more Bribie Island

Driftwood again...

...and strange, but true. Maybe the spray can ran out before they could paint the E...

Bribie Island & Driftwood

My family have lived on Bribie Island for the past 30 years or so. My mother holidayed there as a child and a street is named after her family, so the place holds special significance for me and the rest of the family.

There is a bridge connecting the island with the mainland, but in mum's day, they took a ferry from Redcliff to the island. Here are some of my favourite pics of the island - taken on a winter's day on the ocean side of the island.



6 Fabric Books

Here they are all together...

Hi from Granada

Hi all,
Wow - an efficient computer!! Shame that a lot of the letters are worn off - testing my skills!! We have 9 hours to fill in before our overnight train to Barcelona leaves. We are in a swish hotel, enjoying a spot of comfort, so will spend the day hanging out, reading, drinking G & T etc. Did all the tourist things including the mandatory Alhambra. Granada is a beautiful city tho not terribly friendly to English speaking tourists.
We are walking lots - a bit tricky for my ankle over the cobble stoned streets, but managing OK. Have taken SO many pictures of doorways and windows and beautiful little alleyways and walls and tiles and birds.
the storks over here are amazing - they make huge nests of sticks on top of power lines, old buildings, my favourite was on an ancient Roman doric column at Volubilis, Morocco,.
Eliza is anxious to get the bus into town and do something, so must away.

Love to all.
Noela

Printed Tea Dyed Calico Book

I had a batch of teadyed calico and decided to print photos of worm eaten wood directly onto the fabric.

It worked!

I ran a tacking stitch through the 'pages' to give the book some continuity.

Again, I love the marks on the wood created by some anonymous little creature.

Hi from Portugal

Hi to all my lovely followers.
We had an intense and exhausting 3 weeks in Morocco - what a country of extremes - from a desert camp in the Sahara accessed by camels, to a night in a gite at the base of the high Atlas Mts covered in snow - Have taken lots of great photos but it is too difficult to post them from here, so will have to wait until I get home.  Met some wonderful people on our tour and managed to avoid the tragic bombing in Marrakesh by one day.
We had a few great days in Porto, N Portugal to recoup - great to have basic and clean facilities again, and we are now in Evora - lovely white washed medieval town in central Portugal. We are heading east to Granada and Barcelona by bus so it is an interesting (and slow) way to get around, but planes are too difficult with the language problems and we want to see ´´out of the way`` places.
I am looking forward to catching up on the creativity of all my fellow bloggers in a few weeks time and hope to have some ideas for new work - where to start????
Love to you all,
Noela xoxoxoxo

Kyoto Kimono Scraps Book

I bought a bundle of old kimono scraps from the famous Toji antique market. What a delight!! I have used them in my wabi sabi scarves and here are some of the precious tiny pieces - too special to throw away.

..Just LOVE this piece of delicately worm eaten timber - what tiny creature feasted on this piece of wood?

Waxed Kimono Silk Book

This book is made from scraps of delicate kimono silk which have been lightly ironed with wax - producing a lovely translucency which marks beautifully when scrunched up [can be re ironed to remove the marks].

Book of Rust Dyed Silk and Satins

This lovely piece of driftwood had a 'slot' through the middle - perfect for tucking in the spine of the book.

Book of old Sheet

Somehow I manage to accumulate old white cotton sheets - fabulous for all sorts of projects - dying, painting, tearing, burning, whatever.

This one was used for a simple book - just because I liked the raw innocent integrity of the fabric. The feature detail was from a project many years ago - stitched and painted canvas, and the weave is on old bag strap.

Love the twisted bit of driftwood - it must have had a vine growing around it.

Book of old jeans

I selected interesting bits of fabric - seams, pockets, loops etc, from many different old pairs of jeans [op shop purchases]. The binding just evolved - too tricky to preplan.

Love the ramdom nature of it all.

en route over Europe somewhere

1. 
2. ...the moon

the sun...coming into Heathrow

HAVING A HOLIDAY

Yes, bright and early tomorrow, I'm off on my adventure/holiday with my 22 year old daughter who is currently living in the UK. We go to Morocco for two weeks after Easter, then have a couple of weeks travelling around Portuagal and Spain. Hopefully, we will have time to go to Cornwall when back in the UK. I come home to Australia mid June.

I am pre posting various bits and pieces so my blogging friends don't forget me :)

I don't know if I can post blogs from OS but I'll give it a go. I am on facebook [mainly for family connections] and will attempt to load regular photos, so if you go to Noela Mills and the UK/Morocco/Portugal/Spain album, you should get some photos. However, I think you need to be a facebook member to see them.

I am besotted with driftwood collected from the beach. Yes, it's the wabi sabi in me. My sister and I collected lots of lovely pieces from the Bribie Island beach a few weeks ago. These will form the basis for a multitude of creative projects for years to come.

To me, they evoke amazing stories of fantastical journeys across the oceans coming from far away and exotic places - perhaps starting life as a building in the Amazon, or a shoji screen in Japan, or just a happy little beach side vine on a Pacific island.

I  have made 6 cute little fabric books with driftwood bindings.

This is a teaser of what's to come.