Today's Adventures

So today we hopped in the car & drove up to Mittagong in the Southern Highlands to visit the Bousaada Winery, who have been hosting a textile exhibition called "Days of Wine & Roses" (I think that was it). There were a nice selection of quilts, all relating to the theme of Roses. My friend J9 had a piece in this exhibition (that's it in the top right corner of the first photo) called "I never promised you a rose garden".

The work was lovely and the venue gorgeous - such a peaceful and picturesque spot. Alistair (who owns the winery) was a most gracious host, chatting with us about quilts and vineyards, geese and vegies, and even gifting us with fresh lettuce out of his abundant garden (which included the biggest pumpkin patch you've ever seen).
It was a fun day, but I wish it had happened at a different time of year. I've also been to a doctor's appointment, plus a wool sale this afternoon, and my ride will be here any minute to take me to a Christmas party with my 'stitch and bitch' girlfriends. I'm worn out!!!

I've posted only a few photos, there were lots more quilts but I'm not the best photographer. 

The Festival of Em is over for another year!

Firstly friends, I apologise most sincerely for my infrequent blogging over recent weeks. Things have been rather frantic in my little corner of the world, what with one thing and another, and I'm just coming up for air.

Last week/weekend we celebrated the annual Festival of Em (also know as my darling daughter Emma's 11th Birthday). We had lots of good times, including a lovely family BBQ with my parents, brother & sister and their families; a sleepover with her friend Katie, making and decorating cupcakes; and culminating in a trip to Jamberoo Action Park with her girlfriends (and us) for a day of swimming, watersliding fun.

Our family has a tradition of not beginning Christmas until after the completion of the Festival of Em - certain traditions must be strictly upheld when birthdays fall in December, so that she doesn't feel that the two occasions are blended & she's missing out.

So we have now put the Christmas tree up and decorated the house, and we are officially getting into the festive spirit. There are 12 days until Christmas, so I thought I'd make a special effort to blog every day and share some of the fun things that will be happening from now until the big day. Stay tuned!!! 

Glitz!!!

This is my sample for today's contemporary techniques class. The class is entitled Glitz, and demonstrates several ways to add shimmer and glitz to your quilts. I provided kits which included fun stuff like foil, angelina, organza and lame.

We had a fun day, the last for the year with this group. I have really enjoyed working with these girls and watching their confidence grow with their skills.

Look at what Cheryl did! She thought her chosen fabrics were more watery than leafy, so she went ahead and changed the images to suit, adding seaweed and bubbles.

I can't tell you what a thrill it was for me to see her run with her own creativity. This is what these classes are all about! WOOOHHOOOOOO!! 

ICAN Summer Show

Here are some pics of any exhibition we set up this afternoon at the Old Wollongong Courthouse. It is the Illawarra Craft Arts Network summer show. The venue is a lovely historic building at Belmore Basin, right in the middle of Wollongong's tourist precinct.
There are many different artists participating in this show, we are the only fibre artists. If anyone is heading down the coast this weekend it will be worth a look. 

New Work!!

This is my latest effort - looks sort of impressive until you realise that it's only 12" square! It is called "Rasperry Sorbet" and was made for the Quilters Guild Calendar Challenge. I did have fun making it, and even did the quilting on the domestic sewing machine (couldn't justify loading a 12" quilt on the Gammill, even to myself). I do like to quilt on the DSM every now and then - it keeps my hand in.

When I first got the longarm machine, I was so absorbed with perfecting the new skills that it required that I didn't quilt on the DSM for a long time. So when I began to think about teaching patchwork and quilting, I really had to apply myself to regaining my machine quilting skills on the DSM.

Although the two skills are definitely related and relevant to eachother, they are quite different and required some work to be able to do both. I'm happy to say that I didn't lose the ability to quilt on the DSM (as I initially feared) and actually now enjoy working on the smaller machine on a regular basis.

I guess the moral of my story is that even though I have moved on, the past continues to be of great value to me and I need to honour both past and present in my life - hmmm, seems that might apply to life in general and not only quilting. 

Girls Night Out

This is my friend Janine and I, captured last night at the Chris Isaak concert. Please note that all double chins are entirely due to the camera angle. We had a fun night!!
Here is the man himself in action. It was an excellent show - we sang along and laughed the whole time at his clowning around with the band.
Get a load of this suit - entirely covered with mirrors. It was very hard to get a good picture - most of them show only a glowing bright light in the centre of the stage.
And here he is after the show, autographing my t-shirt!! Can you believe this man is over 50? He's very gorgeous (sigh). 

In today's post

Look what arrived in today's mail - my new business cards! I thought it was time for an updated image, so I enlisted Jo from Design91 to come up with a new logo design. I'm thrilled with the end result!!! 

New Work

Here is my latest quilted piece "Touchstones #2", just finished yesterday for inclusion in the upcoming exhibition. I pieced the blocks last week, and added gold foil in the border and some of the blocks after the quilt was constructed. The piece measures approximately 38" x 48".

I quilted in my usual "more is more" fashion using variations on the greek keys or square spiral designs. The quilting was done mainly in two colours of variegated thread, with just a small amount of gold metallic thread in the borders (surrounding the foil highlights).

I think you can see some of the quilting detail in this closeup shot.

A Meme on Sunday

Don't know about you guys, but I really like to read meme's on other people's blogs. I guess I'm something of a voyeur - I love a glimpse into someone else's life. So here's a meme I found on this blog for your voyeuristic pleasure...

Someone knocks on your door at 2am, who do you want it to be? Probably bad news in reality, but if I could choose? Hmmmm, can't really think of anyone I'd be happy to see at that time of the night.

Your boss tells you he/she will give you a $20 raise if you'll do your job naked. Do you stay and take the raise? Nobody needs to see me naked, not even the dogs (who are my working companions as I work for myself).

Put yourself in a nutshell. No thanks, I'm a bit claustrophobic...

Ever see a ghost? No, though I've sensed/felt them at different times in my life.

Happy with your body? No - this is one of my biggest issues at the moment. I've been avoiding mirrors.

A reason to move to Iceland. I don't know anyone there, though I'd love to visit.

A place you've lived that you miss. None really, I'm pretty happy with where I am right now.

A job you'd never do, no matter how much you were paid. Call centre operator - can't think of anything worse than cold calling and constant rejection.

A band/group you thought was cool when you were 13. Human League is one that springs to mind - the new romantics were so big in the eighties. I hadn't yet gained a real appreciation for rock and roll.

You have a nightmare, who's the first person you think to call? I'd just snuggle closer to my sweetie & try to go back to sleep.

Wanna have kids before you're 30? Well, I did. And I can't imagine having another baby at the age I am now (in my 30's) so I guess that was for the best, wasn't it?

A memory from high school. High school was a blur of awkwardness, hormones and rebelliousness. Constant anxiety.

Ever had a crush on a friend's parent? No, definitely not.

Do you look more like your mom or dad? I look alot like my Mum (so much that relatives I've never met come up to me in public, pronouncing "You must be an O'Leary girl!" (this has happened several times in recent years). But I think my personality/dispositon is more like my Dad.

Something you've always wanted to learn to do. There are so many things I'd love to learn - latin dancing, to speak another language, to play an instrument, to be confident in social situations. I have regretted for years my lack of tertiary education, but have plans to remedy that situation.

How you'd like your life to be in 10 years. I'd like to be more content with myself.

Something you learned this year. That I'm not as strong as I thought I was.

What do you want for your birthday? I'm yearning for an Ipod (but maybe I'll get one for Christmas!).

Name 4 things you did yesterday. Taught a class; caught up with the blog; worked on one of my latest artworks; cooked pizza for dinner.

Last item you bought yourself? Some gorgeous hand-made glass beads.

What did you have for breakfast? Cereal & juice.

Name a celeb you crush on. I have to agree with this one - David Tennant aka Doctor Who.

Name the last 3 songs you heard. Hmmm, I was listening to Chris Isaak earlier, so I guess three of his songs - Only the Lonely, Blue Hotel, Somebody's Crying.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night? About 7 hours.

What do you wish you were doing right now? Travelling.

Who's the first person in your phone book on your cell? My son Adam.

Last time you witnessed a fight? Couldn't say, unless you count the kids' bickering.

Name 3 places you'd like to travel to. Paris, London, New York.

Do you know how to ice skate? Yes, but not lately.

Name something you like that's out of the ordinary. Misty, rainy days.

Is bigger really better? Probably not (unless we're talking about chocolate).

What do you think of Brad Pitt? Too pretty for my taste.

What color are your toenails.Moss green.

Do you own anything with a skull on it? No (though my son has some socks with skulls).

Traveled to Europe? Only in my dreams.

Last movie you watched? The Island - not a bad flick, but nothing to write home about.

Where were you when you had your first kiss? Behind a tree in the playground, I think I was in third grade (little hussy).

Last board game you played? Scrabble.

Leather or lace? Leather, definitely.

Ever had a black eye? Yes, when I had my wisdom teeth out. Looked like a battered woman and drew many odd glances when I went out in public.

Have you ever worn fishnet stockings? Once, to a "perverts & prostitutes" fancy dress party.

There you have it! Let me know in comments if you want to pick up this meme, so I can read your answers.

Spiralling out of control...

These are some of the quilts I've finished in the last couple of weeks - by some strange coincidence I had four quilts in a row which required spirals, so I've been feelings like I'm quilting spirals in my sleep.

Which seems quite appropriate when I consider how I've been feeling - like my life has been spiralling out of my control. Which in turn, is why I have been absent from the blog for a couple of weeks.

I have been trying to bring everything under control and back into balance, and have had some success I suppose. But this time of year is always far too busy for my liking, and when exhibition preparation is added into the mix things get flaky.

I shall try to be more diligent with my blogging from here on in. Promise!!!!