Gathering ......

Well Christmas is done and dusted for another year.  I hope  your Christmas Day was as happy and peaceful as mine.....it was perfect.  Lovely company, yummy food,  lots of  laughter...so good.

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Our Christmas Table ...before we messed it all up.

Today I began gathering together all of my patches and samples I was stitching last year when I joined in the Magic Diaries 1 with Jude Hill.    because today I begin Magic Diaries 2.  It was time to bring together some of my pieces and begin the process of melding them into my quilt.  It was nice to have them out, to feel the weight of them,  to touch the stitching....to imagine what it might become.

Gathering the elements ....The cirlces....inspired by Judy Martin

The Woodland Spirit inspired by a trip to Switzerland and the woodland and trees below inspired by Jude.  The marked cloth at the back inspired by Aboriginal art, mark making.

Not sure what the layout will be as yet,  but it has helped laying it on the table to take a look at what might work.  There are more naive stars in the making,  more little marked stitched squares as fillers and I think I might make some more of the cirles...lots to think about.

close up stitched tree shapes and embroidered winter tress.  The little fabric scrap with the trees and house were gifted by a friend in in WA.  It reminded me of homes I saw in Switzerland.

Welcome to 2012 .... Expect Wonderful Things to Happen!

Jacky xox

Joyeux Noel .....

Little glimpses of Christmas in my home .......

The presents are gathering under the tree.

 Some of my favourite ornaments on the Christmas tree.

Some of my collection of Santa's

My sweet little dog Oakey looking festive on the quilt.... he's 16 now....such a beautiful old boy.

Thank you all for popping by my blog this past this year. 

I wish you all  PEACE, HAPPINESS, LOVE, GOOD HEALTH, JOY, PROSPERITY & ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD.

EXPECT

WONDERFUL THINGS

TO HAPPEN.

Have a most wonderful Christmas!

Jacky xox

Quietly stitching....

I have enjoyed a peaceful, quiet weekend.  Lots of stitching,  just simple, methodical stitching but I love the effect.  The two pieces I have been working on were both inspired by Judy Martin.  I love how Judy  'makes marks' with stitch...so I have been mark making on this little cloth I started for Norma.
The background fabric is indigo dyed (on a recent trip to my friend Nat's) and some of the threads were dyed by her friend Lynda...the lighter coloured thread she eco dyed.  I love stitching with it, such a beautiful neutral colour.  You will also see a few thread beads in there,  Jude Hills influence. Over the past few years Judy and Jude have inspired many cloths.
Another inspiration for this piece was Australian Aboriginal art. I love aboriginal mark making and I'm always drawn to the repetitive style of some of their work...be it dots or lines, it tells a story.  This  really appeals to me and I am going to make a series of these cloths.

When visiting  Judy Martins  blog this weekend she had posted a wonderful tutorial on making reverse applique dots.  This little nine patch uses the method in her tutorial, but I think I used a bigger spool than Judy.  The first few were quite untidy (stitches showing),  but I refined them as I went along.  I am very happy with this little nine patch with dots...thank you Judy.  Again I used some of the fabric from my indigo dyeing with Nat,  the colour is quite washed out in the photo though.

Have a wonderful week and enjoy the festive season.

GO TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE,

AND THE RESOURCES WILL FOLLOW.

-SARK -

Jacky  xox

fabric and linocut ......

No post for November!!!.... I've had a very busy time of it lately. As you may know from previous posts my MIL has been very ill these past two years.  Sadly she passed away last week .....she will be missed in many ways, one of them being that she has been a large part of my creative life.  Always encouraging me to paint and sew.   She was never scared to try something new, she encouraged me to try lots of things I would never have been brave enough to do without her nudging me along (ever the procrastinator).  I have begun a cloth, marking it with stitches, in memory of Norma.  No pictures today,  but I will share it with you soon. 

 Even though I have been busy I have still been doing a bit of art.  I recently got together with my art friends Ro, Dot and Patsy at Ro's home and we did some fabric printing...lots of fun and  Ro shared her fabric printing technique with us all, showing  how to make our own prints from bits and pieces we all have around our home.  I was very happy with the fabric printing I did on the day and will make sure it goes into a special cloth.  Some of these pieces were using a stamp I had myself on the day and others with stamps that Ro had made earlier. Isnt the effect wonderful!!!

I have also been doing a bit of printmaking lately.  I took part in an exhibition with a couple of my art friends,  Meg Abrecht (painter and printmaker),  Regina Dudek (jewellery and sculpture) and Nic Perrin (oil painter).   Will share some photos once I upload them.  I carved and printed quite a few whimsical birds for this exhibition with my "Sunshine Owl"  being my inspiration.  Below is a little owl  linocut print, approx. 3 inches x 4... I have named him "Whoot".  He was the simplest and smallest of my pieces,  but I loved his simplicity and he came up well framed.

I hope you are all enjoying your preparations for the festive season.  I love the Christmas season,  everyone is in such a happy and generous frame of mind ... the world is a nicer place. I intend to get all of my Christmas decorations up this weekend (normally I have them out by the 1st December...bit slow this year).  I love decorating the house for Christmas.

I will be back soon with a photo of my new cloth.

ENJOY A TINY

ADVENTUROUS MOMENT,

CLOSE TO HOME.

IT CHANGES YOUR PERSPECTIVE,

REMINDING YOU THAT THE WORLD

IS DEEP AND RICH AND FULL OF

COLOR AND MIRACLES.

-SARK-

have a wonderful week.

Jacky xox

Mrs. Moody .....

Meet  Mrs.  Moody.  I have always loved Lynne Hoppes art work,  particulary her faces (portraiture).  Recently she had a tutorial on her blog (sept. 20th) to explain the process she uses to create these wonderful characters of hers.  I've been meaning to have a play and today was the day!!! 
Lynne uses mixture of pencils, oil pastels, gouache, watercolor and many other mediums (she's very brave) and she very generously explained exactly what we needed.
Back in 2009 I was in an altered book Round Robin.  I found an old book,  "The Greatest Thing in the World" by  Henry Drummond and sent if off.  The problem was there were only four of us participating in the RR,  so there were still MANY empty pages.  I decided this book was perfect for me to practice faces.
Mrs. Moody came about due to a reference on the page I used  of the 'Messrs. Moody '....  
Lots more practice needed,  but I loved incorporating the oil pastel, gouache, watercolours etc.  Lots of fun, smooshing them around, smearing and generally having fun... thanks Lynne.http://lynnehoppe.blogspot.com/

Mrs. Moody. (click to enlarge)

I have been haunting the Opportunity Shops (charity shops) lately too.  Finding some old books and fabrics.  A couple of weeks ago I found this lovely still life painting.....I am quite taken with still life.  Of course I had to buy it ($50).  I just love it and have it hanging in my bedroom.  I think it will be in the lounge room soon, where I can see more of it.  It is oil on hardboard by Ellen Mileo (1934-2006)  a real TREASURE for me.  I am trying to find out a bit about the artist.

"Cyclamen and pomegranates"  by Ellen Mileo (oil on hardboard)

I have been doing some crochet too.  I've been enjoying crocheting this scarf for a friend of mine ...arent the colours glorious.  They make you happy ....and it is coming along quickly as I'm always wanting to get to the next colour in the variegated ball of yarn.

crocheted scarf.

Thats all for the moment.  I know I've been away from my blog for a while, family commitments make it hard sometimes,  but I am still quietly creating when I have the time.  It's great therapy.

BE  SILLY

BE  HONEST

BE  KIND

Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Bye for now,

JACKY  XOX

a star and a spirit ....

Today I met with my patchwork friends (first Monday each month).  We've been meeting for over 20 years ....quite often lately there's a lot more chat than stitching! 
I follow Jude Hills blog and have been doing the Magic Diaries workshop.  I've been a bit quiet on the stitching front for a while,  so I thought today was a good chance to pick up my cloth again and get a bit of stitching done.

I have always admired Jude's wonderful story cloths and the non traditional way she often approaches her quilt making.  I have always loved patchwork stars,  so I began with a primitive style eight point star..just eyeballed the points and then invisibly basted (all as per Jude).  I was happy with this relaxed version of the eight point star.  Still lots of stitching to be done....that can come later and at this point I have quite a few patches completed. Maybe I need to start thinking about the size and placement of these patches?  

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When I was visiting my son in Switzerland last year I started this piece.... my sunflower spirit.  Often my husband and I walked through the amazing woods near my sons home...there must be spirits live in those woods,  they were so magical.  After one such walk my little spirit was born.  Still a bit of stitching to be done on her.

I think she will fit in well with my cloth.  I am sure there will be more spirits and beasts to join her soon.

LIVE IN THE SUNSHINE,

SWIM IN THE SEA,

DRINK THE WILD AIR.

-EMERSON-

Jacky  xox

Settling stitch ......

Things have been a bit hectic and out of sorts for the past month or so....very little stitching and art being done.  I decided I just needed to do a little stitching to settle myself, ease back into my cloth for the Magic Diaries workshop with Jude Hill.

It worked well.... I ripped some fabric, cut out my little version of a harvest moon and began stitching.  So thereapeutic, it slowed me down,  gave me time to think. Teeny little stitches, fraying edges.... I love to stitch. 

This weekend my friend Dot and I had offered to 'babysit' our friend Patsy's exhibition.  Such a vibrant and happy exhibition.  It was a dreary winters day outside, cold and windy and quite a bit of rain....eveyone who popped in to see the exhibition was warmed by Patsy's beautiful artwork.  Beautiful array of paintings, art quilts, handmade bags and journals.  Very inspiring...I am itching to paint again.

I'm wondering what has happened to the glorious spring weather we've been experiencing lately.  The last few days have been bitterly cold and wet....I woke to more rain and coldness this morning...stoked the fire as I had to go out for the morning.  By this afternoon though we had glorious sunshine again.  I bought these beautiful Waratah's (I plan to do a painting of them) to brighten the lounge room.  So beautiful.... I smile each time I catch a glimpse of them. Click on the above link if you want to know more about these beautiful flowers, the floral emblem of New South Wales in Australia.

Have a great week, nature is wreaking havoc all over the world, so I hope you all stay safe.

THE tiniest STORY IN YOUR LIFE CAN DEEPLY TOUCH ANOTHER.

YOU CANNOT KNOW THE EFFECT YOUR STORY MIGHT HAVE.

-SARK-

JACKY  XOX