A Catch-up Post!

Gnarabup Beach (Margaret River) at sunset

I had great intentions to blog on Thursday, then Friday and then again yesterday but the time just disappeared. It is certainly taking me a while to get back into some sort of workable routine after work - my reinstated walking program is messing me around a bit as I am doing it as soon as I get home from work and then the rest of the evening seems to disappear, especially as it is SO hot here at the moment.

Morning at Redgate Beach (near Margaret River)

Yesterday I planned a quick house clean and to do the washing so that I could get some art time in the late afternoon but I discovered the hot weather had resulted in some tiny insects in my pantry so I had a major pantry clean out and scrub. It took several hours (it is amazing how much fits into a corner pantry) but I have a lovely clean, organised and hopefully bug free pantry now. It actually fitted in with my intention to clean out and sort the contents of one cupboard or drawer a week this year - I just would have started with something smaller if it had been my choice! I rewarded myself with a swim in the pool before we had a yummy barbecue dinner. It is going to be even hotter today with a forecast of 40C so I guess I'll be having another late afternoon swim.

I gather that much of the northern hemisphere is having a very harsh winter so this post includes several holiday snaps of the beautiful beaches down at Margaret River in the south west of Western Australia. Hopefully looking at them will warm you up a bit if you are sitting in a cold part of the world (or make you buy a plane ticket)!

Now to catch up on some art stuff. The first two postcards are from Carol McFee. These postcards are for the November Calendar Girls exchange and Carol sent me two (she was most annoyed that she misspelled "friend") - lucky me as they are both beautiful and textural.

This next one was my December Calendar Girl postcard from Carol Taylor. Carol went with the Christmas theme (as did several of us) and made this glorious arty shaker style postcard. There is a lot to notice on this card, right down to the text on the underside of the flat bottomed glass marbles. A glorious bright and detailed postcard.

Calendar Girls is continuing for 2009 with a few changes - we have two new members and this year we are each choosing a calendar page for one month to act as that month's inspiration. Mine is first and it is a wonderful painting by Shane Pickett (see below). It is a real favourite of mine and wouldn't I just love to own it!! Hopefully I will be able to do it justice as an inspiration for a fibre postcard. More of Shane's work is currently on exhibit at the WA Art Gallery.

I made this very simple little stitched felt ATC while I was holidays for a Christmas ATC exchange with Anne Lugherini in France. As is often the case, I ran out of time to get it finished before Christmas but fortunately Anne is is patient!

And look at the gorgeous tote my friend Annie Laing made me for Christmas. I love it - it is so summery and pretty! Annie is becoming a bag-making specialist (she is very attentive to details so they are beautifully made and fully lined). Thanks Annie!!