July TIF finished

Here is my finished Crazy Quilt block for the July TIF challenge.
I have had a hard time getting a half-way decent photo of it because of the subtle colours---they weren't playing the game properly--the lime green was too bright and the gold butterfly decided it wanted to be orange.
No matter where I tried to take the photo (out side or inside) it just didn't look right---so after taking over thirty photos I gave up.
This is the closest to the real colours that I could get.

I was not too sure about the colours when I saw them on Sharon's blog but I really do like them now that it is finished.

Now to catch up on all the other things that I have to do--this seems to be my favourite words at present--catch up--catch up---catch up.

Karate Kid 3

Ebony has started to learn Martial Arts and she loves it--she has been going for 7 weeks---and tonight we got her a uniform.
I know I am biased but don't you think she looks wonderful?
Of course I will have to take up the hems so she won't trip over.
Mr Miyagi would be proud of her----wax on----wax off.

July TIF Crazy Quilt block

It has taken me 2 weeks to try to get the colours right for this months challenge and I'm still not sure --but if the TIF police come a calling to get me I'll pretend that I'm not home.
The colours that my computer read were ghastly and I checked some of the other TIF members blogs and they have each seen so many different colours to what I am getting--I know the colours are only a guideline for us but I do want to try and get it right.
Mary Ann tried to help with a scan of what she saw but that only made it worse (thanks MA for trying to help)--so anyway here is what I have come up with.
I saw a yellow gold-an yellow green--a taupe--pale blue and a slate grey/green colour and after all the bother I can honestly say I am happy with it.

Now I will have to rush in and embellish it before the next one is ready.

Rush--rush--rush.

Three Cards

Just a quick drop by to show you these three cards that I made at a workshol last week.
I love the colours in these cards as they can be good for both males or females.

I think I will have to take a break from Paper arts for a while and concentrate on my fabric stuff before I get too far behing.

Memes and Awards

I have been tagged this week by several people for a meme and an award.
Firstly the Meme---I was tagged by Paula for this and I have to let you into a few of my secrets.

1----What was I doing 10 years ago--

Well I was still working selling Bernina sewing machines.
This job was a dream job for me in the beginning--all the things that I enjoyed were all in one place--sewing machines-overlockers-fabric-threads-books well what more could one want--
a better boss would have been great.
I would have stayed in that job until I died(I loved it so much)but if I had stayed there longer than the 2 years that I did it probably would have killed me in the end.
Too bad some bosses don't know how to value good staff isn't it.

2---Five things on my to do list today---

OK it's a bit late now for today as it is 8pm on Saturday night here in OZ so I will say for tomorrow---
a--go to church
b--go to the machine embroidery group at the Embroiderers guild
c--do some work on my Studio Journal
d--get fabric ready to make my CQ square for TIF challenge
e--try to get to bed before midnight

3--Snacks that I like---how long have I got to tell you.

I like Potato chips--chocolates--fruit--cheese on toast--ice cream cones----------etc-etc

4--Things that I would do if I were a Billionaire-----

Well the obvious would be to pay off the houses that my 2 eldest children have and I would buy one for my youngest son and Ebony to live in and I would give them some money for extras as well.
I would put money in a trust fund for my 4 grand daughters.
I would give money to my church to pay off the money owing on the building.
I would probably keep some for myself just in case and the rest would probably go to charity because I have all that I need in life.

5--Places I have lived----

a. Burnie in Tasmania
b. Yass in NSW
c. Canberra which is the capital of Australia and is in the ACT .

Well that's it for the meme

Now for the award---------
I was nominated for this award by both Paula and Tricia.
Thank you to both these talented ladies for nominating me for this award.




The rules for receiving this award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated.

I am going to be lazy and not nominate anyone because there are too many blogs that I enjoy to just nominate 7 of them so feel free to join in if you would like to share your secrets with us.

Studio Journals online class

I am doing the online Studio Journals class with Sharon Boggan through Joggles.com and we are into the second week already (the third week is due tonight) and I haven't posted anything here before about what I have done so far.
I have been a bit slow getting into this as I have been snowed under with other projects but I have had to bite the bullet and put pencil (and glue) to paper and start.
I am only showing you a few of the things that I have done so far because most of it has been a lot of journaling --writing down the why's and wherefore's etc of what I wanted to achieve.
I have uploaded these photos back to front so you will have to either scroll down to the bottom and read up or just read on as is.
The second week is all about colour I have cut out a picture and pasted it in the middle of the page --surrounded it with paper cutouts of the colours that are in the picture and then chosen DMC threads in the same colours---







This is a page that I coloured with watercolours and then placed a scrunched up piece of cling wrap over it and let it dry--giving a page of fractured colour----

These are a couple of samples I did last year on Yupo-- done in watercolours and salt was added to create an interesting background.

In week one we were given a Van Gough picture to draw in black and white and then describe what stitch we would used to embroider it.

My only comment is that Van Gough would have nothing to fear from me if he were still alive today.

Another thing we had to do were some rubbings---these were done with a graphite pencil---the first page is rubbings of tree barks and concrete---

This page is rubbings of some of my mother's glass dishes that I inherited and the basket in my sewing room is the one in the top right hand corner.

When I first started this class I was a bit afraid that I would not be able to keep up with what I was meant to be doing but I really only have to in the end please myself --it is not a competition just a learning experience.

As I was looking for something today I discovered lots of note books where I have started to take notes and drawings of projects that I had been working on and not realised that I have in the past been doing just what this class is about --now I will be able to keep everything in the one place--so I have learned something already.

ATC's

Several weeks ago Susan asked Ebony and I if we would like to trade with her outside of the Cyber Fyber swap--well of course we said yes and our Atc's from Susan arrived today-----
The one on the left is mine and it is fantastic---it looks like she has done it with machine embroidery and a soldering iron.
The one on the right is Ebony's and again it is beautiful---thank you Susan.






These are the two that we sent to Susan----
Again the one on the left is my one that I sent to Susan--it is made from scraps from a class that I did years ago with Ken Smith a great Australian Machine Embroiderer --and the other one is Ebony's which is made from her first piece of machine embroidery and she has added a bow and a button to it.

Thank you Susan so very much for the swap as I know how busy you are these days.