a garden full of flowers and food

My weekly photos this week are of a few of the natural delights that we are enjoying in our garden at the moment following the recent rain. Late this afternoon we picked and enjoyed a bowl of fresh strawberries then picked some corn, Asian greens and dug up some fresh ginger for tonights' stir fry.  

It really is a great time of the year

moving ideas forward

Moving On - Stitch on paper

I'm quite enjoying doing the stitch on paper portraits. 

Timeout Please - acrylic & charcoal on paper

Also finished working on another painted piece.

Happy Chappy

The Sunflower remains bright and cheery against the overcast morning. We planted some corn and sunflower seeds a few weeks back, they work well planted together as the corn acts as a support. I've always liked the colors and presence of the sunflower.

fabric through spoonflower

When the 'Broadstrokes' creative group met a few weeks back, I had a copy of my calender there for show and tell and the lovely Kate suggested to me that I might be interested in having a look at 'Spoonflower' which specializes in digitally printing fabrics.

I created an account, uploaded a couple of images, ordered the samples, made a couple of adjustments and then released the above fabrics to my newly created 'Spoonflower' e-shop. And of cause ordered more fabric, lengths this time and they arrived on Friday last week. It's very exciting when the the post people leave parcels on your doorstep. Breaking into the parcel is like taking the wrapping off of a yummy candy and enjoying the wonderful delight that lies within. 

At the moment there are seven designs available with more on their way. Visit Mels' Fabric available through 'Spoonflower'

succulent flower

from this

to this

When I went up to feed the chickens on Thursday morning the flower on one of our succulents had finally opened, even though it was raining, photos were still taken before heading off to work. Our renovator home also included renovating the garden. It's an older style garden with many mature trees and old style plants. As we cleared out the back section we discovered a couple of hanging baskets filled with different types of succulents that had fallen to the ground. We re-potted them into half style baskets and hang the baskets up along the side of the chicken house. The next step is to work out what type of succulent it is - I think it might be the Cryptocereus anthonyanus Ric-Rac or Zig-Zag succulent.

anyone for tea

The Leaves of Pineapple Sage

a bit of Lemon Grass

and some mint

Totally enjoy a good cappuccino and especially love an affogato but I also enjoy wondering around the garden and gathering together a selection of leaves from the herbs we have planted and drawing a fresh pot of tea.  Mints, Lemon Grass and the leaves of Pinapple Sage is one of my favorite combinations, periodically I add a little bit of Lemon Balm.

Enjoy the cuppa and many thanks for the wonderful comments

stitched portraits on paper

I've been really enjoying the acrylic painting but I tend not to stray to far from stitch or textiles so a few weeks back I started to explore with free motion stitching onto various types on paper. The first picture is stitched onto white paper, the second picture I have painted a background and then stitched over it. The third picture I have painted various pieces of paper, stitch one piece, cut the others up and then collaged them onto a piece of watercolor paper and further embellished with hand stitching. I've been really enjoying this adventure - paper isn't as bulky as a quilt but is doesn't have the flexibility of a quilt so there has been a couple of little challenges with maneuvering  the larger paper pieces through the machine.

All three images will be availble as prints at mels redbubble gallery

spin

acrylic, charcoal and collage on paper

The other piece I finished over the weekend.

I've called the piece 'Spin'

my feet got wet

my feet got wet

It was a beautiful weather day on Saturday, so we took off on an impromptu picnic lunch out to Wivenhoe Dam Picnic and BBQ area. Wondered around taking photos, spotted a koala and went to the spillway lookout. The dam is currently at 90% capacity but it has spent the last few years with less than half it's capacity. 

The dam is Brisbanes' main water supply.

Acrylic and stitch on paper

Finished off a couple of pieces over the weekend, this is the first piece. I started this piece during a recent abstract painting workshop. I had alot of fun with this piece experimenting with different acrylic mediums (impasto & moulding paste), acrylic paint, collage and of course a little bit of stitch all onto A3 paper.

1 night - Tannum Sands/Gladstone

A few months back I offered to take the 2QAQ Art Quilts up to the Childers Art Gallery where they will be on display until the 12th December. Instead of just driving them up, dropping them off and heading back we decided to build a short escape. On Saturday we headed up to Gladstone to visit family, stayed the night out at Tannum Sands and went exploring along the banks of the Boyne River. There's a hard turn off the highway onto a track that takes you under the bridge and a certain distance along the banks. The Boyne Rivers bed and banks are covered in mostly stones and pebbles. I enjoyed exploring about and always wonder what stories the lost/abandoned items could tell.

1 night - 1770/Agnus Waters

We spent last night in the 1770/Agnus Waters area. Our accommodation (Sandcastles 1770) had a connecting pathway directly to the beach. We also went walking along the water front out at 1770 but what really stood out was the number of plants that were in flower when we went up to the lookout area of 1770.

Today we delivered the SOTA10 Art Quilts to Childers Art Gallery

Just arrived home from taking the State of the Art Quilts 10 up to the Childers Art Gallery. We helped with the setting up of the display. The art quilts will be on display at the gallery until the 12 December 2010. The Childers Art gallery is located on the upper level of the "The Palace Building" in the main street that runs through Childers.

Approximately 3 years ago Sue Dennis announced at a general meeting of Queensland Quilt Group that an Art Quilt group would be forming as a sub-group and asked for volunteers for the founding committee. A few of us put our hands up to be part of the journey. We have held monthly meetings and once a year a juried exhibition is held for the members. The exhibition tours to several venues: this years collection has been to The Australasian Quilt Convention (AQC) in Melbourne, Textile Art Festival in Brisbane, Boonah Art Gallery and currently at Childers Art Gallery.