fiveandtwo

I'm Still Here...

Yes, still here, but completely out of the routine of blogging. For me, it does need to be slotted in, in some organised way. Spontaneous blogging is a rarity around here! I guess this is true for most people.

My routine has had a big shakeup (it happens every so often).

After a nearly twenty year hiatus I've returned to "formal" art study - Diploma of Visual Arts at East Gippsland TAFE. With a view to eventually gaining a degree in Fine Art, probably from Monash Churchill. The closest uni. to where I live but still a 2 hour drive away!

I've always wanted a tertiary qualification. I rejected a science degree at the beginning of 1982. I'm interested in many aspects of the sciences but Pure Applied Chemistry? What was I thinking.

Family consensus was "artists never make money", therefore studying art was a really bad option. Making lots of money is better than doing what you enjoy?

 

I'm only doing three subjects - painting, drawing and theory - which occupies two days, but it's anough to throw me out of whack!

Thank goodness paid work is usually only one day per week.

It's very motivating being at TAFE. I didn't realise how bored I was. Of course, I had plenty to do with household/kid/husband stuff, and loads of projects in the offing. I think it's been the exchange of ideas that's been missing. Talking with like-minded people, talking books, art, reasons, ideas. Talking about what you're working on, why you're doing it.

Discovering blogland filled part of the gap here. Nothing beats face-to-face interaction though. It sounds lame but I think that stumbling on blogland a couple of years ago prevented me from going completely barmy.

 

I've come into contact with wonderfully creative, articulate and interesting women. I've even met some of them in real life!

So, I've done no crafting except make a paint brush roll.

It's based on the tool roll in this book.

  

I'm a fan of Lotta Jansdotter's style, I have two other books of hers. The printing one, and a Japanese one. I see she has a making-things-for- babies book out.

 

Pics of paintings - TAFE stuff I've been working on.

So, I'm working on slotting the blog posts. You'll probably be subjected to WIPs of TAFE assignments rather than craft/garden/op-shoppy things. You have ben warned...

Broken

This lass is beyond repair.

 

Gracie was given to Linsey over ten years ago, passed on to Leah, then to Clare and Ally. Even though china dolls are meant to be ornamental, not played with, I let them anyway. What's the point of having a doll if you can't play with her?

She's been glued so many times, and adhesive bandage was used when the glue failed. Not surprisingly Gracie was often used in hospital/doctor/nurse games.

This time the injury was fatal and she's in the shed awaiting burial, or recycling (I stil have another hearth to do).

Speaking of hearths and broken things: the kitchen hearth is finished!

Well, some sanding and sealing of the wood surround is in order, otherwise...it's finished!

Did I say the hearth was finished? Yep, it's done.

 

The giant jigsaw was absorbing, I enjoyed doing it. I like having the ice cream containers of broken china out of the way. Makes access to the kitchen bench much easier.

Another hearth to be done...eventually. More plates and bowls need to be broken. I used up most of the good bits on the kitchen hearth. Hmmm, could be an excuse to seek out more china at the op-shop!

Hoops And Interviews

  Hello, I'm back from Melbourne. Linsey has had The Holy VCA Interview but doesn't think it went well. A letter from RMIT awaited when we got home saying that regretfully, they couldn't offer her a place in 2009. The girl doesn't think she'll get te ENTER of 80 she needs for Monash.

I know it's extremely painful for her. It's painful for me as a parent too. That I can't make things happen as I know she wants them to. I want for her what she wants for herself.

However, from my position as an oldie, I know it's not a fatal blow. And I can see in front of me a lass who's vastly more switched on than I ever was at 18. I know she'll pursue what she wants in spite of these setbacks (something I was unable to do at that age). But...she cried, and that is a blow to my heart. Life is strewn with disappointments, and I can't make it better.

 I think I may be unduly sensitised at the moment, a fellow a year older than Linsey suicided last week in Lakes Entrance, in spite of being surrounded by family and friends...

 Gee, I'm not doing very well articulating this. Possibly I  should have waited a day or so.

On a lighter note, I've jumped on the fabric-in-embroidery-hoop bandwagon and put some on the wall on the stairs to my room. Rather hard to photograph as it's on an angle.

 

 

Weigel's 2121

I made a dress using a vintage pattern!

 

Not for me though - I'm too fat for pretty much all vintage patterns. 

I made it for Linsey to wear to her graduation. She chose the pattern from my collection, and chose view B, but didn't like the three-quarter sleeves. I was able to make it sleeveless - there was just enough fabric left from the cutting out to make facings.

It also needed it made smaller. The pattern is for a 36" bust and she is only 34". There are some extra "design features" on the bodice where I used extra darts to make it smaller.

  

   

I'm very pleased with the result.

And here are some little felt birds I made while I was at Bendigo. I find it hard to "just sit". I've learned to take some sort of handwork and some books whenever we go away.

 

She Finally Posts.

It's been ages, it seems, since I've been here.

So, what have I been up to? This and that. The big thing was a crafters weekend in Bendigo. I came home wanting to knit socks, crochet, sew, make a sock monkey, make felt...it was really inspiring and the women I met a terrific bunch. I was very nervous about meeting them, but needn't have been.

Here is what I managed to produce :

I didn't finish this one:

A little bird with a floss loop for hanging.

This purse is a ring-in. I actually made it some time ago.

I also hitched a ride to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show - wasn't going to go - glad I did. All that wool, all those lovely things made from wool...sigh. I even bought a skein of indigo-dyed wool and I'm knitting the Windy City scarf from the Stitch and Bitch book (by Debbie Stoller). It has some nice patterns in it but I get tired of the "funky-hipster-speak" writing that litters the book. Heh, must be showing my age.

I'm winging it with this. The wool is the wrong ply, the needles the wrong size and I have immense difficulty following even simple knitting patterns!

The best stall by far was the one selling old buttons among other things. Now, I really could've gone wild with button purchasing, I think I was quite restrained really.

 I also found four Enid Gilchrist books that I don't have. Bonanza!

I certainly had more to carry home on the train than the backpack I started out with. There were those books I bought in Melbourne too...

Train reading was The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide. Loved it. Cried, when the main character's son died, and laughed too. The description of visiting funeral parlours while researching coffins was a crack-up. Plus she kept chooks.

When I finished that I started on Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. I enjoyed In Defense of Food, the Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants tenet is something I strive for. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed though, by all I want to do, the changes I want to make. I try to remember the words of a good friend: Hasten Slowly.

Thursday saw me on a flying visit to Pakenham. Why Pakenham? The nearest Bernina dealer. Well, not the nearest but the one in Traralgon would talk the hind leg off a donkey - too much for me.

I raided my savings and bought a seriously nice new overlocker.

A Bernina 1150MDA. The internet was most useful when researching overlockers. Reading reviews, visiting manufacturer websites and so. I did need to go and actually try the machine myself though, just to make sure all those positive reviewers were being truthful!

What else has been going on? I completed Giles and Linsey's tax returns (ugh) and remedied this:

A very sad specimen of a roman blind. This is what happens after twelve years hanging in a west-facing window. I made a new one. Rather lairy, but sometimes lairy is good.

 I even remembered to take before-and-after photos!

Cheers for now. I will publish this before Typepad freezes up again.

Completed Creatures

Two likely lads, about to set for a stroll.

The lad claimed by Linsey has facial features (and a bellybutton).

This sleepy one has its own reversible bag for snoozing in.

I did a post about the book the patterns are in here. I really like them, enjoyed "bringing them to life".

However, I don't think I'll make any for a while.

I really  need to focus on only two or three  (perhaps one or two) particular art/craft endeavours. My usual method is really scattered. So many projects, none of them completed. So often exploring new inspirations, while those previous, they languish.

Then there's my love affair with blogland, I need to rein that in somehow.

But you people have been so supportive, you've provided feedback on my various projects, empathic comments when things have gone pear-shaped, useful links and snippets of wisdom. A special window to your own experiences and making of splendid arts. Enjoyed immensely.

How do you lovely people resolve this dilemma? I aim not to occupy the computer during the day, but the evening is when the teens want to use the machine. I always defer to homework do-ers. Linsey is the only one at the moment (year twelve). Sometimes I get up really early to "catch up", and do a post. Depends on the lateness of the previous night. Not from partying, oh no. From waiting up to pick up offspring from their part-time jobs!

Basically, I think I should close my blog rather than post sporadically. Particularly since there isn't much continuity. Subject matter is quite random I imagine many of you have reached this point. How have you made the decision?

Mouse Bus

All these little mice (been cut out for a while) got sewn up on Thursday.

Clare and Ally've been playing with them, this is the mouse bus.

Lovely to watch the small fry play, a pleasant interlude from teen wrangling. 

I was at home on Thursday supervising Leah's suspension from school.For truancy, last Friday with a bunch of "mates" and on Wednesday she took herself around to a year eleven boy's house for the day. It was in chasing up the students who were absent on Friday that it was discovered Leah wasn't at school on Wednesday. She had stayed overnight at a friend's house in a town not far away and was definitely dropped of at school that morning.

Our attempts to locate her mired us in a web of deceit. Leah claimed to still be where she slept over due to missing the bus in the morning...each friend she claimed to be with was accounted for at school...her friend's mum was going to drop her off, but wasn't there for us to speak to...denying saying anything about being kicked out of home and living with a foster family.

I later had much more revealed when, rightly or wrongly, I found her phone and went through the inbox/outbox messages. The frantic texting that went on as they all tried to align their stories and cover their backsides was sickening. The messages to and from the boy Leah was with disturbed me. It ain't good to be with someone who texts you saying, "Say my name and you're wrecked".

And then the message to one of her mates, "I've been f***ing kicked out of home, I'm with an f***ing foster family".That explains the school wanting to know if Leah still lived at home.

The Secondary College discovered that thirteen-year-old Leah was at a year eleven party in yet another hearby town on Saturday night, went nowhere near the friend's I thought she was sleeping over at (that lass was at a different party). I guess I've just assumed she'd do the right thing, took her word for it, and trusted her - been spoilt by Linsey and Giles.  To the school's credit, they've had a lengthy discussion with the boy about the "appropriateness" of a seventeen-year-old/thirteen-year-old relationship.

I now wonder whether Leah was where she said she was the times she texted me asking if it was ok to go to so-and-so's place after school, or to sleep over...

After she finally came home it was to pack some stuff because she was going to live at a friend's house. My husband took her down to a local family support agency (rather than DHS) to see if someone would talk to her more objectively than we could about how fostering actually works, that it doesn't mean you front up to a mate's place and move in. Leah learned that there were no places for teens in this town, therefore a foster placement would need to be found elsewhere in the state (that chills me). She stayed the night with an aunty after it was suggested it might grant her some thinking time to do so. We also got a referral to the LINX program operated here by the local community health service. This program endeavours to prevent family breakdown due to teenagers running away and the like. My sources say the adolescent/ family counsellor is very good.

I just feel I can't trust my girl any more. It's a horrible, horrible feeling. Worse than the stony silence, the glares, the curling lip.

I know she'll grow beyond all this. Sometimes I see glimpses of what I like to think is the real Leah. That lovely, sparkly girl that I adore. Keeps me going, it does. Keeps me trying. Keeps me hoping. I think it will sustain me these next several years. Heck, roll on the development of her frontal lobe!

Good Company And Crafting

Linsey, the small fry and I stayed with a good buddy at St Andrews last weekend.

Linsey had her first experience of city driving and did really well. It's not easy for a novice to keep an eye on traffic both sides of the car, in front and behind as well as things like traffic lights, road signs and so forth. I don't think I stressed too much, although I do remember saying, "Brakes!", rather loudly once or twice.

I made sure our visit to St Andrews included a Saturday. Can't miss the excellent market held there, no way.

Following a lengthy browse at St Andrews market we took ourselves to Fitzroy for a look at the Rose Street Artist Market. Such talent, such beautiful goodies. My husband rang while I was there (computer glitch at work) and I crowed about how I was surrounded by wondrous things and hadn't spent a cent. Well, in the next five minutes a bought an etching of a magpie by Bridget Farmer! Heh, that'll teach me.

My buddy is keen to bring the fiveandtwo the business out of recess, so we had coffee and crafted, sipped wine and crafted and just plain crafted. The perfect activity for a good catch-up. I swotted on the sewing machine the day before leaving, nothing like leaving it until the last minute. But I then had a pile of things to finish with hand sewing and stuff, plenty to work on for sure.

Behold, finished items:

The felt pups are from ages ago, the dachshund just needed some buddies for the photo opportunity.

I was trying out patterns from this book:

These in particular:

Apples galore. Quick to make with a sewing machine. Sew, stuff, sew up the stuffing hole. Done. The stalk is leather thonging which, fortuitously, I found many metres of at the op shop only the week before! The stalk I sewed in with the last seam. Easy.

From this book:

Minus the beads in this (not very good) photo.

A pair of hedgehogs (echidas?):

From this book:

Horses from fabric. I don't think they "work" - poor choice of fabric perhaps. The felt ones are better, I reckon.

And, finally, this fellow, who's yet to have eyes and nose. Already claimed by Linsey. Very happy with him. Made from scraps of linen and some really soft wool bought from that recent bountiful garage sale.

And this is the book the pattern's from:

More are cut out, including one of these "sleepy" ones. Sleeping in its own bag. Very cute.

One more page from the book:

Hmmm, perhaps you've noticed my current penchant for Japanese craft books? Bounty of last year's Family Tax Credit. What use are they if you don't craft from them. These little projects are mighty good for using up scraps of fabric. You know, those tiny pieces of wonderful stuff that you can't bear to toss.

One panel of an apple (or pear) uses a miniscule amount of fabric. Also the dachshund and the car. More for the mousey-doggy animals.

An extremely productive weekend. It's definitely easier to be productive not being surrounded by all that household stuff that needs attention!

New Needlebook

My old cardboard needlebook was falling to bits. Plus I wanted a small project to actually finish.

A plain green leaf didn't look right, hence the stitching.

Inside I was able to use some of my collection of old flannelette. Leaf : flowers, goes together, right?

The leaf template came from a kid's sewing book that I picked up at the op shop recently called Busy Little Hands - Sewing, illustrated by Douglas Hall and published by Hamlyn.

There's also a pattern for a little hedgehog (echidna?) pincushion where the pins form the quills.

Clare and Ally have been inspired to sew. I must say it's easier to teach them now than it was even a year ago.

Clare's flower brooch and angel, Ally's bracelet. They used my felt and fabric scraps. I helped with needle threading and knot tying.

I'd forgotten how relaxing it is to sit stitching and chatting. Or to be lost in thought if I'm on my own. I think there's something magical about handwork.

Purses

Some that I finished while away at Christmas. The ones not completed on the Mooloolaba trip mid-year.

Obviously the tail-end of the group. A couple there that I'm not really pleased with.

So umm, radical, a different shape, well, different for me!

I think my designs for the other shape are better.