Fabric and paper journal

If you click twice on this photo you can see enlargements.
This is a book I have been taking ages to do but the idea came from the journals that Ro Bruhn makes.
My photos are not terribly good but you do get an idea of what it is like.
Top right is the front cover and below it is the back, aon the left in the middle is the buttoned spine and then there are various gfabric and paper pages.
I will probably start on another one now that this one is finally finished as I have plenty of paper to use up as well as some painted canvas. Something to play with when the muse has left me.
I will also go back to making simpler paper journals and perhaps a few more totally fabric ones which I love doing.

White cockatoos and local scenery

I have been a bit off for the last few days (dropping meds) but I have walked Max and John did take me for a cliff top walk. In the midst of all that my monitor for the computer has had to be replaced so not a lot of time spent on it.
While I walked Max out the back gate yesterday I could hear the loud screeches of the big white cockies and there they were flying onto the dam bank and eating I presume the kikuyu grass seeds and shouting at each other and me and Max. I was really pleased with this top photo of a group of them in flight.
The next photo is of them gathering on the dam bank.
I didnt walk far but the light seemed quite good so I took a photo of the hills on the other side of the valley from us. Looking at it now I am not so sure about the light being good at all.
The last one is looking across to Granite Island and Seal Rock from the saddle of The Bluff early on Sunday morning, such a silver sea and lovely clouds.
Thank you to all who commented on the wedding, they were very lucky with the weather as the next day, Sunday was quite windy and not nearly as nice a day.
I havent finished yet but I have almost finished a cloth and paper journal rather like the ones Ro Bruhn makes, I dont know how she does them so fast as this one has taken me ages and it still isnt quite finished. I am sewing buttons on the spine. Then I will take some photos. I will find a reference to Ro's blog when I put up the photos, she does such lovely stuff.
I think one of the reasons this has taken me so long is that I have had to get my head around something that is new.
Oh and this morning while I walked Max a fox was only a few feet away from me and of course it was the one morning I hadnt taken the camera.
He obviously hadnt smelt either Max or I as at one stage he sat and scratched, which did make me wonder if he had mange but he shot off like a rocket when Max finally saw him, which wasnt until a crow had come down and tried to chase him off.
Poor Max could smell him but couldnt find him as he shot through the garden. I decided not to let the chooks out this morning as he was a bit close.

A family wedding

One of our grandsons was married yesterday, the tradition in our family has been to have a wedding on the property, usually in the garden but this time in the paddock of their property, which once was ours but still adjoins ours.
My camera had a few hiccups so although I thought I had taken the boys arriving on motor bikes, some how my camera only took these few photos, and then I forgot it at the reception which was held in one of the implement sheds, all cleaned out and looking smart for the day.
The bride forgot her flowers so was a tad late (an hour!) but the day was pleasant and we had brought chairs and a hat and found some shade. The bridesmaids arrived on the back of a ute and one of the flower girls had a great time climbing a tree, her white dress will never be the same again, but then nor will the brides, she arrived back to the reception on the back of the motor bike, her new father in laws Harley Davidson. Didnt get that pic either.
It was along day and we old ones left around 5 pm ( the start was supposed to be 11 am!) to feed the dogs and shut up the hens and collapse in a heap after what was a lovely day.
Click to see larger photos.

TAST and a wet morning

I didnt manage to get last weeks TAST up last week, I think because I was going away. It was chain stitch and the week before was detatched chain so I fiddled with using a bit of both and then this week is couching so I used a cahin to couch as well, nothing large, just a collection of stitches and I have enjoyed playing with them.
It was wet this morning and now is quite cold, I did manage to walk Max and not get too wet, and in taking him out the back gate discovered that the little bottle bursh that I planted ages ago, which then got burnt and I thought had died when John let a fire get away is flowering and it is pink, most of mine are red but I have tried to get a few different ones, that flower at different times so the birds have nectar, which they love at different times of the year.
The misty look of the paddocks in the mizzle is the next photo, then the sedums are starting to flower in the garden at the front of the house and finally what is begining to look like a jungle by the back door.
I am enjoying this weather after the heat of a few days ago but would like a lot more rain, not in a hurry but enough to wet more than the top mm or so.
We are also getting low in the dams so I am trying not to water the garden much and the rain water tanks would love a top up.
Off to search for the little book I cant find and have a play with chopping up some bright printed stuff and re arrange it in a book I did find! That probably only makes sense to me.
I keep moving things around and then cant find them, too much stuff and not enough room.
I love those people who seem to have a whole shed to put things in and play around them, oh and not to mention a wet area so they dont have to track out to the laundry all the time.
Perhaps I should have a 'stuff' sale, but then who would come I have a suspicion that my stuff is only of interest to me.

Back from the Grampians Forum at Halls Gap

Not sure how good this collage is as I am terribly tired, but here is a small piece of what we did and saw.
Lower left is part of the basket exhibition at the Ararat art Gallery celebrating the 30th anniversary of Douglas Fuchs 'floating forest' presented in partnership with the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
A fascinating exhibition that I think will haunt me.
P and I had left home at about 7.30 and drove, being hindered by road works etc, and finally got to Ararat around 3 pm. We then took the back road through to Halls Gap and found our accomodation which was great, any one going to Halls Gap I recomend Tim's Place.
Unpacked and had a bit of an explore and then off to the first event of the weekend, a gallery opening and a meal, we were home in bed really early.
Saturday was hot, total fire ban and here we were in the midst of trees and scrub and rocks. First day of my class with Keith Lo Bue who was teaching us connections using steel wire. It was very informative and the class was fun, lots of lovely class mates and a lot of hammering went on.
Another evening out that night as there were stalls from those who were participating and a meal afterwards. Again we were not late.
Sunday was hot and getting humid. We had a lot to cover as we had to show to the other classes what we had done over the 2 days. That is the top left hand photo, mostly what I did as I dont think I should show the others work. As I left the hall which got unbearably hot and humid with so many people looking at the other class stuff I heard a rumble of thunder and then it poured with rain, I was soaked by the time I got back to the car to drive back to our class rooms to pack up, and even wetter by the time I had done that.
We didnt go out to eat that night but had a scratch meal, watched a bit of tv and fell into bed ready for the long drive home the next day.
I wish I had had more time to really see what was on offer as there were galleries I would have liked to have seen but it was so hot all one wanted to do was go home and have a drink and collapse in a heap!
Most of the rest of the photos are of that drive home, we firstly went through fog and low cloud over the Grampians and into the Wakool valley, stopping on the way to take photos and they are the center top, the center bottom and the middle left.The rocks are absolutely sensational and so were what views we could see.
We went along back roads to Horsham and then more back roads to go to Nhill going past Mt Arapiles, which are the other photos, we stopped there for a walk, still early morning and no climbers out, there had been a bit of rain in the night too, the party of kangaroos were looking at me, we saw so many kangaroos on that drive through the Grampians but luckily we didnt hit one. Mt Arapiles is the best southern hemisphere climbing so I was told, a bit for every one.
Click to enlarge the photos.
After once more being held up by road works and at the ferry we arrived home tired by about 3.30pm.
I havent done a lot today, cleaned up, washed, put away, it is a lot of effort to drive over and back and have two very intense days of classes. Very nice to have P as company on the long drives and in the apartment.
My spell checker doesnt want to work, sorry about those mistakes.

More wrapped dolls

These are a little bit addictive. I am now not sure what to do with them. they have been fun to make, find an oddment in the scrap basket and add and wrap and bead. If I just had a clear idea of what I was doing with them it would help.
tomorrow my friend P and I are off to Halls Gap in Victoria for the week end, it sounds as if it could be hot, not good as I am working with metal. I dont really mind, even if I just sit and watch and take notes but I am sure I will do more.
John has the task of looking after the animals and in particular Max, it could be the making of Max, so long as no one takes any notice of him he is fine but tends to take off if any one but me tries to pat him. John thinks he needs therapy, I think it might take a while but he will always be my dog.
I am happy about that.

By the back door

At present there is a symposium , I think in Sydney, about people who are horders and that they think it is a mental illness.
Sometimes I wonder.
Or am I turning into one of those strange old women who collect? Probably a bit of both. I dont have a yard of junk, although I do have rather a lot of 'stuff' in my work room.
I am still wondering.
I do every so often throw a heap of stuff out.

I rather like my colledtion of odds and ends by the back door, some are practical like the chook buckets, some decorative, the plants, and some really odd, I have plans for the odd thongs, I love the rough shelves I found down in the shed, some where for the little collections to go until they turn into something else.
Sometimes I see John shaking his head but he doesnt thank goodness say much.
I suppose if it really gets over the top he would just say enough is enough and throw it all out.
Today I am enjoying it.
Off to use those buckets to feed the chooks.