Random Applique

Back From The Dead but On The Move

2012-01-14T15:20:00.000+08:00

Woah, where did the time go, it's been 3 1/2 years since my last post!
Anyway I just dropped in to say that rather than continue this blog, I am starting afresh soon.

My new blog is called Halfway Over The Hill and you can find it here.

I do hope you'll pop in for a visit soon, it will be a whole new focus as we are about to commence a long dreamed of sea change! :-)

Rescued

2008-07-08T19:03:00.004+08:00

Yesterday afternoon we heard a big thud outside, a sudden flash of white hit the window, fell to the ground then scrabbled around the corner. Then we noticed three magpies in hot pursuit. We raced outside and shooed the magpies away then hunted for the mysterious white thing. We found her (actually we have no idea what sex she is, but she has ladylike tendencies so she's a girl ok) sitting calmly on the top shelf in the garden shed. Isn't she just gorgeous!

She is very tame, and let me walk slowly over and pick her up with only a small protest. She seemed uninjured, just a bit ruffled and shaken up, so we popped her into a cat cage with some seed, water and a towel and left her safely in the laundry overnight, out of the way of inquisitive dogs and cats. We thought she might be a homing pigeon but she doesn't have a numbered band on her leg so no hope of locating the owner. Then I got on the phone, and ended up finding a pigeon rescue lady way over on the other side of town, so this morning Meshell and I hit the road and delivered this lovely white young lady to her new home and we felt good that she was safe.

While we were out and about we visited Kings Park (Perth's main park) and wandered about.
This is some of view looking down over Perth, with the Old Swan Brewery in the foreground (no longer a brewery, now restaurants and accommodation) and part of the Narrows Bridge behind.

Di has set us the photo theme of Reflections for the month of July, so I had a go in one of the ponds at Kings Park. I like the clouds in the water.

We have been stuffing ourselves with mushrooms over the last week. I don't know about you but we have tried in vain over the years to grow those Mushroom Farms you can buy, with usually a pitiful result of two or three mushrooms. Well! I think we've found the perfect place for them at last because this batch has gone mad, filling the box over and over. And they grow so darn fast. These ones are Portabello mushrooms, they are browner than ordinary button mushrooms and they are delissssssshus!

Garden Update

2008-07-01T08:38:00.003+08:00

Since my blog hiatus I've been up to my elbows and knees in filth, grovelling around in black sand, mulch, manure, rain and anything else disgusting you might care to think of. But the end result is we now have a completely new re-planted front garden. A fabulous team of young men came along and excavated, paved, reticulated and limestoned, and then after they finished I ventured forth with rock carrying muscles, a shovel and expectant green thumbs.

All is going well, nothing has keeled over yet! I am so pleased with how it's all turned out, and every day go for a wander round the garden, visiting each and every plant. I did masses of research for my plant choices, and for now (until my memory starts to fail me) am a veritable encyclopedia, able to spout forth botanical names and growth habits at will.

Without boring you with the many hundred of photos I have taken, here are a few bits a pieces. plants l-r, Grevillea "Bonnie Prince Charlie", mini kangaroo paw "Bush Ranger", Spotted Emu Bush, Polygala.

Look at the different that mulching makes - I LOVE mulch. It hides all the reticulation dripper pipes as well as keeping the plants' roots moist.

I have fallen in love with this plant, Correa reflexa "Federation Bells". It flowers for much of the year, birds love it and it has the most delightful bell-shaped flowers.

You should see how many photos I have of these spectacular miniature Kangaroo Paws "Bush Ranger". They have gone mad and have trillions of flowers, pretty special for something that's only been in the ground a few weeks. They last for ages and are a good cut flower too, although I haven't had the heart to actually cut any. The purple flowering plant in the background is a Polygala, and the bright green foliage ground cover on the right is Acacia cognata.

For ages now we've been wanting a big, ancient-looking statue of sorts, and the Easter Island heads have always appealed to us. We have a small garden bed near the front door that we decided would be the perfect location, so off we trotted to the statue shop. After carefully examining the facial expressions of those on sale, we chose the relatively solemn and haughty looking "Rocky" (why did I name him Rocky I hear you ask - because he is a rock :-) ). And to our immense joy the statue shop was having a sale - 2 for the price of one! So we also chose "Slim Jim", Rocky's skinnier brother who lives in the back garden, guarding the koi pond.

For those of you that are horticulturally minded, here is the plant list. They are nearly all Australian Natives and I chose very carefully with a low-water garden in mind, plus a variety of flowering seasons and colours, and most importantly to attract more nectar loving birds -

Acacia cognata "Limelight", prostrate bright green foliage plant

Adenanthos "Albany Woollybush", tall dense shrub with small tubular flowers. Bird attractant.

Adenanthos cuneatus "Coral Carpet", ground cover with new foliage a gorgeous pink/purple colour

Banksia ericopholia "Heath Leaved Banksia" - winter flowering, golden slender banksia flowers. bird attractant

Callistemon citrinus "White Anzac" - smaller slightly weeping bottlebrush, bird attractant

Callistemon "Burgundy Jack" - bird attractant

Calothamnos sanguineus labill, small plant with teatree looking leaves and tiny red tubular flowers

Correa reflexa "Federation Bell" - this is even more lovely than I thought, little bell shaped flowers that birds adore

Correa "Dusky Bells" - same, but more of a ground cover and the flowers are more tubular

Darwinia citriodora "Seaspray" - lemon scented ground cover with interesting flowers that remind me of prawns

Eremophila "Kalbarri Carpet" - groundcover, grey leaves, little yellow flowers, bird attractant

Erimophila maculata "Spotted Emu Bush", tiny bright red tubular flowers, bird attractant

Grevillea rosemarinifolia x alpina "Bonnie Prince Charlie", small plant with the most amazing red and yellow flowers. All the grevilleas are bird attractants and most flower during winter

Grevillea "Gingin Gem" - ground cover with red flowers. apparently can be used as a lawn substitute it's so flat.

Grevillea "Mt Tamboritha" - tiny ground cover with pinky red flowers that look like raspberries

Grevillea "Seaspray", low sprawling one with grey foliage and beautiful little red flowers

Grevillea pimeleoides, lovely clusters of tiny gold flowers with small round leaves. Endangered plant.

Grevillea "Honey Gem" - I've coveted this since seeing it at Kings Park Botanical Gardens. Tall skinny one, with huge arching sprays of gold flowers

Kangaroo Paws - 2 x "Yellow Gem", 2 x "Big Red", 2 x "Amber Velvet", 2 x "Gold Velvet", 2 x "Black Velvet", 2 x "Green Machine" (mini), 10 x "Bush Ranger" (mini red), 2 x mini orange one. All bird attractants

Leucophta brownii "Silver Cushion Bush", small rounded bush of silver foliage.

Nandina "Gulf Stream", tiny little sacred bamboo. Foliage goes bright red seasonally

Prostanthera ovalifolia variegata "Oval Leaf Mint Bush", lovely mint smelling leaves and loads of purple flowers in spring

Westringia fruiticosa - native rosemary

Westringia brevifolia var Raleighii - bigger than above, a medium open shrub with mauve flowers

Viburnum tinus, old reliable favourite. Tall bushy shrub, masses of tiny white flowers that bud as red
Arthropodium Cirrhatum "New Zealand Rock Lily" - lush foliage, big sprays of white flowers

Choisya ternata "Mexican Orange Blossom" - Lovely glossy foliage and fragrant white flowers.

Ceanothus "Blue Pacific" - Gets covered with flowers of magnificent brilliant blue
Clivea Miniata - bright orange flower clusters in winter

Artemisia Powis Castle - "Wormwood" - I grow this in the back garden, lovely shaped grey foliage. Insect repellent. Fantastic plant for leaf whapping (printing on fabric)
Echinacea purpura "Purple Coneflower"

Polygala dalmosiana - Shaped like a small tree with purple pea shaped flowers

Liriope muscari - tiny strappy thing with central flower spikes

Phormium "NZ Flax" Clumping grassy plant, striped red leaves

Hebe "Blue Gem" - I tend to kill Hebes so here's hoping this one will be happier. Blue flowers

Dampiera linearis - ground cover with gorgeous bright blue flowers

Cuphea hyssopifolia compacta - small mound plant with tiny purple flowers

Sisyrinchium "Devon Skies" - tiny strappy plant with clumps of bright blue flowers in the middle.

Frame Your View

2008-06-30T21:59:00.006+08:00

Hellooooooo! Well, that was a long break!

Di has kindly taken over the reins of Scatterday, and the concept is a bit different now - every month there will be a new theme and by the end of the month you choose your 3 favourites of however many you wish to display. June's theme is "Frame Your View".

And currently being Goddess Of The Last Minute, here I am with mine on the evening of June 30th....

I took this photo at dawn this morning, with the moon framed within the power lines.

I took this shot in Melbourne in 2004, it's the Shot Tower building under the very cool roof of Melbourne Central. The direction of this shot meant I had to squat on the floor of the shopping centre, much to the embarrassment of my family.... they all walked off and left me!

I love this photo of a willy wagtail framed by a wire fence. We were on holiday in Albany back in January when I took this photo.

This is a photo of the Tasman Arch, on the south east coastline of Tasmania.

Another Tasmanian photo, taken in 2007 at the Port Arthur ruins. I was trying to be a clever dick and photographed the back end of the church ruins framed with the window in the front end of the ruins.

Tasmania again. This is one of my favourite photos of Steve, framed by trees and the boardwalk of the Dove Lake wilderness walk at Cradle Mountain.

I've always been rather fond of this photo. It's my mitred square knitted cushion, framed by a chair. Asta cat loves that cushion, she sleeps on it every afternoon in the lounge room.

Maxie was being a very obedient girl this morning when I asked her nicely to sit so I could frame her with the foliage around the little bridge in our back garden. What do you think of our new acquisition to the left - we LOVE our Easter Island head.

After some deliberation, here are my three favourites

July's theme is REFLECTIONS.

Blog Hiatus

2008-04-20T11:57:00.003+08:00

I'm having a blog holiday for a bit. I feel really bad about it too, like I'm letting the Scatterday side down. Sorry Daisies! But I need a break for a few weeks, to recharge batteries and rekindle enthusiasm.

Next week it's the letter M with the categories of Music, Dangerous, and Cold Things

This is occupying a lot of my time at the moment, big changes in our front garden, which will be terrific after it being exactly the same for over 25 years. And sadly neglected for the last 5. I'm up to my ears in garden plant research and the like. It's going to be great when it's finished.... a lot less lawn, more brick paving, limestoned garden bed walls, low maintenance.... wonderful!

Scatterday K

2008-04-12T13:35:00.004+08:00

For my K Scatterday this week I thought I'd choose....

Office Things, my work KEYS, for opening all sorts of doors and cupboards.

Hobby may well be a unanimous choice this week, with KNITTING. This is my progress on Steve's jumper, spun by my own fair hand from a bag of fleece. I haven't laid eyes on this knitting for some months and it's bit yucky.... there is still some lanolin in the yarn and it's gone all stiff from lack of use - that'll learn me for being slack and not getting on with it. T'will be fine after a wash.

Something I Like The Smell Of is the deliciously fresh scent of KAFFIR LIME. We have a tree in our garden which is very handy if only I'd remember to use it. :-)

Next week fellow Scatterdaisies we have the letter T and the categories of Square, Blue, and In My Neighbourhood. Michelle and I are still chewing on ideas for how to change the challenge to make it fresh and new.... if anyone has any comments on that please feel free to speak up!

In Which I Learn About The Importance Of The Swatch

2008-04-11T14:33:00.003+08:00

What do you think of this crocheted container? It appeals to me and I like the rustic colouring of the yarn. The only problem is that it wasn't meant to be a container.

Does this give you a clue?

Yep, it was meant to be a hat. Something went a bit massively haywire with my tension. That will teach me to be idle and not do a swatch. Ah well, at least it's a nice container. :-)

Guys and Girls

2008-04-07T16:56:00.004+08:00

It's interesting the differences between girls and boys. Steve and couple of workmates had a boys' fishing weekend away, and on Saturday, because Paul was away and Meshell was at work, I was HOME ALONE - a rare occurrence.

It was very pleasant, I pottered around doing a bit of this and a bit of that, talking to myself (I only exhibit my signs of madness when I am alone), and finally settled down for the afternoon to this...

Nothing like a bit of crochet whilst watching the football on the tellie! The Eagles lost so it's just as well I wasn't paying it my fullest attention as I had to count double crochets at the same time.

It rained and rained and rained for 7 hours on Saturday morning (heaven!!) and afterwards we were blessed with some spectacular clouds.

Next day Steve returned, exhausted and smiley. I was asked could I please upload the photos off the camera immediately so I could see the reason for his happiness. This -

Do you think he looks just a little bit happy sitting here cuddling his very large 5Kg salmon? Personally, I'd rather cuddle a puppy any day! :-)
It's been Steve's lifelong ambition to catch a salmon so he is a very happy man.
The boys had a very fulfilling fishing weekend and have talked of nothing else ever since!

Dare You

2008-04-06T10:34:00.004+08:00

Soozadoo set a wee challenge the other day, to be brave and show ourselves as we really are. Initially I snorted and thought 'no way hozay' but when I saw that a few ladies here, here and here had taken the plunge, well.... what the hell, why not.
This is me, just woken up, brain not even working yet (which could explain why I've done this). Thankfully it was not an explosion hair day.
Right, so who else is up for it?

Scatterday A

2008-04-05T11:02:00.002+08:00

Something You Find In The Dark, something that you bleary peer at with one half opened sleepy eye, hoping that you can grab another hour in your warm bed before it buzzes insistently, is an ALARM CLOCK.

The is our very mostest bestest favourite buffet Restaurant - the ATRIUM at Burswood. Really nice food, plenty of room and a nice location. Couldn't ask for anything better. The photo is taken from the picture in my Entertainment Book... one of those things that has discount vouchers in it for various stuff. They cost $65 through various charities each year, and considering you save around $25 each time you use it at a participating restaurant, it doesn't take many nights out before you've got your money back.

When I was 15 I went on holiday with my family to various parts of Asia, including Singapore. Apart from bits of trashy stuff that 15 year olds like to buy, I parted with a large chunk of my savings to buy this pendant from a jewellery store. The Turquoise stone is an AQUAMARINE, my most favourite of stones, set in a rolled 9ct gold pendant. The very fine chain busted a few years later and Steve bought me this replacement chain about 15 years ago. I absolutely adore this pendant and I wear it every single day - I never take it off.

Now Scatterdaisies, next week we have the taxing letter K, along with the categories of Something You Like The Smell Of, Hobby and Office Things.

There is a change in the air, Michelle and I are thinking this is starting to become a little boring, perhaps because we've been doing it for so long, so at present we are brainstorming as to a slightly different weekly challenge. Watch This Space!

Chopper Squad

2008-03-30T16:25:00.008+08:00

Steve and I both had birthdays recently, and Mum and Dad gave Steve a gift voucher for a half hour helicopter ride along Perth coastline. As it sounded like fun, I used my birthday money and bought a ticket as well.

It's interesting how different your city looks from another perspective, and how beautiful - you take where you live for granted sometimes I think. Perth has a wonderful coastline and the colours were gorgeous.

This photo is specifically for my friend Kerry. Kerry, this is the shrine of WA football - Subiaco Oval. I took this a few hours before Hawthorn came along and beat the Dockers on Saturday.

This is the Causeway at the eastern end of the city, and that piece of land in the middle is called Herrison Island. I never knew how big it was. That white dome thing behind Herrison Island is the Burswood Dome, and the tall grey blob in front of that is Burswood Casino and Resort.

One of Perth's fantastic beaches, although in the excitement of the helicopter ride, I've quite forgotten which one it is! We have fabulous white sand.

Further north up the coast is Hillary's Marina, which is heading towards the northern point of Perth suburbia. I was surprised how picturesque this was from the air, all those lovely colours. The diamond shaped white building to the left of the red roofs is what used to be called Underwater World, but I have an idea it's now called AQWA. It's a place worth visiting if you are ever in Perth.

This is the port of Fremantle, and this part here is where all the containers get stored from off the big ships. This is the start (or is it the end?) of the Swan River, where it meets the Indian Ocean.

This is the city of Perth, by gee we don't have many tall buildings compared to Melbourne or Sydney. See that long flat thing in front of the buildings? That is our controversial Convention Centre that everyone hates. If I have my facts right it's meant to represent a gum leaf, but with the appealing (not) concrete sort of colour that it is, that concept has failed dismally. Personally I think it needs some fantastic Indigenous art all over it. The bridge in the foreground is the Narrows Bridge, spanning the Swan River that you can see snaking off into the distance.

Steve is smiling, he and I had a good time. Nothing like a bit of an adventure from time to time!

Scatterday X

2008-03-29T16:08:00.004+09:00

If I told you that I had a ride in a helicopter today, specifically for the task of taking a couple of Scatterday photos, would you believe me? :-)
Well, Steve and I did actually have a ride in a helicopter today, and I took my camera and just happened to be on the lookout for appropriate things for Scatterday! Pretty exciting huh.

I decided to bend the rules this week, and instead of finding things beginning with X, instead I looked for X shapes in things. Clockwise from top left...
1/ Yea ol' garden hose.
2/ An intersection on the outskirts of Perth city, taken from the helicopter. According to the pilot, we were 500 metres up in the air, flying at 180km/hr - wow!
3/ Part of an old garden table that we now stack pots on to grow herbs.
4/ The security screen on our laundry door.
5/ A couple of old pieces of bamboo that Steve left lying in a garden bed. He uses it as stakes for his tomato plants, and occasionally they sprout!
6/ Another helicopter shot, believe it or not this is Perth's main cemetery - Karrakatta. I was really taken aback at the regimental grid-like structure of the place.... not the sort of thing you'd notice at ground level.
7/ A boat travelling under Stirling Bridge in Fremantle - another shot from the helicopter.
8/ A nice colourful X in the middle of my unfinished Indian Orange Peel quilt.
9/ And in the middle is a section of a painting that's on our wall.

And for next week it's the Letter A with the categories of Restaurant, Something You Find In The Dark, and Turquoise.

I Love Photoshop

2008-03-23T15:29:00.003+09:00

Nothing gives me more pleasure than to while away the hours playing on Photoshop, particularly when I've found a handy webpage or an informative library book on nifty effects. So, most of my Easter break has been spent hunched over my computer, playing.

This is called Multiplicity, isn't it cool! You set your camera up on a tripod and a timer so it doesn't move, then take multiple shots of yourself in different positions. Then you choose the furthest back position as your main image, and create layers with the other shots. Then you use the lasso tool to go around the outline of yourself in each layer at a time, click Select-Inverse, then backspace and on each layer that will remove everything except the person. Then you use the eraser tool with feathering just to tidy up the edges to blend everything together nicely.

The other thing I was playing with was how to replace boring sky with something more interesting. This is a photo I took of an interesting lichen covered fence post when we were on holiday in Pemberton. Very overcast day and the sky is a bit samey.

I took this photo when we were on the road to Exmouth in the north of WA. The photos are similar in size and pixels . I used the first photo as the main image, and using the magic eraser tool, selected all the boring sky. Then I put this image behind as a layer and hey presto...

Spiffy sky! It's a bit crude along the treeline as I haven't yet spent the time feathering along the edge but it's an interesting effect don't you think? A little surreal looking with the light and all, but fun to play with.

Scatterday N

2008-03-22T16:11:00.004+09:00

My contribution for Scatterday this week is my dear old friend Noel Nome (we all know it's meant to be Gnome, but Noel wont have it, he's thinks he's definitely Human). Noel and his fishy pal Nigel have lived with us for 20 years, they guard our garden with great diligence.

Noel has HUMAN characteristics, from his looks (ignore the funny hat) and he displays HUMAN qualities, such as kindness. Every year he used to make Nigel hold an easter egg in his mouth for the children to find.

Noel and Nigel are also SMALL, standing about 25cm in height.

And they are also made from MINERAL. Now, I define mineral as not animal and not vegetable - with mineral being something created from the forces of the earth. Noel and Nigel are made from some sort of stone, which is probably a MINERAL AGGREGATE.

Next week we have another free-for-all, take three photos of things beginning with the letter X.

Scatterday L

2008-03-14T22:49:00.005+09:00

Ello Ello Ello, it's Scatterday and it's the letter L!

I was sitting there, flicking through the dictionary looking for an inspiring choice for the category of Household Item, and there is was - LEXICON - the very thing I had in my hand has another name! Did you know that LEXICON is another word for dictionary? I certainly didn't, and as my dictionary is very definitely a household item then what more perfect thing can there be for the category of household item than LEXICON! :-)

For the category of Round Things I chose a LIGHT GLOBE. Not entirely round but certainly round at one end. I was playing with the photo trying to capture something interesting in the morning sun on the glass.

And finally for the category of Tools I went for LINO CUTTERS, artistically presented along with an example of what lino cutters can do. I made this leaf stamp some years ago and used it to stamp on fabric. Must have another play with that....

I have an "L" story for you.
When Meshell was a wee girl of about 4 we were driving along in the car playing "Eye Spy".
"I Spy with my little eye something beginning with L" says little Meshell.
We went through everything we could think of in the car to no avail, and she sat there very pleased with herself.
Finally we gave up.
"We give up Meshell, you're too clever for us, what's the answer for something beginning with L?".......
"Elbow"

Next week we're looking at the letter N with the categories of Little, Human and Mineral - a nice diverse bunch to ponder.

I'm A Lucky Girl

2008-03-14T14:29:00.004+09:00

It was my birthday yesterday, 48 years young. And I had the nicest day, I was surrounded by lovely people both at work and at home, I received emails and cards from friends and family, and I was thoroughly spoiled (or is it spoilt?) by my family. Would you like to see my goodies? Some were surprises and some were things I ordered and then had to wait impatiently for. :-)

First my Koigu yarn - isn't it to die for! My children bought this for me, but I had the joy of choosing my favourite colours off the internet shop, gosh it was hard to choose but I'm really happy with all of them.

This one is my favourite, I just love turquoise. Not sure exactly what I'm going to do with it yet - it's sock weight merino yarn that's hand painted so the colour variations are divine. I'm thinking I'm going to make another mitres squares cushion.

Next is another fantastic thread holder that my dear father-in-law made for me. He made me the other two a few years back, and they are so useful but as you can see I've rather badly run out of room. So he made me two more - wonderful.

This is my surprise present from Steve. Isn't she gorgeous, at least I think it's a she - what do you think? She stands about mid-thigh height and weighs a ton. We're not sure what she's made of - sandstone or limestone perhaps. She's outside my kitchen window now, under the outside light - which shines on her at night and makes her look like an angel. :-) I love her little fat tummy.

Mum and Dad surprised me with a digital photo frame - I shall have fun with that. I've taken loads of photos but they just sit on my laptop and I rarely see them, so it will be nice to have them cycling through up on a shelf in my house.

You may be wondering what those two tubes are in the front of the photo. Well, Mum has a good memory - ages ago she ordered a huge floral sticker that are specially designed for the big green wheelie rubbish bins we use outside, and I've always admired it. So she ordered me a couple - thanks Mum! I'll post a photo when I've stuck them on the bins so you can see how nice they are.

This is the present that I ordered "from Steve", with his okay of course. I swim laps regularly and for years I have longed for some sort of waterproof MP3 player to relieve the boredom. Well, I have found one after extensive searching. It's called a SwiMP3 (good name hey!) and it a very fandangled thing indeed in that it doesn't have horrible ear plugs but instead it sits against your cheekbones and conducts the sound through the bones in your skull into the fluid in the inner ear which turns it back into sound. Isn't that amazing!

I'm dying to try them out when I next swim on Monday, but in the meantime I'm charging it up and choosing loud, fastpaced music to upload to it. I have even swallowed my pride and put on a wee fashion parade so you can see what it looks like on. There are slots in them that the straps of my goggles go through and that's what keeps them in place.

Haven't I been the luckiest girl ever!

Scatterday V

2008-03-07T22:26:00.004+09:00

For the category of Pink, I've gone with VASE. My aunt gave me this vase some years ago, it's been in the family for a wee while I believe. I'd love to know more about it. It's very strokeable... lovely and smooth on the back.

Next was the category of Signs. I went hunting for a "vote" sign, a leftover relic from the election, without success. So instead here is the sign for a noice bag shop called VICTORIA STATION.

And finally, the category of Big. Had there been a volcano handy that would have been fabulous, however I settled for VINES. This is a lovely vine covered walkway at a big shopping centre nearby and I love the twisted gnarled stems of the ageing vines.

Next week it's the letter L, and the categories are Household Items, Things That Are Round and Tools.

I Made Something!

2008-03-04T12:22:00.004+09:00

You were right.
To the people that commented that the fabulous new craft room would be hard to be creative in because of its pristinity (do you like that word, I just made it up) - you were right.
I spent all of last week just wandering through the room, sighing with pleasure, stroking surfaces, delighting in the clean tidiness and fabulous organisation of our stuff. Which was very enjoyable I might add, but have we heard the chugging of a sewing machine or the clicking of knitting needles - alas no.

So anyway, I had this lovely pine frame that originally housed a very nice dried flower arrangement that eventually disintegrated, so my plan was to devise some natty new thingy to decorate the frame. And yesterday I made myself sit in that lovely room, make mess and create something. And I did! :-)

"Come On Baby Light My Fire"

One of the things that annoyed me about myself last year when I was heavily into embroidery, was that I couldn't figure out how to use the finished pieces. They are all sitting redundant in my sewing basket. So that was my challenge, to use an embroidered piece, along with some of the polymer clay faces to pretty up the pine frame.

I frayed the edge of a piece of dark brown hand dyed fabric and glued that on to the frame, and I also rolled up the top and bottom ends to give it a scroll type appearance. Then I sewed the faces onto the embroidered dragon hand-made felt piece I had squirreled away, then needle felted some strands of yarn around the faces to soften the edges a bit. They look kind of 'witchy' to me now, slightly sinister and taunting that dragon just a wee bit.

It's on the wall, I think it looks ok, AND I cleaned up the mess and put everything back in its place. Hallelujah! :-)

Scatterday O

2008-03-01T10:45:00.003+09:00

Something Found In A Library - I've gone with OPAC, or more specifically Online Public Access Catalogue. I don't know about you, but I love online library catalogues.... no longer do I spend ages wandering shelves in a fruitless search for books, I access the online catalog of my local library, find the books I want, request them online and only venture to the library when they notify me the books are waiting for me. Easy peasy!

Something Hawaiian - this one has me stumped most of the week. Finally I was on a website looking at Hawaiian facts when I discovered that the State Team Sport of Hawaii is Outrigger Canoe Paddling. And as I don't have any outrigger canoes handy to photograph, here is a drawing of one in our ancient encyclopedia.

Something Sweet - Oranges of course. Navel Oranges to be precise. I love navel oranges, I don't like valencia oranges very much as they are not as sweet as navels.

Next week Scatterdaisies, we have the letter V and the categories of Big, Signs, and Pink. Should be a bit easier I think!

Spanky Craft Room

2008-02-26T11:25:00.004+09:00

We have a big room at the back of our house that has always been called the Games Room. The plan was to have a pool table and a bar and other such stuff. We've had the pool table in it for years, but gradually everyone lost interest, and due to lack of space it tended to become the room to store junk in. I also set up my sewing machine in there. And so the transformation into a Craft Room slowly began. For years I only occupied a wee corner of that room, then Meshell caught the craft bug too and between us and our stashes, we took the room over completely.

But what a disgusting mess it became, not enough storage space and grotty old wooden boards sitting atop the redundant pool table for work space just hasn't cut it. It got to the point that I hated being in there. And I don't even have a photo for you - it was too obscene - mess like you wouldn't believe!

Thus began the makeover. As usual with my procrastinating nature it has taken a lot longer than it should. Firstly I designed a work station to sit in the middle of the room, with stacks of storage underneath and an overhang at one end to sit at. While that was being made we sold the pool table - and to appease my slightly miffed husband who lost not only his pool table but also the room it was in, I gave him the $300 we sold it for - smart huh :-)

And then, the clean up - oh my lord what a clean up it was! Meshell cleared out her tons of stuff she accumulated during 4 years of textile arts study and we both went through every single box and cupboard, culling our stuff. You would have been amazed at the amount of stuff that was tossed! The end result of it all was that when everything was put away again it was all in logical piles of related things, not just stuffed into random cupboards. It's amazing what you can find that has been tucked away for 20 years - what do you reckon about THIS pattern for a natty little knitted item - eek!

This is my corner of the room, a couple of the walls have feature brick which I'm rather fond of, so that's my area. The Indian Orange Peel Quilt and the smaller picture quilt of the ocean are my 'works in progress', and they have had that title for quite some time now! Note that the ironing board is in my territory - and it has a snazzy new cover. It had to have a nice new cover to go with the nice clean and tidy room.

And, ta-da! Here is the new work station, all white and shiny clean and lovely. I'm really happy with how it turned out and it has so much storage! It's 1.8 metres long and 1.2 metres wide and stands about 90 centimetres high, nice and tall so as not to break our backs when leaning over pinning quilts and the like. It sits in the middle of the room and we have assorted benches and cupboards around the walls, gathered over the years. The easel is Meshells, as is the giant knitting sitting on top of the tall cupboard! It was one of her university pieces. On the right of the photo is an old dining table that Meshell and I share to use our sewing machines on - we have one side each.

At the far end is an overhang area for us to sit at, and down the centre is a void, which I planned as a great place to store cumbersome things like cushion inserts and quilt wadding. It has worked out really really well, and we've also added a rubbish bin there too, to avoid the temptation to just sling threads and offcuts of fabric on the floor. :-)

Our final mission was to find two stools to sit on, preferably with adjustable height. Are these not the bestest most fabulous stools in all the world? We were so excited when we found them - they are just perfect and really comfortable.

Right, now that's all done, and we have a clean, tidy and very spanky craft room, there is no excuse for lack of creative output eh!

Scatterday H

2008-02-23T18:55:00.004+09:00

Phew, finally made it! What with our network down this morning, followed by a fish pond disaster (I couldn't just leave those poor gasping goldfish to gaily be a scatterdaisy now could I?) and also visitors, I've only just got here on Scatterday by the skin of my Scatterdaisy teeth!

H is for Colour, Games and Pointy Things.
For Colour I've gone with HELIOTROPE, which according to the blurb I read is on the pink side of purple. This is a cushion Meshell made way back in Year 11 at school - it's painted and beaded. She doesn't like it any more and donated it to the dogs to rest their weary heads on.

For Games I've decided to show you the cover of HALO 3, which is an XBox game that I don't myself play, but hear the constant sound of gunfire from while Steve and Paul run around like cyber Rambos! :-) They enjoy themselves immensely.

And finally, my pointy thing is my HAIRBRUSH, which has lots of points!

Next week we are working with the letter O, and Michelle has chosen the categories of In A Library, Sweet Things and Something Hawaiian.

On A Meme Roll

2008-02-20T20:32:00.004+09:00

Oh, what the heck, why don't I just spend the whole blog day talking about myself. :-)
Kate has an interesting meme on her blog and I thought I'd do it too. You use just one word for your answers. Takes a bit of thinking to come up with a single word that encapsulates your thoughts!

One Word
1. Where is your cell phone? handbag
2. Your significant other? asleep
3. Your hair? overgrown
4. Your mother? lovely
5. Your father? generous
6. Your favorite thing? wit
7. Your dream last night? forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? tea
9. Your dream/goal? hobby-farm
10. The room you’re in? family
11. Your ex? non-existent
12. Your fear? trapped
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Albany
14. Where were you last night? home
15. What you’re not? dishonest
16. Muffins? blueberry
17. One of your wish list items? skinnier
18. Where you grew up? suburbia
19. The last thing you did? Bloglines
20. What are you wearing? nightie
21. Your TV? insignificant
22. Your pet? varied
23. Your computer? laptop
24. Your life? relaxed
25. Your mood? stable
26. Missing someone? no
27 Your car? Hyundai
28. Something you’re not wearing? balaclava?
29. Favorite Store? Bunnings
30. Your summer? hot
31. Like someone? craftswomen
32. Your favorite color? aqua
33. When is the last time you laughed? dinner
34. Last time you cried? years

Tagged!

2008-02-20T07:28:00.002+09:00

I've been tagged by Michelle and Lindi.

Here are the rules:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you
2. Post THE RULES on your blog
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog
4. Tag 7 people and link to them
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

It's taken me a few days to think about this!

1. My most favourite treat to eat is nougat. My particular favourite over the years was made by Callard and Bowser and I almost wept when I found out that production had ceased a few years ago.

2. I can sweep/mop/play pool with either hand.

3. I have slept in a water bed for 25 years. Steve and I always have trouble sleeping when we go on holiday cos there is nothing more comfortable than a water bed in our opinion!

4. I have a tragically bad singing voice. When I was 8 and was singing in my house choir at school, I remember the lead girl walking up and down our rows listening to each person while we sang as a group, and she asked me to mouth the words! I was most indignant! :-)

5. I absolutely detest coffee - both the taste and the smell. Give me glorious tea at least 6 times a day, with no sugar and double milk.

6. Whilst I make quick decisions and multi-task at a furious rate at work, at home I am very methodical and set in my ways - to the point of driving my family mad. This is very evident in my craft life - I take things slowly and deliberate over things for ages.

7. I have always wanted to do a tandem skydive. I'm thinking seriously about it when I turn 50 in a few years.

I'm not going to tag anyone specifically as it seems most people I know have already been tagged. So, I'm tagging anyone who hasn't been tagged and would like to do this! :-)

Scatterday S

2008-02-16T07:34:00.003+09:00

Good Morning! Okidoki, it's Scatterday, and it's an S!

For the category of Gold I chose a golden SUNRISE. Specifically a beautiful sunrise in Palm Cove, North Queensland where we had to pleasure of visiting back in September.

My Fruit is the small but delicious SULTANA. I add a few of these to my morning cereal every day to give it a bit of zing. They are being carefully weighed at present, what with calorie counting and all... which is going well by the way - I've kissed goodbye 2Kg so far and already feel the difference :-)

Lastly is the category of Things That Make You Itch. Now, you're just going to have to trust me on this one, it's a photo of SAP. I had great plans of a lovely close-up of a broken dandelion stem with a bead of sap on the end, but it's so dry here that most of the weeds are dead and the one that I did find was almost sapless. But trust me, there are a few molecules of sap on that stem! If I do weeding and I touch these dandelions, my arms get itchy and my lips and tongue go all tingly and I sort of 'prickle' - good excuse not to the weeding eh! ;-)
Are you proud of me sacrificing my comfort to set up this photo? My arms are itching as I type!!

Next week you can be tantalised with the letter H and the categories of COLOUR, GAMES and POINTY THINGS. Interesting, hmmm .....

Who's A Gorgeous Girl Then

2008-02-10T20:51:00.001+09:00

Here our baby - Asta Cat. Well, actually she's Meshell's baby. She's a blue tortie Burmese and we adore her. She rules our dogs with an iron fist.
And she is an evil fiend, with a mouth.... if you tell her off, she does this mouthy meow at you, which I swear is cat for "Get %$&^ed"!
But she is also the cuddliest most people orientated girl and she shares her love around with all the family.

She is an inside cat, but we take her into the back garden on supervised outings occasionally. She and I were hanging out together yesterday on the lounge chair under our enormous fig tree. Which is the local drop-in centre for about 15 wild rainbow lorikeets. Who all arrived while Asta and I were there. You have never seen such a motionless pussycat, except for the enormous eyes that swivelled back and forth, incredulous that these feathered things were dropping bits of fig on her.

So, Who's A Bloody Idiot Then?

2008-02-09T21:20:00.000+09:00

Yes, it is ME. I am the bloody idiot.

You see this skip? The one chocka block full of detritis, garden stuff and assorted crap from our house? The one that is absolutely stuffed full right to the top of its 3 cubic metre self? Have a guess what's in it - somewhere? Go on, have a guess....

.
.
.
.
............. The television remote control ................!!!

Halfway through the toil and sweat of filling the skip I thought I'd be terribly useful and go and grab the pile of newspapers accumulating in the house. After ascertaining that Steve had indeed finished with today's paper, I piled that on top of the rest, staggered out to the skip and flung the lot in. There! Good job done I thought, and onwards I went, pruning like a mad woman, determined to fill every little cubic that we paid $154 for.

Later in the day it became apparent that the remote control was missing. After interrogating all household members as to its whereabouts, the awful truth slowly dawned on me - it was with the newpapers that I chucked into the skip - about a metre down. Oh bloody hell!

There was only one thing for it, I had to grovel through all the crap in the skip until I found it. It was an interesting task actually. As the skip came up to my shoulders I couldn't reach into it to fossic through stuff, so I hoisted myself up and sort of pivoted on my stomach so I was leaning in and my legs were waving in the breeze (I know, I should have got a chair).
At this point it did occur to me that passing motorists must have wondered what that crazy woman was doing - that bag lady pilfering people's rubbish. And the fact she had a camera must have raised the odd eyebrow. Anyway, back to it..... eventually after moving aside cuttings, old wood and a dead computer I spied the corner of an old newspaper..........

And what is this I spy!! Eureka I have found it!

And the world is once again a happy place. :-)
And I must say that I feel quite proud of my hunting skills - even though I was the culprit that lost it!

Scatterday Week 25

2008-02-08T23:21:00.001+09:00

The I's have it, Scatterday I that is. :-)

For the category of Yellow, I chose the INSIDE OF AN IRIS. This is a photo of the one and only Iris I've ever managed to grow, boy was I excited when it flowered! Blue Irises with the yellow inside are my very favourite flower.

Moving on to the category of Something Australian, I took a drive to the beach and photographed the INDIAN OCEAN (Australian waters of). This particular section of the Indian Ocean is Cottesloe Beach, isn't it beautiful. Perth beaches have the whitest most gorgeous sand - we are very lucky here.

And finally, Something In The Air. This is INCENSE, and I had great plans to do magnificently detailed photos of incense smoke - I found out that it's actually quite difficult to do! This shot involved a black cloth in the background, lighting from the side and the camera on a tripod. You're supposed to use a fast shutter speed to catch the smoke crisply, but I didn't have bright enough lights so it ended up a bit fuzzy cos I had to slow the shutter speed down.

Can you believe we've been doing Scatterday for half a year! It's been really great to see how many people have joined in - thank you for helping to make it fun! As of next week Michelle and I are throwing all the letters and categories back into the pot to start again, making sure we don't have any combinations the same as last time around. We wont use Z this time, but we will use X, and we'll do a free-for-all with that one when its turn comes round.

But for next week the letter is S, and the categories are FRUIT, GOLD, and THINGS THAT MAKE YOU ITCH.

Visitor In My Fig Tree

2008-02-06T08:41:00.001+09:00

EDIT: The bird has been identified - it's an Indian Ringneck Parakeet, grey mutation (thanks to a very kind person on THIS Flickr group for solving the riddle). It's not native to Australia and on doing some research it seems that over the years these exotic aviary birds have escaped and become established in the wild and are a declared pest here in Western Australia! You learn something new every day. I'm thinking that because this one was alone that maybe he's recently escaped from someone's aviary - I'll have to check the Lost notices at the local shops.

I've been hearing a new bird call in the back garden over the last few days, and I spotted the owner of the voice this morning. Here it is, having a snack of figs at the top of the tree. Does anyone know what this parrot is? I've hunted through my Australian Bird Book to no avail.... I wonder if she/he's escaped from an aviary?

It's a beautiful parrot.... soft grey feathers and a red beak. Not very big, and fairly quiet as far as parrots go. I'd love to find out what sort of parrot it is, so if you've got any idea could you please leave me a comment, pretty please! :-)

Scatterday Week 24

2008-02-01T23:06:00.000+09:00

This week it was a free-for-all on that tricky letter Z

When my son was an Army Cadet, he collected all sorts of boy-fend-for-yourself-outdoors things such as rope ladders, water purifying tablets, waterproof matches and ration packs. And for some reason they had a fixation on Zippo lighters. I think Zippo was some sort of world-wide phenomenon, can't see the joy myself! Anyway, I found the long forgotten and not-working lighter in Paul's room and decided that the joy was that I could use the ZIPPO LIGHTER for Scatterday!! :-)

To show that I occasionally do sewing type things, here are some of my collection of ZIPS. I think it's Murphy's Law that no matter how many zips you have and in all different lengths, you never have the one you need. My husband has the same trouble with drill bits!

As I'm totally focussed on nutritional food with the official Trying To Shed Some Kilos (and going along ok this week), I was humming away this morning chopping up fruit for a fruit salad, when I realised that the ZEST I like to add to the salad was another perfect candidate. Do you like my zest writing? I had to concentrate to zest big long strips off the orange to make good writing, before it got chopped up for the salad.

Next week the letter is an I, and the categories are Yellow, Something Australian, and Something You Would Find In The Air. Sounds like we're in for an interesting week!

For Tomorrow We Diet, On Pretty Plates

2008-01-28T19:59:00.000+09:00

Steve and I have been doing a bit of spending lately. Like a new fridge - ours was about 25 years old, slowly conking out and way too small, so it's been rather fun having a new one. We bought a big Westinghouse fridge, with a skinny freezer attached alongside. I didn't think we'd need more freezer space as we have a deep freeze, but I stand corrected - it's FABULOUS having all this extra freezer and fridge room. And things are COLD!!

But rather than bore you with a photo of a rectangular white box that is chilly, I thought you might like to see our new dinner set instead - it's way prettier. We've been using the same crockery we've had for over 25 years.... a white dinner setting that was a freebie - a piece every time we did our grocery shopping at Woolworths all those eons ago. Fancy that eh. I'm not into spending a fortune on things that can break, but I do like pretty plates, and we both liked this 4 piece setting which was just under $60 at Big W. And what I was most impressed with is that the setting has 4 mugs in it, instead of cups and saucers that we never use. Noice huh.

Whenever Steve and I decided we need to shed a few kilos the only way we can do it properly and successfully is by calorie counting and writing down everything that goes into our mouth. It's a commitment for a good few months and we find it a great way to think more about eating, rather than just shovelling stuff in and trying to kid ourselves. So, over the last 10 years (which is when the weight starting creeping on) we've done this three times, so we have quite a collection of exercise books full of what we ate, what the calories added up to, what we weighed and so on. They are very handy to review. We are sensible, we don't starve ourselves and we eat regularly, basically just cutting down portion sizes a bit and cutting out as much fat as possible. And it starts TOMORROW

There's a bit of everything in this post! I took this photo at the Albany Wind Farm. It's an amazing place and impresses me no end - Albany is a large regional town in the south of Western Australia and has a population of around 30 000, and this Wind Farm produces about 70% of Albany's power needs - isn't that great! I really like this photo, it was a very cloudy day and I like the misty effect of the white wind turbines against the clouds... looks kinda spooky

I've been playing with macro photography today, testing the limitations of my camera. This photo is of a flower called Alyssum which is tiny weeny, and that ant that looks like a monster is a normal little black ant, who kindly posed for the shot. The actual photo is much larger than this, this is a tiny little crop out of the main shot, and I'm pretty pleased that the focus has stayed reasonably ok, soft but ok.

And for those who enjoy a bit of mystery, here is a macro mystery for you. What is it? When you think you've figured it out.... or if you have been driven insane and just have to know, the answer is HERE.

Scatterday Week 23

2008-01-26T13:14:00.001+09:00

Happy Australia Day to all the Aussies! Scatterday again, with an N

For the category of Orange I've used one of the gloriously cheerful NASTURTIUMS that self seed in our back garden every year, in varying shades of yellow, orange and red.

Something Good For You That You Don't Like - well, I chose NOT EATING CHOCOLATE. :-) Need I say more... (thanks Meshell for that brainwave)

And finally, something South American. I may just have stuffed up with this one, as I gaily decided that Mexico was south of America (as in USA), but I have an awful feeling that it might be part of North America. I apologise for my lack of geographical skills, but I'm going with it anyway cos I put together a meal so I could take the photograph and it was a lot of effort!! So, here we have NACHOS which are not exactly South American, but close??

Now Scatterdaisies, next week we have the letter Z, a tricky little devil indeed. Far be it for Michelle and I to cause nervous breakdowns in others, we thought we'd throw the categories to the wind for this one. So, all you have to do this week is take three photographs that relate to the letter Z. Let your imaginiation run wild! :-)

Holiday Photos

2008-01-22T20:20:00.001+09:00

Last week we trundled down to Albany for a glorious week's holiday. Albany is on the south coast of Western Australia and is my very favourite place in the whole world, 15 minutes out of Albany to be precise, in the Lower King/Lower Kalgan semi rural area. One day Steve and I are determined to make the big move out of the city and settle down there on a couple of acres. It's funny, I always feel like I 'fit' when we get there - Albany suits my soul. Anyway, a few snaps....

At the place we stay, apart from 6 cottages scattered amongst the bird filled trees and grass, there is a paddock that houses two pet emus. Meshell and I used them shamelessly for many a photo opportunity. Emus are bizarre looking creatures I think, somewhat prehistoric. And what's with that curly bit on the top of its head!

The town swimming beach is known as Middleton Beach and this is the jetty. It's a beautiful spot.

This is one end of Little Beach, another beautiful spot. The sand is pristine white and the water is perfect aqua blue and the rocks are a divine mix of granity reds and browns.

I was playing around with shallow depth of field photos (when you get a blurry background) and I really like this one of the Willy Wagtail sitting on the fence.

We had a wee incident on the way home. There we were, tootling along at 100km/hr, towing Steve's little boat, when suddenly it seemed like the road had gotten rough. Nah, twas a pulverised tyre on the boat trailer! I've never seen anything so mangled before! It was a bit hairy for Steve changing the tyre on the skinny roadside verge with traffic screaming past at vast speed. But all was well, he and Paul finished the job and we made it home without further dramas.

Scatterday Week 22

2008-01-20T19:16:00.000+09:00

Helloooooo, I'm back! :-)
We had a lovely holiday down in Albany and I took a zillion photographs with the new camera - more of that later.
Now - Scatterday with a U... better late than never I always say

Now, I must confess, due to time constraints, that I have been very naughty with my image for the category of Cartoon Characters. This is URSULA, and you will find her in the Studio Ghibli anime movie called "Kiki's Delivery Service" (and a delightful movie it is too). Michelle, I'm sorry - I've pinched the image off the Studio Ghibli website.... grovel... kneel... I couldn't work out for the life of me how to take a photo myself until Meshell wandered out a minute ago - AFTER I'd spent freaking ages doing my layout and informed me that I could have taken a photo of the webpage - duh, I didn't think of that

For the category of Street, I went for the obvious and took a photo of the cover of my UBD, a vital item that lives in my car, that contains lots of streets!

And finally, for the category of Things People Pay A Lot Of Money For, I went for a day trip to UBUD (in Bali). When we were there in 2001 we hired a driver for the day, which didn't really cost us a lot of money in Aussie dollars, but in Balinese money it seemed like a huge amount, and we asked him to take us to Ubud and choose somewhere nice for lunch. He gave us a fabulous grand tour and then we ended up at a magical place called Cahaya Dewata - a simple restaurant in a sort of hotel/spa type place that was tucked away on the top of a mountain. The restaurant was open to the air and looked down over this valley. It was amazing and if we ever go back to Bali that's where we'll stay.

Michelle got to choose all the thingies for next week as we were still away yesterday morning, and this is what she has delighted us with.... the letter N and the categories of Orange, Something South American, and Things That Are Good For You, But You Don't Like.

Scatterday Week 21

2008-01-11T21:25:00.000+09:00

Ah, Scatterday, letter E Scatterday to be precise. Now, I'm a few hours early but I'm going on holiday tomorrow morning for a week (down to Albany to read/photograph/sew/sip wine/wander/walk on the beach/relax with Steve and the kids) and wont have time to do my post in the morning.

I have been inspired by one of the newer Scatterday's participants - Dawn in Auckland. Dawn has been posting fantastic layouts on her blog, sort of like scrapbooking but without using scissors or glue! :-) It looks terrific and I thought I'd have a bit of a play too. I had downloaded a heap of free vector brushes for Photoshop a month or so ago, and hadn't had a good play with them, so this was the opportunity.... all the background doodads...the eyes and the e's and the tendrils are vector brush stuff.

So, Scatterday, garden oriented this week for me.....
For the Category of White, I used an ENGLISH DAISY - a ground cover in our garden with tiny little white petalled flowers.

Next is Terrifying Things, and for that I chose ENCLOSED SPACES. Ooooer, any place very small that makes me feel trapped is a terrifying thing indeed. Me no likey

And finally, The Plant World. My choice is a small plant called EUPHORBIA MILLII. It's in a pot under the pergola, has mean spiky stems and bracts of these bright waxy looking flowers pretty much all year round. Mum and I bought our plants at the same time and we've been having a little competition to see whose plant grows best. I think mine's winning :-) Well, I must say that Mum's plant is having a little growth spurt lately and seems to be catching up, but I've discovered that this plant thrives on neglect - a variety of gardening I am very good at :-)

Now Scatterdaisies, next week. It's a bit of a doozy. I have blessed us with the letter U, and Michelle has kindly given us the Categories of Street, Cartoon Characters (flippin heck!) and Things People Pay A Lot Of Money For. Get those thinking caps on!

Focus, Zoom, Snap

2008-01-09T19:25:00.001+09:00

You'll have to bear with me for a bit, while I bore everyone stupid with lots of photos of nothing in particular - I love my new camera! :-)

Now first, a Scatterday update.... you know I mentioned I wanted to use a Viagra Pen for last week's V thing in the Office, and that I couldn't find one..... well, I found a whole heap of them, so here, for your viewing pleasure - Viagra pens! Not all that exciting are they :-)

I think this is really cool, this is a close up of a thorny stem on one of my pot plants.... don't you reckon those pale bits look like the upper part of little people? Or am I delusional? Interesting blend of colours and textures anyway, those tendril looking bits are actually cobwebs I think.

My Mum and Dad had a recent holiday to Egypt and look at what Mum brought back for me.... I must stress that my photo does not do this glorious Egyptian cotton justice, it's the smoothest, softest, most lustrous fibre I've fondled in a long time. Both pieces are fringed on each end and could be used as pashminas, I haven't decided whether to wear them or sew them! For now I'm enjoying just looking at them.

I bought myself a treat today - a DVD. I love creepy, gruesome, bloodthirsty movies and fantasy ones in particular. I don't know too much about the story of this one, "Pan's Labyrinth", but I know when I saw the previews of it at the movies last year I got all prickly and excited and decided that I just had to see it. Never got round to seeing it at the movies so what a good excuse to buy it eh, especially as it was only $20.

And finally, Steve picked the very last of the tomato crop today. We've had oodles of them from his vegetable garden and they have been delicious. There are two types, the longer ones are grape tomatoes, my favourites - they are nice and firm. The rounder ones are cherry tomatoes, sweet and yummy. Steve's favourites are Tommytoes which finished a few week's back.... they are slightly larger, like a big cherry tomato. They're all good!

Orange, Stitches and Rocks

2008-01-07T19:24:00.001+09:00

Today was varied
A play with my new camera, which I'm only just beginning to scour the surface of - it does lots of cool stuff. For anyone interested, it's a Panasonic FZ50 digital, and I've just ordered an extra macro lens for it. For today - "Orange, In Still Life" :-)

Next it was off to Spotlight with Meshell to relieve ourselves of our Christmas money. I love skipping round craft/habbi stores with my basket buying a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Best buy was three big rolls of Xmas ribbon for next to nothing, and a piece of linen that was being discontinued and was going at about 1/4 the normal price.

In the afternoon the cross stitch girls came over, and I continued on with my Kandinsky cross stitch, which hasn't been touched for a few months whilst Christmas craft took over. This is one of Kandinsky's paintings that I converted into a cross stitch pattern using some natty software.

Then finally I popped into the Radiology clinic to collect the X-rays on my big toe, which has been giving me grief on and off for a couple of years, but the last few months it's got to be a right pain in the...well... toe!
I suspected osteoarthritis as I have that in my knee, and the report certainly agreed to that and talked about degenerative and lipping and spurs, but I can't stop staring at these bloody huge rock looking things on the bone - what the freaking hell are they!!
I have no idea if they are even the problem - I'll find that out when I head back to the doctor to learn my fate. I keep staring at my foot trying to visualise big lumpy marbles that I'm seeing on the x-ray. Creepy

Scatterday Week 20

2008-01-06T09:14:00.001+09:00

Ohhhhh dear, I am very late naughty girl - I guess this is called Scunday instead of Scatterday!

In the Kitchen I decided to use VANILLA in its various forms. I don't know about you but I get right off on the smell of vanilla beans, and I love poking the used pods into my caster sugar cannister, makes it smell soooo nice.

The Car Part I chose was my VOLUME CONTROL DIAL on my sound system. I love the sound system in my little Getz, it plays MP3 discs, so I put together all my favourite songs off my CDs and make super dooper MP3 discs that hold about 90 songs! This disc is all my heavy metal stuff, hence why I have scrawled the word "loud" on it. :-)

Office Items had me stumped for a while, and then frustrated when I couldn't use what I wanted. I had intended photographing a Viagra Pen, we get given them by the Drug Reps, but I couldn't find one, darn it. So, instead I have used something that alas is nowadays absolutely vital to me in the office - my VISUAL AIDS. I only need them for reading, so I wear them halfway down my nose and thus peer over the top of them to talk to people.... I feel very 'school marm' ish. :-) You don't appreciate your eyesight until it starts to fail do you.

Now, onto next week - Michelle chose the letter E, and the categories I pulled out of the hat are WHITE, THE PLANT WORLD AND TERRIFYING THINGS.

Scatterday Week 19

2007-12-29T07:01:00.001+09:00

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! I sure did, and I have a brand new whizz bang camera to play with. Lots of dials and buttons on it so it will be a big learning curve, but what fun eh!
Anyway, here we are again, Scatterday, with the stinky letter Y.

For the category of Green I went with YARN. This is some handspun yarn I bought in skeins last year, wound with our nifty ball winder.

For Animal here is a YELLOW FIN BREAM (3rd down on the left), also known as a Silver Bream. This was the result of a fishing day out Steve had with one of his work mates.

For School Days I chose YEAR BOOK. This is my contribution from the tender age of 8 - I was most chuffed to have my poem selected for publication in the year book. Looking at it now the first verse looks like it came straight out of a greeting card! And there's a story with the second verse - the last line should say "who always beats me up", but my teacher informed me that 'beats' was not a ladylike (I went to a pooncy girls' school) word to use and I was to select something another one, which is why is doesn't make sense - who says "punches me up" (and that, apparently, is a more ladylike thing to say) - but it had to end in up to rhyme with pup. I'm still pissed off about it - I can hold grudges for many many years! :-)

Right Scatterdaisies, next week we are looking at another tricky letter - V, with the categories CAR PARTS, OFFICE ITEMS and IN THE KITCHEN. Good luck!

Christmas Craft

2007-12-24T22:57:00.000+09:00

Every year I make one or two of these Christmas Balls, but I went all out this year and put together four of them. It involves a little bit of cross stitch, a polystyrene ball, little squares of fabric that you fold, assorted trim, and fifty million little pins.... I reckon an X-ray of each ball would be quite interesting! They make nice gifts, and Meshell was supposed to get hers tomorrow, but she managed to wheedle it out of me today

Scatterday Week 18

2007-12-22T08:06:00.000+09:00

Good Morning! Are we all in pre-Xmas hysteria or is it going swimmingly? I'm pleased to say that I'm quite organised now, except for some nail biting over 4 purchases from England that haven't arrived yet. Eek, air mail that left UK on the 5th December should be here by now!

Anyway, it's Scatterday! With the simple, straightforward letter S - luvly.

For the category of Christmas I photographed two of Meshell's fabulous array of decorations. Firstly we have SANTA PANTS (don't you just love that name) - a china dish for lollies that is only Santa's bum and legs. I love STARS and I think this is a particularly nice one that Meshell received in an handmade ornament swap.

Beverage was a no-contest. SAUVIGNON BLANC, a variety of wine that I've been indulging in this year. We've always been Chardonnay drinkers, but we've spread our wings to Sauv Blanc and Semillion Sauv Blanc. Western Australia produces some damn fine wine!

And finally, Medical. As this relates to my line of work, I had a field day with photography after everyone had left. I culled it down to these three items, firstly a model of a SPINE, with a somewhat wonky looking foam intervertabral disc. The trusty STETHOSCOPE, every doctor's essential item; and finally a SPHYGMOMANOMETER - to check your blood pressure.

Wow, next week will be week NINETEEN!! The categories are Green, School Days and Animal. When you are wracking your brains and tearing your hair out, you can blame Michelle because she is the one who gives us our letter - and it's a Y. Yikes!! :-)

Scatterday Week 17

2007-12-15T07:20:00.000+09:00

Hip Hip Hooray, it's Scatterday! Starring the letter D.

For the category of Sewing I've chosen DMC EMBROIDERY FLOSS. I use it a lot, for cross stitch and embroidery. I love the fantastic range of colours they have, and the newer variegated ones are a bit special for embroidering flowers.

Watercraft is the Vehicle, specifically Steve's DINGHY. He's been busily organising it for a fishing trip this morning which alas didn't eventuate as it was blowing a gale. Fickle this weather.

And for Touchy Feely I couldn't go past my DOG'S EAR. This is Maxie, one of our two Mini Schnauzers and she has the softest most lovely coat. Her ears are delightful to stroke between finger and thumb, they are like velvet when she's just been clipped.

Michelle has chosen some interesting categories for next week - we are looking at Christmas, Medical Things and Beverages, and I pulled the letter S out of the hat. Should be fun!

Little Bit Of This, Little Bit Of That

2007-12-14T06:53:00.001+09:00

Little bit of bakin'

Little bit of stitchin'

Little bit of relaxin'

I was a bit mystified when I was reading outside (on the new lounge chair - very comfy!) - I kept seeing these lovely little rainbows dancing across the pages. And if you're curious, the book is "The Machiavelli Covenant" by Allan Folsom, and it's good!

I finally figured out they were coming from the sun shining on the diamantes on my t-shirt. Nature is very cool don't you think.

Scatterday Week 16

2007-12-08T00:21:00.000+09:00

Well, K was a bit tricky I thought! Out came the dictionary for a bit of inspiration.

For the category of Dangerous I chose KOMODO DRAGON. I took this photo a few years back when we were on holiday in Sydney, and had spent the day at Toronga Park Zoo. If I have my facts right, the most dangerous aspect of the Komodo Dragon is the masses of nasty bacteria in its mouth. So if the dragon bites something and the victim doesn't die of the bite, it's very likely to die of septicaemia a week later. Lovely.

For Blue I found a tiny little blue KENNEL in my mum's collection of miniatures. The design looks suspiciously like a little cottage with shingles and a painted window and fence, but as it came complete with a wee doggie I presume it must be a kennel, albeit a whimsical one.

And finally, the category of In My Neighbourhood. This is was a tough one and it has me puzzling for a few days. At first I was going to zoom down and photograph the local Kentucky Fried Chicken store, but then it struck me as I was driving through this roundabout a few streets from home. The local council have planted a beautiful display of KANGAROO PAWS in the centre of the roundabout. And as it's a bit hard to drive and take photos at the same time, I asked Steve to detour through it when we were going out, so I could snap it from the passenger seat. Why? he said - because it's a K photo of course!! He looked at me incredulously and is quite convinced I am insane. :-)

Next week we need to wrap our heads around the letter D, and the categories of Sewing, Vehicles and Touchy Feely. I hope the last category makes sense - what I mean is choose something you like the feel of.

Macro Mysteries Revealed

2007-12-04T06:35:00.000+09:00

Ok, I'll put you out of your misery - hope you all enjoyed the Macro Mystery. :-)
The full size photos are HERE, with the solutions.

And the winner was Lindi. She is the only person to get 7 out of 7 - go to the top of the class Lindi!

Spoils Of The Week

2007-12-02T20:15:00.000+09:00

There's been a bit of money slipping through my fingers this week. Meshell and I wandered down to Fremantle today, firstly to the Craft Bazaar at the Fremantle Arts Centre. Meshell pointed out that the two things I was interested in were exactly the same two things I looked at last year - I am very predictable. But this year I actually bought one of them.

The tile was made by Tanya and Rob McCulloch from The Fifth Room. I fell in love with their tiles last year and I'm so pleased that I got out of stingy mode today and bought one. It was hard to choose, I also adored their dragonfly series too. The tile pattern has a raised texture so it's very touchy feely.

Next stop was the East Fremantle Festival in George Street. My god it was packed, the whole street has been closed off and it was a riot of stalls, food and entertainment. We were there with a purpose, to find the stall of Ali J and Miss Dot. Feli was there visiting too and we all had a nice chat (I was the old fart). Poor Ali was a bit stressed - she was a victim of the brisk Fremantle sea breeze and spent most of her time trying to batten down her products which kept blowing off the table. After admiring their wares, out came my purse again and I bought this necklace.

Isn't it great! Ali J and Miss Dot had a collaborative project going using Ali's gorgeous art work set into Miss Dot's fabulous resin jewellery. I absolutely love it to bits and you know what.... I see it as a bit of a self portrait - slightly pissed off looking female with flyaway hair issues. :-) According to Ali J's Etsy Shop, this particular series of art is of a futuristic girl called Isabella. But I know better, her name is really Dy.

Earlier this week Steve and I made a decision. As we didn't really know what to get for Xmas we decided to buy a combined gift, we've always wanted a really comfortable outdoor lounge chair, for lying on to read or just relax under the fig tree. So off we went to Segals and found just what we wanted...
And while we were there we spotted the perfect outdoor setting. We used to have an enormous plastic one that was a pain because of its size but also because the way it was constructed made it an absolute haven for spiders. Anyway, far be it for us to only stop at buying a lounge chair, we bought the outdoor setting as well!

It's wonderful!! We've never had outdoor chairs with cushions before and these are so comfortable. We've had dinner outside nearly every evening since we bought it.

I am pleased to announce that I have commenced Christmas shopping at long last (are you proud of me Feli). I haven't ventured into the shops much but my credit card has been having a work-out with Internet shopping. Meshell was quite disgusted the other day when the parcel man delivered parcels addressed to ME for a change. We all know what an Internet shopaholic that girl is so I felt quite victorious that day ;-)

Scatterday Week 15

2007-11-30T23:14:00.000+09:00

Letter M is the star this week in Scatterday.

For the category of Weapon my thoughts moved to the regular sound of gunfire in this house, courtesy of Steve and his X-Box 360. I took a photo of the covers of his favourite games, and here we have a natty MACHINE GUN from Halo 3, and a shiny, smokin' MAGSEC 4 from Perfect Dark, which I believe is some sort of you-beaut pistol.

For Hobby I have used MACRAME. This is a rope jug I made many years ago, following the instructions from my Macrame book. This style of macrame is supposed to be something like that done by Native Americans I believe, it's called a Hopi style jug. I'm rather fond of it actually.

Now for the third category, Texture, I'm going to do something a bit different this week. I figured with texture it could go one of two ways - to photograph a texture beginning with M or to photograph the texture of something beginning with M. I've gone for the latter but I've decided to turn it into a little competition by doing them in macro and cropping them.

So, the following 7 photos are macro shots of the texture of everyday things beginning with M. If you feel like playing, see if you can guess what they are and email me with your answers to randomappliqueathotmaildotcom and the first person with the right answers will win a small prize. I'll post the answers one day next week.

Number One

Number Two

Number Three

Number Four

Number Five

Number Six

Number Seven

I'll be interested to see if people find these hard or easy to identify. Have fun!

Edit:
I'm thrilled at how popular this little game is, I've had some hilarious emails. When I get my new camera for Xmas I'm going to do this sort of thing more regularly - I had the pleasure of using my daughter's fantabulous camera to take these shots - I luvvvvv taking macro photos.

So far there is one clever clogs with 6 right. Number 4 and Number 6 are proving to be the trickiest. I adore number 6 - you wait til you find out what it is! Now, I'm giving a clue for number 3 as it's a bit obscure the way I've photographed it. Most people are giving me the answer 'metal' which is true, but I want what the object IS - and the clue is KITCHEN. I'll post the solutions on Tuesday I think - don't explode your brain waiting! :-)

And for Scatterday next week, the letter is tricky K, with the categories of Dangerous, Blue, and In My Neighbourhood. Oh boy!

Bah Humbug

2007-11-26T22:03:00.000+09:00

It's that time of year again - pre Christmas insanity. I've been trying to hide my head in the sand and pretend it's not happening but I'm going to have to succumb soon and get sucked into the madness of it all. Already the shops are packed with people and to find a parking spot involves stalking pedestrians pushing laden trolleys back to their cars. I don't know if it's just that people are behaving more obnoxiously than normal in the shops or it's that there are so many people that my personal space is being constantly invaded, but I feel like throwing a few punches eventually.

God I get annoyed when shops start putting decorations up at the beginning of October - it makes me feel stressed, that I should be starting to get organised when it's still 12 flipping weeks away. Then again maybe I should, then the shops would be empty....
It's all too hard, too many things to think about - I get Xmas Brain Explosion and it's not pretty.

Steve, Meshell and Paul just adore the Xmas food shopping expedition. I might add that I DID NOT invite them to share this with me. I normally forbid any members of my family to come food shopping with me because of their total lack of maturity in wanting to buy excessive amounts of unnecessary crap.

So, with total disregard for my happiness, they gleefully discuss their tactics. Last year it was 'divide and conquer' - with no warning they all peeled off in different directions, racing back to throw things in the trolley that I was wearily pushing, then off they'd go again on their hunting party. Their plan went a little astray when they realised that I was putting things back when they weren't looking. :-) I heard them discussing this year's strategy the other day - apparently they will appoint one person to remain with me to guard all the pickings. Perhaps I'll just refuse to go - no, that wont do, they'll buy bloody everything without me there to shout at them! :-)

However, I made myself feel better the other week, I even cracked a big Christmas smile! I bought myself a Christmas card - to me, from me. What do you think?

Scatterday Week 14

2007-11-24T14:07:00.001+09:00

Wow, we're over the half way mark with week 14 of Scatterday, and this week it's the letter T

For the category of Hot Things I have used our wonderful TOASTER. Our household has had a thing about toasters for many many years, basically that they are all crap. Until this one. It's a brand I've never heard of - Raco, and I bought it from Target about 3 months ago for about $70 if I remember rightly. And it's great - it toasts evenly and beautifully and we are all content.

Next we have Purple and I have chosen THREADS. My father-in-law made me these lovely wooden thread holders and the reels of threads look nice all grouped together in their colour groups.

Finally is the category of Clothing. Now I may stand corrected but I think this little boy doll's hat is a TAM O' SHANTER. He belongs to my mother and I think he is very cute.
Just in case it's some other sort of hat that doesn't start with a T I've also included a TOP - a purple one at that. And guess what Michelle - I took the photo in the change room at Target - aren't I a brave little cookie! :-) I was terrified every time the camera beeped that someone was going to enquire as to what on earth I was doing, but I escaped without detection. I didn't buy the top in the end, I rather liked it but the shape of it made me look like a big fatty boombar as it accentuated my less flattering parts.

Now, on to next week - week 15. The letter for that week is M and the categories are Texture, Weapons and Hobby. There's a bit of thinking for us all....

Scatterday Week 13

2007-11-17T12:22:00.001+09:00

Wow, it's hard to believe we are halfway through the alphabet already! Today's Scatterday is hosted by the letter H.

For Human I decided to go with a body part - here is my wrinkly old HAND.

My Soft Thing is my beloved HOTPACK, stuffed with whole wheat. It's soft in a grainy sort of way. It's been my saviour many a time over the years - I take it to bed and squish it into place around my neck and it's heavenly. And the hotpack cover was a Xmas present from Meshell a couple of years ago. Isn't it great - she embroidered all this cool stuff that's relevant to me on it. The wild eyed woman watering the plants makes me laugh :-)

Finally, for Toy, out came the Lego. Here we have HORSE and HORSEWOMAN. I ended up playing with the Lego far longer than was necessary, good fun!

Next week will be Scatterday Week 14, and we have the lovely letter T along with categories Clothing, Purple and Hot Things. Should be a good one!

Scatterday Week 12

2007-11-10T17:09:00.001+09:00

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date! Scatterday! Letter O!

What better to represent the letter O than some rolls of loo paper. :-)
For Little Things I've used a couple of my collection of miniatures - Mr OCTOPUS and Mr OWL out for an Outing Outside.
For Shiny I thought my OTT-LITE would be appropriate, it's very very shiny. Well, it's probably more 'shining' than 'shiny' but who's quibbling...
And finally, for Breakfast here we have the nectar of the gods - ORANGE JUICE.

And next week? We have the much more civilised letter H, with categories Human, Toys and Soft.

Holiday Softie Awards

2007-11-06T19:04:00.000+09:00

Dear readers of this blog may or may not have heard of the Softie Awards - it's an Internet competition for soft toys and other such things made of fabric, wool, felt....well, soft stuff basically :-)

Currently the Holiday Softie Awards are running, and the reason I am writing about this is that I'm doing one of those proud Mama moments...... Meshell (who is in the final few frantic weeks of her uni degree and should be back blogging soon) has had her gorgeous Elf Xmas Stocking selected in the final five of the "Deck The Halls" category!

I've just been to the website and cast my vote - the winners of the eight categories are decided by public vote which ends on Tuesday 13th November. If you're interesting in voting then go HERE and click on the Vote Here link in the first paragraph - it takes you to each category in turn and you simply view the five finalists, then click on the name of your favourite in each.

And if you're interested, the Flickr group that shows every entry that was submitted is HERE. There is some real cute stuff there, and it must have been really hard for the organisers to choose only 5 final entries in each category, which is why I'm real proud of my girl. :-)

Scatterday Week 11

2007-11-03T11:38:00.000+09:00

This week was emceed by the letter A.

For the category of Vegetable, well, as they are growing in Steve's vegie patch as we speak and they happen to start with the letter A, what better than a glorious ARTICHOKE. Yum yum, boiled for 40 mins then pluck the leaves off and dip the tender ends into melted butter mixed with a squirt of lemon juice, some salt and a titch of crushed garlic. Remove the furry choke part with a spoon and discard, then eat the remaining delicious central disc of loveliness.....

My Round Thing of choice is the humble APPLE. But this is a special apple because it's made of crystal. We bought it way back in the eighties from Harrods in London, while we were on our honeymoon. It's one of my favourite things - very touchy feely and soooo smooth. Makes for interesting reflections too.

And finally, we have Something You Like The Smell Of. This was quite an opportune category for me as it turns out (and it wasn't rigged - promise!), as my favourite perfume is ANAIS ANIAS by Cacharel. I'm not that fussed with what I wear and I only wear a bit of makeup occasionally, but my personal indulgence in life is perfume and I always squirt a bit on every morning. Other favourites over the years have been Jontue by Revlon and Escape and Truth by Calvin Klein, but Anais Anais is my bestest mostest favourite!

Ok, for next week we have the interesting and somewhat obscure letter O, with the Categories of Breakfast, Shiny, and Little Things. Get those thinking caps on!

Goodbye Palm

2007-10-28T19:08:00.001+09:00

See this massive Canary Island Date Palm? We planted this in our front garden 25 years ago. It now towers over the power lines, causing problems every year with fronds hitting the lines. And nothing grows under it except horrible fishbone fern. We can't even get a spade in the ground the root mass is so thick. In short I hate it. Steve has a soft spot for it but I have won because I have moaned and whinged and nagged him to death and he has admitted defeat. :-)

And on Wednesday it will be gone, it's being cut down! And thus will commence the transformation of the front garden. It looks much worse now than this photo taken just over a year ago. Poor garden, it's been sadly neglected and needs some love.

We are turning it into a low maintenance low water garden. Lots of the lawn is coming out and will be paved. Low limestone walls will edge the garden beds to keep grass out and soil in. A lot of the plants will be replaced with low water natives. Except that blue plumbago hedge in the foreground. I have a soft spot for that so it's staying for now. It's pretty tough actually and can survive low water, it just needs pruning fairly regularly.

So, lots of work and organising and phonecalls to come in the near future, but I'm looking forward to the result.

And on another topic, I wandered over to a craft market today, and had the great pleasure of meeting Miss Dot and her sister, and Feli! It's so nice to put faces to bloggers, particularly ones as nice as these lovely ladies.

Scatterday Week 10

2007-10-27T07:53:00.000+08:00

This week we had the tricky little letter J to deal with.

For Restaurant I have chosen JUG.
Fellow Scatterdaisies, you'd have smiled and nodded your head knowingly at me.... Mum and I went to lunch for her birthday and there I was sitting in the restaurant constantly scanning the place with a J etched firmly in my brain. I thought all hope was lost, but then... Mum ordered Banana and Passionfruit Pancakes for dessert, and it arrived with a JUG of sauce on the plate. I was fair bouncing up and down in my seat squeaking with excitement!! :-) Michelle - you'd be proud of me - I took a photo in a restaurant!

The Sport category led me to my JOGGERS. They are old and loved and supported my ankles whilst playing squash for many years, and the occasional jog through the park until my knee gave up the ghost. Nowadays I wear them to walk the dogs. And the dogs know. Whenever I get dressed they sit and stare at my feet to see what shoes I'm putting on, and then go crazy if it's the joggers cos they know it's walk time! It's got to the stage now that I cannot wear my joggers for any other purpose as the dogs just go mental. In fact to photograph them I had to smuggle them outside wrapped in a towel so the dogs couldn't see :-)

And finally for Pointy Things I went a bit outside the square. This is the pointy end of my favourite conifer - my JUNIPER. It's the pointy shape of the ends of the branches that I particularly like about Juniper. And the lovely blue-green colour. Juniper berries are used to flavour gin I believe.

Now Scatterdaisies, next week will be a lot easier and should be interesting. The letter is A and the categories are Things That Are Round, Vegetables and Something You Like The Smell Of.

"Read"

2007-10-23T20:53:00.000+08:00

It's my Mum's birthday today - Happy Birthday Mum xxx
I made her this bookmark to go with a nice big fat novel to get her teeth into.
She and I went out to lunch today and gutzed ourselves on Garlic Prawns. No-one does Garlic Prawns as brilliantly as the Witch's Cauldron does!

You Gotta Watch Those Tongues

2007-10-21T17:29:00.000+08:00

Isn't it wonderful, the unconditional love of a dog...
Their joy at your return, excitedly wanting to tell you all about their day...

Yuuuuck, dog pash!

Scatterday Week 9

2007-10-20T09:58:00.001+08:00

Hello Hello Hello, it's that day again! This week we are honoured by the letter P.

For my Sweet Thing I chose one of my favourite breakfasts - PORRIDGE. With a dribble of Vanilla Soy Milk and generous lashings of brown sugar. I love how the brown sugar melts on the top.

Next is Metal, and for that category I chose a PADLOCK. You could say it's a PERMANENT PADLOCK now as it has completely rusted up. Which is just fine as it is keeping an old gate closed that we don't use any more.

And finally for Red I borrowed this cute PAIL from Meshell and plonked it amongst the English Daisies outside. It's a miniature pail, the intent being for it to hold Christmas lollies.

Next week will be Scatterday Week 10 (wow - already!). I plucked the letter J from the jar and Michelle has hauled out Pointy Things, Restaurant and Sport. hmmmm.....

Grump Grump Humph

2007-10-19T07:35:00.000+08:00

I'm in a mood.
I have a big problem with people who think they are better than others, that their rights in situations we all find ourselves in are somehow greater than everyone else. That their time is so much more valuable apparently. But it's perfectly ok for them to waste your time by flouncing around in their self important cloud, but don't even think of wasting theirs.

And what pisses me off the most is that I find people like that intimidate me and then I alter the way I do things to freaking accommodate them, so I get cross with myself because that's not how things should be!!!

And then I mull over things for days, which pisses me off as well - arrrggghhhh!!

And to top it all off I woke up this morning thinking it was Saturday. And it's not.

Right, now that's out of my system - let the day begin

My Back Garden

2007-10-14T20:03:00.000+08:00

My mind is not on crafty stuff at the moment, not sure why. Perhaps because I know that there are spring chores to be done. Have a look at this.

Hideous eh. This is what happens to our paving bricks at the end of each winter- slippery, green and disgusting.

That looks a bit better eh! I've been brick cleaning. And weeding. And cleaning out fish ponds. And Steve is painting the pergola - if you look at the top of the photo you'll see the new lighter colour on the right, as opposed to the dingy and dated Mission Brown on the left. He's also taking off all the small wooden slats and replacing them with a glorious golden shadecloth. It gives the most beautiful glow.

I had a go at doing a panorama photo of the back garden, from just outside the kitchen window. On the right is the new paint job of the pergola with the new shadecloth. The big green thing is our barbecue. Mid photo is the old in-ground spa which we are now using as a rainwater storage tank, for watering the garden. I cannot begin to describe the thrill that using our own collected free water from the sky has given me! :-)

I also clipped, bathed and groomed our dogs, as it's time for their annual vaccinations. Every year I slink into the veterinary clinic, knowing that I'm going to be told off because the girls are a little bit porky, so I take the opportunity pre vet visit to remove any excess hair to make them look as slim as possible. :-)

Pepper likes to sit like a bear, possibly because it's the easiest way to hold up her stomach. Pepper is the quiet dog, which distracts from the fact that she does whatever she darn well feels like. She is her own woman. But she gets bossed by the cat.

And this is Maxie, she is my special girl - she follows me everywhere. Pepper on the one hand is quite content to snore happily on her own wherever she is most comfortable, but Maxie is my shadow. She has attitude, does Miss Maxie. And she doesn't let the cat boss her.

Scatterday Week 8

2007-10-13T06:54:00.000+08:00

Here we are again, it's Scatterday! Gosh it's been a busy week, I'm glad it's the weekend. :-)

For my Cold Thing I chose a FLUVAX - an influenza vaccine. Stored between 2 - 8 degrees Celcius. To help protect from the ravages of types A and B influenza. I've made a point of having one each year since working in a health environment and haven't been flattened by the flu in those ten years, so I'm a bit of a Fluvax advocate!

The Element I chose was FIRE. I decided to use a candle flame for the photo, isn't it interesting how the colour breaks up within the flame.

And the Sign I found was FIRE EQUIPMENT, at the local shopping centre.
I am still struggling with taking photos around shops, like it's illegal or something and at any minute I'll feel a hand on my shoulder as I'm marched off to a small windowless room for a chat!

Next week will be Scatterday Week 9, and Michelle has pulled the letter P out of the jar. And the categories that came out of my jar are METAL, SWEET THINGS AND RED.

Scatterday Week 7

2007-10-06T09:04:00.000+08:00

Well, here we are again, it's Scatterday! With the letter C in charge.

For Hobbies I chose CHESS. When Steve and I got engaged many moons ago, instead of a party we went to Bali for a week. And while we were there we bought this carved chess set, the pieces being representative of Indonesian culture. While it is very attractive it has ended up the chess set that has sat in the cupboard redundant. Why? Cos we have no idea which piece is which, it's just a mass of lovely carved confusion!

CAPSICUM, CHEESE and CHICKEN are my choices for Pizza Toppings. While we are quite fond of Domino's pizzas, Chicken Monaco, Italian and Veggie being particular favourites, I also make pretty good home-made pizzas, using pita bread as the base. Tomato paste wiped over, then a light sprinkling of grated cheese. Chopped tomato sprinkled with basil leaves, chopped ham and sliced mushrooms over that, then little blobs of cottage cheese, a few sliced kalamata olives and a bit more grated cheese. 15 minutes in moderately hot oven then Yummmmmm

My choice for Furniture is our COFFEE TABLE. It's made from a slice of jarrah burl that's been coated with many layers of polyurethane so it's all shiny smooth and lovely. It's set atop another piece of jarrah that creates the single leg and the base. The table top is very touchy feely around the edge and I must confess that I enjoy putting my feet up against it. The downside of the touchy feely convoluted edge is that it's a bugger for trapping dust. Occasionally I become a housewife extraordinaire and get to it with a toothbrush, but for the most part I just accept fluff as an accessory. :-)

Next week will be Scatterday Week 8 and your mission for the week is the letter F, and the categories Michelle has pulled out of the jar are COLD THINGS, SIGNS and THE ELEMENTS.

Palm Cove, North Queensland

2007-10-02T20:54:00.002+08:00

We spent the first week of our holiday in Palm Cove, in the tropical north of Queensland. It was extremely nice, very classy and lovely, with giant Melaleuca trees lining the paved street. Apparently they were growing there back when Captain Cook sailed past a couple of hundred years ago and he mentioned them in his ship's log.

We stayed at the Sebel Reef House, on the first floor. The balcony was a wonderful place to be, and we spent a lot of time there, soaking up the relaxing atmosphere and watching the world go by. I tried to photograph the balcony view by taking 7 photos, gradually rotating my way around the whole scene, and I've had a go a sticking the 7 shots together to make a panorama. The perpective's a bit off but I hope it gives you an idea. The beach was exactly 40 steps away - hard to take eh. :-)

This is the bedroom, isn't it gorgeous! The whole place seemed so Gone With The Wind. All white and colonial.

This is the main pool of the Sebel Reef House. Steve took this photo. It looks like something out of a magazine don't you think. But it's the finer detail of the photo that captured my attention. I'm in the photo, up the other end of the pool.

Complete with unglamorous wide open gob as I was about to duckdive to the bottom of the pool. My career with Vogue seems doubtful...

I had to wrap my head around the fact that being on the east coast the sun rises over the ocean, whereas here in Perth it sets. Regardless, the sunrise on this particular morning was amazing.

Scatterday Week 5 and Week 6

2007-09-30T20:03:00.000+08:00

Hello, I'm back! We had a lovely lazy 2 weeks in North Queensland, punctuating our lolling about on the balcony with adventures to such places as Green Island, Kuranda and Cooktown. I'll post some photos later but for now I need to catch up on Scatterday!

First we have Week 5 which was the letter B

One of my Favourite Things is our BEAUTIFUL BURMESE Asta. Asta is Meshell's cat but one of Asta's endearing qualities is that she shares her love around. She spends time hanging out with each and every one of us every day. She is also an evil fiend but she's so gorgeous that she gets away with it.

The Big Thing I chose is a BOEING 767 AIRPLANE, well the wing of one anyway. I took that photo out of the plane window as we were flying over the middle of Australia. I love flying.

And for Shop I chose a fruit and vegie shop called BURRENDAH FRESH that even have their own shopping bags.

And then on to Week 6 where the letter is W

For Black Things I chose my back garden WORM FARM, complete with its own scary looking spider web - I'm sure there's something black in there too, with 8 creepy legs! But hey, I like spiders, they eat flies so he can stay. The worms munch on our kitchen scraps

The Tool I decided upon is a WOOMERA, which is a multi-purpose item used by Australia's Indigenous people. This particular woomera which was in a museum in Cooktown is a ceremonial one, but they are also used for such tasks as spear throwing, cutting and as a weapon or shield.

I only had to wander into my son's room to find something in the category of Games. This is a roleplay computer game called WORLD OF WARCRAFT .

And for this week Michelle has chosen the letter C, and thanks to her hubby for choosing the categories while I was busy wandering through rainforests. :-) And those categories are Hobbies, Furniture and Pizza Toppings.

Scatterday Week 4

2007-09-14T20:14:00.000+08:00

I'm a bit early I know, but I wont have time to blog in the morning cos I've got a plane to catch!
Well fellow Scatterdayers, what did you think of Q!!
I found it a bit tricky, and spent quite a while with the dictionary and encyclopedia on my lap, looking for a brainwave!

For Music I used a QUAVER or an eighth note. It's the first note in this piece of music, the one with the curly tail.

I squealed with delight when I worked out my Square Thing. As you can see it's a die, the face with 5 dots to be precise. And what has this to do with Q I hear you ask. Well, I found a cool word in the dictionary, and the word is QUINCUNX! Have you ever heard of it? Me neither! And it means "an arrangement of five objects within a square, with one at each corner and one in the middle". Just like the dots on the five face of the die. Yeehar!

For Clothing I decided on quilted items. And as I couldn't find anything relevant in the wardrobes I dug a couple of old family photos out. So, here we have an awkward 14 year old moi, at home recuperating post appendectomy, wearing a fetching QUILTED DRESSING GOWN, and 6 month old Meshell looking adorable in her QUILTED OVERALLS.

Week 5 should be a little less taxing with the letter B and the categories are "My Favourite Things", "Big Things" and "Shop".

I must excuse myself temporarily from Scatterdays for 2 weeks as I'll be swanning around on holiday in North Queensland, so check Michelle's blog for the letter and categories as she'll be the chooser of all! I'll do a catchup of my Scatterdays photos when I get back, all no doubt will be of a holiday flavour!

Byeeeee! :-)

Guess Where I'll Be On Sunday!

2007-09-09T22:58:00.001+08:00

Feet up, on the balcony, sipping something cold. Me and Steve. For two whole weeks! :-)

Scatterday Week 3

2007-09-08T00:02:00.000+08:00

It's Week 3 of Scatterday already! This week's challenge was the letter "R" with the categories 'The Plant World', 'Childhood' and 'The Arts'.

I felt extremely clever regarding the Arts category. It was looking to be quite difficult when suddenly it came to me in a blinding flash! In the bowels of my wardrobe lies a sad and lonely viola, resting in its furry lined case - a remnant from my son's primary school days. And within this case lies a small box, containing ROSIN!!! Rosin is a hard resin block that you draw the bow across before you play. It does something wonderful to the strings, but exactly what escapes me for now.

I couldn't choose between my two Plant World ideas so I've used them both. ROOTS is the first one, roots of a large, nasty, big fat weed to be precise! And RADISHES, growing happily in Steve's vegie patch. I'm not fond of radishes at all, but they are pretty.

And finally, the Childhood category. Here are some of my REPORT CARDS, quite a diverse bunch.... flashes of brilliance, and of defiance! If you're interested in finding out what my yr 11 physics teacher thought of me, click on the photo to see it large enough to read! I have to say the feeling was mutual ;-)

Now fellow Scatterdayers, next week we have a challenge indeed. It was my turn to plunge my hand into the jar of letters, and guess what I've gone and pulled out? A flippin' "Q".
Michelle had her turn at pulling 3 categories out of the jar and she's come up with Music, Clothing and Square Things.
Thinking caps on! A bit of tangent thinking might be in order for this one!

Madame On Felt

2007-09-07T22:09:00.000+08:00

You know that I've got this slight obsession with polymer clay faces right? Yup. Well actually it's kinda strange because I have a little container full of the faces I've moulded thus far, all sitting there ready for action, to be part of creative endeavours and wondrous things. But then I get thingy about it and don't want to use them, like I'm some sort of weird, over protective parent or something. sheesh

Anyway, in saying all that, the other day I DID use one of my little people. I had a yearning to make another wool felt keyring having made one once before with a bit of embroidery on it, but this time I wanted to use a face.

I had another go at using bullion stitch for hair. I reckon it makes cool hair, a bit like ringlets. And I had more practice with scroll stitch around the edge in purple.

And Madame herself is attached by way of three holes I poked in the edges of her head before she was baked. I was a bit worried that the weight of her face would warp the shape of the keyring so I counter-weighted her with a polymer clay bead on the back. And equally handy was the fact that the bead has holes in it too, so I ran the stitches in between the holes in the two clay things, which has made everything nice and stable.

I tried something a bit different for the edge treatment this time. First I just did a whip stitch (I think that's what it's called, just ordinary stitching round and round the edge). But as I was doing it, I threaded a long silver bead on every second stitch. It was difficult to keep them all straight and even but regardless of that I quite like the look. And it's very nice and feely to run your fingers around the edge.

And on a complete change of subject, I thought I'd throw in a photo of our lime tree, which has obviously hit some untapped source of nutrition underground because it is absolutely dripping with blossom at the moment. It smells lovely.

And the old apricot tree has started blossoming too. We've had the apricot tree for about 25 years and it's been a legend, producing kilos and kilos of fantastic fruit. But the last 3 years it's done virtually nothing and Steve has tried all sorts of different ways to prune it to try and coax it back into fruiting life. Most of the branches are showing promise with spatterings of blossom, but here we have one smartarse overachiever, one scrawny little twiglike branch completely covered with flowers. We are watching with interest to see what results.

Bookmark (I Need To Work On Witty Title Creation)

2007-09-06T21:20:00.001+08:00

I took the opportunity this week to stitch another bookmark, catching up on some Take A Stitch Tuesday stitches and having another practice of some I've done before.

This week's stitch (well, actually it was last weeks I must confess) was Shisha stitch, the art of attaching small mirrors and other such things to a piece of embroidery. I was pleased when this stitch turned up as I've always wanted to know how to attach shisha glass.
Although the mirror is snug and safe in its stitched cradle, I have actually stuffed up the stitch.

I was checking out some samples of this stitch done by others and wondered why theirs seemed more woven/net-like. I think my mistake is when I've carried the stitches over then under the foundation, I was meant to bring that underneath stitch over the top of the first part to basically create a little cross before doing the anchoring stitch in the main fabric (do I sound like I've been drinking or something?)
A little later I did a small sample on some scrap aida cloth and got it right - yay :-)

The edging stitch on the petals is crossed buttonhole stitch and surrounding that is scroll stitch - a stitch that I'm determined to master neatly as I really like it. It's very easy to pull it too tight and lose the lovely curve, but I'm finding it easier to control if I use a thicker thread.

This little flower is simply edged with buttonhole stitch and the stems are fly stitch. Above the flower is a border of Portuguese knotted stem stitch, another one I really like.

I started the embroidery on this flower by doing a round of palestrina stitch in purple, then using white thread to do a partial whipped wheel stitch, then backstitching around the edge of the petal. Finished off with a few french knots and a bead in the middle. I like the zing the colour of this flower gives to the rest of the bookmark.

And after the bookmark was finished it was time for a little indulgence. I had found the recipe for this yummy Chocolate Tart here and made it a couple of times. It's been perfect and delicious each time. Which is fabulous because I suck at making pastry, a dismal pastry failure. This recipe tells me how to make it using a food processor (a device that spends most of its days lonely in a darkened cupboard), and IT WORKS! MAGNIFICENTLY! I am so proud.

Scatterday Week 2

2007-09-01T13:06:00.001+08:00

This week was the letter G with categories Vehicles, Household Items and Colour.

My vehicle is my beloved atomic banana yellow Getz. I had great plans to take a photo of a hospital gurney instead, just to be different, but I thought I might be at risk of being arrested - strange woman seen sculking around hospital equipment with camera in hand.....

I went with the colour Green, and this photo is of my kitchen walls. They have been boring off white for over 20 years, and last year we repainted in a gorgeous grey/green. I love it and I even made new curtains!

And my household appliance is one of my favourite kitchen things, my Ikea Grater. It cost 4 bucks and is the bestest most wonderful grater I've owned. The grater part fits over a plastic bowl, which has rubber feet to grip. You grate to your hearts content, generally cheese in this house, using a choice of two sizes of grater tops. Then, after using what you need, you can store the leftovers easily in the fridge by removing the grater top and popping on the fitted plastic lid that comes with it. It's so simple but very effective and easy to use. Easy to clean too.

Drum roll.....
Scattegories Week 3 will be ...
the letter "R" and
the categories "Childhood", "The Arts" and "The Plant World"

A Word From The Overlord (or is it Overlady?)

2007-08-30T06:31:00.000+08:00

I look down on you inferior humans from my bastion of cardboard.
Bow before me and do my bidding

The Warrior Princess

2007-08-28T20:03:00.001+08:00

You know how I've been playing with making polymer clay faces lately? I've got a little box full of clay personalities, solemn, furtive, peaceful, proud, all sorts, all silent yet saying a lot. This particular face appeals to me, she is strong yet gentle, proud yet compassionate, and I wanted to save her for something a bit special.

I've been interested in the Comfort Doll project and the co-ordinator for the Southern Hemisphere is Jo from "No Matter Where I Go... I Always Meet Myself There". She is collecting dolls and each time there is a dozen they will be donated to a Womens' Shelter, the idea being to send a message of encouragement from a stranger in the form of an art doll. A strong compassionate doll I thought, a warrior princess.

I had some wool felt left over from the batch I made for my tea cosy which I thought might be suitable. I love the colours in it, and when the piece was felted it reminded me of the ocean, which seemed appropriate as the ocean is strong and follows its own path.

I stitched her body in the womanly figure-eight shape, not only to show her femininity, but also because she is very holdable being clasped around her waist. I needle felted a red heart for her compassion and caring, centred with a flower bead to show positive feelings 'blossoming'. An embroidered flower at the bottom shows flourishing, gaining in strength.

I wanted her to have a proud, strong, protective look, yet beautiful and adorned, so I started by looping and knotting different coloured yarns to give almost a headdress look. Her face is surrounded with green scroll stitch, with a gold bead in between each knot, and then embroidered around that with white basque stitch. She's wearing a beaded necklace with a protective amulet to keep all around her safe.

I finished her off with a quirky little hairpiece made from an enamelled bead and strings of small blue beads. Because she is a lady.

I really enjoyed making her, thinking about how to adorn her and for what reasons. If she manages in any way to give an abused woman or her children something to smile about even briefly then that's a good thing. Jo, she'll be winging her way over to you tomorrow.

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Portuguese Knotted Stem Stitch

2007-08-28T06:22:00.000+08:00

This week's stitch from Sharon B's "Take A Stitch Tuesday" group is Portuguese Knotted Stem Stitch. By the way, Sharon has shifted her In A Minute Ago site to HERE in case you need to update your links.

I liked the texture this stitch produced and I've been waiting for the perfect stitch to complete a pot in my garden embroidery and this one seemed just right.

I still have to stitch a shrub in the pot itself, which will cover the base of the tree, and another to the left of the pot and then the piece will be finished.

I found it a little tricky to slip the needle cleanly under the stitch when I was doing the wraps as the rows are so close together, but apart from that I enjoyed this stitch. I really like the distinct line it produces and the rope-like texture is lovely.

Scatterday Week 1

2007-08-25T00:06:00.000+08:00

The letter L and the categories Food, Animal and Sewing.
I trotted out to Steve's vegie patch and snapped a photo of some yummy lettuce. Mum came up with the brilliant idea of photographing her fossil of a lungfish and the sewing category was easy, I just had to photograph Meshell's collection of antique lace - isn't the pink shell one just to die for!

hmm, I'm wondering whether to post my photos individually, they end up so small in a mosaic the way my blog layout is. It's quite a big photo if you click on it though. Not sure...
Edit: I've redone my mosaic vertically, I think I'm happier with it.
Edit again: And now I've seen the brilliant idea of a couple of other Scatterdayers to use a photo of the letter of the week as the fourth photo, thereby making the mosaic sweet and simple and lovely, that's my copycat plan for next week!

Ok, next week's Scatterday challenge is brought to you by the letter G, and the categories Colour, Vehicle and Household Item. Start hunting!

I've added the Scatterday blurb in my sidebar, including a list of people who are joining the fun. If you'd like me to add your blog link to the list just send me an email or leave a comment and consider it done!

Fabric Postcard Virgin

2007-08-24T23:17:00.000+08:00

Artist trading cards, fabric postcards, they're very cool don't you think. As I have had a year of indulging in fifty trillion new craft ventures, I've studiously avoided joining any trading card swaps so as not to explode my brain. But I love looking at other peoples efforts - just have a google, there's scads of them around (isn't it interesting how 'google' has become a verb), and I've remained interested and intrigued and put the idea aside for later.

Anyway, a few weeks back I embroidered a bicycle for Take A Stitch Tuesday and the lovely FaeryDi asked if I'd like to do a swap. The bicycle was a bit big to turn into an artist trading card (which are the size of a playing card), so we decided to do a fabric postcard (6 inches by 4 inches).

Here it is. Dianne said she loves bike riding so I took the opportunity of turning the bicycle embroidery into a scenic thingy, and there's Dianne, up in the corner, enjoying riding her bike through the countryside. :-)

Here's Dianne, beads and hair flying in the breeze. Her face is polymer clay, with a light rub of Treasure Gold to give it a nice glow. Lovely complexion you've got there Dianne!

Here's the original bicycle with an added shadow under the front wheel, which is just a sliver of gold fabric fused down and then stitched over.

And here are the fabric trees, fused down and then edged with a few different embroidery stitches. The small ones at the back are simply edged with straight stitch and then splodged with a wee bit of fabric paint.

And a prettied up envelope to post it in (I was inspired by PygletWhispers wonderful artwork). Technically a fabric postcard is actually posted 'as is', as a postcard, by addressing and stamping the back. But I was a bit worried that the clay face might get damaged, so I chickened out and put it in an envelope instead. It arrived safely thank goodness, and I'm glad you like it Dianne!

Seen On The Bedside Table

2007-08-22T20:14:00.001+08:00

These two titles sitting together on the bedside table amused me no end.

The epitomy of "Happy As A Pig In Sh*t"
:-)

Clay Days

2007-08-20T20:47:00.000+08:00

I thought I'd show you the results of a day of playing with clay. I bought a few more colours and a couple more moulds and had a great afternoon experimenting with mixing clay colours - I really get excited with the discovery of a good mud colour and had to try hard to not just mix everything together - who did that with plasticine when they were little, come on, own up. :-)

I did a heap of reading on how to make clay canes, which is not unlike the way rock candy is made. It involves packing pieces of different shapes and colours of clay together, wrapping them with rolled out pieces of other colours and squashing it together into a fat tube, then gradually rolling it thinner and thinner so the inner pattern gets smaller and smaller. Then you can cut slices off and make buttons or beads, or butt slices together to make surfaces - the opportunities are endless!

Gosh I love the faces though, I really love them. I keep tipping them out into my hands and sorting through them. They have so much personality don't you think. Or is this just me being a wierdo....
There is a very creepy green guy that has white bead eyes, he looks like a zombie to me

Blog Challenge - "Scatterday"

2007-08-20T16:07:00.000+08:00

My quilting buddy Michelle and I have put our heads together and come up with a weekly Blog Challenge, called "Scatterday".

The Challenge title comes from Scattegories, the game upon which this challenge is loosely based and Saturday, the day you blog post your result.

We were intrigued by the A-Z of Meme that has been doing the rounds but have decided to do something with a twist. We both wanted to challenge each other to be more regular bloggers and take more photos. Hence our new challenge. Feel free to join in and please post and let us know you are doing it so we can come and peek at your blog.

Each week we'll choose 3 categories at random from out of our jar, and a random letter of the alphabet.

Here's the guidelines -

Take 3 photographs yourself, each one in some way representing each category, but the item or concept must start with the selected letter of the alphabet.

For example for the categories Food, Plants and Clothing and the letter B, they could be represented by a photo of bread, a photo of a begonia and a photo of a beanie. The challenge and the fun is to hunt down what you can use in your photographs!

Compile the three photos into a mosaic and post it to your Blog on Saturday. Add some text under the mosaic if you choose (particularly if you have been obtuse with your category reasoning!).

When Michelle and I post our mosaics on Scatterday we will also give the categories and letter for the following week's challenge. We will be returning used categories back into our jar so they will crop up more than once but with different letters. We thought we'd keep the categories fairly broad to start off with so it's not too hard! And how you interpret the category is up to you! :-)

Scatterday Week 1 - blog your mosaic on Saturday 25th August

Categories - Food, Animals, Sewing
Letter - L

Ok, off we go!! :-)

Quilt Slide Show

2007-08-18T21:19:00.000+08:00

A few of my quilting buddies have discovered this nifty Slide Show program which is rather fun and easy to use, so I just had to jump on the bandwagon! These are the quilts I've made over the 10 years I've been playing with patchwork.

It's amazing how we are so used to good quality digital photos these days. I can remember borrowing a digital camera from Steve's work to take photos of my early quilts, and being mega impressed that I didn't have to take a roll of film to the shop to be processed - that I could do it by myself. And at the time I thought the quality of photos was wonderful, but boy has photo quality come a long way, all those megapixels we have nowadays!

Pop The Kettle On

2007-08-18T14:12:00.000+08:00

Look what I bought yesterday...

Is this not the coolest kettle you have ever seen!

I've Had Mail!

2007-08-16T21:38:00.000+08:00

I've been blessed with some very pretty mail this week. Firstly was this wonderful surprise fabric postcard from Kate of Kate's Quilting (& other fibre arts) Blog. Isn't it cool! I had sent Kate some of the little polymer faces I'd moulded and she send me this as a thank you - well, thank YOU Kate!

And equally as wonderful is this fabulous altered postcard from Dani of Pyglet Whispers. I have long admired Dani's wonderful artwork and I was somewhat gobsmacked to discover a post on her blog where Dani was offering this postcard to someone leaving a comment, and no-one had commented yet! So I was the lucky recipient and I chuckled at the howls of disappointment from the people who commented after me. :-) Thanks Dani, I really love the card.

I've even had a wee go at making my own fabric postcard for the first time, as a personal swap with someone. As she hasn't received it yet I wont post a complete photo, but this is a corner of it. I've been moulding more faces, and experimenting with mixing different polymer clay colours together. I love things that have an ancient "dug up out of the ground" look, so am liking urky mud type colours. This one was moulded from a mixture of green pearl and black clay, then daubed with a little bit of Treasure Gold. What do you think?

And I've done a small TAST sample of Cast On stitch and Crested Chain stitch. I like the crescent shaped Cast On stitch, it has interesting texture. Not so keen on Crested Chain stitch though.

And I've had my nose in a book this week, on recommendation from Meshell who has finished it. "The Golden Compass" was suggested as a book to read if you enjoy reading Harry Potter and other such fantasy books. It's good, I'm enjoying it. Aaand, better still, the movie is in production right now, to be released in December! I saw the preview of the movie a couple of weeks ago when we went to see Harry Potter and it looks great!

I'm finding it difficult to blog regularly of late, and I'm not happy with myself because of it. A few blogs I read are doing an "Encyclopedia of Me" type thing at the moment, every day posting something about their lives in alphabetical order. I'm toying with having a go at this myself, as it might make it easier to smaller posts but more regularly. hmmm....

Veggie Heaven

2007-08-04T09:43:00.000+08:00

Steve is the vegetable grower extraordinaire of our household. He has his little slice of heaven in a 5 metre square corner of our back garden and he lovingly hauls in bag after bag of sheep poo and chook poo and various other goodies to dig into his ever-enriching soil. He also gathers up fallen leaves from around the garden and rots them down into leaf mould to dig in, and he also shreds up garden prunings to use as mulch. It's a beautiful, natural, recycling system.

He tries very hard to keep things organic and not spray chemicals to control bugs. One of the ways he's been experimenting with this year is to grow things earlier in the season than normal... in the cooler weather before all the cabbage white butterflies and aphids are out in their droves. So, instead of vegetable patch lying fallow this time of year, it is chockablock full of fantastic produce! And barely a bug in sight. It does depend on the weather, luckily we don't often have frosts and our winters are not too cold. Not everything will grow in the winter though, like tomatoes for example... the plants are growing well now but they don't like fruiting until the weather warms up.

Steve had a harvest this morning and look what we're having for dinner tonight!! Nadine potatoes, baby cabbage, red iceberg lettuce, baby carrots, snow peas, purple beans and sprouting broccoli. Yummy yummy yummy!

And the other wondrous thing we are growing, although these are in a box on top of the fridge, are these fantastic portabello mushrooms. We bought one of those mushroom farms in a cardboard box and it's been fun watching them grow... it's amazing how quickly they increase in size. Add these to the veggies above and we have a meal fit for a king!

I spotted a recipe for cornbread in the newspaper the other day, it sounds interesting so I'm going to cook that to have with the vegetables. I get the impression that cornbread is something that is eaten regularly in an American diet (is that right or is that just something I read about in books?), whereas I've never seen it before. Looking forward to trying it!

"Kicking Up The Leaves"

2007-08-03T20:39:00.000+08:00

"Kicking Up The Leaves" is the name of the quilt I made for my mum this week. And because I really wanted it finished in time for her to take into hospital, it was made in a mega-sewing 4 day marathon.
I used a pattern in a book called Spectacular Scraps, the one on the cover in fact. It's a quilt that made up entirely of half square triangle units. Meshell very kindly offered to help so we set to work.

First step was to choose two fabric groups of different values and cut them up into 4 inch squares. The two groups we chose were the light group of greens/tans/mustards, and the dark group of oranges/terracottas/burgundys/browns - basically the autumn colours that mum loves. We used fabrics from our stashes that we felt had significance or meaning.

Then I started on the 320 half square triangle units needed. To me there is nothing worse than sewing along the edge of a triangle... the fabric stretches and warps and it's a pain in the bum. So instead I used this method - take a square of light and dark fabric, put them right sides together, and rule a diagonal line on the back of one of them.

Then sew a 1/4 inch seam on either side of the ruled line.

Then cut along the ruled line.

Then unfold each side and iron the seams (thanks for ironing them Meshell!) Ta-dum - 2 half square triangle units!

Then, following the pattern, position all the pieces the correct way round and magically a pattern appears! At that point I started sewing the squares into rows.

Quilt top finished - do I look pleased or what!

Next step is to make the quilt sandwich. I used cotton batting and this gorgeous backing fabric. Isn't it pretty, and it's really soft and smooth... very strokable.

I did fairly simple machine quilting as I didn't have much time, so I just quilted around the diamond shapes.

Then I made the binding which I machine stitched to the front of the quilt and that darling Meshell hand sewed it to the back of the quilt while I was at work - there was a deadline looming!

And here is the finished article, folded and fooffed up pretty with a ribbon. Mum was a bit stunned! And she loved it, and wore it wrapped round herself for ages. And kept coming and asking about the different fabrics. And it was all good. Love ya Mum!

Ornamental Roofing

2007-07-30T09:56:00.000+08:00

You know how you occasionally see cool stuff on people's roofs - chimney pots, dragons, finials and no end of clay or stone creatures. Personally, I have always coveted a gargoyle or two, the ones that perch right at the roof apex, peering downwards in a somewhat haughty and slightly threatening manner. Call me strange but I reckon they are very cool.

Well, I was surprised on my return from the local swimming pool this morning to discover that I now have my very own gargoyle! Not quite as creepy a gargoyle as I'd hoped for but hey, I'm impressed. Let me introduce you to...

GARGOYLE de la DUCK

Why is there a duck on my roof? Is this not an odd thing? And now I come to think about it I heard quacking yesterday so I think he's been around for a while. I went out to take this photo and he/she peered down at me quite unbothered, and I was chatting to him quietly so as not to scare him, and he was quite taken with this and engaged me in a gentle chattering quacky conversation.

Then he slowly waddled down the roof tiles, doing tiny little quacky noises all the while. Finally he made his way over the guttering a flew to the ground where he proceeded to walk right up to me and looked up at me expectantly!

I was his new best friend, he showed no hint of shyness at all. I was very tempted to try and touch him but restrained myself in case I scared him away. Instead I wandered around the garden and he happily followed me round. Finally I went inside and now an hour or so later I just heard him quacking up on the roof again. I have no idea what is going through this little quacker's mind and why he/she thinks our roof is a cool place to hang out. It will be interesting to see how long it stays!

Edit: The duck nicked off for a few days but now she's back - Steve spotted her this morning. She was sitting on the roof of his shed and scared him to death. Then she had a little quacky conversation with him too! AND, she brought a duck friend with her! They've gone now but I'm wondering if they are eyeing off the little fish in our backyard pond!

Aint Nuthin Crafty Happening Round Here

2007-07-21T22:40:00.000+08:00

Nope, no embroidery, no knitting, no quilting, no crochet, no nuthin.
Only this...

You may notice that there are two bookmarks poking out the top of the book. One is mine and one is Meshells. We get two hours reading at a time then we have to hand the book over to the other person. :-)

I was quite civilised in the purchase of this book. I did not partake in camping out for days outside the store, nor did I adorn myself with robes or glittery stars. I simply wandered into Big W half an hour after they opened, grabbed the book plus one of the double blocks of chocolate that were strategically placed on a large stand near the books (10 points for marketing strategy Mr Big W manager) and wandered off again, happy as the proverbial Larry.

Next weekend we are off to the movies at La Premiere to see Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix. Looking forward to it!

I LOVE Harry Potter!

Edit: - finished the book 10pm last night. Was good!

Tis Strange Indeed

2007-07-20T19:52:00.000+08:00

What on earth was going on with Blogger or Bloglines today? I opened Bloglines for it to tell me that of my subscribed Blogs there were about 160 new posts today, of which 37 were mine! Which is interesting considering I've only written one post this week. I wonder why these mysterious things happen? In reality there were only about 15 news posts amongst my subscriptions, the rest were all old ones.

Now, I was in a bit of an investigative mood and went into Blogger Help to see if anything had been reported as a 'known issue'. I didn't find anything about the above problem, but I was intrigued to find this little Blogger hiccup...

A bug that made it trivially easy to accidentally set your blog's language to Albanian has been fixed. If you notice that your blog's archives and other text appears to be in Albanian (and you don't want it to be), use Settings > Formatting to change your blog's language. —

Which begs the question, how would you KNOW your blog text appeared to be in Albanian?
Unless you WERE Albanian..... in which case it wouldn't be a problem...
Would it?

Tra La La

2007-07-19T21:31:00.000+08:00

I've been busy this week, no time for blogging - it's THAT time of year. THAT being tax time. And as I am the unofficial accountant of all four members of this household it's a big job that usually requires a good three days out of my life each year.

I am now dancing around, feeling light as a feather because they are all FINISHED! And better still, Mr Taxman owes all four of us a wee tax rebate - luvly. I did my parental duty this year and sat the kids down one at a time and showed them how to complete their online tax return, so maybe I'll only need to do mine and Steves next year!

The other cool thing that has happened around here relates to rain. We have an old in-ground spa pool in the backyard that no longer works, to the point that it would cost us thousands to get it up and running again. It was lovely while it worked well, but that was rare, it was just one of those things that was always going wrong and it drove me insane - in the end I hated it.

Anyway, it's just been sitting there empty and we were toying with ripping it out completely but instead Steve had a fabulous idea - given that our country is struggling with drought....he has converted it into a rainwater storage tank for watering the garden and filling our fish ponds - 1500 litre capacity. He's piped into our roof guttering system and run that pipe across the pergola and down into the spa, which has a solid foam cover on it. This was completed a couple of weeks ago and we've been waiting with bated breath for some rain. Today was the day! You have no idea how exciting it was to see water coming out the end of that pipe!! We are feeling so darn environmental :-)

Little People Everywhere

2007-07-10T18:39:00.000+08:00

I admit it, I have a new addiction.
In fact, I've had a lot of new craft addictions this year, it's been lots of fun!
But this week's focus is little people. I love little people - fairies, elves, tree spirits, leprechauns, some of my best childhood memories revolve around stories about small folk. Which is why I'm so taken with the face push moulds and clay I ordered last week. I sucked Meshell into sitting down with me for a few hours this afternoon (didn't take much persuading!) and we had lots of fun mixing clay colours and making moulded faces.

Aren't they just the coolest thing! I bought aqua, gold, copper coloured polymer clay, and Meshell discovered that the gold and aqua together produced the most gorgeous green that has a beautiful lustre. I'm sure she'll do a blog post of her own collection of little faces soon.

I also bought a granite looking clay, but I'm not so happy with that as the flecks in it are actually glitter, and the sparkle doesn't really appeal to me. I ended up rolling a bit of aqua through one and a bit of copper through another which I'm happier with, but in general I like a more subdued colour look. To be honest I'm just busting to run amok and order heaps more clay, and the other two packs of face moulds (this range is by Maureen Carlson) - trying to control myself for a little while at least!

I'm very taken with the idea of moulding just a part of the face, I can picture a textile forest scene with parts of faces peeping through. I've only just noticed that this partial face still has cornflour on it, which I dusted on the mould to stop the clay sticking. Hope it washes off! A couple of the clays are Fimo and a couple are Premo, and the Premo I found sticks to the mould a lot more, being a clay that gets much softer when it warms up. Speaking of faces and trees, have you seen Jo's Tree Spirit Doll - it's wonderful!

Using beads for eyes gives a totally different look too, and if you carefully rotate the beads a little then it makes the face look like it's watching something off to the side. Although my main intent is to use these faces with embroidery or wool felt, I have this slightly insane idea to surreptitiously glue one or two of these little darlings around the house, to be found by surprise. We have a lot of dark red face brick in our house, couldn't you just see the face above in repose somewhere, silently watching. :-)

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Bullion Stitch

2007-07-09T16:29:00.001+08:00

I've been waiting for this impatiently - I LURVE bullion stitch! Thank you Sharon for including it in TAST. It's so cool the way it winds itself around haphazardly if you use lots of twists around the needle. And inspiration came quickly this week after the postman arrived with polymer clay face moulds that I ordered last week.

I had been visiting Jo's Blog and was so taken with the fimo faces she'd made that I just had to interrogate her for more info! These particular moulds are from a series by Maureen Carlson and I bought my moulds from ZigZag in New Zealand.

Anyway, I had a wee play with the fimo and made a couple of faces, and then when bullion stitch came along, it just had to be that it was wild Medusa-like hair. I know Medusa looks menacing whereas mine is asleep but you get the idea. :-)

I also finally got around to making a quick pot holder for the oven. My existing one has been hanging in shreds for some time so this one will come in very handy. There was a rather creepy moment though - the very day I make a new pot holder the oven door falls off. I kid you not! It really did! And the only thing that stopped the oven door from smashing to smithereens on my foot was that I had hold of the pot holder that I had hooked around the oven door handle which took some of the weight of the door as it fell! Luckily I have a kind and handy husband who managed to put the door back on for me, so we don't have to go out and spend a small fortune on a new oven. I still thinks it's creepy....

I spend most of yesterday spinning the next skein of fleece for Steve's jumper, which is underway! I have "Spinners Knee" today, hobbling a bit - what comes of treadling like a mad woman for too many hours! :-) You put up with these craft related injuries though don't you, different if it had been because of scrubbing the floor - a LOT more fuss would have been made...

Uplifting The Spirit

2007-07-04T21:30:00.000+08:00

I received an email yesterday that contained some wise words from Robert Louis Stevenson, and when I read them it reminded me of my most favourite wise words, ones that gladden my heart and make me feel warm inside. A guy by the name of Les Crane released a wonderful spoken recording of this with musical backdrop back in 1971, I used to have an old 45 record of it that I played repeatedly until it fell to bits.

DESIDERATA

"Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant;
They too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
It is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
Many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the council of the years,
Gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a healthy discipline,
Be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here,
and whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God,
Whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy."

Author Unknown, although first copywrited by Max Ehrmann in 1927.

And if you are interested, these are the wise words of Robert Louis Stevenson

HOW TO BE HAPPY

1. Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things.

2. Make the best of your circumstances. No one has everything, and everyone has something of sorrow intermingled with gladness of life. The trick is to make the laughter outweigh the tears.

3. Don't take yourself too seriously. Don't think that somehow you should be protected from misfortune that befalls other people.

4. You can't please everybody. Don't let criticism worry you.

5. Don't let your neighbour set your standards. Be yourself.

6. Do the things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt.

7. Never borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than real ones.

8. Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish jealousy, enmity, grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy.

9. Have many interests. If you can't travel, read about new places.

10. Don't hold post-mortems or spend your time brooding over sorrows or mistakes. Don't be one who never gets over things.

11. Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.

12. Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy.

On New Toys, And The Odd Read Too

2007-06-27T08:04:00.001+08:00

Meshell and I made a supreme sacrifice recently - we decided NOT to go to the huge Craft Show that comes to town each year. Why would we do this I hear you ask, shaking your head with amazement. Well, the reason is this - we decided we'd like to spend our pennies on a new toy instead - A Yarn Ball Winder! How exciting is THAT!

You have no idea how good this is. In our current yarn/roving/fleece/spinning mode, the house is draped with skeins of yarn every which where, and the thought of winding them all into balls was a daunting one. So we bought our toy, and set it up yesterday. One of us doing the arms wide thing, holding the skein, the other winding it. And it makes these wonderful, centre-pull yarn cakes.

We wound about 20 cakes of yarn, mostly Meshell's beautiful multicoloured spinnings - I'm sure she'll do one of her usual gorgeously colourful blog posts very soon to show you.

I finally sat down with my handspun fleece yarn and had a trembling attempt at doing a cable swatch. I've never before done anything more complicated than knit one purl one, so lots of deep concentration trying not to lose my place in the pattern. I was undeniably gobsmacked to actually see a PATTERN emerge! Yay, I did cable, I did cable happy dance

I've been in a reading mood lately too, what with the cold weather and all. I've recently finished Five Quarters Of An Orange by Joanne Harris (who wrote Chocolat). What a great book, I'm off to hunt down her newest one, called "The Lollipop Shoes".

This is one I'm reading now, seems to have a similar vein to the one above. Sort of culinary based, full of European traditions, just about people pottering through life. So far it's very enjoyable.

I also read this one last week - Crow Lake by Mary Lawson. Again, another good one

Sunseeking

2007-06-24T15:34:00.000+08:00

Brrr, it's been so cold this week. The sort of of weather when a sun soaked cushiony quilty corner seems the perfect place to snuggle down with my laptop and catch up on blogging.

I finished my tea cosy, gee I love it. I think I'm drinking twice as much tea just so I can use it lots. :-) I ended up running a row of machine straight stitch around the edge for strength, then used Butterfly Chain Stitch for a decorative embroidered edge.

I am so in love with wool felt. I knew diddly squat about it until a couple of months ago, but at the moment I want to make everything out of it, and stitch on it constantly. I love the way embroidery stitches slightly sink in to the felt and nestle in. It's also handy for running the loose end of the thread inside, so it can't be seen. A friend of mine has a birthday this week so I thought I'd make her a little something. A little wool felt keyring, adorned with my two favourite embroidery stitches to date, Whipped Wheel Stitch and edged with Butterfly Chain Stitch again.

I caught up a little with my Take A Stitch Tuesday stitches too, by adding some dragon breath flames done in Satin Stitch with extra spitty bits of flames done in single Wheatear stitch. I wanted the satin stitch area to look reasonably raised, so I cut the flame shape out of a scrap, thin piece of red felt, laid it down and satin stitched over it. Which achieved the aim of raising it up, but also, being red, meant you can't see any wonky gaps between the stitches. I'm so clever I scare myself sometimes. ;-)

I made a cake, complete with beautification. I got a piece of paper and folded it up and cut bits out of it like we used to do as kids to make snowflake Xmas decorations, then plonked it on the cake and sprinkled icing sugar over it. Kinda funky eh

Steve's been planting out his vegie patch. He tries each year to plant things earlier and earlier in the season, to try and get some things harvested before the cabbage white butterflies arrive en mass in spring. It's looking good with the promise of things to come.

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

2007-06-16T21:40:00.000+08:00

This morning I donned my MP3 player bursting forth with the sounds of the Rogue Traders and set about the task of cleaning out some of the crap that accumulated in my filing cabinet. Am I the only person that still has electricity bills and bank statements from 1985?

Anyway, I finished up by looking through my "Paul" file, the memorabilia of my dear sweet boy child who is now a big 18 year old. Into the bin went receipts from the school bookshop, junior football membership and cub scout fees, and into the 'keep' file went drawings, reports and stories about such things as green scary monsters. Oh, and these two letters. This one was folded tightly as small as it could go, to be carefully opened and read, one fold at a time...

Awww, isn't he sweet.

And then there's this one...

:-)

Cosy Tea

2007-06-10T19:42:00.000+08:00

I like making tea in a teapot. A pretty blue and white china teapot to be precise. The main reason I like using my teapot is that when I've poured the teas I partly refill the pot with more boiling water, so I can have another cup of tea a bit later - for free! No work! Excellent! And to keep that refilled pot hot I usually dump a tea towel over the top. Now, while this is relatively effective in keeping the tea hot, it's not exactly pretty. Which brings me, finally (yes I know, I do prattle on sometimes) to the topic of this blog post.

I want to make a teapot cosy. I toyed with a number of different fibres and methods, and eventually decided to make a wool felt cosy. So a few weeks were spent with my mind rolling around colours - I nearly always use bright colours even without intending to, but this time I really wanted to try for something more subtle, wah, it's so hard! Eventually the day came, I had to stop procrastinating and just get on with that wet wool felting! I chose teal, dark brown and light brown roving, with a few tiny bits of mustard, burgundy and sea green. Then it was a case of fumbling around with the hand carders I've just bought, to blend the colours together a bit before laying them out in the roving sandwich.

The I laid out a few pieces of squiggly discarded spun yarn.

Then the hot water and soap got sloshed around and the massaging began. It's the most incredible process - how wool felts itself. Really quite amazing.

And finally, we have felt. And, it's not bright! Yay, I've discovered subtle! :-)

Ok, this is good, I'm happy with the colour. Then I decided that I wanted the word "brew" somewhere on the felt. I toyed with applique and embroidery but finally decided on needle felting. Then there were big thinks on how to do this so that the letters didn't look like they were constructed by a drunk person. I ended up cutting out the letter shapes with a scalpel on an ice cream container lid, positioned the lid on the wool felted background and 'filled' the letter shapes with some cream coloured roving and needle felted it into place. I also needle felted some tiny wispy bits around the letters to represent steam, but I'm not totally sure if I like that so I stopped. I'm thinking I might do a bit of embroidery along that vein later on, still undecided on that.

It took me another week to pluck up the courage to cut out the tea cosy shape - I was terrified I was going to stuff it up. Eventually, this morning, I spent an hour cutting up newspaper templates until I found the shape and size that seemed to sit nicely over the teapot. So, it was take a deep breath, pick up those scissors, and cut! This is the back.

And this is the front. It's not sewn together yet and I think I'm going to use embroidery stitches to piece it together. I made a couple of felted balls with the leftover roving, and I want to use one of these on the top of the teacosy as a handle.

I'm a girl who like to take things slowly, as evident by this massive blog post to explain my big long thinks about how to do this. Is it just me or do others think themselves into near insanity so as to cogitate over every possible way to create something? Just as well I don't make a living from making things. :-)

Swatches, Gifts and Muesli

2007-06-10T14:57:00.000+08:00

It's been a week of variety, of experiments, of dashing from one idea to the next, finishing none. But that's ok because progress has been made and I'm happy with the things I've dabbled in. Allow me to elaborate...

I finally plucked up the courage to knit a swatch using the first skein of yarn that I spun from fleece. It's a bit fuzzy but looks ok I think. I've taken the bull by the horns and decided to try and knit Steve a spiffy jumper that has cable panels down the front and the rest of the jumper is seed stitch or stockingette. It's going to take me a while. I have read Elizabeth Zimmerman's wise words about you MUST MUST MUST do a gauge swatch, and I figured that
a) I am a loose knitter
b) I am using a totally different yarn to the pattern
c) my spun yarn has glaring inconstencies regarding thickness and
d) I have no idea what I am doing
that I best heed EZ's wise words and get my gauge right! Do you think that will give me a fighting chance? :-)

My mum and dad have just returned from a holiday to the Barossa Valley and look what mum bought me for a giftie. It's a pack of yummy wine related fabric, isn't she a sweetie. She may find herself getting a quilted wine cooler for Xmas, who knows! And how do you like my thrifted crocheted doily, I think it's very pretty. Edit: And to the eagle eyed Knittingand who thought this actually looks like a knitted doily with a crocheted edge - on closer inspection, yes you are right! Thanks Knittingand!

Now THIS is what I made this morning. It's home made toasted muesli ala Shula who adapted her recipe from here. Holy toasted coconut Batman, it's deeeeelicious! I followed Shula's recipe fairly closely, but I also added chopped walnuts and pepitos. I love toasted pepitos, they swell up and go very crunchy. I was a bit weirded out by the idea of adding cardamom though and chickened out! And when it came to added the dried fruit, I used the standard sultanas and currants, along with dried cranberries which I love, but also the piece de resistance - dried strawberries! I'd never seen them before and spotted them at the supermarket quite by chance - they are very good! The other delight was that I splurged on was a little bottle of REAL maple syrup. God it's expensive which is why we've only ever had crappy fake stuff before now. We all lined up with a teaspoon and had a sampling - YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY - I think I want to live in Canada. Anyway, we now have a big container full of yummy, crunchy muesli - thanks for posting the recipe Shula! :-)

Coral, Kandinsky and Eagles

2007-06-03T08:26:00.000+08:00

My insides are jumping around with excitement right now, I've just discovered The Crochet Coral Reef Project. Oh my lord, if you are interested in freeform crochet then go take a look, make sure you look at the galleries. I've been investigating freeform crochet for a few months now, just reading, looking at pics and absorbing, revving myself up to have a play.

I've got 6 skeins of hand dyed yarn that I bought in an online sale recently that are a bit coarse and I've been trying to think of something to use it for, and this idea is just perfect. The colours of this yarn are very 'nature' and would look darn spiffy as brain coral and tube worms. I've spent hours wandering through the Crochet Coral Reef site, jotting down ideas and suggestions - the people there are very generous with their explanations of how to create certain effects when you look at the taxonomy gallery photos. It's basically called the hyperbolic effect - pretty much just regular and intense stitch increasing which produces convoluted effects around the edge. Ooooo, I love it!!!

On a different note, I thought I'd show you the progress on my Kandinsky cross stitch...

Compared to the last photo, taken in October 2006. It's a slow process as I only cross stitch for a couple of hours a week when our group gets together, and the main focus of our group I might add is to dissect the problems of the world and the neighbourhood, and to drink champagne, so actually doing cross stitch is a poor second... or third... :-)

Wassily Kandinsky painted this in 1925 and it's called "Yellow-Red-Blue" (no marks for originality there!). I used a cross stitch conversion program to turn the image into a stitch pattern. It's quite interesting to see how the pattern has interpreted certain parts of the painting, particularly the thin straight lines - the cross stitch has hints of lines rather than solid ones. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to do any back stitch. I'm thinking that I probably will, just here and there.

And changing the subject yet again, I forgot to mention that Steve and I scored free tickets to the football a few weeks ago. We thoroughly enjoyed watching our beloved West Coast Eagles flog the pants off the hapless Melbourne Demons.

This is the Eagles mascot, who was wandering around outside the ground putting people in headlocks or hugging pretty girls and posing for the camera. He has attitude, you can see by look in his Eagle eye :-) That bit of blond hair in front of him is the fleeting image of a young lady who has just escaped his taloned clutches...

This was very very cool.... at one end of the stadium that contained over 40,000 excited people waiting in anticipation for the game to begin, a man released a REAL eagle - it was freaking huge! It gracefully and slowly flew from one end of the oval to the other, flew through the goalposts, then parked itself on top of the grandstand. In the meantime then handler walked into the middle of the oval where he placed something yummy on top of a giant football, then as I watched him I saw him tap the football with a stick, at which point the eagle lazily turned around and looked at him, then took off, flying back through the goalposts and landed on the giant football to eat his reward. Then the handler put the eagle (did I mention he was huge, he totally dwarfed his handler) onto his arm and walked the perimeter of the ground. It was awesome! I was amazed that the eagle didn't freak out at all the noise of the crowd.

It's Ripply and Pompommy and Comfy

2007-05-30T20:19:00.000+08:00

Drum roll ~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have finished my Ripple Crochet cushion!
I know, there are people everywhere who have finished these massive ripple blankets - legends, and there are even overachievers who are on to ripple number 2 (Kirsty - haven't you anything better to do with your time woman! :-) ). But I am a plodder, crafts do not move quickly in my fair hand, and I'm a shocker for not finishing things so to have a completed task is worth a glass of celebratory wine (done, was good)

Anyway, this is the front of the cushion, I love this colour combination, very under the sea.

Then I ran out of green wool, so decided to use one of my first spinning attempts, done in lairy bright green. Uneven blobby handspun is quite a challenge to crochet I discovered, but makes for interesting abstract kinda texture!
My camera has had a hissy at this point, it can't quite cope with all this bright colour and hasn't reproduced it very well in this shot, it has a weird tone to it.

At this point I discovered I was a little enthusiastic with my ripple rows and had made it 3 rows too long to make a square cushion. Solution (thanks Meshell) was to create a fold over flap on the back and secure it with buttons. I had a hankering for a big of zingy bright yellow...

And, and, the piece de resistance - POMPOMS! I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't stand waste, and here I was with a tiny bit left of 5 balls of wool, so instead of having them lie around and go to waste I thought I'd use it all up and make a pompom for each corner. I must say that I'm delighted with the slightly ridiculous look they have given the cushion. :-)

I tell you what, it's the comfiest, softest most gorgeous cushion to lean into - you positively sink into it. Steve likes it too and seems to think that this will be his special "lean against whilst playing on the X-Box cushion", ha!

And this is the back, which side do you like better? It's amazing how different a few buttons and a different green can make it look actually.

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Crossed Buttonhole Stitch

2007-05-27T11:53:00.000+08:00

This week's TAST challenge was Crossed Buttonhole Stitch.

I had a good play with this stitch on the wool felt I made last week. I have some of the other TAST girls to thank for the discovery of how fabulous this stuff is to embroider on - I've been admiring other peoples' samples on wool felt, so much so that I choofed off down to the library and found myself some books on how to make my own wool felt. I think I could get addicted.... just what I need, a new craft addiction :-)

Anyway, crossed buttonhole stitch. I started stitching meandering lines of this stitch, changing the thickness of thread, changing the colours, stitching upside down and in a circle, overlapping a couple of lines, until I felt that I'd produced a fairly broad array of stitches. Then I put my work down and had a look at it, then it struck me...

There was a little creature looking at me! Like a cute little dragon or something. How cool to have a little being bursting forth amidst random stitches - I was quite chuffed and felt somewhat motherly....

Then I took some photos, and this one, taken on a slight angle, created some confusion. Cos now it looks like a bird!

A slightly peeved, prehistoric bird to be precise. With a glittery beaded eyeball.

It just goes to show, there is excitement to be found in embroidery... :-)

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Butterfly Chain Stitch

2007-05-21T20:15:00.000+08:00

This week's stitch for TAST is Butterfly Chain Stitch, an interesting combination of two different stitches. Firstly is a row of vertical stitches and then these are knotted together with a horizontal row of twisted chain stitch.

I did lots of thinking and experimenting with this stitch, I think it's quite versatile and pretty, particularly as an edge. As I've been making wool felt this week, my thoughts wandered to that. I decided to cut the felt up into smaller pieces as it is very bright and I thought if it was smaller then it would calm it down a little. Then I started thinking about whether this stitch was strong enough to stitch two pieces of felt together. Then I wondered if I could go so far as to attempt something 3D, like a small open box.

It was quite a fiddly exercise, I found it hard to hold the felt in place but at the same time to do the line of straight stitches loose enough so the sides of the box would actually bend. I used Perle 5 thread for strength and popped a few beads here and there for prettiness and to cover the raw edges on the tops of the side seams.

I then stitched a line of butterfly chain stitch as an edge stitch "over the top" of the upper edge, so it ended up that the knotted line of twisted chain stitch goes along the top edge. Am I making any sense at all? I feel like I'm tripping over words tonight!

In the corners of the bottom edge I used 6 vertical straight stitches knotted together, with three from each side, in an attempt to stabilise the box and pull it together a bit more. The inside of the little box is a bit messy, with the debris of stitches and knotted threads everywhere. I'm thinking I might glue a light fabric lining inside it, for both strength and tidiness.

I think it's kinda cute. :-)

I Need To Work On Subtle

2007-05-20T08:26:00.000+08:00

Considering the fact that there has been an explosion of wool around our house, I thought I'd like to try my hand at some wet wool felting. I've been admiring the wool felt backgrounds that a lot of embroiders work on, the stitches seems to nestle into it ever so nicely, so I skipped into the craft room and gathered handfuls of the many colours of wool roving Meshell and I seem to have spent all our pocket money on recently.

First, lay out 3 layers of base roving, horizontal then vertical then horizontal again (for strength I believe). As we have masses of bright green roving I thought I'd use that. Then it's a case of placing wisps/stripes/blobs of whatever colour takes your fancy to produce a layout you are happy with. I need to work on my subtle side, I don't do subtle very well at all.... :-)

I thought I'd be a smarty pants and added some novelty yarn to the blue piece, it's a sort of feather acrylic yarn, and you need to add wisps of wool over the top of anything acrylic so it become part of the felt. As it turned out I later removed these feathery acrylic bits cos it ended up looking like some soggy dead thing - put it down to experience and next time just stitch it on afterwards!

Then, cover the wool with a piece of old net curtain, then pour on hot water and gently rub with a bar of soap. Then gradually work the water and soap in with your fingertips, moving from the middle outwards and gradually increasing in pressure. Then you change to rubbing with the palms of your hands, sort of in a circular polishing motion, until it starts to felt together (for me it was about 7 minutes).

Then (when it's holding together enough to move) you place your wool onto a piece of bamboo blind or mat (I used one of those bamboo mats you make sushi with), gently pull it into shape, then roll it up in the bamboo. Gently squeeze the bamboo roll to remove excess water, then wrap the roll in a piece of sheet and roll it back and forth like you are using a rolling pin. After a minute or two unroll it and turn the piece 90 degrees on the bamboo and repeat, gradually rolling more tightly and strongly each time. Keep doing this until you are satisfied with the amount of felting. You'll find each time you unroll it that it has shrunk in one direction - that's the felting process at work. I think I changed direction 6 or 7 times and rolled for a minute or so each time.

Edit: PS, I forgot this bit... then when you are finished felting, rinse the piece in cold then hot water a couple of times, which gets rid of the soap and also shocks the fibres and strengthens and settles them a bit more.

I was surprised to find that the very wispy bits I'd used actually looked even more distinct in the end, but I guess if you think about it, because the felting brings all the fibres closer together and shrinks the piece, that intensifies the colours even more. Which, I must say, my colour choice didn't actually need! This was a good learning experience, firstly in how felting works (so cool!), and that next time I must put my subtle and sensible hat on when choosing colour

The other thing that surprised me was the lack of movement of the wispy bits that I'd laid on the top. I thought with all the rub-a-dub-dubbing that any patterning would move about and get distorted, but that wasn't the case at all. Interesting...

I think I'll cut these pieces up into something smaller, and embroider on them. My mission with wool felt is to make a teapot cosy, but I'll need to hunt down a bigger piece of bamboo mat as the mats I have now make pieces that are a bit too small.

End result: A fun hour playing with a new craft, and learned lots of things along the way. Wool is amazing stuff, it's sort of 'alive'.

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Wheel & Basque Stitches

2007-05-14T16:02:00.000+08:00

This week's sample is a combination of the last two week's TAST stitches, yay, I've caught up! :-)

Here we have woven wheel stitch, whipped wheel stitch and basque stitch. I LOVE whipped wheel stitch, oh the gorgeous textures it produces are scrumptious! The woven wheel is lovely too, it ends up looking a bit like a rose I think. I like the versatility of being able to do just segments of the wheel too, so you can cram them together so they look like they are tumbling over each other.

Speaking of wheels crammed together, have a look at this fantastic sample, it was my inspiration this week and I think Kay Susan was very creative to embroider her sample on the inside of her vessel, surprising and wonderful!

As the collection of wheel stitches starting looking like an underwater scene, I decided to use basque stitch to represent seaweed. In the bottom left corner I had a go at enormous basque stitch using a hand spun yarn - I quite like the effect, it reminds me of that fat jelly-like seaweed that washes up on the beach sometimes . Then I added a few beads in the gaps.

I'm enjoying turning my samples into bookmarks, and I've found new homes for the three I've made so far. Dear daughter Meshell told me that she really like this one, so it's hers. The other two are on their way to their new owners, being little prizes for helping me name my spinning wheel.