20/02/2020

Well. I can tell exactly how long it is since I posted - the dates give it away.

It has been strange weather, hot and dry, hot and humid, now it is cool and wet. More summer forecast to be with us in a few days.

I have been working on a small tapestry, for one of my online groups. Every year they have a call for entries on a theme. This year's was Wind in Motion. I had several ideas going at first, not all of them appropriate!

I started on ideas last year. I was inspired by a satellite image of a hurricane that I found on 123RF. 

There have been lots of weather images around lately, with all the fires, smoke and then storms that have been coming though. The maps have been scarily coloured - maybe that is just a reflection of the media's inclination to scare us. So I feel as if my image is rather calm, compared to what we have been seeing - even though it is of a hurricane.

The tapestry is on its way to the organisers. I am looking forward to when it comes to our state and can be exhibited at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild rooms in Victoria. It is going to New Zealand and around Australia, so it will we well-travelled when I get it back.

02/02/2020

I have had several reminders (from my many fans!) that today's date is special!!!
We probably won't get another like it for 110 years - not in my lifetime!
So here I am, posting.

Not much to post about though.
I do have a piece that was unsuccessful in the upcoming Australian Textile Art Awards. I am not particularly surprised, it was not that wonderful. But having a call for entries was just what I have needed over this very stressful summer, with all the bad news about fires, plagues, floods, etc.

There was no theme, no particular dimensions either. That was a change for me! However, I recently (a few months ago) attended a Kathryn Harmer Fox workshop and, for some reason, thought about doing an emperor gum moth caterpillar. So I ran with that.

I thought that it would be an ok topic as the machine embroidery group at the Embroiderers Guild, Vic, has a theme of trees this year. These insects dwell in trees, so they fit.

The sewing allowed me to retreat from the horrible world - not that my own particular world, here locally, is horrible. But the news is bad, bad, bad. Heat doesn't help either, or bad air. Anyway, moving on ... I was able to concentrate on the design and sewing and find some much needed peace. So I am totally not bothered about not being accepted, the challenge provided me with much needed focus. And I can look forward to some really wonderful pieces when it is exhibited (March 21-April 5).