New book and a Willy Wagtail

Dale Rollerson of The Thread Studio had recomended this book by Valerie Campbell- Harding and Patricia Watts but said it was out of print, which it is but after two attempts on line to get it i finally found it at Amazon, I was trying to see if I could get it locally and thought I had but suddenly they didnt have it. I wish I had known earlier so I would have paid a bit less for it, by the time the other lot had told me it wasnt available the dollar had gone down. It is here now and I can see that it is going to be a valuable adjunct to my library.
John took the photo of the Willy Wagtail on its nest last night, they build such beautiful nests out of cobwebs and usually quite low on the end of a slim branch of a tree, this one is in the Metasequoia, a dawn redwood that I have had growing in the garden for about 40 years one of the first ones to be released here.

Making cards

I have been finishing off some bits and pieces to put on cards and here is the finished product.
So finally I have had time to get on with a few textile things. The different shaped sequins are from The Thread Studio.
I have just filled in my form for Geelong next year so I will see who I manage to get in the draw. I am hoping to do Dale's class.
It is warming up at the moment so being inside is good.
Next job is the Christmas letter and the cards, I always seem to leave it to the last minute.

In the garden

The first photo is from my back door, the path to the shed and then through a gate to one garden and another gate to another.
the second one is of a white epyphytic cactus who I have had for years and years and never flowered, was moved when John was painting and obviously likes more shade than it was getting.
I have spent the last two days tidying this house how two people can make such a mess I dont know, and I havent even got into the work rooms.
A friend called in for an hour or so which was great, I have fed the dogs and put dinner on, but I havent painted for days and feel rather guilty.

Tiddy Widdy

A few photos of Tiddy Widdy. hen I asked about the name I was told it was named after a man, so goodness knows who or what he was.
The first photo is of the wonderful hollyhocks that were growing there, I cant grow them as they get rust here, delivered by harlequin bugs who we cant get rid of. The second is of the beach and cliffs and the third of the coastal scrub towards the sea and the last one is of the cottage we were living in.

TAST Thorn Stitch

I am home from my few days over at TiddyWiddy beach and while I was away we had an electio .n and I did quite a lot of small finished things, and this is one of them, I had hoped I had some red thread with me but only this green and pinky coloured one, any way with some added beads it looked quite Christmassy.
I feel as if I have been up and driving for hours, not really that bad but I did call in to see Tabby and Millie on my way home, I was up at 6, left at 9, left Kate's in Adelaide a bit before 11 and home by a bit after or before 1, not bad but tiring.
Magic week end but more on that later.

Last night at beading

I havent been to beading for ages and I know why, it costs me a fortune.
Any way I finished this which was good and it looks good which helps.
We had 10ml of rain overnight and it is quite cool and of course I now feel sleepy and not wanting to do much.
I suppose the fact that I have changed the sheets, washed, swept and dusted and mopped doesnt help!
I have just tried to make a pair or earrings and made a total botch of the whole thing so know I am tired. I bought some rather nice bits to make the kids necklaces for Christmas, so I have been working on those as well.
I have been trying to think what to take with me to do over the week end, we are supposed to do stuff, I may just sleep the way I feel at the moment.

Little bags

After I had made the larger triangular bag I decided that I could use these to put small presents in so I have been off and running. This one is made with embellished fabric and I have just put a button on for a closure. I had various bits of embellished stuff around and I have converted them into bags. I am not sure if they are bags or containers but they are very quick to do and look better than anything else.
I will think about a handle, had thought of a tassle but I think on these tiny ones, this is about 4 inches square to start off with I wont.
We had some rain today which was lovely, although not very much, and it has cooled down but looks as if it will warm up for the end of the week.

TAST 46 Chain Braid stitch

I think it is pretty obvious when I dont like a stitch because I dont do very much of it. This one kept falling off, going into knots. couldnt get the twist right, you name it. I really dont know if I did it correctly at all but I did have three goes at it.
Three tries and you are out!!
Hot in Adelaide, nice in Victor hot out here in the valley, I have been to Adelaide and back and dont feel very enthused about doing much.
I will go and sit with my feet up and sew on some beads.

Playing with 'stuff'

This is one of the bags from the new QA gifts magazine. I had fun playing around with it, finding all sorts of bits of lace and odds and ends. It only has one little pocket Ruth Rae who designed it suggests lots of little pockets for hidden things, a lovely idea. I think it will be a Christmas present and I would like to play around with the idea a bit more and make smaller ones to use as gift packaging.
John has gone fishing today and I am very tired as I took advantage of a quiet day at home and painted dolls and things. Amazing how long it all takes.
The pea hen who had chicks seems to have lost them and there are large pea cock feathers around so I dont know if it was a fox or Jake, I think Oscar is too much of a woos to try.
I will be in Adelaide tomorrow, 37 degrees and I dont look foreward to it but John has a meeting so it saves another car trip to see my mother.

Home from Pt Lincoln

I took very few photos while I was away, not much time in two nights and three part days but I did take these early in the morning, well especially the one of the horse on the beach and in the water, you cant see the one in the water very well. I walked for quite a long way in the morning and the second photo is of the jetty and part of the residential area behind.
It was enjoyable but getting quite hot so not conducive to much in the afternoon. John was away most of the time at his conference and I didnt have a car so had to wander the streets but I did find a good coffee shop. A bit of sewing and some but not a lot of sketching.
The dinners at night were great though, lots of seafood, as fresh as it gets.

Sand hills at Normanville

There is a row of these sand hills along the beach at Normanville, my brother in law's ashes and those of their dogs are scattered up on them somewhere.
Fond me memories for all of us.
I have been flat out today watering as it is very hot, and trying to get organised to go away, it is only for 2 nights but I need to work out what I wear, there are two dinners, wandering around stuff, when I am on my own, stuff to take to do, etc etc.
I have just walked around the mares and turned off hoses and watered hanging pots.
I did have a bit of fun today doing one of the pieces in the Q A gifts, I have a friend who loves old lace etc so I have nearly finished a fabric cone by Ruth Rae, so simple to make it now needs the embellishing. I had been struggling to think about what to give her.
I will be back blogging I hope on Saturday.

TAST Pekinese stitch

You cant see this very well but I rather like these laced stitches. the top one is a single the next is using two backstitch rows, the next is using three and the last is two single rows laced together which creates quite a solid line of texture.
A busy day today, I did all the ironing, the fac that more stuff has landed in it tonight is not pleasing me, I havent got to the bottom of the basket in months.
We called in to a friend who gave us a present for the baby, over to the Doctor for routine check ups and as usual he was late, so a hurried salad roll overlooking the sea after 1.30.
Over to deliver the present, back to get grain and home finally by nearly 3.
So this is late and finally got done and up well after 8.30 p.m.
We are going to Pt Lincoln for 2 nights on Wednesday and I have to get stuff ready and I dont want to even think about it.

This mornings walk

John and I headed over to Normanville for our morning walk today, it was hotter than I anticipated and the sea was flat and beautiful. I love the shape of the hills and this is a gulf beach, not an ocean beach. This was where I spent all my summer holidays as a child.
I also found this wonderful starfish while searching for shells in the tide line.
We walked for about an hour, had a coffee and came home.
I am still painting small things and John is trying to work out where to put the chook shed.
the heat today has been a bit of a shock after it being so cool, looks as if it is going to get hotter and hotter all next week.
We are off to Pt Lincoln for 2 nights as John has a conference and we are trying to work out what clothes to take.

Beaded hearts

I scanned these and they are actually a hand dyed purplish pink fabric which I then painted and embellished with beads and tiny sequins.
I wonder if a photo would be better.
I have cleaned the house, got tired, cut down some branches and did a bit of sewing and some painting of Christmas angels,not madly productive but better than some days.
I am about to feed the dogs and walk around the mares.
Very hot today and getting hotter, no rain in sight. oh well you win some and lose some.

More Photos

I am not sure what happened here, There is one of me in the hat with Millicent, one of Johns parent's with her, one of Tab on her side (obviously I thought I had rotated the photo but John came in and interrupted me) and a rather nice one of Tabby's oldest daughter Gaby but with her sister poking a balloon across her hence the white stick but it was the nicest one of her.

Birthday girl

Just a few shots of Tabby and both families, minus a few brothers at lunch today. I havent looked at the other camera but I may add some from that too. The first one shows baby Millicent, Tabby and Sarah, Celina a bit of John and Isabelle, Sarah's youngest and the second one is of proud father John with Millie, Tabby and a bit of Celina.
a lovely lunch and I hope we didnt wear her out too much.

Embellished Hearts

I havent quite finished these, I think they need some beads and fme but they were made using felt that had had transfer foil adhered to it, then cut out into the shapes, then using the embellisher I put various coloured organza on to them and then cut out the organza leaving this rather nice frill around the edge. I think I will use them for cards
I went up to the Craft and Quilt fair this morning just as it opened and there was room to move for a change. I got most things on my list and a few more. Just as well Dale wasnt there.
I came home and spent a quiet hour with Tabby and the baby which was what I needed, up until now it has all been a rush.
In the mail today was the very nice Indian print block I had ordered from Dale, it was much nicer than the others.

Tabby's 40th Birthday present

I nearly went cross eyed today making this for Tabby, I have had the beads for ages and should have made it up when I had more time, now its all go go.
I went in to see her and the baby who has had another name change so I am not saying what it is until they finally decide! Of course by the time John got home it was after 4 so all the children were there and the room was very full so I made a quick inspection, organised some flowers and came home again.
I know new mothers are supposed to have a teary day or so but I came home feeling a bit upset, this business of no car is getting on my wick, I get stuck out here, and vise versa when the other one has it.
I will try to get in and see her for a few minutes before I go to Adelaide tomorrow. It is the Craft fair and in some ways I probably shouldnt go but there are a couple of things I cant get except when it is on, I was aiming to get there really early and be gone by lunch time.

the latest grandchild

Here is the baby girl born this morning, mother and child doing well.
grandmother feels tired!
I had a very full day, fed the animals, in to the hospital to see the new baby, I think they have a name for her but as it may change I am not saying yet. Tab looked tired but happy and so far the baby doesnt scream.
I then headed for Adelaide to see my mother for a couple of hours before going to my Melbourne Cup lunch, I drew Mahler who was third in one of the sweeps so got most of my sweep money back.
A delicious lunch and they do it all very well.
Then home to find John had lit a heap and there was smoke everywhere, and collected him and went in to see Tab and the baby again and let John see her. So one photo I took and one with me holding her that John took.

Oscar and TAST 44

I have no idea why Oscar was sitting with one hind leg up, airing his bottom perhaps, any way he sat like this for quite some time so I took his photo.
TAST 44 was Zig Zag Spanish Knotted stitch and although my sample looks a bit like a dogs breakfast I quite liked it.I did it while watching a thing on SBS about crusader castles and the linked one in the middle was what the landscape looked a bit like. An interesting stitch and although I may never use it a good one to add to the others.

Wild seas and a seal

Today John and I walked around the sheltered road at the bottom of the Bluff as it was so cold and windy, we havent had seas like this for a while, I had fun trying to catch the spray and where I took the first one a few minutes later around in about the same spot we saw a seal diving and rolling.
We came back for a coffee and there were these huge waves rolling in between Wright Island and the the land, I took the last one from the deck at Whalers where we had our coffee.
Then out to see Tabby she is getting huge and fed up and cant wait for Tuesday, nor can I as I am a little worried about her, she is only a few days off 40 which is a lot older than when she had Celina nearly 11 years ago, or is it over 11? I cant remember.

Peacocks in the garden

I had fun doing a back and front view of the peacock who was displaying to a bush in the garden. They are quite stupid when it is mating season.
I also took a few photos of the gardedn some roses in particular, we have had 30 mm of rain overnight and it is fantastic, 70 mm since it started raining so a nice wet feel to the place although when I planted out a couple of callistemons that have been in pots for far too long the soil wasnt wet very far down. Shows how dry it has been, although our nbon wetting sands dont help.
I had a long tiring day yesterday doing the shopping and general tidying up and a bit the same today, I need to get on with some textiles stuff.

Artichokes from the garden

I rather like this still life and the very colourful artichokes that I picked from the garden I had to take a photo before we eat them.
Today it poured with rain in most places but not here, well we had some but no where near as much as in Adelaide.
Sarah and I had to take the mare and foal up for the growth on the foals neck to be removed. It turned out to be a melanoma which is most unusual in such a young foal, he is barely 3 weeks.
The operation was successful and we left home at about 8.30 and were home again a bit before 1.30, he has quite a long cut in his neck and several staples that we take out in 10 days time. At the moment he is in the stables and bouncing around as if nothing had happened.