Thank You Thank You Thank You! Musing in Textile:France

Well we are finally at the business end of the Musing in Textile:France project. Yes we are finally sending out the books for which you have all so patiently waited. All the Australian supporters and New Zealand supporters will have received or will very shortly receive their books. Those who supported the hand made books reward- in Australia- your books will be sent tomorrow (we apologise it has taken a bit longer- we never thought we would have 10 people subscribe to the reward so it has involved quite some making and has taken us a bit longer than anticipated). Europe (UK and US) books will be bulk shipped later this coming week to France, and then posted within France to their various destinations (so unfortunately yours will take a bit longer and our apologies for that). 

         

But most of all-we want to thank each and every one of you who supported our project ( some of you pledged for more than one reward so to you a double thank you!) Without you this project would never have happened- we feel both humbled and incredibly chuffed that you saw fit to support our project and we hope that you will not be disappointed. I especially am grateful, as there is no publishing industry as such in Australia for quilt or textile  books and in particular a book that is more about the inspiration and the journey than the how to. So the only way to achieve a book of this kind was through a platform such as Pozible and your very generous support.The list of thank yous is in the order the pledges came in. I have also put a summery at the end about things we learnt and some considerations if you are considering the crowd fund raising path.

Shirley Goodwin
Hendrika Priemis
Marie-Thérèse Persoon-Klingelhefer
Mevr Truus Bakker
Linda Robertus
Jan C
Wil Opio Oguta
Carole Kokinis
Susan de Vanny
Donna Rowan
Herma de Ruiter
Linda Stokes
Judy Murdoch
Jill Sparks
Nic Bridges
Elizabeth Dubbelde
Jill Dearing
Lisa Walton
Denise Fordyce
Felicity Griffin Clark
Sherry Boram
Sue Krekorian
Barbara Currey
merkusje
Fiona Wright
Alexis Ward
Alison Downey
Lee Mills
Emma Coutancier
Alexandra Halsey
Anne Linage
Lyn Duhig
Susanne Biso
Debra Chapman
 Ginette Bellan
Lynette Weeks
Patricia Hutchinson
Sally Ann Westcott
Margaret Gilbert
Nicole Peeters
Debclarke
Esther Elizabeth Matthews
Sarah Louise Ricketts
Chantal Baquin
Patrise Dowling
Susan Dawe
Mathea Daunheimer
Chris Beardsley
Sandy Marcoux
Sue and Angus Martin
Diana Stover
Meg Owen
victoria gordon
Melanie Bartlett
Barbara Hilford
Jeana Blackert
Sophie Lanham
Margaret Denman
Kathryn Robertson
Christine Moulin
Clare Smith
Barbara McIlvain
Rae Poon
Gerda Jackson
Lajla Nystad
Richard nadine
Marilyn Bielski
Kelly Hamlyn-Harris
Kerrie Rodgers
Fiona Dunn
Eileen Orchard
duverge chantal
Sheila Kelly
raffaella lingua
Odile l'Huillier
Linda Forey
Catherine Roy
Buchoud
Cristina Robbiani
Annick
Francoise Courteil
Danielle Coste
Sylvie Chevillard
Monique Martin Charpentier
Michèle Jacquot
Thelma Scudi
neycensas
Christiane Menesson
 Agnes Besle
Susan McRae
Chevreul Martine
Joelle Lerouvillois
Lyn McCormick
Alicia Merrett
Linda Seward
Vauvrecy Véronique
Margo Bimler
Dini Zweegers
 Regine Peroni
Rae Hopkinson
Marilyn Wilson
Nadine Bond
Carole Smollan
Isa dulhoste
Sylviane Caradec
Eli and May Broekhuis-Ronday
Alison Holt
Sandra van Velzen
Katie Alford
Severine Allais
Anna Buesink
Lisa Guthrie
Anne Ferguson
Dale Rollerson
Rebecca Clarke
Penelope Crompton
Annie Labruyere
Emmy Schoonbeek
isabelle debat
Katell Renon
Brigitte Galdemar
Toufflet Christine
Marie Christine Chasseraud
 marie Jose Oustau
Michele Picard
Frances Murphy
 Anne-Valerie Berthe
Poncinet Michelle
Els gauchotte
Marie France Gougnard
 Evelyne Riff
 Brigitte Dider
Susannah Heath
June O. Underwood
Jane Howie
Debra Lukeis
Catherine  Andrieu
 Henriette Quintard
Huber Monique
Cheryl billing smith
Jessica Wheelahan
Tracey Browning
Cherry Jackson
Jennifer Manefield
Marian Magee
Cäcilia Arnold
Bismuth Florence
Frédérique Jøjäl Crétal
Pam Kelly
Marlene McPherson
Elisabeth Nacenta de la Croix
Kathryn Thompson
Claire Lynch
Petra Kooij
Henny Herting
Susan Hunt
Lizzi Drake
kathy williams
Carol Veillon QUILTMANIA
Christelle Kupferle
Jane Monk
V Spiegel
Mandie Chandler
Elizabeth Smith
Paulene Cattle
Eileen Vlatko
Claude allard
Catherine Grangeat
Frieda Oxenham
Jeanne Gerthoffer
Milena Crea
Susan Duffield
Helen Baker
Louise Taylor
Denise Griffiths
Jo-Anne Britt
Kate Hansen
Sandy Askill
Margery Goodall
Bergen Rose
Jane Coad
Marie Claude Haurat
Margaret Ramsay
Jodie-Ann Marree Arklay
Ali George
Chrissy Sheed
Lea
Shirley Jacobs
Fraser Clayton
Cathy Hensman
Lynette Julie Morgan-Tait
Leonie Gittins
Joy Harvey
Dianne Firth
Danielle Bouvet
Jan mullen
Susan Mathews
Peter Sylvie
Julie Oates
Maya Jansen-Beijn
Arlette Cousin
Eva Abbinga
Jenny Brooks
Robina Summers
Bronwyn Cooling
Delaney Nguyen Xuan
Yvonne Wright
Lyn Dennis
 Chantal Guillermet
Josée Plantier
Dominique Houles
 Nelly Cavagnaro
Rahima Macdonald
Gloria Bowen
Christina Free
Trisha James
Vivien Lynette Balchin
Penny Sheaffe
Cathie Griffiths

Many people I know personally and some go a long way back to even high  school days ( Lyn and Lyn if Mrs Donaldson could see us now lol)- the whole project has over all been and incredibly positive experience and one for which I am incredibly grateful.

 I want to thank my daughter Celeste for travelling this journey with me- through all the ups and downs, through all the parcelling, but most of all for your beautiful design of my  book, all your hard work in talking specifications with the printer, and in helping my dream come true.And she has just landed an internship with a firm she had been wanting to work for!

 I also want to thank my friend Christine Moulin for her super job in translating my words into french and for trying  to  give them the sense I had intended.

It has  also been a huge learning curve for my daughter Celeste Galtry and myself and I do want to mention some things for any future aspirants for crowd funding.

• Give your self more time than you think necessary- best laid plans and all that, but mostly allow at least one month in your plans for life itself- our life intervention took a month or even more- the neighbour where my daughter used to live  became so obnoxious that she feared for her life ( he had threatened her with  a small axe, wire snapping in his hands threatening to cut her,  playing loud music all night long, and a torrent of swear words that made us suspect he had tourette syndrome and with the police stating that he was "harmless enough" and if we were so worried then we should take out a restraining order, which we tried to do but it was going to be two weeks to get an interview for said order- we knew not what kind of drugs he was on or whether he would turn violent as there were definitely little men running around in his fried brain, we knew there was drug and alcohol abuse happening - so the only solution was to move house. I had just returned form overseas and many of my things were stored at my daughters house and she had also just started a full time barrista job from which she could not take days off to  pack house etc. Then youngest daughter also moved- when it's all said and done it took a month to move - fortunately where my daughter now lives is much much quieter. It also interrupted our video plans as days we had set aside to film had to be abandoned because he was having one of his tourette fits which went for 3 days running.
• have a contingency plan- expect the unexpected to happen and allow time for it- ours involved where we were going to send things in Europe( delivery) and a printing mishap ( which caused delay, but was nobody's fault as such, just a machinery malfunction- we were glad to pick it up before the shipment had been sent- so make sure you check everything very carefully)
• make sure you cost everything very carefully- we thought we had done all our research very carefully only to discover that the postage costs for each reward were part of the pledge and not a separate additional cost to the pledge- some other people discovered similar things in their crowd funding campaigns- so make sure you double check everything!
• when dealing with postage allow at least a 15% inflation factor ( sounds in credible doesn't it) but in this age of internet purchasing,  postal services and other delivery services can charge a premium and regularly increase their costs and I believe Australia must have the most expensive postage service in the world- it would cost more to send the book  to Europe or the US than to actually purchase the book- that is sure great for micro-business! The cost  of posting to New Zealand was equally outrageous.

• the Pozible platform have their charge, which we knew about and was well worth the service we received ( and the platform was easy to use and worked efficiently, we were also assigned a mentor who was helpful and made regular contact so I would use this platform again for sure) , but we forgot about the fact that if people paid with Paypal- which many people did, Paypal of course take their percentage
• customs charges and taxes are confusing- nobody was able to give us an accurate estimate of what our customs clearance charges would be- we checked several different sources including customs itself but did not get an intelligible answer to the question how much will it cost?
• if you print offshore remember to factor in Gst or Vat to the place of shipment- we had taken account of it- but still have no clear answer whether vat will be payable on top of the gst that has already been paid?
• factor in unspecified courier costs- you will need them at some stage and likewise factor in  bank transfer costs
• time- it is a most precious commodity for a micro business and be prepared for things to take longer than planned
• when we did our research it was noticeable that the projects which got funded offered valuable rewards and  effectivediscounts- we tried to keep that in mind when creating our rewards
• Social media is incredibly important- and Instagram is a must use- I did not use it enough overall ( I am still learning it)
• who knew parcelling up packages took so long?
• it's a rollercoaster- no two ways about it

I am happy to talk anyone through the process. We researched Pozible for about a year and looked and tracked how some projects not dissimilar to our own fared and what had worked. We thought we had prepared well for the journey, but whilst we had in many ways, the fact that it was such a rollercoaster was something no amount of preparation would have prepared us for- every morning and night our hearts were in our mouths- sometimes thinking it would not happen and other times with just sheer excitement.

The night we passed our target was like winning a medal- I felt empowered -not quite the reaction i was expecting but we had just achieved a long held dream- and the overwhelming emotion was one of "Yes!! We (meaning my daughter and I) did it!" . But in all reality the catch cry should be "Yes We  did it !" All of you who supported the  campaign- you did it! And if you have an idea that you feel worth pursuing- follow your dream!

Would we do it again- you bet- we are already planning our next book Musing in Textile:Italy!

They have Arrived!

Finally the books have arrived and we are working hard preparing all the parcels, we have to load the dvd's ourselves and then we have to wrap and make sure we include the right gifts/prints with everything that  has been pledged for- so it takes time to be on top of all that !So bear with us, things should be going in the post very soon! We will also bulk airship to Europe in the next week or so and be posting from within Europe as the costs of postage  from Australia is simply ridiculously expensive.

But you can imagine my consternation when this arrived at the bottom of a sloping drive earlier this week...

 One tonne and 100 something kilos with one delivery man  with an old hydraulic jack- it was not going to  get up the drive that way and I would not have wanted him to hurt himself. I do like  that he put it in the middle of the drive, so my daughter could not get in or out, and so it had to be moved. She was at work, but it meant I had to  unpack the whole pallet and store books in a safe place. My youngest daughter did come and help, but it took a lot of carrying and toing and froing.

SENTINELLES UPDATE
I also installed the Sentinelle exhibition last week at Copacc in Colac, and already I am getting a lot of positive feedback ( follow the link for more information). It has been hard to get to Colac regularly ( as it is a 2 hour drive there and 2 hours back) because we are so flat out busy but I will be there next Friday. They looked terrific and whilst I was installing  many people came and asked what the exhibition was about as they had never seen anything like it - it constantly amazes people to see the diversity and creativity of all the women  who have made each sentinelle. So again thank you for entrusting me with this journey and another exciting development has happened- they have been invited to be exhibited in Perth in August of this year as I hope you will allow your pieces to stay, but if you desperately would like your piece back please  let me know. One of the reasons for agreeing to Perth is that the organiser said it is so hard for them to get the wonderful exhibitions that we see in the east of Australia.
Here are some of the girls in Colac:

I have also been conducting some of the workshops which were part of the pledges from our Pozible campaign. We did a tifaifai workshop at  the Convent in Abbotsford last week and was reunited with one of my Tifaifai pieces I made many moons ago and which was raffled off for  a fundraiser none of us could remember the reason for.

It was lovely to see this piece again.It was one of the tifaifai variations I had forgotten about.


 I have now printed up a myriad of colours for the dragon print which is part of the Medieval project- which launches in April in Nantes, France at Pour l'Amour du  Fil. I still have Kings and Queens and of course rabbits as well. The dragon panel measures about 20 cm x 25 cm and  is an original linocut which has been hand printed. The price is $15 plus $3 postage. If you would like to purchase a panel please email me.

And last but not least there is still time to join the Form & Variation on-line class starting on 4 February this year. If you want to stretch your imagination a little and really get stuck into  developing your work and taking it further and learn some elements of design along the way this may be for you. I already have a group of people who I think will have a lot of fun with  the ideas and are also serious about pushing a little further. I have a rough guide available with more details just email me. Each of you will be working on your won forms and variations so that what you take away from it is your won work. The course will last all year and hopefully result in at leats one large piece of work if not more!

Books

We are waiting with bated breath for the arrival of the books. I have to say one matter of disconcern has been trying to find out how much customs will actually charge us once the books are actually in the country, and the letter I wrote to customs got an exceptionally long reply with no clear cut answer- even the customs agent cannot exactly tell us what it will be.....until they arrive. It has certainly been a learning curve, self publishing, that is for sure!

However it is still possible to pre-order the book if you are in Australia ,prior to the 19th of January the expected arrival time for the books. If you pre-order and pay prior to 19 January, a small gift will also be yours. The cost of the book is $49.95 and shipping in Australia is $15 ( express post satchel), making a total of $64.95. It is impossible to send pre-orders overseas because of the ridiculously high postage costs for posting things overseas from Australia. Email me if you would like to pre-order.

So some more pages from the book....

The shine on the pages is from the flash of my camera, sorry about that- the pages are actually sating finish.

The page on the left  also shows one of the hand made pages I have been making for the hand made books that were part of the Pozible fundraiser- stitching on khadi paper inspired by the photograph- looking out toward the see from Mont St Michel.I see it differently each one I make, the nuance of mood and light.

I have also been dyeing some fabric in preparation for printing more dragons and other things...

The reds in particular enjoyed the humid hot air whilst I was dyeing- the red literally jumped onto the cloth!

And a corner of my studio at Appleton Street Studios in Richmond. I am still getting used to having a space separate in which to work and create. I have always worked from home. And things are still finding their space as well, but it is coming together and I am finding that spending time there has its own rhythm, something I have to get used to. You are welcome to come and visit. There is now also a dedicated Gallery space with an exhibition on at present- it is open most days.

And there is still time to join the Form and Variation on-line class. It's a years worth of exploration and finding ways to explore a form or shape and come up with a small body of work relating to that  form or shape. It could be anything, leaves. tea cups or teapots, flowers, windows, doorways, trees, fruit, whatever you like and would like to explore further. I will be providing lots of ideas for exploration, and hopefully at the end you will create on large piece inspired by your explorations as well as a number of studies. And even though I work in textile this is not strictly limited to those in textile. The cost is $100 and the course will start on 4 February and will run until 2016. I will provide monthly idea generators during that time, and of course we will have a discussion group. Email me if you would like to join or see the rough guide.

Things Medieval

The heat here is stifling and the state is on extreme fire alert. I hope and pray everyone stays safe. The wind is quite ferocious and that does not bode well especially for fast moving grass fires. Fortunately that does not affect me greatly as I am in the city ( though the heat does) but still these kind of days play on everyone's minds given what has happened in the past.

I did finish the dragon linocut. This is the last linocus in the series I have created for the Medieval project.I will update the medieval page soon with delivery dates etc- but you have until April if you send to France. See what you think.

This is the dragon  printed on paper. He looks fiercer than I thought he would be he does have the right sort of bestiary feel about him. Initially I had left the white space around him dark, but that does not work very well when you print on fabric- leaving space around him blank so to speak allows for all sorts of embroidery and stitching.

Here is printed on some green fabrics I found:

I can certainly see lots of possibilities for stitching. Anyway he measures about 18 cm x 23 cm ( I don't have him here to give you the exact measurement) and he is for sale for $15 plus package &  postage ( $3). I will be dying more fabric when it is not so hot so if you are interested colour choice is up to you- just email me if you would like to purchase one. And for the first five purchases I will also include this little hare linocut which I made whilst i was staying with Jane Rollason in the Charentes. He measures about 8 cm x 15 cm- and whilst not strictly medieval could be!

Sentinelles and a Happy and Creative 2015!

I hope all of my readers have a wonderful and creative 2015, and that it will be a year of fullfillment of dreams. I am certainly ready for it!

I promised another look at the Sentinelles and so I have made a Youtube video for you to enjoy. I apologise to Lee Mills for I have somehow left off your name on the list of participants at the front- I will amend that in due course ( but it involves remaking the film, reloading the film and as I am on one of those wifi usb's at the moment data is a bit of an issue- or the amounts of it). Also I have listed the participants at the beginning of the film rather than label each image and I hope this will be ok, as to label each image was going to take a long time, as it was it took about 6 hours to make the film. So enjoy! Just click on the words Sentinelle Panorama

There is still time to  join the Medieval Project and I shall have the dragon linocut finished later today. The Medieval Project will first be shown  at Nantes at L'Amour du Fil (QuiltMania) from the 22nd of April. So the deadline is before that time. It would be great if you could send the finished pieces to France ( and I have a friends private address there that things can be sent too, and as they are not very big they will not be so expensive to send)) but I can also take some, though I also need to return Sentinelles to France and take some of my books so my actual luggage capacity is small. I  will put deadline dates up on the dedicated blog page entitled Medieval Project in the next few days ( I only got my 2015 diary at Christmas). There is also a participation fee to help cover some of the costs. After Nantes the pieces will come back to Australia for the Berry Retreat at the end of August and will then go on to tour other Australian venues. As there is a choice of panels ( 5 in all) the appearance of the exhibition will be different, though I am hoping it will have the same charm and  outburst of creativity  with stitch and thread and embellishment!

You can still purchase panels form me and I shall put up some more panels I have printed ( including the dragon- I also have to dye some fabric first). Just email me!

And don't forget if you are in Melbourne you are welcome to drop by my studio at Appleton Street Studios in Richmond not far from Ikea.

And it looks like the Form and Variation class is a goer, so message me if you would like to join- it will hopefully be interesting and inspiring for all of us!

The Year That Was

We are fast approaching 2015, and it's a time for reflection and review of the year and then looking forward to 2015. In some ways I feel as if 2014 has been a year I would rather forget but when I look closely that is not strictly true. It's a year of  almost two halves- my personal life and my professional life as an artist.

My personal life has made me sad indeed with losing a beloved  cat and a favourite aunt and friend- we had so many plans of what we would do together- she had been my support  the times I have come to Europe- she made teaching in Europe possible in the beginning and we laughed and made merry. When my uncle was still alive and Parkinsons was starting to  debilitate him we all went to Italy for a holiday, driving, and then after he died she was dreadfully lonely and went through a very  heavy abdominal operation for an infected intestine which should have been picked up way earlier by the doctors but wasn't . She survived, and recovered remarkably well, and we had a little holiday in Normandy earlier in 2014 and then cancer struck her down, and I wasn't able to get to Europe in time to see her one more time- we did talk on Skype, but it all went so fast that I feel like I am only now coming to grips with it. I feel a bit cast adrift as her home was the home  I do not have at present- and it was familiar and the door was always open.

 Yes I could rent a home but there is not much point as I will be returning to Europe in March for 3 months so I have been trying the house sitting gig. I do get the distinct impression from the  housesitting organisation I have joined that most  house sits would prefer couples- there seems to be some impression that a woman alone can't manage it somehow- little do they know ! So so far I have only done housesitting by the word of mouth route and have  looked after a menagerie of animals and gardens. So if you  know anyone who needs a house sitter in Melbourne- I am your person!And then there is the bureaucratic  shenanigans  going on with my block of land- but I am leaving that alone until January after the latest round of ridiculously long bureaucratic replies, saying absolutely nothing.

However my artists life seems to be going well. I had a successful solo exhibition at Palaiseau MJC in conjunction with the wonderful Sentinelles ( and I will leave you a glimpse of them in my next post). The sentinelles were shown in many of Australia's capital cities to much acclaim.
The sentinelles will be shown one last time at Copacc in Colac from 10 January until the first week in  February 2015. It will be your last opportunity to see this entrancing collection of work by many together- then they will all go back to their makers.

I also exhibited at Quilts en Beaujolais, and at Nadelwelt in Karlsruhe and in October at OEQC at
Eindhoven. My work was published in  many magazines, especially french ones and last but not least- many of my readers made a dream come true with your incredible support of our Pozible campaign, which saw us achieve our goal of self publishing a book. I also rented a studio at Appleton Street Studios in Richmond.

I also started the medieval project. There is still time for you to buy a panel to join this project ( there is more information under the Medieval project tag at the top of the tool bar of the blog)

And yet despite all these good things I felt as if I had fallen in a hole. You feel as if everything should be looking up and somehow it doesn't seem to. Though I have promised myself that it all begins again with the way I always  come through these things- small steps , little things, just be busy working on something, the doing leads to other things even though no idea is really wanting to jump forward, and the doing also seems to somehow trump this feeling- so that is what I have been doing this week , small things.

I said there would be five panels in the medieval project- at present there are four- I have been working on the final one inspired by the Books of Hours of Anne of Bretagne- a dragon, but in the medieval style- also a bestiary of sorts.

The page in the book you can see is form the Book of Hours of Anne de Bretagne with miniatures by Jean Bourdichon published by Editions de Cremille in Geneva in 1989. I tried to draw the  dragon in a way that could lead to lots os stitching- and there will be some more changes made as I cut the lino later today.Is it too close to the original though?

And then there are these lovely pages from the book- as always the pomegranate calls to me, and is also a timely reminder of the cycle of things- things will move on...

These images from the pages of the book are just beautiful and make you wish you could actually sit with one of these books for an hour or two. But in all reality they are so precious that we can only really ever see these  through facsimiles or through the dedicated study through  a university or medieval centre. And also notice the caterpillar which may burst into a beautiful butterfly one day.

And then as I have been tidying the studio and trying to find a place for things I came across a started linocut , which I had not finished, and as I finish things I decided to finish it. More Cocteau's cat- but a smaller shaped version. I shall try printing it today.

 Then there is a new project to look forward to , apart form having to create new work for  exhibitions with Through Our Hands and some other commitments- I made 2014 the year I would say yes to everything. I have now created a rough guide for Form and Variation- an online course which I will run throughout 2015 and which will start in early February 2015. The rough guide sets out  what I have in mind and some of the things we will explore. If you would like a copy simply email me or message me. The  course will cost $100 AUS- and I hope will inspire you to develop a body of work.

Musing in Textile: France

After all the racing around of the last month I have a new expected delivery date for the books to me on 19 January 2015- all things going well. This means books ordered through the Pozible campaign will be posted after this date, and those in Europe will be a bit later still as we have to ship books to Europe as one big lot with international air shipping as the Australia Post costs are simply prohibitive. In fact posting with Australia post is more expensive than the book itself and  Australia Post does not offer a book shipping rate. We have decided to ship them by air to Europe and post from Europe to meet our Pozible campaign commitments . After our commitments have been met we will be using sea shipping( in bulk to one destination and posting from that destination in Europe)

In Australia you can pre-order the book and if you do so prior to 19 January 2015- a small gift will also be yours. The price of the book is $49.95 plus $15.00 p&p  so a total of $64.95AUS (the books will be posted in an Express Post satchel) Likewise the book can be ordered for Europe prior to  19 January 2015 and a small gift will be yours, however postage will be in the order of $35 if you want to be part of the air shipping - I have to work out the cost exactly- making a total of $84.95 ( 57 euros). It will be cheaper if you wait 2-3 months for the sea shipping. There were only a few pledges from the US and those books will be sent by airmail despite the prohibitive cost of postage so that we do meet our  commitments.

I want to thank you all for your patience, next time we will make our time line a little longer and yes we are talking of doing another book... maybe Italy. Which means I had better get working like a whirlwind and planning and thinking and well just doing!

I have been housesitting and am doing some more for the next fortnight within walking distance of my studio at the Appleton Street Studios in Richmond- so  will be there regularly and you are most welcome to  drop by- just email me if you would like to !

I have been doing a little stitching- by hand, on a series of work for Through Our Hands called Banksia variations.I thought it was time to get back to something Australian despite Italy  sifting through the brain. I love banksia pods- love the flowers too, but the pods have my attention at the moment. I did make a lovely gocco screen of a banksia pod at one stage but I cannot find it so I have been stitching it by hand. The pods and their knobs remind me so much of chattering people, and indeed May Gibbs immortalised banksias as bad banksia men in  Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, a much loved Australian children's book.

 The real banksia is on the left- don't they just look like so many mouths having a conversation?

And I have had a number of expressions of interest for the Form and Variation class I  mentioned in my previous post. This is a new course and I plan to run it over a year- each of you would choose a form or forms with which to  make variations with . For example it could be a grouping of bottles, or doorways or interesting  bowls or jugs or a combination of flowers and jugs ( these are just a few ideas)- and we would translate them in various ways looking at the shapes/forms, positive negative space considerations, decorative possibilities, line and colour, abstraction and focussing even some research if you were so inclined. I will  write to all those who contacted me  but  if you think this might be for you the cost of the course is $100 and we will start in February and  keep going all year  with a view to coming up with some final pieces. I will deliver some ideas on a monthly basis as a basis for exploration, and we would also discuss in a closed FB group and of course I would look at all your work so that we can explore different pathways and tangents. Email me if you would be interested in joining.

Musing in textile: France Disappointed...but...

Excruciating is all i can say but thank goodness we picked it up before shipping, as our printer is in Singapore ( which is why the shipping takes 3 weeks or so):

Update 4 - Delayed Delivery Date
I can now confirm delivery will be delayed until the end of January, and we are really sorry about this. I previously indicated that we were still hopeful of delivery before Christmas and everything was on track for that to happen,as books were ready to be shipped last week. However when we held an actual advance copy of the book in our hands, that was couriered to us before shipping, we discovered that some of the plates had misaligned on one of the signatures- so the long and the short of it is, thankfully not all books were affected , the printer checked every book manually ( and it is not abnormal for the misalignment to happen in a print run, and in this case it was caused by a vibration in the machinery, but because we are doing a relatively small print run it becomes a problem) and the ones affected will be printed again. 

There is no one really to blame as this event does happen from time to time, it is a mechanical thing and short of the printer checking every printed book as it comes off the press,unavoidable to some extent, and obviously the books that our printer had checked were ok, and I guess fortunately the books that were affected were sent to us so we were able to pick up the problem. So the books that were affected have to be reprinted  and rather than go through two lots of customs clearance it is  easier and less expensive to go through one.

All this is most unfortunate and we apologise profusely, but as the printer has been good to work with this far and the problem is one that does occasionally occur we don't want to sour our relationship with the printer by being too harsh and forcing a multitude of extra costs onto their plate especially ( and who knows we may do another book?) as the rest of the book looks good, and the few people who have seen it really liked it. We hope you will forgive the wait.

So we are happy with the book....the images have come out very well and the pacing is lovely- so thank you Celeste! We are happy that this looks different to what is normally expected of a book about quilts. The whole exercise has been a huge learning curve but a good one and has given us lots of food for thought and new ideas. See what you think in this sneak peek!

Would love to hear what you think? I know it's only a few pages but the design aesthetic is the same throughout the book. Books can be pre-ordered- and if you pre-order prior to Christmas a surprise will come your way as well! The retail price of the book is $49.95 and has 240 pages plus a dvd insert with explanations of techniques used in the book.Weight of the book is over 1kg( 2 pounds) and this will affect the shipping cost.

I have just about finished setting up my Studio space at Appleton Street Studios in Richmond. The opening of the gallery space is tonight, you are welcome to drop in and i would love to hear from anyone who would like to do workshops , as it is possible to conduct small workshops at the studio.

I am also devising a new internet workshop which  I am calling Form and Variation and hope to have it up and running  in early February 2015. The idea is that  participants will choose a form/shape/or a collection of forms/shapes and play around with different ideas on developing a body of work inspired by the original shape- we will explore elements of design in the process, and in particular design geared towards textile creation, and  some of the wonderful things one can do with textile in extending ideas and giving depth to work. The workshop will take some commitment from the participant as I intend to run it over a year and encourage you to develop a body of work around your  forms/shapes.The cost of the year long workshop will be $100 AUS, and will involve the delivery of 10 plans of attack  with different ideas of how to deal with some of the elements you will encounter in working on your pieces. You will be encouraged to keep a journal but  this is not a journalling class, merely a keeper for ideas and explorations, to record your story as you work, because stories change as you progress. There will also be a FB group and as we work together I hope we will develop rapport with one another . If you are interested in joining email me and I can provide you with further information.

Life

It's been some weeks since I posted on my blog and I have been intending to for weeks now , but the reality is that my eldest daughter and youngest daughter ( different houses) both moved house on the same weekend( last weekend). As I have a lot of my things stored at my eldest daughters' house that has also meant moving almost my entire household goods yet again in less than 12 months.

To say I am exhausted is an understatement, as I got off the plane from France at 11 pm on a Wednesday night and flew to Adelaide early the next morning to  supervise the Sentinelle exhibition which has been hung by the South Australian Embroiderers Guild. They did a great job and many thanks! Then straight home to packing and more packing.

I have also decided to rent a studio space at Appleton Street Art Studios in Richmond, because I was feeling well and truly fragged having my studio equipment here there an everywhere and I could not think straight. So I have also been setting up the studio there and hope to be working steadily from this weekend onwards, because if all our stuff is not moved by then, I will burst! I will also have space in my studio to do small classes for 2-3 people or even one- let me know if you are interested. The other  really good thing that happened whilst I was away is that they have decided to dedicate a Gallery space and coffee nook drop in at the studios- and it is looking great. Hopefully it will draw more art collectors even of the textile kind!

Meanwhile part of the reason I haven't posted sooner is there is a lot of things going  on with the book which have been complicated by my being away , but I have to earn a living  so it's half a dozen of one and half a dozen of another. Here is part of the update I put on Pozible yesterday:

We are waiting with bated breath for the book , but there have been one of two delays which has set our schedule back a week or two and brings us into a period when Australian customs is very busy with Christmas processing- we are hopeful that things will process smoothly and quickly but I have to be realistic and also entertain the thought that it will go slowly in which case the book will be delayed from our projected publishing date. We are very sorry about this , but with me being overseas and the printer being overseas , some things took longer than expected, and even in this day of instant communication some things have to be actually read and done in the flesh.

So it looks as if our schedule will be pushed back to early January delivery ( we would also like to avoid the Christmas mailing period and would prefer to send after Christmas simply because the mail service gets overrun at this time of year and we hope you will understand)

We are very sorry about this, but sometimes things happen which cannot strictly be controlled. We will let you know as soon as the book is on Australian shores and the new delivery date.

I am really very sorry about this uncertainty and I am still hoping it will all be as we had hoped, but I also have to be realistic.We know that the  printer is reliable as they also print books for Quilt Mania so the book will get here but it's simply a question of when.

 I have finally finished stitching the little Rabbit piece as part of the Medieval Project. These panels are available to buy, just follow the link, and hopefully I will have made a new linocut in the next few days  if I can find time to sit and work for a couple of hours which will be the last of this series for the medieval project....

The panel not completely finished- some of the background seed stitching is not finished. Does the stitching make a difference?

 This is the panel  finished. I use very simple stitches only, things like back stitch and chain stitch and colonial knots. Some of my greens aren't entirely satisfactory but I did not have the full array of greens to hand because much of it is still packed away or I did not take it with me whilst travelling.

The bottom two photos are detail photos showing the simplicity of the stitches. I am still thinking about what I shall do around the edge because the pages are looking a little like illuminated texts, an unexpected but pleasant result!

I was also invited to be part of Blog Hop Around the World and was supposed to post last Monday- I will post this coming Monday and my apologies to Alicia Merret who invited me , for my lateness, but when I said yes I wasn't expecting to be moving house. So I will try and do an extra special post this Monday!


There has also been another ongoing issue, regarding my block of land which is really starting to impact.There are many people affected in the same way as I am but I can find no action groups of lobby groups to get something happening about this. It affects most vacant properties in Water Catchment areas in Victoria- some people don't even know they are affected because their councils have not told them.Just scroll through, if this kind of thing bores you however it is part of life's little curlies that affects artistic output and inspiration...but shit happens

 I have a piece of  land which is situated in the Gellibrand township , and which was my share of the property divorce settlement in 2009 , zoned residential. It is affected by legislation which  came  into place in 2012- regarding Potable water in water catchment areas. In essence I do not have an issue with the legislation but I do have an issue with  Colac Otway Shires handling of the situation, and the short sightedness in  the state governments implementation of it  and the effect the implementation would have on small holding owners. The legislation requires  that Colac Otway Shire come up with a plan for waste water disposal in the township. I only found out about this legislation and the effect on my property earlier this year when the real estate agent emailed me to ask if it affected my land because he had an interested buyer? "What?" I have gone?? I had no idea( I have been trying to sell this land since 2011). So on contacting all the necessary authorities, my land is affected and I was advised by the overriding authority that they will not allow any building on land less than 40 hectares in areas affected by the legislation( my land is half an hectare). I  sent a letter to Colac Otway Shire , asking about the effect of the legislation and asking them to review my rates until they put in place the aforesaid plan( at the moment my property is being rated on a value much too high given the effect of the legislation, which means the property cannot be built on). They suggested I apply for a Building Permit ( which is on the top rung of  permit costs because of the high rating value  on the property) despite the fact that I have a letter on file to say that all permits must be referred to the overriding authority which will not issue permits unless there is a  Waste Water Management plan in place- and ergo there has not been one made by Colac Otway Shire- not since the new legislation came into place. They also say their rates valuation is based on current valuations of property sales in the area,  but on some investigation I have found out that not a single vacant land property has sold in the township since 2010. There has been a number of letters back and forth but still I am in the position that Colac Otway Shire say ,apply for a Building Permit and see what happens.... I don't want to build on this land , I don't have the money to spend to apply for a permit  which given the correspondence on my file will result in a "no" answer. I want to sell it so I can get on with my life, but I do want to be able to tell a prospective buyer that they can apply for a building permit with a hope of success. Colac Otway Shire now say they  hope to have a Waste Management Plan in place mid next year, but have only just appointed consultants to do this, despite having funding provided by the State Government as early as early 2013- nearly two years ago. The least council could do is grant a moratorium on rates until they bring into  place a Waste Water Management plan ( and there will still not be any guarantee that they will allow new builds)

Meanwhile I have to sit and wait and wait and pay high  rates , which were also increased for this new financial year. I cannot purchase a new property  until I sell this property, and well real estate prices are escalating at a rate of knots-any urban areas are now beyond my means. Apart from going to the press I think I have explored most avenues available to me and would be glad if anyone could make another suggestion??

Signed Off on the Book Proofs

Well it has been extremely busy the last few weeks, with judging and exhibiting at the Open European Quilt Championships and then heading to the South of France to the  village of Moux to teach at  Canet d'Aude and then back to Charentes next week to teach at Jane Rollason's house before heading home. Then straight on to Adelaide where the Sentinelles will be shown at the Quilt & Craft Fair in Adelaide. Although I won't get there until the Friday the 14th of November unfortunately.

 Some of the wonderful work students did on Thursday working with lutradur at Canet d'Aude- such a variety of imagery!

An old wooden door and skeleton climber plant in an old stone wall, encountered on a morning walk in Moux.

Carcasonne , which I finally visited after many years of driving past it, it was lovely, but so many tourist shops and restaurants and cafes- I like the austerity of Crac de Chevaliers which was built in the same period.

There is a little Chapel in the village of Moux where my  friends Margo and Trevor Bimler are renovating their house so that they can establish a Chambres d'Hotes in hopefully the near future. Right behind the altar was this little stone alcove with a lovely urn. Angels guard either side of the altar, and there was a madonna and babe behind bars- was she valuable as other statues were not behind bars?

Yesterday we visited Le Somail- which has the best second hand bookshop I have encountered- so many wonderful old books. le Somail is on the Canal du Midi and we enjoyed a glass of wine in the lovely late autumnal sun. Of course i found a book that had to  come back with me.

Meanwhile the final proofs for the book Musing in Textile: France  came and we have signed off on those, so now the wait for the book  to come and then all the customs issues of getting them into Australia- more learning curve stuff. And printing and preparing all the gifts we promised to accompany your books that you ordered.

We can also now say that  if you would like to pre-order the book you can by contacting me. If you pre-order prior to Christmas we will add in a small textile gift. The  price of the book will be  $49.95 plus postage which will vary depending on where you are. Email me if you are interested in pre-ordering.

The on-line linocutting class commences tomorrow but if you were interested in still joining it is still possible. As you work through the exercises at your own pace. Just let me know.The cost is $60AuS

And finally some progress on the new panel for the Medieval project- embroidering is moving along slowly- finding the time is the issue. The panels are for sale in a range of colours!