Birthday Party

Today Ebony went to a friends birthday party and the theme was Halloween (what else)
She decided she wanted to go as Dracular and this is how she looked.
She had a pair of fangs to put in her mouth but they wouldn't stay put so she wouldn't smile for me.
She looked quite good with the fake blood on her chin and the black cape that I made for her and all the other black clothes.
Please take note of the straightened hair--that is another story and I won't even go there.
She did have a good time and said it was good without the fake teeth because she may have swallowed them when she was eating.

Why don't little girls have princess parties anymore?

Three more birthday ATC's

This week I received 3 more ATC's from the Birthday swap that Kate North has been running.
The first two have been on a little journey of their own and have been travelling for over a month and they only had to come from Victoria (Australia) and the other one is from the US.
I still have four to come--one I know for sure will arrive as the lady contacted me personally this week but I think that I will be lucky to get the last three which is very dissappointing seeing as these ladies had their birthdays earlier in the year and they have received all their cards.
I find it hard to understand why people enter into these swaps knowing fullwell that it is a year long committment and then don't follow through.
The problem is we haven't heard from several of these ladies for quite sometime now and it is not hard to figure out what they are up to.
Oh well I suppose it takes all types to make a world but at least I can look at myself in the mirror knowing I have played my part.

From Pauline B

From Joy

From Dove

That's my rant over and done with on this matter but I will think hard before I join something like this again.

A milestone day

On Monday our car decided that it didn't want to live with us anymore--well it was tired and needed a rest really-so it was decided that we should take the plunge and get a new one.
Stephen has been sick with the flu and he didn't want to be bothered going over to the dealers to look at a new one so he said "why don't you go and buy one".
I don't think he believed that I would do it but I did.
On Tuesday I wrang the Hyundai dealers to ask a few questions about any deals that they may have and before I knew it the sales lady was on our doorstep to let me have a test drive.
I drove back to the dealers and went in to get all the information to take back and discuss with Stephen.
She drove me back home and waited while Stephen and I discussed what she had told me.
We have talked about getting a Hyundai Getz for over a year now but we had put it off while our old car was still going.
Anyhow to cut a long story I came home having signed on the dotted line to get this lovely shiny white car which we picked up today.
Do I look happy --you betcha and I am so proud of myself for doing it.




There will be no stopping me now

A Row of Little Ducks

Talk about over achieving ---this is week 35 in the TAST 2 challenge run by Sharon B over on Pin Tangle and it is new on her blog today.
Lately I have been behind and playing catch ups but today I decided to get stuck into it straight away.
The stitch is called Spiked Knotted Cable Chain stitch --say that fast ten times if you dare.
I am calling it the row of little ducks stitch--if you tilt your head to the right you will see what I mean.
If you follow the link you will find out how to do the stitch.






I have decided to use a different fabric to try and correct the wandering all over the fabric problem that I have been having and it seems to have worked.
It makes a difference when you can count the spaces easily--duh.
At the last Embroiderers Guild exhibition I picked up a little bundle of even weave fabric pieces and this is what I am going to use in the future--I think there is enough to finish this years challenge.

TAST 2 Week 34

Week 34 on TAST 2 saw us doing Buttonholed Double Chain Stitch --another interesting stitch.
I had a problem doing the right hand side of the stitch in the beginning but it all worked out in the end.
I think I am going to have to draw the two lines that I have to follow on the fabric as I seem to always veer off to one side all the time.
While I am doing the stitching I think that I am doing a straight line but when I have finished I have strayed off line a bit.




If you want to see how the stitch is done drop into Sharons blog.

TAST Week 33 Lock Stitch

All done---This weeks stitch is Lock Stitch on the TAST 2 challenge on Sharon B's blog Pin Tangle.
This is the last of the four stitches that I had to catch up with.
Again I hadn't seen this stitch before and I am happy with how it has turned out--in fact I am sure this one will get used in the future.






Now seeing as I am all caught up I will be able to look Sharon in the eye when I see her next week.

Week 32 Shell Chain Stitch

Week 32 was Shell Chain Stitch which I think is quite pretty really and easy to do as well.
I am using Perle cotton thread which had the label missing but I think it is by Anchor.

Only one left to do now....

Number Two----2 to go

Week 31 was Raised Close Herringbone Stitch in the TAST 2 challenge.
When I first saw the picture of this stitch I thought it was Fly Stitch but it isn't.
I did the third one in a thick silk thread just to see what it would look like.
I don't normally use Silk threads because they get caught on my hands but this one was easy to use.

Only two more to do.

One down three to go-----

Would you believe it --I was four weeks behind with the TAST 2 challenge run by Sharon B over on Pin Tangle.
It is amazing that when you miss doing a couple of stitches how hard it is to get back into the swing of things.
The weather in Canberra has turned nasty again-back to winter-some of the outer suburbs are even reporting a light fall of snow-----brrrrr--but it is a good time for me to catch up.
Week 3o was Eastern stitch---one that I have never heard of before but an enjoyable stitch to do.
I did the row in two different sizes mainly so I could recognise at a later time just how it was worked.
I am not sure where I would use this stitch but at least I know how to do it now.

Now for the other three-------------

Paper Arts Day

Yesterday our Paper Arts group at the Guild had a play at a technique that used PVA glue- watercolour paints and 0il pastels.
Usually I have problems when I am doing "art"techniques because I cannot visualise the finished picture.
But this time I took a leap of faith and bounded head first into the project and I was surprised at how easy it was.
I started with this picture which was from the front of a birthday card-----------







I then converted it to black and white-----------------






Next I had to do a colour wash over the black and white picture with watercolour paints and then rub over with oil pastels to add texture to certain areas.
This process was done several times to built up the colours-------







In the next two pictures you can see some gold hilites.
These two pictures were started before the above one because I had to draw around parts of the picture with PVA glue and then wait for it to dry---------------

Once the glue was dry I painted with the watercolour paints and the oil pastels until I was happy with the colours and then I ironed gold foil over the glue parts. .

I am happy with the results.

Floriade 2010

Floriade is held in Canberra every year for 4 weeks from the middle of September through to the middle of October.
I hadn't realised until this morning that it would end on Sunday so we had to don our walking shoes and head off for a look before it was too late.
The weather has been magnificent this year with plenty of rain in August and the flowers have shown how much they have appreciated it and the sun has been fantastic for most of the 4 weeks.
I was surprise that the flower beds were still in full bloom and the display of colour was glorious.
This bed had a border of black Pansies which had black Tulips behind it--so striking-----------------






There was even a display of Bluebells which looked like an English countryside scene----------

Everywhere you turned there was colour-----------------

Red Tulips------------------

This flower bed went as far as the eye could see--------------------

I love the reflections in the lake--------------------

Here is one with a flower bed in the foreground-------------

A gnome in the Tulips-----------------

Every year they sell these gnomes and people can sit down and paint them and they are then displayed around the trees in a small section of the park.

When the festival is over you can then go back and collect your gnome.

This section was painted by children under 6 years old.

The money that is raised goes to a local charity---------------

For the last few years there has been a sand castle that has been built in the shape of one of the buildings in Canberra.

Last year I think it was the War Memorial and this years one is of the Old Parliament House.

The work that has gone into building this and maintaining it for a month is incredible.





I love Floriade especially when the weather is perfect.

ATC Birthday swap

This year I have been involved in a Birthday ATC swap run by Kate North.

There are 32 of us in the swap and each month we send an ATC to the people who are having a birthday in that month.

In theory when it is your birthday you will receive 31 ATC's-one from each of the other members.

Here are the ATC's that I have received so far--I haven't named who they are from mainly because it was so time consuming arranging them and scanning them that I decided to take the easy way out.





There were people from Australia- the UK-the USA-New Zealand-Spain-the Netherlands and Germany.





As you can see the techniques are varied---------

There is patchwork -needle felting-stamping------

Mixed media------

and collage---------

and beading-------------

This has been an enjoyable swap and I am glad that I have been involved.

Giveaway Winner

Recently I entered a giveaway run by Carol on her Silk Ribbon Embroidery blog and I was lucky enough to be the winner.
My prize arrived about 10 days ago on the day we were setting up the Guild exhibition and I was so busy with all of that stuff that I forgot where I put it.
Yesterday as I was putting stuff away I found it again-thank goodness as it has so many wonderful things in it.
I must apologise for some of the pictures because I scanned them and they don't always turn out as good as I would like.
Firstly there is this print on satin fabric-it is so delicate and I can't wait to use it.







Next there were these hand dyed trims and some beads etc.----------





And then these silk ribbons and threads---------






Thank you Carol I will try to make something very soon or else I may loose them again.

Next Years Calendar Page

This is the third year that I have participated in the "Wrapped in Paper"(our local card making shop) calendar thingy (can't remember what it is called).
What happens is that we put our names down to make a page for next years calendar.
There are 12 people in the group and we each make 13 pages that are for a specific month and there is a set theme to the pages.
This year I am in the group that has animals as our theme.
When we have completed our 13 pages we return them to the shop and the lovely ladies who own the shop then take a page from each of us and make them into a calendar for us.
I know what you are thinking -why 13 pages when there is only 12 of us?--well the 13th calendar is for the shop so that they have a copy for themselves---
I was given the month of November and I chose horses as my animal for two reasons---
one was that in Australia the Melbourne cup is run on the first Tuesday of the month.
This is the most famous horse race in Australia and is known world wide and we have horses competing from all around the world----
The other reason is that I have had this horse stamp for several years and have only ever used it once before.
There can't be a better reason than that can there?
This years I decided to make it simple and I am happy with the way it has turned out.
Oh and if you are wondering why there is a lot of black space at the top of the page--well that's where the spiral binding goes to keep it all together.

If you want to see the page I did last year go here---------