Another little bag

I love doing these but today I did defrosting and tidying and now I am so tired I dont think I can do anything.
Maybe see you tomorrow.

A bit of this and that

It has got very cold and wet, we had a lovely rain overnight, the best for ages but really not that much when you look at it all in the context of what we have had this year.
The cold is best not talked about, I am managing to do things around the house but am not at my best.
We had a partial eclipse of the moon the other night and this is the best of the photos I took, my little digital cannot perform miracles.
When I arrived home from Broken Hill there were a few little things that caught my eye, the tiny weeping camelia had dropped some of its flowers on the path by the bedroom door, I am terrified I will lose it but it still seems to survive in its pot.
Looking out of the bedroom window I saw a honey eater with lots of insects in its mouth going to a nest, by the next morning the little nest was empty and above me was one of the honey eaters. I hope they were successful in their rearing but I was rather afraid they had not been.
Finally I am still playing around with easy prints, the paint for this was far too wet but it was fun to do, and normally I wouldnt use magenta but it was the first paint to hand.
I need to clean up my workroom, so much in there and I can hardly move not exactly a help to creativity.
I do seem to be happier hand sewing at the moment than any thing else.
Probably the affects of the blasted cold.

Isnt this wonderful?

I hope you can read this. Indie does the most wonderful things out of found wood and metal. We try to see him and his wife who makes the most incredible hats when we are on Kangaroo Island.
As members of the Waterhouse Club we go to see the entries every year and they are amazing. I think this one may well be the best Indie has done.
Click on to enlarge.
I think going for a walk on the beach even though short this morning was a good thing and a bad thing, I have felt exhausted ever since but it was lovely to get out even for a short time.
I seem to spend a lot of time looking for things and not finding them, at least John is doing pasta tonight and I dont have to think about making it.
Very cold overnight and in the evenings, we had a partial eclipse of the full moon last night, I tried to take photos but have yet to see if anything came out.

TAST 17 Broken Hill and my bushkiri bag

I am not quite so off the planet today, but still not feeling particularly well.
So an early post as by evening I have had it.
This weeks TAST for Sharon b on her pintangle site (see side bar) was sword stitch which I had never heard of. A very simple stitch which in my befuddled state I tried to turn into a sort of dandelion seed head.
The next photo is one of Pro harts ants, done as a huge public sculpture, he was wonderful but hard to photograph. My friend P took this one as when i saw him it was very early morning.
Then we have Matilda again, on top of a mine cart on top of the slag heap with another public sculpture, the giant chair in the background.
Finally two sides of my Bushkiri bag I have been sewing at odd times when I have the chance, this one came from the English Stitch magazine. I do have a proper Bushkiri bag I bought ages ago but it has been fun to do this one and I aim to have a few more on the go as they will make nice little bags to pop jewellery into.

What we did at Broken Hill

I have a terrible cold, given to me by one of the women who was in our house at Broken Hill. I dont usually get colds and this one is awful, sore throat, coughing, head ache. Horrid.
So I am not functioning very well.
I won the raffle, I never win raffles so this was a great surprise and it was a lovely temari ball sitting on a tuffet, lovely.
We did various methods of getting colour onto fabric and this one was using shaving cream, I had never done this vbefore although I had read about it, it was a lot of fun.
The next is a work in progress and didnt photograph at all well, a paper clay head that is being beaded, I will slowly get her done.
On the Friday night after we had arrived we had to make a hat, it should be purple but mine wasnt quite. I had a flower and a hat band which I covered and added the flower I had and Lyn had some hydrangeas and some hat net so there is my fascinator for the next Ballarat forum.
Finally here is my head to go onto a yet to be completed bag, this was one of Maralyn's heads and it was lovely and fun to do,l I think the scan is a bit off in colour but never mind.
We did other things, I demo's the gelatin prints, which in their own way were a disaster as first I spilt a heap on the floor and then they froze in the fridge but we did get some nice prints never the less.
I am off to bed, feel rotten.

Broken Hill photos

I came home last night, after an 8 hour drive so I could go out to dinner with our works manager who has just resigned, we have been friends since he started under John at the council.
I was up at 5.30 am, we left Broken Hill at 7 am and were in Adelaide by a bit after 1pm to drop of my friend P, saw my mother for a few minutes and drove home to get there at about 3 ish.
I was so tired and everything ached but it was a good trip and a lovely few days.
I will bore you with photos for the next few days, but I am still terribly tired.
The body doesnt cope as well as it once did.I think as usual these may not be in order.
On the Saturday evening we went up to the sculpture park which is on a hill near Broken Hill and watched the sun set with a few nibbles and a glass in our hand.
As we were leaving this magpie stood on top of one of the sculptures, I had to use the flash to get him reasonably.
The next photo is taken from the car park, just a general view of what the country is like, the water in the back ground, if you click on the photo to enlarge it, is one of the reservoirs which actually has some water in it, they have been in drought for years, and dont have a high rainfall any way but they had good rains a few weeks ago.
Then the very spectacular sunset, there were people every where.
So many people it was hard to take photos of the sculptures without people, especially school girls hanging onto them.
I know that each sculpture was done by a different person and I also know I didnt take them all as the sun was in the wrong place, but it was a lovely place to be and magnificent country.
The last photo is of myself, my doll Matilda (sitting above on the fuse box) who has been around the world with me , more on her at a later date, so there are four of the five tenants of Art mecca holiday home, Lyn, Maralyn, myself and Merle, Jaslyn took the photo.
Too tired tonight to say any more than it was a fantastic trip, a great place, great people to be with and it all went terribly fast.

pin doll and TAST 16

This little fellow has been sitting not finished in one of my sewing baskets for ages, last night he got finished.
We are all thinking of things African and he is very African looking.
The other is my Take a stitch Tuesday sample for this week, for a change I am early. It is Italian knotted Border Stitch and was fun to do, although you can see some pretty wonky knots in there.
Sharon b whose blog is on my side bar is running this all year and there have been some fun stitches.
Still freezing cold and overcast here today. For the first time my lined wool pants have come out of the cupboard. I dont remember wearing them at all last year.
There is a nasty wind as well so I think the dogs will be fed early and the chooks will be shut up early as well.

Simple printing

I had a few minutes today and a piece of the base of a polystyrene meat tray that I had cut.
so with a pencil I heavily drew in some lines, found a foam brush and some acrylic paint and printed it out to see what it looked like.
I quite like this and with a bit of textile medium and some fabric I can use it to sew onto.
My car has had to go and be checked over today for the big trip to Broken Hill, those who dont know, Broken Hill is up in the desert just over the border into New South Wales and is where large Silver Lead and zinc deposits were found and is about 7 hours drive from Adelaide and this is where I will be going for the week end on Friday.
So I have been in and out depositing and then collecting the car.
Another very cold night and no water in the taps this morning as they were frozen.
To make matters worse at about 10 am clouds appeared so the temperature hasnt risen over 10 degrees all day. My hands are suffering.

Take a stitch Tuesday 15 Ladder Stitch

My ladder stitch is made for fairies, a relatively easy stitch so long as you can keep a straight line!

Parsons Beach

this morning we had a frost but as the day was turning into a beautifully sunny one we decided to go and walk my favorite beach, Parsons.
There were quite a few surfers and walkers around as we have a long week end and of course I have forgotten and loaded these photos backwards, but that doesnt really matter.
Click on them to enlarge them.
These are the rocks at the far end of the beach, the wind had come up a bit from the north and I was trying to get the manes on the white horses as they broke, but I dont think you can see that terribly well.
It was just such a stunning morning and we meandered along enjoying it all.
Since we were last here there has been a lot of sand movement and more rocks exposed as these ones are about in the middle of the beach, lots of rock aggregate here.
The last views are from part way down the very steep track and from the look out at the top.
Isnt it stunning?
I had to be a bit careful going down as the track had been washed out in places.
I also found a wet monarch butterfly in the sand and put him on my pink jumper, where it stayed until we could put him on a bush and he happily flew off, I hope not back into the sea!
John had told me it wasnt there but suddenly it walked up my ear, so it was somewhere on me.
I have spent most of the rest of the day trying to work out what I can take with me to Broken Hill, I am weeding things out so there is room for other people in the car, and of course their luggage as well.

Whale watching

Although there are no whales in my photos I have to tell you that they were there out near the horizon.
We went over to Pt Elliott today and walked, with many others, the track around to Basham's Beach, normally we are the only ones but this is a long week end so many were out and about.
The rocks are a wonderful colour, sorry about the fellow who was climbing up just as I was taking a photos.
Big seas and a lovely walk, a coffee to follow, a lot longer to wait for that than normal too, then home to stuffed mushrooms and toast. Yum.
Last nights dinner was great, and for all those who wanted to come, just let me know when you are passing by.

Saturday morning walk

There was a lot of sea weed on the beach and the tide was high so it was difficult walking. These little toadstools were growing in the cracks in the gutter, lovely little things with rough coats.
We walked back along the road and suddenly saw the old mill tower, these days hidden by housing, once it was a land mark. So sad.
The sky was lovely and the sea rolling in on what sand there was, and as we turned back to the car the waves were breaking all along the sea weed by the caravan park.
Unfortunately it tends to smell but is a very natural occurrence.
Friends for dinner tonight, oysters and then whiting, salad and chips and I think followed by boiled fruitcake warmed with custard, cream and ice cream. If they are still hungry there is a very nice Alexandrina matured cheese.

From Yesterday

It is wet and the fellows came today to re do the gutters by the back door so there is an awful mess there but today I managed to clean the silver, not that there is much out but it was black!
I have almost finished my winter clean, of course I will have to do it again shortly but I am beginning to feel terribly virtuous, but as if I have done nothing I want to do.
These were taken from postcards and the first was done in 1938 by Stanley Spencer, a British artist and entitled From the Artists window, Cookham.
I really like the freshness of this painting. I also love the next, I am not much of a flower painting lover but this one by local artist Nora Heysen, painted in 1933 called Spring Flowers is absolutely gorgeous.
These were both scanned from postcards and they havent come out as well as I would have liked.
The next photo is taken inside of the flower arrangement at the middle of the staircase and the final one is of Momotaro, his dog, pheasant and monkey.
Adelaide has a sister city arrangement with Himage in Japan and this is where the story of The Peach boy originated.
I saw the one in Himage when we were there a few years ago.

Carrick Hill

I saw my mother, a long drive up through damp and wintry hills. An accident on the Freeway and I would think another death, a motor cycle and a car. We have lost so many this year.
Flowers bought and a new pair of shoes that I hope will be comfortable.
Found my way to my mother and didnt recognise her, she is thin and frail and they have cut her hair and all the spark and spunk has gone from her.
After I had arranged her flowers I took her down the front so she could see the world and get some fresh air, cold but far better than the smell where she now is.
I know they do their best, but oh hell its awful.
My friend P came towards the end of my visit and she always makes life more interesting, and a dear lady originally from Glasgow who lives there came by and regailed us with funny stories.
So what I was dreading wasnt quite so bad.
P decided we needed to go to Carricki Hill to see the Horace Trennery exhibition that was on there. My mother was very friendly with the second Lady Hayward, but the house was built for the first.
It is a strange place, overlooking Adelaide it has its entrance towards the hills and the south, it is dark and gloomy with dark paneling and stuff that was brought out before the war from the UK.
I find it rather depressing, and is probably the nearest we have to a Stately Home. It was left to the State Government and I have to say a lot has been done to the gardens, but I really found most of the paintings terribly dark except 2 which I will put up tomorrow.
The Trennery's look as if on the whole he played with mud in his oils. There were about four I would take home and the rest were very poor. The composition was ok, but the colours were awful. I know he was terribly poor, and there is the tale of a stolen chicken so perhaps he eaked his oils out with something that has not been good over the years.
The last photo is one of the best of his, taken from a postcard so the colour has been played around with a bit I think.
The first two photos are ones I took this morning, of the garden and the front of the house, a bit damp looking and it poured as we left and it is a long way to the car park!
The next two are scans of a brochure which again doesnt like being scanned but it does give some idea of it all.
So a long day by the time I got home, rather like the curates egg, good in parts.