First Day of August Update

I started off in June for a road trip to Capella, where our family paramedic was doing a bit of relief work. Very dry out there, and it's not really too far west in Queensland. She had a couple of major jobs whilst there. It was a reminder  for me of  the constant stress that they work under as a sole officer in a small town, being On Call 24 hrs a day having your meals interrupted and not leaving the town area is not really rewarded by your pay packet. Having worked like this myself 36 years ago, I know I prefer working in a continuous shift environment.

Arriving back home, I discovered the neighbour wanted his painting trestles back for awhile. This spurred the back house wall painter into action.

 This photo was taken after it was finally sanded, and undercoated. It is now finished and waiting for me to start on the wall above the stairs. Slow progress indeed.

 We had 2 weddings to attend in June/July. The first one was an enjoyable day. A real country wedding. I kept to my RTW fast and made an overcoat. I had purchased some upholstery fabric before my Ballarat trip in 2016 with a view to making an overcoat. I made a few errors with the welt pocket but rescued the coat from oblivion. A wedding guest brought along  A Melbourne Cup from 2015 for the Bride and Groom to drink a wedding toast from. We took the opportunity to hold it up for a selfie. I think that will be the closest I ever get to a Cup again. I have since watched a video of how they make The Melbourne Cup to learn they actually make 58 of them. The gold for this years Cup was mined at Mt Rawdon Mine near Mt Perry (where we used to live) and it was exciting to see some of our friends feature in the video.

We were invited to a wedding in France late July but could not attend. Laura asked me about fabric for making flowers for her bouquet. I didn't have much input other than saying it would be fun. They live streamed the wedding via Facebook, then I saw this photo of her bouquet. I think her and her bridesmaids have done well. I will have to find out when she returns to Australia more about the construction of them. 

I was asked by the Mt Perry Gallery Co-ordinator about quilts for an exhibition in the Gallery July/August. It was originally intended to mark the 20 year anniversary of a semi formal quilting group in Mt Perry, even though it is a bit past 20 years when we started talking about an exhibition.I sent over a few quilts spanning those years. Other current members have their work on display as well, the display is a credit to all involved and by all accounts well received by the Public. Get along to the Mt Perry Gallery and check it out, you will not be disappointed.

This was my sampler quilt made as a class sample in 1994. Is hand quilted would you believe?

This was my first quilt from 1996 that I machine quilted with lines no more than 1/4" apart. It is a Strips That Sizzle piece.

This one I entered in the Inaugural Quilts Across Qld competition at the Ekka in 2002. I actually got a prize in the contemporary section. This was using my hand dyed fabrics.

In 2007 we had a kaleidoscope workshop with a tutor from Bundaberg. I made about 3 of theses quilts. I actually think there is still an unquilted top out there to finish. I will have to dig it out and finish it. This one is my favourite one to date.

I included 2 newer pieces , this is Combinations which you have seen before.

 This one is Reflections which I have mounted on  canvas for easier display.

We had our Kingaroy Winter Craft Festival in the Gallery in Kingaroy during June, where we displayed our current work. We now have moved on to our work on Remnants pieces which will be displayed next year. We have 3 pieces at least to make.
I have been working in my series still, this is my wall hanging, where I envisage remnants to be the landscape remnants where fungi break down the wood from trees etc.

The challenge piece is from using this piece of black rubber offcut as an inspirational source. Whether you use, the colour, shape is up to you.

We also have to make a quirky piece 40cmx40cm. I gave it some thought.

I have come up with this. This is titled "PMAV Prison". 

I may need to explain what PMAV stands for in Govt/Farming terms. Property Map of Assessable Vegetation including remnant and regrowth vegetation. 

This is my interpretation of what the current Qld Govt has done to it's farmers.  

. I am not sure if it will meet the requirements of being quirky to some of our members but it does for me.

With that I will leave you pondering, where might my series head from here. Catch you next time I pop up on your screen.

May 2018 Update

Some notes of progress, none on the regularity of blog posts however. I have been steadily working on the Kingaroy Gallery Winterfestival projects for completion by May 30th. I am pleased to report that my 7 small pieces were finished 3 days ago and the 2 large ones were finished before them. Wonder was the last one on the list. This is a work in progress photo and then the completed article. This is 2 quilted layers. I will refine the process and use this for my remnant pieces. Remnant is the next word project for Tangled Threads Group. I am thinking Remnant Native Vegetation are very important words today. We live in Queensland and the current Government has proceeded to drive farmers and graziers to the brink of rebellion, despair and possibly suicides with their unfair remnant vegetation laws. These laws do not apply to developers who can knock down as many trees as they like for urban sprawl, yet they are prepared to threaten farmers who just want to be able to survive. I digress but this piece is my Wonder- Reef. It is for sale in the Gallery from Saturday onwards. Hoping it goes to a new home.

I also have made Inset 1, which had to be a certain size and include metal .It is not the best photo, Ipad photos are letting me down. I must save for a new camera. The metal frame inside the Inset pieces are copper shielding foil used with electric guitars. It is stitched down and I really like this piece. The colours of our daily landscape.

The next large piece included in our brief was Visibility. This is my abstract drone view of the street in a town. We need good visibility for safe driving. I really like the shimmering effect but the size requirement was a bit too long for my liking. 

 This piece I have shown before, was added to the Exhibition in case we had some blank space left over.

  I have still been following the RTW FAST 2018. I have not purchased any ready made clothes.
I have found a good Scrubs Pattern for some new work clothes. Picked up this batik fabric, ( not very good quality though) from a store in Rockhampton last week. Will need a few minor adjustments for the next one.

I had started making this Burda skirt a few months back. I can't find the pattern at present so can't give you the number, but it is great to wear. A stretch cotton from Spotlight so am hoping it will withstand a few washes.

 Once again, a busy schedule, just keeping up with everything. Till next time, I hope to be able to show progress photos more often.

February 2018

Where have I been lately? Certainly falling behind with my internet updates. Time management has been at the forefront of my endeavours since January 1 2018. Besides the cattle work which is never ending, I did my usual stints at my paid job, then flew out to Ballarat for Fibre Arts Australia for a 5 day workshop on Rozome Wax  Resist with Kiranada Sterling Benjamin. A master in that technique, we were privileged to have her tutor us in Australia, she has spent a lifetime in Japan studying wax resists for making kimono silks and being American she found it difficult to be accepted by the Japanese early on in her career.  Whilst in Ballarat we ventured to the Botanic Gardens for a stroll down the Prime Ministers avenue. We found this quite unflattering bust of Ms Gillard, the only female Australian Prime Minister so far. There is a side on view photo which is more unflattering than this one which I will not show.

We thought the one of Mr Tony Abbott was a much better likeness of the person. It really was quite interesting seeing them all. The Ballarat City Council funds all of these and at approx. $50000 a bust they really don't want too many quick changes of our Prime Ministers.

We also found some pretty hydrangeas in bloom in the conservatory as well. There was a wide selection of colours apart from these dark orange pink colours. I would love to have a shady spot in our garden where I could grow some of these. The last one I planted died quite quickly.

The workshop was very interesting and Kiranada made us work very hard and quietly. She has recently spent an entire year of silence in New Zealand. After our waxing, dye painting, the wax had to be removed and the work steamed to remove the rest of the wax and set the dyes. All of our work was rolled up and steamed then unrolled on the floor outside of our workroom. I took a selfie while Meg the photographer was setting up for a class photo.

This was part of my display in the workshop display on our last evening in Ballarat. It showed all of the different techniques she taught us. I want to apply wax to some of my hand dyed fabrics, then overdye again.

A week after I was back from Ballarat, we had the sudden death of one of our Meredith cousins. There were 14 of us who were privileged to have Cyril and Adelaide Meredith as our grandparents. They shared their Hervey Bay home with us for countless hours of school holidays when we were growing up. They taught us many skills, my grandmother was the one who taught my sister and I to sew. Grandpa taught the boys to fish, and do carpentry and home repairs and extensions. It was a sad day farewelling Doss. There were only 3 cousins missing in this group photo. This group have seen a lot together being so similar in ages. My brother delivered a beautiful eulogy describing how some of Doss's life was made better by the time spent at Point Vernon as a child.

I mentioned I was joining the RTW Fast for 2018 and that I hoped to make 1 item of clothing a month. I finished this cotton shirt in time to wear it in Ballarat. I bought myself a mannequin to help me with fitting as I struggle trying to fit things on myself.

I have also been learning a lot from the Facebook Group. I have also learnt about pattern drafting from the large companies and when to do a Full Bust Adjustment. This makes sense why I have had a struggle  with fitting issues in some of my shirt sewing in the past few years.

I bought a bundle of vintage patterns on Ebay and this one was included in the bundle. According to my High Bust measurement it should fit. So I made a wearable muslin.

Here it is waiting for a zipper on my dress model. I had to lengthen the French Dart which was  a bit tricky. I didn't really know that there were different names for darts even before this venture.

I am hoping my speedo swimsuit lasts the year out but I did manage to purchase this Jalie Racer back pattern in all sizes so am ready to make it if I need to. I am continuing to swim each week, sometimes up to 5 km if I get the chance. The health benefits are too great to give up now.

This beauty was also in the bundle. I really like the top. I will have to grade the pattern up a size as well. 

For a few years I have remembered this pattern as my very first dress that I made solely by myself in about year 8 at school. I no longer have the pattern and have searched repeatedly to find a picture of it. Finally did but missed out on purchasing it. I just felt so good whenever I wore it. The stitching was probably atrocious but that didn't matter then.

Back to the Tangled Threads work that I have been doing. I have finished Joyful, it is just waiting to be mounted. Joyful always brings to my mind, Christmas colours so this is what I ended up with, Figure Ground ambiguity again.

Am working on Visibility which was due January and being 2m x 0.5m was always going to be a lot of work. I procrastinated, because of the sheer size. This is 2 different layouts which I could do. I think I will go with the first one. My take on visibility has to do with streets and roads. Vastly different interpretation  to others in the group.

Up until this morning I still had Blanket and Wonder to do in the 10x8 series. This is Blanket (the verb) in progress. I have used a grey organza over the lot to try to look like a misty landscape covered in fog.

Blanket, awaiting finishing and mounting.

That leaves me Wonder, not sure where I will go with it. The next large piece due is Inset which has to include metal and be 0.5m x1.5m and is due in June. I have some thoughts but not sure which way to go.

I am thinking my schedule just cannot cope with a weekly art project so that might become monthly like the RTW Fast effort.

This is some of my Series work. This is untitled at this stage but is inspired by Jasper Johns Flag series. I am thinking this could possibly work in with the word Inset but not sure. Hopefully some inspiration will come to me soon. I am also seriously considering having an Exhibition in the Wondai Art Gallery as they asked me to consider it when I dropped stuff off for our Tangled Threads Display. Not sure if I have enough work yet, but to commit to a deadline would be terrific.

On the home front, has been too hot to worry about the painting. We had an awful week of heat, I was glad to get back to the paid job solely for the air conditioning, January was a very dry month and the pastures were looking terrible, so the recent rain we have had was very welcome. The house and shed building projects are finished and the family has moved in. Business restructuring is in progress but will be a long term project for awhile yet.

Remember life goes on, and it is what you make it. So my message to myself and all, is stop procrastinating and do it.

2017 ends, 2018 begins.

Always the time for reflection, review of the past year and achievements, disappointments and then the hope for new beginnings as the clock ticks away and January begins again. I have been tidying up trying to prepare for the new whilst dealing with the old like everybody else on the planet. Age is starting to creep up on our thoughts and actions this year.
I spent another Christmas Season working, the roster I work is a cyclic 4 week one and it just so happened that my 5 shifts with the Lates and Nights covers the Friday - Wednesday which for 5 years has also covered the Christmas dates. I spent Christmas Eve working until 10pm, drove the 230 kms home after that, spent Christmas morning sleeping in while someone else went farm working for 3 hrs, then we met one of the family group for a picnic lunch at a local creek swimming hole, then drove back home, had a sleep, then drove 230kms back to Bundaberg, then started work at 2145 Christmas night, and worked again Boxing Day night. I was thankful for the shift change giving me nearly 24 hrs between the shifts. Next year, I will be starting night shifts on Christmas Eve so will spend Christmas Day sleeping. Am thinking of once again staying at the beach for a week and hoping the family will come too. Luckily for me the work was not too stressful this year. The good thing about the roster was once I got home I had my usual 9 days off which coincided with the New Year shutdown of most businesses.
I have decided to participate in the Ready To Wear Fast challenge, from now on called RTW 2018. My goal is to make one item of clothing for me once a month. I know I won't find myself in the situation of having absolutely nothing to wear, Dear Husband would probably be quite happy about that but I don't think anybody else would be.

I cut out the pattern pieces from this vintage style pattern I picked up from ebay last year and this is my first item. Am going to have to size it up half a size. I have a piece of silk somewhere in my stash which will make a good sleeveless shirt. 

I have continued working on the Quilting Arts monthly word 10"x8" pieces.

Joyful is still a work in progress, needs tidying up, facing and mounting.

I really like the simplicity of this one called Phenomenon. Still amazed at the illusionary effects.

Phosphenes

This is Simplicity finally finished. I tried to get a good photo and even editing did not improve it. Looks much darker than this photo shows. I wanted to achieve the look of weaving in this piece and demonstrate how thread can change the base fabric. Not sure if I did but looks ok hanging on the wall with good lighting.

So a New Year beckons, I have 2 more word challenges to do Blanket and Wonder, they are both in the thought stages, 2 huge pieces to start, Visibility and Inset, Visibility is due Jan end, which isn't going to happen and I'm not stressing this year. Off to Ballarat in 11 days time for Fibre Arts Summer School to learn different batik methods. Then back to work for the lates/nights again. 

Have 2 birthdays of the little people in January, 4 and 3 years respectively, both are wonderful little girls who we love dearly. 

In amongst all of this the usual farm work keeps happening, the house and shed building project needs to be completed as they hope to move in by January 31st. Severe storms ripped through the area on Boxing Day with their current place perched on the very western edge of the severe strip. One family we know that has suffered great hardship in the past few years, have had their house condemned by the assessors and now have to rebuild from scratch. Imagine the trauma they will suffer each time a storm rolls in. 

The house renovations will continue again after the mustering is finished, though the spare room door is now safely back on its hinges. Our bedroom door  is still patiently waiting for it's reno, but it will be done by 2018 end. Remember goal setting seems to be the best way forward. Lots to do in 2018, so let's get to it. Happy New Year everybody.