Feeling Better

It's a miracle - 10 days and I am feeling better although it is frustrating to have lost all that great sewing time.

Here is my latest offering - it is for a magazine and I am quite happy with how it turned out. It is very bright and cheerful I think. May even get some beads.

Strip pieced blocks in blues and greens.


Fused little houses to fill up the suburb.

Any suggestions for names?

6 days and counting

Nothing from me for a week - reason - the dreaded flu! I have not felt this bad in a long time. Doctor says classic flu and I am not dying but I find it hard to believe.
According to those who supposedly know - it is a 10 day ailment and I should be better by Wednesday.
At least not eating for a week helps with the weight loss.
Back to bed now!

Home Again

Trip over and all far too quick but have to tell you how entertained we were on the trip home.

The nine hour flight was basically spent watching our neighbours (two Chinese women) stuff everything that was not nailed down into bags.

As soon as we had taken off they went to the toilet and came back with a thick wad of paper towels. They then proceeded to wrap every bit of crockery clean (after finishing off the food and drink) with these towels and then individually wrap them and stuff them into sick bags. They then covered the trays with the dirty towels to supposedly make them look full. Nothing was sacred - glasses, salad dishes, coffee cups and cutlery.

To keep occupied between meals (or crockery gathering periods) one of them proceeded to pull out bags of jewellery and decorate herself. Unfortunately as her extremely long fake and highly decorated nails were too long to use for this task she needed help from her friend. Many bracelets and earrings were tried and discarded until she was satisfied. Strangest combination (to me anyway) was a large chunky bead bracelet which eventually was covered with her sleeve and locked into place with a large silver bracelet.

One came back from the galley with a plastic pen wrapped (I assume to hide it) in a paper napkin and very surreptitiously put it in one of her many (now filled with crockery) bags.

Best of all were her two hair extensions. I think they were purple but hard to tell. They were about 12inches long and hung below her short hair. She clipped them on and off for hours and was still playing with them when we landed.

It was all very amusing and made the trip very entertaining but maybe that is why airfares are so high.

Macau for a Day

We decided to do a day tour to Macau - possibly a silly mistake. Although it was well (over)organised it was a long day - pickup at 8am from hotel and dropped back 12 hours later.

There is a great hydrofoil ferry trip which takes an hour and is comfortable but the rest of the day was in and out of a bus and/or waiting for latecomers. It was also very warm and so being rushed was not fun. I was also very disappointed in the constant sales pitches from the tour guide which included stops to stores which weren't on the intinery which I am sure must have been giving her a cut.

Anyway - here are some pics and at least I have added another few stamps to the passport.
As you leave HK Harbour the skyline is fascinating

The Macau skyline is rapidly catching up though



From the ramparts - all canons are aimed at this new casino building

Food is always important to me. Portugese custard tarts are always a passion of mine. These ones were wonderfully warm and flaky pastry with creamy filling.

This is an array of jerkys - commonly available in a variety of flavours including ostrich.



Visit to Buddhist/Taoist temple and I love these hanging incense burners.

I am always amazed that these enormous buildings are supported with bamboo scaffolding.

I really like this glass sculpture/roundabout. Couldn't get closer to is and not sure who designed it or what it is for but it certainly is interesting.

Casinos seem to be the main industry of Macau with Wynn, MGM Grand, Venetian and many others opening.

Too Warm

I think I am getting too old for wandering around in the heat. Although it is only about 30 degrees here today I get really tired and the feet hurt so I need to rest in afternoon. Ah the joys of disintegrating.

This morning we went for a walk but nothing here really opens until 10 or 11 am but you do see some interesting things.




Today was bead shopping morning but I was pretty restrained and only came away with 6kgs - think I might have to go back again before we leave. After all I did bring a whole bag just to fill up with them.




Lunch was a dim sum which theoretically was supposed to be (according to the map) just near the Central Ferry Stop but they have actually moved it!!! The whole ferry wharf!
A long hot walk did little for my sore feet but this interesting bit of dredging was worth a pause.

Lunch was pretty typical dim sum although a bit pricier than expected but yummy watermelon and grapefruit juice. They do great fruit juices here. The view across to Kowloon is also impressive.

I can spot a Henry Moore sculpture anywhere.


I then caught the underground train back to the YMCA where we are staying - why do I want to break into the Village People song every time I stand in the lift? Peter disappeared off to a book sale on a cruise liner only to find it doesn't really open until tonight.

Dinner soon - maybe something cheap and cheerful and noisy with a touch of chili.

Where am I?

Yet again I have made a sudden decision to get on one of those metal tubes and go somewhere different. Now that I am leaving the day job to become a full time artist (that sounds scary) I will not have access to reduced travel fares so thought I would quickly make one last trip.
As I am teaching again in a few days it had to be somewhere relatively close so a bead buying excursion was called for - so Hong Kong here I am.

Every second store seems to have the most amazing array of electrical goods. Interestingly - as my camera had decided to die I had decided to buy another. I took a gamble and bought one duty free when I left and the same model here was about $30 more so this time I did the right thing.




These people were watching a video outside a store

Not sure why this attractive mural needed fairly impressive razor wire?

Speaking of murals - this 3d piece was at head height on a wall in an alleyway.


We had already eaten so weren't tempted by these octopus on sticks but lots of others were.



We just couldn't pass this stationery store which had three floors of all sorts of goodies.

All Done

The exhibition is over. I was hoping to post a small video to show you the gallery but I can't get Blogger to play nicely. If anyone has some advice I would be grateful.

I think it was a success - well for me anyway - I sold quite a few pieces which really made me feel wonderful. Nothing like a bit of positive reinforcement to boost the ego.

Here are some close ups of some of the sold pieces - I will be posting some work that will still be for sale on my website soon - once I get organised.

New Toy

I am very excited as today I added a new machine to my playroom - sorry - studio.
I have wanted an embellishing machine since they came out so today was the day. Of course, having followed Dale Rollersons journey of writing a book about how to use them I also had to have that as well. Delivery was perfect. Both arrived today, video watched, book browsed and tomorrow I will start to play.
As my exhibition is still on and the Janome Xpression is such a light machine I think I will take the book and the machine to the Gallery and be an 'artist in residence'. It is a public holiday here tomorrow due to APEC, which is causing great traffic jams and annoyance in the city but not in Camperdown. If you are passing please drop in.


This is Dales book which can be purchased from the Thread Studio

Stained Glass Quilt

Lora has sent me a photo of this quilt which she made from some of our fabric. The multicoloured piece for the background really sets off the stained glass effect doesn't it? What a wonderful work of art.