A Special Day Today

Today Wednesday the 31st of March is Ebony's 10th Birthday.
Did she want a big party?--no.
Did she want expensive presents?--no.
So what did she want?
All she wanted was to have her "party"on the lawns of Parliament house with her family.
And what did we have to eat?--Macca's of course.
Here she is with her Dad and her Poppy with the Parliament House building in the background.
As usual I am not in the photo because I am the designated photographer in the family.

Tomorrow Ebony and her Dad are off to Sydney for the Easter weekend so that she can attend the Royal Sydney Easter Show for the first time.
We gave her money for her birthday so she could spend it at the show--that's what she wanted.
If only her Dad had been as easy to please when he was her age.

More Knotted Buttonhole Stitch

Here I have worked the stitch on my official sampler -------------





---and this one is on my new Crazy patchwork piece.

I will be adding more embellishing to this one at a later date.

TAST 2 Week 5 Knotted Buttonhole Stitch

Tast 2 Week 5 with Sharon B is a variation of Buttonhole stitch.
This time it is Knotted Buttonhole stitch.
These are my first attempts done on my sample fabric and then I will work on my official sampler.
The green line is how the original stitch looks.
The yellow line is done by slanting the upright stitches on a backward of forward angle and they are different lengths.
In the third row I have added a bead before I worked the knotted part of the stitch.

Now onto the main sampler.

ATC Birthday swaps

There are 5 people having birthdays in April in the ATC birthday swaps Group.
Two of the ATC's are off to Spain one to Crete one to the US and one to the UK.
I have been using up a lot of sample pieces that I have had in a container waiting to be used.
The pink one on the bottom row is made from a serviette.



It seems strange to be sending off ATC's and not getting any in return but come September I will be rewarded.

TAST Week 4 Portuguese Border Stitch

This week the stitch in Sharons TAST challenge is Portuguese Border Stitch.
Another unknown one to me.
I am beginning to realise that there are many stitches that I do not know.
Well I knew that before really but there are so many that I never would have known if it weren't for the TAST challenges.
If you would like to see how the stitch is worked just follow the link above.
I have used a thick silk thread that I purchased from the Thread Studio a few years ago and I can't remember the name of it--(but it may be Marrakesh by Colourstreams)

This is my practise sheet before I work the stitch on my sampler.

Again I have used a thick silk thread from The Thread Studio which I have had for years-------

This is my sampler so far after 4 weeks I am only doing a row of each stitch on it(except for last week that is) and it is 15 centimeters (6 Inches) wide.

I am early working my stitch this week as I have a few things that I have to get done later in the week and I thought that I would do this one first up as it looked quite interesting.

Tast 2 Week 3

The new stitch for week three in the TAST challenge run by Sharon B over on Pintangle is Beaded Hedebo Edge.
This is another new stitch to me and I really like this one as well.
It is built on a foundation of uneven cross stitches (one cross is even and the second one is elongated) and the scallops are formed over the legs of the elongated crosses.
A bead is added between the scallops on the even crosses.




I decided not to dye my piece of linen because it would have inhibeted my choice of threads--well that's my excuse anyway.
I wonder what awaits us for week four.

My Garden is Confused

We are now into the middle of March and by now my Ornamental Grape Vine (?? Botanical name unknown ) is usually turning a bright red and starting to drop its leaves everywhere.
When I was washing up the breakfast dishes this morning I noticed that said tree had some tiny new green leaves starting to shoot.
No wonder it is confused we are now getting temperatures again up in the high 20's Celcius.
Last week I had to get out a pullover now we are back into shorts.

This little leaf almost appears to be asking "is it safe to pop out".

Ahh this crazy weather.

St.Patrick's Day

Well in Australia it is St.Patrick's day already and I have lots of green to show you.
As you all know we have had a really dry couple of years in Canberra and I have shown you before how dry my back yard was -but recently we have had some good rainfalls and at last I can show you what my back garden should look like.
Lovely green grass and the trees are still green (but not for long as Autumn is upon us) but it is so beautiful at present.
And look at that lovely blue sky.




And if you look in the shrub in the centre of the photo below you can see one of my erosion bundles hanging there in the sunshine.
Not long to go (about 4 weeks) before we open them--I am getting impatient.





Oh and don't take any notice of the weeds in the area to the left of the bundle because I don't.

TAST 2 week 2 Knotted Loop Stitch

I have been doing a lot of dithering this week--shifting stuff around on my work desk--you know what I mean -unable to decide on what I was going to do and then I discover it is Sunday and I still hadn't done this weeks Tast stitch sample.
So at the time when I should have been going to bed I started stitching just in case I started dithering again tomorrow.
Anyway the stitch for week 2 is Knotted Loop stitch.
Another one that I hadn't heard of before but when I looked in several of my books there it was waiting to be discovered.
I rather like this stitch-simple to do and it can be varied so easily.
Eventually I intend to make a proper sampler like Sharon's--well not like Sharon's but using hers as an example but I still have to dye some fabric to use and that will be done on Tuesday I hope-weather permitting.



If you would like to check out Sharon's blog go here and discover a treasure trove of wonderful stitching.

What have I been doing?

I was given a huge amount of cotton patchwork fabrics late last year for the guild to either sell on the recycle table or use to make items for sale.
I decided to use it in the beginning to make things and have been busy making samples of small items that we can sell on the sales table at the annual exhibition in September.
The small bag can be used to put potpouri in or it can be a gift bag or even a bag to place jewelry in when you go on holidays.
The larger bag is a shoe bag(or as my daughter calls it a "shoe sleeper".
Both bags are lined in cotton--the embroidery is worked on a cotton/linen blend cream fabric and then stitched onto the check fabric by hand in running stitch.
I have to run these past the sub committee on Monday to see if they like them and then we need someone to step forward and make a few.
We are going to provide the fabrics needed to make each bag plus the threads etc.

The other ladies on the sub committee are making thing as well for us to use.

We have to design all the things ourselves so that we don't infringe copyright.

My daughter showed me one shoe bag that came with her fancy smansy expensive shoes that she has and I did measure the bag to get the right size and then I drew the S on the cream fabric and proceeded to embroider it.

I had made some lavender bags several years ago so I just continued to use the same shape as before.

I embroidered some simple flowers- mainly because I was too lazy to do too much work on them.

What do you think?

Will people buy them?

ATC's for February and March

Here are the finished ATC's that I made from the inside of the envelopes.
I had some beautiful old lace flowers that I picked up from one of those places that sell vintage stuff.
I don't know how old it is -that's not the issue because I thought it was so pretty.
I decided to add a postage stamp onto each one to keep in with the envelope theme.
My husband had an old stamp album that he no longer wanted which had lots of butterfly stamps in it as well as these pretty story figures.
I am quite pleased with the result.



I hadn't posted the February ones that I had received mainly because I was waiting for the last one to arrive.
The top one is from Carole---the one on the left is from Ann and the one on the right is from Annie.




As you can see the theme was for hearts and each one is so different but oh so pretty.

Have You Ever Noticed-------------

----the colour inside of an envelope when you open your letters?
No!
About 6 years ago I started noticing the different colours and patterns inside the envelopes and decided to collect them.
In the beginning they were only blue and there were maybe 6 or 7 different patterns.
Now I am amazed at the variety in colours and patterns that are around.
This month it was my turn to choose the theme for our small groups ATC swap and I felt it was time to use my envelopes.
The challenge for March is to make the background for the ATC's out of the inside of the envelopes.
When I checked my stash I found that I had 50 different designs/colours and I thought I would use a different colour for each ATC.
I cut 3 strips in each colourway in 3 different patterns and made the backgrounds--now I have to embellish them.





Here are a few of the black patterned ones--

These ones are lime green-----

and mauve-----

These are a dark blue but have photographed a bit lighter---

orange--grey--and aqua---

mid blue-------

and pale blue.

I have the stuff ready to embellish them and get them into the post next weel

TAST 2 samples

The first stitch in the Tast 2 challenge from Sharon B is Diamond Stitch which is one that I had never heard of before.
I liked doing this stitch but had a few problems with the second row for a few minutes but then it all fell into place.
The first sample is on my Crazy quilt block and isn't finished completely as I want to add some beads to it at a later date when I do the beading bits.
If I add the beads now my threads will get hooked up in them when doing the next rows of stitches.
I think this would also look nice with a ribbon threaded underneath it.

The next lot of stitches are samples experimenting with different threads and fabrics.

The first one is Perle 5-- but I changed the width of the diamonds alternately.

And this one is on the same fabric but with perle 8 thread.

This one is the same Perle 8 thread but on a dress linen fabric.

It's so nice to be doing TAST again thanks Sharon.

It's TAST Time Again

Yeeh it's on again and starting this Tuesday the 2nd March.
What is TAST I hear you ask--well it means Take A Stitch Tuesday and is run by Sharon Boggon of Pin Tangle
How does it work?
Well in a nutshell-every Tuesday Sharon introduces us to a new embroidery stitch and we then set to and embroider it.
You may like to do a sampler and add the new stitch to it each week 0r you may decide to make a postcard or do a crazy quilt block and work the seams using each different stitch -it is up to you.
If you want to know how it works go here to Sharons blog where she explains it better.
The first TAST was in 2007 and we worked 52 different stitches--I didn't know that there were that many embroidery stitches--and now TAST 2 and Sharon has found even more different stitches for us to work.
If you want to join in then just sign on by clicking on the link above and let Sharon know.
And guess what?--it's free so what are you waiting for- come along and join me.

ATC Birthday Swap

This year I have joined an ATC birthday swap started by Kate which has about 34 members.
Each month we send an ATC to the person(s) who are having a birthday in that month and then when my birthday comes around in September I should receive a birthday ATC from each of them.
In March there are only two people having their birthdays and here are the ATC's that I have made for them/
One is for Kathy and the other is for Kelly
I am not saying which one is which in case they read this.
The background is again from one of my Embellisher samples with a stamped flower on cardstock and then the paper flowers were added using brads and machine stitching.

I had both of these in their respective envelopes-sealed up with stamps attached and then I remembered that I hadn't scanned them so I had to undo everything carefully-scan them and then re-seal them.

One day I will get it right and remember to scan them first.

When Lakes Become Rivers

I'm back from the coast after a fabulous 3 days of loafing around-walking along the foreshore-watching DVD's-listening to birds chirping all day and generally just veging out.
The place where we stayed is called Tuross Heads which is a beautiful little coastal town where people retire to and live the rest of their lives doing what they please in a leisurely manner.
There are beautiful homes built along the beach front and up into the hills around the area.
On either side of Tuross there is a lake--on the left hand side is Lake Coila and on the right hand side is Lake Tuross.
I mentioned last week that we had several days of continuous rain over the weekend in Canberra but down on the coast they had even more rain that us.
At Tuross Heads they had over 300mm of rain that weekend which caused flooding and a lot of damage.
They had also had a lot of rain 10 days earlier which caused the lakes to flood and the authorities had to cut a small channel in the sand bar to release some of the water from the lake into the ocean as it was causing flooding to some of the lower areas around the lake.
When we took Ebony down there 5 weeks ago the beaches were in pristine condition but nothing could prepare us for the damage that these storms had caused.
I took these photos mainly to show Ebony but I decided to share them with you also.
In the first photo Stephen is walking down the concrete path that leads to the beach--if you click on the photo you will see tha damage caused at the bottom by the water racing down the path.




At the bottom of the steps you can see all the tree trunks etc that had been washed up from the ocean and down the path.

In this photo you can see how the force of the rushing water carved a huge chunk out of the sand as it came gushing down--the depth of the walls is over a metre in places.

This is a photo of the beach now----

When we down there with Ebony the sand stretched as far as the eye can see-but now just behind the rocks in the centre of the photo is where the lake broke it's banks for the second time now making it impossible to walk to the other end.

In this photo you can see the water coming from Lake Coila.

Before the banks burst this whole area was sand as far as the eye could see.

Here you can see what looks like a river.

But at the point where the rocks are in the centre of the photo is where the lake wall was. and in front of it was a huge mound of sand.

If you click on this photo and the one above you will see how the water carved a wall out of the sand.

The children were having great fun sliding down the sand into the water.

Another Fabric Paper

I have finally made a piece of fabric paper that I like as a whole piece.
This time I used gift wrapping paper and it has worked out fine-whereas before I was using paper serviettes which I wasn't happy with.
I also used a different tissue paper and this allowed the printed paper to show through.
I have hilited the ridges and creases on the piece with Goldfinger but it doesn't show up in the scan.
Trust me it looks good in the flesh--would I lie to you?

I will be away for a couple of days as we are off to the coast again for a bit of R & R --see you when I get back.

Making Paste Paper

Today I have been making Paste Paper in preparation for our next Paper Arts group meeting.
I have been wanting to try this for ages but never got around to it-so when the opportunity arose I decided to go for it.
There are a few recipes on the internet for making the paste using cornstarch and similar products but they had to be cooked so I chose the one here which used wallpaper paste.
The idea is that you mix up the powder with warm water and when it is all dissolved you add the acrylic paints and mix well.
Next you paint the mixture onto the paper and then make marks in the paint with pattern tools.
I used a Tsukineko multi purpose squeegee tool which is a three sided gizmo and one of the sides has teeth cut into it.
I just drew the designs and hoped for the best.



This one was created with the side of a spatula-----------------



In this one I used two different blues painted in a check design-then I drew squiggles with the squeegee on an angle and lastly I used the bottom of an egg carton to form a new pattern.

Again I used the egg carton------------

I painted red paste on the paper first and drew in it with the squeegee.

When it was almost dry I painted blue over the top and again drew squiggles on it.

Painted --then drew squiggles and then used the bottom of the egg carton.

Circles drawn with the point of a spatula----------------

These will be very useful for a lot of things.

A Picnic Lunch

Today the weather has been beautiful-the temperature was around 27 degrees Celcius-sunny with a gentle breeze blowing.
We decided to go for a picnic lunch down by the lakeside in the town centre.
Just as we arrived another couple were leaving so we headed over to the table that they had been using.
We sat and ate our lunch consisting of tomato-lettuce-cucumber-cheese-cold chicken-hard boiled egg-some cold leftover baked veggies and some potato salad and 2 slices of fresh hi-top bread washed down with a nice cold soft drink.
It was so peaceful and serene watching the ducks wading by and dragonflies flitting past.
When we were about to leave Stephen spotted this spiders web.
As it glistened in the sun it looked like a wire stretched up high between two trees.
We were amazed at the length of it so Stephen stepped it out and he reckons it was about 12 feet long.
How on earth does one little spider manage such a great feat.




I then noticed the spider rushing along the web and if you click on the photo the blurry blob in the centre of the web is the spider.

I noticed this tree trunk with lovely lichen and moss on it------------------

This is a tree root that has grown up above the ground and had then been mown over a long time ago by the the man on his ride on mower.

The design that has been created by the regrowth is beautiful.

Now for the ugly bits.

The table where we ate our lunch was a solid plastic type of material and some idiot had tried to set it alight-how I don't know but it it was all black and scarred.

When I took a closer look the residue that was left behind had formed an interesting pattern.

The blue is the colour of the table originally and the big cracks are the definition between each section of the table top.

The bits that look grey are really black but the sunshine made them look paler in the photo.

The destruction that some idiots leave behind makes me angry-not just because of the damage to the table but also the inconvenience that it causes when people go for a picnic luch.

Luckily I had taken a cloth which meant that I could cover up the offending ugliness so that we could enjoy our outing.

Ah--roll on Autumn which by the way is the most magical season in Canberra because when the city was designed they had the forsight to plant lots of beautiful trees that change colours in Autumn.

I know they then loose their leaves and make a big mess but in my mind it is all worth it.