Family tragedy

We have had the most terrible week. My husband and I drove for three days to Byron Bay in northern New South Wales for a two week holiday. We had only been there for three days when my brother rang me at 2.00am Wednesday morning, to tell me the dreadful news, that my sister had died in tragic circumstances. Our world fell apart. We turned around and drove home again. We still can't believe it happened, she was only fifty five, way too young to die. Her husband is shattered as are we. She was the most loving and caring sister you could ever have. Life will never be the same again.

Exhibition continues

We had a one off Wardrobe in the Garden exhibition last Sunday, but due to bad weather we had to move into the gallery at Lillico. Cathy, the owner has very kindly let us leave our things there for another two or three weeks, which is great, so if you're anywhere near Warragul in the next two weeks they would love to see you, there are some great things for sale, including lots of Patsy Worledge one off coats and bags as well as scarves and cuffs made by Dot .

part of my jewellery and bag display

a few of my bags.

Below is a king parrot who visited our bird feeder this morning.

Thanks for stopping by and for your lovely comments, they are much appreciated.

Wardrobe in the Garden

We're having a mini exhibition on 

Sunday the 27th of October at 2.00pm at Lillico Glass Studio, 243 Lillico Road Warragul

The exhibition will be a part of Wardrobe in the Gardens in the beautiful gardens at the gallery

Coats, jewellery, bags, felted clothing, eco dyed garments are just  part of the goodies on display.

The Gallery is also conducting a High Tea

we'd love to see you there

a very big thanks to Jacky Williams for taking on the task of organising it for us

Thanks too for all of your comments and kind wishes in my last post, we are safe at present as we live in Victoria, New South Wales is our neighbouring state, there are no boundaries where fires are concerned, many of our fire fighters are in NSW helping, it's all hands on deck when disaster strikes our beloved country

It's on again

I'm not sure how many of you have been watching the news and if you even see it in other parts of the world, but Australia is under fire again, literally, this time in NSW. It's still only spring and New South Wales is having it's worst bush fires in decades. High temperatures, hot northerly winds and no rain are making conditions impossible for fire fighters to get the fires under control, they predict they could last for weeks. So many homes have been lost, fortunately there's been no loss of life to date, we can only hope that continues. If you are able to help the Salvos are doing a great job http://salvos.org.au

More photos of the devastation can be seen here on the ABC's news website.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-17/nsw-bushfires-in-pictures/5030166

Torn between two loves - at least

Many years ago I used to dye wool and fabric  with natural dyes, gum leaves, onion skins etc. refusing to touch commercial 'colourful' dyes, but that was many years ago. Now I'm torn between the two I love the brilliant colours that can be achieved with the commercial dyes, but also love the thrill when I open a bundle of plant dyed silk. India Flint has mastered this art to perfection over the years and has named it Eco Dyeing, I like to call mine 'Pot Luck' as it does greatly depend on the pot you use and where the water came from. I've had a really bad flu bug this past two weeks and decided to spend Saturday over the eucalyptus dye pot. I'm not sure if it killed any bugs but it certainly helped clear my head. Following are the results.

these are the bundles after steaming

I couldn't wait for more than a day to open them, these are sections of the cloths. I left one unbundled.

these are some of the commercial dyed results, I even dyed some white buttons

I'll be cutting some of these fabrics, laces and doilies up and making colour packs like the ones below to add to my Etsy, as well as using them in current projects.

Finally, this is what I'm working on at present, it's a commissioned piece that will be a concertina book. I'm depicting Monet's garden for the background. There will be many layers.

the background fabric was all shades of green, I've coloured some of the flowers and added free motion leaves and willow branches. I still have to work on the bridge.

my dyed yellow buttons have become flowers, I still have lots more stitching, beading etc to add.

Thanks again for visiting and commenting, I'll try not to take so long before I post again.

Decorated papers and last chance to sign up

I've been busy making more decorated papers for my next batch of journals. These were made using mainly my own hand carved stamps and stencils, found objects and the Gelli plate. I used A2 paper and overlapped the designs for added depth and layers. 

I hope to have some more hand made spiral journals in my Etsy shop shortly.

this was made using an egg carton that holds 15 eggs, its a smaller design than the dozen egg pack.

this one was using my hand made foam stamps building up layers

I used a plastic cake plate that came on the base of a cake from the supermarket and a sunburst stencil

this was a combination of a few of my hand made foam stamps

I use a variety of paints but I LOVE the Golden fluid acrylics, they're so intense and some are very transparent.

Don't forget this is the last week you can sign up to 21 SECRETS. It's all about journalling, so much information and so many great videos. 21 teachers for a special price of $49

Check it out HERE

Thanks so much for visiting and for your lovely comments.

SALE

Just letting you know that registration closes on October 1st 2013 for

21 SECRETS

the workshops continue until January 1st 2014

the usual cost is $59 but it's now on special for $49

this is even greater value, 21 teachers for $49

The work being created by the students is fabulous

If you'd like to join us please check out the link HERE

I can't show you what I've been working on as it's for publication but I can show you a few photos of flowers in our garden, it's Spring, my favourite season.

orchids in a pot

the daffodil - my favourite flower of all time

more orchids, they do so well in our garden despite never getting any attention

the oranges this year have been delicious 

Two weeks ago my husband and I went to the Botanical Native gardens in Cranbourne, we'd never been there before and we were most impressed. They represent the different regions of Australia all in the one garden. There weren't that many flowers out as spring had only just started but it was delightful all the same.

the arid outback

the creeks

the tropics

the many water ways

as well as the regions of Australia, they also had ideas for private gardens and lots of quirky 

sculptures everywhere. There's also a fabulous natural play area.

garden entrances

small garden

glass and metal

there were quirky, painted watering cans everywhere

They also have some great examples of plants for your region and emphasise plants suitable for low rainfall areas

I love the pink colour of these gum nuts

'shall we dance'

they also have a lovely cafe, garden shop and function centre.

Thanks again for visiting and don't forget 21 Secrets last chance.