Birthday gift

Our .....Mirrhi's and mine......favourite small neighbour is having a birthday....he'll be 3.  So I bought him this lovely simple picture book "The Tomten and the Fox" Here's a description of a tomten, if you've not heard of them..... In Swedish tales a tomten  belongs to the family of elves and other little “brownies” and is a good natured being who usually helps farm people . A friendly “tomte” meant a lot to the farmer and his family, he saw to it that the animals were well, he made sure the servants awakened in the early morning hours. These and many other good deeds and fortunes were the work of the “tomten and he was given a bowl of porridge every night”   

In this story, when a very hungry fox wanders into the farm looking for his dinner,  the Tomten finds a way to keep the farm animals safe and feed the fox at the same time.

So Parkes can play as he reads, I made a little felt fox......

Mr Fox has his eye on the hen house

And here's the Tomten who watches  over the farm animals .... he tells the fox 'no eating the chickens'

and generously shares his bowl of porridge with the fox.

Fox is about  (5") long and stands about 9cm (3.5") high, and the Tomten  is 13cm (5") tall, not counting his hat.  Both the fox and Tomten's clothes are made from lovely, buttery soft wool felt. 

They're all packed up in a cloth bag and we're ready for cake and fun later today. (No cake for Mirrhi, she'll just have fun running around and playing ball with Parkes!)

Getting on with it

..........the scrappy birthday gift, that is

I made quite a bit of progress today, after umming and aahing about what to make.  Remember in my last post, here,  I talked about the 'fabric' I made from scraps that would be made into a birthday gift ?Well, I played with a few ideas.....a heart to hang, a needle case, a little amulet bag.....nah, none of that worked.  Well, eventually, I had an 'aha' moment and finally knew what I wanted to make.  I added a few pieces of lovely wool felt for making extra bits, and then I was ready to stitch, bead and generally fiddle...it's a fiddly little project!  Now that all the hard decisions are made, it's coming together nicely, and as it needs to be ready to give tomorrow, when, with two other friends, we're meeting for lunch, I'll be stitching away tonight to finish it.

Pieces in play

Not saying what it is yet, but soon enough all will be revealed......any guesses?

.......til next time

Tripping

Brisbane put on a beautiful day for our trip to the Threads Exhibition, my birthday outing, but despite how lovely it looks, the temperature was close to 40 degrees C (that's around 100 f) and we were pleased and relieved to be indoors for most of the time, but the short walk to and from the train staion was like walking through a furnace.  It was strange to think at the same time last year this city and surrounds was under water and sad to remember the many lives that had been lost throughout SE Queensland.

Brisbane skyline from Southbank

The Exhibition - "Threads - Contemporary Textiles and the Social Fabric" was wonderful and well worth the trip, and there were so many amazing pieces on display, all with their own story, that I've highlighted just some of my favourites.  

 This batik was part of a display from a north Western Australian Aboriginal community.  While some displays had a very clear political message, or documented social and political conditions, others, like these batiks, drew on traditional imagery and cultural narratives while using new techniques and materials. All of the pieces explored in some way the connection between old and new, and highlighted important links between people, places and ways of life.  Quoted from the Art Gallery blurb  " Threads have the capacity to unravel, opening up possibilities for innovation, discord and creative change and the weaving of new histories"

I like that!





Pearl diver's woollen trousers worn under diving gear, embellished with fruits of his labour...pearl buttons. 



Details from this large circular piece, all hand embroidered with motifs and patterns that are symbolic of  fertility, prosperity or protection.  Motifs also depict everyday domestic life.

Lajla liked this one



More detailed.....and humorous....hand embroidery

This is Burrut'tji....lightning serpent.  This batik from northern Australia depicts the cycle of natural events....storms, life giving rain, fertility.



a very powerful image



There was a display of baskets as well.  This one caught my eye with it's bands of striking colour.  It was made by a an elder, a man of the Girramay people from Far North Queensland, from twined vines.  He learnt basketmaking by watching his grandmother as a boy, and now introduces the arts of his rainforest people in a more contemporary way to a wider audience. He is also a passionate activist for land rights. 



This traditional robe from China was interesting.  It's made from plastic and hand embroidered with fishing line.  It represents the contradictions of a rapidly changing society, and the relationship between  tradition and modernity. A revered traditional costume has been made from  "vulgar, cheap, versatile, omnipresent, environmentally unfriendly high tech junk. "  The artist worked on this for nearly 10 years,

The following pictures are from another exhibition : "Across Australia" - celebrating the Gallery's collection of Indigenous Australian art.

Lajla looks a little worried she's about to be lunch!

 These are wooden carvings of 'camp dogs' from Arakun on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, far north Queensland.  Stray dogs roam in packs in most Aboriginal communities, and around sunset they'll look for an "owner", someone to give them a feed.  Usually the Arakun people carve totems, which are sacred to different family groups, so the artist will work alone, but since camp dogs belong to all, this project allowed people to come together and  collaborate and to share their art
 

These are firestick figures from far north Queensland, made from clay, ochre and plant material.  They were made to carry firesticks from one camp site to another, and the carrier was under a great deal of pressure to ensure the fire stick stayed dry and alive.



 A woven vessel (erkel) from Queensland, made from spinifex grass twined with nylon thread, red ochre and galah feathers.  The photo doesn't do justice to the vibrant pink in the bird feathers.

Inside view

This is just a glimpse of the many wonderful pieces on display.  I might show some more another time.  There were a couple of large tapestries which sadly I didn't photograph, but they were amazingly detailed, handworked embroideries of major events of displacement and genocide.  Perhaps just too raw and heartbreaking to document?  I found all the items powerful and their stories moving, and I loved the way threads and the work of many seemingly disparate hands have woven stories and images we all understand and resonate to at some level.

.............. how spectacular is this?

My birthday finished  in a blaze of colour, with this stunning sky display at sunset

............and since I was now a year older, what better way to recover from the emotion, excitement and exertions of the day than to  find a cool spot with a breeze and have a little rest.

aah!

Day of the Goat

It's my birthday today, and I'm off to Brisbane for a day of fun and frivolity.....first to see an exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery - "Threads : Contemporary Textiles and the Social Fabric and then who knows what else.

.....and for those who were curious, here's the gift sent to Naomi that I gave a sneak peek of a few days ago....I think she liked it a lot.  She likes to sketch and draw, using pastels, pencil or charcoal, so I made her this folder she can pop in her bag and take with her and sketch on the go.  The cover's made from some linen I rust dyed.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

'bye for now

Stitching down the Moon

I have been thinking a lot lately about incorporating more practical, creative ritual into my days.  I used to do a lot, but lapsed somewhere along the way, and now feels like the time to start again.  I've decided to join  Peggy, Woman with Wings in creating Full Moon Art.  The idea is to stitch or paint a simple full moon piece each month and link with Peggy and others to share our full moon musings.

I took this photo of the moon soon after she'd risen, just as clouds were beginning to move across, and shortly after, she was hidden and there was just the ghostly glow of her light to be seen.  I got up early this morning hoping to see her setting behind the mountain, but the sky was still covered in grey cloud.

I did a small stitchery of that cheddary yellow moon.....and look, all you fellow TASTER's....fly stich bats crossing the sky!!  This full moon is in it's home sign of Cancer, and is about our ties to home, family, tribe and community and the bonds of love and compassion that connect us to others. To balance all that Cancerian watery emotion that tugs at us, I've given the heart roots to ground these feelings in the practicality that the current sun sign of Capricorn insists on....my own sun sign, with my birthday tomorrow.

I used scraps of my eco dyed fabrics to make this, and whatever embroidery thread my hand pulled from the tin was used to stitch with.

Happy full moon day everyone.