Another Year Older----

Well here in OZ it's New Years Eve and I was pondering on where the last 12 months went to.

I have achieved a lot creatively this year and made lots of amazing new friends in Blogland.

Can 2010 top this?----I doubt it --but I will wait and see.

I would like to wish everyone who drops by and reads my blog a "Happy New Year" and I hope everything that you are dreaming of comes to fruition in 2010.

Now I am off to finish the ironing and then I have to give the place a good cleaning ready for the new year.

Like my Mum told me--"A dirty house on New Years day is a dirty house for the rest of the year".

Gee I wish I could forget that saying.

UPDATE********

It's 5.30pm and I have finished the cleanup--all is done--spick and span--now to enjoy the fireworks at midnight.

Hippie Who--Hippie Shoes

I got these Birkenstock shoes for Christmas --more power to the flower!!
When we were in Melbourne at the beginning of this month the Birkenstock shop was around the corner from where we were staying and each day when I went past I would look admiringly at this pair of shoes---well not this exact pair but you know what I mean.
I have always wanted a pair of Birkenstocks but they were always a bit expensive(I thought)
Finally I said to Stephen "I know what I want for Christmas"and I took him around to see them.
"Are you sure you want that pair?" he asked -"What about the ones next to them"
"Nope" said I "I want those ones".
My family think I am trying to be a Hippie but I don't care because I love them and they are so dammed comfortable-and to hell with the fashion police.
Anyway I was meant to have them because there were only 3 pair left in stock and one of them was my size--yippee.

We had a great Christmas the food was excellent (was there ever going to be any doubt?) the company was great and it rained--not bucketting down rain-no- just gentle rain--for three days

it has rained-the grass has started to green up and today the sun is out.

The tree against the garage was covered all over with beautiful orange flowers on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day half of them were on the ground like an orange carpet-but they still looked beautiful.

I can't remember when we had one day of continuous rain let alone three days of it.

Ahhh who wanted to go outside anyway--Ebony and her Dad got themselves a Wii for Christmas and our daughter and her husband got themselves one also and Stephen and I just swanned around enjoying each others company.

Now I am about to do some sewing--like real sewing--like I am going to teach Ebony how to make herself some clothes so I have to cut the pattern pieces out (I hate that job) and get it all ready for when she comes out.

Like wow man!

Peace on Earth---

I would like to take this time to wish all the people who drop by my blog (whether you leave a comment or not) a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.
May all your wishes come true and may you find peace and happiness at this special time of the year.
And why not make the time to go to church and maybe we can all pray for peace in this troubled world that we live in.





Merry Christmas everyone.

November swap

In the small group that I belong to we swapped brooches in November instead of ATC's.
Here are the ones that I received------
Top left one is from Ann--top right is from Carole---- the bottom left bright pink one is from Debbie and the bottom right is from Annie.
They are all so different and I love them.




This is like the ones I made to swap with them and again totally different from the others.

We aren't swapping in December or January so it will be February when we start up again.

I love this group as everyone does totally different work so you never get two of the same in a swap.

December Calendar Girls

This is the final postcard for the year and it has come from Susan .
The calendar for this month was chosen by Neki and if you go here you can see the card that I made and the original design that we had to use.
Susan has used silk fibres embellished them onto black felt.
If you would like to see what the other girld have done please click on th CG badge on the right and it will take you to the group page.




This will be the last of our Calendar pages as the group has decided not to continue on next year.
We have all become involved in other things and there comes a time that we just have to move on.
It has been a lot of fun and I am glad that I was part of it because I have made some wonderful friendships from this group and hopefully they will continue on in the future.
Merry Christmas to all the girls in the group and I hope that whatever you do next year you enjoy yourself and grow in your creativity.

A Gift

Back in November Jacqueline had a giveaway and even though I was not the winner she generously gave gifts to all the people who left a comment.
This is what she sent me----a 5x5inch work of art--made from embellished wool-angelina fibres and stitching.
It is beautiful Jacqueline thank you very much.





She also included this lovely ATC as well---you are very generous Jacqueline.

But wait there's more

Today I received this lovely Christmas ATC from Maureen and I thought it was amazing that it is purple as well--fits in great with my colour theme this year.
Thank you Maureen.




I also received my December postcard from Diana for the Fabric postcard for stitchers group.
Thank you Diana it is beautiful.

This will be the last postcard from this group as it is closing down in January.

My mailbox has been full

Firstly here is the page that I sent to Ati for the December Fibre Fever swap.

Ati's theme is Cottage Gardens and I sent her a page made from the embroidery that I had finished earlier this year to enter in the Guild exhibition.

It was always my intention to make this into Ati's page when it was my turn to swap with her.

The picture was printed onto fabric and I embroidered some of the garden flowers.

And here is the page I received from Janny and she has done a very colourful butterfly for me.

We only have 2 more pages to swap and then we can make our books up.

Next to arrive was this postcard for our November swap in the Fabric postcards for stitchers group-from Liz and she has called it "it's nut gathering time".

Don't you just love his bushy tail.

Finally the December postcard from Wilma for the Fibre Fever Christmas swap

I have shown previously the cards that I sent tp Wilma and Liz.

It's that time again--again

This year "Anorexia" has her royal dress on (if you don't know about Anorexia follow this link).
All fancied up in purple and gold but this year there are no trinkets -just baubles and tinsel.
This is a big break with tradition for us but what the heck she has been laden down year after year with the same stuff and I thought she needed a reward for all those years of service.
I have been accumulating the purple things from the after Christmas sales over the last few years just for this moment.
I give you "Princess Anorexia"---------------

I even redecorated the front door wreath with purple and gold and I think it looks wonderful.

Even got into the colour theme myself as I was doing it.

And just for fun when I had finished I took a swoopy photo.

Now it feels like Christmas.

A present for Ebony

I forgot to show you yesterday this smiley face button that Kate had made for Ebony
The faces were printed onto fabric and she made it up into this button.

But there was a secret hidden inside ---Kate had folded up a $5 note and inserted it inside the button before the back was attached.

Ebony was so fascinated to think that someone would do this for her and she managed to retrieve the money without damaging the button and I am going to make it into a brooch for her as a keepsake.

What did I do in Melbourne?

-------Well to start with I went to visit Dot whom you all know as the creator of the original Dotee doll.

We went and had lunch at a little eating place on the foreshore at Mornington.

And I have to admit I had the best fish and chips with salad that I have ever eaten.

Later we went back to Dot's place and I got to meet her famous kitties that she mentions regularly on her blog and I swear they are humans from another life.

I got to see all the lovely things that Dot has received from all her blogger friends and also some of the wonderful art that she produces.

But the best thing of all was that I was able to purchase one of these beautiful pieces for myself.

You really have to hold one of these treasures in your hands to appreciate all the work that goes into the making of them.

So many tiny stitches and beautiful Swarovsky beads --I just had to have one of them (pictured above)

The other thing that I did was visit a new friend that I have made over the last 2 years.

Kate owns Buttonmania which is a wonderful shop that sells buttons.

But not only does she sell buttons she has also has a business that covers buttons and belt buckles.

Most of the top designers in Australia use her services to cover buttons etc for their fashion garments.

Well-- I spent 3 afternoons in her workroom watching as she went about the business of filling all the orders that she had.

Here is Kate and George who works for her.

The machines in the front of the photo are used to cover the buttons.

Kate is making a belt for a client.

I offered to make up some Crazy Patchwork packs of silk fabrics for her to sell and was I in fabric heaven?---you betcha.

There were pieces of fabrics that would be at least $150. a metre and I just fondled them.

Before Kate purchased the button business she was a wonderful dressmaker and so she had boxes and boxes of pieces of fabrics-nearly all silks--drool-drool :-)

I wish you could have all seen me playing with these fabrics--like a kid in a lolly shop.

I am sorry that the photo of Dot's collage is in the wrong place but somehow it got deleted and I had to reload it onto the blog again-and if I tried to move it to where it should be-then you wouldn't be able to click on it to enlarge it.

We're back-- with a story to tell

We have just returned after having an enjoyable week away in Melbourne.

The weather was great-the food was even better and to say that I had a wonderful time would be an understatement except for one thing---------------

THIS

We stayed in a lovely apartment right in the centre of the city-we have stayed there on several other occasions and have always been happy.

This time we were on the eighth floor facing onto the busy street with trams dinging on their way up and down and they didn't disturb us at all.

There were lifts to get us up and down without any trouble--until--Thursday.

When I was leaving to go shopping (again) early on Thursday morning I was informed by a staff member that the lifts weren't working at present.

"For how long?" asks I.

"It won't be long" was the reply.

"Well how do I get down to the ground floor then?" I asked seriously.

He opened a door and pointed at the above (photo).

"You're joking "says I.

A blank look came back at me.

"I am nearly 70 years old" I said "and you expect me to walk down there?"

OK so getting down wasn't going to be a problem really--but--

"When will they be fixed?I asked.

"Oh it won't be long--the mechanics are doing it already".

Fair enough--so off I went.

When I reached the ground floor sure enough there were the mechanics standing outside the lift door talking to a person stuck inside the lift.

"It's only one of the cleaning staff"says a mechanic--

I thought-- she may be only a member of the cleaning staff but she must be scared out of her wits.

Anyway off I went shopping and returned about 90 minutes later---the b----y thing was still not working.

Stephen was still up in the room so I phoned him and said I was going to come up the stairwell and if I wasn't there in about 10 minutes to come looking for me.

After much huffing and puffing and stopping and sitting down on the stairs -I made it to the eighth floor.

Phew !!

At about 1.30 pm we were going down the street to catch the train out to my sister's for the afternoon but discovered that the lifts were still not fixed.

So off we went-down the 8 flights of stairs passing people lumping suitcases up the stairs and people with prams and kids as well-(I discovered later one poor lady was going to the 11th floor).

When we returned at around 9 pm the lifts were working--well sort of---.

We had a security fob key that you had to swipe after hours to get the lifts to work(supposedly).

Ours didn't work (but it had before).

By this stage there were about half a dozen people trying to get the damn thing without any luck.

We got out and off it went up without us.

Stephen refused to get in it again and he headed off up the stairwell--me I thought no I am going to wait for someone else to come along and go up with them.

Sure enough a gentleman arrived who lives in one of the apartments and he pushed all the right buttons and off we went up to the 5th floor and then it started to go down again and stopped at the basement.

The gentleman told me I should get out as it may take it a while to start going again.

Now that's a lot of help--I now had an extra flight of stairs to climb.

Well I started climbing--I could see a funny side to the whole saga.

Halfway up I heard Stephen calling out "are you down there Doreen"?

Like where else would I be?

I finally made it to the eighth floor and puffed my way into the reception area which happened to also be on the eighth floor and told the poor bloke sitting in his lovely soft chair that I was not impressed.

Now I know it was not his fault but I had to lash out at someone didn't I.

When I went to the room Stephen presented me with a lovely bottle of wine that the little man in his cushy chair had left for us as a "gift".

Not much use to us--we don't drink.

The next morning everything was back to normal--I got the little man in the cushy chair to get on the internet to confirm my seats on the plane to come home on Saturday morning---and I gave him the bottle of wine--and he was happy.

Lucky him.

Oh and I will go back and stay there again because it is such a wonderful place to stay.

Oh and by the way-each flight of stairs consisted of eight steps- a landing- and two steps and another landing and eight steps and another landing.

Calender Girls postcard for December

I know I am early with this postcard but we are going to Melbourne for a week and I wanted to get my blog all up to date before we wnt.
The December calendar page was chosen by Neki and I thought if ever a picture said "use the embellisher" this one did.
It reminds me of my "swoopy" photos that I took when I was in Perth in August this year.





This month I had to send to Sharon and I know she has received it already so I am not spoiling any surprises by showing it now.
The reason I sent it off early was to beat the Christmas postal rush.
The background is black wool rovings embellished onto navy felt and then I used wool fibres to form the outer circles and I ran it under the embellishe to blend it all together.





This year we have had a variety of pages that really tested us but at least we can end the year with one of the easier ones.

Postcards sent

The first postcard is my November one that I made for Liz on the Fabric postcards for stitchers group.
The background is another sample that I have used -this one is from my embellisher course with the Thread Studio last year.

The next one is a Christmas swap on the Fibre Fever Group and it has gone to Janny who has already received it.

I make a Crazy patchwork background in creams and golds.

Finally my December Christmas postcard swap with Diana on the Fabric postcards for stitchers group.

I made this one on the Embellisher.

I have decided to get them all done early this year so that I will have December free.

I hope everyone is happy with them.

Tomorrow I will show my last Calender Girls swap for this year.

Fibre Fever swaps for November

I received this needle felted page from Marja for our November swap on Fibre Fever.
It is so well done with circles of wool felted to the background and so many tiny beads scattered all over it-plus the cut out butterflies--I love it.
I think Marja has a blog but I can't find any details about it.





I had to make a page for Margreet whose theme is "with a song in my heart".
I used a stamp to print the heart and the music notes that wandered through the heart.
I hand embroidered the heart and used the sewing machine to stitch the music and then added French knots to the music in the appropriate places.
The cream piece of lace is from a collar and the black is some antique lace that I had .

This is the 11th swap so far from such a lovely group of ladies.

Oh My Gosh !!!!

Several weeks ago Carolyn had a give away on her blog and I was lucky (and I really mean that) enough to be the winner.
Well yesterday when I went to the PO box there was this big parcel waiting for me--it wouldn't fit in our normal PO Box so they left a key in it so I could go to another box and open it to get my parcel out.
I was dumbfounded when I saw this package inside the box.
I wondered what on earth could be inside.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

3 big packages filled to the brim with the most wonderful treasures I have ever seen.

This one was full of Autumn tones--fabric-- papers--fibres--beads--ribbons--embellishments--all there waiting for me to caress.

Then there was this purple one--yummy purple of every shade-tone or whatever it is called.

Again-fabric-papers-threads-ribbons-beads-ephemera-oh the joy----

A close up------

Some hand painted papers-(sorry about the photo but you can get the idea of what it is like)---

Another purple packet-----this one had purple wire in it and silk cocoons and some gorgeous purple flowers with glitter (in the bottom right hand corner)

A close up of the hand made beads and silk cocoons---

Now when I won the give away I thought that I was winning this gorgeous little heart.

I ask you --Am I the most lucky girl to have won this wonderful-amazing prize.
Eat your heart out Janet B--all this purple stuff-----

I bet Australia Post didn't see this little beauty tucked away inside.

Christmas sure has come early at my place.

Thank you so much Carolyn you are indeed a most generous person and I will treasure every little item in this wonderful gift.

Brooches

In our small group who swap monthly we had to make brooches this time and it was Caroles choice.
I decided to use some of my sample pieces from an online workshop that I had done earlier with Lynda and Carol M.
Originally the base piece was orange but I decided to add some Starburst sprays to give it a more rustic look.
Several years ago I had made some one inch tiles from cardboard and covered them with serviettes to add colour and then I added clear UTEE to give a glossy finish.
I decided to add these to the background pieces.
I glued a small one on top of the larger one and then glued these to the base.
Next I wound gold wire around them to join the whole thing together.
I then backed each one with a piece of black felt but you cannot see it because I had to sit them on a bigger piece of black felt to get a better picture.

Four are now on their way to the other ladies and one is mine.

Stitching for Carole

Several weeks ago Carole from NZ asked for bloggers to help her by embroidering a small 5" x5" piece of tea dyed fabric which would be included in a quilt.
I said I would love to and so Carole sent me the fabric and the thread to do it.
The reply that Carole received from bloggers world wide was amazing and she has started receiving the little stitcheries back already.
I posted mine off yesterday and I just couldn't wait any longer to show what I did.
Sorry Carole but I told you not to look didn't I.
The first photo shows you a cropped version of what I did.
First I stamped my image on the fabric using a Fabrico ink pad and I started embroidering with 2 strands of the embroidery floss--this is the centre section--but I thought it looked too bulky so I tried one strand which is the stitching on the left and decided to do it all with one strand.
Carole told me I could use other colours as well,which I was going to but then I saw how lovely the one colour looked on some of the others that she had already received I decided not to.




Here is the finished block and I have used Stem stitch-Lazy daisy stitch and French Knots for the embroidery.
I stitched a border around the flowers with two strands of the floss working it in Stem stitch and I also added my initials.

When Carole sent the fabric and threads I was amazed at the envelope which she had decorated.

On the front left hand side was this lovely stamped image---

And on the back was this wonderful stamped verse.

Carole also included an ATC as a thank you gift for doing the stitched piece.

It was my pleasure to do it Carole and I hope that you like it and it fits in well with the others.

By the way if you want to see some of the others that she has received already just follow the link above.

November Calendar Girls postcard

This months calendar page was chosen by Jenny and she selected an Arthur Rackman page called Fairies in Hiding.
I decided this time to concentrate on the title not the picture.

The outer background is made from Silk cocoon strippings which were coloured with Starburst Sprays.

I tore the centre section out and added a fabric picture of a fairy in a garden.

I added more colour to the fairy using Twinkling H2O's which gave the piece some sparkle.

I am sorry but the sparkle is not obvious in the scan but you can trust me it is there.

The machine made cord couched around the fairy is to represent the tree roots.

I hope Pippa likes it.