Yarns up close

Yarns up close
Originally uploaded by zacsmum_theone.

I don't know where this is or what dyes or even what fibres but Mum took this picture especially for me somewhere in Peru? South America.

Workshops

Over the next few weeks I am teaching a couple of workshops at the Quilthouse is Geelong (Grovedale). There are still a couple of spaces in each of them so on the off-chance that I have any 'local' readers, here are the details:

Fabric to dye for - Saturday May 26th, 10am-3.30pm:

Ever wanted to dye your own fabrics? In this full day workshop you will create a wonderful selection of hand dyed fabrics perfect for your next quilt or project. Aimed at the beginner, this workshop will teach you the basic dyeing method ( using fibre reactive dyes), as well as colour mixing and colour graduations. By the end of the day you will have 16 fat quarters or 4 mts of fabric ready to use, plus2 unique hand dyed silk scarves all that you have dyed yourself. Come and join the fun, you will be amazed how easy it is! Fabric, scarves and dyes are included in the class cost!!

Free motion machine embroidery - Saturday June 9th, 10am - 3pm

In this all day workshop you will learn the secrets behind free motion machine embroidery using decorative threads and stitches to create an image. Learn the techniques in the morning moving on in the afternoon to create a beautiful design suitable to frame or make up into a small cushion or wallhanging. You do not need to have any machine embroidery or machine quilting experience however your machine MUST be able to ‘drop the feed dogs and you will learn to adjust the bobbin tension and work with thick decorative threads in the bobbin. Be thrilled with what you can create with your machine. Kit including threads and fabrics are included in the class cost.

If you are interested in doing either of these classes, please go to The Quilthouse and click on classes.

We're in!!!

The moving is finally over and we are slowly settling in to the new house. It took us a week as neither of us took any days off and did end up loading and unloading the truck at some un-godly hours of the night and morning but it's done now! I finally managed to cook our first meal in our new house last night and even cooked breakfast this morning and it sure beats take-away and pizza anyday.

The sewing room/studio is still a mass of boxes but I'll get to that next weekend hopefully. Then I'll be able to get back to creating again. I am teaching 2 workshops next month so I'd better get myself sorted before then.

Moving in....

Yesterday afternoon we picked up the keys to the new place. Now it's starting to feel real!! In between carting in loads of boxes and bags I've had a quick squiz at the place in an effort to answer some of those lingering questions about the place that I couldn't remember from our quick 2 minute inspection where we both spent more time trying to impress the agent (and it worked!!). Turns out renting really is a game - didn't matter about our references, what mattered is what the agent thought and we made sure she thought we were good and keen!!!!

Back to those answers...

• the carpets are blue/green and only in the bedrooms (as I thought)
• the other areas have timber (or timber laminate?) floors - again as I remembered;
• There's climate contol ducted heating/cooling - thank goodness - I hadn't even thought of that!;
• there is a clothes line - a hills hoist no less (well when I rented in Melbourne many places didn't!!)
• and yes the garage door has a remote - whew!

A few other things that I discovered -

• A garden shed!
• whilst there is no garden, there's garden beds filled with gravel which will suit perfectly for all my pots (have garden will travel!) - the garden beds are gravel filled because of our severe lack of water I suppose! and probably because the house has been rented most of its life and just never been planted.
• there's his and her sinks in the ensuite (which is HUGE!) - and no I didn't see them because I didn't look past the SPA!!!!!!

Best get moving and put the next load in the car. B is working this weekend so the heavy stuff will be done later in the week. At the moment the focus is to get everything else out.

I don't have any pics yet, but should get some by the end of the day.

Purple Corn...

peruvian corn - pisac, peru
Originally uploaded by chillntravel.

Mum and Dad have just blogged about a drink made from purple corn. I just had to find a picture of purple corn, as I LOVE the colours!!!