A Sari Silk Challenge

Firstly apologies for my lengthy absence. Work, study – I have been doing a professional writing course on line, my daughter’s wedding and a variety of other stuff have been in my way, including my own mood swings.

On to important things. Back in April I promised a draw for these. 

Gina and Jules if you send me your addresses I shall mail them to you. I will be handing one to Bronwyn (She is my daughter and lives up the street from me). They are scarf clips and I suppose you could use them in your hair too.

I am involved in an exhibition at T’Arts in October. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it T’Arts is a gallery in Adelaide that specialises in handcrafted art. Originally textile art but it has now diverged into other beautiful OOAK works.

For the pieces I am displaying, which will all be for sale, I am keen to use what I already have. To that end I am diving into the stash. Practically nothing will be overlooked. I make no promises as to what else I will buy but I’ll try to be strong. 

Here is my challenge to myself.

What and how much can you do with 1 skein of sari silk ribbon and stuff I already have. OK mostly stuff I already have.
This skein came from The Thread Studio, to be truthful I bought 6.

Stay tuned for what I make with this first skein.

If you'd like to join me in this challenge please do so. There shall be no prizes given but there will be a great sense of acheivement in actually using stuff from our stashes. Leave me a comment and we will take it from there.

Mixed Media Art

The class I did at Fibre Arts Ballarat was Mixed Media Art Books with Jen Crossley of A Mark in Time
Jen is a fantastic teacher and the 5 day class was so much fun I wished I could stay another week.
The class was for 2 books. A cloth spined photo book I haven't finished yet. I didn't want to rush this so I just worked on the pages, this is one of those pages. 

I bought the cabinet photo from an antique shop in Ballarat, the lace and glass buttons are from my collection, the little butterfly came from one of the traders at Ballarat Fibre Forum last year and the page is from Jen.

I have nearly finished the metal covered book, I added a concertina fold section for some art work in the back. I also want to add some more embellishments to the spine. I am planning to use this as part of an exhibition I am involved in later in the year.

I also bought one of Jen's books - for no other reason than I loved it.

I can highly recommend the Ballarat Fibre Arts organized by Glenys Mann. I have been going for 4 years and love every minute of it.

Home Again

We are home, as you may have guessed from the title. The Husband and I have been to Fibre Arts Australia at Ballarat. This is an annual expedition for me, first time for The Husband. A great time was had by all. Here's a teaser of just what I got up to.

Mix It Up at Yankalilla and possibly free hugs

Looking for something amazing to do at Easter? I know just the thing. There is an amazing exhibition and sale at Yankalilla. Well truthfully there are 2. One is the Annual Art Exhibition in the hall at the showgrounds. Beautiful traditional paintings type exhibition.
Next door in the little hall is the place to go. A group of amazingly talented local and sort of local mixed media artists will be having their annual exhibition and sale. Not to be missed.

I had plans for lots of things but didn't quite make as much as I wanted too. Here are some of the things I will have on sale. They were whiet short sleeved business shirts and a few T Shirts. I bought them all ready made and have hand dyed them, none have been worn.

and these thingeys that Greg made.

If you leave me a comment with what you think these are I shall send one to everyone who gives me a correct answer by 5pm on Friday 30th March (My time). (Little hint - They are not a hair slide)
For everyone else I shall have another draw and send one to the winner.
Winners selected on 16th April.
I am going to be at Yankalilla on Easter Saturday Morning. If you see me there and mention my blog I shall give you a hug for free.

Professional Writing

I have started a professional writing short course at the Adelaide College of the Arts which is part of our TAFE (Technical and Further Education) System here in Australia. I am not sure what the equivalent would be overseas. Here in Australia TAFE train apprentices and offer courses in a variety of subjects from Certificate 1 or entry level right through to Advanced Diplomas. To work towards a degree you go to University. 

Well my first assignment has been submitted. The assignment called for an article that was showed ‘skill, ingenuity, professionalism and objectivity’. I also had to write a cover letter to accompany the article.

This is an online beginning freelance journalism course and I am afraid I am not impressed so far. If I knew how to do all that I wouldn’t be doing the course. There were no examples to work from and so I am winging it. It is early days yet though so we shall see how things develop.

Pass or fail? I went into this to learn something. I have already so regardless of passing or failing I am learning. After a quick email to an e-friend who has been published and a bit of work counting in some of my preferred magazines I now know approximately how many words are on a magazine page and the length of feature articles.

I would love to be able to get work as a freelance journalist, as a change of career would be great. I am not getting my hopes up about that. I spent quite a lot of time in the local newsagents and I only found one magazine that takes unsolicited submissions and you have to write to them with an article outline first.

I want to improve my writing skills in my blogs. I can see how I have improved over the years so I am at least getting better there. 

So we shall see how this goes. Hopefully the lecturers will be gentle and I won’t get to the end feeling like I have wasted my time and money. 

Wish me luck.

Run Fat Bitch Run

Part of my textile journey is the battle I have with my weight, I am sure you wonder why this is so. When I am over weight my knee aches, I am lethargic and severly unmotivated. Over the last 5 weeks I have put some serious effort into getting back to my preferred weight. As a result I am 8 kilos down, I've been back on my treadmill and feeling great. I can run again, although not far, and my knee doesn't ache. Yay for the diet.
I also bought a new diet (lifestyle) book from The Book Depository called "Run Fat Bitch Run". Ruth Field shares her "Fuss free and foolproof" weight loss regime in this book for the "Seriously unmotivated". There are only three rules - Drink lots of water, Eat less Crap and Run. Ruth guides us from being a sofa sitter to a lean mean running machine. Her eight week guide to running helps avoid failure and injury, I am two days in and so far so good. The plan is easy to follow and no huge expenses or complicated diets means this is something I can do.
This is a book of tough love, there is no looking in the mirror and saying "I am beautiful". There is a lot of contacting your inner bitch and saying "Run fat bitch Run" to yourself when you look in the mirror. Ruth does warn that letting your inner bitch loose on those around you is not really a great thing to do.
Sometimes , though, you need to let your inner bitch give you a bit of tough love to get you off you ever increasing butt and into exercise.
Ruth's story of her journey through fat and unmotivated to healthy and energetic is personal and entertaining as she shares her ups and downs on the journey. All in all a great read and one of the easiest diet/exercise regimes to follow I have found. 5 stars from me.


The weight loss and self-motivation has given me the boost I need to actually make something. I will share that when it is finished. I am also going to return to last years policy of finishing one of the projects I have had sitting around before I start a new one. This worked really well for quite a while so is worth reinstating. I have also signed up for a short course on freelance journalism to improve my blogging.
2012 is going to be a great year for me. My inner bitch will make me do it.

To Tear or Not to Tear

Is it right or wrong to tear up or make over old books. I know, I know, A lot of people are doing just that and making incredible art - Some incredibly awful, some incredibly wonderful - I don't know if I can do it.
My wonderful friend Emanda is going to bring me a couple of dead books from her second hand emporium. They might be possibilities, still I do believe I will struggle.
We are off to Fiber Forum in April, I am not using the Royal "We" here as The Husband is coming with me to partake of a class making a reliquary with Christine Atkins similar to the photo above from Chris's site.
This year I am making a book with Jenny Crossley of A Mark In Time.

I have to tear up and/or remake books too.
Part of our requirements lists are old books to tear up. We agreed that the thought of that, let alone the actual act, is just wrong and we don't think we can.
So I have spent some time today downloading a few old books that appealed to him as possibilities for his class and I am looking for some for ancient needlework texts for mine.
Here's a site I've been too courtesy of Feeling Stitchy's list of downloads.
Web. Archive Org   to have a look at "A booke of curious and strange inventions" which is actually a book of needle work patterns.
The wonderful book selections from Pin Tangle.
Patterns from the 1886 pattern book from J. F. Ingalls
Therese Dillmont's Encyclopedia of Needlework
The Digital Scriptorium
and some beautiful plates from BibliOdyssey

Yes, I do believe I would rather download and print reproductions of individual pages than tear up a book. For me it is definitely "Not to Tear".