A new month....

So just got in before the end of this month and updating my endeavours - apart from not blogging I really have been quite busy with school and teaching and quilting and book binding and.......(trying to justify my complete slackness on the blogging front here)

There's been quite a bit of creativity here at Shocking Hocking - we've got a couple of assignments due for school so there's been lots of dyeing, and comparing and experimenting and sewing.

The first assignment due is a piece for our local coffee shop - every Friday at about 10.30 we gather at the coffee shop for a chat or a moan - and sometimes both.  There has been a recent change of ownership of said coffee shop and the new owner commissioned our class to make appropriate art for one of her walls. As is usual for school assignments, there was a lot of journalling and experimentation which had to be recorded and included for assessment.  I played around with used and dried teabags (a fabulous medium - love the variation in colour - Twinings Assam Bold provide the best depth) and on one of my visual art journal pages, I included some shapes which reminded me of Alice in Wonderland - so I included a pair of ears representing the White Rabbit.   This thought moved along, as it does, and I decided to also reference the Mad Hatter (this may, or may not, have anything to do with the fact that I have a thing for Johnnny Depp!).

So, this is the result...

The '10/6' sign is from the Mad Hatters hat and the pocket watch and the words, "Don't be late" reference the White Rabbit scurrying to the Tea Party (which in turn references my classmates and I on a Friday morning in our bid to get our caffeine fix! - even though the time is wrong - as mentioned, we gather at about 10.30am and the Tea Party occurred at 6pm every day).  There was a slight change before I submitted the piece - one of my classmates loves to play with words and mentioned the admonishment should have said, "Don't be latte" - much better - so I added another 'T' and the piece was handed over today. (thanks Truda)

The theme for the other piece for exhibition is 'The Sojourner' (one who takes a sojourn, or a short break) and for this one I got to thinking of 'going to the seaside', a great British tradition - and then I got to thinking about the 'naughty' postcards that are available in places like Blackpool and Morecambe (I went to school in Morecambe - West End Primary School, where I passed my 11+, then on to Morecambe Grammar.....  Jumbled into my thoughts was the bathing boxes at Mornington here in Victoria and a fabulous statuette I have a woman in a stripey cossie with a very large bum - I love this figurine - the expression on her face is just fabulous - she really doesn't care that she has a very large bum - her face reflects the confidence in herself and it's what I love about it - she really couldn't give a fat rats bottom - I'm sure we could get all Freudian here but I won't!

Anyway, so I dyed some 'sand' and 'sky', dipped into my stash for previously dyed hand dyes for the bathing boxes, as well as some I'd bought (including commercially dyed and patterned fabric) and came up with this idea...

There's still a huge amount of work to do on the piece - and she's now got a change of cossie too - and her friend in the bottom right corner still needs to be dressed - but she's getting there.

During the month I also attended a class with a book binder - who showed us how to make a book using 2 different binding methods - Coptic and Case.....here's my efforts...

OMG - I LOVE book binding - I've saved papers and similar for years - so I'll be doing  lot more of this.  So tactile and so rewarding.....

Lastly, the wonderful ladies who attend my classes have been busy....singling out a couple here (not sure if that's really allowed!).....one, Joan,  made the most wonderful Golly...

and another, Barb, completed her VERY FIRST project, so we had to record it for posterity......

Barb's from 'Oop North' and makes me laugh every week - thanks Barb!

That's all I can think of - I'm off to the Quilt Show on Sunday, a hairy tomorrow and a client quilt to complete.  Coupled with a family dinner on Saturday night the weekend is just about over!....looking forward to the 3rd Test starting next week (very late in Oz, but sooooo worth watching - go England!) and continuing effort on the Sojourner piece.......

over a month ago.....really????

Oh dear - what a slacker - just haven't got round to creating new blog posts - I've Instagrammed a few times and been up to all sorts, just never blogged about it.....but I promised my Wednesday ladies that I'd blog about their gorgeous journal covers they made in class....so here they are......

This project was a lot of fun - I sorted out my 2" squares into colour order and put them into brown paper bags.  Each of the ladies had to randomly choose a colour then they made the centre panel using the colours from that bag only.  The surrounding borders were chosen from their own stashes and added to the backing fabric and quilted.  They then created the journal cover - some made one and some made several and they all did a fabulous job - unfortunately I didn't photograph all the journal covers, but you get the idea :)

Other than teaching classes, I've been quilting for clients...

here's a client quilt I actually remembered to take a photo of !!

Finishing socks...

Putting together some quilt tops...

this has since been sashed with a soft grey and a border added in green - ready for quilting now

memory quilt for a client - please ignore the feet!!

Stitching for school...

and making a knitting needle holder - I've also knitted a couple of hats but I don't have any photos of them yet...

I know there's lots more (like market stalls and weekends away) but I think that's enough for now - well done for getting this far in this photo heavy post!!

It's time for me to hit the sack - we're experiencing a cold snap - expected overnight low is 3c - and I don't think tomorrow is going to be much warmer - oh well, will just have to light the fire and snuggle in with my stitching.

Cheers

Wonderful weekend

Some time ago (we were trying to work out when...), Cathy of Cabbage Quilts put out a call to stitchers on the Mornington Peninsula to see if anyone would like to join her new sewing group.  The call came at the right time for me - I'm not usually a 'joiner' but I'd decided to push myself a bit and I'd been reading Cathy's blog for a time and felt the warmth of her personality come through her words and pictures.  Additionally, I'd been following Michelle's blog, The Quilted Tortoise, and she too shared Cathy's warmth and welcome - and a wicked sense of humour - and Michelle said she's go too - so I thought "why not?" - and I dragged my bff Liz along too.....

Best thing ever........

I've made some wonderful new friends.........Deb (72 Derwents), Emma (Treehouse Textiles), Kate, Miriam (Yellow Rose Quilts), Julie, another Cathy...oooooh, hope I haven't forgotten anyone!

Anyway, Cathy, Michelle, Emma, Kate, Deb, Liz and I went off to Ballarat for a weekend of stitching, chatting, knitting and shopping and had a fantastic time - Deb found a fabulous house for us to stay in - all 15 foot ceilings, wooden floors and central heating (it is pretty cold in Ballarat at this time of year) - and it was 2 doors away from Ballarat Patchwork!

Not a huge amount of sewing/knitting/crafting got done, but we ate well, laughed a lot, shopped a bit and had one or 2 wines to help the days along - perfick!

I did a little shopping - shops of note, Ballarat Patchwork, The Crafty Squirrel, Mill Rose Quilting, Such and Such and Cascade House.

fabric, twine, linen, threads, needles and a large offcut of wool fabric

Liberty from Mill Rose - aaahh, swoon!

beautiful crewel threads from Cascade House - they rival, if not surpass, Appleton..

I bought a hat from Such and Such - and they serve the BEST coffee

Fabulous weekend ladies - it was wonderful to get to know you all a bit better and so looking forward to doing it again.......

Quilt show bounty

Like many, many others, I joined the throngs at AQC in the beautiful Royal Exhibition Buildings to view quilts and NOT buy anything.

I actually drove a bus full of the wonderful ladies who come to my classes and we had a fabulous day - of course I forgot to get a photo of us all but I remembered the camera to take photos of the quilts...I especially enjoyed the twelveby12 exhibition - the artistry and work(wo)manship of the miniatures is very inspiring - I think I'd be breaching their copyright if I added photos of their quilts so I've linked to their website instead.  If you get a chance to view these beauties 'in the flesh', you should - photos really don't do them justice - especially not the way I take photos anyway :)

Another exhibition was from Korea - I had hoped to see a piece or 2 in the traditional pojagi style but unfortunately there wasn't one - but it didn't take away from the pieces on display.  I was particularly drawn to this next one...

It appears to be influenced by pojagi and the use of colour and the method of assembly is just brilliant - love it.

Given it's shaky beginning, AQC continues to get bigger and better and I really am glad I went - there was more quilts and they weren't limited to the 'traditional' - lots of 'art' quilts and different techniques displayed - something for everyone....here's a little montage of others that caught my eye...

I did take photos of the makers of these so if anyone wants info, please let me know :)

...and of course, best laid plans and all that......I bought stuff, including fabric (of which I have thousands of metres already....)

I bought fabric paint, gorgeous shot cotton applique pieces from Reece Scanell, English paper piecing templates, stamping foam, printable silk sheets, silk sari strips (to make cords from), aluminium for mixed media and some fat quarters: including Pure, Comma, Zen Chic, Urban Mod, a little Flea Market Fancy and a fabulous stencil of old London town.  I told myself that most of what I bought is for an upcoming exhibition piece, so I shouldn't feel so guilty.....

.....and now I have to go and get some work done - I've client quilts to quilt, some screen printing to do for my work-book as well as a portfolio cover to make, then after that some items for 2 upcoming markets........good job I like being busy :)

On the Friday night I attended a lecture by Judy Coates Perez, a mixed media artist from America who shared her inspirations and her works with us - lots of inspiration there - she also had a booth within the show so we could watch her work - and she is the reason I bought the aluminium sheets....

ps - Box Hill TAFE are advertising another Diploma of Textile Arts course to start mid-year - if you're interested, have a look at their website for more information.

Press this, sew that, print this.......

Busy - loving it....

I quilted and bound the little Apple Bugs child quilt last week - I had intended quilting it with a spiral but I didn't like it so unpicked and started again....

I bought some of Sarah Fielke's 'On the pond' from Spotlight, added a couple of other fabrics and pieced a little child's quilt top which now needs to be quilted.  There was a LOT of trimming which is one of the reasons it stayed at child size.....The block is called 'goose tracks' but I'm calling the quilt 'Duck walk' - hopefully the things 'in the pond' didn't get eaten by the ducks (ok, mind slipping away here.....)

I tried a few different layouts...

The main picture was the final layout and it's now all stitched together - my husband thinks it looks 'fresh'

Some time ago we learned about collographs at school - using bits and pieces glued and shellacked to a piece of wood which is then used to print onto fabric.  I spent some time at a school friend's place and we picked up pieces from her garden and arranged them 'artfully'.  Kristen kindly shellacked my 2 pieces as we ran out of time on the day and they stayed in that state until this morning when I had a go at using them....

I used acrylic paints as it won't need to be washed - I really love the soft effect of the printing - I tried a couple of ways to transfer the image to the fabric and the best result was a little less paint, no water and me standing on the print block on a printing pad - it was recommended that we use the car to run over everything but I had visions of the blocks flying out from under the wheel and sconning one of my chooks - so standing on it was the next best option.  I'm looking forward to adding some embellishment and stitch to these at a later date.

Now I best go prepare for my classes tomorrow - a new term and a new subject for my quilty ladies - thinking about playing with colour and creating packs of fabrics to be used in blocks that will ultimately become a quilt to donate to a worthy cause....

The wedding post.....and other stuff

Well, the wedding is done - the bride looked radiant and the groom (my eldest son) looked so incredibly happy that it made me all teary - one of  the most important things I want for both of my boys is health and happiness - and my Adam sure has both.  They're really enjoying living in Wodonga (about 4 hours from where I live) and are set to make as much of their lives as possible - excellent!

Here's the happy couple after being declared 'husband and wife' and after the obligatory kiss!

Lloyd and I with our great niece.  Miss Stella is just waiting for the signing of the register so she can give Dana a wedding favour.

The reception was an absolute hoot - there was much dancing and drinking - and my youngest son Ben had a 'dance off' with Dana's nanna - it was captured on a mobile phone so hopefully it'll be available on Youtube soon :)

So we're kinda back to normal - the unpacking has been done and the laundry completed and Lloyd went back to work today....so did I....I have another market coming up so there's sewing to be done......and I sold a quilt at the last market (I was sooooo excited) so decided to finish a top I'd had hanging around too long - it's now ready for quilting and binding and it'll be available to buy from Red Hill Market on 4th May...

Thanks Heather for suggesting a border of the 'scraps' from the main piecing -I really like it.

I also had a crack at some free motion quilting on the long-arm..........need more practice but definitely getting better.....

the pink is from my chalk marking

So onwards and upwards - have to get stuck into more market sewing (cos I'm also doing the Mornington market the following week, 11th May.....)

omg Brad, I forgot to blog!!

Not really - I have been super busy and given I have absolutely no discipline when I get onto the computer, I thought it best not to 'switch on' - I have occasionally Instagrammed and Facebooked so I didn't manage to be electronic free - but I did delete all the electronic games on my facebook account as well as my new smart phone so I wouldn't be tempted - sad but true....

So the busy part - I've had another market which obviously involved making things, I've been teaching (but school hols now so no classes for 2 weeks), I've made a memory quilt for a client using clothes that belonged to her husband (and he used to ride treadlies so there was a bit of spandex - now that is challenging to work with!), I've created a more useful set of books for my home business in Excel and haven't yet transcribed all the receipts and purchases - but I'm a good way through that -  and I've had several quilts on the long-arm.  Throw in a few days of my Diploma plus homework and a day spent dyeing fabric at a class mates house, then re-dyeing the fabric because I didn't like the result and it pretty much sums up a mad month.

I haven't caught up on Blogs yet either but do intend to - I've put an egg timer in the study in an attempt to curtail the time in front of the computer so it may take a while!

Over the Easter break we didn't go away - which is the first time for many years - we usually head north in the camper trailer but this year, my eldest son is getting married so there was entirely too much to do - the wedding is this Saturday (6th April) and it was my intent to start sewing my frock after the last market - but, Sod's Law and all that - my sewing machine broke - AGAIN - same problem as before and as it was over the Easter holidays, Janome wasn't open - however, I drove off to their HQ this morning and they've fixed it - and suggested reasons why this problem occurs.  I'll be monitoring it over the next few months - the volume and the variety of the sewing I do, as well as all the different fabrics I use, means my sewing machine has to be robust enough to withstand the workload - I have to be able to rely on my tools - so we'll see.....

But for now, sewing machine is fixed...

CHECK

The beautiful silk fabric I dyed is dry, pressed and ready to be cut, the adjustments to the bodice have been made and tested on the toile, the remaining pattern pieces are ironed and the silk thread is ready...

CHECK

It's my intent to do some embroidery and artful stamping once the pieces are sewn together, but I'm going to wait to see what it needs when it's constructed. Hopefully this time tomorrow I will have a frock worthy of the mother of the Groom....