Melbourne photos

Here are some photos of Ebony taken on the last day of our trip.
The first one is on the plane waiting for our take off--she looks a bit tired --in fact we both look a bit tired.





This one was taken while we were waiting for the traffic lights to change.
In the background is the Flinders Street Station which is the central point for the trains in the city.
By this stage she was sick of me taking photos of her but I wanted her to have a record of her first trip to Melbourne.







This was in the Lego exhibition--it was so clever what they were able to do with these tiny blocks.

Here is a dinosaur built from Lego blocks--brilliant.

When we got back Ebony decided that she wanted me to teach her to knit again and I think she has got it this time.

Here is the photo of Gina (my blogging friend)and myself taken in our apartment.

We didn't have anyone else there at the time to take the photo so we set up my camera on the timer and took
it--so I am sorry about the flash off our glasses it couldn't be helped.

What a lovely lady Gina is and it is amazing how well we bloggers get on together when we meet for the first time--there definitely is a great friendship that is created from blogging.

Now back to stitching--I have an order for my silk ribbon button brooches that must be done by Thursday so I must get into it.

I'm Back

Well I have been back since Friday but I have been trying to get things sorted out and get all the washing and ironing done.
Had a great time in Melbourne--met up with some friends,one being Gina a blogging mate and I will show you a pic when I get them all sorted out.
Ebony had a wonderful time and she loved her first trip on a plane--well when we finally got up in the air that is.
I am not sure how many of you are aware of it but we have had problems with the ash from the Chile volcano eruption.
We weren't affected in Canberra-that wasn't the problem but the problem was in Melbourne.
We were supposed to fly out of Canberra at 10.05am,so our daughter dropped us off at the airport at 9am and went home, only for us to discover that our flight had been cancelled and we were rescheduled to fly out at 5pm.
So they booked our luggage in and we decided to go back home--in a taxi--$55 later.
Then we decided that we would take our car when we went back to the airport and leave it in the longstay car park.
On arrival we discovered that the flight was now delayed until 6.30pm.....grrrr.
Now I can hear you asking why didn't we phone up and find out if the plane was still going to be on time--well I did try to do that but there was a permant delay on the phone due to the fact that everyone else was trying to do the same thing.
6.30pm came and went and we finally got off the ground at 7.30pm.
We arrived in Melbourne at 8.15pm and were booked into our apartment by 9pm.
That was one day lost from our holiday...grrrr
On Friday we had to be out of our apartment by 10am but we left our luggage there and headed out to see the Lego exhibition which was magnificent.
We left there at 11.30 and Stephen decided that he couldn't be bothered tramping around so we went back and got our luggage and headed off to the airport arriving there about 12.30pm.
The only problem was our plane didn't leave until 3.30pm....more waiting ....grrrr.
Another half a day wasted...... grrrr.
I'm glad that I am home but I don't want to see another airport for a long time.

Foiled Again

A few more pieces of hand dyed laces that I have foiled as part of the Gilding the Lily workshop run by the Thread Studio.
The first one is a bridal fabric (Guipure lace flowers) --it is hard to see exactly how wonderful they look because foiling doesn't scan or photograph very well.






Again another piece of bridal lace that was hand dyed and it is foiled with the pewter coloured foil.

Lastly this is part of an old collar that was hand dyed and foiled with the same pewter colour.

I won't be posting for a week as we are off to Melbourne for a small holiday and taking Ebony with us.

The weather has been cold here lately and it is nearly as bad in Melbourne.

I noticed that their minimum overnight temperature one night this week was 8 degrees Celsius ---lucky them --our highest temperature one day this week was 8 degrees Celcius.

Oh well I'll just chuck another jumper in the suitcase.

See you when I get back.

Second Time Around

Last year I signed up for the Gilding the Lily workshop with Dale at the Thread Studio but somehow I never did get started on it so I have decided to join in again this year.
First up we are using foil and I have been foiling everything in sight.
First up is a croched doiley that I dyed last year when we were dying fabrics for the exhibition.
I like the way that the gold foil has stuck to some of the raised sections adding hilites to the piece.





This piece of fabric is from a blouse and was tossed into the dyepot at the same time.
I only foiled two of the leaves and I rather like the effect.

Here we have a piece of Panne Velvet that I placed a stencil on top of and sprinkled Audrey's Bonding powder over it-then removed the stencil.

Next I placed the foil over it and ironed it.

I think that I will stitch around the edges at a later stage.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr Solved

I have received an e-mail from MA saying how to fix the Blogger comment problem and I thought I would pass it on if anyone else is having this problem.
She has seen it on someone else's blog but I had discovered it myself somehow and I had forgotten to let you know.
Thanks for reminding me MA.
This is how it is solved.
************************
"When you sign in to your
google account, uncheck the
stay signed in button

***************************

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I am having trouble leaving comments on blogs that have a word verification attached.
I seem to be able to leave comments on ones that don't ask for verification but on ones that do ask I have to type in the word and when I enter it I keep getting taken back to the sign into my account section.
So I resign in and a new word verification pops up and my message now says the "Anonamous" said--blah blah etc.
I don't know where to look to rectify this problem--can anyone help me-pleeasse?
I think Big Bad Blogger is taking his problems out on us and I wish he would get over whatever it is that has upset him.
Grrrrrrrrrr.

Get thee behind me Satan !!!

Well after I spent 2 weeks sorting my workroom out and taking stuff to the Guild for the recycle table what did I do?
Yep you got it right I went and ordered more stuff from Dale at The Thread Studio.
How can I resist when she keeps buying in all the things that I just can't live without :#)).
First up were these cards of felt rope --the colours are so beautiful and I only purchase 7 of them but there are a lot more colours.
Oh and I did buy 7 --there is a lovely green one but it decided to drop onto the floor and I didn't realise until I had posted the photo here.
I can see many projects coming from these.

Next there are these lovely hand made buttons --so beautiful.

And lastly Dales latest little book--this time about what you can do with the fabulous Sari silk ribbons that she sells.

I have several bundles of the Sari silks and I could only think of a few things to make with them-but now I have plenty of ideas after reading what Dale has created.

Sorry about the flash on the book but you can get a good idea as to what the book looks like.

What's going on here?

Well let me tell you there is nothing creative going on that's for sure.
I have spent 10 days sorting out stuff in my "studio" and I use that term very loosely at present.
I was looking for something--I can't even remember what it was anymore--but like what usually happens one thing lead to another and the next thing that I knew I was cleaning-sorting-tossing out-rearranging, you know what I mean---a bit like shifting the deck chairs on the Titanic just shifting things around.
Well I now can see the desk and what's more I can see carpet again.
The recycle table at the Guild will make a huge profit on all the stuff that I took in there.
Then Stephen decided to re-cover the back yard area with new mulch---and I decided to help.
You girls would have been proud of me--shovelling all that lovely mulch into the wheel barrow so that he could spread it around.
There was almost 100 wheelbarrow loads full and I was on a roll.
Then we decided that we wanted to take Ebony on her first plane flight--to Melbourne.
So I was on the internet booking the tickets and the accommodation--got that all sorted out--but then realised the next day that I had booked the flight for one week and the accomodation for the next week.
Geez how many senior moments can one person cope with.
Anyhow it is now sorted out and the dates finally coincide and I have made arrangements to meet up with our dear friend Dot (of Dotee doll fame who no longer has a blog).
Now all I have to do is figure out how to keep the secret from Ebony until closer to the time when we leave.
Next I need to get back in that lovely tidy room and make a new mess.
Yee-haw.

Finished--Done--No More

That's it--no more--I am happy with what I have achieved so you don't have to put up with my rabbiting on about Creative Canvas samples anymore.
I have made two scissor keepers (fobs) which I am going to donate to the sales table at the annual exhibition(minus the scissors of course) and I have one to finish for myself and that's it.
I am glad that I persevered with this but I now know that it is something I had to try and I have satisfied the burning desire that I had for learning how to do it--but I don't want to do anymore.

I don't know if you can see the beads and gold thread or not but they are there.

A few more

I have been sick for several days with a cold/flu like lurgy so I have been doing a few different patterns to keep myself amused.
I am coping very well at present with these designs--as long as they don't get any bigger I should be ok.






I have made a small tassell and some cord to go with this pink/purple one

And I rather like this one made in Variegated thread----with a tassell--now I have to make the cord.

All I have to do is add some beads to them and I will be able to make them all up----whoo hooo.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures but my scanner was not behaving itself tonight.

By George I did it

Well I did a small sample anyway.
Firsly I would like to thank those who commented on my last post--you all got me thinking about why I was going through the frustration of trying to learn how to do Canvas Work.
I realised that I wasn't trying to be good at it -I just wanted to know how to do it.
I have admired this form of embroidery for a long time but I was always daunted when it came to doing it.
Finally on Monday I had a lightbulb moment---I realised that it was the size of the piece of canvas that was terrifying me not the working of the stitches.
We have all had that experience whether it be a piece of fabric or a sheet of artist paper--when we have a big blank object in front of us where do we start.
On Monday at the Embroiderers Guild someone gave me a bundle of offcut pieces of tapestry fabric about 6cm wide which I imagine had been trimmed off the edge of something that they had worked on.
I brought some of these pieces home with me to practise on and voila I could do it.
No problems -no fears just happy little stitches smiling back at me---well a couple of them got in the wrong holes but I managed to see them before I got too far along the row.
These little blocks are only 3 cm square and I think I will make them into a scissor keeper.
I will add some tiny beads in the centre and make a cord to go around the edge and also form a loop to attach to the scissors plus I will make a small tassel to hang off the end.

I think I will try another design and see how that goes.

What's my problem?

This year I decided that I would attempt to learn new techniques in embroidery and several things have been offered at the guild that I thought I would try.
First there was the Japanese darning and you have seen the results of that class.
Next it was Long and Short stitch---well I haven't shown you that because I am embarrased.
I hate doing Satin stitch--when I did Sharon Boggans first TAST online challange it was the only stitch that I did not do a sample of--hate-hate-hate it.
Long and Short stitch to me is another name for Satin stitch-I know you are saying to me under your breath "No it isn't" but my tiny brain is telling me otherwise.
Well we had a 3 hour lesson and all I came home with was a design drawn on a piece of fabric with holes in it where I had stitched and unpicked so many times that it looked like a seive.
Are you still with me?
So on Saturday at our Creative group we were shown how to do Creative Canvas work by one of our Guild members who is brilliant at it.
OK -below is the photo of how far I got.
Nothing -zip-zilch.
I threaded the needle and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get it to go through the fabric.
Oh it would go through it but my tiny brain was at work again-planting the seeds of doubt again.
I always struggle with counted thread work---but all I have to do is count in lots of four I hear you say.
I know-I know but it terrifies me.
When we had childrens classes at the guild there were several times where the lady who was the leader decided to teach them some canvas work and I thought "here's my chance" but I was humiliated--the children had all of there 3" x4" samples finished and I was still unpicking mine--oh the shame.
But I have decided that I will not let it beat me this time I am going to master it.

I know I can --I know I can--I know I can.:-(

The Box is Finished

Yeh----it is all stitched up-amd I am pleased with the outcome.
It was a very time consuming job stitching all the individual pieces together and the more pieces I had stitched together the harder it became but I got there in the end.
I have tried to take the best photo that I could without showing some of my donkey stitches (big and uneven) so that you still believe that I am a neat sewer.

At least it hasn't become another UFO tucked away somewhere.

The Two Faces of Ebony

This is a photo of Ebony that I took earlier this week.
She has had her hair braided by her mother and no it isn't all her own hair-she has hair extensions in it.
Oh and no she doesn't wear glasses either there are no lenses in the glasses--she just likes doing things like this just for fun.
She was also wearing a pair of red and white striped sox that came up over her knees and she had on a pair of dark blue denin shorts as well.
I am always amazed at what she turns up wearing but then her dad was the same when he was her age.




This is what she looked like the week before.

A surprise gift

Recently I sent Jen a pile of old paper patterns for her to use in a mixed media project.
Yesterday I received this wonderful journal as a thank you gift from her.
She had used the patterns to make a fabric by stitching them together and then she painted them with gesso (I think).
Next she added some embellishments----------------------oh so beautiful.





Here is a close up of the embellishments-------------





And this is a close up of the back cover...................

And the inside sleeve and journal pages.

I love it Jen and thank you very much for making it for me.

Guess What?

I'm doing some knitting---------------- Now knitting is something that I don't do much of anymore but I saw this strange looking fibre in our local fabric /craft store and it had a funny looking scarfe displayed near it that took my fancy. Well the blurb said it only took one ball and could be knitted in a couple of hours so I thought why not.

When you stretch the fibe out it looks like this-----

You loop the R/H needle through the pieces that I have pinned out above making 5 stitches then you turn the 5 stitches around and taking the next 5 pointy pieces you knit them through the previous stitches like normal knitting-----

and you end up with this ruffle scarfe..

Confused---well it is easy to do just not easy to explain.

Here is another view of it hanging.

I now just have to find another 80 minutes to finish it.

Makings of a box

Recently I did a class at the Embroiderers guild in pattern darning and I did a sample of Kogin darning -you can read about it here. A couple of weeks ago in our Creative group we were shown how to make a box and I decided to use my Kogin sample for the top section. I did two rows of running stitch around the edge of the section to give it a border and made the lid of the box. For the rest of the box pieces I used a fabric that I had rescued from the Op-shop which was made out of had dyed Shibori fabric. This is the base of the box------ These two sections are the sides of the lid (top one) and the sides of the bottom of the box (bottom one). It took a bit of fussy cutting to get all the sections out of the same design but I think it will be worth it in the end. Sorry about the pins sticking out of the top one but I still have to stitch it and the others. All the top pieces of fabric are plain and the sides of the bottoms have the same pattern on them

Hopefully I will get it finished soon----:-))

Fairies in my garden

This morning when I woke up and went out the back door I was greeted by a heavy fog---but that was not all. I could see that the spiders had been busy overnight on my clothes line. Because we have had a rather wet summer this year there has been a lot of those long spindle legged spiders all over the place. As soon as we remove the webs they are back again. Anyway this is what greeted me this morning-------

Very pretty with the moisture from the fog on them.

Oh and these pictures will definitely "embiggen" just click on them and see.

Ta Da

The Church banner is finished----and it will be officially hung on Palm Sunday April 17th. The sides are straight even though it looks as though they are slightly curved in. The cross was sewn on first but the sections where the crown of thorns and the palm leaf go under the cross were left unstitched so that I could slip them under at a later time. I am not sure if it is noticeable if you click and enlarge the photo (or as MA says "embiggen"it) but the crown of thorns has thorns that are 3D. that stand up. I also added rows of stitching in variegated thread on the cross to resemble the look of the grain in the timber.

All in all I am rather pleased with the way it has turned out.

Oh and I received my Cloth Paper Scissors magazine this week after it had a holiday in New Zealand.

Not a Happy Chappy

I was always under the impression that if you subscribed to a magazine you would receive it before it hit the newsagents--after all the supplier already has your money. Late last year I subscribed to the CPS magazine for 12 months and the sub started with the January/Feb magazine which I should have received at the beginning of January. Unfortunately it arrived 3 weeks late much to my annoyance. Now I am still waiting for my second issue which was due out at the beginning of March and it is the 31st of March today and still no show. I had subscribed for 2 years to this magazine when it was first issued and I did have similar issues with it but never this late. I had hoped this problem would have been solved by now but obviously not. My point is are other people in Australia or other parts of the world having the same problems or is it just me.

I do know one thing --I will never subscribe to magazines from these people again--never ever.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Green Green Everywhere

"It isn't easy being green" sung Kermit the frog----------------- For the last 10 years our back yard at the beginning of Autumn was dry brown dirt where the grass should have been and the shrubs were dying one by one and the whole area was an eyesore. But look at it now----the grass is green (I won't call it a lawn because it isn't)--the trees and shrubs are green and growing every day and we have been able to replace three of the shrubs that had died previously. It is a pleasure to walk out the back door and see all this lovely green space..

You can see in the middle of the photo a green bird bath under a shrub--well at the beginning of Summer that bird bath was out in the open and now it is totally hidden by the foliage of the shrub.

If you enlarge the picture you will see it better.

The dirt area will have mulch on it very soon.

It is wonderful to drive around Canberra and see so much greenery.

Oh and Robin did you notice that the two trashpacks have gone--we had to get someone else to take them.

Stuff and a Friend

Well here is the "stuff" that I purchased from Dale all piled up on the table --- There is a book The Found Object by Cas Holmes that I have wanted for ages--a "Flimsie" wool pre felt which is so soft and beautiful in the Paris colourway plus some Sari Silk ribbon strips which I have ironed out flat ready to use. I also bought some Silk threads in the Paris colourway to go with the Flimsie. A huge bundle of Colourstreams silk threads (I still have 3 more to come). Three cards of variegated cotton threads and a jar of printability stuff. Oh joy is me------ Back at the beginning of March(I think or late February) I had a visit from a blogging friend who lives in Sydney and she wanted to come to Canberra to see Ballets Russes so I offered her a bed for the night and we both went to see the exhibition the next day. We also met up with Sharon Boggan for lunch before going to the exhibition. Christine who's blog is Lady Janes Journal belongs to the NSW Embroiderers Guild in Sydney and we had met previously when she came to see an earlier exhibition in Canberra. Christine and I talked and talked non stop because we have so much in common--in fact when I picked her up from the train station and we were heading home I kept taking the wrong turns because we were talking so much. No I wasn't a dangerous driver I was looking where I was going but not actually going in the right direction. Anyhow we had a great time which was over all too soon. We asked a stranger to take this photo of us while we were waiting for the train--I know we were told not to talk to strangers when we were young but how else were we going to get this happy snap.

I'm Back

minus my money-----and do I look like I am having fun--you betcha--like a kid in a lolly shop.
Talk about stuff-my little fat fingers fondled just about everything.






Dale and I in the back garden waiting for Ian to cook the lamb on the barbie-----

and it was worth the wait.

This is a leg of lamb that was boned and then butterflied out flat and marinated for a couple of days.

I have never tasted anything so beautiful and tender in all my 70 years of eating and he cooked it on a little Hibachi cooker.

All that was left after we all had two helpings-----I would probably have had an extra piece but I thought better of it.

I haven't taken photos of my purchases yet but will do so tonight.

Oh and the wedding was lovely as well which was the reason that we went to Perth in the first place.

Blog Break

Just letting you all know that I will be away for a week--we are off to Perth again -for a wedding this time and a spending spree with Dale at the Thread Studio--I can hardly wait to enter her Aladin's cave of wonderful treasures.
See you next week.

A Great Day

Today we had a visit from my dear blogging friend Robin from Robin's Ramblings and her husband Bill.
We chatted for 4 hours non stop except for when we were poking food into our mouths.
I have known Robin for over 4 years now and we have met on several occasions before when she had come down from Queensland to visit her son who now lives in Canberra.
We had a lot to talk about because we have so much in common and the words kept on flowing with hardly a breath taken in between sentences.
We got our husbands to take our photos together using both our cameras and all I can say is thank goodness they don't take photos for a living because we would all probably starve.
But we got there in the end.




Robin gave me this beautiful box that she made--I saw it on her blog the other day and secretly admired it little knowing that she was bringing it down here for me.
Robin does the best edges using zigzag stitch on her sewing machine and the beautiful gifts that she makes are fabulous.
I tried to take a nice photo of it but to no avail so I nicked this one off her blog-hope you don't mind Robin.



It's nice having good blogging friends.

New Banner

I'm in the process of making a new church banner for my local church(St Barnabas) which has to be ready for Palm Sunday on April 17th.

My friend Dimity who attends the same church is helping as well.

As you can see there is a cross with a crown of thorns over the top and there will be a palm leaf behind the lower half of the cross.

We are also making 3D thorns which will be attached by hand to give it texture.

Sorry about the bump underneath but that is the carpet behind it.

The pins at the bottom are there because some of the palm leaves have to be attached under the cross.

I will show you the finished banner when it is hanging in the church in April.