Spirit cloth blog..one of my most favourite

Stuff for "KOGO"

These are a couple of baby quilts I have finished for KOGO. It is a wonderful organisation generated by one woman in melbourne the idea is "Knit one Give One" now you may say "but that isn't knitting" and you are right, but they are bundling packages for new babies so it is so much faster to fulfill the great need. I just finished this little dog to go in the same bundle. Our Friday group had the challenge of "flowers" so I made a book with "Blurb" online using my mother's , friends and my art work. And the group of birds is growing....

Maldon

Maldon is an historical town built during the gold rush so is heritage listed. There are strict codes about building consequently it is truly picturesque. My friend Jeanette and her mother Mimi have a beautiful little cottage, in which they have maintained a simplicity and integrity in and about the house. I sat on the front verandah, in the sun ...just sewing...how good is that. Mimi is an artist and at the age of 95 complains that she is not spending enough time painting these days....still digging the garden though this is her newly finished studio on the side of the garage. One of the lovely things about friends you have known for a long time. Their houses become partly yours. That coupled with seeing things of yours that are in use or decorate the walls. This is the top of a little toran I made for their waiters window from the kitchen. I can not find the full picture of it at the moment but will put it on laterThis is the back of it, I have photos of the family taken over a period of time they are on fabric and sewn on the top . Jeanette is a great chef so it is not only the lovely surrounds but the delicious delights for the palate The duck eggs grown locally....what a life eh?

Birds

When I cut up the large felt piece, I was excited by the small pictures some of them made...here is a painting cartoon. My neighbour had a birthday a couple of weeks ago and he mentioned he liked birds so I made 9 of these and put them in twigs in a pot, they looked great, so now I am excited and want to make enough to have an installation with them hanging from the ceiling in my hall. the trouble is that as I make them I seem to give them away .......?

other work

Here is a quilt I made for my exneighbour on the occasion of her wedding.They have a beach place and so it is "beachy"!? Recently I stayed in Newcastle with my brothers oldest friend and his wife. They are lovely gentle people who love gardens and birds so I ordered the centrepiece from America, I thought it would be in harmony with their calm house. When I was at dinner the night before my brothers funeral, I met my cousin's grandson Luke (8) I asked him to do me a drawing when we were at the resturant. The next day he came up to me and said as he was leaving to go back to Sydney could he have his painting now. I had totally forgotten I had promised to reciprocate. The very next morning after I arrived home I went straight into action and it was posted by 10.30 am such was my guilt. You may remember this felt landscape I made some years ago. A challenge in a new group of friends was to make a puzzle or board game. I chopped up the landscape and hand sewed around all the pieces, and here is the puzzle. I had not realised what a difficult task it proved to be but my friend Deb. would not let it beat her. This is a recent painting, part of a series about cities. I am quite plesed how it has finished up, even though it is a more subtle colour palette than I usually am attracted to.

Ballarat and Daniella Woolf

This was one of the most friendly and encouraging groups I have been in at Forum. It says a lot for Daniella and Kim who made it all so very inclusive....and many laughs. It is a special blend that these two brought to a class. When you think about it they are moving from place to place in a new country and doing one class after another....and then going home. What a gift that they can make you feel a special group. What a choice... a colouist's heaven Kim doing a portrait of me which she drew on the palette and then printed as a monoprint. Lovely gentle people, who did amazing work. This is one of my pieces. Another of mine...it began as a "grown up" then I cut it up, always thinkink that if they eye is encouraged to move from small to small the inadequacies will be less apparent. I am quite honest about my own work, I think, and I seemed to have limited success with the medium but succeeded brilliantly it proving that as a pyromaniac I exceeded expectations. Daniella wisely decided that it was better that I had little paper surrounding me when working with the torch! These are some of Daniella's demonstration pieces. As I had had a very sad week pior to this class who better to spend the week with but these very poitive and warm gurus.