Skip to main content

Celebrate!

Last Saturday, my daughter celebrated her birthday, and on Sunday, our family gathered at her place not only to wish her a happy birthday, but also to wish both her and her husband a happy wedding anniversary. A few weeks ago I was very happy when I found this Michael Miller fabric panel online, and I thoroughly enjoyed making it for my daughter whose nickname is Nome (gnome). This particular fabric gnome carries a baby in a sling on his back. Our Nome had a baby daughter last December so the gift was received with great laughter. Even baby Amy and Aunty Kellie enjoyed the joke.  

On Sunday too, our Rotary Ambassadorial scholar Mayuko organised a Japanese party for our Rotary club and friends. Mayuko and friends, including fellow Ambassadorial scholar Steffen, from Germany took over my kitchen and cooked for 30 guests.

We enjoyed many traditional Japanese dishes – Is that cake really green … yes of course, green tea! Then, we were privileged to be the audience of a performance of Japanese comedy and songs. Mayuko really enjoys performing a type of stand up comedy. Well, it’s really sit down Japanese comedy as the performer sits Japanese style throughout the performance of jokes and funny stories! What a fun night!
Women all over the world will celebrate International Women’s Day on 8th March. It is special day to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women in the past, present and future regardless of nationality, profession, and socio economic status, political or religious beliefs. I will be attending our local celebration supporting UNIFEM which is the United Nations Development Fund for Women, dedicated to advancing women’s rights and achieving gender equality. To find out more, visit UNIFEM 

And speaking of celebrating women’s achievements, I want to wish my mother a very happy birthday today, 4th March – my mum is 85 and continues to amaze and inspire us all with her achievements.  Her temari balls are much admired, as well as embroidery, fabric flowers, and many other creative pursuits. Sorry we can't come up to help you celebrate in person this year, but all our best wishes for a very happy day and continuing good health and creativity.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas Countdown Characters #22

So close to Christmas and it's getting harder to find Christmas celebrities but today here's  a wily W character.  W is for Wilma . Yes I am Wilma but I am NOT today's Christmas celebrity.  Wilma the weasel  is the one of the main characters  in  T he Flight Before Christmas , a 2008 animated movie    and its sequel   Little Brother Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure . The Flight Before Christmas centres around the problem of Niko, a small reindeer afraid of flying, and in search of his unknown father who is one of Santa's Flying Forces (that is, one of the eight main reindeer who pull Santa's sleigh)  Wilma is a street wise fearless singing weasel, who Niki and his surrogate squirrel father, Julius befriend while saving Santa from a wolf pack attack .   Long story short, the climax involves  Niko, Wilma and Julius killing the wolf leader, the Flying  Squad saving themselves in order to save Christmas, Niko...

Evolution of Message Stick Art Dolls

Message Stick Art Doll - stick, polymer clay, hand dyed & stencilled fabric with embroidery  My    message stick art dolls    have evolved over the last couple of years.  Why have I called these art dolls “Message Sticks” ?    I wanted to recreate a doll which was based on traditional techniques, so I have used ideas from a few different cultures. Many traditional dolls were made from wood - often wrapped with fibres.   In Egypt, several types of paddle dolls have been discovered in tombs in Egypt. The dolls are made of wood, flat, and constructed in a shape has led the form to be called a 'paddle doll'. The dolls seemingly follow a convention for the female figure, emphasizing the hips and hair. The wooden figures are usually painted with a geometric pattern of lines and dots. These patterns may reproduce tattos or ritual scaring in female Egyptian culture of the period or represent clothing or jewellery.  A fine exampl...

Entomological Elements - Mixed Media Sculpture

Entomological Elements hung in Timeless Textiles Gallery.  My latest big piece of work is "Entomological Elements" - let's call it EE ... It is a mixed media sculpture in response to the theme "Elements" for a current exhibition by the Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists. If you a regular reader of this blog or and Empress Wu Designs Facebook follower, you probably know that my thing is "stick dolls".... dolls made with sticks. EE is just an extension of those , with a piece of local driftwood as its base. EE is also   a celebration of the natural elements depicted by insects from different parts of the world.   EARTH - Common Black Ground Beetle ( Pterostichus melanarius ) - Europe/Eurasia AIR - Blue Ulysses Butterfly ( Papilio Ulysses ) - Australia WATER - Golden winged skimmer dragonfly ( Libellula auripennis ) - Central/North America FIRE - Scarlet Fire Beetle ( Pyrochroa coccinea )- Europe Common Black ...