Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

The well known song says that it should be "raindrops on roses" as one of my favourite things, but this  morning, I am saying that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet..." What do I mean ? I don't have any roses blooming at the moment and so there are no photos of raindrops on roses. I do have flowers of other names in my garden that I think  are as beautiful just after rain.  And, just out of interest, a final explanation from Literary Devices:  Meaning of A Rose by Any Other Name The importance of a person or thing is the way it is; not because of what it is called. Simply, it means the names of things cannot affect what they actually are. This line,  from Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" is, in fact, very profound, suggesting that a name is just a label to distinguish one thing from another. It neither has any worth, nor gives true meaning. Only an individual or thing has a worth when it deserves it; for example, even if we call a

"Feathers " is the new theme for Tag Tuesday  and as I am currently making #100pinpoems tags for #the100dayproject, I thought I would share some of the ones I made with 'feathers" as inspiration.  The first is a fabric collage with a stitched bird. It captures a moment when I saw magpies on the lawn, appearing to keep their social distance.  The second of the "feathered" tags is still about the magpies.... I startled a few when I went out into the garden. I was surprised as they were, I think, and all I seemed to see were black and white wings against the blue sky.  The third of these tags is an "abstract" of some pigeon feathers on the underside of their wings. It is free form stitched collage d cotton paper. The pigeons which frequent our garden are crested and look very fashionable as if they are wearing little hats, and although their outside feathers are essentially grey, there are beautiful jewel tones on their wings when they are flying.   

Stitching a 'garden' background - Wilma Simmons  Using gardens as inspiration for art is long established practice in the fine arts, including textile arts. Monet's painting are amongst my favourite artworks and there is no shortage of  treatises about the gardens in art.    https://www.booktopia.com.au/monet-s-garden-in-art-debra-n-mancoff/book/ Some of my favourite textile artists ( like Anne Kelly) turn to gardens as a source of unending inspiration.  https://www.textileartist.org/small-worlds-recycled-textile-art-by-anne-kelly In a considerably more humble way, I have recently been featuring plants from our garden in my small wearable art pin series for #the100dayproject. Although we are in the winter phase of the garden where the colour palette is a more subdued, there are still some beautifully bright flowers, like the purple black eyed African daisies, late summer marigolds, tiny native violets and their potted cousins, violas. Even the pure white ri

Thu Jun 11th, 2020 Yarn Bombing Day ·            ·            ·            Pearl one, drop one? Yarn Bombing Day is a day when fibre lovers all over the world go a bit crazy and ensconce everyday objects in woolly patterns. It is sometimes called yarn storming or guerilla knitting.  from ABC Newcastle  No matter what you call it, it is simply the practice of knitted  or crocheted works of art being added to public places.   For example some sort of colourful knitted pattern and wrap it around a bus stop. The aim of this practice was to try and take knitting from something that was viewed as merely for creating clothes and hats to something that could add meaning and colour to urban locations.  It’s not like standard graffiti where the point is to mark your territory. It’s also definitely not an act of vandalizing. It is about creating a sense of belonging and conveying meaning, as well as drawing attention to something that is ignored by most people. Yarn Bombing

Wondering if I have the time,  I tentatively registered for the TextileArtist.org   Stitch Club. I started late but I have come to terms with being behind and will do the exercises when I feel in the mood ... my new formula  is:  (collection of ideas + good mood + time opportunity)  - (hesitation + self doubts) = happy project   So this weekend, it was time to tackle the first workshop by artist, Debbie Lyddon. No problem with "ideas" This is what Debbie says.....  " I walk, look and listen, I pick up an object and put it in my pocket. I make a container for it and place it ... in a place where I gather interesting objects together. I make connections and I tell stories....  This workshop is drawn from my love of walking, collecting, being curious , telling stories and making....  The challenge is to make three hand-stitched containers for a collection of three objects, natural or man made..."  from Stitch Club workbook   I painted cloth as suggested b

I love making little stitched items which are useful but have a touch of whimsy about them....  I don't make them often but I have released this one for sale in my Etsy shop.  The beautiful spring garden colours of this floral print make this little pouch a perfect gift for someone special. The pouch is small but surprisingly roomy - enough space to hold a few keys, money, secrets, or those special little treasures or it can hang as a decorative item on a wall or dressing table . The pouch and lining are made from quality cotton fabric, with a double drawstring and hand stitched fabric beads. The feature of pouch is the folded fabric flower and suffolk puff embellishment, enhanced by the fabric covered button, hand painted face. Size height 10cm/4 ins; Width when closed 5cm/2ins when open 13cm/5ins Contents of pouch pictured  are not included. Free shipping within Australia. 

Dancing my way to Tag Tuesday this week  for the theme "Dance-Dancers- Dancing" . Here I used torn bits of inked paper with other bits from concert advertising. All I could think of was kinetic energy and how I could convey that as a collage of contemporary dance. I liked the swirls of mark making  because they remind of  dance painting..... no words can explain this  better than the sight of it in action.  In the past week,  I have also been  mesmerised by the  beautiful coloured autumn leaves which look as if they are dancing in the breeze as they fall from trees . (Remember, I am in the southern hemisphere so it is just the start of our winter).  Attention -seeking  Against a bushland backdrop  Golden leaves dancing  ( a free motion stitched wearable art pin  #100pinpoems in #the100dayproject )  Sadly I was a little late photographing the tag I made for the previous theme "Animals" but I include it here .... I am sure some of those animals