Project Bag

 I finished this small bag today. The embroidery on the front is four wee humble weeds that were growing on the verge over my front fence. One is a dandelion , one is a grass with seeds but not sure of the others.

The fabrics are vintage, recycled Japanese fabrics that a friend of mine @merodybuglar bought me back from Japan six years ago. I have quite a few small pieces but have not touched them , keeping for best, too good to cut into, saving for later etc.  So now the perfect project. The lining is so beautiful and soft. The front even has a small repair on the top right square. The cord is a vintage thin tape that has a vine stitched down the middle. 

So easy to make and I am certainly not a bag maker. I will make another one for a friend who is retiring at the end of the year and maybe a Christmas swap for ATASDA .

Earth Mother

 Yesterday I participated in a wonderful workshop with @zuzu_and_me in Eumundi. Erzu is a wonderful tutor and the day was filled with meditation, herbal teas, gentle guidance, quiet reflective discussion and a tasty lunch.  I have done wet felting and needle felting with the embellishing machine but not hand needle felting. So this was a very inspiring day with lots of ideas to do more work in this technique. My doll is reflecting the earth mother coming out from the lava of a volcano . Here I was thinking of my mother who was passionately interested in land forms, rocks and in particular volcanos. The three circles in the front are seeds , from Jacaranda  pods that I have lately been investigating through drawing and stitching. So this Earth Mother has come to spread more seeds on our rapidly threatened earth. Three for each of my girls and there is a small one for my petite fille, Harriet. 

As we stayed in Noosa for the weekend it was lovely to see the last few installations remaining on the foreshore walk to the Noosa National Park, for an exhibition , Floating

These were amazing large hanging , fabric jellyfish. I did not get the artist’s name so if anyone does I’d like to be alerted so I can give credit to them

Finding Texture

 I have stitched up this wee textile piece and pulled up the Threads to get some texture into the random placement of fabrics. All found as scraps , some Indian silk, scrim, cotton patchwork fabric , batik and silk. Laid down and then stitched across or round and up and down pulling gently until it all came together. Very freeing from the need to be neat, with corners meeting and ironing as you go. I am really enjoying this play with fabrics and stitch to make textures. Overlaying with sheers  and lots of folding and scrunching to get it all to fit into the space.

Jacaranda month

 I have been collecting fallen parts of the Jacaranda tree on the footpath outside my house. October in Brisbane is definitely Jacaranda month. For the rest of the year I hardly even notice them as they lose leaves and the green foliage when they do have leaves is fairly fine and spindly. There is a painting in The Queensland Art Gallery of a beautiful scene around a wide spreading Jacaranda. I believed the staff scatter  the purple petals around its base on occasion. 

There is also the message for students that if you haven’t started studying by the time you see the first Jacaranda in bloom it is far too late for you. Especially true around UQ campus where jacarandas line the ring road along the river. 

So I have arranged the petals, seed pods, seeds and stems. Looking, looking planning to sketch, draw , paint, press , smudge into paper .