Things are Finished

I forgot to post the picture of the Xmas decoration that I swapped last month. The person I swapped with was Ina from the Netherlands and she did not have any preference for colour or design so I was free to play with my stitching. I really enjoyed this little decoration and think I will make a few more for Christmas presents.

Decoration sent to Ina for Swap=Bot

This photo is the coathanger and dishcloth that I made/ finished for the recent Arts Festival for Woman's Instittute. I got a first for my coathanger but nothting for the dishcloth which I am currently using.

My next finish and Beaded Journal Project finish is my bracelet from a kit by Carol Wilcox Wells entitled whirling pinwheels. It was my challenge to finish it in april before we went to Hawaii but I have now finished it in time for San Francisco. This is My March piece for 2012 so I am only two months behind but keeping stitching and beading on lots of other things.


The finished bracelet.



detail of the pinwheels which i loved doing.

May 2011 BJP done

 May 2011 BJP piece completed. This project had stalled after april's but inpiration was gained from our recent creative stitchers meeting where we talked about the theme "Power and Protection". We then constructed a felt image of the protecting eye used in many belief systems. My next piece will be the :Power piece and then comes the evil eye.

Below are the five months of this project done so far starting with egyptian eye (january), precious eyes (February 2011), jealous eyes (March 2011), red eye (April 2011) and Protection (May 2011).

Five months completed.

I feel strange that i am still naming these as the months but that helps me keep the project in line. My book is filling with all the thoughts that revolve around each so i am hoping it will be a nice table cetnre piece at the end. These pieces will go to Christchurch in July for the Extensions exhibition at the ANZEG conference.

Holiday catch ups

Adding the beaded face.

It is time for the end of the school term and holiday time. I have six days off this time and busy completing my entry into the national exhibition. I am busy getting all the elements stitched and added onto the base goddess. Hopefully I will be completed by next thursday when I go back to work. Soduku has been getting a couple of squares stitched each day so I have finished 5 sets and onto the 6th set of nine stitches.

Also I have been completing a few other jobs over the past weeks. I made 4 baby bibs (with one to complete) so that is a job of the list. I have my notebook to make for our trip away - we have tickets to the ice hockey in New York but no trip up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty.
I have my cake mixer fixed (not doing to badly for something that is 30 years old) and purchased a pizza stone so that is the next cooking element. This afternoon I am going to try out the Tarte Tartin recipe from Masterchef as I have a suitable dish now.

On the book front I have been listening to the new audio books from the public library. They come on a little MP3 player and really great to use. Have another which is on CD's so that will take a couple of days to listen to but makes the beading and hand stitching go faster.

The bike riding has started and I am off this afternoon for a 20 minute ride around town while I get my confidence back. Hopefully I will be able to keep it up. Certainly I am more confident in changing gears and using the hand brakes. The weather is not very conducive to riding bikes but it will improve as we move nearer to spring and summer.

Holidays are busy!

We are in the midst of our winter holiday so the weather started off not great but for the last week it has been fine days and minus temperatures overnight. Still a good excuse to sit in the conservatory and stitch.

Last weekend mum and I travelled to Hamilton to see the exhibitions for the ANZEG biannual conference. I was slightly disappointed in the number of entries particularly in the miniatures and members and hoped that many entries were not judged out of the competition. The variety of work in the junior members exhibition was phenomenal and I was really excited by our junior tutors news that next year our group may be moving into town and that will give me an opportunity once a month to share with them.

I purchased a couple of books – one on inchies and making backgrounds so I am inspired to rejoin swap-bot and see what’s going on. The other was the new one from Effie Mitrofanis, an Australian embroiderer, who I think has a wonderful way of combining colour, techniques and textiles to produce some exciting work.

I have also finished another cell phone dangle for my sister for Christmas and this made me finish the cube that I had nearly done. This was another kit by Laura McCabe and I have to say that they are the most delightful kits with plenty of seed beads so you can be a bit picky with them if you want.

the laura mccabe cube that i have finished. as usual I had to change something - the crystals in the corner - i did not like the colour of the ones provided so I used some of my own and will use the others in another piece.

March month is coming along for beaded journal project so this year has not been so successful with completing pieces but I have April’s mapped out in my book so that is good and I have mounted one piece already although I have to put a few more beads on the January piece to make it fit into the page opening.

School has been busy with things going on and I think there will be job changes for all in the offices at the moment so that will be an exciting time ahead. I have also been doing the advert so hopefully tomorrow I will have the last advertiser on board and that will be a great thing. This will be the first year that the cost to the school is less than half so that is good news. Jessica from our local paper is lovely to work with and she has lots of great ideas for layouts, etc which are exciting.

Exhibition entries nearly there

My two exhibition entries for the Regional exhbition are nearly finished. i have used the book cover done in the Anne Brocas class for one entry and have to complete the book mark tonight before I go to wellington for the weekend.
The other - my goddess for creative stitchers needs more beads sewn on and her hair done so I am quickly posting this and running for the evening.
have a great labour day everyone.

signed up and ready

I have signed up ready for the 2010 BJP. Yeah me making a committment early.
Had a great week - we had snow again on the hill (Mount Egmont) and it has been bitterly cold as well.
Mum and I have started the Heart of the Cabin project for ANG and it will take a while to stitch but I have a month for the first two blocks so that should be okay. last night I took my piece of the really big stretcher bars and put it on the 18inch ones so it is slightly easier to handle.

Nearly finished the August piece for BJP and will post the picture of the little red man tonight. Tried last night but no internet.

Halfway through the making of my Autumn goddess for the regional exhibition which starts in three weeks so need to get the skates on. The leaves are all lined up on the floor and I want her out of the way before night class starts again on 19 October.

It has been a busy holidays with two trips to auckland and one to wellington with a funeral, World of Waerable Art show, El Divo concert and catching up with cousins and friends also.
diane