Wagtail one, Kookaburra none ...

The wagtail babies have left the nest and are safely ensconced nearby. However a kookaburra is always a threat and fair game for both parent wagtails. They dive bombed and otherwise harassed one of our resident kookaburras until it moved on.

Threads not-so-bare

One of my favourite things - a spool holder spotted at a garage sale by my DS and BIL.  Is beautifully crafted in that made-to-last way. Now a much loved addition to the sewing room. Thank you Sue and Ian.

Mop it, stamp it, love it!

Clean up after a day of printmaking can be an exciting time. Gently squeeze the foam roller through a piece of textured poplin to create the blue and gold patterns. There was still a lot of white space, so leaves and other objects were rolled over and over until the roller was empty and the starkness of the white spaces mitigated. This process  also results in using less water for the "wash up". When dried, the fabric was over-stamped with leftover textile paint used for some gradation practise.  After all the trays and brushes were cleaned off in a plastic champagne bucket of water, another piece of fabric was squished into the now diluted wash and left to take up whatever it will. That's two new pieces of fabric from the humble clean up. Love it!

Colour wheels and weeds

Finding the next layer can be tricky - and these pieces of delicately dyed silk give a beautiful depth to the new piece of fabric. The cats claw (declared pest and noxious weed in Queensland) leaves beautiful seed pods for printing and they litter the ground after the wretched vine has flowered. Like the weed, the seed pods get lost in layers of detritus until they are forgotten. Road testing the next step can take days ... too close a colour match and the layer gets lost, too much contrast and there is a risk of layering for layers sake.  For now, time to watch and wait for the moment of knowing.

Indigo play day @ Aliquilts

Indigo dyeing was the play day event for 26 October - and the day was spent pegging,  twisting, turning, wrapping, pulling, pushing, tying, folding, clamping, stitching and dipping into the "vats" of indigo. It may be spring but the weather is definitely summer like and we had plenty of flies trying to join in the fun - veils are most useful at this time of year! Many thanks to Kate, Merody, Kathryn and Rebecca for such a fun day - and plenty of ideas for the next dyeing adventure. The replacement bridge for Niebling Road is due to be completed by the end of February (further flooding notwithstanding) and it will be great to have a full program of workshops available during 2014.

Fallen

Having spent the best part of this week at the Stitches and Craft Fair and Queensland Quilters Quilt Show in Brisbane this week, there were a few hours devoted to the rhythm of running stitch while in the company of fellow 2QAQ and SAQA artists.
The portability of a small project made it perfect to take up or put down in between sharing our love of art quilts with passers-by.

Indigo play day on 26 October

Decided to do some traditional indigo dyeing today after spending most of this week at the Quilt Show in Brisbane. Nice to have some quiet time with the blue crystals. This is the tee shirt rolled around a length of string then pulled together into a knot. Looking forward to wearing it this summer ...
And some other fun things to do included knotting a 40" x 40" piece of pfd - small stones inserted around the edges - I'll leave this to "mature" during the week.  We're having an indigo play day at the studio next Saturday 26 October - get in touch if you'd like to play along too - we have room for a maximum of six participants. BYO fabric to dye and make a small contribution for dyes and related materials.