2 words

in-defatigable

you may remember that miss molly moth, spinster of this parish, likes to recline on newly minted textile art - preferably burnt and prickly
i thought i had foiled her by covering the sewing table with a large piece of fabric
which must be fur-permeable because when i came to put the hanging sleeve and label on ginkgo shadows so it could go off respectably finished to the one step further exhibition it had grown a thin but discernible pelt of pale grey tabby fur. cussing and brushing followed and it was restored to presentability...

both quilts were packed and in the box ready to be addressed and sent off when miss moth seized her opportunity for the last laugh - there was nearly a supplementary entry to the show

land of the long weekend

especially if you don't work on fridays and the creche is shut on monday...

the muse was relaxing on the beach today so sent her long suffering sister martha instead and i made hanging sleeves and labels for the 2 quilts which will be in the victorian quilters' one step further exhibition.i made myself a new top in a fabric that looks and feels like liberty but cost $5 from darn cheap fabric :)
i did the next ice dyeing experiment - this time on some stitched hessian over silk and cotton and in the more controlled surroundings of a plastic tub in the laundry....we also did shirtloads of washing and tidied the house ready for that angel of mercy, angela who will come and work her cleaning magic again tomorrow.

and if you ever wondered what we looked like chez seascrump here is w's family portrait done on linen with my new fabric pen - clockwise from bottom left we are w (5), a (14), m aka the scrumpster, e (12) and me

oppy joy

on friday w and i did our usual op shop scrounge and this time we hit the jackpot. w found a musical toy that plays music that we like and i got a pair of levis that fit for $10, a groovy apron (seen here in the background) and the most wondrous thing ever -
isn't it splendid? and it was excellent timing as only that morning w had run up to me shouting mum mum mollymoth is licking her chops and i caught miss molly moth in dairy flagrante delicto with her snout in the butter

back in black

i don't know if anyone apart from susan noticed but i didn't do my customary 'cram a week's worth of blogging into a weekend' thang last week.

there has been much activity chez seascrump as e turned out to have whooping cough, not asthma and has been confined to barracks until at least the end of next week, w continued his prep orientation with a noticeable thawing towards the whole concept of school and the muse pretty much zoomed off in her skoda and left me to it. which has meant that for the past couple of days i have been gripped by angst at the mt everest of creative work that loometh and hoping it doesn't turn into a mt etna. so gripped in fact that i was up in the murk midnight mending monkeys on friday night
(here he is in recovery)
and revising the list of southern lands quilts i have in the pipeline. you may remember that i need to make 8 pieces for this exhibition - i have finished 4 and i have ideas for at least another 12...... so inspiration is not the problem - or rather it is because i keep thinking of things.

this started as an experiment in sewing layers of tulle, painted tyvek and canvas and then turning the heat gun on it.
and this is evolving quite nicely
the ice dyeing experiment wasn't so good - but next time i won't leave it to melt/dry in the sun, on a slope, where billthedog can run over it..... this i think is rescuable.
as it is a loooong weekend here in melbourne i will try and blog some more - i plan another ice dyeing experiment this time with some hessian which i have stitched onto silk and cotton with string and perle 8 thread.

my creative space

i think for the purposes of my creative space i will have to pretend to live somewhere where it's still thursday. as i work monday to thursday i just can't get to it before what is friday in melbourne :(

this week's creative space is my indispensable notebook - a moleskine A5 (i think) it is lovely to write and sketch in and contains most of my creative ideas. it lives in a rust dyed canvas cover made by the supremely talented but blogless alice springs artist philomena hali. you can also see my pincushion (actually a doorstop but serving a higher purpose) made by also supremely talented flickettysplits, my camera bag (made by me with much cussing - it was a pattern full of acks and pharks). my Mother's recipe for microwave marmalade is in the top right hand corner keeping company with some wax crayons

i have to write regular lists to keep track of where i'm up to and what is still to be done - you can see i have a lot on my to do list (a bit eeky at the moment)

more puzzling is the runic measurement on the right hand page - i have no idea what this relates to although clearly it was important enough at the time to record it for posterity. no doubt it will come to me in a dream - and then i will forget it again.

see more creative spaces here

off to see dirtsong tonight - very excited :)

wot? another post?

yep this is major avoidance, folks - i have cardi seaming to do... i finished the ruffle cardi over a week ago and have yet to even pin the seams, let alone ply the chibi needle.....

although i did accomplish one of my weekend goals - which was to make some progress with one of the big southern lands quilts. i dyed the fabric for this on the evening of the last federal election when uncle kevin was swept to power and lazarus with a triple bypass carked* it (for non australians that translates as the current prime minister kevin rudd won power from the previous incumbent john howard - a name which still sends shudders down my spine). apart from shrieks of joy that the 11 year regime was over, my main memory of this night is cleaning red and orange paw prints off the kitchen floor the next morning (i left the tub of dyeing fabric on the kitchen floor - well within reach of the curious cat)

this fabric is also notable for taking ages to get to the right shade - i even hung it on the washing line and squirted it with the kids' water pistols (and no i don''t have a photo)

anyway today i finally leapt in and started quilting - as usual i had only a vague idea of what i wanted to do but i listened to gurrumul and thought of the deep country in the west macdonnells and just went with the flow of the piece.

and this is the result so far - who knows what will evolve next?not me. i have an idea but i never really know what a piece is going to look like, not in any detail. a few commenters have admired what i do but really it's just playing and letting the thing create itself - being open to whatever may happen. i only know one thing -if i try to force it the piece doesn't work. it only works if i let it unfold and reveal itself.
and experimenting is crucial - can you guess what this is for?
* further translation pm rudd became known as uncle kevin after he gave everyone cash as part of the financial stimulus package and howard described his own prospects of becoming prime minister as 'lazarus with a triple bypass' after losing a second leadership battle back in 1989 - see how old i am? it is still green in the seahorsean memory

small snowman in a sad landscape

this afternoon we took w to lake mountain for his first glimpse of snow - and a glimpse was pretty much it, seeing it's october. we were lucky to see any as snow is a novelty in australia and is usually only around from june to the end of august. thanks to the freezing cold and rainy weather we have had lately there was still enough lying around for a 5 year old to play in.

the snow was sparse but enough to make a few snowballs and the world's smallest snowman.
while w had fun the scrumpster and i were sobered into silence by the unrelenting stark blackness of the landscape. lake mountain rises above marysville - one of the hill towns that was destroyed in the black saturday bushfires eight months ago. further down the mountain the black tree trunks were covered in feathery green new growth but up on top of the mountain it is still black sticks with little sign of life.
but as the snow recedes you can see the green that will come