Monday, January 20, 2014

BACK again! The brush turkey chick season.

So life goes on …  A year down the track! Yesterday, I noticed a random scattering of garden mulch on the front footpath. Today there was more on the front steps. I have just been out to the letterbox and heard scratching……same sound, same time as last year. unfortunately, the photos was not good but I might get lucky over the next few days of chick kindergarten in our front garden! Photo opportunities yet to happen. The hen must think our garden is a great spot to farm out the family while she has a break or goes to the 'market'! Over the past year we have sighted them walking up our street to the Pacific Highway and crossing the road here into the park! perhaps brush turkeys are the next ibis!

2013 

A new one was in the same spot today!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Ye-sssssssss! ……..Yuletide





@bedroom  

Yardarm














The sun is over the yardarm 
outside our bedroom 
and loungeroom 







@winter      Yarn

It will take me a few winters to knit the yarn stash. 
Some of it is in the sewing room cupboard….more is in boxes!


@ from the sewing room - Yardage!!!! 
    
36 inch wide yardage

 No meterage in these patterns!



  
A few years ago,

I had a huge rationalisation of patterns.

luckily I kept the shoulder bag, which

I made a couple of times between 1970

and 72. 
Mum also used it. I still want to make it 
again.

The McCalls was a find at the markets 
at Parap in Darwin this year. 

I hope to use it this summer.


























@ hot Red Gums ….Yuletide logs 
















I took these hot summer scenes of Red Gums on the 
lake road at Yarrawonga, Vic in approximately 1982-83 
on a road trip to Naracoorte, SA. They are still there.
was the lake naturally formed or part of the Murray Rv
Basin flooding?


Thanks to everyone who participated this year especially
the stalwarts at the end. It has been great fun and helped me
through a hard time in the latter months. Dad, 94 passed away 
on 5 Sept after many years with dementia. 
Who knows when it started but it was evident as far back 
as 2004!  I mentioned him many times during the posts. 
So there is great Peace this Christmas for him and us.

Happy Christmas, Seasons Greetings and a Happy and Healthy 
New Year!

ps My one-winged blogging is a bit of a mess but I made it!






Saturday, December 7, 2013

C ........ 'Cause it can!


@Sunday

On my Sunday walk, I spied a contented cat making the most of sun and shadows.




@wet
Clothing ….. I dyed a piece of a deconstructed hot pink bodice from a silk 'event' 'frock' with indigo. Here it is hanging out to dry.

I have been to another Shibori course and am gathering ideas to add to the large piece which I dyed earlier this year and hope to make into a quilt. Below are some of the other pieces and a dry section of the original 'skirt'.






@ round: What would 'C' be without an element of Christmas?

In the round, is my Christmas pudding. I mixed it all yesterday after having soaked the fruit for 4 weeks. I will fill the pudding bowls today and boil them.

It is a recipe from the Women's Weekly Cook Book. I've been using the same recipe since 1979. What I like about is breadcrumbs replace flour so it is lump free and mixes beautifully.
I first found the recipe in a friend's copy of the book. After years of keeping my 'eyes peeled', I found the book at Vinnies 'for a song (or a Christmas carol!)'.







@colourful

Colour-coded cords for the printer and wifi connections


I have to have dots on hand to makes sense of all the connections. Changing printers is a nightmare.



I have lost count but imagine this is the last or second last edition of Scatterdays, which I have enjoyed!












Click on each woman's photos to see her images in the National Geographic exhibition

Women of Vision National Geographic exhibition

Thursday, December 5, 2013






Can you believe that this banner is necessary?

Please consider signing the petition at the link below:

https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/media/save-the-abc--2/save-the-abc


And forward it to like-minded people here and overseas who enjoy the ABC.

Can you believe selling the ABC is even a thought in the brain of an elected member of the Australian Parliament?

Ooops! I think it is my local member the Hon Joe Hockey AKA The Treasurer. I'm not responsible as I did not vote for him!

Monday, November 25, 2013

If it stands still …….

….Indigo it!

Last Saturday at NSCC learning more shibori from Karen Davis and  Pepa Martin. Once again, I had the best time. 


Some Arashi

New scarf

Yesterday, I used the dye again, here at home and changed the life of some pieces from the stash.

Quick upload to show how I did some and the results.

Many thanks Karen

and Pepa  @ http://www.shibori.com.au


On velour, a piece which I thought were all natural fibre but the back came out better than the tufted/cut top.



Velour and lots of pegs above

Pebbles and rubber bands below








Fuji San and friends!


Silk between coasters secured with clamps and rubber bands.
Going 'against the personal grain' as I ironed the pleats in!

 Undoing …...






More fun with the silk from the partly pleated, 'formal' bodice. Lower mid pleated swatch is the original hot pink colour.



There is still some pink to go!













































































  


 






Saturday, November 23, 2013

G for Goodness Me!


Apologies for being very late….. Tonight, I'm an honorary citizen of the countries 180 degrees East of the International Date Line. My head load is in about 17 hours behind in Canada, somewhere around Edmonton and my creativity is oscillating over Nagoya, about 2 hours behind.
I have been to my second shibori workshop today …. in downtown North Sydney and spent two days this week with my mother's friends from Alberta.

@Body: Gummer
So back to terra australis: 'G' ….. start of my maiden name. 
I have already taken you to Gummer in Alto Adige and Gummersbach in Germany…. for a G-body close to home.

This man is (Some) Body in our family: Oliver Gummer jumped ship in Melbourne and made his way to Sydney in 1883-4. He was my great-grandfather.
 Gummer, Oliver 


@ Hobby:  Golf
Keeping 'G' in the family, I have to include David's hobby of golf. He taught himself to play and has had a handicap of 16-18. He loves the game and has succeeded in enthusing his son to play. 



@ Lunch: Gourmet

Gourmet German rolls in wonderful buns: David's toasted, mine mit grains at 'Backerei' in Greenwood Plaza at North Sydney. Their city-based sign is an easy to see guide for their WiFi password of the day.






@ Green  for me … Gardener
I am waiting for the last of the year's orchids to bloom. They will be green and cream but the green buds are taking a long time to reveal their beauty. Orchid-man at the Saturday market says that his of the same type are also late blooming but 'a gardener needs to be patient!'
Tonight's progress photo


Two years ago


Gee Whizz! we are close to the last of 2013 Scatterdays.
Celebrate 'C' with us on 7 December. Check http://lgfns.blogspot.com.au for all the veteran Scatterer's contributions.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

K

@in your neighbourhood


Kindness
A random act of kindness cheered my heart as I was walking along Bay Rd. Lost spectacles in search of a wearer. Not Vireya's lost during a fleeting flight to Sydney as they are not her preferred shape!


 @ edible                                  Kalamata Olives
With the salad season getting into full swing, we buy the mega-sized container of Kalamatas


@container        
Kosta 

Functionally useless, this Kosta container is full of beautiful ideas and memories in the eye of the beholder.


@something king-sized from the sewing room

Kupboard

This Kupboard houses the lengths of fabrics > 0.5m and battings. I bought it from my last school before I retired and before it was hauled away to a land-fill site. I had it stripped of all its years of classroom patina and love it. We live in a townhouse so it took two guys with some heavy ropes and muscle to drag it up to the second level over two balconies. Consequently, it is not going anywhere soon! 


Apologies for being a bit late today.

Catch the other Scatterers 
http://lgfns.blogspot.com.au

'G' will grace us in a fortnight



Saturday, October 26, 2013

P....The princess of the alphabet

P@Animal....Parrots

Parrots: small to medium sized, arboreal

Returning home from a round trip to Rocklands Rd yesterday, I walked under a beautiful Bottlebrush in full bloom. It was more notable than normal due to the screeching of a micro flock of parrots....lorikeets sipping the honey. 

 For the uninitiated lorikeet-twitchers, I include my photo from a trip to the Currumbin bird sanctuary in 2011 
as the video I took yesterday is more about sound than seeing the birds...too fast for my point and shoot. 





P@ Books Books: Paris 'n' Patchwork
Lots of Patchwork books


and

a beautiful book on Paris ...'Living in Paris' by Jose Alvarez
 

  
page 147..... led us to the Gobelin Museum which was phenomenal


P@PIG ...... 'Provence' in Gladbag
I guess Quilting PIGS are porcine when you haven't done much about finishing them!  I shelved this one under  'P for Provencal' after having collected most of the fabrics in France in 2004. I did start some 'feathering' around the napkin but need another trip to further the inspiration!











P@ Furniture

Patio
This setting has come in handy on the front verandah particularly when it's too hot inside.

Peer closely at the other P Scatterers' contributions @ http://lgfns.blogspot.com.au


Postscript: What a pity! It's not a book!