I have been back in Australia for about a week. It is always such a long journey home. Though there was not much time to recover as I had to visit Mum in Melbourne, and a quick dash into AQC to pick up some quilts from Reece Scannell, then wedding dress shopping on the Saturday for daughter eldest. What has happened to simple and elegant is all we want to know?? Over the tope froth and bead and balloon with plunging necklines seem to be all the go and as my daughter wryly remarked - for a white dress that is sometimes said to represent one's purity the necklines seem to say something com ..read more

 Happy New Year 2024 It is hard to believe  but 2024 marks the 20th year I have been blogging.  Are any other bloggers out there having a 20th birthday? We could have a party! There have been many changes online since I started and when I started my blog all those years ago it was with some trepidation about putting myself out there and thinking I had anything to say that anyone could possibly want to read. Since I started several computers have died including a back up drive where I had much material stored from 2004-2011. I had thought of making a book from my blog posts but ..read more

 It has been awhile since I blogged and there has been a reason. Apart from being very busy with teaching associated with the Gathered Threads Exhibition, Geelong Fibre Forum and Slow Stitch in Ulladulla, my friend Cheryl Cook and I have been experimenting, playing and creating some exciting  art and textile art using natural inks created by using recipes developed by Cheryl and pushing them further to encompass a range of textile techniques. They behave and work differently to eco dyeing and eco printing and allow all sorts of ancillary explorations on both cotton and paper. We are ..read more

It is 1 September and I find myself curating another exhibition of fellow textile artists which will be on at ArcYinnar , Gippsland and opens tomorrow at 2pm. Everyone is welcome to attend if they are so inclined and  we would love to see you there. The artists involved are listed in the flyer below. We spent yesterday and today installing and I am happy with the diversity of the work and how it looks in the space. Each artist is exhibiting a small body of work so you can get a real feel for their work and vision. Work by Cheryl Cook using her natural inks and inspirations. Work By ..read more

 I have been back from Europe for two weeks and a bit, but it seems so much longer ago and the days are so short and cold. I don't think I suffered jet lag , but the cold seem to slow down my blood to such an extent I was having trouble getting out of bed. The last week or so of the European trip was spent in Portugal in the city of Porto with one or two side trips by train to the countryside- and whilst it was not super hot it was pleasant and warm. I loved Porto, the people were friendly and the tiles were wonderful and whilst we had been told the food was ordinary my friend Margo and I ..read more

 It has been the longest time since I have blogged since I started blogging 19 years ago. The longer it went the less I thought I had something to share or say. I was also super busy, so busy my garden got quite neglected and  it took me some time to find a house sitter to look after Portia my rescue cat. After  my exhibition at Meeniyan Art Gallery finished I plunged into a round of creating for my exhibitions at Patchwork & Quilt Dagen in  Rijswijk, The Hague in the Netherlands and then to Nantes for Pour l'Amour du Fil. Both were busy events. In the Netherlands ..read more

I have been slow to recover from Covid and that combined with mum's ongoing health issues meant i had a very slow start to the month indeed. My mother has refused to entertain aged care even though that was the advise from the medical team at Austin Repat Hospital- and that creates a whole other series of problems as she has to be safe and cared for. I live too far away to do anything on a weekly basis even though I partly moved to Gippsland to be closer to Mum to be helpful  (which I was when she lived in Gembrook) but she was moved to nearly the other side of Melbourne which means wasti ..read more

 It is a year that I am glad is over- I managed to contract  Covid before Christmas and despite vaccinations and medication it has well and truly affected my energy levels, spending several days doing nothing at all ( flat on my back actually) and then somehow having it get into my sinuses and creating more problems to the nerves in my teeth- a little known ( but not unknown) side effect. My mother had contracted Covid earlier in the month and as she is elderly it has really knocked her around badly, requiring hospitalisation three times and extensive medication for the pneumonia tha ..read more

 The time has flown , and I feel I have very little to show for the time. We have had two big exhibitions at ARC Yinnar where I am a very part-time ( 4 hours per week) gallery coordinator. When there are big exhibitions things take a lot more time than the four hours, but it is satisfying when the exhibition looks good. We had an exhibition of prints by twenty one  different printmakers from the region and there was some fabulous work on display. We used all the spaces at ARC Yinnar. My daughter Siena Galtry had pieces in the exhibition as well- it's the first time we have had p ..read more

Finally, after 5 months and 20 odd days my tifaifai quilts have come back to me.  In that time I have made two claims to Aus Post to find the quilts had the Ombudsman investigate to no avail, to find  last weekend that tracking information had changed to indicate that they had been in North Melbourne since 23 August. I can tell you that I checked tracking on a weekly basis and on no occasion until last week sometime had there been any indication that the quilts were anywhere. So first thing Monday I was on the phone to be told that yes the quilts were in unclaimed parcels- the person ..read more