By sion, on February 3rd, 2009%
n because I haven’t written the list yet so I don’t know how many there are.
#1 is my baby girl, all Big and off to her first day of kindy today.
Everybody survived, too. She even got a sticker, which says “Good Work!” and which she was pretty chuffed about.
#2 is the arrival (FINALLY) of the new adapter for my laptop, so no more struggling with the constantly-crashing dinosaur of a desktop.
#3 is the concurrent arrival of my groovy new toy.
  
Is it not cool? Or maybe HAWT? I didn’t even know the handle swivelled when I ordered it. ~$25 at dealsdirect if you want one.
#4 is that the plumber FINALLY came today to look at the hot water system. Cactus (no shit!). Needs replacing (glad it’s not my money). Too late to do it today (bum!). Since I’ve been restricted to pommy washes since I discovered it peeing water all over the laundry, in the middle of a freakin heatwave, I wasn’t exactly overjoyed. I can (and did, several times) wash my hair in cold water, but I suspect that immersing my entire lardy self under an icy shower might result in an ungainly demise, especially when it’s about a billion degrees in the shade. He reckoned there was enough hot water left in it (even though it’s been turned off at the fusebox for 2 days!) to get me a shower if I turned the tap back on temporarily & just dealt with the laundry being flooded. Fine by me, so that’s what I did. I would have gone to mum’s to grab a shower over the weekend, but I was told the plumber would be rocking up when he was finished the job he was doing Sat morning – major wires-crossedness there – so I had to stick around. Getting hotter and sweatier and more revolting. So, I’m clean, I boiled water again for the girl’s bath, and the plumber’s bringing a new hot water system around at 8am tomorrow. The 8am part isn’t so groovy, but he’s cool enough that I can probably handle pretending to be human before coffee.
#5 is the hangers I’ve been meaning to photograph & post about since I bought them just before xmas.
I’m not sure what they’re supposed to be for, but logic suggests it’s some form of textile hanging. I think they’re from Nepal, or maybe India; I got them from the same woman I bought the nifty bamboo hangers yonks ago. Whatever they’re intended for, you know they’re going to be used for quilts … I told her she should load up on them next time she goes over, & show them to the girls in at Connie’s. Did I mention that they were under $10 each?
There. 5 cool things (8 really, if you count the hangers separately!). Life isn’t all bad.
By sion, on March 26th, 2008%
I should spend more time out on that balcony. I probably would, but for the spiders and the relentless mosquitos. I used to spend a LOT of time out there when I still smoked, and then for a while there we were having regular quilty sessions out there, but the bloody insects have taken over. I got et alive getting these pics. Standing on a ladder, mind, fending off stingy things and opportunistic spiders and an overeager ladder-shaking preschooler. Anyhow.
By sion, on March 25th, 2008%
By sion, on March 6th, 2008%
so here’s the loot. An assortment of gorgeous silk bits & bobs, some lutrador (finally, yay!), and some inks (moonshadow mist etc) from the Threadstudio, and some wee shiva sticks & rubbing plates, angelina & textiva, and more silk bitzers from Unique Stitching. Oh, plus the jar of adhesive beads Connie’s just got in stock – I’d seen someone using them in one of Bonnie McAffrey’s vidcasts, so I twisted Connie’s arm a little when a rep came in showing them. I dig being in the shop when reps come through (I’m not sure she’s as impressed lol).
So, since the sproglet seems to have (touchwoodtouchwoodtouchwood) got over the upchuck stage, I might be able to have a play soon. Maybe just a little play before I get stuck into the posters for the quilt show.
[ETA] oh, and I totally forgot to mention the duckbill scissors that Lozzle got me! Another tool I’d been thinking about (if I think about an embellisher hard enough, you reckon somebody will up & bring me one home? What about a wide format printer? lol). Tres nifty. Now I have to learn how to use them – I’m rather keen on the idea that they help prevent accidental snipping of the wrong bits of fabric, but I haven’t quite figured out how that works. If I ever do get around to trying the wholecloth false-trapunto freemotion bas-relief-esque ideas I imagine they’ll be super handy.
By sion, on January 27th, 2008%
By sion, on January 21st, 2008%
so, you know I’ve been working out ideas for a series of works about fairy tales, and I keep going off in directions or coming up with ideas that present challenges I have no idea how to tackle. I’ve gone from a series of regular wallhangings (which may still happen) that are pretty much illustrations even if slightly subversive, to more 3-d forms that are sort of a cross between art quilt & costume & sculpture. In trying to think of ways to express what I want to with the 3D forms – mostly that the central character is almost invisible, it’s all about the externals (that in most cases she just passively endures), who does what to her and most importantly what she’s wearing (think about it, there are always far more descriptions of her clothes than of her) – the idea keeps growing.
I was just thinking about one construction method for the Cinderella bodice (on the loo, of course, as you do), and randomly thought that method would be easier if the pieces were bigger, and suddenly I’m imagining these giant, larger-than-life constructions that in some ways would convey a lot of what I’m thinking. Big enough that it would throw you back to a child’s perspective to be looking up at it, like being 5 and staring in absolute wonder at a fully-kitted-out bride (who are basically the same creature as the princesses in the stories, let’s face it). Anyway so kind of a thing about larger-than-life, awe and desire, and at the heart of it never being able to truly inhabit that magical dress, be that princess, because no human can. The reality of any dream is always less sparkly and more mundane, and you have to be quite grown-up (or healthy) to recognise the realer kinds of magic instead of getting depressed about the death of belief in fairy tales.
Anyway, so THEN I caught myself creating a wee imaginary animation involving a small girl looking at a bride/ball gown and being sort of blown around and throwing her arms out and growing as she spins up until she does indeed inhabit the dress … something about maybe you CAN inhabit the dress of your dreams so long as it is your dream and you embrace the changes that help you grow into it, I think.
And so then I’m thinking of those larger-than-life pseudo-dresses that nobody could fit into, the ones that the invisible fairytale princess is wearing, and thought wow, it would be so freaking cool to have them be part of an installation that captured faces from viewers, applied effects to and projected them into the empty princess from behind … no clue how to do it. And probably out of my financial league. But I’ma keep it in mind just in case I figure out some nifty way … and maybe meantime I need to work on the regular pictorial wallhangings so by the time I get to making the 3D forms, supersized or not, I’ve honed my ideas a bit. And meanwhile I’ve just “wasted” an hour or more thinking about the things I can’t do instead of doing the things I can … <G>
By sion, on November 23rd, 2007%
By sion, on October 30th, 2007%
By sion, on October 23rd, 2007%
 last week I went off to teach a workshop for the Long Flat Quilters, leaving my girl with her Nana. She’d only ever been away from me for one night before, so it was a bit nervewracking for all concerned, but by all accounts she was marvellously well-behaved and uncharacteristically biddable. I suspect the fact that Jungle Book was released (and, of course, purchased by doting grands) during my absence rather tempered any missing mama she might have begun to feel.
 The ladies were great, and my hosts were really lovely. I was a bit nervous re staying in some random stranger’s house in the middle of nowhere, but they were just terrific.
The days were a bit hectic & I somehow managed to end up with only a couple of photos of student work – and since I was having trouble with mum’s camera, even the ones I got are less than perfect. Others were taking pics, so I’ll have to beg copies.
I did get quite a few shots of the countryside, though, mostly taken at lunch on the last day & on our way out; I’m uploading them to flickr as I get them processed. The rust-dyer’s paradise in the front paddock, the river at various spots, the property I stayed on and the one which hosted my poor city car, hills and trees and wildflowers and so on. Here’s a wee sampling:
By sion, on October 3rd, 2007%
is what’s going on in my head. Mostly the last, of course …
I have a deepseated love of 3D/sculptural work, whether it be largely illusory (light & shadow as influenced by one of Dijanne Cevaal’s lovely lace-inspired hangings, for eg) or the bas-relief effect of wonderful quilting, the flowing of flat planes into 3D space (recent examples spotted include a marvellous village freestanding artquilt seen on someone’s blog – if I remember where I’ll link – and a similarly curvacious screen made of jarrah threaded onto steel wire), all the way up to & including fully 3D sculptural work. Sometimes I wish fabric was as easy to form and shape as clay – I spend a lot of time fooling with pieces of fabric as if it were clay, smoothing and tugging and stretching and twisting, but I’m usually unsatisfied with the results (it is fun, though). Years ago, I was involved in a 3D challenge on the Alternative Quilt List – I’m sure you’ll be just shocked to hear I still haven’t completed any of my challenge pieces lol – and I’m still captivated by the whole notion (others weren’t; a couple of people unsubbed in a huff that made me pull my head right in & hardly ever dare to speak up any more). Perhaps that’s why they’re still incomplete. I know I’ve picked up skills & ideas over the intervening years that I either didn’t know about or would have disdained for some half-assed arrogant-ignorant purist reason (heh – I vaguely remember yapping about fused applique back then, how embarrassment), and there are also products available now which weren’t then, and I’ve mostly recovered from RUINING THE LIST!!! so maybe it’s time I started thinking about them again.
However incomplete, my dying dryad is hanging on the wall at home. I still love her face, and the idea(s) behind her, and I still occasionally buy/collect something with her in mind, but I suspect I need to start over. I started practicing making machine lace today, a form of which would be perfect for much of her body … but unless the silicon spray I left at home (of course) turns out to stop the frickin washaway sticking to the machine bed I can’t see me persisting with it. Shame, because it would also be marvellous for the seafoam on the nereid as well as the folktale/fairytale pieces for which I was actually trialling the lace, so I will try to overcome the issue. I was astonishingly even-tempered about the balky washaway, yay me. I hope it DOES turn out to be feasible, because I’d really like to try incorporating shapes cut from silk or dryer sheets or silk paper etc.
 Yabber yabber. I do go on. I actually started this intending to blather about these folktale figures. They’re as much to blame for my blogging absence as that shitawful flu, to be honest – I always go quiet when I’m hatching something. Or trying to lay something perhaps (sometimes it definitely feels like something’s gotten a bit wedged in the metaphorical cloaca, if you know what I mean). Anyhow so it’s all tied together, the above loves and incompletions and what’s in my head. I’d been sketching & obsessing about cinders & snow white & the handless maiden & rapunzel for months, and just couldn’t get started. A comment I made on Joanie san Chirico’s blog got me back on that 3Dish track – I said “sometimes I think hanging a quilt flat against a wall is like shoving a sculpture into a corner” and started thinking about that old challenge. Then, serendipitously, we scored two of the mannequin torsos I’ve wanted for ages (mostly for jewellery display), and THAT got me thinking about my folktale girlies. A certain small blonde person absconded with the torso that was up here (she ended up with watercolour facial features painted on her neck stump & painted nipples, a towel pegged around her to hide said nipples, and a handful of knobbly blue yarn for hair. “The sister” spent a week or so being very bossy. Why yes, my darling girl IS weird! lol) so I sketched and thought and looked and scribbled notes and thought some more. I’m still thinking, but I’m moving more toward doing … I’m not sure which side of the torso/quilt seesaw these pieces will come down on, but perhaps it doesn’t even matter that much.
 btw – anyone have any idea at all what this bird is? Looks like a mutant pigeon, bit bigger than the average flying rat though. Crashtackled the unfinished flyscreening on sis’s verandah, was eventually set free despite its best panicky efforts to avoid assistance from the horrible two-leggers.
By sion, on August 31st, 2007%
 I don’t spend nearly as much time just sitting around outside since I quit smoking, so my days of charming the birds are pretty much over – nowadays I just toss suitable scraps out & have a bit of a chat when I see them. Happysacks next door is a smoker though, and a pair of kookaburras obviously heard about his largesse from the magpies. I’m a bit worried about the mess they’re making of the rail fence: I do hope it’s their toes doing all the damage, not their beaks, because it’s made of those treated green logs that seem to be poisonous to every living thing. Anyway, said fence is between us & the park, and they were in residence when missie & I went to play on the swings yesterday.
 I’m always surprised by how bloody big they are up close, especially given the dainty stature of the sacred kingfisher. The camouflage thing gets me too – I mean, you look at a buff-bellied bird with dark wings & tail & head, a honking great oversized beak, and blue flashes on the wings to boot and figure there’s no way they blend in with any damn thing … and yet sitting in the shadows on a jacaranda branch, I’d have had trouble spotting him if I hadn’t already known he was there.
By sion, on October 31st, 2006%
 spent a few days at the folks’ place. Originally intending to do some printing and to build a bench for my microwave, but it turned out dad had reformatted his box (this is why I need a laptop! heh) and the timber I had in mind wasn’t suitable. So I did some beadstuff with mum instead. I think I got about 7 bookmarks done, which upon reflection seems a fairly pitiful effort. Must have been too busy talking and sleeping – it really is nice to get a chance to nap without worrying that I’ll wake up to chaos & disaster (I woke up surrounded by grated cheese and biscuit crumbs here the other day, because somebody else woke up from our nap first).
Anyway. Saturday’s girls are about ready to start quilting, although Sandra had misplaced a bird and a frog so hopefully has found them & will stitch them for homework.
   Finally got some pics of Kempsey’s beautiful magic tree. I used to live over the road a ways from this tree, and despite having fallen in love with it on sight I’ve never gotten a photo. I’ve only lived here for most of the last ten years now, and have to drive past it every time I go see the folks … anyway. Isn’t it marvellous? The fence is fairly new, and I love that they built around the tree. It’s going to wind up in at least one work, now that I finally got my pics.
 Painting the other day was enjoyable. I tried a view from my balcony and it was immensely ordinary, so I tried including el chasing bubbles around and that was just heinous, so I went back to basics and did a still life. Ordinary but satisfying.
By sion, on July 17th, 2006%
as usual, every time I go looking for something I get sidetracked down a multitude of intriguing alleys. I did however stick mostly to my task today thanks to the discovery of plantnet. Ultra cool – you can search for plants by area, and by that I mean you can search by state, region, council region, national park etc, town name (and variable radius) OR lat/long. Plus there are other searches, like all the swamp plants in the region say, or all the lichens, or whatever. Very impressed at how well it works (in fact, I just emailed them to say so).
Anyway, have I ever mentioned how very much I love botanical illustrations? Love, a lot. Looking at these has given me some interesting ideas for … something. Not sure what yet, but probably a series of wallhangings or something. Who knows if it’s got legs, but the pictures in my head are pretty …
I’m hoping that faunanet, which I just now found (naturally, AFTER including a stupid “don’t suppose there’s a fauna equivalent …” query in the email), is as useful …
if not, other tabs I have open include:
|
|
CHITCHAT