Dottie

Today I have  been blogging exactly 10 years! Hard to believe I have been blogging for this amount of time. I had intended to write something well a bit more than usual, but my week went completely pearshaped. 

Firstly my father went into hospital on the weekend with mystery severe internal bleeding and at 81, well that is always a worry, but today after a colonscopy and gastroscopy the news is positive- and abraded oesophagus so he can go home again.Also my father has a partner who is high care ( he is her carer) so we had to call in respite, as she would not budge, but the relief in home respite worked well thankfully, so that is good to know.  

Then  today my mother went into a hospital ( my parents have been separated for a long time) with  intestinal infection and they have decided to move her to a big hospital that is better at caring for these conditions. My mother lives about  3 hours form where I live , so it all gets a bit complicated. The infection has been ongoing, she said she was clear on Monday night but said she still had some pain, so I asked her to please go and get another blood test, and the results were that the infection was not better.. Even so I feel a bit frazzled, as my daughter starts her end of high school/university entry exams next week. So all of this  could not have happened at a worse time. Anyway I suppose dottie might be a good word for it somehow.

I have been making samples for a workshop I am teaching  on Saturday and they wanted to do the  travellers blanket but it can't be done in one day so I ran up some dottie samples.

 The humble dot can have lots of interpretations!

On my mantel piece in the late afternoon sun- it looks a bit outlandish....

And thank you thank you all my followers and readers- for all your comments, for all your support, for all your positive thoughts and all your putting up with me.... if you leave a comment , I will put all your names in a hat and one lucky commenter will receive a bag  of  goodies ( I am too dottied at the moment to say what it will be  but it will be a nice surprise)

Acknowledging an Ian Potter Grant I received in 2000

The years 1999 and 2000 were pivotal in how my  arts practice evolved. It was in 1999 I hatched the crazy idea that I would like to go overseas with my then quite young family ( my daughters were 9,7 and 5) and spend 3 months in France. The idea had grown from the fact that I had entered a quilt in what was then known as Chassy D'Or  which was held annually at Chateau de Chassy and had won a kudos prize. The prize  was very welcome  for the resume ,though as I said if was kudos only, but the even better part was that the organiser Madame Tison wanted to purchase this quilt.

So why was this pivotal? Well I  had entered this particular quilt in Quilt National in the USA and it was not  accepted, and I had entered several other things from this series of work in Australia with similar results.It seemed like I was shelling out  quite a lot of money annually for  absolutely no return; even then life was on a strict budget( as a result of this I only charged an entry fee for all the exhibitions I have toured with the work  of other artists , if they were selected, i think it's a much fairer system ). As a result of Madame Tison purchasing the quilt we started corresponding and she had a passion for the environment. As we corresponded it transpired that she was preparing a friendship year for Chassy D'Or in 2000 and so I suggested (  where did I get that cheek from??) that maybe I could bring some quilts from Australia as part of that friendship? We agreed that Madame Tison would co-curate and that the number would be 30 and it would be by all different artists. I then suggested ( even more cheek) that maybe I could do a residency there during the day? Madame Tison said she would be delighted but that I could stay with her at Chassy. At this stage I said  I wanted to bring my family and that we were happy to camp as I knew there were camping grounds nearby. No no she replied she had a big castle and we could all stay...........So that is how we got to live in a castle for 3 months in the year 2000. And  even more surprisingly we were the only Australian travelling exhibition on the European continent in the  year of the Australian  Olympics and that in itself attracted attention.

I have always lived on a strict budget, as my ex husband  did not hold a permanent job and most of our income was generated by my textile pursuits and teaching, so it was obvious we would need grants to tour the exhibition. I also wanted to accompany the exhibition, which by now had the name Australian Bounty with a catalogue as there was  little documenting of Australian art quilts at that time and there were only the odd piece here and there in museum collections- hardly representative of what was going on. I felt we had some really exciting quilt artists. So we got a grant from the Australia France Foundation and I got a personal grant from the Ian Potter Cultural Trust for my travel expenses to not only do the residency at Chassy but also to study antique textiles at the Musee de l'Impression sur Etoffes in Mulhouse ( because  Madame Tison and I formalised that arrangement and I did create new  work and hold workshops and did demonstrations and talked and walked people through the exhibition. Bernina kindly lent me a machine for the period that I was at Chassy).

 The reason I mention this now, nearly 13 years later ,was that last week I was invited to attend the 20th birthday celebrations of the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, and it was a  wonderful night of celebration- of stories of people who had been funded and the difference it had made to their arts practices.The Ian Potter Trust is funded by the Potter family as a private philantrophic trust and they have supported some 1200 artists over the 20 year period. I felt proud to be part of the audience but most of all I felt  extremely grateful that they had seen that my crazy dream was not so crazy at all....This is the Victorian Arts Centre- walking back to the station to catch the train after the celebration.

About The Ian Potter Foundation
The Ian Potter Foundation is one of Australia’s major philanthropic foundations. The Foundation makes grants nationally to support charitable organisations working to benefit the community across a wide range of sectors including the Arts, environment, science, medical research, education and community wellbeing.  The Ian Potter Foundation aims to support and promote a healthy, vibrant and equitable community for the benefit of all Australians.

And it has made all the difference, the  connections  I made in 2000 has in many instances turned into friendships and  it still underpins much of what I do in France, people still remember  Australian Bounty and how it sparkled amongst the soaring rafters at Chateau de Chassy and the sandstone walls and terracotta floor tiles, and funnily enough many people still remember the fund raiser we held in the Gellibrand  Community Hall  on a rainy winters day  when  buses and 500 people arrived to see Australian Bounty before it set off on its journey  to Europe.

But you know most of all, last weeks celebratory night reignited my enthusiasm which has waxed and waned over the last 6-7 years of divorce, and family upheaval and struggling to look after my family and work in a sick economy  and just keep all the balls up in the air.It was a worthwhile reminder to trust myself and  what I make, that it does take a little craziness to dream outside the box and that I need to keep dreaming.

And funnily enough what am I working on now? It is still France, but this time work inspired by France itself and the experiences of the last 13 years and it will turn into a book that is a hommage to that experience. So here is another lady of Chartres- this time done  on two different weights of polyester non-woven- one the normal one and the other  florists polyester non-woven which has a much more open layering of the fibres and also colours slightly differently. One is machine stitched and one is hand stitched- which do you prefer?

And I do realise they ended up reversed, which makes the wrong hand pointing  to the heavens in one.

There are still some Mirabelle kits available ( S16 AUS inclusive of postage).

Also the next  on-lineTravellers' Blanket class commences this  Monday on 21 October ( $60 AUS). There is still time to enroll for this class. I have also set up a FB group for all past travellers who have made blankets- to share and inspire each other. There are some stunning pieces out there with some equally wonderful stories. If you want to join the on-lineclass or the FB group ( which is for past travellers as well as commencing ones) just email me .

Mirrabelle in a Different Way

I have been working on a piece I needed to make for Voyageart, a group I belong to, with members from all over the world. We will be exhibiting last years work at  OEQC at Veldhoven, in the Netherlands next weekend. The brief is that we make an A3 piece every 2 months and this year we are exploring a theme set by ourselves- so I have chosen faces of the past. I was a bit bereft of ideas so I thought I would use the printed panels I made for the  Mirrabelle doll kits and use them  as an applique rather than as a doll.

I have photographed the stitched piece with the dolls and am surprised at how different they look!It also became a bit of a stitching marathon as I decided to  cross stitch the background fabric as it was a bit loud against the embroidered figures.In the photo below are all the ones I have stitched this year....displayed with some of my wooden printing blocks and batik stamps.

The doll kits are still available in a few different colour ways, and I would really like to sell them as I have to move house in February, and I have no new place to move to, as I don't want to rent another house in Geelong as it is way too expensive to rent, plus my youngest daughter will move into student accommodation (I hope) so this house will be too big to live in alone. I am going to Europe at the end of February for the Voices of Women Festival in Palaiseau, and then for a show in London, and then  to Nadelwelt in Karlsruhe at the end of May- so I am trying to lighten my storage load as I don't think I will  try and find something to rent if I am away for nearly three months. So as a Christmas special, I have discounted them and am willing to sell the remaining kits for $16.00 inclusive of postage ( AUS).

Each kit contains a hand printed outline of the figure ( male or female) on khadi cloth ( which is sourced from the Stitching Project in India), the backing fabric ( khadi ), anchor pearl 8 weight threads for the stitching, a colour photo with instructions.

Please email me if you are interested in a kit. I can be paid using Paypal but you will need to email me for details.

Small Linocuts

Nothing major has come out of my hands this week, so I made some small linocuts to use up a left over strip of lino which had been sitting around but was too wide to waste. Little linocuts can work really well as fillers and there were a few small ideas I wanted to try without committing to making a large linocut. So there are some grapes, stylised roses and the quatrilobe motif. When I make linocuts I am always looking to print them onto fabric and so some different considerations need to be taken into account. I usually do a paper print as well but as I use the textile ink and don't really prepare properly for the paper printing process the prints are  far from perfect. The  linocuts measure just under 10 cm square ( about 4 in).

Would anyone be interested in buying linocuts of this size? I am thinking they would sell for $20 plus postage.

It was a bit of a crazy week really- another health scare with my father and then his 81st birthday yesterday. he has to  undergo further tests so am not sure what to think.

Went for a walk with my neighbor on Friday along the Barwon River. it was very swollen after all the recent rain and some of the picnic areas were flooded. I am always bemused by the fact that birds are the ultimate opportunists...these two ducks squating and waggling their tails on a bench..

 And a heron enjoying the sunshine and the sparkling water despite its muddiness.

And last but not least- a sentinelle panel which I found  in my bag as I was looking for my camera. There are still panels for sale though their number is dwindling.If you  would like to purchase one and join the project please email me- cost of the panel is $15 plus postage( they measure approximately 8 inches x 18 inches)

There is also still time to join the on-line Travellers' Blanket class which starts on 22 October.Email me  if you would like some more details. I have dyed some of the muslin for some of the participants this time as not everyone has the space or the dyes to make the fabric.

More Cocteau's Cat Inspiration

I have been busy making linocuts of late. Here is another new one , inspired by jean Cocteau's cat at Chapelle Saint Blaise des Simple. Jean Cocteau said of cats  "I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul."

I guess the same could be said for my cat Mitsou. So here is my new linocut- Cocteau's cat. I have added in the foliage because it reminded me of the lovely herb garden that had been established at Chapelle Saint Blaise des Simple, and also of the herbs that Cocteau painted all over the walls of the chapel.I have just looked at the website devoted to the chapel and realised it has been 50 years since the death of Jean Coteau and that there are celebrations inspired by the works of Cocteau. Of course, if you are in France a visit to Milly la Foret is well worth while  for the little chapel, the museum in Cocteau's house and the lovely gardens around it and the wonderful old covered  market building in the centre of the town.

 These panels are for sale for $15 plus $2.60 for postage and measure approximately 12 inches square. The panel below I have transfer printed onto heavy weight polyester non-woven and then stitched by hand without any batting or backing. I am thinking this may become a page of a book.

And below is a not very good photo of my Traversing the Land- which travelled for nearly 2 years with Brenda Gael Smith's  Beneath the Southern Sky which went to many corners of the world. It's lovely to see it back after all this time. It measures 40 cm wide by 100 cm long and has been made from hand dyed khadi cloth and has been embroidered and hand stitched. I am  offering it for sale at a once only price ( available until this coming Sunday) of $1200AUS ! The colour is much warmer than is showing on the photos.

Faces From the Past

I have been reading and drawing some of the figures from Chartres. I often keep redrawing the same figure or  shape because with each new drawing something changes even if just a little- the mood of the day or the slip of the pencil. So this is  one of the queens from the royal portal at Chartres... I had printed her onto background fabric with a gocco ( same as thermofax screen), but there were a few problems with the plastic actually lifting off  the silk.

I keep redrawing this figure because  I am trying to get the face right. The photo I took at Chartres is from below so it makes her chin look very large and weird and the resulting shadow is also strange. Then yesterday whilst poring over Emile Male's "The Gothic Image"- and it is dense reading and I must admit to enjoying having the footnotes at the bottom of the page rather than at the end of the chapter or at the end of the book, and it has lead me in the direction of a few medieval treasures, it's easy to get sidetracked.....Anyway  I needed a break and decide to paint this queen with transfer paints- and I am so glad I did. I had got a little stuck with how to take these figures further, but am brimming with ideas for them now. So here is the  finished stitched piece- it's A3 size as  it's a piece for Voyageart as well.

Shes is changing, she seems much more modern somehow.The original would have been coloured as the medieval sculptors did apply lots of colour to their sculptures.

Olive Tree and Coqueclicots

I am trying to research some of the history of the Cathedral in Chartres as part of my exhibition at Voix au Feminin will be the visualisation of some of the feminine forms at the Cathedral.There is remarkably little written about the feminine representations except of course those of Maria/Mary and in particular the stained glass window, but there are quite a number of other feminine forms within the cathedral. It is also reputed that there was a black Madonna, but that it was destroyed during the revolution, when so many  objects and relics were destroyed as indeed buildings.The modern day black madonna is of relatively recent making.Chartres Cathedral has no  entombments so the female figures do not reflect those that normally accompany  burial tombs, not is there a reflection on patronage. However most of all I wish I could go back before creating the work to better study and to better take photographs, but such a trip is not in my budget plans this year alas....just a week at the Cathedral would be  a dream...

I have worked up a little olive tree piece to see , how it would look stitched, and can see this developing  into some other work. The olive tree measures 10 inches by 14 inches ( 25 cm x 35 cm ) and is for sale for $60 AUS inclusive of postage.

I also collected my  Coqueclicot from Artis here in Geelong, and apparently it was admired but  sadly it did not sell. It is mounted on a 12 inch square ( 30 cm square) canvas. It is also for sale for $100 AUS inclusive of postage.

 I am part of the Through Our Hands group, which has some wonderful textile artists as part of the group. Laura Kemshall has made a video of all the quilts that were exhibited at  festival of Quilts which you can see on the Through Our Hands blog. There is a link on the blog to both the video and the magazine.

I will also be teaching the travellers' blanket from home here in Geelong  starting on 7 October. We will have 5 sessions, the first session will be dyeing the background fabrics and then other sessions of 2 hours each we sit and sew. The cost for the 5 sessions ( 10 hours of meeting ) is $110 inclusive of the dyes - all you need to bring is the fabric.

And for those that can't make the  real life version I shall be  starting another on-line Travellers' Blanket course starting 21 October. Stitching the travellers' blanket is an intensive process and takes quite some stitching .Below is my Travellers' Blanket with Circles which I recently got back from England after it was exhibited at  the Museum at Leamington Spa and  festival of Quilts in Birmingham. it is for sale. It is made of hand dyed khadi cloth and is embellished with recycled sari silk and is entirely hand embroidered and stitched to within a  cm of its life and it measures 145 cm x 85 cm. I am prepared to do a seriously good deal if anyone were interested.

If you are interested in any of the classes or the travellers' blanket, or the other new small pieces
 please email me.

Olive Tree

The week has flown by and I don't seem to have much to show for it, or I thought I didn't until a realised my subconscious has been doing quite a  lot of work. Yes I am trying to write  for my France book, but in the back of my mind there I have been channeling Le Triadou. I wanted to make some work that reflected the 9 months I was there- the happy 9 months, the early morning walks, the vineyards and olive trees- that special feeling of the Languedoc and a sense of freedom which I haven't felt since being back here. And then it came tumbling- poppies of course, but just little stitched "bits of nothing" as Peter says so disarmingly in "Finding Neverland."

And more this afternoon- a linocut of an olive tree- now the dilemna is make it bigger or what , or make do as I like it as it is....

The background for the trees I monoprinted some years ago with Trapsuutjies textile paints. again trying to get that feel of southern France.Trapsuutjies really do have lovely colours- just wish I was a little richer and I would get some more sent over. The linocut is about 30 cms high.

And there is still time to enrol in the on-line linocutting class. Just email me if you are interested. Hopefully by the end of the course linocuts like the one above will be well within your skill level!

On-Line Linocutting Class

I have been making a linocut this weekend. My linocuts seem to be getting larger and larger. The one I worked on , on the weekend was inspired by "indienne " fabric produced by Steiner in 1880 or thereabouts. The image below  is cropped from a book I have entitled, Andrinople: Le Rouge Magnifique printed Editions de la Martiniere in 1995 ( and I am sure I did not pay what Abe books have listed it for). I think of all the  antique french fabrics, and I do love Toile de Jouy's, I love the Indienne fabrics for their decorative elements. This particular image really reminded my of a waratah and may have been inspired  by a waratah ( a native Australian flower) as the French people had an ongoing love affair with Australian flora since  samples first came back from the la Perouse voyage in the late 1700's.

There is incredible detail in this printed fabric and I have found that  printing with lino on fabric at best lends itself to two colours ( a paler background overprinted with a darker foreground) However I do know I can get in some of that colour detail with accent stitching.

So I made the linocut ( it measures 12 inches x 12 inches , 30 cms x 30 cms)... I have been  dreaming of some new linocutting tools- the Pfeil carving tools are wonderful. I bought one when I was in Florence as one was  all I could afford...the one in the image is a Lyons cutting tool, and the  knob ends sit in your palm beautifully making it easier to carve I find. I drew the image onto the lino- I drew the image free hand as I did not exactly want to copy the  indienne printed fabric.

  From the workshop I did in Florence earlier this year and in particular from Gianni Verna I learnt, to colour in what you want to leave- it allows you to see the graphic qualities in much better detail and also avoids carving accidents where lines are fine.I have started carving the lino and below is the first print, which I found disappointing because there was  not sufficient contrast between the various area of the design- so back to some more carving....

The resulting print after some more carving, I can already see this will be much more interesting than the first print once the stitching goes in especially around the central flower area and  also by defining the leaves further.

Anyway these are some of the things you can learn on my on-line course which starts 22 September 2013. There are 4 pdf files delivered over an 8 week period with all sorts of exercises to try and I am going to trial a FB group this time  as the contact is  much more immediate than with Yahoo.The cost of the course is $60AUS- simply email me if you are interested .

And last but not least...  I spend sunday mornings ( early) finding new  things on the internet and catching up on favourite blogs. I am really not sure how I stumbled on Maggie Salcedo , a French illustrator of children's and teenage books, but it was kind of love at first sight. I managed to find her La Mission du Biquet in the Netherlands of all places ( as other listings were quite expensive) at a really good price and it arrived last week.... well all I can say is more love. Her style is said to be Art Deco, though there are quite lovely  individual touches which  also take her a little outside that genre. Anyway there has been a bit of a revival in her work with some exhibitions in the early 2000's- I tried drawing the quite lovely stylised face from the cover of La Mission du Biquet , whilst our cat Mitsou, grumpily looks on. She loves it when I work in the sunroom, but most of all she would rather sit right on top of where I am drawing...

Berry Quilt Retreat

I have been away teaching for the weekend at the Berry Quilt Retreat and I did not take many photos unfortunately. Berry is a lovely little town about 2.5 hours from Sydney and gets a lot of weekend visitors for the weekend getaway. The retreat was organised by Elizabeth Dubbelde from the Berry Patchwork shop ( which is for sale in case you are interested). I stayed with Elizabeth in her lovely house just outside  Berry  with lovely views of the  gorgeous countryside. The photo on the right is some of the lovely views in the early morning.I had a wonderful group of participants- they were all so chatty that i thought they all knew each other, turns out they didn't. One of the participants was 16 year old Olivia- and I have to say it's  delightful to have younger people in the room, because  young people like Olivia are the future of textiles and textile design. Olivia who had never free motioned machined before took to it like a duck to water and created some  exciting work- she immediately leapt outside the boundaries and I could see her eyes light up with the possibilities.

 On the Sunday she brought in some of the work she had made previously at school and home- she is one very talented young  lady and a pleasure to spend time with , as were all the participants. So thank you everyone for a wonderful and sharing weekend.

Isn't this beautiful spring blossom on the right just gorgeous......

Fortunately my cold abated  before leaving for Berry though it was tenacious so I  did not have the energy to do very much except make some of these- guess what I am making????

Older Things

The cold has not got any better, actually worse. I could not even go and see my father for Father's Day as i don't want to spread this nasty one to two elderly people with every ailment known to man or just about.

So I have  tried to just be quiet, but don't you know it , the weather is on the improve and when the sun is out, I want to be out in it or in the sunroom where it's sheltered from the wind, and after what has been months of feeling low, dare I say it depressed, when I have really had to set some new boundaries and learn to say no to my parents, I couldn't just be still and stay in bed.

So I pulled out my  Across Australia quilt- which I had been looking at for some time. For the  quilting in the central panel  I had free motioned zig zag stitch to create a kind of leafy effect. The effect was fine but it also had the consequence of pulling in that section of the quilt tighter than the bottom part so that it was never straight. It annoyed me. Why I persevered with the free motion zig zag when I  knew what it was doing I don't know, maybe it was the looming deadline?So here is a link to how it used to look  Anyway it has bugged me since I made it, and today was the day to pull out all that zigzagged free motion stitching. And because I wasn't feeling I should be doing something else it came out remarkably quickly, so quickly that  I could see that now the quilt was much straighter and so I wanted to see it quilted with another stitch. End result it's all done.

I am much much happier with it like this. It measures 100cm x  120 cm, consists of a hand painted background done the African painting style, transfer printed lutradur , tied dyed cotton and hand printed cotton.

The quilt below is entitled From One Flat Place to  Another, it was made for an exhibition about immigration but it was never selected- it has kind of languished in one spot after another. I know I was upset it was not selected- perhaps it was because the story was so close to my heart and I felt  it as if it were some kind of personal rejection- anyway it's a quilt that I have never exhibited anywhere else.It belongs to a period of my life that is no more. It measures 105 cm x 120 cm. The question is what to do with it? Should I just chop it up? Is anyone interested in buying it? ( I will sell it for $300AUS plus postage  if anyone wants it) or do I chop it up and use the flower as  small quilt lets?

The  flower above is a banksia,  a very Australian  bush/flower. I used to have many in the garden down in Gellibrand. I used to be besotted by banksias and now somehow they have become emblematic of a former life , another dream, and sadnesses  that I would rather not be confronted by. Of course the tulip is the symbol of my former homeland. I came from an area that lay just 1 kilometer away from a bulb growing area, and so  bulbs were part of the spring garden.. The text on the blue panel read " We went from one flat place to another flat place by crossing oceans. The language was strange, the people stared. We were outsiders, we were migrant. It took time to feel home. I am of two places, Australia and Europe. They are a part of me as much as I am a part of them"

And last but not least a new Sentinelle panel which I have stitched onto felt. I stitched most of it whilst in Europe in April and i used felt as I could not get any batting. I like that the stitching still created texture on the felt.It is still possible to buy sentinelle panels and be a part of the Sentinelle  Project. The panels cost $15 AUS plus postage ( $2.60AUS) and measure 20 cm x 45 cm. We hope there will be many panels to display! Email me if you would like one or two or three .I can do Paypal for overseas customers.

On-Line Linocutting Class
I shall also be running another on-line linocutting class commencing 22 Septemeber. You will learn how to make linocuts and the classes and exercises have been designed to hone your skills and build your  confidence. The lessons are delivered as pdf files and there will be a discussion group, which this time I shall set up as a closed group on Facebook as it is more immediate for discussion.The notes comprise about 90 pages of exercises and examples. Indienne  Inspired was made with linocut printed fabrics. If you are interested the cost  is $60 AUS- and email me ! if you want to join or would like more information.

Reinvention

I have one of those horrible head colds, which makes you want to crawl into bed, but in all reality I have to keep my nose to the grindstone because if I don't I shall lose impetus. I know  I  often say  I struggle, and sometimes people don't want to hear that, but the artists life, whilst it has many freedoms has its down side in harsh economic times. I would trade for a steady job  any day and would have done so  for quite some years now. But the reality is , no jobs, so I have got to keep going at this. Some weeks I don't even know where money for food will come from as the rent in Geelong is high, energy costs are high, ( and despite a new hot water service being installed in the house I rent, I have to boil water to do my dishes, and yes I have complained but nothing can be done...),, running a car is expensive.... but my daughter must finish high school and the school where we lived previously just wasn't sufficiently supportive. I did not have a mobile until very recently, much to kids consternation, because I simply could not afford it, and my eldest daughter gave me her recycled one. I have tried to use every skerrick of material from years past, and what I can't use I have sent to better quarters. And then I am writing a book- I hope it will be worth it in the long run, but meanwhile  it's difficult to make things for sale because I need them photographed for the book and for styling shots.

 So the last few days I have spent thinking about how I cna change things. I think I need to devote daily time to making small pieces for sale and to spend at least 1-2  days developing entirely new things.I need to be more marketing savvy but I am my own worst marketer. I like to talk but I find blowing my own trumpet difficult and Imust admit there is a fine line between too much trumpeting and  simply being proud of what you have achieved and there is nothing wrong with feeling a sense of achievement.Also after my daughter finds out which university she is going to  I can look for more affordable accommodation.. my shed, even though I would rather have sold my block of land and moved elsewhere- it is not my most favourite option.

I have befriended a number of people in Geelong, been president of the Patchwork and Quilters Guild and am convening the  exhibition later this year. I have initiated a project called Envisioning Geelong which will be part of the exhibition- it asks people to  project their community in quilts.The Sentinelle project is also starting to grow and looks like it will get good exposure.All of these things have been enjoyable and at times take up time but they don't exactly earn you money, but if I want to belong to this quilt world I also need to contribute, and often the rewards are greater than the energy spent.

So one of the things I plan to do  is hold a last Travellers Blanket Class frm home- after February I will be going to Europe to work ( and I am hoping  I can snare a grant of some sort to at least cover my airfares)The class consist of 5 lessons in theevening and we will be starting Monday September 16.  We get together in the first session to dye the fabrics and then will get together 2 weeks later to make a start on the project. Each session is 2 hours and the cost is $110 for all 5 sessions and includes the cost of the dyes. Please email me if you are interested. The project is entirely hand stitched.

And I have made some small poppy pieces for sale.They are designed to fit into the Ikea Shadow box Frames. The poppy pieces have been transfer printed on lutradur and then  machine stitched, you could say they are embroideries. I wondered how these pieces would look in the 8 inch x 8 inch format ( approx) because all the other pieces have been bigger, but I am happy with them - they are quite luminous. The prices is $50 AUS inclusive of postage.

I have to send my Voyageart pieces off to theNetherlands soon as they will be shown inVeldhoven in Ocotber of 2013.

And this morning on our morning walk this wondrous piece of nature....

Stitching

I seem to have been treading water for forever and finally this week I  got to some real stitching on the machine. I had to finish the indienne inspired piece as it has been accepted for exhibition at Botanica at the Red Rock Gallery- photos later. I also wanted to make a piece for the Artis 12 x 12  contemporary art prize, here in Geelong, as they do accept textiles. The piece did have to be mounted on 12 x 12  stretched canvas

It feels good to be in a better frame of mind  to get on with things, as the worry of making ends meet was really getting me down, along with some other factors. To say the last 3 years of living in Geelong have been a struggle is an understatement and then there have been  other issues impacting on it, like  my separated ( but never divorced) parents with health issues as they get older and  partners, and being a single parent. I really thought I would get a job by moving here, but to the world of employment, I must be brain dead and that has been hard to deal with as well, it affects your sense of self worth. So the last month of  invites to exhibit and support for my work has really lifted my spirits.And the sentinelle project is taking off in a way that I dreamt of but never thought would happen- that is largely due to two quilt groups in Palaiseau and  in Geelong, and of course you my readers around the world, so I am so grateful you have embraced the idea.

And then as I was rummaging through a box of  fabrics I found a couple of pomegranate panels I had prepared but never stitched. So I finished them as I don't like to have unfinished things lying around if I can avoid it.These panels are for sale . They are approximately 8 inches x 8 inches ( 20 cm square) with hand dyed fabric and hand printed fabric and machine stitched. the price of each panel inclusive of postage is $50AUS. They are made to fit inside Ikea shadow box frames. . Email me if you are interested in buying one.

SOLD

There is one which is postcard size (5 inches x 7 inches) and its price is $30 inclusive of postage.