my new toy

My new toy arrived the other day - a wild carder - and even better, Ian didn't have to put it together from scratch. (unlike the new garden shed which is still lying in bits on my studio floor).
I have been having fun feeding slushies and scrim and yarns and felty scraps and all sorts of other fibres through it and then laying it onto a flimsie and running it under the embellisher machine. We should have them for sale on the website before too long. I needed to see what I could do with it before I brought them in. I am very pleased with it as it speeds up a few operation stages up for me.

I am working on my Stonehaven fibres and stuff - I am putting the final touches to choosing the thread colours for the new set of variegated machine threads in the Earth Element Collection. I have 3 lying on the bench doing the final choose and waiting for Jacinta to send me fibres for the last one so I can match - then I can send them off to the dyer and voila we will have 4 new variegated thread and 20 new plains. If you click on the pics and enlarge them you can see the threads on the bench in their stages of being decided. It takes longer than you think to choose colours and make sure they are right.


You might be able to see the diferent textures worked on the flimsie. I have been working on this colour - see the flower stitcher piece from the other day. I am starting my Textile Tantrum sample because I need something for the advertising. This might be the one - as usual it will be cut in places. I might do a photo or two transfer using TAP - I like the cracked effect on an embellished background. Do you think that sounds innovative or what?

Happy Anniversary

Kazuko and Bruce - haven't 7 years flown by? Hope you had a wonderful night at the spa retreat. It only seems like yesterday that we all had a fabulous day for your wedding.

Sunday's flower stitcher

Today's flower stitcher piece is also about layers and textures and some gilding flakes as well. We have just loaded all the new gilding flakes to the website and because they are so lovely and useful, we have made them our promotion for this month. Click on this little one for close up.

This morning we had breakfast with Grant for his birthday yesterday and at one stage we went to an exhibition on the Berlin Wall only to find it really wasn' t on until Thursday only. We didn't fell so bad when we saw other people going to it as well. Bad advertising somewhere.

great game

We watched the Wallabies vs England game first - have to say I kept falling asleep and then we were going to go home to bed and watch the replay but Grant persuaded us to stay up and watch the All Blacks vs Wales - a great passionate game with a very good end result. So off to bed about 3.15am but worth it and we certainly didn't fall asleep during this game. Bit slow this morning though.

Happy Birthday Grant

Happy Birthday Grant - not too many years older than this.... Still the same smiling face and you are catching up to me.

Watched the Air New Zealand cup final this afternoon - Wellington once again the bridesmaid...

Friday Musings

It has been a busy week and to top it off the weather for Summer has arrived. Very hot and sticky. We have been flat out getting new stuff on the web (there is more to come) and parcels have been arriving and unpacking has been especially exciting. There are 3 new Iridescent and 3 new Professional Paintstiks for me to play with over the weekend - I am very busy creating charts with all the stiks so that I know exactly what the colours are like for blending etc.

Then I have been working away on the flower stitcher getting the next Let's Play booklet closer to fruition. This little piece above is waiting for some 3D flowers to be stitched on. Enlarge it - it is an excitement of colour - this thread is Indian Splendour.

Today we had big boxes of Flaked Metal Leaf delivered - all big flakes this time so Ian is planning to work like fury over the weekend and we will have them all on the web - I have been decanting and have colourful metallic flakes everywhere but fortunately mostly at our little warehouse. The boy from the next door unit was fascinated as always - I gave him a little jar of big gold flakes because he is getting married tomorrow. I am planning to play with them tomorrow - the flakes that is - for some samples for the web.

So the week has raced on and we are about to stop for the night. I also had another new toy delivered this week but will post a pic tomorrow. All very exciting and of course the Holey Moleys have started their 3rd lesson - I hope they all have their shoe collection out and turned over.

Off to cook my chicken curry.

Le Scrunch

today's Le Scrunch - a little more colourful and easier for you to see - click on it to see the lovely scrunchy texture.

Textile Tantrums

We have posted the information for the 2010 Challenge. Do go check it out

Textile Tantrums



I hope lots of people will enter - I am currently looking to take it all to NZ and hopefully Germany and maybe elsewhere. It is a good opportunity for experimentation and excitement.

Saturday

We really enjoyed the rugby in Tokyo yesterday - the All Blacks had a good win and a clean sweep of the Bledisloe Cup - now they are on their way to Europe - play Wales next Saturday.

Love the weather at this time of the year - before it becomes too hot although you need to go walking early.

Le Scrunch - it's not Grilon or Texture Magic although we do sell both but keep watching this space - I am playing and experimenting.

Le Scrunch

from this - to this - in about 2 minutes - I am playing - the detail is not so clear but trust me - it has scrunched into a wonderful texture with Starburst Sprays for extra Black Orchid colouring.


and this is another little one - they are all worked on cotton gauze

Nahm and Nahm Thai

In London we went to Nahm and tonight we are off to Nahm Thai to tell them all about it. This soup was divine.

Autumn Colours

Bruce has been out taking some wonderful photos in Maruyama Park in Sapporo -
Autumn Colours

do go check them out. As you can see, I was especially taken with this one - I can see all manner of ideas flowing out. I love Autumn (and Spring but Autumn most of all). In Perth we mostly have Summer and off-Summer and we really miss the changing of the colours etc.

Bruce and Kazuko tell me that the little hangings are wishes which people leave at shrines. The clear is is a message from someone who has lost his girlfriend. I think I could work on this concept very well (not the losing of the girlfriend)

We got home on Saturday afternoon and straight into work. It has been very hot and dry while we were away and thank goodness for Patricia watering our garden - I was in fear of seeing an area of wipe out. We have started cleaning up out the back in readiness for a barbecue tonight.

Loads of orders to keep us out of mischief and also loads of new stuff which Ian has started adding to the website catalogue. I have been popping into the studio working on the next booklet. I must admit that I didn't do any stitching while we were away - I didn't take any needles and only discovered this in Paris where I couldn't find any. my fingers have been itching.

day six in Paris

On our last day in Paris, we decided to take the train from Gare Saint Lazare station (the one Monet painted many times) to Vernon so we could go visit Monet's Garden in Giverny. We were there in 1992 - same time of the year. It would be magnificent to be there when the garden is at its best but then you would be body to body so perhaps not - there were quite enough people around. We loved it though.

Monet's house
lucky Dale on one of the bridges in the water lily garden. We asked a girl to take our pic together but I think she just pushe dthe button a few times and nothing actually happened.
on another bridge.
And finally, this is the cafe where we had our petit dejeuner each morning - he even shook our hand on the last morning - cafe, orange juice and croissants - and soccer on the tv. Our apartment is just to the right up 3 flights of stairs.

off we go again

Here we are at Heathrow getting ready for the long flight back to Perth. We didn't get our upgrade to Singapore but Ian is in a bit of heaven as we are flying on an A380 (eat your heart out Ken) which he thinks is second prize - me? Well - a plane is a plane. We are at the front of economy and do have rows 1a and 1b from Singapore to Perth so we will fly the last 5 hours in a bit of luxury.

We came back to London on Tuesday and spent time running arouns doing business shopping and visiting the V and A - definitely have to come back next year as the Medieval and Renaissance room is still not completed. And we had lunch at Nahm which was delightful and a great end to our holiday (working or not). Caught up with Annette and Terry and Susan who is over from NZ for a couple of weeks.

Soon be back home - Grant is down for the weekend and it will be good to catch up with him - then back to work - the orders are flowing in and we will be as fast as we can. Lots of new goodies to go up on the web in the coming week.

finally - it was lovely to catch up with so many of you in UK - JP - I will post a link to the apartment when I get home and do all call by to read day 6 in Paris - I haven't quite finished - there is Monday's adventure to go!

Day five in Paris

On Sunday we spent loads of time at the Pompadou Centre - it was packed with people all the time. Here is the escalotor going up.





And looking out at fabulous Paris.




we found the perfect table for Bruce and Kazuko and all those many bikes of theirs.
fire emergency and I loved the bucket.
after a spot of lunch at a place we went to several years back (sorry about the underline - can't get rid of it)- we wandered down to near the Notre Dame where there were all sorts of activities going on - the roads were closed to cars



We managed to miss the Musee d'Orsay again but we visited the gardens at the Palais Royle - a little gem to be found.





and the Metro entrance just nearby.
At night we went to a concert at Saint Chapelle - same group as last year but different performers - Les Archets de Paris - and the same music but magical.

To finish the night off we ate at at Moroccan restaurant nearby our apartment - very very busy and very good - coucous and Marrakesh red wine. Good memories.

day four in Paris

Today we went to the Marches aux Puces but didn't find a lot other than loads and loads of clothes and a few little goodies including some old printing blocks.

When we came back we thought we would visit the Pompidou Centre but the queues were enormous so decided to wander back instead and try tomorrow.




Coming down rue des Archives I found this fascinating shop - Archives de la Presse and these were in windows - popped in to browse.

a street scape just near us
at night we visited Des Gars dans la Cuisine - a great restaurant. We were lucky to get in and only because a couple hadn't turned and then of course, Murphy prevailed and they arrived but the owners did some magical movement and squeezed them in. We had a fabulous meal - eating doesn't seem to start until about 9.30pm - this is when most of Perth has closed down.

Indeed, my new red shoes haven't got the wonderful bottoms of last year's but the sole looks like piles of twigs and I have done a few rubbings so plenty of potential there.

day three in Paris

Good sleep ins and a relaxing start to each day. Our dejeuner today was Croque Monseur and Soupe l'onion (sic)at Les Arts et Metiers which is just across the road from the Arts et Metiers school or conservatory but definitely this wonderful church below our lunch.



After our long walk ( we have been doing lots of long walks), we went to the Opera to see Le Palais Garnier and wandered around inside. The auditorium was in use for rehearsal so we could only peep in the windows but what a fabulous building. Looking out onto the view below.
The Grand Foyer - so magnificently decorated and the staircases alone are worth seeing.

Today's lovely roses- the colours are to dye for


and of course, guess who got new red shoes? I managed to find the shop I got last year's shoes from and just happened to find a pair waiting for me. Good walking ones this, tested last night when we visited another great little restaurant. Lovely waiter very patient with our French......

day two in Paris

Yesterday we walked for miles so it was just as well I had been in training before we left Perth. We walked long the Bassin de Villette up to the Parc de la Villette to take the 2 and half hour trip down the Canal st Martin to the Musee d'Orsay. It was leisurely mostly because of the locks but most interesting and our host told us lots of history. Then we walked back. No photos because we forgot to put the camera chip back in. we finished with a very nice meal just down the way in our street and slept like logs resting our tired pins.

Thanks Verobirdie for telling me about the Chou Romanesco - I have kept that photo. Off to explore some more today after our relaxing petit dejeuner at our corner - cafe creme (it's too hard to do reasonably weak long black), fresh orange juice, bagutte and croissant.

Instead I have some pics of the pommy bag winners - there were a few people who got it wrong but we had to be fair.

This is Anne


Here Pat and Mags - lovely to see them both





Here is Sue -
and again - some of the Dodgers and Pat who is an honorary dodger
And Viv who just got there in time coming all the way from Whitby- lovely to meet you at last Viv
and here is Ros on day 2 with a lot of research to get SLAM finally
then somehow I missed Pauline (more dodger) and I think this is Amanda and somehow we forgot to photograph Barbara and Eileen but it was lovely to see you and I hope you all have fun with your pommy bags. Because of my dreadful cold I was frantically still stitching the last little pics on the morning of day 2 - I had planned to finish everything on the plane.
The weather is great and I can hear live music somewhere outside so off we go - maybe this is shoe day? Who knows.....

day one in Paris

here we are in lovely Paris - we are staying in Le Marais in an apartment - a very lively area with lots of interesting things happening. Loads of cafes of course - this is where we had breakfast - as you can see the weather is superb. plenty of florists - I bought a tiny bag of 3 roses - where the gap is - a little more expensive than in Perth so it will be photo only from now on
couldn't resist these - all the ducks and chooks came with heads, some tucked under their wings and one sad one fallen low.
We went to Place des Vosages - Paris's oldest square - perfectly symmetrical.


here is me in front of Louis X111 but I cannot work out how to turn me aound...





and to show the symmetry but only if you turn your head and not to mention the door just down our street - rue charlot - I am looking at few patterns, holey moleys....


this very interesting vegetable was with the cauliflowers but I am not sure - great though. Last night we went to a very lively restaurant - Robert and Louise - where they cook the steaks over an open fire - pretty packed and we shared our table with a young couple from LA but her is an aussie and she Korean so it was a multi-cultural mix.

Off for more adventures today - no shoes but I do have a nice new watch.

and of course the answer is SLAM

just finished the show at Ally Pally - what a wonderful time we had meeting up with friends, customers and anyone else, including lots of holey moleys!Hope all the Pommie bag recipients enjoy their goodies.It was a great show - as always the exhibitions were super - fabulous to see Chris Atkins' work in the pfaff exhibition - I could name drop that one Chris. The highlight for me was meeting Cindy Hickok whose work I have loved since I first came upon it and the pleasure of meeting such a lovely lady. As a special for us, Cindy agreed to sell us a small pile of her book which, if you know her work, you will love. All signed too. If you are interested in a book (no idea of the price as yet), do email as I know they won't last long once Ian gets them on the web.

We have lots of new goodies and my little brain is full of new ideas - awake every morning at 4am racing away. one of our treats this week has been to have Dover Sole and I do believe it was better than NZ flounder...

Today is washing the clothes day - checking the mails - haven't been able to get to the internet so nearly 500 emails to read and answer and tomorrow we are off to Paris where of course I will be posting and with pics attached. A bientot.....

off we go again and a question

Nearly time to go - what isn't done, just isn't, but apart from my suitcase, everything else seems to be done. A Western Australian Eucalyptus for you to enjoy while we are gone. We are lucky in that we have got our upgrade from Perth to Singapore so let's keep fingers crossed for the long haul section.

THE QUESTION - this is for the people who receive the newsletter and are coming to Ally Pally on Thursday or Friday. Remember I have 5 Pommie Bags for each day and I shall finish the stitching on the plane.

OKAY - What is the name of Grant's 18ft Skiff?

If you have been reading my blog you will have been so overwhelmed with pics and info I am sure you can't forget. You just have to come to our stand TGE13 and tell us the answer!

I am hoping to blog while I am away especially in Paris. Will I find new tempting shoes - i know I will be sure to find beautiful roses.

one more sleep

jobs getting done, list with ticks but still more to go. once I get on the plane it is too late to worry. Fingers crossed that we get our upgrades - I have so many frequent flyer points we could go on forever.

Our printers have done a special rush job of some of my books so we can take them with us. The rest will be ready for when we get back. Very pleased and some of the stuff I will be doing while we are away is working on the next ones.

Thanks for all the best wishes - we are looking forward to our trip, to Ally Pally and catching up with everyone and then our week in Paris. I shall do my best to blog especially in Paris. Not so easy in Muswell Hill I have discovered. Don't forget that I will be asking my question tomorrow for you to find the answer.

Sunday roaming

This is our street at 6.30am this morning - nobody much around. Looking up towards the Greek Orthodox Church and the flats which are basically next door to them.

Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Sava

The Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Sava was built in 1954 by the local Serbian Community. The church stands as a fine example of Postwar Immigrant Nostalgia style architecture. Many of the Serbians who helped in the building of the church had fled from their native Yugoslavia following the end of World War II. The design follows the basic design principles of the Orthodox Church and features stucco walls and two octogonal towers with cupolas topped with crosses. The towers feature arched windows. In 1974 the bell tower was completed and five years later three intricate mosaics were set into the tower's exterior wall. The mosaics were donated by a founder member of the Church, the Ladies Guild and the organisation of Serbian chetniks in WA who dedicated their mosaic in memory of their leader, Draza Mihajlovic.


The church always makes me think of the travel pamphlets for the Greek Islands where I have never been. I love the shape and have tried my hand at drawing it quite a few times.

Then I found some lovely flowers settled in a very nondescript garden.



I did something very foolish yesterday - wore a pair of shoes I have hardly worn and now I have a blister - not the right time to get one so I am nurturing it. Grant is back for the weekend so he is busy painting in his house and we are surrounded by chaos - at least once we get on the plane on Tuesday there will nothing else to worry about - well if there is there is nothing we can do about it. I am still packing and packaging and finishing the last of the Holey Moley lessons so I have also been stitching. What will I take with me to stitch and play with?

Hot Spots

I am sure many of you have heard of Kim T who wrote Hot Textiles - we have had Hot Spots for quite a while now and sold heaps at the show in Perth and then forgot to add them to the web - well they went up today but I will have rolls of it very soon in big and small spots. In the meantime I have been playing with a few different surfaces. Hot Spots are a special fusible web with a difference - in that they are spotty and give a wonderful result when you add foils to them - great textural addition. in the one above I have been twin-needling (be prepared Holey Moleys) over a chiffoned polycotton burnt away - you cannot see the effect that well but I ironed strips of hot spots followed by gold foil - close up you can see the tiny spots.

Below I have been hot spotting on Khadi paper, printing with one of Ro's hand carved stamps and machine stitching. Khadi paper is fabulous for almost everything and I have arranged some new Khadi excitement to come home with us from London.

This little sample is on Evolon
And this glorious one is velvet - the spots sink into the velvet so well and gold foil sort of looks a bit luscious.
Finally, some silk slub where I have done a rubbing with Shiva gold, and then sprayed with Starburst Spray in Delphinium Turqiouse, popped hot spots in the spaces and used purple foil followed by some machine stitch. Heaps of potential.

Not that all of my tasks are anywhere over - lost my keys and had to spend an entire morning thinking about where they might be and finally coming up trumps...

making a holiday last a little longer

The weather changed again - it must be that time of the year. Here is the last of our Wellington trip - amazing how time flies when you get back home. We didn't get to the exhibition opening as we were still up in the Cuba Street Mall having coffee at 5.30pm but we did call into Galleryspace to catch up with Michelle and her lovely silk threads and got to see things then. Ian was rather taken with this chair - much better than its real use he thought or maybe he was resting his weary bones! Enlarge the pic and you can see what it is he is sitting in. Rather clever.


One thing we thought pretty exciting at the airport is that one is now responsible for oneself - you check your own luggage in and no need to check in at a counter and if you cheat and your luggage is too heavy, then it simply doesn't go. Because we were checking in international we still went through the normal check-in but we loved this and spent some time working it all oout and watching other people in action.

Mt Ruapehu and Tongararo on the way to Auckland looking a little like apparitions in this photo. When we flew from Auckland back to Perth we flew much further south than ever before - over Hobart - this was becasue of the strong winds - probably the ones which sent all that red dust to the eastern states.



to answer a few questions - yes my Let's Play booklets will be available worldwide - from us and also from lovely businesses who wish to buy them wholesale and spread the good oil. The first one has gone to the printers - I was rather ambitious in imagining that the second one would be ready but it isn't far off - I have been doing all sorts of exciting things with the Moonglow Sprays and just loving them more and more. I like things to be simple. I won't show any yet though - keep you in suspense. I have also started work on three others but keeping the topics a secret until I am closer to finishing them.

Where are we going after London this year? Well - it should really be somewhere new but then Ian just loved that train ride - so we are off to Paris again - staying in Le Marais this time so we know we will get to do all sorts of things we didn't get to do last year. The London boxes all went today - it's so hard trying to decide what to take and not taking too much. I had to make a decision on the number of sprays I could take - I will have all three different ones - so I hope they are well received.

Tomorrow I am working exclusively on Lines and I also have 4 more little pieces to make for my pommie bags. And of course the newsletter. Doesn't time just fly?

absolutely glorious day in Perth

It has been an absolutely glorious day in Perth today - when I went for my walk at 6am it was crisp and I needed my possum gloves but then it turned out to be brilliant. Ian and I have been slogging away indoors - Ian working on getting the first of my Let's Play booklets ready to go to the printers - the second one will be ready when we get back from London and I have started on the third one. I have been packing boxes for London and when we got tired of all this especially because it was such a lovely day, we went up to Cantina for some lunch - beautiful food - good grazing stuff. Then we came back to carry on. I have three more Lines topics to post to the Holey Moley Club pages - three lots of things in different stages. I hope they will forgive me for being slow but they will all be loaded sometime this week.



It's a holiday here tomorrow - Queen's birthday - I thought we had already had this a couple of times this year but apparently not. And daylight saving began in NZ this weekend - you must remember that this little pleasure has been denied to us in the west and it is already light at a ridiculous hour and will only get worse. Then we must realise that we will be denied our lovely long evenings in the garden.

a beautiful sunday in wellington

I know it has been dreadful since we flew out but last Sunday was the most glorious day - it can't have just been because the All Blacks won surely... Ian was enjoying reading about it in the Dominion Post - Corey Jane's fabulous try.

We spent the morning roaming around areas we hadn't been to for ages and had breakfast at Sweet Mother's Kitchen in Courtney Place - extremely 70s but the food was excellent and it was very busy. Then we went to the farmers markets on the wharf in the car park by Te Papa - pity we couldn't buy anything much other than a couple of these oranges.




We also popped into the hotel museum on wheels to have a look at the art and the toilets - I was going to take a pic but got interrupted. I sent Ian into the men's to check it had the same set up. Very decadent.

Then we went over the Haywards and down into Paekakariki on the old road. It is a long time since I have done that and a new experience for Ian. the weather being glorious meant we had super views of the South Island and the sea was a mill pond.

Then we went to visit some old friends in Waikanae and back to Ken and Raylene's in Pukerua Bay.

In Perth today it is also glorious.
Don't forget if you are going to Geelong Forum (watch out for the victorious footy fans though), to go and see Rae and Jacinta - they don't trade in the traders hall but in their own space - you will find them!

doesn't a week simply fly?

It's a week since we went to Wellington and here we are back into the swing of things here - I am very busy packaging stuff and packing the boxes for London along with squeezing in a variety of other urgent tasks. Here is Wellington again from the top of Mount Victoria. You could take loads of photos all over.


Silverbeet growing in Lambton Quay - amazing! We were on our way to Kirkaldie and Stains so Ian could buy new corduroys - it still has the same charm - the man at the door and the delightful chap who served us.
This is Le Canard - the delightfully fabulous French restaurant

The door to Maria Pia's - I think we were a bit lucky being so close to 2 great eateries - we were staying just behind this one in St Paul's apartments.


And of course The Thistle Inn - the oldest hotel in Wellington - all decked out for the game. We booked a table for after the game and when we got there of course it was packed to the gunnels with happy fans - our table was there snuck right in the corner much to the amusement of the punters. One chap serenaded us with a Tom Jones song - Delilah. The service was great and the food not bad either -I am sure we were the only people eating!
and just so you know we really were at the game - the entertainment beforehand
the haka
and some activity on the field. All in all a great long weekend.

But more to come so watch this spot. In the meantime it's back to work.