If you'd like to go in the draw to win this great tablerunner by Thea & Sami, just go to her blog and comment on what you DON'T like about online shopping. It's easy peasy and her screenprinting is lovely jubley. And good for the planet. Nice.

Love this

This came to my inbox via a twitter of a blog so sadly, I don't know who to attribute it to - but I love it!

Mural Started

I haven't had a mammogram yet myself, but the room looked very clinical and bare before I started. Definitely not reflecting the warmth of the people I met that worked at the Breastscreen Unit.

I only had a few hours to work on it on Friday afternoon, so I concentrated on getting the linework up and adding as many quirky little people as I could. Anything to make it pleasantly distracting for the ladies having their boobs squashed in the machine, or waiting for the results of other important tests.

If you look closely you can just see the pale aqua that I started painting in this last photo. I managed to get the whole background painted in aqua before I left, but as I folded up my apron my phone fell out of my pocket and I thought it had broken so I couldn't take another photo. (I've managed to get it working again now though - thanks David!)
The lights are kept quite dim in this room when it's in use, so this mural will be an exercise in keeping things 'light' - a bit of a change for me.
I think I'll need at least 2 more sessions to add colour, highlights and final details, so I'll keep you up to date as the job progresses.
Artists in Gardens Project
Today I met with the team from the Avant Gardens - Artists in Gardens project. About 9 artists will be painting on easels in the Queens Park Gardens during the upcoming Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. Weather permitting, I'll be in the park on Saturday 19 Sept 12:30-3:30, Sunday 20 Sept 9:30-12:30, Wed 23 Sep 9:30-3:30 and Sat 26 Sep 12:30-3:30. I'll be painting and have plenty of things for sale, including Art Tags, brand new block prints, teatowels and greeting cards. I do enjoy painting in public - I have no inclination to act or perform in any other way, but paintingin front of people is just terrifying enough to be exciting in a wierd way.
I'll also have paintings in the "Flower Food and Wine Festival" tent, in an exhibition by the members of the Toowoomba Art Society. I usually sell well in this quality exhibition and I'm working on finishing entries for that now so I can have my form in by the end of this week.
Busy busy as usual, but I really enjoy this time of the year, and I'm ready to produce some new work that I'm proud of and make some sales to spread the joy!

A Sewing Bender

OK. I'm really tired tonight, so this will be a quick catch up.

I've been on a sewing bender. I've got this affliction that I just have to do the projects that are in my head or I can't sleep. And I've got to do as much as I can while I have the sewing machine out (on the kitchen table at the moment) because it's a pain to rearrange everything all the time.

So, here are six of my new cushions that I really loved sewing! I even made cord piping for the first time and it worked! Great instructions in "Bend the Rules Sewing" by Amy Karol, and the fabric is from the inspirational Anna Maria Horner.

This is where I'm up to with Sophia's new quilt. It's my first quilt and it's adapted from the "Easy Lap Quilt" pattern in "Bend the Rules Sewing", and I think this is definitely the right time for me to be doing "Easy" quilts - all those fancy patchworky ones (many of which I love) will have to wait to be attempted years from now.

This one is pretty basic, very home made and I only have the handstitching of the binding yet to do. The fabric was from Sew Love Fabric's etsy shop a few years ago. The wadding is made from bamboo, which I'm sure isn't that unusual, but I love the light weight of it. Perfect for our weather. Really happy with how this is working out. Some puckering, some wonky lines, but definitely made with late at night love.

My new Art Tags have also arrived - these two peacocks will be packaged up in 10's and go into the shop in the next few days. I'm so happy with how the gold on the original paintings reproduced, and these will look fantastic as gift tags or place cards or note cards - they measure 5.5 x 9cm and will retail for about $4 a pack of 10.

Tomorrow I make a start on the mammogram room mural, so wish me luck!

Bub's stirring so duty calls. Good night all.

Mind Games

I used to quite like our 'grown ups corner'. Now this is my 'before' photo.

Having read this book, apparently this is normal.

I have very little time, get very little sleep, but my mind is full of crafty and arty things that I NEED to do!

These fabrics were an etsy purchase many years ago and are going to become a quilt for Sophia's new bed. Now, I've never been a quilter, but I'm telling you I'm not interested in a pattern and it's GOING to work. (What is going on in my head?!!)

This is the book that is going to help me do the quilt... and the new cushions.

This is hopefully what Beth will be doing while the other things happen.

This is what will probably be happening while I'm trying to do these other things.

These are the BEAUTIFUL Anna Maria Horner fabrics that are going to become our new cushions.

And that's the plan for today. Right now though, I need to feed some hungry kids.

New Mural Work

I've just submitted these ideas for the mural in the Mammography Room at the Toowoomba Hospital. I prefer the "Giant Garden" theme and will include lots of little people doing interesting things amongst the huge flowers. A welcome distraction for those who are enduring the process of actually having a mammogram. Looking forward to the feedback from the nurses there.

The Cards are now available online

Some art - finally!

This week I've finished two small canvases for the Downlands Art Show this weekend - I'll be exhibiting 6 paintings all up, and they used one of my paintings from last year in this year's promotions, which was nice.

And I've sketched and painted 8 new 'guardian angel' greeting cards that will hit the Shiny Happy Art online shop in the next few days. Today I photographed them all - the boys' piano teacher asked if we were renovating again - I'd turned the office upside down trying to find the best place to shoot them. Ended up doing it outside - I should have done that from the start!

And hooray, hooray, I've joined the 21st century and have a new phone! And it's costing me no more than I've been paying every month anyway. It's touchscreen and has an 8M camera with a flash - so far I love it. I feel like a grown up!

A handy tip

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-get-out-of-a-car-without-showing-your-knickers

I was googling to see if there was a way to sew squares of knitting together, and somehow came across this handy video!

My grandmother would approve. Maybe not of all the flashing on the video, just the concept!