Stardust Angel decorates the tree

theodoracleave.com

The stardust angel I love as a 12cm decoration

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas it says

theodoracleave.com

Marg Low designs has released a new Christmas decoration using my large Merry Christmas Star santa decoration...

I love it !!!!

 www.marglowdesigns.typepad.com

for the pattern.

Been a different week & today I have a lot of painting to do...

Window clean on Wednesday became a disaster zone getting screens back on 

&

as I walked out the back sliding door...it slipped off & kept doing that..

2 runners are missing & the door is like a very drunk person... all over the place.

Another screen was discovered bent into submission 

&

I paid for this ...

so it is now costing me more that it did to get the windows cleaned....

****

Been away to visit a friend for the day which was nice & my weekend day...

long drive back home...

****

Yesterday a raid happened nearby....I spot a police man across the road in a flap jacket & a huge gun strapped to his calf...

****

Now get back to NORMAL....

it is hard.... as when I paint I need a huge amount of concentration & a steady internal mechanism keep my painting hand steady...

You may now know why artist are a laid back looking lot....

We are not able to create well in a chaos environment.

***

Often some of us speak of this as we grew up in domestic violent households

&

left as soon as we were able to support ourselves....

our resting place in adult life is one of internal peace...

So I cannot buy it.... I must now make it again LOL !!!

&

settle with that paint brush & pretty coloured paints & dream of where these are going to...France & Italy & NSW....isn't that a nice peaceful result to life's start !!!

Better see what this cat is up to I hear noises !!!     

Christmas once more

theodoracleave.com

It is nice & cool now & I caught myself staring .....danger of dozing off !

Today the Stardust Angel decoration of 12 cm arrived today & was quickly painted...

The Christmas tag also looks divine 

The Red Birdy is a special price & looks fab on the tree ...

Gingerbread ...... small button type & larger 5cm  each can be stranded as they have hanging holes in their hands & button holes in the tummies..

These have been on the books for a long time now...

A Great weekend

theodoracleave.com

A great sleepover Marg  ( Marg Low designs ) & I had ...on Saturday ...

After a quick meal at one of the pubs nearby...

we sat at my table...

Bits of paper with scribblings on it as we explained what we were saying or thinking...

some found painted bits & some raw stock were pulled for further brainstorming ideas...

It went on until we decided it was bedtime at a sensible hour of 10.30.

Sunday after breakfast we ambled about the Trove Market in Bendigo,

Which is petite but lovely....

we saw many things that took our interest.

Then into Bath Lane to explore Organise My & Oliver Birch.

Then a drive to Provincial Decor Living & Early Settler...

Time to eat...

Home for a nourishing salad 

Marg packed the car & was gone...

Oscar was sad too...that she has gone..

Funny he was sooooooo excited when he realised she was sleeping here...

His eyes went like saucers & he whizzed about the townhouse being stupid for a second !!

This Christmas Scene

theodoracleave.com

Here it is ...vintage now ??? LOL

I always love these sampler layouts....

You are welcome to stitch it ....

Maybe I will try & draw it today...

I think this would have been on a newsletter...

I illustrated a lot on the old ones...that I recall fondly.

I loved that process each 1/4 to sit & write the newsletter & draw little things...

This was before the days of digital cameras,  actually scanning was only done at a printing service ..& so was printing...I used a typing service for patterns & this newsletter thing....

Memories & the last stitchery

theodoracleave.com

Last night I got to move the bookcase around another way...

it holds my magazines...favourite ones...

anyway a few folders slipped away from the magazines as I piled them on the floor...

I kept them aside until I had time to see what was in them...

One had the Santa Patterns !!! So I have found those..

This was in the old profile folder...

&

Another interesting designs & things ...

one I will share in a separate blog post.

This was 1996...

Much has changed since then...

It was the very first show we did & it was in Sydney at the Quilt Show

I can see so many cloth dolls & some santas...( 2 went to have a full page in the very first craft magazine publication I had.

Some large wood pieces....

It all looks clumsy now...

The final in this series of giveaway stitchery illustrations...

Sparkling by the close of my day

www.theodoracleave.com

I decided I needed to make a better effort with this tree...

I had been adding sparkly blue decorations 

&

this season I have fallen in love with snowflakes...

&

The sweet little lights !!!

I also had a roll of fine tinsel from a pack I collected recently

All useful 

The Heat of the Night

theodoracleave.com

Wow was it a hot night !!!  This hot spell has begun & I think Monday is to be in the low 30's

I was enjoying the slow spring !

Sweet Company is #8 in the Giveaway stitcheries  

one more to go ....

Yesterday I sat down after lunch & decided to quickly draw some ideas onto paper....

illustrations to convert into decorations...

I need another "sit down" & draw....

to clean them up.

Enjoy the sweet company...

Thank you Kate for making the effort to thank me for these designs each time I popped one on here...it is a lovely thought...to transfer to a thank you.

I try to say thank you ....

You know along this vein of thought...when I first moved to Melbourne

&

driving....on heavy traffic streets & you'd let some one into the traffic 

the majority of times

the wave of thank you ...

Gosh it made me feel so good...

& 

this worked for me as I'd be waved into traffic..

It works ...& you wave a thankyou..

It is such a feel good thing.

It says something about the general population....

I'd not long come from Canberra where a certain aggression to beat you to the spot in the traffic & tail gating was a sport...

Such a contrast...

& 

In Canberra those road to get from one side of town to another was quick....

So thank you comes in many flavours I guess.....

It often just makes the world softer...

So thanks again Kate !

Sunday ???

theodoracleave.com

I do recall this Santa...Rustic Santa ...

He kind of comes from another era !!!

Bravo Vic Govt !!!

It is not often I get this excited & post so much in one day ..but this needs airing....I have an inherited feel against social injustice  & how so many minority groups are targeted ....but this is agovt that has shown more than once it has a humanity nerve....many only critise  but this can be praised !!!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-12/victorian-homelessness-government-to-spend-109m-on-new-plan/8020244

It is ALL FIXED

www.theodoracleave.com

WHEW !!!!

What a blessing the website is now doing what a good website should do..

Working..

Thanks to the wonderful Jocelyn at Pappa Shop... what a gem ..

I am so relieved.

And another gratitude goes to the man on the tractor cutting the paddocks over the road....the vegetation was so tall & about to dry out & become this huge fire risk..

Now it is being fashioned into a mown field 

I need a lottery ticket now

No I am so grateful for both these miracles today ...

serenity comes to us all !!!

This was Oscar late yesterday, enjoying the warm day but likes to be close to something & the cat flap....he was close to both..in case..

But he was looking very serene & I will in a minute !!!

Update on the Web page

www.theodoracleave.com

I have thanks to the lovely person at Pappa shop installed a new template...

That was the easy bit,

my errand old buttons came across with the update & I was happily deleting what had nothing in that category & leaving my stock ones

Then I look at the front of my website 

& it says 

"opps no categories"

I thought HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

But I have no answers as I was checking the deletions but not at front head quarters...

So I am nagging for assistance again ....

 ****

I need to sit down & paint...but a wee bit twitchy for that right now...

This was part of yesterday's lot..

A few red everyday angels...

Maybe they can help me ? 

I am now spent 

TRYING TIME .. WEBSITE is HAVING UPGRADE Issues !!!!

theodoracleave.com

Ohh what a time it is...

I log into my website to do an update on an order & things are looking different.

I am groping about...in the back end of it..

I open up the actual website & OH MY GOSH ( that is polite speak for something else )

Buttons on side bar are not looking so regular...some I cannot get into...all products have gone single file...

So I do an order & I get a tiny bit of the page....I can arrow along & see the rest but not as full page...

This being my busiest time

The server has an upgrade ...

& when servers do upgrades things do happen.

I recall many years ago now some upgrades a dept I work for had some doozy errors..

&

a website I used first stopped the coding for our lovely simply easy websites & we were all transferred to another company

& 

it was a dreadful experience

So I went to another

& 

my brother & I spent days trying to get it operational..

Then I found Hope from Paper Relics & she did all the current website setup for me at Pappa Shop & then I run from their server & it has been fantastic for years ...

So now it is trying to be repaired...

Meanwhile...

I will need food packages soon ....

****

Now some pretty pictures I took yesterday..

These guys I had sized up & made into decorations...12cm tall now

  I reckon these stocking & sock ones could even get to a bigger size...cute though ?

Call Me Santa

He is here 23cm tall & loving the height !!!!

He may well be a fun guy to have on a tree

( when website is better )

I was testing how this looks as a display piece for the quilt show...

So popped the Santa & deer in sock over there...just to photograph...

he is 12 cm tall too...

I see some add ons coming to take a selected few to the show...

Mind has leapt forward ...love that creative thinking.!!!

Sue Mc & I were discussing that on the phone yesterday..

.It is an endless flight of internal lift up..

Maybe this would rehabilitate many who are addicted  to some chemical junk...

Creativity, not art as such... it is that process of achievement & that ability we are wired to use ..

I figured out many of us are hardwired along the generations to be just as we are...we can work in a logical world but it is not our preferred one...

we flourish amongst other creative people....

we are never failing ..it takes us to another process that can be unexpected & aha moments..

Also isk taking but it is considered risk...then oh heck see what happens..

In saying that it prepares us constantly for some flops....so we are never that disappointed..we tried & will try to resolve that or drop it...depends LOL

But it is SO EXCITING !!! 

Waiting ... for that parcel

theodoracleave.com

I am waiting for a delayed express parcel today with much needed stock in it I must paint...

It is so frustrating but every so often things are not so perfect with this service...

Often it has been times when I am waiting on stock..or a new big batch of designs are on their way..

somewhere & someone stops to smell the roses.

Because we use this route many many times it is interesting to know where the system breaks down...same place even when I live in very different locations.

****

The stitchery ....for downloading for your use is here...4..a few more to come..maybe in a few days...

**** 

Needed to add some colour to the page !!!

Past years decorations

Woke too early

www.theodoracleave.com

The thrid giveaway stitchery...right click to save

 Christmas....

This is a mix of  the 2 year's of design...

I have in my mind some new designs for the show in July...

I don't have time at present to put things on paper...

&

sometimes what I see in my mind's  eye doesn't match the pencil attitude LOL

Santa etc

theodoracleave.com

He is still gorgeous ..since the day he was designed in Canberra..many many years ago...under my Woodcutter's Daughter label.

He has travelled with me....seen the inside of many a packing box !!!

But he stays out now, sits around waiting for Christmas time !!!

I was having a tidy up in between painting this week...

The clutter was driving me to distraction..still is some about...

because decorating is happening..

Then in the midst of this late in afternoon I head outdoors to paint some display box & a cane basket I want to use in display next July...

Love Annie Sloan's chalk paints....I found these at E casa in Daylesford last week...

This picture is that tree...but I found a pack of 3 gorgeous pom poms I had bought some time ago for display purposes....

These styles of pom poms take me back to my childhood Christmas decorating...loved opening a bell of this same design .stuff...& it was one of those precious things...we had it for years...  

These ones need some more friends & may go to another tree....

Fun to experiment along the way...