Tribute To Jean Goldberg Whom I MUST Visit

One MVA Coming Up by Jean Goldberg 1983

Jean saw my big crazy quilt whilst it was in half worked bits on the table, and asked me why I was working with a medieval theme. Why wasn't I contemporary? What was my voice? I frowned and narrowed my eyes (on the inside), and took it in, although I love traditional work still. She set me off into the present too though, she and going to art school in 1998. I have to add that she wrote a glowing article about me for 'Textile - Fibre Forum' magazine, and got a photo of the quilt on the front cover.

It's good to begin any artistic career by studying the past, and I'll defend our right to do what we want 'till the cow's come in, no matter where we want to take it. I love the domestic work through the ages. LOTS! And the lovliness of making our environment beautiful.

Jeans work is terrific though, even if she is bossy (I say that very affectionately). She takes a contemporary image and works it in exquisite, traditional needle-lace. Sadly, Glaucoma has taken her vision now, but she leaves a great heritage.

I'm doing some of my own needle-lace at the moment, much to the amusement of people on the train as I go to work.

Go have a squizz at her site. It's fun and interesting, like Jean is herself.

P.S. Incase you non-Aussie's don't know, 'squizz' is rhyming slang, derived from 'look' being like 'crook', and 'Squizzy' Taylor being a famous Australian 'crook'... hence "Go have a squizz". Get it?

Want To Say Thanks To The Girls...

Thanks to the lovley girls from the classes at Lazy Daisy and Needles and Pins doing the Crazy and the Robbie Burns. It's been really good fun and nice to meet you all. Yes I mean you! I miss you all terribly already!

I promised this to the Warrandyte crew:

"I dream'd I lay where flowers were springing,
Gaily in the sunny beam;
List'ning to the wild birds singing,
By a falling crystal stream:
Straight the sky grew black and daring;
Through the woods the whirlwinds rave;
Trees with aged arms were warring
O'er the swelling, drumlie wave.

Such was my life's deceitful morning,
Such the pleasures I enjoy'd;
But lang ere noon, loud tempests storming
A' my flow'ry bliss destroy'd.
Though fickle fortune has decieved me,
(She promis'd fair, and performed but ill;)
Of mony a joy and hope bereaved me,
I bear a heart support me still."

by Robert Burns

Sorry about the ending girls! Heh Heh Heh!

I Saw This Somewhere And Though It Was Brilliant And Definitely Worth Sharing

I've only just noticed that each patch has the circles in it...


.

Love Hate Mittens

Found at Boing Boing, of course.

My Lovely Honey Bunch Photographed My Crazy 'Mary Poppins' Bag Today

Go to the article on the Crazy Quilt site for more pictures...

These are some of my favourite details on the bag. I used chunky threads throughout, since it's a bag to throw around. I didn't want to be too precious.

The little bird is an adaptation from an old doyley. You can't see the clouds propery, but they were inspired also from old fancywork designs, or old children's book illustrations. 'Old' referring to my childhood!

The dark brown patch proved difficult to approach, so I ended up not stitching a border as such, but making a feature of it's shape... I like it a lot.

Dog and Happy Tamborine Playing Cherub Details

I got these from a Filet Crochet book, a great source for silhouette cross stitch. The musical Cherub is worked on linen interfacing from one of my Grandma's overcoats. I put a glittery fabric underneath because I was going to make it as a stand alone piece, and have the frayed edges of the glitter showing behind the frayed edges of the linen... but it ended up on the quilt. The coat the interfacing is from is the blue one in the Wagga.

Around the cherub I worked Detached Buttonhole thingy's, which were intended to stand up, but they just curled up into nothing and so I fastened down the points.

And I thought you should know that I bought a bike today. It's a beauty, although the seat is a bit wobbly. Now my one true love and I both have one for when the idea of riding takes both of our fancy's at the same time. I know without you saying that you're all very happy for me, and I know that you don't say it sarcastically.

Crazy Quilt Centrepiece

I'd carted this cross stitch pattern around for so many years, and it seemed sensible to at last work it. It was in an old McCall's 'Afghan Rug' magazine I'd absconded with from my darling Grandma's house. I had it for at least 15 years before I had my epiphany (the revelation that I ought to use it, that is).

The original Afghan rug was dated 1814 or thereabouts, and had a gorgeous floral border, which I hadn't copied as it seemed like too much work. Funny now huh, considering. The 'Grandmother's Fans' you see around the quilt were originally meant to be repeated to make the whole quilt, and I simply decided to use my scraps to make a cushion with the Horse cross stitch... but... well, it looked good together and one thing led to another... you know how it is. So... I ended up incorporating the Horse into the larger, now changed quilt.

I must add that my intention (with the Grandmother's Fans quilt) was to use all of the borders in Dorothy Bond's little brown 'Crazy Quilt Stitches' book, and to NOT stitch ANY pictures. A plan that obviously fell by the wayside. Fell with a pretty, happy thud.

The rest of the cross stitch sampler motifs you see with the horse were added later.

Kate's Wagga

Kate brought her recently-put-together Wagga to class today. I love the colours! There were four Wagga's here today, and I meant to photograph them all... Maybe next month.

Anyone within cooey, feel free to contact me and come along. Some people are doing Crazy Patchwork, or various of my designs. And then there's Michelle, who was making Christmas decorations already for goodness sake! I might try and get everyone to do something new next time, or at least offer something new, maybe a bit of lace work? Hmmm...

Go here for an excellent article on Wagga's...

Kejoma

I just found a photograph of where we lived before this. I painted all of the walls with Porter's paint in beautiful, rich colours, with some help from my lovely. From wherever you were in the house, each of the visible rooms complimented any others and it glowed with warmth and lovliness. I miss it sometimes. The garden you can see here was my little section of the garden, but the house was (is) set in 5 acres of an old, old exotic-treed forest up in Olinda (an hour East of Melbourne). I polished all of the floors with my little orbital sander and varnish. We had Lyre-birds down the back, even just behind the house. And wombats, possums of course, and all kinds of LBJ's (Little Brown Jobs or little brown birds). I worked next door at Cloudehill Garden & Nursery so it was heaven and heaven. Absolute visual feasts, both!
Now, Kejoma is called Rangeview, and it's been converted into a B&B. The new owner is lovely, but has renovated (not just superficially) and in doing so has had the house painted in the dullest pale greens (sorry if your house is pale green, yours is probably nice pale green, not insipid, awful pale green like my lovely old jewel cottage). The garden and view to Warburton are the same though, gorgeous. You can see Mt. Baw Baw on a clear day.
So... Kejoma as I knew it is no more. I have many happy and many sad memories there. A place of great comfort, it nestled (snuggled) a brilliant part of my life (6 years).
I thought I'd share as it's so pretty.

The Most Beautiful Tea Cosy In The World

My friend Elizabeth let me borrow this for a month or two a little while ago, just to tease me. I don't think she realises how much it should be mine. Great minds think alike though it's true. It really is special. I had to share and just found the photo...