Christmas Pendant

I looked at the tacky earrings and brooches in the supermarkets to wear to the Christmas do's that abound in December. I have three to go to next week alone. After due consideration I decided to make mine and this is a little sparkly Christmas tree pendant, felt lurex and glitter fabrics under tulle, beaded, sequin star. I bought the neckpiece.

Photos

The photos I took at the exhibition on opening night were very dark and not worth showing. I am on duty all day Friday so will take some more pictures then. Have an idea for another postcard simmering in my mind, will have to get some fabrics out and play to see if I can get this thing on the way to being made. Sometimes from mind to actual work is very hard!

Exhibition

The opening of our exhibition was a big success with lovely artwork, crowds of people and lots of sales. Even I sold something - my framed seascape postcard. Best of all my daughter managed to sneak an extra glass of wine in just before we ran out. It wasn't exactly dry as there was still orange juice and water left for the desperately thirsty. My photos are a bit dark, so I have fallen back on picking out a group of people enjoying themselves looking at the work displayed. It is an old, high ceilinged building and although the spotlights lit up the works admirably, somehow the camera did not approve of the lighting.

Tonight

Is the official opening of our Multiple Threads Exhibition. I am going down to see it and to lend a hand with the handing around of food, etc. Luckily my daughter is coming with me so I will have someone on hand to keep me awake on the long drive home again. Must get the camera charged up today, have not used it for a while and don't want it to have flat batteries.

Maureen

dressmaking

I decided I need some new summer trousers and even bought a new pattern, fortunately I decided to try the pattern out in some cheap fabric before cutting into my linen. Gosh they were tight and wrinkled in all the wrong places. Serves me right, will go back to my trusty Loes Hinse pattern. Trousers and pattern ended up in the bin. Take 2 will take place later today, I hope.

Onion and Thyme Marmalade

I have been asked for the recipe for this relish, so here it is. It is a recipe in an Australian Family Circle book, which is possibly out of print now as I have had it for some time.

Onion and Thyme Marmalade

2kg (4lb) onions cut into rings
3 cups (750ml/24 fl oz) malt vinegar
6 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
3.5 cups (805g/1 lb 10 oz) firmly packed soft brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
10 x 3cm sprigs fresh thyme

1. Place the onion in a large pan with vinegar. Put the peppercorns and bay leaves in square of muslin and tie securely with string (you can use a chux cloth for this) Add to the pan. Bring to the boil and reduce heat and simmer for 40-45 mins or until onion is very soft.
2. Add sugar, thyme leaves and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 mins or until thick and syrupy. Skim any scum off the surface during cooking with a slotted spoon. Discard muslin bag and stir in the fresh thyme sprigs.
3. Spoon the onion pulp immediately into clean warm jars, then pour in syrup and seal jars. Label and date. Leave for 1 month before opening to allow the flavours to develop. Usual storage instructions apply.

It really is delicious, and you will just be in time for Christmas if you make it now as it will be ready for the cold meats that usually abound at that time of year.

? Textiles

I have been rather slack on the textile front lately, but yesterday posted off a postcard for another auction, so maybe I am entitled to a day off. I did mend the fly veil leggings for my daughter's horse, the shadecloth had pulled away from the bias close to the velcro fastenings. Once I worked out how to repair it it did not take a minute and I was able to deliver them today so her boy would be free from tormenting fly bites on his ankles. Not only is it highly irritating for the horse, but it is also irritating when it is hot to have to fill in the large hole he dug when pawing to free himself free of the biting flies.

Other than having breakfast out this morning, going to the local vegetable shed to top up the greenery in the house and delivering my mending, I have been making onion and thyme marmalade to go with cold meats at Christmas. It needs a month to mature, so I am just in thyme (sorry time!).

The first one

Tonight is the night of the first Christmas dinner of the year! Fortunately because it is an Italian restaurant it is unlikely to be the unlovely turkey and trimmings and possibly I will even be able to have a salad. Who knows! I have a face mask on at the moment, waiting for the time to pass till I can have a shower and wash it off. It is so long since I did the beauty treatment stuff that I had to pressurise the face mask stuff out of the tube. Only hope it is not so old it does a reverse beauty treatment (grin) No, I am sorry, there will be no photos......

Postcard - Kangaroo Dreaming

Finally finished this postcard. I put some tulle over the stencilled kangaroo which enhances the dreamlike quality of the card. The beads added to the wattle bush give a subtle sparkle which is attractive. Am glad to have finished this postcard as it has been a fair bit of work to get it to this stage.

Beads

On her website Sharonb talks about a crazy quilt she made called "I dropped the button box". Well I didn't drop the buttons, only the bead box. After much crawling around on the floor, luckily tiled, I thought I had tracked down every bead, and I can't tell you how far some travelled. But, alas, no - I am still finding the stray bead here and there, little rolley beads that could spell disaster if trod on unwarily.

Kangaroo Dreaming

All is quiet because I am busily beading my postcard. Roo now has half a wattle bush to hide behind. Well, I must admit I am not beading right now, bit hard to do when you are busily writing a blog entry, but my excuse is that my eyes needed a rest.

Kangaroo dreaming 2

This morning I added some bushes for my kangaroo to hide behind. They can disappear in a flash (hopefully) when you come across them in the bush, so that you almost think you dreamed seeing them. Have some beading still to do on this work, then finish the postcard back and edge stitch.

Exhibition

This is something to do with your ATCs for those of you like me who have not yet made a book in which to keep them. The Exhibition is at the Old Royal George Gallery, cnr George and Duke Street, East Fremantle, W. Australia, Wednesday to Sunday from 22 November to 3 December. Just in case you happen to be passing.........

Multiple Threads Exhibition, Fremantle

Today I have been tidying and packing up my pieces for this exhibition. I am giving them to a friend who is going to deliver them to the picking up point for me. I have two stoles, 2 embroidered and beaded tiny wallhangings and a bag plus the framed postcard which is going in as a group exhibit.

Tatting

I think Christmas has definitely arrived on my 'to-do' list. I have been working out my present list, frantically trying to remember just where I put the Christmas cards, admiring the gorgeous Christmas trees and hanging angels moving with every breeze that wafts them in the centre of a local Shopping Centre, in fact each time I poke my nose out of doors Christmas greets me every which way. I tend to be a bit 'bah- humbug-ish' about Christmas as it has become. I don't like to be told that I must buy lots of expensive stuff to enjoy Christmas to the full, what rubbish! So instead of buying plastic tree decorations I am sitting quietly at home tatting little beaded snowflakes to adorn Christmas trees with their delicate beauty.

Christmas is a'coming

and here is a nice site with some small Christmas patterns for you to browse through. Enjoy.......

I got this from Alis Clair's blog and am offering to do the same:

The first five people to respond to this via the comments will receive a piece of artwork from me. It will be original and a surprise.
The catch?
If you respond you have to post this to your blog too and continue sharing the art.

Textile Tuesday - red

The theme this week is 'red'. A bit of a stumper for me who rarely works in red, but luckily I remembered my stock of Christmas ornaments that I have been busily tatting whenever a spare moment arises.

Textile Tuesday - woman

With a backing of watercolour paper and a little fabric this collage just about squeezes into Textile Tuesday format. This week's title - Woman the Nurturer.

Still needing to keep the house clean and tidy for home opens, so I have been playing at making watercoloured backgrounds for a pastel painting I have in mind to do. This is a salt sprinkled reddish grey background, which is more or less the colour I was aiming for. I think my sewing machines will think I have deserted them forever.

Apologies

Haven't been doing much else but housework and gardening lately, getting the house ready for home opens on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend. I would like to say that when I sit down to rest I have been handsewing something, but nothing of the sort has been happening.

Just to prove, though, that this is still a textile blog, here is a link to the Houston Quilt Show. There are some fantastic pieces of work shown there amongst the winners. Would love to be able to go and see this show.