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Here's wishing the world a very happy 2009!

I've never made a new year resolution before, but this year I have two. Both related to art/craft.
The first is to do a little embroidery every day. As I was cleaning the clutter in my workroom last afternoon, I found the perfect starting point for this resolution - a few crazy quilt patches from the UFO pile. Here's the little pistil stitch flower I stitched yesterday.




The second is to draw a face a day. While I'm not interested in doing portraits, I would like to have enough control over my faces to create interesting, emotive visages to go with the greater movement I am seeking in both my paper and fabric figures. This took a little longer than I anticipated, as each time I thought I was done and took a picture, I would find spots that needed more work on them! Anyway, here's what came out of it.

Let's fill this year of change with learning and growing.

Hope you've all had a very Merry Christmas, and are basking in warm appreciation of all your crafty gifts!

I just realized that I have been so busy with the holidays, I've not posted any updates from my diary for a while.

I made good time with my waterwheel/star quilt, and it was done and delivered last week. This one will be called "In Over My Head". It was commissioned by a girl for her father - you can see her toes at the edge of the picture!

The last week was very wet. Our part of the world was hit by a zinger of a cyclone. Caught out on the streets during the first deluge, I decided I would not venture forth until the whole thing passed and the sun came out to dry up the world.

This helped me to get a good, early start on one of the commissioned single quilts. After some debating, I settled on waterwheel and star blocks. Twenty 9", 9-patch blocks each.

I decided to speed piece and paper piece the patches. The 3" half-square triangles- 80 of them - took me about two hours to do, including printing out the templates for speed piecing and rotary cutting the fabrics (I cut an extra half inch around which helped in pinning it to the template). The 80 3" strip-pieced blocks took another 2 hours, including pressing them out.

I've always wondered why people post pictures of their work with their pets in the frame. Now I know. Boy, it's impossible to move them!

Here are two baby quilts commissioned from me, vetted by Moo Chin.






Ladybug Trot - 36" x 48" - hand appliqued, embroidered and quilted












Kids On the Block - 36" x 54"- foundation pieced, machine quilted.

Never did I think that I would ever have a chance to learn the art of Far Eastern Brush Painting. Imagine my delight when I had a chance to do this recently, hardly a five-minute walk from home!

The first class was humbling, to say the least. Apart from dealing with the huge brush and the long strips of extremely uncooperative paper, I was told that I must also worry about the spaces and focus on the shapes - all done standing up for three hours on a Sunday afternoon, when most people in this part of the world enjoy a gentle snooze.

My kids thought I was crazy, my friends were impressed (after all, I am an "artist", and everybody knows they are a crazy breed). Eight weeks and as many classes later, I am proud to share some results with you.

Btw, my teacher has informed me that, maybe after another month, I may have learned a little.

I quite like Mondays. Maybe because I am lucky enough that my work is my favorite pastime. Although I do not follow the traditional work week or regular working hours, Monday always opens up a vista of possibilities and challenges.

I rarely start anything new on Mondays. Sunday afternoons or Tuesdays seem less rushed and more convenient to begin a project, and luckier too - any venture embarked upon then gets done as planned and on schedule.

Yet, after a weekend of family, friends and fun, I look forward to Mondays.

Have a great Monday, everybody.

A simply embroidered piece, which I plan to tailor into a skirt or capris for the summer.

Colors used are four shades of green two of yellow orange, two of peach, two of brown, one grey and a red.

Stitches used are stem, satin, lazy daisy, herringbone and stamen.