Treasures

A few days ago I was out doing errands when I came upon an antique and bric a brac centre.  It was out in the middle of nowwhere, well that's how it seemed although it is not more than 15 minutes from my home.
Anyway it was such a treasure trove: lots of beautiful and expensive antiques but also some more affordable items.  I discovered a bag of vintage linen, all of which was torn, stained or just falling apart.  I considered the cost for a nano second and then realised how many possibilities were tucked away in that bag.  I have bleached and washed some of the pieces and the photo above shows that I have plenty of ironing to do.  I cannot help but wonder who originally made or owned these beautiful pieces.   Some are obviously hand made with great care.  I hope I do them justice in giving them a new life.

FROM THE BEACH TO THE COMPUTER

 I took this photo on one of our visits to the beach:  I never tire of exploring the rock pools.

I tried a couple of techniques 
with adobe photo shop to 
see what I could do.
I like the look of this first one.

This one reminds me of aboriginal art works and I might print it on some fabric to see how it turns out.

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

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

 This week I have had my father-in-law (Maurice) staying with us and our four grandchildren have spent a few days and nights sleeping over.


We had a lovely picnic near the beach on Thursday night: 
                              


Maurice lives alone and of course doesn't go on picnics so I think he enjoyed it even more than the rest of us.  There is nothing quite like chicken & salad and soft drink out in the open air.  You can see by the smiling faces that everyone had a good time.  After eating the children decided they should paddle in the shallows as they didn't have swimwear with them. 

Of course the water was so inviting that it wasn't long before the boys were soaking wet and splashing around.  

The next morning it was very quiet - even after I tried to wake them for breakfast. Of course once they are awake the peace is well and truly over.


On Saturday we had a late Christmas lunch.  The children helped with the menu and the food preparation and cooking.  Fish and seafood and salads made a delicious meal - Ally & Ben made a seafood salad with smoked salmon & prawns, Matthew prepared fruit and salads and set the table, Michael showed Ben how to cook calamari and Mike and Michael prepared the baramundi while Ben & I picked the fresh herbs.  It was a lovely family lunch and we all ate too much.


There hasn't been much time for stitching but the children made bonbons (crackers) for the table using some of my hand dyed fabrics for the wrapping and putting little novelties in each one.  We had the proper cracker insert so they were a great success.  The fabric wrappers were then used as serviettes for the meal. 

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.

Received in the mail.

During 2010 I received some lovely cards  in the mail from other needlewomen/fibre artists.  
The first of these is from Vicki Welsh at Three Creative Studios.  I love the shapes and colours in this. 

http://vickiwelsh.typepad.com/field_trips_in_fiber/

This postcard was also from Vicki.  The colours don't show up so well in this pic.

The third pic shows a card sent to me by Suzie Quaife,

http://suziqusthreadworks.blogspot.com/

I decided to frame it so I can enjoy it each day and gain inspiration from it.

sunset on an unbelievable day

We have spent a hot and humid, rainy day here in Melbourne: our discomfort is miniscule compared to that being experienced by the people of Queensland.

It seems almost trivial to be doing needlework during these tough days.

Anyway I will show you what I did last evening.  I framed a pair of fairy slippers I made some time ago.  I added some lace and backed it with some needlefelting and feathers.