Halloween and the Wallabies Versus the All Blacks.

Today we have had rain and thunder and lightening. We have also had lovely sunshine.  

Our Spring racing (horse) carnival has commenced as has our Spring Art Show.

This morning I was lucky to sell a few items at the art show.  We have another three days to go so I am hoping for more sales.

I will add these hand dyed doilies to the stand tomorrow. 

This afternoon we were visited by lots of children celebrating Halloween.  Lots of dressing up and laughter.  It is the first Halloween since we moved into this neighbourhood and it was great to see so many youngsters and their parents walking around the area.  We dispensed a huge amount of treats and everyone of the children thanked us. 

As if that wasn't enough excitement we have the Rugby World Cup final starting at about 3 am.  Our Wallabies against New Zealand's All Blacks.  Hoping for a win for Australia.

AUSTRALIA DAY & CHRISTMAS CRACKERS

 Today is Australia Day - a public holiday for most although many are cleaning up after floods or others are still waiting for the waters to reach their towns and properties.  It certainly has been a challenging start to the year for so many here and overseas. For us it is also a special day as it is our youngest daughter's birthday.  My baby is 35 today!!!!  Happy Birthday Bec.

I mentioned in my previous post that the grandchildren had made Christmas crackers for our family lunch last Saturday.  I thought I would show a pic of one of the crackers.  We used some heavy card paper to make a cylinder, into which we popped a little novelty or charm and a "cracker" to make the bang and then it was wrapped in a piece of hand dyed fabric which was later used as a serviette with the meal. Organza ribbon was used to tie the lot together.  Now that we have done it once I am sure the next ones will be much more elaborate.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY

Watching Cricket & Stitching

During last week I dyed quite a lot of lace and some doileys.

I often buy linen and doyleys from op shops and if they are stained or torn they are ideal for a change of colour.

I am continuing to work my way through my stash and pieces that I have stitched but not used.
This is one of the first pieces of silk ribbon embroidery that I attempted. 

It turned out to be ideal for the front of a needlebook.   (yes I know I have plenty of them).
This was fun to do.  I used up lots of peices of felt and the inside is a piece of cotton I have had for about 10 years.  I really like the colours and shall probably keep this one for myself.

A LITTLE BIT OF STITCHING

I have made these little book covers as last minute gifts.


They are quick & easy to make and use small scraps of fabric.

This is a phone pouch with two sections: one for the phone the other for glasses or note book.

This is the back of the phone pouch: the fabric is designed by an aboriginal artist.  I have several pieces of this type of fabric and it is great for this type of project.

The back of one of the notebooks.

This is a larger version and covers a sketch book.  I dyed the fabric and the doiley myself:  I quite like the earthy colours.