Beading on the back seat

Beading this month has been on the back seat as the shift to the new house has happened. My friend Liz's dad died on the 6th so her family came up and stayed in the old house. It meant that neil and i moved over quickly to the new house and over the weekend that Liz was here the rest of the furniture was moved in. Neil ended up staying the week so he moved lots of things over. This is Liz and I with her daughter Ashley - on her way back to the Navy after the funeral.

Neil and I then took Liz out to see the Christmas shop and visit the walkway in New Plymouth. It was a glorious day in Taradise.

Also our family has visitors from Scotland. My dad's cousin and wife are here after 15 years so it is really neat to see them. We are quite amazed as Watt is not a real traveller so for his first overseas holiday coming to the other side of the world is really incredible.

We went for a drive around our mountain last weekend and here is my family at my sisters caravan by the beach. Her son took the photo as he did not want to be in it.

September done

As you can see September man is done. I realised as I was completing him last night that I forgot to leave the turn under for the edge so I will have to remember to cut the next one larger. I had lots of ideas for putting embellishements and fringes and other beads on him but he just worked out simple. My month has been complicated enough with Building my new house www.didi-house.blogspot.com and yesterday was a daylight saving sleep in day and then a flood in the kitchen so last night's stitching needed to be simple.
I love the printed background and over the next week I am going to be trying out some others for future use.

Getting Started

I have made a start by printing the background fabric with my computer and halfway through ran out of black ink so think i will change tacks and do the october page this month. I was doing a page called "Blackout in the Naki" as we had a game of rugby here in New Plymouth with our national rugby team "All Blacks" and they played against the Samoan team. It was an amazing evening with 22000 people mostly wearing black in the stadium and the effect on me was tremendous. It has been a long time since I went to a national rugby game (1989 in Twickenham, London) and I think I have found a love for the game again.

My piece this month instead will be the"New beginnings" piece and I am hoping on saturday to finish the machine work to the background so I can then bead it. Not certain if I will have sufficient interesting beads but the seeds will be a careful selection of greens and some browns.

Getting Started

September has arrived and I have had some many ideas for the first page that I have spent time journaling them as I am trying to move into my new home as well. See my blog for the house on didi-house.blogspot.com
This month I have also been to an exhibition by my mum's cousin Janet which has her amazing dolls and other things with some embroidery - that she came to my night class to learn. It was really exciting to see her faces added to bodies and also that she has managed to use the stitches in miniature (not using wool and a crowbar needle).
I have experimented with printing the backgrounds for my pieces and have found that my printer is not too bad but I will have to get some white material as the calico turns everything a bit dull.
Tomorrow will be a scan for the second page so I can print the background and draft out the final version.

Joined the Bead Journal Project

This week I discovered that my application to join the international Bead Journal Project by Robyn Aitkens has been accepted. This is to do a beaded journal page (project) once a month for the next year and it starts in September this year.
Today I walked to town and on the way home went into the Percy Thompson Gallery. They had the Frances Hodgkin exhibition from the Field Collection and I gained the inspiration for the first journal page. I want to do a series with faces as I have purchased soem little crazy faces from Queenstown and think they would be great for a feature to carry through the series.

Beaded Tassel class

The Empress tassel class is due to take off and I am looking forward to teaching the girls how to make a very elaborate tassel.
The tassel has lots of sparkle and fun as a number of crystals are used and we have splurged by purchasing swarovski bicones in 4mm sizes with lots of lovely finishes. I have to make the kits up over the next two weeks so here is getting ready.
Diane

Lucy - Art Deco Gatsby Gal

This is Lucy, the latest of my Art Deco dollies or Gatsby Gals. I have been kintting and selling my dolly brooches for about six years now and the Gatsby Gals are the ones I do now.
The dolls come with different coloured faces (white, pink or gold) and some have a felt cloche hat or a beaded headdress.
Lucy has gone to a lovely home as she was sold to a wonderful embroiderer at the recent Hastings Embroidery Conference.

Flora - No 3

Flora (goddess on the left) is the Roman goddess of flowers and life is never dull with your adventurous and restless spirit. You are always on the move and seeking a new challenge to pit your wits against. Being in touch with nature you love the outdoors. You have keen intuition and a desire for knowledge and you can be something of a crusader. When you apply discipline and tenacity to your energetic mind then leadership positions are easily available to you.

The goddess on the right is my mum's and she is lovely - a real sea maiden. We finished these godesses during one of our breaks at Oakura Beach during the summer school holidays in January.

Thera - No 2

Thera - Untamed, wild "Greek"Life is never dull with your adventurous and restless spirit. You are always on the move and seeking a new challenge to pit your wits against. Being in touch with nature you love the outdoors. You have keen intuition and a desire for knowledge and you can be something of a crusader. When you apply discipline and tenacity to your energetic mind then leadership positions are easily available to you.

Thera was finished in late 2007 and entered into the Regional Embroidery Exhibition in Palmerston North. Thera was developed around the cabachon and became the wonderful goddess in gold and mauves that you see here. Her hair is untamed in a refined manner as befits a goddess of her standing.

Pele - Name

Pele was named when I made her due to the wonderful red and yellow fabric.
Balanced and fair-minded you possess the ability to use sound reason and judgement when determined and decisive action is required. Persuasive and logical Pele is an influential figure in Hawaiian mythology. She is adaptable and this is necessary due to constant life altering decisions of her fiery nature.

Pele - 1st Goddess

I went to a Class with Christine in Hawera mid 2007 and Pele was the first goddess I made. I took three pieces of fabric that were similar and the first three goddesses are the result of this workshop. Pele came about as her fabric was predominantly red and orange with lots of red and orange beads that I had to work with. She reminded me of the first volcanos I ever read about at primary school which were in Hawaii and Pele who was the Hawaiian Goddess of Fire and lived in the volcano.

Here is Pele with her hair done with a friend from the class.

Pele has her skirt attached and she is rather sassy and modern as she has a belly button piercing as well. The fringing at the bottom is nearly complete using a mixed bag of feature beads. The beads and material of this goddess reminded me of the firey nature of volcanos and fire.

I hope that you enjoy her picture of her complete in all her finery.

Pele has since had an adventureous life with being entered into the Stratford Art Society show as well as being shown off at several Embroidery meetings.