Monthly Archives: August 2009

I’ve recently enjoyed reading the blog of Renilde de Peuter (that’s a snipit of her embroidery pictured above) http://at-swim-two-birds.blogspot.com/ . She creates little embroideries that take my breath away. like her recent maritime series – who would have thought that container ships could be rendered with such simple beauty.

Also reading the archives of her blog I was inspired to try cardboard loom weaving on the weekend. I’ll prepare a post soon to tell you all about it.

Another link where I spent a huge amount of time over the weekend is The Guardian newspaper’s feature ‘Writer’s rooms’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/writersrooms. Here writers write about their work spaces.

Oh how I love reading about where others work and the habits they keep.

On a similar theme I own a coffee table book called Studio, which I think I promised to send to my sister a year ago, but can’t part with it, sorry Meg. It features Australian painters talking about their working processes and workspaces, it has great photos of each artist within their studio… I’m obviously a peeping tom at heart. http://www.australianstudiobook.com/book/

I have to apologise for the way the links are presented here, my blog has lost some functionality which I’ve asked Chris to fix for me when he has a spare moment 🙂
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I’ve finally finished the embroidered skirt. It’s very comfortable to wear because I drafted the pattern to my own measurements PLUS it’s made from stretchy denim.

I drew the motif directly onto the skirt with chalk, which kept on rubbing off, so I ended up stitching rough guidelines in a contrasting thread which was removed when the project was finished.

I like the negative space of the cross and the lines, they have that wonky, hand drawn feeling that I love.

There’ll be some changes with my blog over the coming weeks. Rejuvenation. Seems like a good time.
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18/5/02 – 22/8/09

Our sweet dog, Reuben, passed away yesterday. He was enthusiastic, mischevious, affectionate and loved his food.

Last week we became very worried when Reuben stopped eating and he looked unsteady on his feet.

It turns out that he had very advanced cancer and it was clear that we had to let him go.

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Last week I bought a new pin cushion (and brooch) from Karen http://karenruane.blogspot.com/ .

It’s fabulous with it’s silk and it’s bobbles and it’s stitching. It arrived here today… It took only 8 days to get from the UK to my little, remote corner of Australia.

I like the way my colourful pin heads bob about on this one 🙂

I’ve decided not to abandon my old pincushion which I made from scraps many years ago. I’ll have two, a lounge room pincushion and a workroom pincushion!

I’ve been working on a new skirt. Black stretch denim with a large area of hand embroidery embellishment. This is the idea I had when I started making clothes…. keep the garments simple but be playful with stitching, applique, printing etc.

It’s taken me until skirt number 4 to get going with my evil plan. I’ve just gotta keep telling myself “Hey Claire, it’s only fabric silly!”

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12 weeks ago I was in hospital falling in love with the most beautiful baby I’d ever clapped my eyes on.

I’m blown away by how much Jasper has grown and how much he has learnt in 12 short weeks.

My favourite time of day is when I go in to get him after a big long sleep and he is SO happy to see me, he smiles and his whole body wriggles in delight.

Jasper is a big fan of having his hands in his mouth. He loves standing on his own two feet (daddy says he’s been training him in the bath), and he has extended conversations with us every single day.

It has been a magnificent experience so far, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.

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