Insane brain......

Living Down Under means one is slightly out of step with what is happening on the other side of the world - time wise. The fifteen hour difference in time means that while I am typing this post, it is still yesterday in New York, the home of Joggles who are releasing the lessons online for Sharon's course every Thursday for the next few weeks. Last week I waited very impatiently on Thursday (here) until I could download the lesson, forgetting the time difference was so great, and eventually doing it on Friday morning when I got up - that was fine, though kind of frustrating knowing that while I slept, others would already be enjoying first glimpses of the lesson and challenges. Sometimes I don't sleep well, and though I did not consciously plan it, today I woke at 4.am. Realising that the lesson would be available, and knowing I would never get back to sleep until I did, there I was logging on, downloading, changing printer cartridges, and putting the pages into a folder - then back to bed with a cup of tea to read them all. My mental alarm clock was working well. Insane!

Follow the leader...

There has been a lot of chat on another list about leaders and enders, and the great way one can piece a quilt without trying too hard. Not knowing too much about idea, I checked out the site mentioned - Quiltville- and decided to give it a go. I have cut up a zillion two and a half inch squares and am busy leading and ending my piecing for my other quilt with a pair of them. It seems very easy, and already there is a growing pile of blue (surprise, surprise!) and creamy coloured bits - I would love to end up with enough to do one like this as made by Bonnie Hunter of that site:-

More blues - Aquilegia are among my favourite perennials in the garden - their feathery leaves and tall stalks of fairy like flowers fill any corner with colour. They cross fertilise and self sow, so next year there might be another variation in colour or shape, an added bonus.

And finally - the fickleness of the financial world - today's graph - fingers crossed for all those watching it.......

The long term value of investing in a stash

A quiet day spent piecing some more blocks for the current quilt shown several posts back.....my mind churning over with ideas for about future projects, wondering what this week's journal exercises will be, listening to some music, the news and occasionally checking my email.....then I saw this on the ABC news site, in bright colours of red, orange and green, against a classic black background.

Inspiration for some stitching? Another textural rubbing? A quilting design?

None of those. A very depressing graph to show how the Australian All Ordinaries Index closed at the lowest point for four years following more losses on Wall Street and other world markets due to the financial crisis and fears of recession. The Australian dollar is also at a five year low - so no more buying of needlework books from overseas for me for a while! In fact it is really a bit of a worry as I and many others, helplessly watch the value of our supeannuation go down the gurgler. Perhaps that is one really good reason for having a stash of fabric and other textile goodies - I can still make things and ignore the gloomy forcasts in the media until it, hopefully, gets better.

Sunday

Thanks for the comments and emails, good to know your thoughts on this thorny question, which has now been dealt with.

I have been working on some of the exercises for Sharon's course, and having a ball doing stuff I have not done since my children were young. The task was to try what I used to think of as brass rubbing - where one places paper over a textured image and gently rubs with a pencil, or in the case of traditional brass rubbing, a wax heelball. Sharon called this frottage, but when I googled to check the definition I came up with something completely different, and I was not doing that!

Anyway, I was amazed at the number of very ordinary objects that resulted in an interesting texture that almost looked like a photograph or two dimensional image due to the different shading. This was a collage I made, and can easily see it as a stitchery or in fabrics....The items used were the chimney of my slow combustion fire, the top of a tupperwear container, a cedar weatherboard of my house, and some Eucalypt leaves.

I'm a sucker for old books, and rarely pass anything that is vaguely stitching or needlework of the kind I favour, so this little book had to come home with me from a local market this morning - a bargain at only $2! I don't actually do much canvas work any more, but the ideas and designs inside would work as well for other stitchery or textile projects.

Studio Journal - a Designer's Workhorse

A few people have commented (thanks for that) about the tidiness of my sewing room. I think they must have failed to notice that I mentioned it was only tidy because I had finished one project and had not started another! Generally the mess made when working on something leaves it look like the Augean stables and a major clean up is required before starting again.....However, it may stay tidy for longer than usual as I expect that there may not be a lot of stitching or sewing done over the next few weeks because I’ve started another online course.

This time it is a little different - Studio Journals with Sharon Boggon in Canberra, via Joggles in New York State, with participants from all over the world. How is that for a wonder of modern technology? Reports from those who have done this course before have been very positive, so I hope to get as much from it as they seem to have done and that there will be some achievements I can share, and that a lot is learnt.

By this point in my life, I should have known that one should always go with one’s gut reaction, or follow the maxim that if in doubt – don’t. When tagged recently for a meme, initially I was not sure if I wanted to do it, and certainly if I wanted to pass it on as the rules stated. For a variety of reasons, I don’t forward those supposedly funny emails that one receives, or those that promise great luck, joy or happiness (and imply the reverse if you do not) and these are not much different, even though they are meant to be fun.

In the end, so as to cause no offence, I completed the meme and later forwarded it to those known only through the Internet – ironically perhaps causing some offence or sense of intrusion for them. Many of us write under a pseudonym out of a wish for privacy, security, paranoia or any number of other of reasons, and are careful about what they post, and this particular meme asked for personal information. I guess respondents can choose what to write and reveal, and some have chosen not to participate, which is absolutely fine by me.

It is probably not worth a lot of angst, but I would not do it again. I’m wondering what others may think?

Tag - You're it!

A week or so ago I was tagged by Embellisher for a meme, to which I duly responded - here. The rules are outlined on that post, and I now I need to pass it on to seven other people.


Today I decided to nominate the last seven people who have kindly left comments on my blog. I hope you don’t mind, are happy to play along and pass it on to seven more. I have actually added an eighth person just in case someone chooses not to continue the thread, and that is OK too. Those nominated are:-

Judy B at http://virtualquilter.wordpress.com/
Avery at http://averyclaire.wordpress.com/
Paula at http://paulahewitt.wordpress.com/
Doreen at http://doreeng.blogspot.com/
Sue at http://magicarmchairstitcher.blogspot.com/
Jane at http://crazyhereandnow.blogspot.com/
Linda at http://tangomusings.blogspot.com/
Carol at http://libode.blogspot.com/

I look forward to learning a little more about you all.

October TIF

The topic for this month was to think about our workspaces, how we feel about them and what part they play in our lives.

Theoretically my workspace is what would otherwise be a bedroom – it measures about three metres square, is carpeted and the three door hanging cupboard now sports sturdy shelves for storage of my stash and other necessary items. I have a work table with my Bernina on it, an ironing board and a small desk for the computer, a very crowded bookshelf, and a large design wall that also functions as a notice board and currently displays this year's journal quilts. The old desk was mine when I was at school in the 60’s, and under that melamine extension bears the marks of endless nights doing homework for school and uni, rings from coffee mugs and the occasional bored doodle in the wood. It returned to my care when my parents died, and I’m very glad to have it as a reminder of times past.

I’m fortunate to have a designated space to work where I can leave projects without having to tidy up and put everything away. However – this space is often too small, and then I spread out to the main room of my home, the dining table and the kitchen benches, the veranda or wherever is most suited for my activity at the time. I would dearly love to have a much larger area, without carpet and sometimes consider converting my garage into a wonderful light filled studio, but that will probably never happen. I think then I could call it a studio, as it is, this space is just a sewing room – often very untidy and sometimes used as a dumping ground when I need to make the rest of the house spick and span. By the way this is tidier than usual having just finished the last TIF piece and reorganised everything ready for the next project!

My October piece was actually done about a year ago, when doing an online course with Jane LaFazio and the lesson focussed on making an art quilt as a Shrine to something that was special to each of us. Because life is fairly hectic at the present time, and I’m not doing a lot of stitching, I’m going to cheat a little and use this as my October TIF.