Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Each year, on the Saturday close to the beginning of Advent, we hold an "open house"  Handmade Treasures Sale for charity. My husband takes care of morning tea/lunch, and I ask my creative family and friends to contribute to the sale. Last Saturday, we held our fifth sale and although the heavy rain probably kept many away, those who came seemed to have a good time . Most popular were the home made palmiers, chocolate cake and freshly made sandwiches , marinated mushrooms and feta cheese prepared by Jim. Other than the food,  there was an amazing display of really beautiful work by local artists, embroiderers and talented artisans - all handmade with love ... quilts, handbags, clothing, jewellery, cards, mixed media art, embroidery, dolls, crochet, smocking, knitting, textiles, sewing accessories, Christmas decorations, kitchen accessories, jams, pickles, home made chocolates, rum butter,  Christmas puddings and cakes .... and lots more. ...

Last week I said I was not ready for Christmas. This week I don't think I ever will be - not this year anyway.   While I have been distracted this week from Christmas preparations, it has been worth it. A  very talented textile artist friend Wendy Scott had the opening of her solo exhibition, Rainbow Journey, at Timeless Textiles Gallery on Thursday night. I really recommend that you take the time out to see this one - a magical visual journey of colour, excitement and pure joy.  The exhibition is open until 7 December at Timeless Textiles Gallery, 7 Beaumont Street, Islington  (Newcastle NSW) - just a 2 minute walk from Hamilton (NSW) Railway Station.  Congratulations, Wendy - it is an absolutely beautiful exhibition and a wonderful testimony to your artistic talent.  Wendy Scott and self portrait  We are very fortunate to have opportunities to exhibit and see great textile art here in Newcastle. The next textile art exhibition op...

I promise every year that I will be organised for Christmas and for our grandchildren's birthdays in December. It's happened again ... I am not ready. Only a few cards made of course,  none ready to post. And  I just "got over the line"  with a few extra things made for my friend's Christmas Boutique Sale  last Saturday. We had a great day.  My stick dolls were perhaps a little out of place amongst the absolutely beautiful fine embroidery, but they were all sold so they must have had some appeal. My own favourite was joyous one ( between the two green ones in the photo below)  - wrapped in sari ribbon and nurturing a baby dragon. Going with the popular trends, what seemed to appeal the most of my items were the matryoshka doll brooches, so I am currently making more for the Handmade Treasures Sale in a fortnight. Owls were also popular including my very large and heavy doorstop owl and the little owl families, made from hand printed fabric by...

Tranquil surroundings, creative and talented participants and good organization are ingredients for a great event. The Contemporary Craft Retreat was not just a great event – it was an exciting and inspirational learning experience. Congratulations must go to Lex Sorrentino, the coordinator of the retreat, who seemed to think of everything anyone might need, right down to extra cakes of soap and lolly bags for the tutors! I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to lead two workshops. One was  the Bio Bowl – a wet felted vessel inspired by biological beauty. The second was Message Sticks and Spirit Art Dolls with many beautiful imaginative and creative interpretations of my wrapped message stick art doll. I’m not sure anyone used  the collected wise sayings as messages,  but the dolls were inspirational on their own.     We were also privileged to see some amazing “show and tell”. This beautiful art doll by Janice Laurent was created with a bo...

I am ashamed to say that It's been  a month since I returned from Townsville where I thoroughly enjoyed a week's workshop with Sherrill Kahn, celebrated artist and author, and I am just getting around to reviewing my photos.  The  sample of Sherrill's work pictured above is a good example of the art techniques and composition and design principles we learnt.   Having been inspired by Sherrill's  books prior to the workshop,  I had doubts about whether I had chosen the right class.as I have had very little experience with paint. However, I soon found myself experimenting with so many different techniques both on paper and fabric. Sherrill gave us many demonstrations over the five days, and we had plenty of time to try each technique ourselves. I have a pile of great samples! One of  my favourite techniques was to use inexpensive hair gel with paint .... this is still a work in progress, but I am working on this for th...