did i tell you? i made a zine!!

My very first zine, in fact! And I guess it is no surprise that it is all about Yarn Bombing!! :)

I would love to share this basic guide with you, let me know if you would like one posted to you.

knit-a-wish this christmas

I have been working with the City of Subiaco community on the Knit-a-wish project for a few months now. It has been great fun and hugely rewarding to see so many people get involved and create beautiful handmade 'wishes' for celebrating and decorating their community. Three classes at the local primary school joined in, and now finger knitting is the new phase at school! Their front fence is totally and wildly Christmassy too! Here is a little of the journey, and you can see more at the project blog here.

quick update

.. after a long blog-break of business - sorry! But here I am, having picnics, getting my super-hero on, and showing off new ink! :) More soon, I promise. xox

channelling the wonderful michelle tea!  

captain plaknit logo soon to be added to this outfit for future yarn-tag feats! (this link is to my new tumblr!)

my new helicopter fish tat, design from kim welling, done at unique tattoo, by emma :) 

my pincushion

Now, I am a little embarrassed to share my pincushion with you all, despite my enjoyment of joining in the My Place and Yours game.  I very rarely use a pincushion, despite being a fairly avid machine sewer, embroiderer and general crafty creator. This one was purchased incredibly cheaply at my local supermarket about 12 months ago. I am not quite sure what possessed me to make this purchase, but there is something about the bright colours and silky touch that drew me in.

Thanks Vic, for helping me share this awkward moment!! I will now go and sticky beak at all of YOUR pincushions, over here ....!

Fill the Frame: Local Art Project

I have been scheming and planning with the crew from Pigeonhole and Cabin Fever. We may have been whispering about fun stuff for the 21 days to yarn bomb in November .... sssh!

But in the meantime, I am super excited to be 'filling a frame' for their local art project. Any up and coming artists are invited to join in. I started on this piece, but am now thinking I need some more 3D crochet action!

stitches and folds

I have just joined the Sketchbook Project again! The theme for my sketchbook is 'stitches and folds'. I am super excited that the 2012 Sketchbook Tour includes Australia! Albeit Melbourne, many miles away on the east coast...

Are you joining in the sketchbook project?

my place and yours ...

So here is a quickie! I have a whole list of things to blog about, but have been so busy! So, I thought why not just play this game to keep my hand in the blogging game. The lovely Vic from Punky & Me started it, so do pop over to see what is 'on her shelf'. The idea is that at my place, and at your place, we share a little everyday something. Today it is what is 'on  your shelf'. So, with apologies in advance of my dodgy photos (taken on my crappy old phone, because our camera died), here is one of my favourite shelves. This shelf comes with design credit to the lovely G, who has an eye for such things.

sold! to the highest bidder

I created a piece of art work the the Colosoul Fundraising Art Auction - an event to raise money for the Burns Unit at Perth local Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. There were over 100 other artists contributing and some really big names! Robert Juniper, John Cartwright and David Giles are a few of my favourite local artists who donated work. There were also some original Dali and Picasso pieces.

I really wasn't expecting that anyone would even bid on my work, but there were 5 bids, and it was sold to the highest bidder!! Yes, my parents bought it :) but there were other bidders, so that is pretty exciting!

The work is titled "Chronic Infalammatory Demyelinating Polyradicular-neuropathy (CIDP) and is based on a very personal journey of mine. Here is a little bit about the piece I created . . . .

‘CIDP’ is a personal, carefully hand-stitched version of the medical paperwork that exists in diagnosis of chronic illness. Information that is churned out of a machine, filed and eventually thrown away, means so much more for a person who has experienced the trauma of a scary, life-threatening illness.

Mixed Bag (craft nights)

I have been working in the City of Swan community for over 5 years, and are some really inspirational people working on community development and arts initiatives out there. The Midland Junction Arts Centre has recently emerged on the local landscape, and I am really lucky to be starting a craft group - called Mixed Bag - out there next week. I am super excited to meet other crafty people!

Our first session will focus on guerilla yarn crafts - a passion of mine, as you know!! :) I am pretty nervous to see if we will get a good crowd - pass the word on Perth lovelies!

To promote Mixed Bag, I settled into the Chill Zone at Hyper Fest on the weekend, and was pleasantly surprised to meet so many young people who were keen to join in and get crafty!

pom pom experimentation

stitched postcard swap - August 2011

Yes, the theme was bloom, and I took inspiration from my "Bloom where you are planted" yarn bomb piece. I sent it all the way to Kentucky! To Donnalee.

And I got one in return - from mixed media artist Susan Mulder. She has a blog of her wonderfully interesting art, and a second blog for a project called the Ironing Board Project. I love these sunflowers, and the stitching which brings such texture to the piece. Thank you Susan!

Thank you Beth for another swap project that brings much excitement and joy!

ladies fancy-work

My grandma would probably say that she isn't a 'lady', but her fancy-work tells me otherwise . . . .

I am close to grandma (on the maternal side), having lived with her for a few years in my early twenties, and her having lived in my family home with my parents for many years. She now lives on her own in a retirement village (with some support) in Mandurah (a rapidly growing coastal town 100km south of Perth where I live). Regrettably I don't see her often enough, now that there is such a distance between us. I miss her, and I know she misses me. She always takes great interest in my crazy craft projects, but usually has a chuckle when I tell here that I don't follow a pattern, or that I will install the large crochet piece on a fence somewhere. She is one of those women who created the most exquisite crocheted lace doilies while working long days and raising a family, living in a tin shed on a farm in the middle-of-nowhere (well, somewhere east of Geraldton). She once killed a snake that was slithering up the wall in my mum's bedroom/corner of the tin shed with a single whack of a broom!! She had clout, my grandma! How did she do it all?!?!

Her precision and attention to detail astound me - she honestly was an expert at her craft. Later in her life - in the lives of her grandchildren - she made colourful knitted toys and tea cosies and fun things like that. These patterns come direct from the 70's!! I remember have sleep overs at her place as a child and asking for a nurses outfit for my doll, a fabric pencil case for school, a bonnet for my baby-new-born. She always managed to whip up something right on the spot!

My most amazing grandma will be 97 this October, but her eye sight is not what is used to be, due to both macular degeneration and glaucoma. She spends many hours in solitude and would love to keep creating, but she just can't see. And she can't bear to knit by feel, but drop stitches, and end up with a second-rate garment. I can understand this when I see the quality of her crochet, embroidery, pulled thread work, tatting, knitting, patchwork, quilting, dress-making . . . the list goes on. Her work leaves a legacy of her talents - and so I share it with you here.