Colour, colour, colour!!

Hi everyone,
Such a crazy time. The felting weekend for our junior artists has finished and I am still trying to catch up on some sleep and feel human again. The weekend was once again held at Mt. Glorious and we were very lucky with the weather. The cyclone that was causing trouble up in North Queensland didn't affect us too much and light, misty showers were welcome. The temperature was fairly cool and comfortable.....perfect felting weather. Green grass everywhere.

We were surrounded by colour. This is a small sample of the beautiful wools and colours that we worked with.

Making flowers

Making a piece of Nuno felt

Making cords....that was popular and so much fun.

Our talented guest artist Antje provided inspiration and the technical skills to produce some amazing work. Her warm,fun loving nature and generousity of spirit was appreciated by all of us. Spending time with a group of amazing, funny women who are also incredibly dedicated teachers is such an enjoyable experience. I know I love being a part of it.

I would love to show you some of the finished images from the photo shoots later on, but for now these are small glimpses of the work in progress.

Almost forgot....here is a peek of something "sheepish". Almost ready for testing now.

Before embroidery....yes, they do have legs!

I know Dotty is already advertised in Australian Country Threads mag but due to some technical difficulties the pattern is complete but not yet available. Sorry for the delay but it's almost there!! The adverts as you may be aware need to go in months in advance and sometimes things don't go exactly to plan. But, I think it's worth the wait.

Take care

Deb

Laaambert!!

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone remember Laaambert? Lambert the sheepish lion etc......, was a song mum sang to us as kids about a lion that wanted to be a wild and woolly sheep. It's always stuck in my head and immediately came to mind when I started working on my next nursery quilt. The quilt doesn't have any lions on it but it does have cute little sheep. Show & tell next post.

Dotty is being tested at the moment and should be in the store very soon.

I have a few more photos from Moreton that I'd like to share.

Some of the students walking out at the Champagne Pools at low tide.

And a closer look......

This is the lighthouse at the North end of Moreton Island. It was really windy on the walk up but worth the effort. As I got closer to the top I held my hat to sheild my view of the cliff. I don't like heights so I had to pretend I was strolling on flat ground. It worked! The view was wonderful and the colours magnificent but I did stay well away from the rail.

Stopped for a few close shots of the natives.

Can you smell the sea?.

Beautiful yellow sandstone cliffs.

On the Saturday night we got word from the camp staff that a Tsunami warning had been issued and that the alarm may go off later that night. There was a bus ready to take us to high ground if that should happen and we were to leave everything and follow directions. I decided to go to bed in my day clothes and even contemplated wearing shoes just in case, it can be pretty tricky finding things at short notice and in unfamilar surroundings, but I laid them out ready to step right in. As it was we were very lucky and the tide was just very full. I have seen the devastation in Chile on the news and my heart aches for those affected.

Take care.

Deb

Back from camp

Hi Everyone,
Seems ages since I last wrote. I guess three weeks is a lot in blog land. The time between posts has been full of interesting adventures for two aspects of my life - school and Wattlebee.

School art camp was amazing, with such an inspiring venue, interesting people and creative program it was bound to be a memorable trip.

As many of you may be aware it is raining, raining, raining in this part of the globe. We certainly need the rain, but perhaps not on art camp. However, the rain really wasn't a problem. I found a new appreciation for walking in the rain ( cooled us down beautifully) and arriving on the island and having the sun come out, after a miserable start to the morning, was glorious.
This is taken just before we boarded the Micat ( vehicular ferry) at Port of Brisbane.

And arriving on Moreton Island. No, we weren't location scouting for another Pirates of the Carribean movie. These are the wrecks near Tangalooma. It's a good place to go snorkeling. I'm sure the sharks think it's okay too....we didn't go swimming. I'm also a wuss!!

For all of you that have visited or know Moreton Island, you will know what I mean.
All of our bags and equipment were loaded onto a 4WD bus and off we went to Bulwer which took about 30-40 min. Our driver took great care to make our entire stay lots of fun and the girl's appreciated his friendly nature and wit.

Area surrounding our cabins.

This gorgeous kookaburra kept a watchful eye over proceedings.
Lots more to show & tell in next post....we even had a Tsunami warning.

The new Wattlebee website is ready to go now and I'm so happy with the fresh look. It was a great opportunity to make changes and spring clean. I'm aiming for the 1st of April to change over as it will coincide with another new development. I'm really excited to announce that Helen Stubbings, a well respected name in crafting circles, and talented designer of her Hugs n Kisses range, will be publishing and distributing my patterns through Pattern Press. As life becomes busier it has been a challenge for me to balance all the things I love to do without compromising any of them. So for quite a while now I have been looking for just the right person to take over that aspect of my business, allowing me room to design and produce. The new website will reflect that and I will keep you up to date as things progress.

For now, I hope you enjoy a little of the Island paradise pictured above and some lovely day dreams.

Deb

A long day!

Hi Everyone,
The rain has stopped for awhile at least and the sun is shining.

It's been a busy day today but very satisfying. Always good to feel you have achieved something. I have been making final preparations for a lovely new website. I'm really happy with it and can't wait for the turn over....hopefully next month. In April, Wattlebee will be celebrating 6 years of doing what we love, so a new fresh website will mark the occasion perfectly.

I have also been organising a big change....more on that soon!

She'll Be Apples ( or Toffee Apple) is finally out and I have a pic of the cover here.

Australian Homespun always present projects in such a beautiful way...don't you think?

I have some more gorgeous versions of my pattern Daisy to show. Angela from Brazil has kindly sent these images and I just had to share. She is a very talented doll maker and has a good eye for colour. Thanks again Angela, I love to see & share your work.

Sitting on the cutest chairs....they even have little 'beauty' spots!

On the school front, we have an Art Camp coming up to beautiful Moreton Island ( about 1 hr 15 min from the Port of Brisbane). White sand and clear water.....and lots of arty things to do. Really looking forward to that. Lots to do to prepare, but good company and so much fun. Warning! I plan on taking lots of photos...

Now I'm off to watch "Murder at the Vicarage" an old Agatha Christie story. Miss Marple is played by Geraldine McEwan...so it is an early one. Hope it's a goodie!

Take care

Deb

Exciting News!

Hi everyone,
I was asked for an interview with Australian Homespun recently and you can have a look at their Blog here. Such a lovely surprise and you can see the new doll project Toffee Apple.

Bye for now
Deb

Blink and you'll miss it!

Hi everyone,

What happened to January? Can you believe we're into our second month of 2010? I hate having to write the whole 2010 thing, no short '09 anymore....I have to stop myself from trying to abbreviate it. That's my little whinge for today :)
On a brighter note Bev's comment was drawn out of the hat and I'll be posting out an Ada pattern to her in the next couple of days. Thank you all for taking the trouble to comment here and via lovely emails.
The weather has been quite violent with strong wind and pelting rain. There is a cyclone or two floating around and causing wet miserable conditions. My plants do love the rain though and it was really nice being inside catching up on some pattern writing and study, and cooler too.
I have some pictures of gorgeous dolls made by Angela ( from Brazil) from some Wattlebee patterns. Angela is a very talented lady and the results are fabulous. This is Florence looking very swish in her pearls and stylish black, red & white. I'll post more soon. Thanks Angela.

The wet conditions made this weekend ideal for catching up on some drawing for my next study unit. This is what I came up with for body in space. It could be out of scale/proportion etc, so I let my imagination run.

I used charcoal pencils for this. Don't think it means anything profound or deep...I just really like birdcages ( nice architectural lines) and this body shape ( I took a photo) worked well. I've been drawing lots of feet for this project...they are really quite nice to draw.
The Homespun Magazine project is out this coming week. I was under the impression it was a January issue so my appologies if anyone has been looking out for it.

Take care,

Deb

A new year

Happy New Year everyone, hope it's everything you want it to be.
Back to reality for me after a fantastic break. Hope everyone enjoyed a great Christmas holiday season too. Just a couple of pics taken on our afternoon walk...too hot during the day, this is about 4.30 -5 pm and it was still warm yet pleasant. Decided to take the steps down to the beach, great going down but the legs start to quiver on the way back up:)

The life guard hut looking up towards Fraser Island.

This beautiful sea turtle popped up while the boys were out in the dinghy....very special !!

Does anyone recognise this? It is a very pretty sea anenome type thing that was near a crab pot. Probably deadly? didn't touch of course.

I managed to finish the "Dotty' quilt...really happy with it.

We were able to have it road tested while away and it passed with flying colours - this is Olivier meeting Dotty.

Pretty exciting stuff!!

Dotty's legs were a hit ...and yes, they went straight in his mouth!!

Would you believe this was in a fern just outside mum's back door. After a frantic phone call, we ( not me actually) managed to keep watch until it moved off. It was a very big carpet snake, pretty harmless I know but it gave me the creeps...really don't like snakes, sorry about that. I am definitely not a country girl and this was in the thick of suburbia/city.

It was an all creatures great and small kind of holiday...lots of fun and mostly relaxing.

Looking forward to showing you some new designs.

Take care,
Deb
ps. Homespun January issue has my new doll contribution.