Fibre book and market haul

Juicy fruit: lemon

I have finished the third fruit motif for my fibre book (the other two finished are pomegranate and fig). The lemon is stitched in long and short stitch (sort of) in stranded cotton. Also used silk perle, organdie ribbon, seed beads, and fused organza and cotton for appliqué leaves, stitched on osnaburg. Other stitches used – ribbon stitch, straight stitch, back stitch, stem stitch, whipped stem stitch and blanket stitch. The design is from 4000 flower and plant motifs by Graham Leslie McCallum. I made up the rest. I am pleased with the sparkle of the organdie ribbon and seed beads to depict the juiciness of the cut fruit. The colour of the leaves are a bit pale, at least compared to our lemon tree, but hey its ‘art’ right, not real life. That means I can do what I want! And the pale leaves, while not accurate, actually look quite nice – trust me! Trying to take photos in the dark in kitchen rather than waiting for daylight – sorry about the shadows.

The markets

The new farmers markets at Manly were wonderful. We were shaded by trees (very important even in winter); the sun was sparkling off the water, lots of stalls, and lots of shoppers. We used to drive into the farmers markets at New Farm (back in the old days when fuel was less than $1 per litre….) but no longer. The farmers markets at Manly are on the waterfront (bay, not beach) between the marina and a playground, and only about 6 km from our place. First through the gate was the lollypop lady. Four lollypops later (Matt didn’t want to walk around the market sucking a heart shaped lollypop for some reason; mine was rose flavoured) we set off in search of lunch. Didn’t buy much in the way of fruit and veg, (nothing we can grow ourselves) but couldn’t go past some tiger prawns. We don’t eat seafood anymore. I’d like to pretend it is because of my environmental sensibilities about overfishing, but frankly…we just can’t afford it anymore (of course I am worried about overfishing too…being poor is a great way to be green). But these prawns looked great, and because Jimmy is the only kid in the family that’ll even contemplate eating a prawn (unless it’s crumbed and deep fried and thus unrecognisable) we didn’t have to buy too many (we got 14 of them – 500 grams which is approx 1lb). Millions of strawberries around, and Rudi the profiterole man was there, so we had profiteroles and strawberries for morning tea near the playground. Also bought some marinated olives and Boemische sausage for lunch (with salad from the garden of course). Rice and beans for the rest of the week now!

Oh Canada!

After my last post musing over the intricate Canadian coastline, Matt and I were watching a silly American sitcom and they were making jokes (shock horror) about Canadians. Part of the show had two ‘Canadians’ frolicking on the beach a la Olivia and John in Grease. Matt looks at me and says –’I didn’t think they had beaches in Canada’. With my newfound knowledge (having been looking at map just that day) I reply: ‘Canada has the longest coast line of any country in the world you d***’ (I’m not entirely sure this is true, but I’m sure it’s closer to the truth than Canada has no beaches). He looked at me as if I were the moron and said ‘I meant beaches that aren’t covered in ice and snow’. Well really! I was talking (email of course) to Marg in Calgary and she assures me Canada does have lots of beaches of different types.

When I was recounting the story to Marg I mentioned that thinking all Canada’s beaches are covered in snow is like thinking all Australians are beer swilling, meat-pie eating oiks (some of us are of course – I’m married to one, obviously) and we have kangaroos hopping down the street and all the men look like Crocodile Dundee and act like Steve Irwin (thank goodness that isn’t true). It did get me thinking that I really don’t know all that much about Canada. I know it’s more than snow, mountains, maple syrup and Mountie’s…. ooohhhh maple syrup and Mounties…I might have to go have a little lie down – but I digress.

All I know about Canada for a fact? If you are a red-headed orphan in Canada you get to live an idyllic childhood and marry your childhood sweetheart. So instead of doing housework or anything I’ve been googling Canada and learning lots of stuff. And I still think if I’d been raised on PEI by Marilla and Matthew I’d be a nicer person.

Stitching….what stitching?

I have had a quilt masking taped to the floor for so long waiting to baste it that even I am starting to walk over the top of it instead of around it. At this stage the only one who is still avoiding it is Jack (the dog) who knows better (now) to sleep, sit or stand on any comfortable looking pile of fabric in the house.

Farmers markets

Off to the inaugural farmers markets at Manly this morning. The first strawberries of the season are appearing (winter is strawberry season in Brisbane) –so hopefully we will have a yummy morning tea. As you can see our strawberries aren’t ready yet. It a gorgeous day today – the best time of the year - cool, sunny - marvellous. This is the time of year that sucks people into moving to Brisbane, trust me I know. The morning sky over our mandarin tree.

Misunderstood disclaimer

Heading off at the pass any Canadians who are offended by our ignorance of your country - I’m joking ok!! I’m thinking of putting a misunderstood disclaimer on all my posts from now on - just to be on the safe side. J

Message in a bottle

My introduction to ATCs was late last year, in issue 56 of Inspirations magazine – before I had a computer or a blog. A Canadian Embroiderer, Susan Thomas wrote an article about ATCs, and a swap the Embroiderers Association of Canada (EAC) had done. She mentioned in the article that she did not have an ATC from Australia yet. I had almost finished a small embroidery of an Australian landscape, gum blossoms, grassland and the Blue Mountains in the background. I rather inexpertly finished it off, and send it off to the postal address of the EAC. It was a bit like sending a message in a bottle – I wasn’t sure if it would ever arrive or if it would ever find the recipient. Eventually however I received a nice letter from the president of the EAC saying they had received the card and she would pass it on at the next meeting.

Yesterday I received a lovely card from Susan and the most beautiful hand embroidered ATC. It depicts Queen Anne’s lace on a silk (dyed with Kool –Aid – which is really effective) background. Aren’t I lucky. Now I wouldn’t be so brazen to send of an ATC unsolicited – I wasn’t really expecting a swap, I just thought it would be nice to send an Australian ATC to someone who wanted one. I don’t know if Susan has a blog, but if you go to the EAC website and click on extra goodies you can see a collection of ATC’s, hers among them.

After reading the article I had to drag out my atlas to see where Saskatchewan is, and as I was poring over the map I marvelled at the Canadian coastline. I wondered how Canadian schoolkids ever manage to draw a map of their country.

Misunderstood

Despite my using the phrase ‘art v craft debate’ yesterday, my post was not intended to be another rehash of that debate, or discussion, if you’d prefer. In fact in earlier posts about this topic I have stated that I think it is a non-issue. I think both are equally valid, equally important; I wasn’t implying that the topic was black and white - of course there are shades of grey, and I think most (all?) would acknowledge that. As I pointed out I don’t care what we call ourselves or label what we do, or make.

I think by focussing attention on one, admittedly ill-considered (and as far as I am concerned the least important), phrase in my post, the point of the post may have been missed. My point was not that art and craft are ‘diametrically opposed’ or even that the point is worth arguing about (falsely or otherwise). Sharonb’s statement that ‘It is possible to define, discuss and tease out ideas without framing the discussion in term of a debate and if done so could lead somewhere provided it is a genuine discussion instead if setting this idea against that idea’, is of course true. It was not however, my intention to continue the debate, discussion or otherwise on this topic. My point was to suggest that the term craft is often devalued. The blog and discussion on craft revolution is not a debate, or even a discussion, about art v craft, and it would be a shame for anybody to infer that, simply because I thoughtlessly used that term in my post.

The discussion on craft revolution is about valuing craft, for craft’s sake, in all its forms – crocheted toilet roll covers to exquisite works of art.

Craft Revolution

 

Edit: There seems to be some confusion over the fact I used the term ‘art vs craft debate’ at the start of this post. The craft revolution blog, and this post, is not about the art vs craft debate/discussion, and I am sorry if this post reads that way. I have written another post hopefully to clarify my intention. 

I have written before about the art v craft debate. (If you can be bothered - click on the craft category and check out the volumes I wrote before anyone was reading my blog). I have stated that I think the term craft should be embraced, as other pejorative terms have been embraced. I tried to coin a new label – crartist for the craft artist so we can have crartistic licence (it hasn’t caught on. Grin).

Sometimes I wonder if some of those out there who call themselves artists do so, not so much to embrace the term artist, but to distance themselves from the term craft. Craft can have such negative low brow connotations. The much maligned toilet roll covers, tissue box covers, crap-booking (as our neighbour calls it when his scrapbooking loving wife isn’t around). The dumbing down of craft books (SharonB wrote about this here )– the fact I can’t go into McBookshop Borders and find an interesting embroidery book among the shelves jam packed with quick and easy, boring and unsatisfying craft projects. Of course I don’t really think labels matter – I don’t care if you call yourself an artist, a craftsperson, a maker, or a poo shaped yam, but I do think it is a shame to malign all craft because some aspects of it don’t appeal.

I was searching for something last night and stumbled across an exhibition being held at QUT (Queensland University of Technology) called Craft Revolution, running until 13 July. This is what they say:

Craft Revolution explores the idea that craft is radical and revolutionary, through an exhibition and online discussion.

Craft Revolution: The Exhibition…
Rejecting the dominant culture of consumption and the loss of community, craft is a means of creation and engagement that is slow, purposeful and often cooperative. It is this rejection of the dominant consumptive culture and the return to historic or traditional practices that makes craft revolutionary.

Craft Revolution is a celebration of craft in all its naïve and sophisticated forms. The exhibition intends to reclaim the word craft and reject the negative associations this term has acquired. Essentially, Craft Revolution recognises the importance of a practice that has been a part of all cultures for thousands of years and rejoices in the impact craft has had and continues to have on the world.

And because it is really annoying to be told about something that you can’t visit because you don’t happen to live in Brisbane (except for me and Marg of course) you’ll have to visit the blog called craft revolution. Posting schedule: Monday - ‘I (heart) craft!’ with craft lovers talking about their affiliation with this practice. Wednesdays - ‘Exploring the revolution’ as craft writers and theorists discuss their opinion on the importance and future of craft. Fridays - craft makers telling their personal stories of creation, or a short history of some of the different craft guilds in QLD.

There are a few interesting posts there already –it’s not all textile related of course. There is an interesting article called ‘The real deal’. The author suggests that we get over ourselves (my words not hers) – accept the fact that there are some negative association with the terms craft, embrace all aspects of craft (even the kitschy toilet roll covers) and get on with it. Her conclusion:

The real revolution of craft will begin if we can get over all of this, learn to love craft, and accept the many facets of craft culture. Then we can begin to deal with a real issue, like the fact that glass and ceramics schools are closing left, right and centre, and soon there will be nothing left to debate about.

Don’t take my word for it – do go and check it out.

Some kitschy craft of my own

Moo and I have been having fun with the embellisher. She can sit on my lap and move the stuff around (we have only broken one needle doing this so far). We are playing and making Moo inspired and directed things. This is our seascape- fancy yarn and acrylic felt.

Lunch from the garden

I picked lunch from the garden yesterday: silver beet, spinach, spring onion, lettuce, corn, oranges, corn, beetroot, eggs, as well as cucumber, lemon, coriander and mint (not shown) I forgot to pick those and had to go back out. I made frittata with the eggs, silver beet, onions and zucchini. The bright pink stuff is my take  on Stephanie Alexanders raw beetroot and yoghurt salad. We had to buy in the tomatoes and olives (the tomatoes failed– too cold and the olive trees aren’t bearing fruit yet).

Recipe: beetroot and yoghurt salad – my version

Grated raw beetroot, lemon juice, mint, coriander, Greek yoghurt, sour cream, pepper. Mix. This is yummy and the kids liked it.

 

Embroidery samples: beige colonies

These are some embroidery samples I started working on back when I had my lowering the bar/embracing mediocrity breakthrough. Of course, being me, I had no clear idea of why I was doing them, what I had planned for them, and thus they are not finished. But hey, who cares. I managed to upload these to flickr and my stitchin fingers page, but didn’t blog about them. Now it’s so long ago since I did them I can’t think of anything interesting or witty to say about them. They are all in finca perle (sizes 5,8,12 beige), with some seed beads. The stiches: whipped spider web (some over beads); wrapped beads; drizzle stitch with a bead; buttonhole and French knots; detached picots; cupstitch; cast on stitch; needlewoven bars.

Award, quilt, bird, embellisher

Award: Arte y Pico

 

Marjorie from moonsilk stitches gave me an award the other day – thanks you Marjorie. I don’t have time to pass it on at the moment (very slack I know). If you are desperate to follow links check out my sidebar. I haven’t updated it for months, so this is a selection of blogs I’ve been reading for the 6 months or so I’ve been blogging. If you are on the list considered yourself awarded! One day I am going to update the list.

Quilts

Yeah, yeah…I said I was going to pack away my WIPs and do new and creative stuff. Well, I didn’t lie – I’m just a scatter-brained twit. I think I pressure myself too much to finish things before I start something new, instead of just going with the flow. After a few weeks of intensive embroidery I decided to drag out the quilt WIPs. I have almost finished the blue quilt. It has 42 squares to quilt around. I am setting myself a goal of one square per day. Ha. And I finished another Dear Jane Square. This square has been half done for about a year. The square I did prior I decided to machine piece - big mistake. It looks like absolute crap, and because it took me so long the thought of having to redo it (and I will – I sprayed so much starch and water on it trying to iron it right that the green ironing board cover stained it) just threw me into fits of despair. I worked out that at my rate of progress I would be about 90 before I finished piecing the quilt – then I’d have to quilt it. Anyway - old news. I finally pulled my finger out (as we say down here) and finished it, and it wasn’t so bad. I have the next one freezer papered and ready to cut out and baste. If I stop focusing on how long it is going to take and just do it, maybe it would actually get done.

Birds

I can’t take photos of birds….they fly away while I am still stuffing around trying to get the settings right. Jimmy, who is nine, on the other hand managed to take some rather good photos of the rainbow lorikeets in the grevilleas out the front this morning. Smart arse.

Embellisher

I got (even though it isn’t my birthday yet) a Huskystar embellisher for my birthday! It is so much fun. I haven’t done anything but see how many different things I can stick to a piece of denim, but I am thrilled and excited by the possibilities. I have been following Paddy’s daughter and Doreen doing an online course which I am planning to do…one day. I have also been admiring the exciting bits Allie is making with the embellisher for her latest CQ project.

 

Playing with paintstiks

I have been playing with paintstiks, and I thought I’d share. I have used a pomegranate design from 4000 Flower and Plant Motifs by Graham Leslie McCallum. I used the red iridescent Shiva paintstik, Canson tracing paper, freezer paper and a dress weight linen fabric.

Freezer Paper stencil.

 

I have seen this technique in a few places, so don’t know who to credit for the idea. First draw your image on the paper side of the freezer paper (or trace it like I do if you can’t draw). Cut out the design with a craft knife (I use a Stanley knife). I use an old cutting mat for all stencil cutting, painting etc. (It wasn’t an old cutting mat until I covered it with paint and fabric medium by mistake). Iron the freezer paper stencil to the fabric. Rub the paintstik over the stencil/ I then use my stencil brush finger to ensure even coverage to edge of stencil. Just using the paintstik as a crayon does not ensure even coverage of paint. Don’t forget to wash finger before scratching nose. Remove stencil. I use pointy nose tweezers to remove fiddly bits. You could probably wait until the paint was dry before removing stencils to make sure you don’t smudge it…but I can never wait.

Painstik transfer of line drawing.

I haven’t seen this technique elsewhere, but it basically just an adaptation of something I did as a kid to transfer pictures I traced. I’m sure someone official has published this as a technique, but if they have I don’t know about it. Trace your picture. The tracing paper I used is very transparent and smooth. Cover reverse of drawing with painstik. Turn tracing over and place on fabric paint side down. Carefully trace over the drawing with a stylus, or something pointed, a pencil would work. Be careful you don’t lean on drawing as it is easy to smudge the paint. You can also do several colours in the one drawing depending on the colours you paint on the back.

Soon I’ll show you the stamp I made using the same pomegranate design. These are all for the fibre book of fruit….I think.

 

 

Funny coloured fig

This fig is my own design. I am happy with the design, but not the colour. The green is too blue. I may just leave it though. Or I may re-do it. This is for the next page of my fibre book. I was planning to normal fruit (apples oranges etc) but then i thought it may be nice to feature tropical fruit we grow – feijoa’s, carambolas (star fruit), Brazilian cherries, passionfruit. The trick will be making them look recognisable as fruit .

 

Some fruit from our garden. Pomegranate, fig, carambola.

World Environment Day

Today is world environment day and Oprah had a ‘green’ special. It was enough to make me want to dive through the screen and stab her and Sandra Bullock with my embroidery needle.

I have a bit of a conflicted opinion of Oprah. On the one hand I applaud her making an effort to facilitate change in people’s lives – her environmental special with Al Gore, today’s effort etc, and her saving families from debt in her budget shows. I am just not sure how she can have a budget ‘live within your means show one day, and a ‘my favourite things’ show the next encouraging people to desire expensive consumables. On another green show she did promoting green changes you can make in your house (light bulbs, cotton shopping bags etc) she flatly refused to consider a low flow shower head – she just lurves her showers. So much for water pollution/water use issues. I can just imagine women all over the place saying ‘if Oprah won’t change - I won’t either’.

I could cope with the low level changes they were exhorting on today’s show - ditching plastic bags, use less paper towel, going organic, using homemade cleanser – the section with Julia Roberts was ok – not world saving, but ok.

The second segment had Sandra Bullock promoting ‘green’ alternatives to disposable takeaway containers/silverware/cups – all single use products made from food (soy, corn, potatoes, sugar cane etc). Can anyone else see that people in rich first world countries disposing of millions of single-use bio-degradable containers made out of food may not be the smartest environmental/humanitarian move?

But hey…maybe it’s just me….