Making a Start - Studio Journal

A friend and I enrolled in Sharon B's "Studio Journal - A Designer's Workhorse" online class.  We got our first lessons (exercises) last Tuesday.  I have made a start and here are the rubbings - or frottage - which I have done to reveal different textures.

I used to do this type of thing when I was a kid - with a penny, and in the 70's it was a very popular pastime to visit old churches and cathedrals in England and do brass rubbings. Never did do that!
It would be great to actually now interpret one or more of them in stitching.  I particularly love this geranium leaf and think I would like to explore more leaves, bark etc. from nature.

The geranium leaf is done on baking paper.
It was really funny running around the house with paper and pencil looking for things to rub.
Then I thought of this side panel of the singer treadle machine.  I love this one and see possibilities here!


Close up.

 
This exercise was a lot of fun, now I am working on the Van Gogh exercise - stay tuned.  
Having said that the 2nd week of lessons is out.  Sharon says to work at our own pace, so that is what we will be doing.

Shirley

For those of you who read my blog and are also friends with Shirley from Shirley's Twisted Threads it is time to give you a heads up on her whereabouts.

(SHIRLEY RELAXING IN HER NEW ABODE)

Shirley is currently in an Intensive Care Unit in hospital.  We managed to get her settled into her new home, did a bit of fun shopping as she showed on her blog and then - Whammy! - last Friday she suffered a heart attack (atrial fibrillation).  Fortunately, her new unit is just a short distance to the hospital and she received emergency life saving treatment and was discharged on the following Monday.  Alas her 'freedom' was short lived, and she was back into hospital with an infection early hours of Tuesday morning, treated with antibiotic and released once more.  Then.....it doesn't stop there......she was called up by the hospital next day to come back for further tests as she had 'bacteria in her blood'.  So, she has today been transferred to a private hospital and will be there for approx 2 weeks to clear this very bad infection.  Bad luck seems to be following Shirley at the moment, but her spirits are high and she still has her wonderful sense of humour!  Pray she will be well soon and back doing her wonderful stitching.

 
(SHIRLEY IN HER GARAGE WITH OUR LITTLE LILIAN)

 This is the scrap quilt I made for the Flood Relief community quilting at Toowoomba Quilters Club. There was a whole bunch of 4" squares which had been donated to our fabric cupboard so I just joined them up in a nine patch in various colourways. The scrap quilts the ladies are making are just amazing.  Pop over to their blog and have a goosey gander.  www.toowoombaquiltersclub.blogspot.com

Mother Nature - Give us a Break!!!

Our fellow Queenslanders in the Far North of the state are about to experience the worst cyclone in Australia's history. It is expected the eye of the cyclone will pass over them at 11.00pm.
Who would have believed after all the flooding and the devastating  inland tsunami that now our people are facing this next huge disaster.  The cyclone is named 'Yasi' and it is a Category 5 and a very huge system stretching hundreds of kilometres.  The eye of the cyclone alone is approx 70 kilometres.  
Pray no lives will be lost.  There is no doubt that it will cause huge destruction of property and habitat.
You can get some statistics on this web site here.  Very, Very scary.


If you are interested you can read all about 'Yasi' here


We are in the South East of the state, so will not experience it's force, but there may be ongoing rain with it - and that is something we don't need big heaps of right now!!

She has Finally Arrived

'She'  is Shirley B!!!  She has finally arrived in our fair city to make it her home.
Welcome Shirley.  Poor Shirley has been trying to move now since the 7th January before all the flooding rains.  The truck couldn't negotiate her driveway and then the removal company had their own issues with flooding, cleaning up and catching up with all their removals.  It has been a bit of a marathon, but she got here at last on Sunday.  Now begins the arduous task of unpacking!
Our granddaughter Lilian is named after my Mum who passed away in 1997.  Mum was a wonderful pianist who taught herself, didn't read music but played only by ear.  She played in bands, at functions, as accompaniment etc. etc.  It was one of her greatest joys.  So it brought tears to my eyes when Lilian the 2nd (who is just 2years old) discovered the piano.  She would hit at a few keys and then look up and laugh and smile at us.  Very reminiscent of how her great grandma used to play. Lilian is shown here playing Mum's piano which my Dad gave her for her 21st birthday. 


I miss my Mum every day and I know she would have loved this little 'performance'. 


Alas, due to a week of headaches and migraines I have not done much in the sewing room.  Still working on Dec/Jan journal quilt and I want to get it done by Art Quilt group meeting on Feb 9.  YIKES!!

Australia Day 2011

 G'day,
We joined our neighbours for a good ol' Aussie barby today and celebrated living in this great country of ours.  For all that our country dishes up to us we love her anyway.  As Dorothea Mackellar says in her famous poem, "My Country", First Line, second verse - I love a sunburnt country - Last line - Her beauty and her terror - The wide brown land for me!!!


Our back neighbour is a local businessman and he held the barbeque to fund raise for victims of the 'inland tsunami' in our region. Good on ya Jim!! You can see what Jim does here on his website. An unusual business for a somewhat parochial city, but all our friends from South Africa who have come and settled in our fair city love it, and so do a lot of the passing truckies.

 On another slant,  I am working on a simple nine patch scrap quilt for our quilt club fundraiser, so I spent the afternoon in the sewing room. It is going to be very colourful.  I am using 4" squares that someone donated to the club.  Should have been easy, but of course some were a bit shy of 4" and some a bit larger.  Grrr.

It has been a while since I have had a block of time to just sit and sew. Lovely way to finish the Australia day holiday.

Rachael's Birthday - a washout

It was our neice Rachael's birthday on 13 January. Oh boy what a 30th birthday - one she will never forget. There is Rachael in her funny Ikea hat trying to put on a brave face. The hat was a joke which was going to be presented to her on the night of her birthday party to be held in the family home.
There is the family home now on the right after a metre and a half of putrid Brisbane river went through it. It is a heartbreaking sight, but the family is rallying and it is just a waiting game now before they start to rebuild their life. They have to wait until all the wood dries out thoroughly. Fortunately, knowing what happened in the the floods of 1974, they had moved most of their furniture and valuables to higher ground before the inundation.

Now - what is this mess? It is something new I tried. It is vleisofix painted with watered down acrylic paints. After it fully dried I then ironed it onto some fabric. You will not be seeing the result as I was not happy with it and I didn't get the look I was after. Learnt a lot though. The actual technique was fine, so maybe I can use the resulting fabric in some other project - just not my latest art journal quilt!!

Not much else in the crafting/quilting scene has been going on around here lately, sadly.

A City Shattered

It has been a dark day for our beautiful city today.  
Most of Queensland has been suffering terrible devastating floods and we thought we may be immune. Not to be.  We had torrential rain today on top of previous days of rain.
 Our city centre was hit with a flash flood today.  Cars were thrown around like match sticks, people were swept away, lives lost.  This is right in the middle of our city centre. 
Goods from stores were flushed out of the shops and swept away by the fast flowing water.  Low life looters were quickly to work after the waters receded. 
Our hearts go out to those families who are mourning their lost loved ones today.  
There is further flooding expected from swollen creeks and rivers in our district.  
The only good news coming from this is that our dams which feed our city water supply are now full and we probably have enough water for 10 years without huge rainfalls.
I will give an update on Shirley B tomorrow.  She is fine, but marooned.