Leafygal

I'm still alive!

How many times have I said that I'm back and blogging again? Too many...so here goes again.

View from OG Living Room

Since I was last here we have moved a couple of times, one a temp one for about a year to my family home in Ocean Grove and now to our new, hopefully forever home, in Leopold, about half way between Geelong and Ocean Grove so we can visit both places fairly easily. We moved in last May so have been here for a year now. Still have some things to hang on the walls.

Corona Virus has kept us confined to barracks for a couple of months now - apart from the terrible nature of this virus and the devastating effects on lives and the economy, I have quite enjoyed the chance to have a quieter life for a while. I miss having dinners with friends and family, but not having to go to meetings or activities has made me more settled and calmer I think

I'm still playing with Arty Things - Embroidery and Mixed Media stuff. I thought I'd be catching up with lots of unfinished pieces but a sense of inertia has pervaded the place and I don't seem to be getting much done. Quite a few friends have been feeling the same.

Currently doing an online course at Fibre Arts two which is the group that usually runs the course that I have attended in Ballarat and last year in Adelaide. This course is Inspired by Nature - Exploring Mixed Media with Tara Axford. It involves doing some walking in a natural environment, taking lots of photos and collecting bits and pieces to give a sense of place. We made and photographed vignettes of the things we had found and then tried to create a colour palette that reflected that place. Next up to do some Gelli plate printing to create background papers for use in collage.

Farewell to an old companion

I have shared my life for the past 41 or so years with a faithful servant - our fridge.

Sadly this week, despite our prayers that it would last until we had a new house, it died.

What a lifetime of cooking, entertaining and everyday meals we shared.

It even followed us from Tecoma to Sydney, to Hawthorn and now to Geelong.

In its later years it has built up a protective layer of magnets, miscellany and nostalgia , always in excellent taste of course!

It looked awfully naked when cleared of this artistic clutter

It has, I must admit, also been somewhat eccentric in recent years - refusing to light our way inside for some time now and stubbornly filling the freezer with frost in a matter of minutes - requiring my urgent attention about monthly in Summer. It also developed a nasty habit of dripping from the underside of the freezer into whatever hapless food sat in the middle of the top shelves.

I have forgiven these quirks as its solid construction and enamelled vegie and meat bins have been a comfort to me over the years.

Time to say farewell and as I helped push it up our driveway (no mean feat as those of you have been here will attest) I patted it and said thanks to those who used to make appliances to last! (Guess whose mum had a Whirlpool!)

Welcome to our new companion! A whizz bang silver monster with vertical doors and more freezer space than I have ever had - I feel some baking and squirreling away coming on! Stock anyone - and more than one flavour of icecream!!!

Arty Stitching

Working hard since early March on the Embroiderers Guild Intermediate Certificate subject The Art of Stitch.

We are covering the elements and principles of design, and using stitch to illustrate and illuminate them. It's a lot to cover in 6 classes

First one was line and here is my little demonstration piece.

 

I had fun adding some colour variation to the grey linen background using acrylic paints.

Used a variety of stitches as we are also exploring stitch families -  using stitches in new and interesting ways. This one is not very adventurous!

The lines come from the vertical shadows formed on Uluru in strong sunlight -   would you believe?

I am planning something under the sea for my major project, hence the tendency to oceany colours

Here's Cheers!

Once again I have come back from the near dead.

This time I mean to be a much more frequent poster. (I always say that don't I?)

Problems with getting my computer to talk to the camera and the new phone left me bereft of pictures and what is a blog without pictures?

So here's a picture.

It's the final piece that I embroidered for the Embroiderers Guild Intermediate Certificate subject - Crewel Work, last year. It was displayed at our exhibition last year and was admired by some. I am very happy with the result.

Some of you will note that it is in my favourite colour - purple.

The inspiration came from the work of Charles Rennie Macintosh who lived in Glasgow around the turn of the C20th.

There were lots of other pieces of work for this subject and therein lies another reason for not blogging - time.

Now I'm working on the next subject at the Guild - a new one that has been developed by one of our talented tutors at the Geelong Branch. I'm working very hard and will share some pics and insights as we go.

 

More pictures! - Pepper the Schnoodle turns 10 today. Happy Birthday to my gorgeous girl.

About a year ago she was given this puppy and it has become one of her favourite toys.

A hot day on the driveway with Puppy and elephant.

Miss Cute on the doormat. Note that she has destroyed the mat by digging it up. We now have a new one!

She has stopped chewing shoes and furniture since ten years ago but something still has to give!

 

Still creating (havoc)

I'm creating - really!!

Just not getting any pictures in to the computer.

This morning scanned in some fabric I quickly prepared for a workshop I am leading tomorrow.

It is hand dyed (by Me) from the rainbow set we did last year in Anglesea.

I printed some felt shapes from a kiddie craft set using acrylic paint and like the result. Filled in with an Indian woodblock (the red line pattern) and the end of a correction pen (small circles)

The fabric will be cut into small dice (sorry cooking is taking over ) squares to use in fabric mosaics.

Stay tuned for results!!

Back from the dark side of the moon

I've neglected my poor blog for far too long. Although It's not quite New Year yet I resolve to visit here more often and share/record the work I am doing.

Most of the year has been taken up with things to do with the Embroiderers Guild - I am the classes co-coordinator for the Geelong branch and that keeps me on my toes.

It also led me into the joys of doing subjects toward the Intermediate Certificate course - you choose at least 3 courses over a period of 5 years. Being me - wildly enthusiastically thrown myself into doing 2 subjects in 2011 and found that a tad too much.

I am still to finish my second subject - Stumpwork - although I am not the only student on our second extension of time. We are due to hand in on Jan 18th so now Christmas is over I'll need to get my skates on, so to speak.

Until I have time to sort out photos of my year's work I'll give you a taste of my insect piece for the Stumpwork. It is a very fancy coloured beetle with purple snakeskin abdomen and beady eyes!

I have yet to paint the box a darker colour to set him off better.

To see some other stumpwork have a look here or at my teacher - Alison Cole's site

There are fairies at the bottom of my sewing box!

Here are the 3 Sweetheart Button Fairies that I made for a swap in a group called Fibre Arts Traders (FAT for short!!!)

I've  been a member for ages but haven't got into a trade before. Hope this is the first of several as they are a very talented bunch.

 

 

Each fairy has quite a different personality caused by the style of picture used for her face. The wings are a stamp that I have and are really more angel than fairy but I really wanted to use them.  The decoration on the wings doesn't show up all that well here, they are quite colourful in real life!

They will be traded at the end of the month, until then they are on display at the group site.

Catch up, or, you're never behinder than this!

Well Xmas has once again whisked by without much of a trace (a few Kilos of extra weight are a sad reminder of much merriness and jollity!)

We enjoyed a break with family at the house in Ocean Grove and are now back in the swing of a new year. Already time is passing at a fearsome rate.

Notable events so far include a new addition to the family - my brother's new baby - shown here on the journey from South Australia back to home base.

He plans to restore and run this 1965 Bedford bus for Weddings Parties and Anything including tours of local wineries and eateries. It will run as Menzies Passenger Services, reviving the busline that my grandfather used to run between Ocean Grove and Geelong.

I think it's a great idea and hope that the work required goes swiftly - I'm looking forward to winery services!

One of my more achievable resolutions this year is to devote more time to the creative side and to this end have once again joined in a "Background paper for Art journals" swap for the group Collage Unleashed. I've been working on the papers for a week, having to wait for bits to dry. I've finished my 22 pages and they will be on their way tomorrow to the States. The theme this time was Year of the Rabbit with the emphasis on Chinese New Year - hence my colours of red and gold.

Here are some samples - back and fronts. Colour looks a little washed out here. They were done with acrylic painted backgrounds with stamps, torn chinese papers and gold and red tissue collaged on.

Gold circles were made using the bottom of a container as a stamp with gold paint and a final spritz with copper coloured Moon Shadow mists gave an aged look to the fronts. I hope the others find them easy to use for journalling. It will be interesting to find out how others interpret the theme.

I can't not mention the disastrous floods in Queensland and northern NSW - the worst recorded.

I know that several friends are safe  above the flood level but are without power. Imagine the clean up that faces everyone once things get back to what will pass for normal!  The fires here in Victoria were a major disaster but I can't help thinking that the clean up of ash - heartbreaking though it was, is nothing compared to stinking, putrid and disease ridden mud.

This is truly a strange country - we struggle through droughts for years, praying for rain then the heavens open and we get back all the water that evaporated in one massive deluge. We are never satisfied, but sometimes it just doesn't seem right!!

 

Serial Celebrations continued

Dinner at  Matteo's was fabulous! Great place, great service, great food and great company. What more could one want for a celebration.

Beautiful little tastes of wonderfully thought out food made the Tasting selection the way to go for me. Included  entrees of

Carpaccio of Hiramasa kingfish, prawn remoulade, ‘shiso’ Japanese basil sauce.
Yellowfin tuna tartare & seared bonito tataki [Skipjack tuna], horseradish & beetroot sauce.
Teriyaki glazed smoked eel on rice crusted tofu, pickled plum & dashi mayonnaise.

Mains

Grilled lamb cutlets, brik pastry lamb neck spring roll, crushed wasabi peas & avocado, Yuzu citrus pepper sauce.

Shu-mai pork pie with dried shrimp & eggplant, edamame soya bean puree

And not to forget dessert which just had to include

Brendan’s ‘Golden Gaytime’  - Honeycomb crumbed toffee & vanilla ice cream terrine.

 

I'm ashamed to say that we continued to eat our way through the week with lunch with our colleagues at The Wintergarden on Tuesday and dinner with friends in Geelong at The  Gold Diggers' Arms on Thursday.

This was my main course

Crispy skin confit chicken on kipfler potato, smoked kaiserfleisch, baby caper and leek salad with fresh basil dressing !

I think that this has been my most thoroughly celebrated birthday ever! I'm planning on lots more like it!

 

Serial Celebrations

I opened the letter and there it was... my application form for a Senior's Card!

Ah well, there have to be some compensations for offically becoming a Grumpy Old Woman.

I started celebrating on Wednesday with lunch with the Girls at The Deck in Southbank.

Continued all yesterday starting with breafast at The Sheraton on the waterfront.

Shopped for my present to myself - a new watch.

Dinner at the newly opened restaurant on The Pier in Geelong. (Its second night). Called Baveras after a water goddess in a fantasy game. The menu is modern and offered a degustation menu, which we tried, or 2 or 3 courses for a set price.

Here is their Dinner menu. My favourite course was the Lamb. Great flavours.

Will be continuing the celebrations on Saturday in Melbourne! More great food and company to come!

PS. I don't feel 60! OR "60 is the new 40"