my creative space...

This weeks been fantastically busy and creatively diverse too...I don't know where to start!

I gave my first workshop for a project called 'Close Knit' which is a Brisbane Festival yarn bombing and community involvement project of amazing proportions...to find out how to get involved head here...
I am working alongside a wonderful group of women, from Brisbane's African community and we are creating some special BIG pieces.
Another 5 workshops to go, I can hardly wait.

Been making some simple stews;
Nothing fancy; a big handful of cherry tomatoes, a can of lentils mixed in a small saucepan with some slow fried onion, garlic, and diced carrot...I added a dollop of butter at the end-yum!

Onion skin stew anyone? Actually, this is another pot...with left over onion skin + locally gathered gum tree bark, steeping and boiling....

..to naturally dye some second hand wool.
I put the yarn in without putting it into skeins...the liquid soaked right through, carrying the pigment right through.
Why do instructions always include making up skeins for dyeing rather than dyeing balls?

It turned out this gorgeous caramel colour.

I have also pulled out my sewing machine again after I scored some more vintage fabrics.
I am making up new handbags, earmarked for Bleeding Heart gallery store.

I haven't done much sewing lately, I like it but compared to my yarn work it's so complex!
I make my handbags double sided, with a different print on each side, so they can be turned either way out...
I need to take a lot of care when stitching the binding, because it holds it together and has to look pretty both sides...check out this lovely piece of fabric though...

I had to show it in a bit more detail, love the colour of the flower, the stylised leaf and the gentle dot patterns.

I will be making and bringing more bags along to the Tricycle Pop Up shop too...

Tricycle is the combined brainchild of Bec, Chrissy and I,
celebrating/sharing our love of all things upcycled and crafty...
above is Becs' beautiful poster...she is so talented!!
For more creative spaces head to kootoyoo
ciao Kate

mysterious things

It has stopped raining, last weeks stormy skies are clear again and so I have been enjoying outdoors, very simple pleasures. I stopped off at Shorncliffe on my way home, its a beautiful area. The foreshore has great parks, walking and cycling tracks, and the Queenslanders and fig trees are so grand and stately, yep, its a charming place.

The view here of jelly fish, was taken from the Shorncliffe pier. There were thousands of them, swimming over each other. They are grotesque and beautiful all at once. My son Jack told me when they form a group they are called a forest of jellyfish? I could google it to be sure, but its weird, plausible and good sounding, even if its not true.

No matter how hard I try if I am at the pier at sunset I can't help but take cliche shots like this...

While I was mostly indoors this weekend I had a fine time and kept busy. I tried my hand at dyeing wool, the results are mixed, I got un-predicted colours, brighter than I wanted, orange instead of brown, etc.

I am re-dying some and getting better results with layering the colours on. It is mysterious fun, I liked, no, I loved the process, especially waiting to see what the colour would be once the wool dried. I used a mixture of food dye, water and vinegar and popped the wool in the microwave for a couple minutes to set it. I didn't really follow any specific set of instructions but there are some good sites out there.

here are my steps;

Wet 50 gram wool in warm soapy water. Squeeze out excess water.

Mix 1/4 bottle food dye with a 1/3 cup vinegar(adjust quantities for darker colour or more wool) and enough water to cover the wool.

Place wool in and soak, overnight or for a few hours for lighter shades.

Microwave wet wool for a couple of minutes, wrapped in a plastic bag.

Hang out to dry. Rinse in luke warm water and dry again. Voila!

xKate