Tomorrow is Launch Time!

The flowering gum is flowering in my garden- isn't it beautiful? I love the way on the top left, the stamens are popping out oftheir little cocoons and wearing a little hat!

The other photo is a not very good photo of a scarf I have made as one of the gifts to give to our speakers and special guests tomorrow night for the Sense of Place launch. I haven't made lace for a while so it was good to get back to one, pity I won't get back to any more until well into May. The motif is inspired by drochel and I really must do some more with this motif but as always it's time time time, mind you I seem to waste an awful amount of time as well. These last few months it has been almost impossible to work let alone work consistently, and I am starting to fret about my studio/shed ever being in a fir state, let alone me working in it.

I did manage to change a Qantas booking today without too much penalty - whatever you want to do with them always costs and one of the really stupid things about Qantas and Frequent flyers ( not only do you have to pay for their card ) you can only use your frequent flyer points for a return ticket or for a one way from Australia - you can't use it for a one way from Europe as i found out last year.Anyway it is sorted to my great relief. So I have a one way to Europe in September to teach at Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork again- yay! I will work out how to get back here later on.

Another quilt finished

The banksia quilt is finished- another one bites the dust! It is for sale for $750US ( it measures 26 inches by 54 inches) I am hoping to make quite a few more quilts before 19 february in fact I think I will need to quilt almost every waking moment for the next 2.5 weeks. Two are well into the planning stage, in fact one is already basted and ready to go. One still needs a lot of hand stitching which i was going to do in front of the cricket- but that hasn't been much chop!



This article appeared in todays Weekly Times and was written by Monica Jackson. The Weekly Times is a country newspaper geared specifically for rual people and their interests.The quilt in the right foreground is "Canopy" by Gloria Loughnan. The article was about Sense of Place but they also gave my blog a plug- thank you! and Monica was surprised by the visitors from all over the world. And the count has gone up to 100 countries!

Finishing the Banksia Quilt

I actually wanted to be working on another quilt which fell out of the sky ( well my one and only fabric shelf in my room as most of my workroom is still packed away awaiting the completion of the shed one day in my dreams...). I had got together all the bits, sorted out what i wanted to do but forgot that at the moment most of my basting pins are in a big forrest quilt which I pinned during the year ( but which is too big for Syria so has been left for a later date) and in the banksia quilt I had been working on. I was anxious to get on with the new idea but will have to finish the banksia quilt first. All the quilts I am making for Syria are between 60-80cm wide and between 130-150 cm long as most of the spac ein the gallery is long narrow spaces.

I always like how the stitching changes the banksia quilts- and in a sense they are really more embroidery than anything else.I often multi layer the thread on the banksia flowers but decided to leave these simply stitched with gold thread. Most of the "Australian" quilts I have made are about my place- the things that surround me, I guess to evoke sense of place and i also wanted to represent banksias in a number of different guises- I still have one to go- and perhaps another if time will allow. Which started me thinking about "series" .Are these banksia ( and I have made a number over the years ) a series? Yes the flower is usually represented in the same way with the embroidery ( though that has started to change of late) but each quilt is quite distinctly different- either through the background fabric ( which i dye with quite a lot of deliberation) the printing that I use and off course colour and then size and even whether I border them. I am not sure - I have never thought of them in that way, as I make them as needs be- if I have an exhibition I always have one banksia quilt because it for me represents home more than anything and then also Australia.

And because I am sitting and sewing and the mind wanders, i dwelt on another thing that was said to me whilst doing my masters by one of the supervisors- that quilts were easy for me and that therefore I wasn't pushing hard enough. I have long pondered this comment- i should have asked where should I push to? And then are quilts easy? I know I make very few quilts which don't have layers of meaning- there is the readily apparent surface but some of it involves personal symbolism, a story- there is often a lot of emotion in my quilts- where do you push to? And whilst i am on this train it was also said I should use the process of weathering destruction and aging and wearing/tearing away, but by nature I am a builder, I build from the bottom up starting with white cloth- making the dye sing is an exciting process for me and then nutting out how to best use that piece of fabric- I accrue steps along the way to build what I am doing- i don't tear away unless it aids the building process. It's almost like I start with the blank page visually though with some thought about ideas and brain storm in the dye bath and build a mind map and go from there. Somehow this process was questioned in what i was doing. I would be interested in what other people think about how they " emerge" their work and how they approach their work.

Cedars and Sense of Place

I am still in the thinking process with the rock tied pieces. The one I have chosen is the one without nicks and some darker patches which I have foiled with cedars. Cedar forests once covered parts of Syria ,Turkey and Lebanon and it is likely therefore that Gilgamesh went into a cedar forest. I am starting to panic about the amount of work I still have to do and so little time is left. At the moment I have three pieces on the go.

And don't forget:

For those in or around Melbourne don't forget the launch for Sense of Place is next Wednesday the 7th of February at the Samson Hill Winery on the Eltham Yarra Glen road at Kangaroo ground. The launch will be followed by a fundraising dinner for those interested at a cost of $45 per head ( more details on the Sense of Place blog). We need as many people there as possible- it will be a fun filled evening with a few little surprises , an auction of an art to wear piece. I am getting lots of good feedback about the exhibition- people saying how well the works complement each other and how accomplished the work is.

On Monday the 5th of February I will be giving a talk at AQA in Surrey Hills ( Melbourne)- will have lots of my work for show and tell.

Blood Plums

It has been a topsy turvy year in the fruit and vegetable garden. The vegetables are all late- we did not get seedlings in until the end of November because even as late as mid December we were having frosts ( very unusual for here). The fruit set on traditional stone fruit trees and apples and pears have been phenomenal but because of the extremely dry conditions until last week, the fruit has been very very small and a lot has dropped and then the birds have been merciless in their destruction of the fruit of some trees- taking one bite and leaving the rest. I don't mind sharing but this seems too much ....


But.... the blood plums are wonderful this year- the tree laden, the fruit small but oh so flavourful and for years I have been eyeing off a recipe in Stephanie Alexander's "The Cooks Companion" ( the first edition which I bought as my forty first birthday present when we came here in 1997) . I have to say that Stephanie's book is one of those must have books- I have a few other of her books from her restaurant days and would dearly love to get the one she did with Maggie Beer on Tuscany and Tuscan food.This recipe is called "Mieze's Plum Cake" and is German in origin ( and I have to say my mother worked for a German couple years ago who made a cake very similar to this, though we can't find the recipe ) and it is worth every bit of the effort, in fact i think its sensational and even my non-blood plum loving kids love this one:

Mieze's Plum Cake
(I have halved the quantities from the original and slightly altered some quantities but not to any great extent)
150 g softened butter
125 g sugar
100g plain flour
100g self rasing flour
pinch of salt
2 eggs lightly beaten
50 ml milk ( or a little more)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs ( or almond meal if you have it )

20 ripe blood plums

Topping
75 g butter
100g sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs ( lightly beaten

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees and lightly grease a smallish spring form pan. Cream butter and sugar and mix in the flours and the salt. Add the two eggs and then the milk ( you may use a little more than 50 ml- the idea is to get a batter like consistency which drops slowly off the back of a batter covered spoon)

For the topping- melt the butter add the sugar and cinnamon ( it is not necessary to bring to the boil- allow to slightly cool ) and add lightly beaten eggs.

Halve the plums and remove the pip ( which is very easy)

To assemble:

Spoon the batter mixture into the prepared cake tin and place the halved plums on top of the batter ( they will slightly sink in) then add the topping and place in the oven and cook for one hour. Check whether the centre is cooked before removing and allow to cool a little before serving. it is really lovely served warm with some fresh cream or icecream.

More Silk

The rock tieing method is something I learnt from Robina Summers of Wildscarves in the workshops we did at Samson Hill. I went up to Melbourne again during the week and again there were not enough students-I don't think I covered the cost of my petrol. Since the first panel was a little too short I have dyed some more ( and i would sell the first panel- but unfortunately I cut a couple of small nicks in the silk cutting off the thread and then the question is what too charge in any case as it is very labour intensive) So I did a second one- I tie each rock individually- I quite like it, but it is not as bluish green as the first. When I mentioned to Robina I had cut little nicks into the silk she suggested just winding from one rock to the next instead of tieing off each rock- which i did- but I find the patterning a bit less distinctive. I haven't decided which one I will use. I can hide the little nicks in the silk under stitching.

I had two pending sales fall through- argggh they were of biggish pieces ,unfortunately this is going to make our stay in Syria dour indeed.There isn't anything I can do about it. These are the ups and downs of what i do, feast and famine as they say.....

Gilgamesh's Forest Rug

Ok the silk is dyed! To my great surprise rocks actually take on dye- the ones I used anway - they are now a blue green colour!

The fabric is as I dreamed it- I wanted this to be Gilgamesh's rug to take into the forest to fight the giant Humbaba- yep it has that light filtering through the canopy kind of feel. However it is 4 inches ( about 10 cm ) too short- arrgggh! I could put a border on it with lebanon cedars but that was not how I had envisioned it so I need to think on that for a bit. So i tied another piece and painted it but made another booboo- instead of mixing cornflower blue dye ( and there was some left over from last night) I added 200% black dye instead- I wondered why it looked so dark when I painted it on. it is drying now so I can steam it- but I had to reverse my thinking on this one so I have no idea what it will look like.

Someone asked me how do I get a visitor from Kazakstan- I have no idea. And I must admit that paying to have the country flags showing on my blog is a bit decadent ( it wasn't very expensive) but I love to travel and I love learning where people are from and well i would love to see that little list grow to 100 countries. it intrigues me how people from little heard of places stumble across blogs- are they into textiles or simply rambling around the internet?But I love it when people say "hi" like Alexandra from Romania- now there is a place I would like to go to one day.

All the travel arrangements are finalised- just have to apply for visas for Syria. We are spending two weeks in Spain- Catalunya to be exact ( and there are a few blog readers from Catalunya) in a little village called Rabos- with a 12th century romanesque church and a little village cafe.It is not far from Figueres so i will get to see the Dali house this time and the theatre in Figueres and we will take the train into Barcelona- it is by far the simplest way to get there. The flat is small but the village looks so picturesque i don't care and it was very reasonably priced as we always travel on a budget and as I have to go to England to teach during our stay it is more comfortable for Collin and the kids.

Rocks in my Head

Rocks in my head- or that is probably what our neighbour thinks. There i was in the driveway looking for rocks in the rain- turned out the best rocks were right near the road, so neighbour drives past- stops car and ask "What are you doing?" "Looking for rocks" says I standing in the pouring rain "ohh " says he and then "Why?" "To dye some silk" says I ." ohhhhhhh " says he and takes off again. The rocks are tied into the silk- but it can't be any old rock they need to be a certain size- not too small and not too large , some long and some round. Once the rocks are tied in I will paint the piece- I like the texture of the back.

We have had a lot of rain- it was needed, but we seem to have had in two days what we would normally get over a couple of months.The garden is gratefully soaking it up ,but the blasted gang gang cockatoos have found the apple trees- they have managed to destroy more than 500 apples on the jonathan tree in one night. I am going out there screaming like a banshee and throwing said apples at their heads ( my aim needs a bit of practice though)- the sreaming did nothing but they did get a surprise when apples started flying around their heads.

And then came the rain.....

Have not achieved much this week. It has been so hot that it is hard to think let alone sit at a sewing machine and sew. And then last night it started to rain- more than four inches of deluge- our dams are a third full after being dry since September.

I did go up to Melbourne where Olga Walters, Robina Summers and I gave a workshop to try and fundraise for Sense of Place. We did not have enough people to fund raise let alone pay any fees but we did have a fun day. We did the workshop at Samson Hill Winery and were well looked after for morning tea and lunch! The view from the winery towards Melbourne is just wonderful . As you can see, everyone that did come, were intently engaged in painting fabric!

There is another workshop next week in which we will explore transfer(sublimation) dyeing and printing and stitching- if you would like to come there is still places available and it is definitely going ahead.

We also decided we would do the teaching with the three of us on a more regular basis-Samson Hill Winery are agreeable to us using space there once a month. So we decided to form the Bandana Club- which will teach a group of interested participants for a whole year with an ongoing commitment from participants for that year as we will extend what each participant learns and facilitate the development of work which will be exhibited at the winery at the end of the year. We will limit numbers. We have heard many comments from students from the BoxHill Tafe textile design course ( and on a similar basis the lack of scope of the weekend workshops conducted by many groups) that whilst the course is good on design elements that there are shortcomings in relation to techniques, particularly in relation to fabric creation and manipulation with which to develop your designs- we hope to address both of these issues. I think with the decline of textile departments in tertiary institutions that there is some scope for a more independent sort of teaching( just like many independent art schools were set up in the first half of the nineteenth century). I also like the idea that the ongoing commitment will probably be more helpful to participants developing work- rather than a one day touch base with a teacher this will be an ongoing relationship which will see both parties evolve. I know that from the beginning of my textile practice I would have loved to have had a mentor- and sometimes still feel as if I would like one, to push you that one step further and to bring another "what if" into the equation .If you are interested let me know , and if you have any ideas please make them known!

And so.....

This very pretty little banksia ( though the tree is getting mighty large) has the prettiest flowers- very dainty with little "pearls" at the end of the stamens. My favourite banksia is ericafolia because of the colour of the candles - which are a rich terracotta colour with yellow and orange.















So I am making another banksia quilt- they always sell well, and some of what I make is driven by the need to sell. However I like doing these as I have many banksias in my garden and they flower in the winter- adding colour to the drabness of winter.




















Arranging the appliques and then stitching. I straight stitch around the edge- have done so for about 14 years now. Helen asked what gold paint I used- I used Jacquard Textile ink, only because that is all I had and I found it a bit too runny, I prefer to use the Texcraft Golden Lustre Textile Ink i get form Kraft Kolour.
And no I didn't double thread Gilgamesh rug as the silk was too fine to take the heaviness of the double thread- though I did go round several times on the outside of the circles. And yes you use only one bobbin thread.It also allows you to run a yellow and organge thread for greater colour texture. Or as I am doing on the banksia leaves- a lime green and a soft moss green sort of colour- it really does give more interest and I prefer it to variegated threads.

Now to embroider the flowers and a lot of the texture in this piece will come from the quilting. And when does quilting become embroidery? I often use quilting in much the same way as you embroider- with colours and texture.

Starting Another Quilt

The first image is of a hand painted panel one of my students in Kuwait gave me last year. Her name was Paramjeet ( thanks Felicity for the correction!) and she was from India and said that this little panel was hand painted by artists from her own region ( but I can't recall what that region was) What I do recall is Paramjeet's fabulous work. Jenny Bowker taught her to machine quilt and when Jenny next saw her she has machine quilted/embroidered an amazing study of a old city replete with sailing ship in black thread on white fabric- it was utterly amazing!









































I have been preparing some more fabric for my next quilt. I am a bit low on white fabric for dyeing at the moment so have been squirreling around using what I have got. This fabric I bought in France and it has quite a coarse weave but it takes the dye beautifully. I have printed some bracken leaves onto it before machine embroidering some banksias onto it. I roll the gold ink onto the leaf itself and then place the leaf inked side down onto the fabric and press it down with a newspaper over the top. Because of the coarse weave of the fabric the print is not as clear as it might be but as i will be stitching around the edges it will show up more once I am finished with it- especially as lately I am double threading my machine whenever I quilt in order to get more of a line.

Gilgamesh's Horse Rug

Gilgamesh's Rug is done! I am not sure if I shall call it that - but maybe I shall have a year of making rugs rather than art quilts LOL! it measures 50 cm wide by 140 cm long. I ran out of steam once I got halfway- I was uncertain about whether there was sufficient contrast or whether there was enough for a stand alone piece. In the end I am glad I finished because now that I see the whole I like it- it certainly is fit for a king and his horse! I have the other half of the fabric left and I think Galgamesh's friend Enkidu needs one as well. I used over 2,000 metres of embroidery rayon for the top and it is very heavily stitched- i thought about adding some beads , but that would be way too uncomfortable for a horse rider and well i quite like the texture as it is.

It is so hot today that my machine simply stopped dead- mild moment of panic but then I have driven machines to a screeching halt before in the heat.

I am also back to the 10,000 step program, I never really stopped but the amount of walking I did dwindled and dwindled until sometimes I was walking only once a week. It feels good to be back and today i did a dedicated 10,000 step walk- I got up early before the heat set in.Then i watered the garden- we are only allowed to water between 8-10 am or the same hours at night .

Planning

Many people think that all the travelling I do is very exotic and must be fun. It is and it isn't - I always miss my family a lot and that is why I often take one of my children with me. Travelling with two is more fun but also much more expensive especially as my kids are at that eat a horse stage. I always have a little two man tent stored in Europe.This time I am taking Ynez as I also need her luggage allowance for the quilts ( we take two changes of clothes and a coat-as it will still be wintery in Syria and good walking shoes- but otherwise all the lugagge is devoted to quilts). At the Australian end they have gotten very ferocious about the weight of your carry on luggage and as those cabin roller suitcases weigh about 2kg without anything in them, I will be taking a lightweight backpack instead!

The last couple of days I have spent on logistics- the airline tickets are booked and paid but there is much more to travel than that! I have finally organised our hotel in Syria- it's called the Sultan Hotel and is very close to the Souq, and as far as hotels go in Syria is very reasonable. It is clean and serviceable and the people who run it a delight- we stayed there last time and feeling a little at home with the people is important as we will be there 24 days. Then there is getting from the airport to the hotel- that's organised. Then there is finding the Arabic dictionary which i put in a safe place and trying to remember all the polite words so at least I may seem foolish but a polite fool.Ok return to Dubai is organised - have to have an overnight stay there- we were looking at a hotel ( which are reasonable for two nights but expensive for one night) however one of Collin's old uni friends now works there, and will be there at the time and so we have a bed for the night! Then onto Paris. I think/hope??? that we will be picked up at the airport ( Christine Moulin if you read this I can't seem to get an email to you- have been trying for weeks!).

Then car hire for the rest of the European trip- my one and only luxury. I tried to do it with public transport once and with a very heavy suitcase it was a nightmare- so I hire a Renault Clio ( the cheapest diesel Renault) from Eurodrive- by far the best deal if hiring for more than 4 weeks and each time you get a brand new car. Ok it's all booked but still has to be paid and I need to extend for a week as we decided to stay for five days longer in France. Then my eldest daughter is coming over and now Collin too ( so have to work out their airfares and times and they will have a stopover in Dubai on the way back to catch up with his friend)- we want to go to Catalonia for 2 weeks- I have promised Ynez some time in Spain as her name is Spanish- so we have managed to find a little holiday flat in a small village not far from Girona that seems affordable, and camping wouldn't be that much cheaper - it's inland as ones near the coast are too expensive- it has one bedroom but will sleep four and is in a village so I hope Robas has at least one little restaurant where we might have the occasional meal.However during that time I need to go to England to teach - so will have to organise a Ryan Air flight from Girona to Stanstead ( lucky I am teaching about an hour or so away) Collin and the girls will stay in Spain and see all the sights in Barcelona ( I hope to get there for at least a day but we will see)

About this time I start my lists- of things I need to take and add to it as I think of things- but in terms of personal things like clothes etc we travel with the bare minimum- things like toothpaste etc can be bought once we are in Syria and there is no use it cluttering up luggage.I am an expert at minimal packing- however a journal always goes with me and I think this time a small water colour set as the hotel in Syria has no tv so we will have to find things to occupy ourselves.I am under orders to buy some falafel makers and a few other things like Syrian engagement rings.

And the picture is of some of the jewellery i bought in Egypt and Syria last time- it looks lovely on my Gilgamesh rug which is making progress- but what a lot of sewing!

Sense of Place Intsalled! Thank You Team!

Firstly thank you one and all for your very sweet thoughts- I know many of us go through painful experiences , debilitating illnesses and upsetting moments in our lives and it is comforting to think that even though we are in cyber space that real warmth and friendship do offer solace- so thank you.

As i was uploading these pictures I was thinking there is another aspect to all the curating that i do- and that is teams. I have put up a photo of Robina Summers, Olga Walters, Tony Summers and John Walters ( from the back of the photo to the front)- we had just put up the last quilt in Sense of Place exhibition at Samson Hill. Without these people everything would be so much more difficult- so a big thank you to you all! We have installed a number of exhibitions now, and I have to say I have never heard a cross word amongst us, and it all seems to happen with the minimum of fuss. Things like this can't happen without teams of people who give their time so freely- yesI know these functions are often paid in organisations but alas I never get funding to financially reward those that help me.John and Olga have developed a kit to meet even the most difficult of problems encountered in installing an exhibition, it wa smost useful yesterday. I have to get better! And we had to laugh- most of us who have installed exhibitions in th epast seem to have a supply of odd sized rods, that get sawed down for each new occasion!

And dare i say it- the exhibition looks Abbofabbo ( my new word- rolls of the tongue easily). Samson Hill Winery is totally delighted with the work and its presence and as Pago the owner wondered around with a smile on her face she kept on saying there really is a sense of place! So a big thank you to the artists for again coming up with wonderful work! Tomorrow i shall put more overall view pictures- if you want to see the quilts you shall have to come to Samson Hill Winery at Kangaroo Ground! And don't you love the banner we had made for the Exhibition- it will go everywhere!

Gellibrand Morning 2007

Sometimes I feel like a little tattered leaf floating on the ocean of debris- my flowers have withered into hard little nuts and somehow you still have to hang on and be counted. 2006 was a rollercoaster year - it started with a fabulous trip to Egypt, Syria and Kuwait. Then a trip to Europe Israel and Palestine. I was deeply affected by what I saw in Palestine almost in the same way as I was affected by travels in Africa in 1990. My trip to Africa freed my imagination- but also gave me the courage to ditch a career as a solicitor where I was earning excellent money and was on a career path of partnership and all the attendant gains with that. Africa opened my eyes- money does not make happiness, fulfilling whatever it is that each of us needs to do creatively has a much better chance of succeeding at that. Likewise my trip to Palestine unleashed a deep melancholy which I am only now coming to grips with. I felt so helpless in the face of a situation that seems to have no solution and which sees people suffering. The melancholy has been percolating and everynow and then I get a glimpse of the work I might create and then Collin's father died, and four weeks later my middle child decided she would rather live away from us than with us.That is still the situation now. I am hoping a solution will be found. We all are tattered little leaves in an ocean and we have to keep swimming and hoping. So here is what I am hoping.....for 2007

Peace and peaceful solutions

That Sense of Place really extends the goodwill that I am hoping it will.

That my daughter will seek the help she needs and learn to trust that help so she can climb out of where she is now.And that we will be "family"again- meanwhile we have to make sure that the rest of us remain so.

That I will survive another year as an artist both artistically and financially, and find new ways of seeing things and expressing myself.

That I can use the emotions of 2006 to make work that questions and re-evaluates things taken for granted.

And last but not least- that i get to meet as many friends as I have made through this blog not only in cyber space but in the realm of hugs , smiles and tears.

And that our vegie garden again provides the organic backdrop which is a mainstay of our lives. I find it remarkable that in one of the driest years ever the lettuce which is a notorious water feeder has decided that this is the year to be a most excellent lettuce! Basil is revelling in the warmth and zucchini as always faithfully produces a glut!

Happy and Safe New Year

I want to wish every one a Happy and Safe New Year!


I have been making more pomegranate cards to sell at the winery next week.I had almost forgotten that we are able to sell small items. So here's hoping some sell as I have to meet accommodation costs in Syria where even modest hotels are quite expensive compared to France.I have to be there and demonstrate at the Gallery for three weeks so the nights really do add up! I will be back to the quilt making tomorrow.

Have a good one!

Is this the first quilt or what?

Sometimes you can't see for looking. I am very interested in the history of textiles and of quilts. There is much debate about where quilting emerged, and some very old coptic quilted textiles exist as do some Chinese ones that may date to BC. But as I have been looking at the history of Syria from one of those Time Life books called "The Cradle of Civilization" by Samuel Noah Kramer and looking at the wonderful reliefs- but what do I see??? Is that a quilted textile on the horses' back? Has to be- it is the horse of Assurbanipal an Assyrian King whose reign was well documented in the ruins of Niniveh ( now in Iraq) and who reigned in 7ooBC or there abouts. The Assyrians rode with only cloths covering the backs of their horses- why would the stone mason who carved the relief go into such incredible "quilterly" detail if the textile wasn't quilted?Isn't this exciting to think that so far back they were not only weaving cloth but also embroidering and quilting it?

So of course I set out to make the textile cloth- which I am calling rug for Gilgamesh- I am about halfway through- the silk is about 1.5 metres long by 60 cm wide. I am not sure there is sufficient contrast for much visual effect- in one way there is through texture but I have come so far that I will finish it, but my goodness it has taken soem sewing . The texture is really scrumptious. And Sheila I am using cotton batting- a bit too flat for my liking I would have liked more texture. I usually use Matilda's Own Wool batting ( and I am using their cotton batting too)- it's a great Australian product!

Working with Silk

I spent today dyeing some silk- I seem to have lost my touch dyeing silk, I think I need to thicken the dyes more so that they don't bleed all over and result in little variation.

I have been reading the story of Gilgamesh- the oldest written story, written in cuneiform on clay tablets.It is thought that the tablets date from about 2700BC . The text of Gilgamesh is available as a pdf or on the web.

I want to know more about the history of Syria before I go this time - and I really want to make time to look at the Museum in Damascus. Also I guess I am researching as I want to make some work that evokes someo of the things I encountered on my last visit for Sense of Place. So how does this tie in with silk dyeing? Syria was of course on the silk road from ancient times and was the place that saw much traversing between east and west and Africa. Gilgamesh went on a great journey to discover his own mortality. I am fascinated by the wonderful carved Sumerian reliefs- the patterning and the obviously richly decorated robes and garments worn by the Sumerians. In fact the last time I was at the British Museum I didn't get beyond the Near East rooms- they were stunning, and I couldn't get over the fineness of detail. So keeping in mind the neatness of the carving I set out to make a travel rug for Gilgamesh. It is turning out nothing like I imagined- for a start the colours are different- I thougt rich royal blue ( or lapis lazuli - a semi precious stone much used by the Sumerians and still much loved in Syria today) stitched with red- but the blue came out too purple and not wanting to waste the silk I did a slight mindshift to emerald green. I had also thought handstitching but it wasn't giving me the right texture so back to the machine. The texture that I have created so far is quite wonderful- it feels so readable under my hand.

Eye Idols of Tel Brak Finished

I have finished the eye idol quilt. The border with foiled circles I zigzagged quilted- normally this pulls the fabric in and I made allowance for it- however I forgot that I was sewing on poplin rather than the normal homespun weight I use and nope it didn't pull in like normal so I had to do some trimming- I hope hanging it for a day or two will also help it settle. I even put on the binding- one of those jobs I always leave until the 11th hour. Now I can get on with somethign new. And my Christmas present I had ordered myself - a book on Sumer and the Sumerians did not arrive in time for the tree :-(

I want to wish everyone who visits my blog a very very happy Christmas and a very happy and safe New Year. The countries visiting has crept up to 86- I would really love to know who the people are and what you do.

Next week I will spend reviewing what happened this year and setting goals for next year. What type of goals do you set yourself? I know I do want to enter a few more things in Australia than I have in the last few years- I always seem to be away for the deadlines and I am not sufficiently prepared before I leave to send in an early entry. And this last year and next I will need a lot of my quilts for exhibition commitments apart from what I sell. I think I would also really like to make a very big quilt ( well big for me- around the 180 cm mark- I used to make about one a year, but they have always sold quickly so I don't have any on hand)

More Badges

Yesterday was a write off work wise. Family came over for an early Christmas dinner. I have been making more badges, trying different fabrics and combinations of things. You can also tie them to the belt straps of your jeans or to your bag.

Perceptions

Thanks for the comments on the previous post- it is good to know that there are people of like mind out there.

It is hot today and we are expecting more hot weather with northerly winds tomorrow- send a little thought for all those that are affected by the terrible bush fires and hope that they don't get worse with the weather conditions. We are also on level 3 water restrictions from midnight last night- thank goodness we reduced the size of our vegetable garden as we are only allowed to handwater between 8-10 in the morning and the evening on odd days. I have never seen it so dry. We run all our grey water out on the garden. Still the apple trees are dropping fruit and the birds are voracious at the moment- we did not get to see any of our red currants despite netting them.

I have been working on the eye idol quilt, but as it is getting later in the afternoon the hot summer sun comes into my work room and at this time of year it gets uncomfortably hot to work at this time of the day. I am intrigued by these little idols- when I first saw them they all sort of seemed the same- though I drew two different kinds in my journal. The person I was with thought of them as female figures with their heads cut off, but the one I drew in my journal definitely had a hat. Then I found another one that had the smaller image of an idol on its torso- suggestive of a mother and child.it is like they represent little families and as I painted them they did take on quite individual characters. I have painted them using the African painting technique I learned some time ago.

I have updated my Picturetrail site with a new album entitled Works for Sale in an attempt to raise some funds for my forthcoming journeying.Whilst I did get a grant from Ozquilt for which I am very grateful it only goes part of the way to funding the travels of an exhibition. I think this will really be my last time that I do this as it impacts on my family quite heavily not only in terms of money ( because often I have to meet the difference out of my own pocket and in this case I had not quite budgeted how enormous the airline taxes would be or the cost of the forced stopover in Dubai) but also in time. I am away for weeks sometimes months at a time and it takes its toll and my family is still young and I feel has suffered as a result this year.There is also lace work for sale on my Seriously Textile blog .The funding has never run into covering a curating fee, and I don't think there are many quilt curators who actually get a fee, at least none I know of.I enjoy the work but there is a lot of things to do and things to follow up.

I do hope that any of you at a loss of what to do in January, and you are down south that you will join us in fun workshops at Samson Hill Winery which hopefully will raise a bit of funds after paying the teachers and materials. We had a meeting yesterday to brainstorming a few more ideas.All you have to do is pay the workshop fee, bring yourself and we do the rest.The workshops on 10 and 17 January 2007 will definitely go ahead.

I think part of a real problem in the quilting community is that many people think, things come for free. And there are many sharing and giving blogs and websites and groups in real life- however there is an awful lot of work that goes into these things ( just ask anyone who has been on an exhibition committee for a group), and ultimately if no money is forthcoming for bringing great quilts halfway across the world to share, or to share information in a class situation we will end up not having these things. Whilst the internet is great for showing lots of things , it is not the same as seeing some of the wonderful textile work in the flesh.We complain that we are not considered art, that we are at the bottom rung of the echelon , but in a way we are our own worst enemies- good things cost money- that is the way the world is. Friendship in groups is free, and that is why the quilting community is wonderful, but whilst many people are willing to pay out a lot of money for products and the latest gimmicks ,few are willing to support the endeavours of people who try and share the work of some of our exciting artists and add to the experience of viewing textiles. Why is it,that quilting artists always exhibit for no prizes apart from a number of big events ( because it supposedly adds to the stature of the exhibition not to have prizes) have to pay for lots of shipping but rarely receive a benefit of any kind unless they are lucky enough to sell a piece, and if you are really lucky you get to pay entry fees and don't get selected! . For example if you have a photo of your quilt used in a magazine other than a quilting magazine you get paid ( and covers of science magazines can commandd up to $500)- when was the last time a quilt artist got paid to be on the cover of a quilt magazine or indeed to be included in a quilt book? Yes you sometimes are sent the book or magazine ( not always) but you don't get paid. That is fine to a point, because it does promote your work but ultimately the magazine does make a living from its endeavour why should not the artist? Most other professionals get paid for these things as a matter of course. It is time that we do the same for our quilting arists.

Trying to Find the Festive Spirit

I seem to have toally mislaid the festive spirit- but have to find it as there are kids here anxiously awaiting what Santa will bring despite the fact that they have been snooping in the cupboard!

I made this journal cover for a journal to give to a friend who is going overseas tomorrow.I had forgotten how close Christmas is- and well journals are handy when travelling. Oh and when you click on the image nearly always a larger image will come up in a new window.

I will be updating my picturetrail site with new work soon ( or this years work all grouped in one place)- I will link it here when I have done it- it will have new work for sale. I am going through the almost obligatory agonising of raising enough funds to take the latest exhibition Sense of Place to Syria and France. I did get some funding but I still need to cover my hotel accommodation in a very modest hotel in Syria whilst I am there.I think what I need is a patron given funding is so difficult to get!

And I have really got to get into some quilt making! As i need a lot of work for my exhibtion I am having next year in France at La Bourboule from March until September 2007- all up I need about 30 pieces- that is a lot!

Taking Shape

These little eye idols are starting to take shape and take on a life of their own. I think I may have populated them too densely - but I will think on it another night. I sometimes just like things to sit and think about it for awhile- plus another panel will go in as well.

I thought I should update my teaching arrangements in Europe for next year. I have made links for all the contacts if you are interested in attending- you can email them or make contact visa a website.

19 February- 19 March I shall be in Syria installing Sense of Place and being in attendance to do demonstrations and other things.

Then from 20 March until 10 May I will be in France, the Netherlands and England as follows:

24 March until 9 April, I will be at Le Palaiseau atr the 6th Internationsl Patchwork Art Textile. I shall also be teaching there( I will check the dates) I will also be giving a lecture. The workshops is what Smaranda mentioned in her comments on my previous post. Be sure to go and check Smaranda's own work- she makes wonderful things!

April 10 I will be teaching a Patchwork group close to le Palaiseau- free machine quilting (doing smaples from my book Seventy Two Ways). My contact for both events is Christine Moulin.

April 16-19 I shall be teaching at the Stofmeid in Borger Drenthe as follows;
April 16 Tranfer Printing and stitching
April 17-18 Inspiration in Frabircation- making an original piece
April 19 Nature as Inspiation- Borger is a lovely atmospheric village so we will be using the environment as inspiration to make a small piece or several.

April 23 - 26 I will be teaching close to Le Mans
Day 1 Dyeing fabric
Day 2 Using various printing techniques to create your own fabric
Days 3-4 Using the fabrics made on the previous days, creating your own original art piece.

Sometime between 26 April- 4 May I will be teaching near Narbonne( Salleles d'Aude) at Centre Europeen du Patchwork.

5-6 May I will be in England teaching at Sew Creative at Wroxham Barns ( near Norwich)

If you are interested in any of these workshops you can email me by going to my profile- my address is there and I can give you the email address for my contacts.

I will return o home on 10 May. I shall be taking my youngest daughter with me so we hope to see a little of France and Spain.

It's finished

I have been playing around with ideas for a quilt/s about my travels in the middle east earlier this year- things seemed to gell during the week in using images/ideas. I had put aside the pomegranate quilt as somehow something was bothering me about it. But on the other hand I tend to finish something and then move onto the next thing- so it had to be finished. I have very few ufo's - maybe 4 over the 17 years I have been quilting. So once I buckled down and started quilting I realised the problem was actually the fact that I hadn't quilted it- once that started happening and texture started appearing I started feeling happier about the whole quiilt, so all I have to do is put on the binding. I feel a bit better for having finished it- it means I can go onto the other things I have in mind- but I have to wait for some copper foil to arrive from The Thread Studio in Perth. Check our Dale's gallery - there is always things worth seeing in it.

I missed out on the Barcelona residency again!! I give up. I really do. Audiences seem to love quilts- everyone but arts administrators , museums and granting bodies seem to like quilts- so how do we tell them????

And it is hot and dry today -though we had a frost last night- unbelievable for this time of year. I am not sure our zucchinis will survive. Tomorrow it will be even hotter-sections of the eastern part of the state are burning and we have asked fire fighting crews from New Zealand to come and help as every region needs to keep their fire crews on standby just in case, and every firefighter that can be spared has been sent ( yes it is bushfire season- but more than a month early) and we are on tenterhooks for tomorrow-it all depends how bad the north wind will be

Syrian Eye Idol

Apart from Taking Sense of Place to Syria in february of next year I have also been invited to bring more of my own work as well as that of Jenny Bowker. I have been playing around with things inspired by my visit to Syria earlier this year. The treasure in the Museum at Aleppo was marvelous ( and I did not get to the one in Damascus- it is on the to do list for next year!). One of the things I made drawings of was the so called "eye" idols- although some believe it is the body of a woman with the head cut off. However why have a hat then? Not all have hats. There has also been some other suggestions that the eye idols which have holes drilled into the head part may have been used for spinning yarn- now that sort of thinking is right up my alley and allows me to connect these idols with textile!And when I saw these little idols- and there were quite a number of them at first glance you think they are all the same- but really each one is different to the next- quite individual really which makes me wonder if they were individual votives.

The circular button with the eye idol image on the inside is actually a "brooch" made form a cd . This is a sample for the workshops we are having at the Samson Hill Winery in January for fundraising for Sense of Place - the idea is to make fun things that do not need a sewing machine and minimal hand sewing. I think I might make some more of these- however a cd brooch is quite big and makes quite a statement!

I am also fascinated by the cylinder stamps which were used to seal all sorts of containers by rolling the seal in a tablet of wet clay- pretty much like intaglio printing. I love it when I can connect a process of an ancient culture with a process I am using today- things really don't change that much! But if you do follow the link for the museum check out image #8- a stone envelope and letter no less- wonder how the mail man got that into the post box???

For all of you that responded to the image of the previous post- it is actually the sole part of my husbands flipflops ( we call them thongs in Australia)- who could imagine that the ordinary old flipflop could have such nice markings?

And I am chuffed because the countries counter is slowly but surely creeping up!

Three Guesses

Obviously I have been doing very little work. I have done some weeding in the vegetable patch ( it needed it and our season has been late in getting going as we had unheard of frosts in Novemeber) and I joined the Soul Food Cafe and then a virtual Grand Tour and the Lemurian Grand Tour- Sould Food Cafe is all about populating Lemuria a fictional place in order to stimulate writing and creating. As a result I seem to have set up some more blogs( I will go blogging mad) one which will be based in partial reality and incorporate some of my travel adventures and observations Travels Between Caravanserai, I will also show more photos of some of my travels and the other a bit more imaginary though with some elements of some of my experiences Tripping the Light Fantastic. I am hoping all of this will get me involved in creating again- because nothing much is happening except the odd sigh and groan. Anyway one way or another it will force me to do something or I might get lost!

However does anyone want to hazard a guess as to what the photo in this post might be of? Wish I could dye like that!