Wednesday 5 November 2014

Trip to Waihi

George an I took a drive to Waihi on Sat 1 Nov to have a look at a camper van. On our drive home we stopped at the Owharoa Falls and Karangahake Gorge

                                                       OWHAROA FALLS




George

Ellen





























KARANGAHAKE GORGE 











Ellen

Crossing the bridge

Relic - Rusty wheel from Gold mining 

foundations from years ago

George 


 River taken from bridge



Old photo of Gold mine

My Studio is ready for action

George (hubby) and I have had a fabulous shed built. I have been waiting for a while to have a place to call my own where I can experiment with various craft techniques and sew, paint, create ....

My Studio from different view points    Just love this space 

Ann and I share the space

My station

Lots of space

View from door looking in

Some of my quilts 

Looking out from back

Books and magazines galore

more books

Some more of my work

From another viewpoint

Saturday 25 October 2014

Various Workshops and Wellington visit.

Oct 2014       WOW!! so much happening of late.

Finally got in a trip to Wellington NZ. The visit was short but we really enjoyed our few days break.
We made contact with friends we met 10 years ago when we arrived here in NZ>
It was awesome and they invited us to stay over. We enjoyed our stay.
Took heaps of photos
Cathy's cat she is a beauty cutie posed well for the photo

Guest room we slept in 

Window art Frank Loyd Wright

Kapati Coast NZ

Kapati Island  NZ west coast

Kapati Coast Think this photo will be an ideal subject for my 12 x 12 challenge
"The Sea" 

Our Trip home took us by Lake Taupo and got to put my feet in water eeek!!!! water was cold
As usual MtRuapehau and MtTongariro were covered in clouds Had I used my camera on trip down to Wellington I would have got photos of them without clouds (Pity I didn't maybe next time)
Ouch them pebbles hurt my softie feet hehe!!!

Lake Taupo is too beautiful 

Mountains in distance cover by clouds

More pictures of  lake and surrounds

Tourist  boat in distance

Lake Taupo

Waters edge photo taken from town






















I did a thread painting w/shop (Beach Scene) with Sonya Prchal. 20-09-2014.
 Arranged by WP&Q's Guild.  We did the class at Gordonton Hall.
We first traced the design on cotton fabric and then painted the various areas. When this dried we did thread painting with our machines in free motion stitching.  After some hiccups with  using metallic thread I managed to get the work done without the thread shredding and breaking.  I was pleasantly surprised how well it went and even managed to finish my piece.

My Thread painted beach scene 
A gift to my friends who we stayed with in Wellington. They were over the moon with it as they had another picture which matched also a beach scene.


Our textile group "Cutting Edge Textiles" is headed by Margherita Allan
We have been meeting for almost 4 years these workshops have been very informative and I've learnt many craft techniques.

Our Textile group did an Encaustic  Wax workshop with Deb Hinde

This workshop was very well supported and was such fun. I managed to do 5 samples and also managed to get many photos.              



Wax w/shop station

Samples of Deb's work

Deb Hinde and Margherita Allan

Workshop in session

Deb introducing us to encaustic wax painting

My first attempt at wax art

Used a serviette

Another of my wax works of art hehe!!!
Got this picture from a newsprint and it worked well

Silk Dyeing w/shop 



A Cutting Edge Textile workshop
 on 27-09-2014 Our groups silk dyeing class with Yanny Split.
This was interesting. I managed to make some vibrant samples The colours were gorgeous.
I'm planning to use them when I do a challenge in a few weeks time. I found this w/shop so relaxing and enjoyed the day

    


Shibori 

Fabric twisted from centre and secured with elastic bands
 then dyed in differnt colours

Fabric folded then corners
dyed  

Folded  Fabric secured
with stitches

Marbles and Ping Pong balls secured with elastic bands
dyed with different coulours

Fabric pinched and secured with gem clips then dyed

Fabric just scrunched up in a circle in a
container then dyes dripped on with paint brush

Folded triangular fold and corners dyed





Folded and clamped with bull dog clips
& corners dyed in different colours
Shibori dyeing - fabric tied around cylinder and then pushed up into creases then dyed in a light colour first then  a darker colour the results are fantastic





 I went to the Hamilton Lake while I was waiting for George to finish his appointment at hospital

Wooden sculpture at lake
Hamilton Lake