New watch and spider update

Yesterday I made a new strap for my watch, This watch face had a fancy beaded strap but didn't last being worn everyday. I had collected strips of selvedge from fabric I had used, not sure why, just interesting. I stitched about 4 together, stitched on the watch face and there you go. Not sure how long this one will last but I can just make another one.

Here is an update on our 'pet' spider. After she laid her eggs she disappeared. I thought she may have died but then when I was in the garden a couple of days later I found her in another tree at the other end of the garden. She is very happy there and the egg sack is still a sack, no babies as yet. It is getting cold here now so I am not sure any will hatch. The line of dark above her is the remains of her food, she is very tidy with her waste!

Walking School Bus

I have just done a quick entry to an art competition run by my local council. I had to produce a piece of work that showed in some way a Thriving community. The winning entries will be used in a document to encourage various ways for communities to thrive. The rules said it could be any medium so I thought it would be good for stitching to be represented. I am sure a photograph or a painting will win but you never know. I had a fun couple of days coming up with an idea.

My piece is called Walking School Bus. I walk a group of children to school each morning on a walking school bus, I pick them up from bus stops and we talk all the way to school, they have a ticket that I click each day they walk. They get a prize when they have walked for 25 days.

I am really pleased with how the quilting came out, think I might do some more of that.

Finished mini quilts

 

Here are the finished mini quilts. They are about the size of a A4 sheet of paper. They were really fun to do and much quicker to bind than a full size quilt! I am planning a 1 day workshop which will be held at All Things Patchwork later in the year, I will keep you posted.

 

 

hand quilting

I spent the weekend hand quilting my small fabric sketches. They are my summer challenge for the Colour Quarterly group I am a member of.

 I just love the way a simple running stitch combined with fabric and batting makes such an interesting effect. I just have to finish the binding and then I will post a photo of them finished.

Kiwi Bloke on Tour

Kiwi Bloke has been selected to be part of the Colours of New Zealand exhibition. It starts off at Minerva in Wellington on  May 29th and will then tour around the country for a year. I hope he finds lots of good surf beaches along the way and a few cold beers!

Sun Bleached

Yesterday when the rain was pouring down I started a piece for an exhibition later in the year called 'Yes its Yellow' It is the third annual exhibition organised by the NZ embroiderers guild, all themed on colour. The first was blue, then red now yellow.

I am using the same head as my Kiwi Bloke quilt. I have decided to try to use designs I like again if I can. I like the idea of seeing how a design changes when the scale is different. Sometimes designs only work on a large scale, some only small. Kiwi bloke seems not to care too much! He will now have gold dreadlocks and a sunshine yellow face. Just the piece of work to be working on when outside is dark and wet. It is 10am and I still have the light on in my studio!