Fibres and Fabrics Christmas Fair

Every year over the first weekend in December our craft group, called Fibres and Fabrics, hold a Christmas Fair in the city CWA hall. Charles and I take two tables and this year we shared one with my friend Annette. The fair is open on both Saturday and Sunday mornings so we can all have a recovery nap in the afternoons. There was a lovely festive atmosphere with more people than usual offering a wider variety of craft. The hall was air-conditioned and cool and we had lots of fun. There are more photos of some of the tables on http://fibresandfabrics.blogspot.com/ so take a look. Just click on Deb's elfen boots.
Charles and I were very content with the support we received from an appreciative public and it felt as though the work we'd invested during the year was well rewarded.

Fresh!

It's with mixed feelings that I finished the last page of our round robin fabric book and handed it over to Annette, satisfied at having completed my contributions to everyone's books but with a tinge of regret that the process had come to an end.

Annette's chosen word is 'Fresh' and I must admit that it was a bit of a challenge to come up with a 'fresh' new idea after ten other beautifully made, unique ideas. Since I retired, I've woken up to every day ready to take a fresh bite out of the delicious apple of life. So that was what I decided to depict.

No tricky techniques, just good old applique, beads for dewdrops, paintstiks for shading .... Annette showed appropriate appreciation!

Busy as Bees!

Tuesday was a hot and humid day here in Townsville. A day to take refuge in the air-conditioning (global warming concerns relegated to those in drier climates). My good friend Rafidah came around for the morning and Oliver, who has started his marathon summer holidays, came to spend the day. He brought some scrumptious chocolate muffins which his Dad had baked the night before, so we were set for a fine time!

Rafida got out her lovely New Zealand wool fibres and set about making a glorious piece of felt. Oliver very successfully made his first piece of felt, too, but he won't let me put up a picture because he's working on a Christmas surprise for his Mom with his piece. And I glued prints of my "scribbles" to the little boards Charles has cut for me.

Everyone had a very satisfying morning. We must do it again!

More Doodling

Told you I was addicted! I think I'm a closet obsessive compulsive and that's why the repetitive nature of doodling like this has me hooked .....

Impact

Raindrops keep falling

T.G.I.F.

Yes, I know it's not Friday! T.G.I.F. is the subject for our group's postcards this month. Amongst other interpretations there have been some fun one's like 'Thank Goodness I'm Fat' and 'Tattoed Girls In Flowers'. I managed to drag myself away from my zen-pen and decided to go plain and simple with 'Trees Grow in Forests' I hope the recipient enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Another Distraction!

At Fibres and Fabrics this week a member introduced me to zentangles and I'm hooked! Thanks, Sue D, I think. All I needed was another distraction!! Charles wants to know what I'm going to do with them. He can't imagine spending time on something which doesn't actually have a purpose. I told him it was teaching me finger control .....

These are Mandala Zentangles and my first attempts. The bottom one happened after I spilt my tea on the page while doing the top one. The top one is called Trees will Save the Planet. The bottom one is Russian Caravan Tea because that was the tea that splashed onto the page. The larger fruit-like ovals are the stains.

It's such fun. Beez in the Belfry (also listed under the links to my favourite places to the right of this page) is a good blog which shows you how it's done. Don't look unless you need a time filler!

Back and Straight into It!

We're home after a gloriously wet week on the farm. Having not seen rain in months here in Townsville it was sheer bliss to walk around the lush, if soggy, Tablelands. We had hours of free time to do as we pleased whilst the boys were at school and we handed them back to their parents alive, well and hopefully untraumatised by the experience of being at our mercy. Here are some photos taken on the farm.

The middle photo is of the three boys rowing the two dogs home after the dogs had somehow got onto the far side of the lake which is the fish farm's property! (For a closer look at these and other plant images taken on the farm please click on the collage.)

*

Once home we went straight into Christmas Fair mode, tagging the last of the items and packing everything into boxes to cart to the Cathedral School early this morning. The collage of images below is a collection of photos I took at the fair. (To see each photo separately just click on the collage.)
Charles sold a lot of his beautiful wooden boxes which are made from recycled timber. He's building up a following after 4 years and people came looking for his work. It was my first attempt at selling at a fair and I was less successful. Perhaps my prices were too high or I didn't make the things for which people were looking. I sold a few things and it was a good experience. I'll reduce my prices for the Fibres and Fabrics Christmas Fair in 3 weeks and see what happens there. Otherwise, I'm well stocked for Christmas gifts!