Saturday

 I am sitting on the couch and can see this view through my kitchen to the outdoors.

 The window and the views really  are  the features of this house. 

 I picked this beautiful gladioli because the wind and rain were going to destroy it.  It is such a gorgeous colour.

 I am too tired to stitch tonight: this morning was spent helping set up the textile display at the Peninsula Arts Society.  It does look good.  


Anyway a bit of fiddling with the gladioli pic on photo shop resulted in these two interesting images.

This kind of "playing"  is very relaxing. 

simple things

I have spent a little time altering my picture of the Just Joey Rose.  Using my photo shop options I added a speckled filter to the original pic.

 The second one is created using picasa and picnik 

I am hoping to print these on some fabric when I have some spare time.

While sorting through past projects I discovered this piece of embroidery I did some time ago.  It is the cover of a needlebook and was really simple to do.  

Onto a piece of poly cotton  

sheeting I drew the design using water colour pencils and then I coloured it in, just as you would on paper.
After washing the colours are lovely and soft and I just hand stitched through the fabric and some batting and lining to give this quite detailed effect.  I recommend this technique if you don't feel comfortable using dyes etc.  

I know some of you have seen this before but I thought it was worth revisiting it.

  

roses

still boxing

The weather is warming up and the spring garden is vying with the weeds for some space.  It all looks gorgeous though.

This is the next stage of my box making.  

It seems to me that it looks a bit like a baddly iced cake. 

I do need to finish it by Friday - there is not much more to do.







I am just watching the news and the big storm in the US.  It is hard to imagine such a situation and I hope the damage wont be too bad.  Most important is that people are safe.
 

sunshiney days

Today the twins and I made the most of the glorious spring weather this morning and visited Fishermans Beach to watch the men launching their tinnies for a day out on the bay.  After that we went  to a playground for some climbing and sliding practice.

After a good long nap and a tasty lunch outside we went to the beach for a splash in the shallows.

A perfect way to spend a Monday. 

Crustaceans and encrustation

 I am having a bit of a creative binge at last.  

The stash has provided me with some boxes and gorgeous embellishments.

The stationery cupboard provides glue and paints and glitter. 

 My basket of hand dyed laces provided a wonderful trim for the bottom of this box,

and an old scarf provided a covering. 

 I am hoping to finish this box tomorrow night. As usual I am working my way through this piece.

The rockpool  box is nearly done.        The inside is looking good with tiny dolphins in the waves of blue and white silk paper.

Christmas Opping

 Today I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming shopping season.  That is the Christmas holiday season.

In view of that I thought I would show you some things I have bought at op (charity shops) during the past year.

 The little grouping of dogs is a real find.  They are collectable ceramics from Japan and I have added them to my own collection.

In the first collage there are various items that would be perfect gifts.  A piece of morano glass, a very pretty tea cup, a sweet little trinket box and a glass mushroom and dog.  The hall stand holds my silk jacket and beside that is a lamp and a mirror (all of these are from the salvos).  The tall up-lamp cost me $2 at the recycling centre.  Some wall art, cabinet knobs, a very pretty doily and a collectable ceramic spoon are in the other collage.

And finally here is another 
little ceramic piece for my collection. 

This is the most expensive item on this post being $39.95.  

Almost all other items cost less than $5.00.
 

If you possibly can  please consider the planet, the charities that benefit and the effect on your wallet when shopping this Christmas.

You can see more op shop stories here.

This is a collaborative blog about op shopping in and around Melbourner.