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my Mum won the challenge! She is so incredibly stoked you would not believe lol … first she thought Hazel was teasing her, then she got all verklempt & ran around tearily squealing that she never wins anything, and she’s still floating about a mile high tonight. I’ll be taking proper shots tomorrow of them all, but meanwhile here it is with the machine she won.

(um, excuse very bodgy “1st” sign. We didn’t think to print something out before, so everybody kept coming & nagging me to write one NOW, come on, have you done it yet? – like what, I’m the only person in the whole damn club capable of wielding a freakin texta?! lol Slightly classier sign is now printed & will be going up in the morning)

Just to prove that I did actually finish it (at like 8.50 this morning), here’s my main one (tentatively named “Betrayal”) hanging.

oh, and I had a play with some Janome quilter thing I don’t know the name of but am very enamoured of. Semi-industrial machine with an extendable quilting frame on it. I’ve never played with a longarmy type thing before, but ended up going back several times for more plays. It was well fun. I’m kind of tempted to see whether there’s anything with a slightly deeper playing area available for a similar price …

one challenge entry finished, despite having to spend the morning playing drill sergeant with people who want to drop their quilts & run, because Rene & Barbara were too polite to yell at anyone – I figure I’ve done quite enough work on the stories & numbers etc thankyou, so everyone can wait for a few bloody minutes and tell us which quilt is which instead of making us guess! lol There were a few people who’d pinned their names & the name of the quilt on, and some that at least had their names on, but there were also several who had neither and not even a label on the back to say who it belonged to. Quite apart from making more work for the poor buggers numbering the quilts, I’m kind of scratching my head at the blind faith, given how much time & money goes into each quilt … anyhow. Two people had put a quilt each in the wrong category, and we had 5 extras brought in at the last minute, and one gave her form to Connie but she either forgot or tucked it into the envelope of stuff from Colleen without telling me, and since I just took the thumb drive out of the envelope I had no idea. Oh, and somehow poor old Mary Henry’s quilts got left out. Colleen remembers typing them up, but I don’t recall seeing them, so I reckon I must have stuffed up when I was copy-pasting stuff from Colleen’s combined list into the separate A & B files (I just checked, and yep that’s what’s happened. Doh). Anyhow, so I have to get those typed & printed tonight, and the challenge stories, so I kinda doubt I’ll have time to post pics until tomorrow.

Okay. That’s enough sitting: on to the other challenge …

who needs a pincushion?

It’s pretty obvious that I’m not intending to do any serious computer work anytime soon heh. On the rare occasions that I do handstitch, I almost always do it IFOC. Or at the doctor’s I guess (official diagnosis: I have an infected eye. No shit sherlock! lol …oh well, at least he didn’t take one look & say my eyeball was going to explode). Anyway, so this is what my mousepad ends up looking like. I do actually have a few pincushions, but SOMEBODY absconds with them for use as doll pillows or to construct elaborate pin sculptures. Never seen a kid so fascinated with pins, seriously. When she was a toddler she used to go around Connie’s shop fixing all the pinned-on price tags, and you have no idea the singleminded absorption with which she rearranges the pinboard.

I’m very very tired & going to bed. SOC is coming along despite my awful handsewing. It’s kind of fun turning the shishas into little shiny suns or moons, even if you do suck at stitching – I might have to do more (assumed benefit would be a lessening of suckitude). I have a lot of work to finish tomorrow lol (well SOC is nearly finished I guess, so I’ll be concentrating on the lady with the apples).

and here tis with the overlay;

It should be no reflection at all on the how-to at Joyful Abode that it took me hours to figure out exactly what i was supposed to be doing: the fault was in my failure to go find a tute on basic blanket stitch as well. Maybe even on chain stitch. I can do a bit of ribbon embroidery and once I actually managed to do ok in a crazy quilt RR, but in all honesty my handwork sucks. Really. Hard. My handwork outsucks a Dyson.

These are the “good” ones, folks. Where “good” = “ones that weren’t quite as awful as the ones I cut off” (yes, cut, because what my stitching lacks in beauty it often makes up for in security).

Luckily they’ll be partly disguised by the overlay(s). This is the one on organza that I stamped & embossed the other day.

I kind of like the way all that text looks layered & piled up, and the flash reflecting in that mirror. I’ve got a few of the giant sequins just contained by the crosshatching so that if I get stuck waiting at the doctor’s for long tomorrow I can make good use of the time. Stupid freaking eye. I wouldn’t go until next week but I’m starting to get paranoid about galloping alien eye fungus or something.

In other news, I received a package the other day from Felicity, with the silks I won by figuring out that she was torturing a copper scourer in the name of art.

Aren’t they gorgeous? Have I ever mentioned how much I adore coppery/rusty colours? Well I do.

And now to bed. Oh hey, and miss contrarypants has started going to sleep at a … well not a reasonable hour in kid terms, but certainly more reasonable than bloody midnight or later. Eating more & better too. Who knew all it would take was 2 more days a week exhausting herself with the kids at preschool/daycare? Not only sleeping early, either, but she sleeps right through, too, instead of waking around 4am spazzing about weird preschooler nightmares.

HELP IT’S ONLY FOUR DAYS TO THE SHOW!

Got all but 4 of the “stories” (it occurred to me that these are – at least in some cases – basically artist statements heh) printed, on different backgrounds for A (bed quilts) and B (lap & cot quilts, wallhangings, other items – and no I don’t know why a cot doesn’t count as a bed). Also printed a checkin/checkout list for quilts, arranged alphabetical by maker, for the poor buggers who are handling the umpty yabbering quilters all trying to dump (and on Sat night, collect) their quilts at once. Doing all that meant downloading & learning to use a trial of PageMaker, which is as stupendously annoying as every other piece of Adobe software I’ve ever used but which eventually I coerced into doing as required, and a LOT of copy-pasting into two spreadsheets of the quilt info Colleen typed up for me so that I could then export a file for each cat to be pulled into PM, and several phone calls & emails to get missing info (sizes, mostly, or quilt titles). And then while Mum was feeding them thru the laminator to dry the ink she proofread, which meant a lot of reprinting stuff I’d managed to not notice errors on, like what I’m assuming was an overactive spellchecker on Colleen’s machine turning most instances of “Judy” into “July”. NTS: next time, print a basic list on the laser & get Ma to proofread before printing the fancy final signs. Aaaanyhoo, THAT’s done.

I helped mum (mostly held her metaphorical hand) with her entry into the challenge, because she’s one of those “BAH this is crap!” throw it in the corner type people and she has a different sort of patience/stubbornness than me so she hates freemotion quilting (because she doesn’t practise and because she can’t see well enough). So anyway hers is done. Mine are still in bits heh – BUT!

I finally figured out (at least part of) the problem with the sleeve. I have no idea why I didn’t notice/realise before: her inner arm (the lower side) should be in shadow. Why’s it so light??? No wonder it looked like some big bloopy slab of weird. Shadows painted and drying in the weakass sun. Deep shadows also painted on the apples. Bowl edges finally fused to reflection & organza – I decided against using the gossamer fuse under the organza over the reflection, because it’s nowhere near as flimsy and invisible as I’d understood it would be. Good stuff, just not for that particular purpose. So the organza is only fused on the edges. I’m going to try it for the organza shadows though. Which I should do as soon as I’ve done something about lunch – need protein! Oh yeah, and the other day I borrowed a text stamp from Connie & did some printing & embossing on organza for the other piece, and I’ve found the mirrors etc I intend to use on it, so that one might come together too.

But still.

FOUR DAYS!

and on top of that, I’m MOVING next week. Gods help me. Did I mention the crampy anticlimactic perimenopausal limboland I’ve been in the last few months, or that I have a weird mega sore goopy eye? Stupid body – get in line, I don’t have time! lol

check out these photos I took yesterday. My pics don’t do it justice at all; it was the most bizarre & wonderful sunset I’ve ever seen.

Our quilt show is on Friday week (*faint*) so I’m kind of flat out. Especially since I’m moving the following week and haven’t really started packing yet (good intentions or not, gathering boxes and buying a few giant rubbermaid-type boxes doesn’t actually count as packing). I did buy some Glen 20 type crap to fumigate the Toxic Room of Horrors before I have to go in there, so between systematic spraybombing with that over the last couple of days & using a mask (& gloves if necessary, but I hope bloody not) it shouldn’t kill me to clear it out. I spent a bit of time figuring out how to do a data merge in a publisher doc, and modified the poster background for use behind the quilt stories. I’m converting all the stories (lifesavingly typed up by the wonderful Colleen, and I’m not sure she realises just how abjectly grateful I am not to have to decipher all that chickenscratch lol) into a spreadsheet as I get them, which means not only can I export for use in the publisher doc, I can also print off check sheets in alphabetical order for the girls who’ll be taking all the quilts on setup day (and for checking off as they go out again on Sunday, naturally). We’ve got posters and flyers up all over the place, I’ve printed the menus for the cafe thingy the ladies run (sorely lacking in sausage sangers IMO, but what can you do), and I’ve taken some sunset panoramas for the big signs in the hall. Oh, speaking of the hall, WOW. They’ve put a new roof on it and the outside is all painted and looks marvellous, and they’re fixing all the wonky floorboards and polishing the floor inside. They won’t have the inside painted by the time our show’s on unfortunately, but we can cover the worst bits of wall with the umpteen metres of calico we used to use behind the quilts. I should have taken pics, because it looks SO good compared to the rather ungenteel deshabille it has suffered for the last umpty years. If the scaffolding is still up by the time the show’s on we’ll just hang last year’s quilts off it ;) We have had trouble with finding somewhere to hang the blasted banners, but hopefully we’ve got that sorted as of tomorrow. Blah blah anyway that’s the sort of crap I’ve been spending time on. El’s in preschool 5 days a week as of this week, and I feel like I’ve still not got enough time lol.

So anyway, mum’s going to enter the challenge after all, and she dyed some forest fabric in suitably midnightish colours (one large example of which I’ve nabbed for myself to make a wholecloth with; lush, I’ll take a photo tomorrow). She discharged a moon from one section and she’s done a bit of drawing & painting on the trees etc. She’s a bit nervous about quilting it so I said I’d do her a sample of how I would probably do it – I usually do a bit of sampling to warm up anyway, so why not have it be useful? Now I’m wondering why it didn’t occur to me to do a nifty reversible quilt for the challenge.

BTW, have I mentioned how much I love Bottom Line? I really love Bottom Line thread. Tis the bomb, verrily. I need to get more colours.

wrinkly apples are awkward to paint. Esp if you want them to look moonlit, leech the colour out some. Mostly because your brain wants apples to be all smooth and shiny. I’ve made life fairly difficult for myself as usual ;) Anyhow, here’s some apples I painted tonight, after I stuffed up the ones I painted this morning. They looked okay before cutting out (except for the dud at the bottom left) –>

but on placing them on the background I can see that I need to darken them some more – the one in her hand doesn’t need much (although I might cut it down a tad sizewise & then see, and it’ll need shadows from the hand), but the others should be lost in the background as much as possible. Little gleams in the darkness.

Decided to fuse the organza to the floral so it doesn’t drive me berko shifting around while I’m trying to work. Would have been great if a) I could have found the misty fuse Judy gave me (it’s Somewhere Safe, naturally) or b) I’d already received the black gossamer fuse I haven’t ordered yet (note to self: order that stuff, idiot). OTOH, I did find the black organza that I had all the time and it doesn’t have the very slight sheeny texture as the one on her reflection. This would be the organza that I was SURE I had but could not find, apparently because I’d taken it out when I started working on the text-overlays one … so it’s been in the pile of stuff on the floor I’ve been nudging aside for the last week :/ Anyway, so fused, sewn strips together, pressed, and added a very fine embroidery stitch along the join in a dull gold metallic thread, which I then knocked back just a touch with the silver-white shiva stick.

I’ve removed the inside of the oversleeve (ie, the bit that was under the wrist) until I figure out what I’m doing with it, and am testing a few scraps of sheer for shadows. One of them is a posh curtain sheer remnant I think, black & peacock shot effect, surprisingly subtle as an overlay. The other’s the very light organza I rediscovered. Now I have to figure out what I did with the ribbons I made the other night. And the combs. And make some apple(s). I did take the time to unearth my sewing table tonight. That was good. Stuff sort of grows like topsy when I’m working. Argh … I have to pack all this crap up in a couple of weeks!!!

Jodie over at Ric-Rac has summed up my ridiculous overthinking re blog memes & awards perfectly, just for the record. Especially:

I really really suck at the whole tags, awards and memes thing. I am sorry.
I mean , it is not that I don’t appreciate them. If you have given me award I thank you.

and

Is it a huge bloggy faux pas not join in? Will I be struck off the giant nice-bloggers list and put on the naughty list? Will there be coal in my stocking this year because I am so hopeless? Do I appear like a Mrs Big Head if I don’t play?

So, basically, what she said. Similar goes for non-gong praise, to be honest. Gushing doesn’t come naturally to me, and I feel like a complete nong (or worse, totally up myself) if I try to express how genuinely chuffed I get when someone says very nice things about me or my work – so if you’ve said nice things or given me a gong and I haven’t seemed appropriately grateful, know that I have actually been glowing beet-red with mute awkwardness while I overthink expressing how much I appreciate the kind thoughts. It’s very nice to have such a safe venue for “showing off” while I try to unlearn the self-deprecating habits of a lifetime, if y’know what I mean.

I’ve come down with a headcold (one which is apparently attempting to extend its bailiwick, because my chest has felt awful today), so what few functional moments I have I’ve been saving for trying to get this challenge done. Challenge indeed. The standard quilter’s lament regarding monumental stashes which somehow fail to contain the exact piece of fabric needed, that sort of thing. I didn’t like that grey hand-dye by itself, so I tried all manner of things to replace it or lessen its starkness. I kind of wanted a lace or damask runner, so I bought some lace which I thought would be fine enough, but it was too thick and clunky and yay let’s do preschool collage or something. Even painted to make it less stark. So eh, back to the stash for a few hours looking for alternatives. Found a scrap I’d tested some shiva sticks on and thought hrm, I wonder if I could do a rubbing of lace … so that’s what I did. With a very white silvery paintstick, moving the lace around so it’s got a border all round. Starting to come together I think.

I do however need to rework that sleeve. I probably need to print the photo out and look at it and draw on it and stuff, because even with shadows etc on the background I think it’s going to look wrong.

Somewhere in amongst all the searching and auditioning I lost not one but two apples for her. And I need to do more ribbons, because those aren’t enough. But mostly I need to figure out why that arm’s all wrong.

I GOT THE HOUSE!

Not nearly as much progress today as desired, but I guess it’s getting there. I need to get hold of some black crystal organza or similar – I was sure I had some, but the only piece I can find is too small. Not sure if that background is staying. I was going to go for something vaguely woodgrained, but I’m not happy with any of the dozen or so (!) woodgrain prints I’ve got, not even if I overpaint. Too saturated & warm, mostly. I’m not sure how this is looking in the photos on various screens, but IRL it’s fairly cold & blue-toned, and I need to preserve that & the low contrast. I also think I’m not going to plonk the bowl down in the middle like that after all.

I was thinking today that this piece is going to challenge me when it comes to quilting. The only justification really for this being a quilt is that I’ll be able to get some relief on the knotwork etc; it might as well be a collage otherwise. Or a painting, since I haven’t done nearly as much fiddly layering as I usually do. It might be the amount of painting & drawing I’ve done on this one that’s making me uncomfortable, but I’m too tired to figure out why & put it into words, because I find many painted quilts absolutely stunning. Meanwhile, I have had some interesting thoughts about my other wordy piece, and that’s definitely all about stitching & quilting.

well not honey really, but wax. After I griped the other week about having mislaid my beeswax, Hops (aka Birdwoman) contacted me to say that the Scot still had some around from when he kept bees. She & the scot melted it down into wee cakes, bundled it up & posted it off, and she even included an adorable ATC. Have I mentioned how much I dig the whole online-friends thing? THANKS hops, you’re a bloody legend ;)

I’m including two WIP pics today,because one is a bit more accurate on colours but the other is more accurate wrt reflections/glare/whatever. Besides, the colour-accurate one includes a pic of the very groovy sketchboard I bought at the art shop the other day. Only $11.55! I had a squizz around online and it looks like they come in two sizes, both of which would be very handy. Anyway, madame is still minus her headpiece (or more hair?) because I haven’t decided yet what she should be wearing, but I think that part of it’s pretty well done. I might do a bit more washing on the stone once I’ve got the head sorted, which hopefully will be tomorrow after the exhibition meeting. Ack, it’s the 5th already. 4 weeks!!! So much to do … I got a phone call today from the lady who got nominated to type all the quilt stories up, and (wonders will never cease) she’s already got 30+ to give me. In theory this will make my life MUCH easier, since I usually have to translate from scrawl and edit out linguistic peculiarities (yeah alright, stop laughing, smartarse) before I can start adjusting either the story or the template so they fit nicely.

re Tsukineko inks, no haven’t tried them yet, but want to. I picked out some colours for Connie to order a year or more ago, but the company stuffed up and she ended up ordering colours I have no use for. Maybe I should look into buying some wholesale myself, since she’s probably not carrying that sort of thing in the new shop. I did buy a couple of the applicator things, and tried one with the very ink-like Genesis paints we use (Liquid Radiance) for this face. Not sure I like it, at the very least I need quite a bit more practise to get used to the differences between those & brushes (and probably a less horrible fabric to paint on). Speaking of horrible fabrics: why does cheap old-fashioned satin smell like wee when you iron it? Never fails to weird me out. ugh, 4am again. Time I turned into a pumpkin, or something.

believe it or not I have actually been working, in amongst fretting about the perfect house and my son & his fiance being in town for a few days and yet another sinusy thing/headcold trying to kick my bum (I’ve been guzzling vitamins etc and snoozed away most of today in the sun, which thankfully seems to have knocked it for six). I left the camera with previous WIP pics on it over at mum’s the other day, so you just get the one I’ve taken tonight. I’m working on two things simultaneously: one is all text in layers of machine lace and quilting and so on, and the other is more my usual style of working, although there’s a bit more painting & drawing & a bit less fusing than usual. There’s not much to see if I take pics of the first one, at this stage, but trust me: sewing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth in interestingly wibbly lines across a soluble laundry bag so that you can then create lace out of text is BOOOOOORING. Just thought I’d let you know, in case you ever get a wild hair. Trust me: b o r i n g. So boying that I suspect I’m going to go with scribbling on sheers for other layers. Meanwhile, despite several hours of quilting the background (panne velvet) and freemotioning poetry on a laundry bag, there’s sod all to see in a photo.

Here however is the focal point of the 2nd piece (or at least one attempt at it; I’m willing to trial a few ways to get the very centre how I want):

The very back is taffeta lining with a thin wash on acrylic & textile medium. Face & hair are fused (a buff satin & silvery watermarked taffeta) & painted, details added with watercolour pencils & Fabrico pens. Her head looks funny because she’s minus a headpiece, and she’s obviously not got her dress on yet. The knotwork surround is supposed to be carved stone, not sure it’s convincing yet (it looks like it’s supposed to look like stone rather than actually looking like stone, if you know what I mean) but there’s time to finesse as I get the rest built up.

I’m going to see how I feel about this centre (everything but the stone) once I’ve got her dress & headpiece on & try a few layers of sheer over the top. Some black misty fuse would be handy about now, why did I not buy some months ago? Because I’m an idiot, that’s why. While we’re asking pointless questions, why do I have a peculiar sandpapery rash on my right hand? Nowhere else, just this one spot below the v of thumb & forefinger. Stupidly annoying, never seen anything like it. Anyway. Can anyone figure out what I’m up to with this? There will be a few apples and a handful of ribbons & combs scattered around that stone circle …

See this? This is my beautiful daughter bubbling over outside the house we saw on Wednesday. The house that was so close to perfect as makes no nevermind. I have ALWAYS wanted to live in a house like this, you have no idea. It’s kind of deceptive from the outside, looks a bit daggy, but the second you open the door it’s like OMG home … lovely wood panelling & timber floor in the hall, pretty timber arch thingy into the lounge, HIGH ceilings (and look at the lovely detailing!), 3 nicely sized half-panelled bedrooms, really nice doors everywhere, combustion fire in the old fireplace, big sunroom along the side (entrance from one of the bedrooms as well as the lounge), enormous kitchen/dining area (with the deepest counter/cupboards I’ve ever seen along one wall), oven in the chimney (amuses me even though it’s kind of bodgy), big bathroom, HUUUUUGE sunroom at the back with a great view of the river and town … but wait, there’s more! While the house is at ground level from the street, the land underneath it drops away pretty sharply, so the back is pretty much 2-storey. So. From the back sunroom, internal stairs down to the same-sized space below, with a concrete floor. About the same area is cemented on the other side of the house’s original exterior wall (ie, under the kitchen/bath area), with windows that let in a surprising amount of light. Laundry (large) in the corner nearest the stairs & back door. MUCH more space under the house, with worktables even. Back door opens into a perfect-sized yard – tiny by most standards, but you would not believe how perfect for us it would be. HIGH fence, and except for a tiny padlocked gate the only egress is via the house or garage. El could play with her swingset & sandpit, the cat could lounge around in the sun, and I could get it mowed (my least favourite job. No really; it’s worse than washing up – oh btw, did I mention the dishwasher?!!!) in about 5 minutes flat. On top of all that there’s a double-length drive-through grudge. And caravan-park-style powerpoints downstairs and outside. Sigh. Dudes. Sigh. Want. And Kyralie rang me last night to say that although she had trouble finding a tenant last time it was on the market, this time they’ve been inundated. Sodding WAH! I don’t think bidding wars or essays etc are the done thing around these parts, but I’d be perfectly happy to pay more pw if required, and I’ve written an email I hope she’ll pass on to the owners. An email that amounts to something like “OMG THIS HOUSE RULES I’M NICE I PAY MY RENT ON TIME AND I’LL LOOK AFTER IT HONEST, MY DAUGHTER LOVES IT TOO OH PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE LET US LIVE THERE PLEASE!” heh. Lame. I am really going to be upset if I don’t get it. I may cry. Esp since I’ve never had an application rejected until that one the other week, and two such is just going to give me a bloody great complex lol.