Christmas is almost here

This year has been very full! The birth of two new grandchildren has added to the weekly activities with our usual get-togethers on a Tuesday plus a few other baby sitting occasions.

I have entered the world of art, art journaling and sketch booking this year. It has been a very exciting journey, learning all about the myriad forms of journaling that goes on around the world. There are so many blogs about these different forms of journaling that one can spend the whole day looking at them. I have to restrict myself or else another week has gone by and I haven't accomplished anything.

So far this year I have been very slowly working through Betty Edwards "Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain" which has told me that I can draw, I must needed to learn how to see. I have enrolled in two on-line workshops - one by Design Matters on Sketchbooks and another by Jane LaFazio on Sketching and Watercolour. These courses have been really great and I hope to continue next year with Design Matters and finish their full course.

Learning about watercolours has been really fun. I have always loved the effect of watercolour painting - the lovely washes of subtle colour and the delicacy that can be achieved. There is no doubt that my efforts are very basic at this stage but I will definitely persevere with this particular medium and hope to become quite competent. Below is a Mango that I painted as part of Janes's course.

 It was quite hard to get the colours blending as it was a large area and the paint dried very quickly as the temperature was around 30C that day.

The year had flown with Christmas less than two weeks away. It is time to look forward and see what next year will bring.

I found a journaling group called The Documented Life Project and have decided to join this group and follow along with the weekly prompts to see how my journaling will progress. A side group of this I found is Documented Faith which is a Christian group doing a journal with a Biblical focus. As my word for next year is FOCUS I this would be a great thing to do a well. So a full year ahead with, I hope, a really good Focus to start with. I do pray that my life will be Christ centred this next year and also art focused.

Blessing at Christmas and a Joyful New Year ahead

Pam

MUDGEE RETREAT

I have just spent four wonderful days with some ATASDA friends doing textile related things with the theme of Feast of the Senses? It has been a great time to relax, do something new and become immersed in the atmospher of a bunch of creative people. We did Eco dyeing, drawing, painting, laughing, eating, walking, listening to Jan Irvine-Nealie talk about her art journey - all wonderful things to do. I am energised and revitalised and ready to get some creative work done. Perhaps I may even get back to blogging on a regular basis. Photos to come!

Done at last!

Over the past two months we have been building a garage/workshop/studio and updating the pool area and I have also been preparing for the opening of a pop up shop in Hornsby called The Artists Loft. A group of 15 members of ATASDA have been working hard to put this shop together and last night was or opening. It was a great evening with lots of visitors and a good number of sales.

My little quilt has been a fun adventure in something new for me both in matters of design and machine quilting. I am of two minds whether I want it sold or not. The next month I will be working at the shop once or twice a week an hopefully making more things for sale.

If the shop is a success we hope to do it again in April.

I hope also to spend some time relaxing by the pool in our lovely new area.

Bye for now.

Machine Embroidery

This is a photo of my leaf picture that I made in Meredith Woolnough's workshop. I was very pleased to be able to finish this piece and frame it at the workshop, thanks to Meredith's great teaching and encouragement.

My next workshop is screen printing with Lin Wilson tomorrow. I am really looking forward to this workshop and have possibly too high expectations of what I might achieve. Time will tell!

Life is hectic

Life is hectic! Sometimes I don't know where the time goes! Over the past couple of months we have been doing lots of things, some interesting, some ordinary, some exciting. A new car was the first project involving lots of research, test driving etc. I finally decided on a Ford Focus which I love. It is zippy, slightly sporty and lots of fun - it's great to finally have a reversing camera, sensors and a temperature gauge. After 12 years of driving the Camry, it is quite a change.

We have done some travel as well, going to both Canberra and Newcastle for weekends, and Ballarat for five days. These trips were lovely and we saw some interesting things wherever we went, met some interesting people and generally had a great relaxing time.

The machine quilting has been on the back burner a bit but I have finally finished quilting a quilt for Leah's new baby due in March - just have to bind it now. It was an interesting process as I did a different pattern in each square and Baptist fans in the border. It is by no means perfect but it is ok. There is a pile of quilt tops waiting beside the machine and I will gradually get them done.

A weekend away in Blackheath with my patchwork group was great - a lot was achieved and a lot of inspiration was gained from the work the other ladies were doing. I started to piece together an art quilt which I hope to sell - that is another story!

While this has been going on, I have also started babysitting my granddaughter Rachel while Sarah does a course. This has been a lovely time to bond with Rachel and watch her grow and change.

Our garage has been undergoing a transformation over the last week - or should I say a demolition and rebuild. It will eventually be a place for the tools and lawnmower as well as a studio for felting, dyeing and glass work. It is very exciting watching it progress. A deck around the pool and a pergola will complete the job. Can't wait for it to be finished and christen it with some felting and dyeing.

Last weekend I attended a workshop with Meredith Woolnough who taught us machine embroidery and resin with a view to embed some work in resin and some framed. It was a great workshop and Meredith is a great tutor. I will try to add a photo of the finished products soon (something I'm not good at doing). I am keen to use some pieces to add texture to both felt pieces and quilts.

My next task is to be disciplined enough to set up the studio well and get working on some pieces for sale at The Artists Loft at Hornsby, a pop up shop run by a group from ATASDA. We have the shop for a month from 25 October. There will be lots of interesting things for sale, the members of the group have many and varied talents from jewellery to clothing, scarves, painting, mixed media works etc. Check out the Facebook page to see what's happening - The Artists Loft NSW.

So, life has indeed been hectic. I look forward to some creative time and a bit of quiet relaxation at home once the building work is finished. Perhaps I will even get to post more regularly!

Holidays!

Relaxing in Mollymook, looking out over the ocean as it gets darker and darker. The surf has been filled with board riders this afternoon - a bit too cold for my liking.

Yesterday I attended a paper making workshop at Primrose Paper. It was great fun, although I'm not sure I will take up this hobby!

This was embossed with a doiley! I thought it was lively though possibly hard to write on.

We are off to dinner soon - out into the cold and wet but I'm sure the food will be good.

Fun times ahead

I think my life has finally quietened down enough that I can spend some time relearning blogging and post something interesting perhaps.

Today I took delivery of an HQ Sweet Sixteen to do some free motion quilting on a pile of quilt tops waiting to be finished. I attended a class at AQC in Melbourne with US quilter Debby Brown higheredhands.blogspot.com. She was an inspiration and a very giving teacher. We used the Sweet Sixteen in class and I was hooked. There was a great deal going so the machine I used was put on layby and we picked it up today. I am looking forward to becoming more confident and learning new designs and putting them to use in my quilts.



This quilt, Easy Street, was the mystery quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter that I started in November last year and finished ready for Eastwood Patchwork Quilters exhibition in April. It was then, of course, ready for the Sydney Quilt show at Darling Harbour, pictured above. It was quilted on an HQ Avanti 18 Long Arm Machine at Hobbysew Top Ryde. I learnt how to use the machine before going to AQC so that I could compare the two machines before purchasing. Needless to say I chose the Sweet Sixteen.  I just hope I have plenty of time to get to know the machine well and produce some quality quilting.