Moving forward

The past twelve months have been a struggle.  In June I lost my best little friend, Bonnie.  As hard as it was to say goodbye I know how lucky I was to have her for so many years, as she was almost 17 years old.  She was a wonderful companion and filled my heart with joy, and I hope she is happy wherever she is.

On top of this I lost my beautiful mum in August, after watching her fight the battle of her life with cancer.  I can't find words to express the loss I feel.  She too was my best friend, as well as a confidante, doctor, critic, supporter, mum - and so much more.  There's a huge hole in our lives but I know we have to keep going.

So now I'm trying to climb out of the dark tunnel and find joy in things that make me happy again.  I have to give myself something to aim for, so I recently joined two textile groups.

Septembers meeting at ATASDA saw Lyn Brown displaying her art books which she is exhibiting in the eastern states shortly.  They were amazing, and came in all sizes. She'd certainly been busy.

As well as Lyn's display other members also showed their work.  Here's Dorothy Boxall with her blankets, naturally dyed using carob seeds and avocado.  I love the patterns created on them.

Wendy Burgess was a new member this week and brought along a wonderful display of her work, including this spectacular dragonfly.  This was only one of her many fabulous creations she shared with us.

Judith Harvey brought along her quilt which she'd recently exhibited.

Apart from Show-n-Tell and a discussion about the future of the group there was no stitching this month.

The following week I attended my first meeting with Art A'peel, a textile group in my local area, and I had a ball.  I got a lovely surprise when I discovered Lyn from ATASDA was also a member of this group, and was teaching us all how to make some of her book covers using Lutradur.

We all had a brilliant time painting our Lutradur, stitching into it, adding embellishments and then attaching it to felt to create the covers.  I've since ordered more Lutradur and hope to make many more.  Here's a few samples of everyone's work.

As well as painting and stitching we got to have a play on a big shot machine, embossing foil/tin panels for future work.

Then Lyn kindly showed us some more techniques, like how to emboss a plastic CD disk using embossing powders and a heat gun.  The finished pieces were so exciting and my mind was racing with how I could use this technique further down the track.  

We did have a good laugh when she produced what looked like an implement of torture but was in fact just an eyelet gun.

My mind was like a sponge soaking up all the new techniques and information, and I can say it was one of the most enjoyable days I've had for a long time.  I spent the following few days working on completing my book cover and here's the finished piece .....

... the only problem is I'm too scared to use it in case I  ruin it!!!