I tied several strands to make a pattern and make it more secure. I made sure I tied all ends at the points of the star so that I got a fluffy effect at each point. Once I had a pattern of threads I twisted a few extra strands around them to make them thicker. I twisted a few strands of gold thread around all the threads and the sticks, and last of all I tied some extra strands at the points to make them "fluffier". I quite like the subtle, almost natural look of this one. Painting the sticks first and using red thread with gold highlights would work well too I think.

Houston Quilt Show 2009

2009-10-27T08:30:00.004+08:00

Inspiration plus! I've just been looking at the videos and photos from the Houston 2009 Quilt Show at http://www.quilts.com/
To see the videos click on the Ruby Slippers and then on Videos.

Quilt of Belonging

2009-10-19T08:15:00.003+08:00

The Quilt of Belonging has 263 hexagonal blocks representing 71 Aboriginal groups and 192 immigrant nationalities found in Canda. It is 36m long and 3.5 metres high. Each block has been photographed and info about it recorded. I haven't looked at them all yet but thought you might find it interesting too. The website is http://www.invitationproject.ca/ and I'm going to add a permanent link in my links section of the blog.

WAFTA "Naturally" Exhibition

2009-08-10T15:06:00.010+08:00

The WAFTA "Naturally" exhibition is wonderful, with a huge variety of work presented as either a 3.6m hanging banner or as a sculptural work. The exhibition is at the Moores Building Contemporary Art Gallery, 46 Henry St, Fremantle, Western Australia. It is on from 8-16th August 2009 and open 10am to 5pm every day.

I’ve got 2 pieces in it which I only finished by the skin of my teeth (2.30am!) because I also did the invite, the catalogue and the floor sheet (with lots of input from Kate, Louise and Alison). The exhibition is well worth the trip to Freo - that's a cut lunch and a water bag from here! The opening was last Friday night and I had no idea that so many people went to exhibition openings. The catalogue is a gold coin donation but other than that entry is free.

You can download the invitation and floor sheet for the exhibition, and read more about it here

http://www.wafta.com.au/exhibition.html

All of these photos were taken by Louise Snook, President of WAFTA. The "Hanging Committee" are... L to R Front: Louise Snook, Mandy Harwood, Rosie Whitehead and Tanya Peters. L to R Back: Wendy Lugg, Liz Arnold, Anne Williams, Kate Weedon-Jones and Trudi Pollard. The middle photo is of Mandy and Mark hanging works using cherry picker. The last photo is a sneak preview of the exhibition.

The thank you section of the catalogue reads: Thanks go to the exhibition organising sub-committee: Liz Arnold, Alison Barrett, Mandy Harwood, Kate Weedon-Jones, Lia Overman, Tanya Peters, Helena Pollard, Trudi Pollard, Louise Snook (Chairperson), and Anne Williams. Thanks also to the WAFTA general committee for all their support, especially Heather Morton and Lisa Repsevicius. Additional thanks go to Brian Thompson of Snap Printing.

ATC's

2009-07-12T11:24:00.012+08:00

Yesterday at Designing Women we swapped ATC's. The burgundy and tan set is my set of 20 before swapping. I made a stamp using a block of wood to which I glued some foam shapes. The fabric is silk that was rust-dyed at a friends house last month. Then I hand embroidered each one using 2 strands of cotton with the aim of making each one unique. I put my signature, website and blog address on the back by printing onto T-shirt transfer paper. The edges are finished by trapping a thin embroidery wool under a satin stitch.

The multi coloured set is what I received from the swap. Not everyone finished all 20 cards on time so those who swapped this weekend have only 12 so far. The rest will be swapped as they are finished.

I enjoyed making these. So much so that I made another set! Not sure who I'm going to swap with though...

I Can Post Photos Again!

2009-06-14T16:17:00.009+08:00

Well, the computer technician fixed it. A couple of weeks ago he changed a firewall setting on the router - today he changed it back to it's original setting and now I can post photos again. Hurrah!

This is the pile of fabric pieces and the cache of buttons I ended up with once I cut up 10 of Russ' old uniform shirts. I have been busy since then folding, binding and clamping the pieces ready for the Rust and Tannic dyeing day at a friends house on Tuesday. I'll post a photo of the prepared fabric tomorrow.

No photos

2009-06-11T16:48:00.006+08:00

I don't seem to be able to post photos to my blog anymore. I'm getting very frustrated with it. I've read the FAQ's. I've cleared the cache. I've changed the pop-up window setting. I've reduced the size of the photo. And I can't see how to email blogger for help. It seems to be since we upgraded to IE8. Where is the computer technician when you need him?

Recycling Old Uniform Shirts

2009-06-03T14:40:00.007+08:00

I've decided to create another piece for the WAFTA Exhibition. Scream Savers changed their uniform ages ago so I have 10 old uniform shirts which I've been hoarding that I plan to chop up for the fabric. I figure with 10 shirts I should get close to 3.5m x 50cm of fabric just from the single later bits. I'm going to stitch or bind each piece to give a resist and then I'm going to have a go at the rust and tannic dye bath. One of my friends has invited me to play at her house in 12 days time so I've got quite a few evenings to do some interesting binding. Once they're dyed, washed, dried and ironed then I'll assemble the pieces into one large piece of fabric. I also have quite a large piece of muslin gauze which I might pop into the same baths so I can be sure I have enough pieces of fabric to produce the required 3.5m.

Recycling, Restyling, Reinventing

2009-05-30T13:36:00.012+08:00

On Thursday evening I went to an inspiring talk entitled "Re-invent your wardrobe" by Jody Pearl at the Salvo's Store (op shop, thrift store) in Willetton. As the title suggests, Jody recreates, redesigns and reinvents existing garments into unique wearables. Clothes that are too small can be taken apart and added to. Two tops could be combined to make one. A skirt could become a top. Mens ties may be made into a dress. At the end of the talk we had the opportunity to browse the store and buy clothing with a view to making our own unique wearables. I found a denim skirt which looked to be about my size and bought it with the idea that I would add some strips from some old jeans I have hoarded ("filed" according to Jody) for years to make it longer. But when I got it home and tried it on I liked it just as it is so I'll wear it like that for a while - I can always add the strips to it later when I get bored with it.

After that success at one op shop I went to a couple of others the following day. I loved the fabric of this dress that is way too big for me. I bought it with the idea that there is enough fabric there to make a skirt for myself. I also found a pair of jeans that were a perfect fit and look like they've never been worn. I bought another pair of jeans which were a baggy style with lots of pockets - these might become a skirt at some later date.

I made the burgundy skirt last week. I quite like the fit, but I'll probably make the next one a few inches shorter. I'm making patterns for simple skirts with the idea that I'll make lots of skirts from the same pattern. Hopefully they will all look very different due to the fabric and embellishments I use. I've got lots of ideas for making unique fabric - which obviously takes quite a long time. So I want to perfect the pattern first in order that I can be absolutely certain of the fit, and I only have to make the minimum amount of fabric necessary.

Artist Trading Card Preparation

2009-05-25T16:36:00.004+08:00

Designing Women are going to swap Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) in July. So I need to make some. So far I have ironed some heavy interfacing to the back of some of the rust-dyed silk I created at the WAFTA "inspiration" workshop a couple of weekends ago. I have 19 that have interesting marks from the stitched shibori resist and 22 less interesting ones. I'm not sure how many we're going to need for our swap but I thought it would be good to have a few on hand so I made up as many bases as I could from the fabric and scraps of interfacing that I had lying around. The final size is to be 2.5 by 3.5 inches so I've cut these 3 x 4 so I can cut them to size once I've decorated them. I've stitched around the edges just to make sure the interfacing stays in place while paint/stitch or whatever. I'm planning to use the stamp I made with circles on it for some of them. I may add some gold or glitz to the ones with the less interesting background. I'm planning to emphasize some of the marks with stitch on the ones with a more intersting background. I have decided to put my website and blog address on the back but I haven't decided how I'm going to do it yet. I may print on t-shirt transfer paper. I may actually get a rubber stamp made up with my logo on it as well. Or I may just opt for the good old-fashioned pen and ink method :-)

Current Reading

2009-05-22T13:44:00.004+08:00

I have just read "Patterns from Finished Clothes - Re-creating the clothes you love" by Tracy Doyle. ISBN 0-8069-4874-4. Published in 1996. Tracy shows you how to analyse and copy an existing garment for a good fit, and offers suggestions for adding detail or making modifications. If you like to make your own clothes, or are interested in the current trend for recycling and restyling clothing, I'd put this on your "must read" list. I'd give it 5 stars.

WAFTA Exhibition "inspiration" workshop

2009-05-18T13:36:00.007+08:00

On Sunday I went to a workshop held by WAFTA which was an informal "have a go" day to get as many members inspired as possible to enter the Member's exhibition to be held in August. We are to make a piece 3.5m long (with hanging sleeve it will be 3.6m) by 0.5m wide in muted colours. The work will hang from rafters in the centre of the Moores Gallery in Fremantle which means the work will be visible from both sides so we need to bear this in mind for the finished piece. There were 3 dye boiling vats, set up on the stove by Bernadette Aitken, of eucalyptus leaves, puffball (a fungi), and loquat leaves (Bernadette has a CALM permit to collect plant matter). There were rust, tannic, and caustic dye baths set up outside by Trudi Pollard. Trudi also had some of these dyes thickened with Guar Gum so they could be painted, stamped, stencilled or squirted onto the fabric in a more controlled manner. Kate Weedon Jones had a demonstration table of stencilling, stamping, screen printing, flour paste resist, discharge, and a few other techniques for putting images onto fabric after dyeing so that we could create additional interest on our fabric.

I took along some kimono linings (obtained from Sanshi ages ago) which proved to be silk since they took up the various dyes so I was pretty happy about that. I didn't have a go at the stencilling/stamping as I've been doing a bit of that at home, but found Kate's samples and work books to be really interesting and inspiring.

There was plenty of discussion throughout the day about techniques (including Shibori), and discussion about the exhibition with some people bringing along some show & tell of what they were making.

All in all it was a very enjoyable day - now I just have to start stitching! I also need to make some Artists Trading Cards (ATC's) for another group that I belong to and I'm thinking some of this silk might be good for that purpose too.

New stamps made

2009-05-15T14:40:00.003+08:00

I made these 2 stamps over the last few days. I found some wood scraps, sanded them smooth and varnished them. I gave them 2 coats of varnish with a day between to dry. I stuck some foam shapes onto them, making sure that I picked shapes that were similar in thickness. I gave that a day to dry too. Then I made a test print and while the stamp was still on the paper I drew around the block of wood on the paper. I later cut this print out on the line and stuck it on the top of the stamp, so that I will know where the foam shapes will print on my fabric. Today I will sand the edges of the block/paper and then I will varnish over the paper print to seal it.

Back to the Gym

2009-05-11T16:13:00.003+08:00

Today I went back to the gym. I joined originally in Jan 08. I went for a few months and then stopped going. Wonder if I'll keep going longer this time. I booked in to do classes at specific times this time whereas last time I just went on my own whenever I felt like it. I'm hoping the booking will make me more likely to attend regularly. Time will tell.

String

2009-04-28T14:44:00.006+08:00

At a WAFTA meeting a few months ago I watched, fascinated, while the person next to me twiddled scraps of silk fabric into string. It was beautiful string - not merely utilitarian string. She showed me how it was done - and I made a few samples once I got home. Then, at the last WAFTA meeting, the guest speaker Lynn Marshall talked about the baskets she'd made - mostly from handmade string and items picked up from the bush or garden. The activity after the talk was to have a go at making string from raffia and fabric strips. It is really very easy and I am amazed that I can have lived 52 years and not known how this was done! I showed my God-Daughter how to make it, and she created a lovely thick rope of lime green, aqua, and blue with a sprinkling of bright reds and orange. When I showed her how it was done I happened to choose a wild hand-dyed rayon and a rust-red cotton. I fell in love with this colour combination and will keep going until I run out of fabric so that I can have a go at turning it into a coiled basket.

New Sewing Machine Table

2009-03-27T11:00:00.005+09:00

I had been having some pain in my back/neck for quite some time when machine sewing. I was using my sewing machine on top of an office desk and thought my posture when sewing this way might be partly to blame. I already take regular breaks from stitching and do some stretching exercises, and, although these help a great deal, I was still experiencing pain. I tried raising my chair, using a footstool etc but none of that seemed to make any difference. So I started looking at the various options for dropping the machine below the top of the table surface so that the needle is at normal table height. I knew I didn't want a cabinet as I wanted to be able to change my sewing set-up to suit whatever I was sewing at the time. I had heard good reports about the Sew-Ezi portable sewing machine tables on the Scquilters email list and the idea that I could take this to classes and sewing groups as well as use it in my home or a studio (on the wishlist!) was very tempting. The insert that goes around the needle plate of the machine is tailored to each specific machine and if you intend to use it with more than one machine (or if you buy a new machine) you simply buy another insert.

I bought the Sew-Ezi table from http://www.justpatchwork.com/ and it was delivered quickly with no hassles whatsoever considering I'm on the other side of Australia. I also bought the wooden insert that converts it to a normal table when there is no machine in it, and the clear insert so it can be used as a light box by putting a portable lamp on the machine hanger shelf. It was easy to assemble.

I have used it a bit now. With my old set-up there was absolutely no vibration when using the machine at full speed because the desk was ancient and built of solid wood - I just about needed a crane if I needed to move it! And when I used the machine at full speed on a folding trestle at sewing circle there was a lot of vibration which made it difficult to focus on the stitching. So I was a bit worried that there might be a lot of vibration as the Sew-Ezi is a fold-up table too. I was pleased to find the vibration is minimal.
All in all I am very happy with the Sew-Ezi table and the flexibility it gives me to change my sewing set-up as required.

Away too long

2009-03-24T09:37:00.006+09:00

I knew I hadn't posted for a long time... But, 6 months is REALLY way too long! Will try to get back into an (almost) daily habit.

September, October and November I was reorganising all my sewing area(s!) and clearing space in the house for my Father in Law to stay for 3 months. He arrived at the beginning of December and stayed until almost the end of February. We got on very well - which was good because the long term plan is that he will come to live with us, assuming he is granted a permanent visa.

He did heaps of odd jobs while was here. He built three great boxes on castors to go at the bottom of the pantry. I cannot believe I have lived so long without these - no more crawling on hands and knees trying to see what's there. I've started making a list of jobs for when he gets back :-)

2008-09-25T08:37:00.002+08:00

It was raining this morning so I went snail hunting again and bagged a record 203 snails (the previous total was 266 so the total is now 469).

I cleaned a couple of windows recently (those who know me will know how infrequent an occurence this is!) and they must have been really filthy because Russ actually noticed when he got home! Now of course the rest of the windows look worse than before because there is something better to compare them with.

Behind the scenes

2008-09-10T16:10:00.006+08:00

Today has been a day of doing lots of little jobs that customers don't see. Taking photos of things to go on the website and writing the blurb to go with them for instance. I weigh the items and work out what packaging they'll need when they're mailed. I put all that info in a word document and then Russ takes all that info and actually puts it on the website. Sometimes I can pinch photos from the wholesalers website so that makes things easier, but it still takes almost as much time to search for the images and copy them as it would to take the photo myself.

I had to re-draw one of my documents this week because it was corrupted when my computer started failing (the backup was also corrupted). Which felt like a big waste of time. But at least only one document was damaged. Now that has been re-drawn I can get back to drawing new ones - which is a lot more satisfying.

The pictures are of the design "Winding Ways". I've always liked this design and am planning to make this one someday. English piecing is probably not the best method for this block because of the extremely narrow points - I'll probably either machine piece it or hand-piece it using the American piecing method. This is a Matilda's Own template set which I have just received into stock. You will be able to order it from the website soon.

Slowly sorting

2008-09-05T16:58:00.005+08:00

After our bicycle ride this morning I bagged 53 snails (total now 266). This morning was a "tidying up loose ends" sort of day. Mailing off subscriptions to a couple of organisations that became due recently, paying a few bills, filing papers, that sort of thing. Generally trying to clear some of the piles of papers on my desk. I spent this afternoon cutting lots more red hexagons for Field of Diamonds so that I've got plenty of stitching for tonight and the weekend.

Snails - Again!

2008-09-01T08:52:00.003+08:00

Bagged 103 this morning! That brings the total to 213 so far.

I'm going to visit my friend Irene this morning. I haven't seen her for ages so I'm really looking forward to catching up.

Snails, WAFTA and Advertising

2008-08-29T08:58:00.007+08:00

As it rained a little overnight I went out snail hunting again after breakfast today. I bagged another 24 snails - which brings the total to 110 so far. The tomato seedlings chances are improving daily :-) I'm happy about the rain now our garden has all that mulch to soak it up.

Today I will be working on the newsletter for WAFTA, due to go out in early September.

Gardening Update

2008-08-28T16:28:00.002+08:00

The garden was still damp from last nights watering when we got back from our bicycle ride this morning so I went a-hunting. I bagged 84 snails! Actually the total count was 86 because I trod on 2. So now we'll see if the tomato seedlings fare any better.

Gardening, not sewing

2008-08-27T15:55:00.007+08:00

I have spent the last 2 days spreading 6 cubic metres of mulch - so I am shattered! I panicked a bit when I saw the size of the truck that pulled up. The driver was very kind and tipped it into 2 piles so that I didn't have to walk quite so far with every wheelbarrow load. Shame he didn't offer to spread it as well. At least the garden looks pretty good now and will retain any water put on it by the weather (or the reticulation) so we have a chance of the garden surviving the summer. We probably need another cubic metre to finish the last little bit round the back that you can't see. Russ helped for a little while yesterday morning but I did most of this by myself. I was so impressed with my efforts I just went out and took a couple of photos. The long skinny bit is our veggie patch and I dug out some very matted Oregano (very hard work!) before preparing the soil and then putting the mulch on this bit. The eggbox has tomato seeds in it but we have a sneaking suspicion that the snails are getting to them. The postbox photo shows the front of the house and the last photo shows the great long strip along the side of the house. One thing's for sure, I won't be buying a house on a corner block next time! Although there are advantages - only 2 adjacent neighbours for a start (who are lovely by the way).

Old Embroidery

2008-08-22T16:57:00.006+08:00

Last Saturday I went to an open studio organised by WAFTA. We visited the Embroiderers Guild here in Perth to look at their textile collection and hear a talk by Valerie Cavill about conservation of textiles. It was a very informative session with lots to see. These photos are of Carrickmacross Lace, Irish Crochet Lace, Maltese Lace and Faggoting (Rouleau joined with needlelace).

Mandala Series

2008-08-21T15:53:00.005+08:00

This Mandala stitched on 2 layers of Tear Away Lite pulled a bit too but was "rescuable" with the iron and lots of pulling and tugging. I will do future ones using a machine embroidery hoop to prevent the distortion. I was trying to avoid that as some of the straight radiating lines are bigger than my largest hoop so I would have to move the hoop midway through a straight line and I thought stops and starts might create wiggles in the middle of the lines. I have sandwiched this one with some cotton wadding and am in the process of stitching on some sequins. This first one will be simply stitched in circles so I don't have to think about the design too much and can concentrate on the accuracy of the circles. I have lots of ideas for future ones including spirals and uneven division of the circle - so I don't think developing a series will present any problems.

Mandala

2008-08-11T17:37:00.004+08:00

It was just as I feared - the stitching pulled the work into a dome shape. Oh Bother! I thought. Or at least my thoughts were along the lines of Oh Bother :-) I have traced another circular grid onto Tear Away (Lite) and am currently stitching exactly the same design with the same fabric, same threads and same machine settings to see if that improves things. I used 2 layers of the Tear Away as I thought one layer might not be sufficient. I have stitched approximately 1/3 of the radiating lines so far and have a sneaking suspicion that this is going to pull in a bit too. I think it is a function of the radiating lines - ie proportionally there is more stitching per fabric area at the centre of the design compared to the outer ring. If this sample pulls significantly into a dome shape then I think the only solution will be to use a hoop when machine stitching this design. So I am prepared for the fact that I might have to stitch a 3rd sample before I get a satisfactory result.

Mandala Series

2008-08-07T17:41:00.008+08:00

I have decided to create a series of Mandala. I need to think about where I'm going and what I'm doing as a textile artist so I thought a Mandala series might help as I meditate on this. I started the first one today. First I used CorelDraw to create a semicircular grid so that it fit on A3 paper. I printed 2 copies and taped them together to get the full circle. I traced the grid onto lightweight interfacing and pinned it to the back of the fabric. I stitched all the lines using a thread to match the fabric so that I could see the whole grid from the front. I have started to couch some metallic thread on the radiating straight lines from the front using a narrow zigzag stitch. I am a little worried that this circular quilt will become dome-shaped as I stitch but we shall see what happens.

WAQA Friendship Day (Maddington)

2008-07-29T16:00:00.006+08:00

Lizard of Oz http://www.lizardofoz.com.au/ was invited to be one of the shops at the WAQA Friendship Day held at the community centre in Yule St, Maddington last Saturday. This was an easy "appearance" as the car was still packed with all my goodies from the Hexagon Club Christmas in July meeting the day before. The other shops at the WAQA Friendship Day were Calico & Ivy http://www.calicoandivy.com/ (recently taken over by Debbie) and Kraft Daze http://www.kraftdaze.com/ owned by Jenny. There was a good turnout and I think the feedback was such that WAQA will hold perhaps 3 or 4 of these per year. The hall was great - plenty of space and quite light. There is a raised stage so it was easy to see all the Show & Tell. I didn't think about taking photos until late in the day when I suddenly remembered I had my camera with me. This is a photo of Rae with the quilt she made for her son about his desert adventures. Rae used Lizard of Oz Fusables for the geckos. As far as I can tell the difference between lizards and geckos is that lizards have toenails and geckos have rounded "sticky" toes. There was also a wonderful hexagon quilt by a lady who was an "original" (one of a group that started the WAQA many years ago) but she'd gone before I remembered my camera was in my bag.

Hexagon Club Christmas in July

2008-07-29T15:48:00.003+08:00

The Hexagon Club invited me to bring my goodies along to their Christmas in July party last Friday. They had also invited the Mandurah group to join them for the day so there was a great crowd - so many they met in the main hall instead of the usual meeting room. There was a huge spread of food for Christmas lunch complete with little "puddings" covered in chocolate - yum - and Christmas crackers (bonbons). They kept me busy with my "shop" and I was a bit late remembering that I had actually got my camera with me so I didn't take many photos. This is Norma (not that you can see her!) with her Supernova table runner.

Field of Diamonds Progress

2008-07-22T16:28:00.003+08:00

I had the chance to add quite a bit to this at the weekend. These are 3/4" hexagons. There are 59 red diamonds in my drawing so I only have 45 more to add on!

Voile Scarves Update

2008-07-16T10:03:00.019+08:00

The light on these photos is really strange - I rushed outside to take a photo inbetween stormy showers so the sky was looming really dark. I grabbed them off the line and rushed back indoors just in the nick of time!

This top fabric has been randomly scrunched with elastic bands and dyed with Magenta, then rescrunched and dyed with Navy. The Magenta was too bright and pink for my liking so I overdyed the whole thing with a weak solution of Violet in an attempt to make the pink and blue become more purple overall.

This second fabric was folded in half across the width and then rolled diagonally over a cord which was pulled tight and tied into a ring. First dyed in Magenta and then retied and dyed in Navy. I also put this in the weak Violet dyebath as I didn't like the stark white areas. I do like the symmetrical pattern.

This third fabric was folded in half along the length and then twisted until it curled onto itself and looked like a skein. Magenta first, refolded and Navy added. Then undone and weak Violet added.

I may put a weak Navy or Cobalt Blue wash over all three. I have been making some stamps and may stamp over them as well. I haven't decided yet.

Customer blog referral

2008-07-10T14:23:00.004+08:00

Boy it sure feels good when you stumble over a great referral about your products from a customer. I'm beginning to think Nicola has made more quilts from my shapes that I have! Check out the March 27 entry for http://harmanyquilting.blogspot.com/

2008-07-10T13:28:00.005+08:00

This is a photo of work in progress on a challenge at the Designing Women group I belong to. We all have the same size stretched canvas and have to produce a work which portrays what Piney Lakes means to us. To me, that Saturday meeting once a month is about thinking outside the square. I dyed the organza at a workshop and used it to make the squares on the painted background. I have stitched them down with invisible thread. Now they are attached I will do more embroidery. This is to be finished for our exhibition later this year.

Voile Scarves

2008-07-03T11:04:00.004+08:00

I hemmed 5 pieces of cotton voile 2m long x width of fabric to turning them into scarves. I experimented with different hems. Then I experimented with ways of scrunching the fabric to form a resist to the dye on 3 of them. These 3 had a first dye bath of Magenta. I'm not sure I like Magenta - it's too much of a pink-red for my liking. I always planned to overdye them anyway. I had time to put one of them in the navy dyebath. This one was just scrunched and held together with elastic bands. I quite like it but I plan to overdye this in a weak solution of Violet to tone down the pinkness and make the navy more purplish. I hope :-) Depending on what happens with that will affect what I do with the 2 still soaking.

Field of Diamonds Progress

2008-07-03T10:25:00.002+08:00

I have been steadily adding to the pile of red diamonds made from 9x three quarter inch hexagons. To make a quilt approximately 34" x 44" I am going to need 59 red diamonds and about 500 cream hexagons for the paths between them. So far I have made 35 diamonds so I need to make another 24. For these photos I laid them out with some cream hexagons in between to give an idea of what the layout "Field of Diamonds" will look like once it's put together.

Workshop with Seiji Konishi

2008-04-07T16:41:00.003+08:00

Mr Seiji Konishi from Japan ran a one day workshop at the Atwell Art Centre Gallery (Western Australia) organised by WAFTA. Mr Konishi is a master weaver and sculptural basket maker teaching at the Kawashima Textile School in Kyoto, Japan. Mr Konishi supplied raffia and explained some construction techniques for coiling. It was a relaxing day with most students soon picking up the basics and then exploring what they could do with this simple natural material. Student works ranged from traditional-looking mini baskets to sculptural "playthings" which just invited the viewer to touch and rearrange them. I think most of us were thinking at some time during the day about what we could do with this technique using fabric and thread. Here are some photos of the student achievements made by the end of the day - mine is the one on a water bottle. It only goes half way up because that was as far as I got by the end of the day and I had to learn how to finish off!

Empty Ironing Basket

2008-04-04T17:05:00.003+08:00

This is to prove I finished the ironing on 2 April 08.

Twenty four hours later they were full again!

Queen of the May is Bound

2008-04-03T18:05:00.001+08:00

I have put the binding, sleeve and label on Queen of the May. I took some close ups of the quilting done by Nicola.

Queen of the May is quilted

2008-03-27T15:25:00.004+09:00

Queen of the May is back from long-arm quilter extraordinairre Nicola Harman of Harmany Quilting in Boddington, Western Australia. I am really pleased with how this has turned out and would recommend Nicola to anyone. I will be spending the rest of this afternoon working on the binding and sleeve. I have just worked out that I have enough of the red to bind it (I think - it is going to be very close.) Here are some photos of the quilt prior to binding.

Inchie Challenge

2007-12-09T14:08:00.000+09:00

The Designing Women challenge was to produce something that would display our inchies from the swap at our retreat. There were 13 inchie swap participants and this is the set I received.

I didn't meet the deadline but I wasn't alone - only 4 of us had challenge pieces finished. Helen had created a great cuff (in 10 minutes she claimed!) which appealed to everyone. I had thought I would make a necklet but, after seeing the cuff, I decided to make a bracelet. Joan had framed hers in a spiral layout, Delys had made a cube with inchies on each face (which meant she had to add some ring-ins as she 4 on each side - a total of 16), and someone? had made a needle case and appliqued the inchies to the cover.

I wrapped a ring from a Vegemite (Aussie staple diet item) jar with acrylic yarn and then stitched with bright coloured cottons all over it. This was to hide the big stitches I just knew I was going to make when attaching the inchies.

Pink Crochet Top Finished

2007-11-19T16:12:00.000+09:00

This is me wearing the pink crochet top. It's beautifully cool to wear as it is very fine cotton. I think I might add a few more flowers - although most of my friends seem to think it is finished as is.

I have 20 rows to go for the sleeve on the Splendid Wren coloured top and then it will be ready to assemble.

This is what happens...

2007-11-13T14:20:00.000+09:00

When I can't sleep! My mind goes round and round thinking about HOW to make something. We have a Christmas decoration swap coming up. I'm trying to use these decorations as an opportunity to try techniques I've heard about but never done. I've seen beads made by wrapping fabric/yarn scraps around lengths of drinking straw. I thought they might look good as a 3-D decoration but wanted to be sure I could actually construct it before I made heaps of beads. So at 3am I got out of bed, cut up some drinking straws into 2.5cm and 5cm lengths and created these by threading yarn through. I found I needed a doll needle for the longer straws and that I needed to go through the beads several times in different directions to get a good tension throughout. I think these have definite potential so now I need to make the beads themselves.

Christmas Decorations

2007-11-13T14:05:00.000+09:00

One of the groups I attend is having a Christmas Decoration swap at their next meeting so I've been playing with creating some decorations using techniques I've read about but never actually done. This star was created by painting Vliesofix fusible web with gold paint, letting it dry and then ironing the webbing to felt. I stitched a wonky grid with a variegated red rayon thread. I cut out the star shapes and zigzag stitched the edges together. I added the stuffing just before I completed the stitching around the edges while it was still under the presser foot of the machine. I've cut out 2 more and will stitch those by hand so I'll have a total of 3 different decorations from the one piece of embellished felt. I think I put a bit too much paint on the Vliesofix as it didn't adhere very well to the felt and would have looked better with a "worn" look. I am pleased with it overall though and the surface feels very like leather.

Pam Annesley Workshop

2007-11-13T13:12:00.000+09:00

Here are my results from the workshop at the weekend with Pam Annesley hosted by the Designing Women group. Pam is a textile and polymer clay artist here in Perth and I've put her website into my links section.
Pam showed us how to layer paper images (pics from mags, wrapping paper, sweet wrappers etc) onto a base fabric with PVA glue and then use tissue paper and paint to fill-in gaps and/or go over the images. I liked the effect of the painting over tissue paper more so I omitted the images bit :-) There are several coats of PVA glue on the top and the resulting fabric/paper is apparently strong enough to make bags and/or boxes. Some ladies went on to stitch their first sheet into one of the designs Pam provided a pattern for. I decided to create a 2nd sheet instead and will do the stitching at home where I have all my threads handy.

I'm thinking I might turn one of them into a wine bottle carrier and depending on the success (or otherwise) of that will decide the fate of the other one.

More Dyeing Fun

2007-10-22T15:10:00.000+08:00

I played with the dyes that arrived from KraftKolour. I mixed the powders (about 50/50) to get an orange from the red & yellow, a purple from the red & blue, and a green from the blue & yellow. These pieces of fabric are the results of the baggies "cooking" in the sun using only one colour per piece so I have a colour reference for the future. I mixed up far too much dye so had a go later in the week as well with some yarn. And I've still got some mixed up dye left. Apparently they gradually lose reactive strength once mixed with water so I'm probably not going to get much else if I try to use them - but I will chuck something in to see what happens. If it doesn't work I haven't lost anything as I can always dye it again. I really like the Rubine.

This is the yarn that I think looks like the plumage of the Spendid Wren. I first dyed the yarn blue, then overdyed with red, purple and rubine. I was so pleased with it I started crocheting a top for myself as soon as it was dry! It will be a miracle if I look as good in this as the wren does in his finery :-)

2007-10-05T14:06:00.000+08:00

A parcel arrived this week from KraftKolour http://www.kraftkolour.com.au/. I ordered some Procion dyes of my very own after the fun I had the previous couple of weekends. I decided on the 3 primaries and black, and then had a rush of blood to the head and added Rubine just because it took my fancy. They arrived in perfect condition so now I just have to pluck up the courage to actually use them. Bonnie at KraftKolour was very helpful when I explained that I was a beginner.

I've got a couple of things I want to do. The first thing I want to do is dye a piece of fabric with the pure colour and also mix the secondary colours from the primaries and dye a piece of fabric in each of them. So I'll have 8 samples of single colours. I want to add some more colour to the balls of yarn I dyed previously to get rid of the white that's showing. I have got some cotton yarn already skeined up too which I'll use several colours on. That's probably enough for one day. As a future project I also want to dye some really old faded and worn blue t-shirts and then cut them into 1/2" strips to knit and/or crochet. I thought I'd dye them first to make sure they take the dye rather than cut and knit only to discover they're not what I thought they were and don't dye. I'm going to wait to do that though until I have a bit more of a "feel" for what colours I get with what I've mixed today.

This is what my laundry looked like while preparing to dye. I mixed the powdered dye into a liquid in the laundry tub with all the doors closed to minimise any dye dust floating about. Then I did the actual dyeing just outside the laundry as I have a wall which is a great height for working at. This area isn't seen by visitors to the house so I figured if I made a mess and dyed the bricks it wouldn't matter too much - better than spillage inside the house.

These are some El Cheapo brushes I bought at the $2 shop - I went in looking for something to hold the bags such as washing up bowls or cat litter trays. They didn't have those but I thought I'd try the brushes at $2 for 4. They were brilliant for mixing the powdered dyes into a liquid. I'll be going back to buy the rest of their stock as soon as I can.

This is one of the washing up bowls with the dyed fabric just "sitting" in the sun. I placed it on the bricks in the sun as that was the warmest spot in the garden. I folded the tops of the bags over to prevent evaporation.

All the dyeing sunbathing. As this is my first attempt I mixed up far too much dye and will probably have to have another go in a few days to use it up - apparently it lasts about a week as a liquid if not refrigerated - and I don't have spare room in the fridge. This is absolutely the hardest part - leaving for 24 hours as I'm sure that will give me the strongest colour. I've told Russ he needs to eat more ice cream - I need more containers :-)

I'm back...

2007-09-21T08:54:00.000+08:00

These are the fruits of the last 2 weekends. The smaller group were dyed at my friend Joan's place in Leschenault, Western Australia and the larger group were dyed with the help of Joan Lock at a retreat in Dwellingup, WA. Both were using up old Procion dyes on cotton and now I think I might have to buy some dyes to do some more experiments of my own. Wonder how long it will be before I am offering them to some unsuspecting person saying "they're old dyes and we can have a bit of a play, they may work, they may not" :-)

Both sessions were great fun. The smaller batch were done without bags and we managed to create an almighty mess between myself, Joan and my 10 year old friend Andrea. We also didn't realise we should have added salt to the Soda Ash soak. The larger batch were done by putting a little dye concentrate in a bag, adding the yarn (was supposed to be a piece of fabric but I had yarn) then adding enough soda ash and salt solution to wet it all, another tablespoon or so of dye concentrate in another colour, squishing a bit and then leaving for 24 hours. This was decidedly less messy :-)

Now I need to spend some time looking at dyeing websites for ideas, recipes and supplies. I am currently reading Complex Cloth by Jane Dunnewold - awesome book. This copy is from the libary - it looks like a "must have". Uh oh, I think I am hooked.

Purses finished

2007-04-19T15:50:00.000+08:00

Today I finished off these two purses in time to give them as birthday gifts for a couple of my friends. I made them using my own "Artists Canvas" purse pattern that is available on my website www.lizardofoz.com.au

Crochet embellishment 3

2007-04-11T15:24:00.000+08:00

I crocheted a few pink flowers last night so that I could see the effect of them grouped together on the t-shirt. I've made all different ones - just making them up as I went along. I like the look of these against the uniform and regular half treble crochet I used to make the basic t-shirt. I much prefer this self-coloured textural look to the embroidery experiments I did previously. So, lots more crochet flowers coming up.

Most of today has been spent making up orders and replenishing stock. I'm off to a retreat this weekend and taking my goodies to sell there. I'm taking my Seven Sisters quilt so that I can continue quilting it, Karen's Konstellation in case I finish the Seven Sisters as I don't think I 've got that much more of the centre panel to go, and the pink thread so I can crochet some more flowers. These make a nice break from hand quilting so I don't get too achy from doing one thing all the time. Knowing me I'll probably pack quite a few other things to do too even though I should have learned by now that I always take too much.

I took on newsletter duties for the WA Fibre & Textiles Association recently so I am currently compiling my first issue. As is usually the case with these things this first issue seems to be taking me forever. I looked at my schedule yesterday and frightened myself with all that I have to do over the next month. I am determined to keep blogging - although I will miss a few days while on retreat.

crochet embellishment 2

2007-04-09T13:01:00.000+08:00

These are the two yarns I had in mind for embellishing the pink t-shirt. The multicoloured one is very slubby and proved too difficult to weave through the crochet. Weaving also damaged the yarn. I didn't like the effect of the purple and pink variegated yarn once woven although it was easy to weave as it is smooth. In the photos you can see the bright yellow tacking too. This is for placement purposes and will be removed after embellishing the top. So, back to square one as far as embellishing is concerned.

I have now decided to try adding texture rather than colour, and to create a more informal panel as I didn't like the regularity of the weaving either. I like the idea of lots of flowers using the same thread that I used to make the top stitched randomly over the panel and extending over the shouler area. The beige flowers are experiments - I like the size of them so will now go ahead and make lots from the pink thread.

Whirl Shape Drawn and Tested

2007-04-05T16:47:00.000+08:00

I have just finished drawing and testing the Whirl shape you can see here. A customer requested this shape which is formed by 4 intersecting circles that then tesselate as a one-patch. I have also drawn the shapes to go around the edges to make the quilt top rectangular. These straight edges make it easy to attach borders and/or binding to the finished quilt top. You can see from the photo of the back of the block that I found it easier to tack the seam allowance of inward-facing curves onto the papers if I clipped them. The seam allowance along the straight sides is left "flapping" so that it doesn't get caught when piecing - which again makes it easier for attaching borders.

Improving Crochet Skills

2007-02-09T08:54:00.000+09:00

I can crochet but have always wanted to get to that stage of being able to design things myself rather than simply follow a pattern. I also like the idea of embellishing a fabric of basic stitches with more crochet using decorative yarns. So I've been playing with various yarns and different sized hooks to get a better understanding of what happens when you change various things. Hopefully I will be able to better predict results and more quickly bring an idea into reality. I have not worried about colours for these experiments - just weight and type of yarn, and the size of the hook. I am primarily interested in cotton yarn so that I can combine the crochet with cotton fabrics to make clothing. If everything is cotton I believe it will be easier to overdye the finished garment to give it a more planned "look".

Bags from A4 Samples

2006-08-21T15:46:00.000+08:00

Have just posted 4 pics of some bags I created from some of the A4 samples that have been lying around for ages. I like them but they're a bit small. Will be making bigger samples in future so I can make bigger bags :-)

Lizard bag

2006-08-21T15:44:00.000+08:00

Blue bag from A4 sample

2006-08-21T15:41:00.000+08:00

2006-08-21T15:39:00.000+08:00

Bags from A4 samples

2006-08-21T15:36:00.000+08:00

Andrea Quilt Sandwiched

2006-08-17T11:41:00.000+08:00

I've just finished sandwiching this quilt made from the Andrea blocks. Now for the hand quilting.

Stencils & Fabric Painting

2006-08-16T16:55:00.000+08:00

These were created using flour paste as a resist - a technique demonstrated by Zoe at a local contemporary quilters meeting. I made my own stencils and applied the flour paste about a year ago. Last week, after going to the craft show, I was inspired to add the paint (Jo Sonja acrylics with textile medium 50/50). This is what they look like once washed to remove the paste and then dried/heat set.

Banksia Flower

2006-08-16T14:34:00.000+08:00

I took this photo of a Banksia flower soon after purchasing a Canon Powershot Pro1 digital camera and I've used it to test how to upload a photo. Really happy with the camera - now just have to remember to take it with me wherever I go. This blog will be updated as and when I think of something to post. I'd like to use this blog in the future to get feedback on my textile work - which means I'd better go stitch!

First Post

2006-08-16T14:23:00.000+08:00

to see how Blogger works.