Bliss...a weekend at home.....

A lovely quiet weekend at home... time to paint, time to sew/stitch, time to journal, time to read, time to cook, time for family.....bliss. I am currently working in Dots fabric book ...lavishly embellished and the most beautiful colours. I will post pictures of my page for her book next week (because she will have it by then). I am just adding the final touches. Dots theme is birds.

Speaking of birds, I made this little owl for a swap in a Yahoo group that I am part of...I know my friend loves these little owls. Whilst surfing blogs I found this wonderful owl... what a talent Anne Wood is!

As a special treat (and also to allow him to be freestanding) I crocheted him a little nest out of sari ribbon as he does soooooo love colour and texture. I'm not much of a crocheter (note how wonky his nest is), but will make a few more of these for future owls...they can take their home with them for comfort.

A while back I began doing some 10- minute collages (thanks to Robyn at Art Propelled and Shelley Klammer). Wonderful idea these quick collages and they really do get you thinking. Pop over the Shelley's blog to see for yourself and sign up for her free e-course. This was my Saturday collage.

This is my Sunday collage.... I think I was obviously pining for some time on my own, to just chill out and do my own thing.

I did a bit of blog surfing and while visiting Judy Wise's blog read this quote in one of her posts. I love this quote so wanted to put it in my journal so I dont lose track of it. Next year I am doing a few classes with Judy, encaustic art and journalling. After visiting her blog I am so looking forward to the retreat!!!

And finally a self portrait. Reading someone elses blog they were doing self portraits so I thought I would have a go.... not terribly sure about the likeness...I think I look better in the self portrait than in real life. The big green blob in my forehead is not a mistake...thats a crease (I always look like I'm worrying about something so I'm told). Maybe I will try another self portrait later.

I hope you all had a wonderful, creative weekend too.

Happy Arting...

Jacky xox

Owls....

I think by now you all know that I love owls and I couldnt resist showing this little fellow (might have shown him in a post before???). I call these my Kaffe Fasset owls as I think they look gorgeous in the funky KF fabrics. How lucky am I? The mail recently has bought me some new owls.... A friend up in Queensland, Gaye, made this lovely pendant with an owl etching. Isnt it gorgeous! I will love wearing this Gaye and thank you so much for making it as my AOTM in our swap group. I just love how Gaye has attached the pendant to the beautiful tag also...its a work of art in itself!

And my lovely friend Julie Hetherington sent me these beautiful owl beads. Wont they be fantastic for journals etc. Just LOVE them Julie...thank you so much. Julie has the most wonderful bits and pieces in her etsy shop so pop by for a visit, your might see some of these little fellows and lots of other interesting pieces..

Love the little green one...cute as!

And finally a Klimt Doll that I finished recently for a friend in the USA. I love using Kaffe Fassett fabrics for these dolls, they really lend themselves to the Klimt style I think. This one is in more pastel/soft colours that I usually use.

I hope you all have a wonderfully creative week. I look forward to visiting you blogs to see what you have been up...so much inspiration out there!

Jacky xox

I think its going to rain......

By the look of this sky we are in for some more rain....its been very cold and chilly on the farm, but still a lovely place to be, especially when one is warm and cosy by the fire, sitting inside looking out! Last weekend my lovely little sister Lee took me to Tasmania for the weekend (we'd planned to do this around my birthday, but here it is July and we finally managed a weekend we could both get away... doesnt life get busy sometimes?).
Tasmania is a beautiful state. Many beautiful old buildings, a lovely slow pace to the city (we stayed in Hobart), wonderful restaurants and cafes and lots and lots of galleries and co-ops.
We stayed at Battery Point very close to Salamanca Place and a beautiful tourist area.

Lee and Jen outside our favourite eatery...Jackman & McRoss

On arrival Lee took us too a lovely little cafe that she had found on a previous visit. A late lunch was in order and the food was beautiful....so much so that we found ourselves there for breakfast the next morning...Panina with scrambled egg, spinach, oven roasted tomato, proscuitto and topped off with avocado...yumbo, yumbo. Breakfast was so good we were back again on the Sunday too!!!!

On the Saturday we went to the Salamanca Market....but first we had to make our way from the hotel to Salamanca Place via these wonderful steps...Kelly's Steps. One has to be fit to live in Hobart as it is very hilly. The above photo is of my sister Lee and our girlfriend Jen on Kelly's Steps on our way to the market.

Cruising the Galleries at Salamanca Place.

We all loved wandering around the Galleries at Salamanca Place. Hobart has a very artistic community and lots of Galleries/Co-ops. Wonderful paintings, sculptures, textile art from local Tasmanian artists on sale and many cafes selling their wonderful Tasmanian produce.

Salamanca Place - beautiful historic area.

No art to show this post, I've been too busy gadding about, but pop over to Grrls blog and see the amazing guerilla knit installation that she is part of at the National Gallery...wonderful job Grrl!!!

Take care all and will post some textile art very soon!

Jacky xox

Hi there.....

Fingers crossed, I am able to load photos again (although I hate to tell you how long it took me!!!!).

So.... what I have been up to? I stitched this little heart was stiched for a friend on vintage linen. I love old doileys and this piece was left over after cutting out the lovely embroidered pieces for another project. The bird fabric was a snippet of a liberty fabric that I love and some gorgeous old handmade lace as a little collar on the bird. Originally I stitched it as a naive type pincushion, but added a temporary hanger in case my friend wanted to hang it instead. I recently I went to an Art Journal workshop with Meg Abrecht (local artist). I had a fantastic day at the workshop. We worked on sketching, adding colour, collaging, painting with gouache. Below is a little still life that we all sketched and later added our gouache. I will take a photo of my finished piece next week for my blog and show you some of the other neat stuff we worked on in our journals. Its been quite chilly these past few weeks. The other morning the fog was still laying low in the valley and you can just make out from the silhouette on the hills in the background all the blackened trees after the fires went through back in February. Hope you're not getting sick of these photos from my kitchen window....the view is forever changing.

I also went into Melbourne for a day with my sister Lee. This photo below is of my sister Lee in a little lane near the National Gallery of Victoria that has the most amazing graffiti. What a bonus to find this little lane between the car park and the Gallery. To see more amazing close ups of this graffiti art visit my sister Lee's blog.

A snippet of the graffiti in this little lane.

Below some photos as we wandered around Melbourne later.

View of Flinders St. Station from piazza area near NGV.

Lovely old Church from same piazza area.

Clock tower and beautiful old building across from National Gallery. I am always in awe of the architecture in these beautiful old buildings.

The reason for our visit to the National Gallery was to visit the Melbourne Design Market that was being held. Wonderful designers showing their wares, fantastic book stores (my favourite being Artisan), wonderful food (and sorry no photos.... it was just sooooooo packed it was actually quite overwhelming). Some fantastic Australian designers showcased their work...... zaish, nicola cerini just to mention a few.

I'm off to Tasmania this weekend. A birthday gift from my sister Lee, a weekend away. I'm sure to have lots of lovely photos for you after the weekend.

Jacky xox

Computer frustration .......

I have so much to share with you all, but my computer has been playing up for weeks. Sooo frustrating. I cant even upload any new photos.
It was supposedly fixed, but can hardly even load a photo for my blog (even an old one).... thus just one meagre offering this week! I made this bird ATC for a friend well over a year ago, but when I flicking through my photo folder I came across it and thought it might be nice...I still like it. Naive, whimsical and simple.
When we have this computer fixed I have plenty of photos to upload, but at the moment, it just wont "play".

I've had visitors (my arty mother in law), I've received some wonderful art mail, I did a workshop in sketching and gouache. I've been out and about .... so plenty of news later.

I've been logging on and checking a few blogs when I can, and leaving comments where it allows me. At least I can still access your wonderful blogs this week.

I hope you are all having a wonderful, creative week. As the ATC says..."Create Joy"

Jacky xox

Pink and Grey....

I am taking part in another fabric book swap as you know. The page below is made for sweet Sesga who lives in Wales. The theme for her lovely little book was pink and grey. The pink fabric is an Amy Butler fabric I purchases earlier in the year when my sister and I went to "An Evening with Amy Butler" in Melbourne. front of page
back of page

I really enjoyed working on these pages for Sesga and was able to use some lovely fabrics that have been gifted to me recently. Many from the lovely Dot and also one from Kasha on this back page. Love the texture the tulle and voile piece from Kasha has added to this page.

Sampler by Jude Hill

Isnt this piece beautiful? Recently I purchased this sampler piece from the etsy shop of Jude Hill. I was thrilled when it arrived in my mailbox and was just overwhelmed by the beauty of this piece in real life....beautiful, soft, recycled fabrics. Lots of intricate stitching, a real treasure. There is a real spiritual quality to Judes work and I love visiting her blog, Spiritcloth.Tinkatink thinks this quilt is for her!!! sorry about the photos quality but a dark and miserable day today. Not good for taking photos.

I have actually been inspired by Jude to pick up a WIP and get back to it. Last year three of my patchwork girlfriends and myself made up all these snowball blocks for a quilt for my son Matt (arent they are lovely friends!!!). I had made up the blocks into strips, but hadnt joined the strips... BUT, this weekend I have nearly finished the quilt top. Now I just have to come to a decision as to the border, pieced or plain.



This photo shows the blocks before I started joining the strips and the colours show a bit better. Must say....I'm not used to working with these earthy, muted colours. For such a long time I have been using lots of bright Kaffe Fassett colours.

I hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend. I know I have enjoyed visiting a few blogs today to catch up with what everyone has been doing over the weekend.

I will be without our computer again for most of this week. It has to go back to the computer guy as its playing up again and needs something re-installed. I'll be back visiting as soon as it returns though.

Jacky xox

Wonderful weekend ....

Apart from the fact that I have a dreadful bug at the moment (head cold), I had such a lovely weekend. A group of us girls (art girls that is) get together at each others homes every six weeks or so for an "art catch up". The house was abuzz with all of our chatter and we whiled away five or so hours before we knew it, discussing everything under the sun and having lots of show and tell. Showed off my knitting I have been doing for Grrl for her latest installation. I'm getting there Dneese....

Arent these fabrics scrummy...a lovely gift from my art buddy and fellow fabric addict Dot.

A gorgeous sunshiny pansy, a gift on Saturday from the lovely Patsy.

These are some more gifts from my art buddies on Saturday that I thought I might make into a Klimt Doll for myself. Some beautiful fabric brads from Dot, gorgeous brown silk taffeta and silk hand dyed ribbon from Julia, and the beautiful buttons were part of a gift from Ro. So many goodies get shared around at our get togethers!

I truly had the loveliest day... thank you Dot, Ro, Julia and Patsy for making the trip out to the farm for the day... it was lovely to have my friends at my home.

Beautiful bird ATC I received in my swap with Gaby. Now if any of you clicked on the link on my last post....heaven knows where it sent you as I made a typo. Try again, should work this time and Gaby's ATC's are beautiful.

Now my friend Lynne has asked to see more of the pages from the Nic Hohn journal I received, so here are some more for you Lynne.

It rained hearts and love.

Sing sweetly in the Morning

Of blessings in the dew.

could almost hear the silence

It was a bright, sunny day;

her first daffodils were in bloom,

"They're going to be a picture" she said happily.

Beautiful pages, I hope you enjoyed them.

Believe it or not I had much more I could have showed you this week, as I have been stitching a fabric page for my friend Sesga for our swap....but.... I forgot to take photos before I gave them to Dot on the weekend. Luckily for me, Dot is going to take some photos and send to me so I can show them on my blog soon.

Also, Dot embellished the most glorious piece of handmade felt and mounted it on watercolour paper for me. Unfortunately my photo turned out a bit blurry once I uploaded it, but I will take another for my next post as it is a very special piece you must see, lots of wonderful detail.

Anyways, I think this post is quite full enough!

I hope you all had a lovely sunshiny weekend...hope you got to spend it with some of your friends too.

Enjoy your creativity.

Jacky xox