Gum Blossoms

 I have made a start on my gum blossoms.  Once again I just went to my stash to find the materials I needed.

winter woolliea

After spending too much time sorting problems with the internet I had a pleasant visit to some op shops.  

These beautiful cascade house crewel wools were less than 20% of the retail price - such a bargain.

They are great for embroidery but also work well with felting or creating with the embellishing machine.

These yarns are wonderfully soft and beautiful to work with.  

 

They will go into the stash until I am inspired.

living the dream

I am almost finished this wall hanging at last.  After many months I just need to sign it and add some embellishment and add a rod to hang it.

 

Art Doll

The weather is still pretty cold and wet so today I had a day of creativity.

First I sorted through my scraps and fibres I keep for felting and embellishing.

My friend Norma had asked me to make her a brooch:  the order was for a "doll" brooch, mainly red in colour and featuring a paint pallet.  So here it is.
 

  
It is not a good pic but you can see the little pallet.

I used my embellisher for most of this and luckily I had everything I needed in  my stash.

Winter is an ideal time to get on with special projects. 
 

A new leaf

 Today  I made a start on my second eucalyptus leaf.  

It is needlefelted onto evelon.  This time I have mainly used silk fibres with some wool rovings.  Down the centre I have used some stranded thread with is held down by the felting.

When this one is finished I will start on the gum blossoms.  I am trying to decide on a colour.  Red always looks effective but orange or yellow would be a possibility.

Thanks for reading my blog and I always appreciate any feedback or  comments.

 

A little cottage garden

I bought this pretty little doiley at an op shop some time ago: unfortunately the linen centre was badly stained so I have filled it in with some silk ribbon,

french knots and beads.

It looks really pretty and I am thinking of putting it on a cushion cover.

playtime

 I have been rather busy lately so I don't have much to show or write about.

While I was minding the twins today I noticed how many of their toys came from the op shop.

The little ride-on toy cost just a couple of dollars as did the toy in the first pic.

The lovely doll pram was a really good find: at $12 it was a bit on the high side (for op shops) but the girls just love it and use it a lot.

Clothes, rain boots and hats all come from the op shop and go back when they are outgrown.

I find op shopping really relaxing and I like the idea of re-using or recycling as much as possible.


If you haven't tried it - give it a go.  It helps the charities who run the shops, it helps our budget and it helps the environment.