Batik and Beyond

 Hello again! Surprised to be back. I spent most of July suffering from the rampant winter colds and flu. A flu A strain has  mutated this season and a lot of people including myself caught it. The authorities said the vaccine helped to make you suffer not too much, well I would have hated to not have had the vaccine. I seemed to spend most of winter feeling terrible.
I did have another Java Batik trip to look forward to in September.
Monday Sept 10 saw a group of us waiting at the airport ( you guessed it Virgin delayed the flight again 6 hours this time!) for our flight into Bali. Finally got there close to midnight.

 My school friend Georgina was on the trip too, she is also an avid swimmer, so we swam  in the rooftop pool the next morning before our flight into Java with Garuda Airlines.

 Arriving at Yogyakarta airport for our trip to Solo Baru.

 Along the way we visited Borobudor and Prambanam temples for a history lesson and sightseeing.

 Solo Baru (Surakarta) is one centre of batik making in Indonesia. We went to a different factory from the one I was at on my last visit. This one was more modernised and run very efficiently by very nice people. This, was to me, the most important bench in the place. The dyemaster and his apprentice work here, calculating the dyes and weights for 5 metre lengths for the colours we selected. There are seven dyes used to make all of the combinations possible. I haven't included photos of the process as I do not want to breach any copyright rules from that factory.

 We visited a different factory where a different process is used, being a combination of stamping, painting, tjanting and over dying. This is more traditional than what we know in our commercial fabric we purchase here in Aus.

 This is the overdying pieces " cooking in the sun" and the finished pieces drying on the poles.

 My bundle of 50 metres of fabric. We started with white fabric. Selected a colour/colours to go under the wax stamp, this was the first dye, treated with waterglass, dried, stamped with the tjap (waxed), discharged to remove the unwaxed dye, dyed with the second colour/colours, treated with waterglass, boiled to remove the wax and finally dried. Commercial fabrics also are treated with a sizing conditioner and folded and pressed onto a bolt for sale. So it is a lengthy process but so worth the colours. We did wander around the street where the factory was and we found one screenprinting about 60 metres fabric in minutes. So we saw many different ways of batik making. I also purchased one more art piece to add to my collection. A visit to a Tjap maker and the markets where I purchased a couple of old tjaps, and the Batik Museum of the royal family were also highlights of the trip.

 After the 4 days we became tourists and went up to mountains to Lake Telarga Serangan. We went on a 3 km hike to find the waterfall we heard about on our last visit.

 3 of our group made it to the top,was very steep and very interesting.

 Along the way were small huts and farms like this. It is a very popular tourist attraction, with pathside stalls selling bottles of water and Pocari Sweat. They were most welcome as it was a very hot day.

 This was one of two enterprising Javanes men. He offered to take a photo of the 3 of us at the top. We declined as we thought how could he deliver them. When we rejoined our group lower down the hill, here he was offering to take a photo of us again. He has ridden past us on his scooter ( the path is about 1 metre wide) and waited for us with the rest of the group. So we parted with $1 each and watched our photos being printed from this Canon printer. The other guy sold bamboo walking sticks on the way up and collected them on the way down.

 Georgina and I left the group 2 days early and jetted into Darwin for a friend's 60th birthday. This is about the only photo I took.

 Virgin now has internet access on some flights, so I could post a copy of my trip progress to my husband waiting at the airport so he could estimate our arrival time better.

 Back home, feet firmly planted on the ground, survived the trip with no ill effects ( not like last time), the house was waiting. After a few days of sorting things out and unpacking, I thought I would start with small jobs as I had to be back at work in a few days as well. I had finally finished one set of doors with varnishing after sanding and staining and metal painting the knob plate.

 They look really good I think and am hoping they stand up to the weather for awhile. Now for the transom window above. I am thinking of painting in white on the inside, staining on the outside. From the inside you see the white aluminium screen doors. Still mulling but not quite sure yet. Will have to decide soon though.

I get back to work and we are about to move into our new renovated work space. The thing most concerning me was the lottery for our new lockers. Not the fact that now on a single operator shift we will be walking a LOT MORE due to the space, I really did not want to get a locker close to the floor as my knees would not have coped. I was so happy to see I got the 4th one along to the right on the Top Row!. I think it was rigged but have been told No, most of the people that got ones on the top are all tall with me probably the shortest. The only problem is my teacup now has further to fall so I envisage a few more broken ones. We move in by October 11th. I will then have worked in 3 different laboratories at the same site over 39 years, definitely time I retired.
I have received a reminder from the Wondai Art Gallery that I am having an Exhibition in Gallery 3 in November 2020, so the planning must start now. Bit scary I feel, there is a weaver booked for Gallery 1 and Elaine Madill ( the art gallery co-ordinator )thinks my quilts will "add to" their work and vice versa so I hope I can rise to the challenge of all that work ahead of me. Wait and see, hopefully I can plot some progress on here.

Oh Dear, Where have I been the last 11 months?

As the title states, where have I been?
A combination of work commitments, family and just staying alive and well, has kept me from blogging. I do feel a bit sad that I can't seem to be a regular blogger like other well known bloggers.
I will do my best to be a bit more regular in my updates but I can't promise too much.
This post will be a brief snapshot of the last 9 months of life at Ivanhoe.

Spring in 2018 was a pleasant one for us . A bit of timely rain saw the orchard flourish and the paddocks turn green for a change. Since then we have limped along with a few very timely falls of rain with few major falls.

 My new Vacola Fruit Preserving Kit was used to bottle some of the excess nectarines that we managed to keep the birds from gorging themselves on.

Work has slowly progressed on the northern veranda side of the house. In a few weeks I hope to finish painting the 4th panel. Then we might invest in a blind for the first section to make it more windproof for winter.

 December saw us all off to Toowoomba to celebrate a family occasion where we witnessed a very special wedding. My three girls all glammed up for the occasion.

The last day of the year saw us at another family event, an oldies birthday celebration. This time the young ones enjoyed the run of the house. This is only 4 of them after half demolishing a lounge room. Good news, in October 2019 there will be a 6th grandchild, their Mum will certainly be busier then.

Back on the orchard front, when we grew grapes commercially in the 1980-1990's our favourite variety was Cardinal. Unfortunately they had seeds in them but they were hardy and tasted good. After our move to Proston, I struggled for a few years to get our grapes growing and I thought I had lost my Cardinal variety. I managed to procure a few extra cuttings this year and managed to get 2 to grow. I was very excitedly surprised to come home after work and discover some coloured grapes on this bush. It was a Cardinal and it was the first time a bunch was allowed to ripen. The birds, wallabies had always removed them before that happened. I will be taking some more cuttings this year. Very soon as it is pruning time again.

 February saw us as dog parents again. Scruff presented us with 8 pups. We have had a few adventures since, with 7 still accounted for. They are all working dogs in training but sometimes I think their handlers need to go to working dog school as well.

 The sewing front has just been slowly moving along. I kept up with the ready to wear fast for 2018 until December 31st. I have made a few articles since and only purchased some jeans and a coat so far for 2019.
I went to Fibre Arts Toowoomba in April and did Stitch Resist Shibori with Neha. She comes from India and was a delightful teacher. She taught us how to dye silk and use direct dyes for cotton. I need to shift stuff around downstairs so I can set up a dyeing studio. I can dream as I think I need a plumber first, we no longer have running hot water in our laundry!

 This is part of our class display at the end of the week.

 I have finished quilting this latest landscape quilt. I must take a better photo of it now that it is faced and finished.

 This is an obscure photo at first glance but it is our bedroom French door. I took it to show the rebate area I had to remove the paint from before I puttied in the pane of glass. We also had to replace the solid timber inset in the bottom panel. I have now finished sanding the whole door back and it is awaiting staining and varnishing.

 This is the third set of doors on the northern side which I have paint stripped, sanded, stained and varnished. This is after 1 coat of varnish, still needs about 4 more coats of the stuff. I am rather pleased with how they are turning out.

Well, the next few months are looking just as busy. Currently I have 3 small pieces of artwork hanging in the Kingaroy Art Gallery as part of the Tangled Threads Group and will be demonstrating stitch resist in the gallery on Tuesday July 23rd.
We have 4 weeks of babysitting the Cocker Spaniel during August to do. I think I will need to spend a fair amount of time entertaining him on the veranda. Would be good if he could use a paint brush. I have managed to use up some of my excess rec leave hours for the month so he is not a problem while the Ekka is on.
Then in September I am off to Java again for 2 weeks to explore batik fabric again. I will be better prepared this time I hope for the experiences.
October is the due month for the grandchild so hope all goes well, so far it has so here's hoping.
It is also the due month for the next instalment of work to be presented for Tangled Threads with the theme for  next year's exhibition "The Road Untravelled". Leaves it fairly open ended but as usual I have been slow to start.

Workwise, as well as my rec leave news, we are finally getting a building refurbished and expanded for us. 2 new analysers which also means a backup Haematology and Biochemistry analyser so when we have a breakdown we can still keep analysing blood. We also got a new transfusion analyser earlier this year which assists us in our blood bank work. I have been on nights shifts this week so have only had to listen to the jackhammers for an hour in the morning. Hopefully they start building next week.
I will try to be a better blogger but I think I also need a new camera instead of relying on my Ipad, and that has contributed to my lack of posts. Hopefully I can find the spare time and I will try to show more of my sewing, dyeing progress. Till next time and I hope it's not as long a gap.

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.