Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

This week I spent a few days in Canberra (Australian Capital Territory)  for Rotary training and had a little bit of time to myself one afternoon to discover the wonderful art just in one Canberra precinct , New Acton. The sculptures "Time Thief" captivated me and I  sat for some time admiring the three elements  of Robin Blua's concept. The commission was co-ordinated by Pamille Berg Consulting, the Molonglo Group's public art consultant for the New Acton Precinct for the past seven years.Ms Berg said the sculptures ''show all of us what can happen when a developer is committed to ''doing things right'' in properly employing the superb skills of the professional artists and craftspeople in our midst.'...'Read more: here    The other sculptures in the precinct are just as engaging and interesting, some even more imposing and thought provoking. NewActon South is the striking centrepiece o

Stitched tag : Theme "All Stitched Up' - The Emperor's New Clothes Hand stitched calico& metal embellishment Instead of just wise words this Wednesday.. here is a favourite story. "The Emperor's New Clothes"   A vain  Emperor  who cares about nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires two swindlers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid". The Emperor's  ministers  cannot see the clothing themselves, but pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions and the Emperor does the same. Finally the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk play along with the pretence not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. Then a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretence,

WORKSHOP   Date:  Sunday, 24 November 2013 Times: 9.30am – 4.00pm  Venue:  Lambton NSW   Exact address supplied once you have registered for this workshop.    Lunch, morning tea, afternoon tea provided. Please notify of any special dietary requirements. Contact   Timeless Textiles  via contact  or leave a comment at the end of this post with an email address, please  Information for participants : This workshop is a combined workshop (two projects in one) and while you will learn most of the techniques for both creating an ancestor bottle of your own and a message stick doll, it is recommended that you focus on creating either one on the day. You do not need to bring anything very much at all, depending on whether you have something specific in mind to create on the day. Please bring a basic sewing kit - scissors, needle and neutral coloured thread, pins Please also bring any favourite sculpting tools if you have any.   Tumbuna Bottle Sculpture :  T

It's THAT time of the year!  For most of  the year, my work can be purchased at  my Etsy shop and Timeless Textiles , a Gallery and Centre for Fibre Artists. But, at this time of the year, there are pop-up shops, markets and bazaars for local artists and artisans. Every year, I then frantically search for good ideas for small, inexpensive, quick and easy handmade gift ideas for markets. This year, I made quite a few fabric fridge magnets...  I will explain the basic steps and perhaps you might like to try some for yourself.  1. Choose a bright and simple print on heavy cotton or linen. For these magnets, I chose a mushroom silk screened fabric from Thea and Sami.  Thea and Sami printed fabric  2. Use a backing fabric like heavy calico, linen or ticking in a similar colour to the print fabric.  3. With both fabrics together sew around the print and then trim leaving a small edge.  4. Make a very small slit in the back, cutting through only the backing fabric. 

I love this   - my daughter has this poster on the kitchen wall  in her home ... Family Rules  - Say Please and Thank you, Be Happy, Pay with hugs and kisses, Laugh out loud, Think of others before yourself, Do your best, Respect one another, Hug often, Listen to your parents, Say I Love You, Laugh at Yourself.

Close -up of the base of "witch with sticks' art doll   Did you know that if you were a witch, eating a spider sandwich could give you special powers? Rosemary Ellen Guiley says in her  Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft, and Wicca  that in some traditions of folk magic, a black spider “eaten between two slices of buttered bread” will imbue a witch with great power. If you’re not interested in eating spiders, some traditions say that catching a spider and carrying it in a silk pouch around your neck will help prevent illness... So, while creating my art doll witch, a spider was always there amongst the drawings and plans. rough drawing of an idea for the base of the doll    I rarely take photos during the process of making a doll, only because I get so engaged in the making I forget to take a photo at each step of the way . I am not entirely comfortable creating witches, so I took a few photos of my process....  when I remembered.... sculpted head in progress