Scraps

 At the last ATASDA meeting there were some piles of linen scraps for the taking. So I obliged to clear the piles. They are lovely soft linen fabric from a dress maker with a small business. She prefers no waste being involved in her production. So of course I took too many to use until I stopped and thought deeper into what was in the bag. I decided to do a small challenge to use up in small projects , as a daily practice. I have now done 5 days and I am really enjoying the process. By limiting myself to supplies I find I can be creative with just these scraps and some thread. 

I will continue with this process until either the scraps are used up or I get tired of the doing or can’t come up with something different . Not wanting to repeat. Not wanting to add to much other fabric

Weathered

 For a January challenge with @artfromyourheart the word weather and the letter W were to inspire creativity for the month in some way. I instantly thought of weathered as in eroded, sunfaded , wind blown. So I cut five pieces of cotton, wrapped them up with eucalyptus leaves and rusty nails around copper pipes. Then I placed each on carefully in my yard. In an old watering can, hanging in a tree to be exposed to wind, on the top grate of the water tank , in the wilds and amongst the weeds. 

I left them for about 4 weeks and when opened I was really surprised that they all look fairly similar. There is no way to really distinguish them. They were all sprayed with water to start with.

Collaboration

 This is one of two pieces I am working on for an exhibition for ATASDA Qld. It is a segment of a painting that I was given and participants have to recreate their section in any surface embellishment / techniques they choose. This is 10 x 12 inches. Each piece will be backed and combined jigsaw style into the larger piece. Collaboration. 

I have had this for awhile but was slow in getting started but once I did it was really enjoyable working out dimensions and colours to get it as near as possible to the tiny image I was given. Looking forward to seeing them all together and how my wee pieces fit in their assigned spot

Fabric Vessels

 This morning I spent a lovely few hours @artfromtheurbanwilderness with Paper Artist Sandra Pearce. Wee bowls made from paper and fabric. The paper was thin such as the tissue from paper dressmaking pattern and cotton scrim. I will stitch into them to further embellish and add to the story already forming with each. Images of moths , houses , lines and botanicals merge . 

Perfectly Imperfect

 After a week on vacation at Mooloolaba beach where time spent with head down poking amongst the rock pools. I find I am picking up broken pieces of shell and bleached coral segments. These have a perfectly imperfect beauty. A fragment of what they were , worn to a smooth other. Ripples and folds , oddly shaped now as formed from a turn of the edge of the shell. 

I made a shell necklace fire a little person. I added two pieces to to worn twined silk I made for around my wrist. They clink together with their own sound. Two pieces of shell from the ocean. I wonder where they started life and how long ago were they a protective home for a creature. How long before they would have been worn down to grains of sand

Finishing

 Last day of 2022 and I am hoping to finish this stitched piece either today or tomorrow. The texture is what I was aiming for and as usual the back is as textured and as interesting as the front. A mix of fabrics, cotton , silk , and synthetics of varying types including some sparkle. Hand stitched all over to give the ripples of fabric and will be embellished further with some embroidery stitches. The ripples are like marks in the sand after the waves have washed over. 

Look Inside

 I started this piece by stitching a round mandala. Then as it was such a slow mindful process I started thinking of the house with 5 rooms. So each point on my ‘compass’  became symbolic of one of the rooms. These being social, emotional, spiritual, physical and cognitive or intellectual. Each day each of these rooms need to be attended to. I try to do that in some way. 

Doing some yoga stretches or poses , going to Pilates or a walk, drinking a glass of lovely cool water, reading , researching , slow stitching , chatting with friends either face to face , in text or email , are some of the things I turn to in order that these rooms of mine are attended to. 

I continued on with this theme and actually added a roof to my house where I stitched some of the practises of body , mind and spirit which I have either read , dabbled with or practice and attend to in my life today. These are ancient eastern, Celtic, or Greek origin. Archetypes, astrology, yoga , chakras . 

This is for an exhibition in Sydney in March so I am only showing details .