Christmas decorations

I am making these little doo dads to give to people for Christmas, I usually give the beading group something small and add these onto my presents as an extra. This year this is what I have come up with, simple and easy and bright.
Very hot and windy today. I have started cutting out a pair of pants as I bought some bright and jazzy material yesterday to make a pair of 3/4 pants we sill see what they look like and what size I really am!
Hope my backside doesnt look too big.
Sarah rang to say she has had some orders for the bracelets I sent over with her to Werribee so I hope there is some money when she gets home. I need it!
Especially if I want to buy this new embellisher. John has just organised to get a notebook to back up the pc so we will see how all that works. More things I have to remember how they work. With any luck this will actually bring down our bills for the computer as we can go onto the new high powered connection with I think wireless. (Dont ask me I am not all that gadget literate.)
Cooler weather tonight but my garden is wilting quicker, I am just having to turn a blind eye to it. I am trying to use only 2 hoses at a time and then only in the morning and evening.

Christmas bauble

For some reason this came out very dark but I think you can get the idea of what it looks like. Much easier than some that they were doing at beading and just as effective. I think it looks better on the red one tho but I will think about that for a while.
Today I did all the feeds that Sarah normally does and had a fit at the amount of hay we are going through.
Then I headed up to Colonnades which is a shopping centre this side of Adelaide to get some Christmas shopping done. Passed a rolled car with attendant ambulences and fire crews just out of Victor on my way up. It was still all blocked off when I came home about 4 hours later, some one was killed but it didnt seem to stop the idiots on our road who do 80ks in a 100 area and then speed up to 100 when they get to a passing lane and you cant get past. No wonder people take stupid risks, coming home was much better as I had the road to myself and put the car on cruise control.
I have collected Harry off the bus and done the evening feeds and am tired. I dont know if I have to cook dinner or not tonight as I was going out with John but now I have Harry I thought a gourmet pizza might be nice but I dont think they are open on Wednesday night. Oh poo!!!

Finished one sock

Here is one sock, now to get on with the other one and see if I can make it match!
I have today made three bracelets, finished off the beaded bauble that I will give my mother so she has something small instead of a Christmas tree and I worked out how to graft the toe of this sock.
I am also trying to work out how to make something small and quick to go on a Christmas tree, usually I make angels but I dont think this year I have time so I am fiddling around trying out something different.
Sarah and family are going to Werribee for the National Horse Show this weekend and my little Victoria is going to help wave the flag for South Australia, having now been leading rein pony at Champion of Champions and the Horse of the Year show here. Interesting to see how well we do.
They will be camping in the truck and keep rushing over to borrow stuff. How often did we camp in the float or in a locker when we were coming over with ponies. I had it all down to a fine art, but we never had a big horse truck with sleeping areas like they do. Many a Welsh Pony Show do I remember at either Melbourne Showgrounds, and a few at Geelong, now they are up at Tatura, so far to go and so hot I rarely get to them. Seems such a shame but new people, younger faces.

Westbury foal

I rather liked the look of this foal while we were in Victoria and have set in train the possibilities of buying him at weaning. So hard to find a colt whose bloodlines tie in with ours but are not too close. Not of course a good time to be thinking of buying, who knows where we will be in 6 months.
I am frantically trying to finish off some Christmas presents, so my back is aching and other things are not getting done.
I have nearly finished a Christmas bauble that I am beading, much easier than I thought it would be. Only the last step to do.
John has gone off to meetings today so I have been left to my own devises. I really would have liked to have had a sleep but good sense prevailed, not that any house work apart from dishes and sweeping got done. There is always tomorrow!
I went to ask about the new Janome Xpression, an embellisher that is being advertised far cheaper than the other ones, my local dealer here in town has one which she has said I can play with, what fun. I am seriously trying to find the money for it. Much cheaper as I told John than all the others.

Paint, xandaprint, heat, textile stuff

Today we were going to do something interesting but John's knuckles had blown up, part of his strange gout problem probably brought on by his bronchitis and temperatures and not being well. So I played with all this textile stuff, Xandaprint on a sandwich of painted tissue paper and felt and then the xandaprint stamped or put on through a stencil then painted and puffed with heat and on the fleur de lis some red embossing powder. There are a couple of others but they need some stitching done on them. Fun but I do think I need to get a respirator.
John fiddled around and didnt do very much. I walked around all the mares and foals. I really cant believe what the paddocks look like, more like February than November.
Weather was relatively cool but with a strong wind blowing again, drying things out even more.

Silkworms

Teri C said I should draw my silkworms as she hadnt seen any. Well they start off as tiny little threads of caterpillar's and grow to at least 2 to 21/2 inches long. I have some almost white ones and some with distinct stripes. Last year I got white and yellow cocoons and I wondered if the stripey ones had yellow cocoons but this year they both have white ones. My sketch of the cocoon looks pretty strange and not much like what it should. Really they are large caterpillars who spin silk.
While I was in Japan I went to the silk museum in Yokohama and they had a lot of different silk spinning caterpillars. Not just the two varieties that we have in Australia. They live on mulberry leaves and I am wondering how many leaves I will have left on the tree. I have made these a bit brown mostly so they would show up they really are a grey. I am leaving my cocoons to hatch out into moths in the hope that enough hatch at the same time to lay eggs for next year. I can still get a bit of silk off the cocoons if I want to.

Kingscote Jetty

I dont think I have posted this before, I did it on Kangaroo Island with the land across the bay. I seem to be into a black and white mode at the moment, probably becuause I have been so tired I havent had the energy to get out the colour, be it pencils or paint.
It has got hotter again today, and I decided I couldnt stand the house any longer so it got a thorough clean, as well as sheets washed and changed. Harry my middle grand son will be staying for a few days next week so I thought I had better get my act together.
The silkworms are in varying stages of growth, some have gone into cocoons and others are eating huge amounts of mulberry leaves.
I need to clean out somewhere to put all the succulents that have been in the sun room all winter as it is getting too hot for them in there.
Maybe tomorrow, although also maybe I will get on with doing some jewellery for Christmas presents.