I hate being sick

Wasn't well enough to go to the family gathering. Lost my lunch. Had an afternoon nap. Have eaten again and it's holding.

I'm off to bed. Going to try to get into the GP in the morning.

Getting better

I think. Not so much nausea, still have diarrhea. Stayed up all day today, but am heading to bed soon. Actually ate a bit too.

I tried to make macarons today - not a wonderful result because my oven is not very reliable. They are still edible and should be passable sandwiched with some buttercream. I will do that tomorrow morning and take along to a family gathering at Crawley. Not sure if I will make more for the big party next weekend.

Friday Flowers

The jacarandas are in full bloom.

So are the Illawarra flame trees.

Next will be the WA Christmas tree (Nuytsia Floribunda)

Blue, red, yellow

From my sickbed

I have been unwell (nasty tummy bug) for the last 2 days so haven't felt like blogging. Still don't if it comes to the point.

However I wanted to write about the fabulous guest speakers that were at the WAFTA meeting on Tuesday night.

Susan Hayes is a final year PhD student who specialises in facial imaging for forensics. However, in an earlier life she made heads from chicken wire and op-shop fabrics. They are just fabulous.


Judith Forrest has been collecting West African dress fabrics for over 30 years. She gave a fascinating talk on their background and the makers and sellers of the cloth. I recalled the exhibition I visited at the MCA in January of the work of Yinka Shonibare.

More stuff done

As promised here is a pic of the textured bag with a length of the original fabric next to it. This is a silk velvet devore that I bought at Liz Davenport's fabric sale last year. I still have 2 metres - must find something to make with it that I can use the bag with.

After Husqvarna Club this morning I came home and sewed together and ironed the binding for the quilt. Here it is, all neatly wound up, ready to be attached next Monday.

I was worried I didn't have enough - needlessly. There is heaps.

Tonight I am going to WAFTA for the last formal meeting of the year. The next meeting is a Xmas party, but I won't be going since it is the same day as Kevin's party.

A productive day

I cooked the chicken wings - I had to sample one and they are yummy. They are now in the freezer.

I cut lots of bias strips for the quilt binding and pinned them together. I plan to sew them tomorrow - I think that I have probably only got enough to go maybe half way round. I need nearly 10 metres and even after they are joined I still have to press the finished strip in half lengthwise. It's a big job.

I made a bag from the textured fabric I did a while ago.


No photo of the bag because I forgot and then it was too dark. The flash on my camera washes out lots of colour.

I went shopping and bought some more chicken wings which are now marinating in the fridge.

I deadheaded all the roses and filled up the green bin for collection tomorrow morning. I plan to fertilise them tomorrow evening so it will be watered in on Wednesday morning when the reticulation goes on.

I am now going to have a glass of wine and start a new book - the latest in the "in Death" series by JD Robb.

Milestone, printing downloads and frogstitching

I didn't even notice that yesterday's post was my 600th. I may get to 1000 yet!

I spent some time today printing off Workshop on the Web articles that I have downloaded into a WoW file. I delete each one I print, so I don't do it twice. I have been a bit slack in printing off so there is quite a backlog. I know, I know - you can always refer to a downloaded version, but I far prefer a printed one to pore over in the sewing room or at the family room table in the evening. I have been a subscriber since it started and I am now on my 4th large binder. It is a fabulous reference that I don't use as often as I should.

There is also a downloaded lesson from Maggie Grey's new book that I haven't even looked at, plus one from Stitching the Textured Surface (can't remember the authors' names). I think these additional lessons for purchasers of the books are a super idea. Well done, Maggie. The printer ran out of ink, so I haven't printed them yet. Kevin has refilled the cartridges so that might be a job for tomorrow.

Frogstitching? Rippit, rippit. I think I need a new unpicker - the point seems a bit blunt. But I unpicked 30 embroidered butterflies from a bag that I have never liked, as well as salvaging the silk lining to use on a new one - which was the point of the whole exercise. Maybe some pictures tomorrow.

What Grabs You

What do I enjoy most in my textile adventures?

We had a brainstorming session at the Designing Women meeting today. I agreed with all the suggestions (though not always with the spelling!) It was difficult to pinpoint the techniques I most enjoy. Though I contributed "texture" and "image transfer", I don't think that I could restrict myself to those alone.

Here are our suggestions. And isn't it interesting that colour is not mentioned?


What grabs YOU in relation to textile techniques?

More ATCs in the pipeline

At Contemporary Quilt Group today we had a big Show and Tell of ATCs in anticipation of a swap in December.

I went through my ATC stash last night (when I counted them I have 156, and this doesn't include the ones I have made that I have never swapped because I like them too much!) and took along about 50. I selected some as Horrible Examples - illegible names, wrong size, no name, dark backing so information can't easily be seen - but the much greater portion were examples of clever ways to put information on the back, interesting ways to finish the edges and stunning techniques.

Stephanie and Hilary showed the group various approaches to base fabrics. We were asked to bring a bag of various bits and pieces to swap so we could use the bits we got, plus other stuff from our stashes to produce ATCs for the swap in December. The photo is of the selection I took along.

Coincidence

Yesterday I wrote about macaroons - today they are on the front cover of the Fresh liftout in the daily paper. The article says they are difficult to make - not the impression I got from Googling. Also, apparently the name is macarons - macaroons contain coconut.