WA Craft Show

Have you ever had one of those days when you feel like a kid lost in a fairytale - I did on Friday.  I went to the WA Craft Show at Claremont and spent 5 hours mesmerised by colour and creativity.  I sometimes wish I had a photographic memory so I could go home and remember everything I'd seen and what had inspired me.  First stop was the ATASDA stall and a chat with Judith, with lots of oohing and ahhing over her spectacular quilted coat.

I've just recently become a member of the ATASDA group and my first contribution was a ruby card for display celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the group.  

There was a wonderful variety, each member had a completely different take on their card, yet they all looked fabulous when placed together with the gold cord running through them.  My contribution is the first on the left on the fourth row.

 The Northampton textile group "All Stitched Up" put on an amazing display and were a friendly bunch of ladies.  The imagination and creativity from people leaves me gobsmacked and feeling rather lacking in my own abilities, and left me wandering around muttering "...now why didn't I think of that?!"

 I love my cups of tea, but never have I thought to put the teabags to such brilliant use as Louise Wells did with this amazing outfit, in the "Art to Wear" section.  This outfit was called "once".

 There were lots of other incredible creations in the Art to Wear competition too.

This piece of Art to Wear (below) by Shelley Higham and Linda Nunn, titled "Magical Memories" was incredible and the photo doesn't do it justice.  The outfit was embellished with clear plastic cups cut to form fronds and then coated at the ends in paint to represent flowers.  Simply awesome!

I grabbed some reels of Wonderfil machine thread not realising the different weights of each of them until the delightful Helen Rhodes explained all about them to me.  I fell in love with her machine stitched Emu wall hanging and left feeling so envious of her amazing talents, and was delighted to later learn she lives not far from me, so I'm sure I'll attend one of her workshops in the not too distant future.

One of the shows special guests this year was textile artist Caroline Sharkey - yet another awesome display of colour and inspiration.  I watched her working on one of her pieces and couldn't believe the speed she ran the fabric through the sewing machine, you can guarantee that if I'd tried it the needle would have broken or the threads snapped.

This years Quilt display didn't disappoint either with lots of wonderful quilts to see (sorry I didn't get the names of the artists who's work is shown below).

I was in awe of the third place winner of the Bunbury Quilt Challenge - a stunning quilt of a Mykonos Fishing Boat by Peg Pennell of Nebraska, USA.

And who could walk past this display without falling in love with these little fella's ... wonderfully displayed in china jugs by Georgie Threadgould of Thread Bears.

I lost my heart to this little rabbit at the Bear Moments stall and it was a hard task not to take him home with me as he was gorgeous, but the pocket money only stretched so far ... maybe he'll go on my wish list for Christmas.

 Another guest artist this year, was Celia Player, with her fantastic textile art works.

Helen Godden was also there to demonstrate her fabulous quilting works and demonstrate the Sweet Sixteen quilting machine - yes, that's definitely going on my gift list to Santa this year, it does the most awesome stitching and makes it look so easy.

And lastly here's a pic of the poppy display on the WAFTA stall - part of the 5000 Poppy Appeal  (more of that to come in another blog post)

I had a deliciously happy day on Friday and days like that have been few and far between recently, so it was extra specially nice.  Hope everyone else who attended enjoyed it as much as I did.

Art A'peel Exhibition

I had one of the most enjoyable mornings in a long time on Saturday when I attended the textile group "Art A'peel's" Textile and Fibre Art Exhibition at Madora Bay.

I've only just found out about this group and added to the joy is that they're right on my doorstep - now how much better can it get? 

Well, it can get better, because I felt so at home from the moment I walked into the hall and met Jill at the front desk, then met many of the other ladies in the group and found them to be a wonderful bunch of friendly and fun women. 

Many times I've gone to exhibitions, walked around, had a look, then out the door and home again, but not this time.  I chatted, laughed, learnt things and even had a delicious mug of home made soup. I could've stayed all day.

The work on display was so inspiring, and along with the display of their individual works was a lovely focus on Bastille Day and all things French. 

There was such an huge variety of work from framed textile pieces, to scarves, to bags, to felted vases ...

 ... clothes made from a multitude of different textiles, all vibrant and tactile ....

 ... and demonstrations to whet your appetite and get those creative juices flowing ....

 .... not forgetting the "art to wear" display.  This one is Dixie's floating cloud piece - mind boggling when you look close at all the tiny beads that join each twist in the fabric.

I was so taken with the ladies and the standard of work, that on my way home I grabbed an application form to join them.  Keeping my fingers crossed they will have me!

I'm still here ....

I had hoped that after the house build and completing my C&G that I could throw myself whole heartedly into my creative work, but sometimes life throws you a curve ball and all plans are thrown out the window.  Last October we were struck with the news that my mum has cancer, and life as we know it hasn't been the same since.  As hard as you try your mind is always elsewhere and priorities change.  I've tried to read blogs and keep up, but sometimes even that has been too hard, and writing my own blog has been near impossible.  However, I'm trying to take a deep breath and keep normality in my life and so today I have decided to get back on the band wagon and reconnect with the outside world, I hope you haven't forgotten me.

After long days at the hospital the evenings were difficult, it was hard to settle and relax, so I turned to what always helps me .. my stitching.  I started stitching quotes about a mothers love which in turn evolved into a rug quilt for mum's birthday.  It was a way of showing my mum how much she means to me and she now keeps the quilt near her at all times, as she knows its full of love and comfort from me.

Above is the finished quilt, and below are some of the quotes. 

So not only is the quilt a comfort to mum, but was a comfort to me in stitching and creating it.  Such is the joy of something hand made.